Let's go to John chapter 17 again. We'll go to John chapter 17,
and of course we're studying the Lord's Prayer. And this evening
our subject is the Lord's Prayer. All power given to Christ. All power given to Christ. And
John chapter 17 reveals our Redeemer as our mediator, as that one
who makes intercession for his people. He who lived for us,
he who died for us, he who was buried and rose again for us,
He ever lives, we read in Romans chapter eight, to make intercession
for us. We have one who represents us
and represents our interests at the very throne of God. And
he is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. And he's worthy,
he's worthy to be seated upon that throne of glory as our go-between,
as our great high priest, because he has finished the work of redemption
that God the Father gave him to do, a work that was given
to him in the covenant of grace, a work which our Lord Jesus volunteered
to do. And now he's seated at the right
hand of the Father, and he represents us, he represents all of his
brethren. He isn't ashamed to be associated
with us. He knows our feebleness, he knows
our frailties, and he speaks to the Father on our behalf. On our behalf, and we rejoice
that we have such a glorious mediator. He is the everlasting,
everlasting Son of God, who occupies this position as our go-between. And He, on our behalf, calls
upon the Everlasting Father. And when the Savior bows in this
passage of Scripture, actually as He lifts up His eyes to heaven
and prays for His people in this passage of Scripture, He does
so in the form of a servant. It's an amazing thing that the
Master The Lord of glory, that one who is the everlasting God,
that he would leave heaven's glories and he would come to
this earth and he would take upon himself the form of a servant. He was made, Romans chapter eight
says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Sinful flesh. He looked just like any of us.
Of course, He had no feebleness. He had no sinfulness. He had
no wretchedness because He's the perfect Son of God. But outwardly,
He looked like any other man, but He is the Lord of glory.
And this is the one who is our Savior and he is the one who
represents us to God. We have a representative. We
are all familiar with the representative form of government that we have
in this nation. We have a president who represents
us. We have two senators in our state
who represent us. We have the House of Representatives. And of course, within the state
itself, we have a house, a body of men and women who represent
us. They speak on behalf of the people. Well, our Lord Jesus, He's with
the Father, and He speaks to the Father on the behalf of His
people. He has a people from every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. They're all saved by His grace.
They're all washed in His blood. They're all robed in the garments
of God's salvation. And our Lord Jesus represents
us before the Father. What a glorious thing, and what
a wonderful representative we have. And in this passage, John
chapter 17, he prays for us. Look down in verse number 20,
John 17, 20. He says, neither pray I for these
alone, that is these 11, neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
through the gospel that they preach. and through the Word
that they will be led to right by the inspiration of the Spirit
of God. Now, notice also in verse number
nine, he's very specific in who he prays for. I know he's praying
for the 11, and I know he's praying for all of those that the Father
gave him, but notice what he says in verse nine. I pray for them. Watch this,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. He doesn't pray for everybody.
And we must make that distinction. He doesn't pray for everybody.
I know this, I know several things. Number one, whoever he prays
for, Whoever he beseeches the Father for, he does so because
of the Father's everlasting love for them. And if he doesn't pray
for some people, it's simply because he doesn't love them.
He doesn't love them. And you may rest assured of this,
the love of God is no wider than the intercessory work of Christ
Jesus. Wouldn't you agree with that?
The love of God, it is no wider than the intercessory work of
the Lord Jesus. And then note this, whoever he
prays for, he does so because the Father gave them to him before
the world ever began. We looked at these verses last
week. Let me just read them to you
again. Look at verse two and notice all these times he speaks
of those whom the father gave him. Verse number two, as thou
has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. Look down at verse six and
in this verse, it's mentioned twice. I have manifested thy
name unto the men, which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Verse nine, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world. but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Verse 11, and now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee,
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. Look at verse 12.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those whom thou gavest me, I have kept and none of them is lost
but the son of perdition. What does perdition mean? The
son of ruin, the son of destruction, the son of desolation. And that
happened that the scriptures might be fulfilled. And then
verse 24. Father, I will, that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. And so let me say
this, surely the electing grace of the Father extends no wider
than the intercessory work of the Son. Whoever God loves, that's
who Christ prays for. Whoever God chose him to salvation,
that's who Christ prays for. And I'll add one more to this
list, whoever he prays for, it's because he's gonna die for them.
He's gonna give his life for them. We absolutely detest this
theory, this demonic theory of universal redemption, that our
Lord Jesus died for the sins of all men. Because if you believe
that and those who believe that, then you must come to this conclusion. The salvation of those people
is not due to the death of the Lord Jesus. It's due to their
own will. It's due to their own decision,
and that's absolute heresy. God is not going to share the
glory of salvation with anybody. And I'm in agreement with Mr.
Spurgeon said this, and he quoted Martin Luther. Spurgeon said,
quoting Luther, he said, if any man attribute any part of his
salvation to his own free will, He doesn't know anything about
grace or right. If salvation is by grace, then
it's not of man. If salvation is of God, it's
not of you. You're not the one who makes
the final decision on this. All decisions about salvation
were made before God made the world. And God gave to his son
a people. He entrusted a people to his
son. And this is the glory of his
grace. And certainly God had the right
to do that because he owns all things and he owns all people.
He has the right to give his favors to one and not give them
to another. It isn't unfair for God to do
that. He's God. And so we read in Romans
chapter 9, who are you to speak against what God does? Doesn't
the potter have power over the clay? To make one vessel unto
honor and another vessel unto dishonor? Doesn't God have that
right? If you were a potter and you
want to kind of fool around with pottery, if you want to do that
sort of thing, you've got the right. Here's a ball of clay,
a mass of clay. You've got the right to make
any kind of vessel you want to make. Well, all of mankind, they're
like God's pottery. God's ball of clay, we'll say. And He makes out of men according
to His will. Now who's going to argue with
that? You say, well, that isn't fair. Would you charge God with injustice? Who are you to speak against
God? This is God's creation. Hey, if you make something, you
can do whatever you want to with it, can't you? I'm sure you can.
And you wouldn't want anybody to say, hey, that's not fair
for you to do that. You say, well, wait a minute. It's my
property. And I've used the illustration
before of Nancy's daddy had a farm. And he asked me one time, he
said, would you explain sovereignty to me? And I said, well, I'll
liken it to you and your farm. You plant alfalfa over here,
and you plant corn over here, and you decide to put your garden
over here, and all of this. I said, you fence it in, you
put up no trespassing sign. We've stocked a fish pond down
there with largemouth bass, nice largemouth bass, and you put
up a sign that says no fishing. Only ones that can fish there
are just us. And he had wild turkeys, people ride along and
see wild turkeys. I've counted as many as 60 wild
turkeys. People stop, take pictures and
that sort of thing. He's got signs up everywhere.
No hunting. I said, well, why do you do that? What right do you have to tell
others that they can't hunt on your property and they can't
fish in your waters? What right do you have to do
that? He said, it's my farm. I do with it what I want to.
I said, that's sovereignty right there. That's sovereignty. Everything and everybody is God's
property, and men can't see that, but that's the way it is. God
made you, God provides for you, God gave you life, God'll take
that life and He'll do with you according to His will. And who
are you to argue with Him? You're just a peon, you're just
a nothing, like me. He's God Almighty. And our Lord
Jesus, our Lord Jesus, He only prays for those whom God gave
Him in everlasting love and grace for salvation. And He's not gonna
pray for everybody. I guarantee you, if He didn't
pray for, and you cannot read this passage of Scripture without
drawing this conclusion. He didn't pray for everybody.
And that means his salvation is no wider than his work of
intercession. Well then, who did he pray for?
Those the Father gave him. And that, my friend, if you're
a believer tonight, that means he was praying for you. And he
still represents you and me and all of his people in glory. Now,
notice, go back to verse one real quick. First four words,
these words speak Jesus. And I've already said this. These
four words send us back to chapters 14, 15, and 16. That's his work
as prophet. He preached to these men. And
now he begins his work as great high priest. Great high priest. What did the high priests of
Israel do? Well, they did two things. Prayed for the people. They represented the people to
God. Aaron, as the high priest of Israel, he represented Israel
to God. What else did he do? He offered
the offering to God, the sacrifice to God, pointing to the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here our Lord Jesus, He takes
on this first work of high priest. He represents his people to God. What's the next work of the high
priest that he will fulfill? He'll give his life as that sacrifice
which will satisfy God. Here's what we get here, and
I want you to understand this. There's an emphasis in chapters
14, 15, and 16 on preaching. That's what he's doing, he's
preaching. In this preaching, he gives him directions as to
the way to God. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He gives instructions regarding
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He said the Holy Spirit's not
gonna speak of himself, he'll speak of me. He gives these instructions,
words of consolation to the people of God. And having then represented
God to the people, spoken to the people for God, now he speaks
to God on behalf of the people. Preaching and praying. And there's
the emphasis, and there's the work of the minister of the gospel,
right there. Our Lord Jesus is the very best
example, and I know He died as the Savior, He died as that offering
for sin, but He is also the perfect example for you and me. Here
He is, our example preaching. And here He is, our example praying. Look over with me to the book
of Acts. Look in Acts chapter six. Look in Acts chapter six,
verse one. Acts chapter six, verse one.
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Acts
chapter six, now verse two. Then the 12 called the multitude
of the disciples unto them, all the church folk, called them
unto them and they said, it's not reason, it's not an honorable
thing, it isn't pleasing that we should leave the word of God
in order to serve tables. What does that mean? Well, they,
There were people in the congregation who were poor. There were widows
who needed to be provided for, didn't have any children. They
needed food. And here's what the apostles
would do. They would go and distribute food to the needy, to the widows,
to the sick, to the elderly. They would go out and visit those
people and take food to them. Well, that was just too much
for the apostles. And it really wasn't what they
were called to do. Now it isn't that we don't feel
that widows need to be taken care of, certainly they do. And
there is a provision made for that. Verse three, wherefore
brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full
of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this
business, over this duty, over this need. We need some men,
men who love the gospel, men who love Christ and men who are
willing to be servants. And of course, these are the
first deacons and the root word for deacon is really a servant,
a servant. A deacon is a servant of the
congregation and of the pastor. to relieve the preacher, to relieve
the pastor, to do the things that God called him to do. It
isn't that the preacher doesn't do any visiting, and I'm kind
of astounded that some preachers, I've even had one preacher tell
me, he said, I'm not called to do any visiting. And he doesn't
go to the hospital when one of the sheep is sick. And I just
said, well, listen, if you're the under-shepherd and you've
got a sick sheep in the flock, I said, it is your responsibility
to go and show tenderness and kindness and love. But we don't
go down the hospital halls knocking on every hospital door. We don't
do that. We take care of our own. But
the ministry of the apostles in the ministry of the preachers
of the gospel is very, very clearly set forth in verse four. But
we will give ourselves continually to doing just like the Savior
did. Prayer and to the ministry of
the Word. That's what the Savior did. And
that's what we do. Preaching without prayer is like
having a garden and you don't ever water it. We've got to have
the water. And as we sow the good seed,
we have got good seed, don't we? This is the best seed. It's
the gospel of God's grace. It's the message of redemption.
It's the message of reconciliation. We have good seed and we sow
it. We sow it everywhere we can sow
it. And some falls on hardened paths. Some falls on rocky, rocky ground. Some falls where there's thorns
and briars that grow up and choke it out. And then, of course,
some of it falls on grounds been prepared by the Holy Spirit.
It's not my duty to make sure the seed germinates and produces. It's only my duty as a minister
of the gospel and the duty of every preacher of the gospel
to just sow the seed liberally. Just tell the truth. Just honor
God and honor Christ Jesus and magnify His work upon the cross
of Calvary. His blood and His righteousness,
His perfections and tell people's salvations in Christ Jesus and
bid them come to the Lord. That's part of the ministry too.
I bid you come to Christ. But that's not all of my duty.
Must pray. Ask God to water the seed. Ask
God to do something. Because I know this, and you
know this too, though we have good seed, though we have the
excellent message of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, nothing
will ever come of our preaching except God does something. And
so we ask God, Lord, as we sow the seed, bless your word to
the good of the hearers. That's what we ask God. And you
know why we ask God for that? Because salvation's of the Lord.
It's not of you, it's not of me, it's not of the church. Therefore, we're not begging
people to do something for God, we're asking God to do something
for the people. And so our Lord Jesus, back here
in John 17, and those chapters before, 14, 16, and 17, He set
the perfect example. Preaching, praying. And I wouldn't give you a plug
nickel for a preacher who doesn't pray, and I wouldn't give you
a plug nickel for a preacher who doesn't preach the gospel.
We've got to do both. We gotta do both. When we ask
God to bless His word, it's because we recognize we're totally dependent
upon Him. Now, look tonight very quickly
in the second verse. Well, let me read all of verse
one, then I'll get to verse two. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. He's been speaking about this
hour all through his public ministry. The hour has come, glorify thy
son, that thy son also may glorify thee. Now watch verse two, as
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Let me just work
on this phrase, as thou has given him, power or authority over
all flesh. Thou hast given him. Given, of
course, means commit to, give over to, and entrust a valuable
possession to. It also includes the idea of
a reward, wages that have been earned. The Lord Jesus, he's
always had power. over all flesh because he's God. But you see, he has himself humbled. He's humbled himself. He's come
into this world. He's taken upon himself the form
of a servant. He served God. He's honored God. He was made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law. And then he died and redeemed
his people from all the demands of justice and God's law. And as a reward for that obedience,
God gave him all power. You remember our Lord Jesus,
he told his disciples, he said, now, I'm going to die and be
raised again, but I'll meet you in Galilee. That's what he said,
I'll meet you in Galilee. Well, of course, saw him dying,
they went to pieces. But anyway, as it winds up, it's
a good end to the story, he meets them in Galilee. And he gives
to them the great commission. But he says this commission this
way, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go
ye therefore and preach the gospel. Go ye therefore, and we know
anytime you see the word therefore, what's it there for? What's the
basis? What has he already stated? What
has already happened? He has died and as a result of
his obedience, God gave him all power. He said, all power is
mine. Therefore, on the basis of me
having all authority, you go forth and preach the gospel to
every creature. God gave him power. He earned
the right to have all authority and all power over all flesh. Let me show you an interesting
passage of scripture to just better enlighten you, and I'll
not keep you much longer, but look at Luke chapter 15. Look
at Luke chapter 15, and let me see if I can elaborate upon the
word where the Father said, or where Christ said, all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth, and as thou has given
me all power over all flesh. You know the story of the prodigal
son. I don't think there's anybody in here who doesn't know about
this story. But look down at verse 15. Luke 15, verse 15 of
this prodigal son we read, and he went and joined himself to
a citizen of that country. And he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. And no man
gave unto him." What does that mean? No man gave unto him. I'll tell
you exactly what it means. He got hired to do a job, feed
the swine. And whoever hired him, the owner
of the swine, they agreed, you feed my pigs, you take care of
the pigs, you slop the hogs. This is how much money I'll give
you. He did the work, but he didn't get paid. No man gave
to him. No man gave him. He didn't get
the rewards for his labor. He didn't get the wages that
they had agreed upon. And that's an awful thing. You
go to a man, he hires you and he says, you do this job for
me and this is what I'll do for you. I'll give you X number of
dollars an hour. and you do the job, you do the
work that you were hired to do, it's an awful thing if a man
doesn't then give you that which you have rightfully earned. Now
listen, our Lord Jesus was given a work to do. As it were, God
the Father hired him. Do a work. What is the work? Save my people. Redeem my people. Bring them all safely home to
glory. It needs be that you'll have
to humble yourself. You'll have to be beaten by men,
despised by men, and then you'll have to bear my wrath. You'll
have to die. You'll have to shed your blood
unto your death. But you do that, and I'm gonna
give you just wages. and the wages are gonna be all
power over all flesh. That's your wages. You see, that's
exactly what it's saying in that Psalm, Psalm two that I read,
where the father said, ask of me, you do the work, then ask
of me whatever you want, I'll give it to you because you've
earned it. Our Lord Jesus has earned the
right to rule the world, to rule over creation and providence
and salvation by virtue of His substitutionary death upon the
cross of Calvary. And so therefore, He says in
this high priestly prayer, as thou hast given Him as a reward,
as wages earned, all power over all flesh. This is our savior. He did the work and he's been
rewarded. And I'll tell you this, it says
in Romans chapter 14, verse nine, since he died and rose again,
God made him Lord over all. He's Lord of the quick and the
dead. The living and the dead, that's His reward. And our Savior
right here in this passage of Scripture, He acknowledges, He's
gonna be rewarded for His service. Just wages, just wages. And I'll tell you this, God always
pays just wages. He's always fair. He says the
wages of sin is death. You abide in your sinfulness,
you die in your sinfulness, just wages are coming your way, everlasting
death. But the Lord Jesus took the place
of his people and everybody who ever believes on him. And the
Father says, on account of you did this work that I gave you
to do, I hired you to do a work as it worked. And you agreed
to it. And in the covenant of grace,
the Father said, you do the work, here's your reward. You'll be
made Lord over all. That's why Simon Peter in Acts
chapter two says, this same Jesus that you crucified, God has made
him to be both Lord and Christ. God gave him power over all flesh.
Well, let's sing a closing song.