John 17. I'm going to read 17
verses here. John 17. 17 verses. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world was. 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. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received,
and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. And I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. 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. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that
the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world, but thou shouldst keep them from
the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. I see Wilma Dunham back there
and appreciate her being here. She buried her husband last Sunday. She's here to worship the Lord
this morning. Testimony of the grace of God.
I want to look again in John 17, and I want to bring a message
called Our Lord's Gifts. Our Lord's Gifts. Things that
He gives us. Things that He gives us. Now,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, He started praying in John 13, and He done
some things with His disciples, and He told them a lot of things,
prayed for a lot of things. Then He got up and Well, he started
with his disciples after the Lord's Supper and up through
John 14 and 16. He talked to them, preached to
them. Then he prayed. Then he prayed. And he went behind
the veil here. He went into the holiest of holies
like the great high priest did once a year in Israel. He went
behind the veil. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ here
is, we're allowed to hear him pray and he's behind the veil.
We hear him make an intercession for us, for his people. And there
he is, and he's offering up a prayer. And he offers up this prayer,
but right before he offers himself up on the cross, because he leaves
here and goes into the Garden of Gethsemane, they come and
get him, try him, crucify him the next morning after this prayer. And so he offers up a prayer
here before he offers up himself on the cross as the one and the
only sacrifice that ever put away sin. The only sacrifice. This is what he came to do. He
says thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sin. He shall save them. He won't
try to save them. He will save And I tell you,
and that's why John said, behold the Lamb of God. What did He
come for? To take away the sin of the world. And He Himself
bear our sins in His own body on the tree. And as we, by faith,
are allowed to go behind this veil and go where our Lord Jesus
Christ is, we see Him unveil and open up so many things to
us. Unveil some things for us to
see. Unveil some things for us to behold. unveil some things
that He gives us. And I tell you what, He in this
prayer, His prayer, every petition is a revelation of His love and
power and grace. Every declaration that He makes
in this prayer is another discovery of His love and His power and
His grace for us. And our blessed Master, as we
hear Him pray, leads us more and more to love Him and worship
Him and need Him so desperately, so desperately. You know our
Lord Jesus said, having loved his own, there's two times it
says his own in John. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. And then in John 13, he says,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved him to
the end, he loved him to the end. Well, here's the first thing,
gifts that he gives us. I want you to see the first thing.
The first thing he gives us is life. And not only life, but
he gives us the life of God. Look what he said here in verse
two. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent now Christ our Lord is life
you know he says that he has power to give eternal life and
he gives eternal life to as many has been given by him and our
Lord Jesus Christ is life himself all life that exists in this
world they drive their life from the Lord Jesus Christ but he
himself derives his life from nowhere else but in himself And
you know, our Lord Jesus says, I'm the way. We lost the way
in our father, Adam. We didn't, men don't know the
way to God and they'll never find a way to God. They don't
have the ability to find their way to God. And they don't know
the truth that the scriptures tells us that men would rather
believe a lie as believe the truth. God said in one place
is that they re hold the lie with the right hand, hold it
tight with the right hand. And so if a man knows the truth,
Christ has got to, he said, I'm the truth. And then he says,
I am life. I am the life. And there is no
life in this world that does not derive its life from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 17, 28 says this is through
him. Through him, we live, we move,
and we have our being. And I'm telling you, beloved,
our Lord John said it like this, says, the Word, the Life itself,
the Word of Life that came into this world, we have seen, we
have touched, we have handled. And what is he talking about?
He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He said we saw Him, we
touched Him, we handled Him. And that's the Word of Life.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, I tell you what, He is life.
And our Lord Jesus, a mineral life gets its life from Him.
Vegetable life gets its life from Him. My mother-in-law used
to plant her garden every year and she prayed over every single
seed she put in the ground. She prayed and you say, well,
that's crazy. No, it ain't. No, no, if you've ever put out
a garden, it didn't come up. But she would, she'd plant her
beans and she'd say, Lord, if you don't give this bean life,
it ain't gonna have none. Lord, you're the one that can
cause this garden to grow. And she'd do that. She understood
where life come from, even vegetable life. Animal life. Oh, you go through the scriptures
and the scriptures tells us about how that God feeds the animals
that we don't ever even see. He feeds the animals. He says, whoever saw the roe
cast its young upon a mountainside and took care of it but God.
And all the life that's in the water, all the fish and all the
shrimp and all the things that people love to eat. And there's
not a soul on this earth that did not derive their life from
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he says he has power
over all flesh. And man's going to find out one
of these days. that He is who He said He was,
and they're going to see Him as He is, and there's going to
be some that bows to Him and worships Him, and there's going
to be some that's going to be mad. But I tell you one thing
every one of them is going to do, they're all going to bow
and confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And I tell you what, our Lord, and he derives his life from
nobody else. You know, Mary and Martha both
said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. Had
not died. You know what he said? He said,
he'll live again. Heck, I know he will at the resurrection. He says, no, I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. You see him in
a grave. I see him and his life derives
from me. And here I tell you, life of
God, that's the first thing He gives us, and look what He says
in verse 3. And He, this is life eternal,
this is life eternal, eternal life. That they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
Not only does He, the Lord Jesus, is life, but He alone can give
you the life of God. He alone can put the life of
God in your heart, in your soul. And He says that's what eternal
life is. What is eternal life? To know
God. not know some things about God,
not to be able to quote His attributes and go through a catechism, but
it's to know God Himself, to know that He is eternal, that
He has all power, that He has all life, that He, beloved, inhabits
eternity. He's high and He's holy and He's
lofty and He's glorious in His power and in His being. And all
eternal life consists in knowing God. And look what else he said,
and, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. How come you got to
know them both? Because they're the same. They're
the same. Oh, listen, I'll tell you something. That's why he says we're made
partakers of what? The divine life. You know, this
is what, Man cannot not know that he knows God. If you know
God, you know you know God. But if you don't know him, you
cannot thank that. The life of God in a man's heart,
the life of God in a man's soul. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And I tell you, there's no pluralism here. No allowing of anyone or
anything else the true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast saved.
I'm telling you what, that God in Christ has exclusivity on
salvation. But it includes, like the song
you sung this morning, I am the sinner and I know I need a Savior. I am the sinner and I know I
have a Savior. Now if a man is ever a sinner,
I know right then and there that he knows God. Because only God
can make a man know what he is. Huh? And I tell you what, let
me tell you something about this. And knowing God, God first knows
us. I'll tell you what it says in
verse two. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to who? As
many as thou hast given him. He knew us before we ever knew
him. You know, the gospel's always
been true. The gospel's always been the
same. The gospel's always, salvation's always been in Christ. We are
the last one to find out. And God comes along and tells
us. Oh, I'll tell you what that's why he says well to be you know
I know God or rather to be known of God and he says the foundation
of God stand is sure how does it stand sure why does it stand
sure because the Lord knows them that are his. That's why the
foundation of God stand is sure because he knows every single
one of them and I challenge anyone to know the true God apart from
Jesus Christ. It can't be done. It can't be
done. You know, and I say this, and
I don't mean to be mean, I don't want to be cruel, I don't want
to be harsh, but if a man does not know God, he cannot be saved. He's not saved. Whether he's,
I don't care what denomination he may call himself. And the
only way you can know God is if Jesus Christ makes Him known
to you. Now that's right. I want you
to look in 1 John 5, verse 10. I just thought of this here.
Show you that the true God, 1 John 5, verse 10. No, excuse me, verse 20. Excuse
me, verse 20, 1 John 5, verse 20. You know, the law came by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And of His fullness,
of His fullness have we received. And God, as He commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, In the creation, He comes along
and with His Word and with His power, He shines the light. He
commands the darkness to go away, just like He did in creation.
And as He revealed light, He gives us the light of the knowledge
of God, the understanding of the knowledge of God, and the
glory of God we're at in the person, in the face, in the person
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But look what it says here in
verse 20 of 1 John 5. Listen to this. And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding. Did
you notice it says, He hath given it to us? We weren't born with
it. It's not natural to us. He hath given us an understanding.
And what understanding did He give us? That we may know Him
that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son,
Jesus Christ. This is the true God. I don't know what it does for
you, but that does something for my heart and soul that nothing
else in this world does. And here's what happened. But
you know it says He gave Him power over all flesh. He became
flesh. Took upon Himself the lightness
of sinful flesh. He looked like a man and He was
a man. He felt, He got hungry, He got
tired. He got weary, He prayed. He done
all the things that a man would do. But He was in the flesh. But it looked, it was just the
lightness of sinful flesh. There was no sin in His flesh.
But when you looked at him, you just saw man. And what God did,
since he took upon himself all flesh, he gave him power and
authority over your flesh, my flesh, everybody's flesh. And
he'd do with them what he wants to. And he has authority, and
he's the only one that can give life and make God know. I'll
tell you something else. That's the first gift He gives
us. He gives us the life of God. He gives us eternal life. Christ
is life. And eternal life is to know God.
He made us to know God. And here's the sixth thing. Not
only did He give us the life of God, but He gave us the name
of God. Look down here in verse 6. Now
watch what He says now. John 17, 6. I have manifested
Thy name. Did you hear that? 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." When he says, I manifested
the name of God, what does he mean by that? He said, I manifested
God. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Ain't that what our Lord means
here? Ain't that what our Savior means? He says, if you've seen
me, you've seen God. If you've heard me speak, you've
heard my Father speak. If you see me work here, you're
seeing my Father work here. Everything that I'm doing, my
Father does. And the reason I do it is because
me and my Father are one. The life and work of our blessed
Lord was to first and foremost bring glory to his father. That
was the first and foremost thing in his life. He said, I came
down from heaven, not to seek my glory, but the glory of him
that sent me. He said, father, glorify thou
me with the glory, which I had with you before the world was.
And I tell you what, he truly, truly, when he was in this world,
when he was in his flesh, he truly manifested the nature and
the character of God. tell you let me give you an illustration
if I can when our Lord Jesus Christ was asleep in that ship
when that storm came now we know God does not sleep Tom says God
neither slumbers nor sleeps but our Lord Jesus Christ is a man
he got tired he went to sleep a storm arose Big storm. And those disciples woke him
up and says, Master, Master, don't you care? We're fixing
to perish here. They woke him up. As a man, he
was tired. But he got up. Man cannot deal
with the elements in creation. But God can. God spoke. Be still. God's got the power
over creation. And all you could go on, you
know, Man can't walk on water, but God can. Man can die, but
only God can give him life. And that's why only God can tell
a dead man to get out of a tomb and come out of there. God's
the only one that can do that. And I tell you, all of our Lord's,
everything about our Lord, ever in Him dwelled the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. All of His attributes that God
has was manifested in Christ. Love? God so loved. Power? God all power. Grace? To open men's eyes, give life.
And oh, listen, mercy? Oh, blind Bartimaeus said, Lord
have mercy on me. Just the cry of mercy stops our
Lord Jesus Christ dead in His tracks. And I tell you what,
you cry out for mercy and our Lord will stop and hear your
cry immediately. Reach out and touch the Lord
as He goes by. How do you touch Him? Lord have
mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And I tell
you as souls, as souls, We beheld our Lord Jesus Christ and some
souls in this world, they glorified Him as God. Look over here in
John 7, 18. Look in John 7, 18. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Look,
here's what He's talking about. Some souls beheld our Lord's
glory and they glorified Him. And as our souls behold Him as
our Lord, we glorify Him. Look what He says. In John 17,
18. He that speaketh of himself seeks
his own glory. Well, our Lord says, I manifested
the name. He said, I manifested the name
of God. Huh? I didn't come to speak of myself,
I came to speak about Him. But he that seeketh His glory
that sent Him, oh, that's the one that's true. And there's
no unrighteousness in Him. And I came down from heaven not
to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me. And let me
tell you something, beloved. He came and manifested, when
you talk about the manifestation of God, He manifested the will
of God. We know the will of God because
Christ came into this world. We know the will of God. We know
what God's will is. in Jesus Christ. I came down
from heaven, not to do my will, but to him. And what do we say,
Lord, not my will, but thine be done? And he manifested the
purpose of God. What's the purpose of God? To
give eternal life, to give life to the dead, to quicken the dead. And He came and manifested in
the name of God. He came to manifest the salvation
of God. How God would save a sinner.
He came to manifest the Word of God. And who did He manifest
these things to? The will of God, the purpose
of God, the salvation of God, the Word of God. Who did He manifest
those to? In verse 6 it says, Those that
thou gavest Me out of the world. That's who I manifested them
to. Now, I don't know who in the world God's elect are, and
I don't know everyone who the Father gave him, but I do know
this, that everyone that's been given to the Father, he's going
to manifest himself to them. Going to mess God's will? You're
going to know what it is. You're going to know God does
what he does on purpose. You're going to know how God
saves a sinner, and you're going to believe the Word of God. Huh?
Oh, Moses. I tell you what, let's look together
in Exodus 33. We quote this all the time. Let's
just look at it. Look at Exodus 33. He said, I manifested it
to those that it's given me. Now here's what Moses wanted
to know. And Moses said this in Exodus
33. Now you keep John 17 in your
left hand or right hand, whichever one you want to do it in. And
all the world by wisdom, it knew not God. But those that was given
to him, they, he manifested the name of God to him. World by
wisdom, they don't know God. You know what the world by wisdom
says? God loves everybody. You know what the wisdom of the
world says? Jesus died for everybody. You know what the wisdom of the
world says? It's up to you. You know what the wisdom of the
world says? When God gives you your chance, take advantage of
it. You know what the wisdom of this world says? That you
can know God and know Him as a heathen over in Africa or someplace
like that, and if you sincerely seek God and you don't know anything
about Him, He still is going to save you. That's the wisdom
of the world. But that's not the wisdom of
God. The wisdom of God is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
what He said here in Exodus 33, 18. And he said, and this is Moses
now, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And our Lord
said, I come to glorify you. And he said, I will make, and
this is the glory of God. I'll make all my goodness pass
before you. Oh, wouldn't we see the goodness
of God in our Lord Jesus Christ? And then he said, I'll proclaim
the name of the Lord before you. What did our Lord said? I manifested
thy name. And here's what he said. This
is his goodness. And this is his name. I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy. And look what he said now. Listen
to this. And our Lord said, I manifested
thy name unto them that's given me. And he said, you can't see
my face. You can't see me and live. Well,
where can we see God and live? in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cause
he said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Now look
what else he goes on to say. And the Lord said, behold me,
there's a place right by me, sitting at my right hand. and
bosom for my heart, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, Christ
our rock. And look what he says, and this
shall come to pass while my glory passes by. I'm gonna let you
see the only place you can see my glory, in the cleft, in that
rock that's been smitten, that rock that's got a hole in the
side, that rock that was clefted, and I'll cover thee with my hand
while I pass by. and I'll take away my hand and
you'll see my back parts, but my face. And I tell you what,
where do we see the face of God, the glory of God? In the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look what he goes on down
here and says in verse five of chapter 34. And now watch what
happens now. And the Lord came down in a cloud
and stood with him there with Moses and proclaimed again the
name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, and this is what he does. The Lord, the
Lord God merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and by no means clear the guilty.
How can he clear the guilty? Through his blessed Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Abundant mercy. And oh my, well,
the life of God, the name of God. Here's the next gift He
gave us over here in John 17. Not only give us the name of
God, the life of God, and all that God is, makes us to know
God by manifesting the name of God, and then He gives us the
Word of God. Look what He said in verse 8.
I have given unto them the words which thou hast given me. And
this is amazing right here. And they have received them and
have known surely, know without a doubt that I came out from
thee and they did believe that you did send me. I have given
unto them thy word. Now words is what we communicate
by. We communicate with one another
by words. God communicates with men by
words. And he said, I give them the
word, the words of God. God acts by his word. You know
that everything God's done in this world, he's done by his
word. He created the world. How did he create the world?
He said, let there be. He spake and it was done. He
commanded and it stood fast. And he does his work by his word,
by his word. And let me show you that in John.
You keep John 17, look John 12, 47 with me. God acts by his word,
does his work by his word. The scripture said he sent his
word and healed them. And that's what you come out
here this morning, to hear the word of God. You come here to
hear what God has to say. Is that not right? That's what
we're here for, to hear what God has to say, to me, to you. And look what he goes on to say
here now, John 12, 47. And if any man hear my words, and believe
not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world. Now listen to this. He that rejecteth
me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judges him. The
word that I have spoken, that's what's going to judge him in
the last day. The word I've spoken, that's what's going to judge
him. Now watch what he goes on to say now. For I have not spoken
of myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak. He says, you reject me. You reject my words. The same
words going to judge you in the last day. Now, you know, in Psalm
138 and verse two, it says, the Lord said, he said, I have magnified. David says, you've magnified
your word above your name. Now, how in the world does God
magnify his word above his name? when his name is everything.
His name is his character, his name is his attribute. How does he magnify his word
above his name? You know, he created the world
by his word. And then he turns around and
Hebrews 1 said he opposed the world by his word. And he saved sinners by his word. By his word. There's nobody ever,
ever, ever got saved by the grace of God apart from His Word. Nobody. Nobody. But here's what happens. He can create more worlds. In
fact, He's going to create it. He's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth the righteous. He's going to
make another world. And He can save all whom He pleases. He
can make another world and He can save all whom He pleases.
But one thing He can't do. is make another world. That's
why it magnified it. Because if you won't believe
this, you wouldn't believe anything any God's got to say or do anyway.
Is that not right? I can create another world, but
if you won't believe this world right here, and believe that
I already created a world, and I uphold that world by the word
of my power, and if you don't believe that God uses His word
to save His people, He says, creating another world ain't
gonna change nothing. And that's why He says, I can do a lot of
things, but I can't make another word. Because you know what that
means? That means this one's not true to start with, if he
had to make another. Ain't that right? When he opens the books,
you know what books he's going to open when men stand before
him? You know what book he's going
to open? This one right here. And you know what he'll say to
those folks when he opens the book and the dead stand before
him? And those that are alive stand
before him? And those that he brings out of hell stand before
him? You know what he's going to do? He's just going to open
the book. And he said, what did I say about my son? Everybody
believes he said, oh, he's everything. He's my savior. Those who didn't
believe him are going to just hang their head and be put back
in the bottomless pit. Scary thing, ain't it? But this
is what he's going to judge us by. And I tell you, beloved,
a man's as good as his word. And look what it says back over
here in John 17. Not only did He give us His words, but it
says in verse 8, they received them. and they believed them. They
believed that you sent me into this world. They believe who
you say you are. They really believe it. When
our Lord Jesus Christ was being tempted by the devil and he said,
if you be the son of God, and our Lord had been without water
and bread and food for 40 days, 40 days out in the wilderness. And here comes Satan along and
he says, oh listen, if you're the son of God, command these
stones to be made bread. I know you're hungry. Our Lord
said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God. That's what he said. How do we
live? By the word of God. And our Lord
himself is this truth. His words were the very words
of God. He says, if a man knows God,
he that knoweth God knows that my doctrine is true. And you
know why? They're the very words of God
and the doctrine of God because they're one in will, in deed,
and in truth. Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of life. Now look back over here and let
me give you this one. Here's the fourth thing that
our Lord has given us, the fourth gift, life, name, word, and here's
the fourth one, the glory of God. Look what he says down in
verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them, that they may be one, even as we are one. Now look what
he says, the glory which thou gavest me, I gave it them. Glory? He said, I've given them the
glory which you gave me. Now you're talking about union
with Christ and one with Christ. He says, the glory that you gave
me, I gave them the same glory. Now you get, get off. He said,
oh, how can that be? Well, that's what he said. Oh, what glory? Grace. was the glory was in our Lord. He gave us the glory of His grace. He gave us the glory of His election
to the praise of the glory of God. He gave us the glory of
His power in saving us and raising us from the dead. He gave us
the glory of His Word because we believe it and we rejoice
in it and we bow to it. He gave us the glory of His will
to let us know His will, believe His will, and bow to His will.
How did he do that? In the day of his power, he made
us all willing. And thy Lord is glorified in
us. Paul says, you know, he says,
whether by life or by death, Christ is glorified in us, glorified
in me. By living or by dying, he said,
Christ is glorified in me. And I tell you, beloved, God
was glorified in His Son and His Son is glorified in His own.
It's God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Let me give you some things that
He's glorified in us by. He's glorified in our confession of
Him. He's glorified in our confession
of Him. Who do you say that I, the Son of Man am? The Christ
the son of the living God. Oh, you're so blessed We confess
him we confess him to be everything We confess him to be God. We confess him to be man. We
confess him to be Savior We confess him to be Redeemer. We confess
him to be God We confess him to be our all and in all Oh,
listen, and he's glorified, and listen to this. Joe mentioned
this to me when we come in this morning. He is glorified in our
utter and absolute dependence upon him. Our Lord says, without
me, you can do nothing. And we know that in the depths
of our heart and soul. Oh, he's glorified in our utter
and absolute dependence. And you know what it is? It's
not blind faith. No, no, no. We, we, beloved,
we're utterly and absolutely dependent upon Him for everything
in this world. And all He's got to do, all He's
got to do, see this book right here? As long as I hold that
up, that thing's safe and it's secure. That's all God's got
to do to let us go. Just take His hand away from
us. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, don't never leave me alone. Oh, Lord,
please don't never, ever take your hand from me. You know,
that's how fast I'd fall. I've got enough frailty in me
without, with myself, without God leave me to myself. And I tell you what, he's glorified
by our worship of him. We've come here today to worship
him, to adore him, submit to him. And though it's imperfect,
you know what we do? We do it here because we do it
gladly, thankfully, and willfully. And He's glorified by our desires
after Him. Paul said, I want to win Him.
I want to know Him. I want to be found in Him. And
Paul says, that's what he says, he's glorified in our desires
after Him. How we desire Him. And not only
do we desire Him, we desire Him here and we desire Him for the
next life. How we desire Him. How we desire
Him. In fact, we won't be satisfied
until we, one of these days, awake in His likeness. And we're not satisfied. There's
lots of days when they say, Lord, come take me. We're not going
to be satisfied till we awaken his life. And oh, look what he
says down here in verse 24, John 17. And we, not only did he give
us the glory of God, but we shall be glorified one of these days. Look what he says in verse 24.
Father, I will. that they also whom thou hast given 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." Real glory is to be where he is and to behold his glory. That's what's going to be real
glory, ain't it? Oh, what glory that's going to
be. And, oh, there he has the glory of his sonship and heirs
of God. The glory will culminate in Him. We'll be one. Ain't that what
He says? We'll be one even as His Father and His Son is. We'll
be one. And then here's the last thing.
Here's the fifth thing that He gave us. He gave us life. Gave
us His name. Gave us His word. Gave us His
glory. Those are gifts. Glorious gifts. They're not tangible gifts. They're
spiritual gifts. Wonderful gifts. Blessed gifts
that only Christ can give. And here's the fifth thing he
gives us. He gives us the love of God.
Look what he said in verse 26. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, now listen to this, that the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and that I
will be in them too. That the love that you loved
me, when did he love him? Before the foundation of the
world. And the love that you love me with, May it be in them. And if that love's in them, that
means that I'm in them too. He declared and will declare
God's love to us. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What an unveiling prayer here.
When our Lord Jesus Christ began to pray, what an unveiling prayer.
He takes the veil away. And we hear our great high priest
pray, and he ends it here with this testimony, that, O Father,
give them the love. Give them the love. Whoever with
you loved me. The purpose which he had faithfully
declared, the name of God, was that the love which God had for
his Son might be in us. Now you listen to what I'm gonna
say and I'm winding it up. He did not come so God could
love us. He came because God did love
us. He didn't come to enable God
to love us. He came because God did love
us. And that love was always in him. And he loved us before
the foundation of the world. And he came and said, Father,
love, give them the same love that you love me. Oh my, Lord, oh Lord, work on
us to love you in return. To love and manifest the love
you loved us with toward others, saints and sinners, and God help
us do it for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord
and our God, we're like Thomas. We say, my Lord and my God, as
we bow before you, thank you for these wonderful, blessed,
precious gifts you gave us. Thank you for your life, for
making us to know God, for giving us your word, giving us your
glory, and giving us your love. Oh, Lord, blessed be your name.
And Father, work in us, please. to love you back. I know it'll
never be enough, never be pure, but oh Lord we do love you. We're
like Simon Peter, Lord thou knowest, thou knowest, and our Father
bless these dear saints of God. Save you people in this place.
May the word be a blessing today and you make it so by the Holy
Ghost. In Christ's blessed name I pray.
Amen, amen.