These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
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 word which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for
them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Oh, our Father, our Lord could
lift His eyes to heaven and look right into heaven itself and
see You. But, Lord, we look by faith, and our hearts can reach
into heaven. Our hearts can reach where You
are. Our hearts can acknowledge You to be the sovereign and true
and only living God. And, Lord, our hearts can bless
You and praise You and offer thanksgiving Our hearts can be
lifted up to you in adoration and desire. And I pray, Lord
Jesus, that you'd create these great things in our heart, this
love and desire after you. Who is like unto you, Lord, that
keeps you people, saves you people, preserves you people, strengthens
you people, comforts you people, puts peace in the hearts of you
people, He hears the cries of you people, and comes and walks with you
people. And Lord Jesus, we bless you
that you do that, and you are our God. And Father, we pray
for the needs of this body of believers, and they are many. They are many. We have sick. We have weak. We have dying. And Lord, we still come to you
and bless your holy name, knowing that your grace is sufficient,
that you hear the cries and groans of your people. And Lord, we
especially pray for Rick and his family, for his mother and
daddy, married many, many years. God bless them, strengthen them,
encourage them. Give the doctors the wisdom and
the ability to perform this surgery. And may she be made whole according
to Your glorious will and grace and power. Lord, save Your people. Send Your gospel today. Save
Your people in this place. Open hearts, open minds. Bring
glory to Yourself. And have mercy, oh, have mercy
upon our children and grandchildren. They don't deserve anything from
You but judgment and wrath and condemnation. The Lord will ask
for mercy. would ask for pity, would ask,
O Lord, that You would open hearts and create a need. And meet with
us today. Bring glory to Yourself in the
service, in Christ's holy name. Amen. Amen. I want to talk about our Lord's
gift today, our Lord's gifts. Here in John 17, we have The
Lord Jesus Christ prays. He's praying. He's been with
his disciples, washed their feet in John 13, told them how much
he loved them, encouraged their hearts, don't let them be troubled
in John 14. John 15, he talked about, without
me, you can do nothing. And John 16, he said, I'm going
away and the Father, the Holy Spirit's going to come and take
my place, going to comfort you. And then here he begins to pray
in their presence. Eleven men. And you can see that
the prayer is not very long. Not a very long prayer. You know, our words need to have
heart to them. But our Lord Jesus here, and
what we have is, you remember when the high priest went behind
the veil in the tabernacle, and he'd go in there once a year
to offer a sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then he'd offer
a sacrifice for the sins of the Lord's people, for Israel. Well,
and they'd go behind that veil, and when they'd come behind that
veil, there'd be salvation for a year. But our Lord Jesus Christ
is our great high priest. And we're able to see when he
goes, we get to go behind the veil with him here. We get to
go here and watch and listen to our Lord pray. We're allowed
by the power of the Holy Ghost to observe our great high priest
as he goes into the holiest of all. He's in the present chamber
of God praying here. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. And I'll tell you, when he lifted
up his eyes, he could see. I lift up my eyes and I see the
ceiling. I lift up, but I can't see God
with these natural eyes. But our Lord could with His eyes
look into glory. And here this prayer is being
offered up just before He offered up Himself. He offers this prayer
right before He offers up Himself. And for he offered up himself
upon the cross as the one and the only sacrifice ever sacrificed
for sin. This is what he came to do, to
offer himself a sacrifice. He said, Thou shalt call his
name Jesus. This is what they told him before
he was ever born. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall,
shall save his people from their sins. That's why it says, Behold,
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, he
himself bore our sins upon his own body on the tree. Now, as
we, by faith, go behind the veil to see our great high priest
and hear him pray, we see an unveiling. God takes away the
veil from our eyes, and we see an unveiling of our hearts if
God were pleased to do it. of some things here, holy things.
First of all, in this prayer, every petition that our Lord
offers here, every request that He offers, every petition, Lord,
do this, will you do this, Father, do that, is a revelation of our
Lord's great power and grace and mercy towards His people.
And every declaration that our Savior makes here, and He makes
some declarations. One declaration is, I pray not
for thee, I pray not, I pray for them, I pray not for the
world. That's a declaration. While I was with them, I kept
them in the Word. None of them's lost, except one. He was the son of perdition.
And every word, God help us, every word, may it lead us to
worship our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look over here in John 13,
just a moment, just to see what our Lord says about His people,
and then ends up over here in this prayer. So we're talking
about the gifts of God, the gifts of our Lord to His people. Here
in John 13, 1, it says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when
Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out
of this world unto the Father. Oh boy, depart out of this world,
get to go to the Father. Having loved His own, which were
in the world, He loved Him to the end. And then these words,
John 17, these words speak Jesus, lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. It's here. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
may also glorify Thee. I'm going to tell you the first
gift that He gives. He gives life. He gives the very life
of God. Look what He said in verse 2.
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." You see, our Lord Jesus
Christ is the Lord of life. The Lord of life. No man. He
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto
the Father but by Me. As the Father has power in Himself
to give life, even so the Son quickens whom He will. And our
Lord Jesus Christ says, And the Lord said, In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men. And look with me over in 1 John
1. Just a moment. 1 John 1. You know, all life You know, he says that he has
life, that has given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life, that he should give life. Our Lord is life itself. All life derives its life from
the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 1, here in verse
1 and 2, look what it says. John talking again. This is the
same man who wrote John's gospel. That which was from the beginning.
And the Word, the Word was in the beginning, the Word was God,
the Word was with God, the Word, that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, listen to
this, of the Word, that Word's capitalized, that's a title of
our Lord Jesus Christ. For the life was manifested.
What'd you say? Life was manifested. We saw this
life. We bear witness of this life.
We show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested, brought out for us. Now let me tell you,
our Lord Jesus Christ, all life derives its life from the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's in Him we live, move, and
have our being. Mineral life, Christ gives it
to us. Vegetable life, it comes from Christ. Animal life, it
comes from Christ. Water life, it comes from Christ.
Natural life, everything about life in this world as we know
it, comes from Christ. All life derives its life from
the Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord Jesus Christ derives
His life from nobody. He is life itself. He is living. self-existent,
always was, and I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, the ending,
he which was, which is, and which is to come. When Lazarus died,
Lazarus said, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother had
not died. Oh, he's going to live again. I know he will live again
in the last day of the resurrection. He said, Martha, Martha, Martha.
He said, I'm the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. You know
I'm resurrected right now. I've been quickened with Christ.
I have life with Christ, and I'm the resurrection, not only
am I the resurrection, but I'm the life. If a man were dead,
and we were dead in trespasses and sins, but we were quickened
together with Christ, though a man were dead, believe it in
me, he has life. He has life. And I'll tell you
something, love, that's the way life, Christ is life. He's not just one of the ways
of life. He Himself is life. And look
what He does. And He says here in verse 2 again,
in verse 3, He says, And this is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent. See, He alone is the life of God. You know what eternal
life consists in? Knowing God. Not knowing about
God. Knowing God. That they might
know Thee, the only true God. That's eternal life. Now, a lot
of people know a lot of things about God. And they say a lot
of things about God. And they make arguments over
God. But eternal life is knowing God. Knowing God. And not only knowing God, but
Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That's why Peter says we're made
partakers of the divine nature. And that's why, beloved, there's
no pluralism here. There's no allowing of anything
or anyone else. There's no two gods. There's
no other way to be saved. There's no other way to have
eternal life. There's no other way for you
to have any hope at all other than knowing God. Do you know
who the true God is? I'm going to show you in 1 John
5, verse 20. I'll tell you this, most people
in this world wouldn't know God, and I've said this a lot of times,
wouldn't know God from a goat. They really wouldn't, because
of the things they say about Him. I got a big article from
a real famous preacher the other day, And he was saying, God is
not sovereign. He said, that's one of the most
awful things that's ever said. That God should take away our
will, and God take away our rights, and God take away our choice. He said, that's the awfulest
thing. And wrote a great big article about it. Got a great
big old old message about it. And everybody just praises him
and all that. But I'll tell you, beloved, if you don't know God,
there's only one true God, then what would He be like? If He
had power over us, how big would He be? If He didn't have power
over our will, what would He be? If He didn't have power to
control this world, what would He be like? That'd make us the
God, that'd make us in control, that'd make us having all the
power, us having all the authority. So what in the world would we
need God for? If God don't have any more power
than us, then why in the world do we need Him? That's what people
don't understand. That's why He said, I've come
that they might have eternal life, and eternal life is one
thing, knowing the one true God, and Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going
to show you who this true God is. Look here in 1 John 5.20.
And we know that the Son of God is come. Oh, He's come. We know that.
How do we know it? Because He saved us! And has
given us an understanding. Oh, what kind of understanding
give us that we may know Him that is true? And we are in Him
that is true? Even in His Son Jesus Christ? Listen to it. This is the true
God and eternal life. You see, let me tell you something
about knowing God. In knowing God, there is first
God knowing you. Ain't that what he says? Thou
hast given him power of all flesh that thou should give eternal
life. What's this now? To as many as thou hast given
him. You know, see, he hath come to give us an understanding that
we may know him that is true. You see, for us to know God,
God, there's first God knowing us. When did God first know us? What did he say down here? You
know, in verse 10, he said, all mine are thine, and thine are
mine. All mine. I'll tell you, in Galatians
3.9, it says, after you've known God, or read, there are known
of God. And 2 Timothy, you all know it
very well. Every one of you can quote it.
He says, God who has saved us and called us with the Holy Call,
and not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. According as He had chosen us
in Christ before the world began. Christ stood before us, the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. We've got to know
God, but God's got to know us first, and we'll only know God
as He knows us first. And I tell you, He gives eternal
life to who? As many as Father gave Him. And
this is the eternal life to know God. Now, let me tell you something. I'm going to say this, and I
know this is true because I've been there. God does not save
men with error. He does not save men with lies. He does not save men with half-truths. He said, you know, there's no
middle ground here. Either you know the true God
or you don't. It don't say here that he that seeks the true God,
he that knows the true God. Don't say here who is trying
to figure out who God is, he that knows God. Who would like
to come to the altar and accept Jesus, he that knows God. He
that don't sign a card, but he that knows God. He that don't
make a decision, but he that knows the true God. What do you know, Abraham? I'm going to give you a perfect
illustration. Abraham was an idolater, dwelt in the area of
the Chaldeans, where Araki is now, on the Euphrates River. And he was over there and he
had his idols set up in his house, in his tent. And he'd go in there
and bow down to his idols, bow down to his sticks, bow down
to his stones, bow down to his silver, and bow down to his gold,
until one day God said, Abraham! Come out! Go on to a place and
I'll show you." He told them God's way and the way he went.
See, he knew God, but God knew him first. And here's the thing. You reckon God knows you? I know one thing he knows. He
knows everybody. Because he told a bunch one time,
he says, you know, depart from me, you workers of iniquity,
I never knew you. Now, listen. Did he not know who they was?
He knew they were workers of iniquity, but said, I never knew
you like I know these. Huh? And you have, and I'll tell
you, if you have any interest in God at all, if you have any
idea, and your mind's starting to open to who the true God is,
it's God because He first knows you. Folks say, well, I listen. That don't hardly make sense,
but I think it's the only way the world can be. Huh? You know,
people have babies all the time. We're going to have another great-grandson.
We're going to have a great-grandson here pretty quick. And they've
already named him. Well, God named us before we were. People
do that. And they know their children,
they know what it's going to be, and they know what they're
going to name it. Why wouldn't God know us and name us? Oh,
my. And I'll tell you the challenge.
And I challenge anyone to know the true God apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ. It can't be done. You can't know
God apart from Jesus Christ. Huh? No man has seen God. Had the Father at any time saved
the Son, He has declared Him out. And then look what, if I
love it, I'll tell you, I'm talking about Christ as our life. He
gave us this life, the life of God. And our Lord became flesh,
took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. And God gave
him, what he said there in verse two, authority over all flesh. He's got control over the flesh
that hates him and despises him. He's got control over the worst
enemies that he's ever had. And he's got control over me
and you. And I would not have it any other way. I would not
have life any other way, would you? And people say, well, you
don't want to be a robot. I wish he would make me a robot.
I wish he would take so over my mind, take so over my heart,
take so over my will, take so over my emotions, take so over
me that, beloved, all I knew was God and a desire after Him
and be perfect. And one of these days, bless
His name, we will be. Huh? He only gives life. And let me
tell you something else. And look what else he gave us
down here in verse 6. He said, I have manifested thy
name unto the me in which thou gavest me out of the world. He
manifested the name of God. I've manifested thy name unto
the me in which thou hast given me. Now, when you talk about
the name, you're talking about his nature. When he says, I've
manifested your name, I've manifested your nature, I've manifested
your character, I've manifested everything there is about you.
That's why he told his disciples, he said, he that has seen me
has seen the father. He that knows me knows the father.
He that hears me hears the father. The life and work of our blessed
Lord was first and foremost to glorify His Father. Ain't that
what He said here in verse 4? That was the work that our Lord
came to do. First and foremost is to glorify His Father. Not
to save His people, but to glorify His Father. And He glorified
His Father first in saving His people and filling His will.
And that's what He said in verse 4. I've glorified you on the
earth. I did it. I glorified you and
I finished the work which you gave me to do. Huh? Look in John 6.38 with you, just
a moment. Oh, this is it right here. This
is it. I came down from heaven. John
6.38, I came down from heaven. I came down. He had to come down. Come down, dwell among us, take
our flesh, take the likeness of sinful flesh, take unto himself
human nature, take unto himself a body, but not to do mine own
will. I didn't come into this world
for my will to be done, but the will of Him that sent me. You see, He truly manifested
the nature and character of God. All the attributes of God were
manifested and revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. All the power
of God manifested in Him, the love of God, the compassion of
God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the holiness of God,
the righteousness of God, all was in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I tell you, all that beheld our Lord Jesus Christ, they glorified
God too. Look what it says in John 7,
18. Look what he said here. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory. Oh my. Preaches his self, preaches his
education, preaches his ministry, preaches his soul winning. preaching
his great works, he that speaketh of himself seeks his own glory,
but he that seeks his glory that sent him, the same is true, and
there is no unrighteousness in him." And you know what the purpose
of God was. He'd come to fulfill that will
of God. He came to do the will of God,
to manifest the nature of God, the name of God. He came to reveal
the purpose of God, the salvation of God, the Word of God. And
all this was manifested there again in verse six of John seventeen.
I have manifested thy name unto the men, which thou gavest me
out of the world. You see, he done the same thing
for people all around. They seen the same thing, heard
the same words, seen the same Lord, seen the same miracles,
but they all didn't see the same God. Huh? Moses, show me, Lord, show
me your glory." All right, I will. He said, but you can't see it,
Moses, until I hide you. I've got to hide you. And for
us to see the glory of God, and this is where we see the glory
of God and we want to glorify God, is through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And he said, I can't show it
to you, Moses. I can't until I hide you first. And I've got
to hide you in this rock, this cleft in this rock here. And
I'll put my hand over you. And that's what God does. He
puts His hand over us because we can only see the glory of
God in the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God puts
His hand over us and says, now Moses, I'll cause my glory to
pass before you. What is your glory? I will have
mercy. On whom? I will have mercy. I will have compassion. On whom?
I will have compassion. So, then, it's not of him that
willeth, not of him that willeth, but it's of God that's sure to
receive. And then, beloved, that's the only place we can see the
glory, and that's the only place that we rejoice in the glory
of God, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't know God except
in Christ. And when we get to glory, I'll
preach this, I think, Wednesday night or last Wednesday night,
it says there that in that heavenly city, the glory of God is there. God's glory is there and the
Lamb is the temple. You know, when we get there,
we still don't want to see God's glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because God dwells in a life that no man can approach unto.
Bless His holy name. And we see God's glory in Him
right now. We see God's glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. In His purpose, in His will,
in His salvation. And the world, by wisdom, they
didn't know God. All the world's wisdom said,
oh, listen, He has a devil. He's a drunkard. He's a wine-bibber. His mother in marriage, how does
he say, come down from heaven? He said, we know him. We know
his mother. We know his daddy. We know his
brothers and sisters in the world. Our wisdom didn't know God. Give
us the rabbis. Crucify this blasphemer. Oh,
but listen, beloved. God, we know God in Christ. And then look what else he gives
us. And this is astounding thing to me right here. In verse 8,
John 17. For I have given unto them the
words which they have given me. He gives us the words of God. Oh, I have given unto them. You
see, here's something that we need to understand. That everything
God does, He does by His word. He acts by His word. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things that was made was by, made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And God acts
by His Word. He says by His Word. He teaches
by His Word. He enlightens by His Word. He
strengthens by His Word. He rebukes by His Word. He chases
by His Word. But look in John 12, 47, just
a moment, talking about His Word. He does His work by His Word. He said he sent his word and
healed them. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. John 12, 47. Look what our Lord
said here now. He said, 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 it. He that rejecteth
me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. Now
listen, what is this going to judge him? The word that I have
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. The word
that you hear is the same thing going to judge you. For I have
not spoken of myself, but the Father which hath sent me, he
gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak.
So the very word That being rejected is going
to be the thing that judges them in the last day. And look with
me at Psalm 138. Let me show you something over
here. Let's just look at this together. Psalm 138. It's about
God's words. God hath given unto them thy
word. Thy word. He gives it to us. gives us the
understanding of it, gives us life from it. And then look what
he said here, Psalm 138, verse 2. I will worship toward thy
holy temple and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for
thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above thy name. Magnified his word above his
name, what in the world could he mean by that? He says, I've
given him a name above every name, that every knee should
bow. But he said he magnified his
word above his name. Why would he do that? Well, I'm
going to tell you why. He created the worlds by his
word. He spake and it was done. He
commanded and it was done. Let there be light. There was
light. He saved sinners by his word. Being born again, not a
corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. It's the word, that's the seed
that God plants in a man's heart that generates, regenerates him. He can create more worlds. He
can save sinners, save all whom he pleases, but one thing he
can't never do. He will not never make another
word. And he will not never change
his word. He says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
word shall not fail. Not one jot nor one tittle. He'd
make another world. He'd save as many people as he
pleases. But he's only got one word. And if he ever changed
that, could we ever trust him? Huh? Oh, my. And if He changed it, it means
it's imperfect now. And then this is back over in
our text. This is one of the, this is the
astounding thing right here. He says there in verse 8, For
I have given unto them were words which thou gavest me. And listen
to it. And they received them. They received them. They believed
them. Oh, the multitude went away and
said, you also want to go away? Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. Oh, they not only received them,
they believed that you sent me. They believed that I come from
you. They believed that I come from heaven itself. And, oh, beloved, our Lord Himself
is the truth. His words were the very words
of God. The doctrine of God. They're
worn. All of it's worn in will, in
deed, in truth. He says, you know, the words
that I speak unto you, they're spirit into our life. So he gave
us his word. He gave us life. And listen to
it. He gives us the glory of God.
This is a gift he gives to his people. Down here in verse 22. Oh, this is an astounding thing.
You're in the glory which thou gavest me. I have given them
that they may be one, if it is we are one. I have given them
the glory that you gave me. Wait a minute. You mean He gave
us the glory of God that God gave Him? Huh? I give it to Him. Well, what
did He give us? He manifested, He gave us the
glory of His grace, the glory of His election, the glory of
His power, the glory of His word, the glory of His will. In the
day of His power, His peoples made willing. That's the glory
of God manifested to us. That in the day of His power,
God's glory is manifested in us and given us life. The day
of God's glory is manifested in us and given us grace. The
glory of God's manifested in us and choosing us in Christ
before the world ever began. The glory of His Word is revealed
in us when we believe it. The glory of His will is revealed
in us when He makes us willing in the day of His power. And
our Lord is glorified in us now. God was glorified in His Son,
and His Son is glorified in His own. God is God which worketh
in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And I tell
you how else He's glorified in us. And I think every one of
you all agree with me in this. He's glorified in our confession
of Him. What do you confess about God?
What do you confess about Christ? What did Christ confess about
God? How did Christ glorify God in
His confession of Him? God glorified in our confession
of Him. What do we confess about Him?
That He is all. That He is all. That He has all
power in heaven and in earth. That He has power over all flesh.
Reconfess He is all my salvation. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my wisdom. He's all my holiness. I'm not
looking to be any more holy. I'm not looking to be any more
holy. I'm not going to get better. I'm not getting better as I get
older. I turned 63 years old yesterday.
I ain't no better now than I was when I was 33. Probably worse. Lay in bed at night. Do you ever
do this? Do you ever lay in bed at night
or get through some time during the day and say, Lord, how in
the world am I in the condition I am and know you at the same
time? How could I possibly know you and rejoice in you and confess
you the way I am right this moment? Well, what we're doing is we're
confessing that He's all. Because if we was any way...
What else are we going to confess? And I tell you what, He's glorified
in our dependence upon Him. I depend on Him. I lean hard
on Him. I depend on His grace every day. I depend on His power every day. I depend without Him. I can do
nothing. I depend on Him to keep me, to
save me, to take me to glory, to keep me in the night, to keep
me in the day, to keep me awake, to keep me asleep, to keep me. I depend on Him. And, oh, beloved, He's glorified
in our worship of Him. Oh, we worship Him. Worship Him. Worship Him. We've gathered into
this house to worship Him. Oh, we worship. We bow to You,
Lord. We bow to You. We acknowledge
You. We want to worship You. You're adorable. You're precious.
You're holy. You're righteous. We worship
You. And our worship is imperfect
by a million miles, but we still do it. We do it gladly. And oh,
beloved, He's glorified in our desires after Him. In our desires
after Him. Paul said, this one thing, I
want to know Christ. I want to know Him. Paul, don't
you know Him? I do. I do. I count everything
before I knew Him but God, but I want to know Him. I know I
want to know Him, I want to win Him. I want Him to be my prize. I want Him to be my reward. When
I get to glory in this world and in the next world, I want
Him to be there. I want to win Him. I want Him
to be my prize. I want Him to be the reward when
I cross the finish line. In fact, beloved, I'll tell you
that David said, this way we will be satisfied until we awaken
His likeness. And then look what he said down
in verse 24. He's given us the glory of God that He had. Look what it says here. We shall
be glorified. He said, verse 24, Father, I
will that they also, and how many times it says here, Thou
hast given me. I will that they also whom Thou hast given me
be with me where I am. Now listen to this, that they
may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me. You know what real glory is going
to be? when we behold His glory. We beheld His glory as the glory
of the only begotten of the Father. The glory is to be where He is,
where He is, and to behold His glory forever. Oh, to glory. We see the glory. We'll see the
glory of His Sonship. We're heirs of God. And oh, beloved,
that's what He says, they may behold My glory which Thou hast
given Me. This glory will culminate one
of these days when we will be one with Him, even as His Son,
and we are one. And let me show you something
else He gives us. Oh, my. Verse 26, And I have declared unto them by name,
and will declare, that the love of God, for which thou hast loved
them, may be in them, and I in thee. He said, Father, I've told
them who you are, and I'm going to keep telling
you. And I've told them that you loved me. You loved me. I was the delight of your heart,
delight of your life. You loved me. Oh, I'm the son
of your love. I was daily your delight. I was
with you when the foundations of the world were laid. I was
with you when the suns of the morning began forever. They began
to sing songs before the sun ever come up. He said, I said,
you loved me then. But I want you to make them know that you love
them just like you love me. how much you love me. I said,
I want them to know that you love them the same way. You love
me before I ever was. I was the son of your love. Well,
they're the sons of my love. You love me as an everlasting
love. Well, I love them with an everlasting love. You love
me with a perfect love. I love them with a perfect love.
You love me because I've done your will. You love them because
they do your will. You love me because I glorify
you. Love them because they glorify
you. Because we do all this in Christ. And the love of God shall have
broadened our hearts by the Holy Ghost. What an unveiling prayer
here that our great high priest prayed. And he ends it here with
this glorious testimony. The purpose which He had faithfully
declared the name of God was that the love of God, which God
had for His Son, might be in us. And listen to me. Most people think God came so
He could love us. No, no. Christ came because He
did love us. Christ came because He did love
us. And he was the manifestation
of that love of God towards us. Oh my, you loved me before the
foundation of the world, but you loved them before the foundation
of the world. And beloved, you know when we'll have some real
concept of the love of God? When we're in glory. You know, sometimes it overwhelms
us. Other times it don't seem to
move us. But you know, God work in us to love him. And this is, you know, that ever
how God loved Christ, he says, that's how he loves us. Now,
if you get your just just facts of that, just. So, oh, Lord, work in us to love
you in return. Work in us, oh, Lord, to love
and manifest the love. that you loved us with towards
one another, God help us to love one another. God help us to love
saints and to love sinners, and do it for the same reason Christ
loved us. Because He would. Because He
would.