I don't know. Yeah, it's not
moving. Anyway, if you would take your
Bibles and please look at John chapter 17. Hopefully a very
familiar piece of scripture. If it's not, it should be. I want to read the first five
verses. John chapter 17 beginning in
verse 1. 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. Now this is commonly known as
Christ Jesus High Priestly Prayer. Now, I want to be very clear
about this. As this is a prayer, it is not
addressed to us. It's addressed to the Father.
He is speaking to the Father here. Now, parts of this prayer
do concern us and are about us. He prays to the Father about
his people in this prayer. Christ told us, pray to the Father. Pray on this wise, our Father
which art in heaven. Now you're not supposed to say
repeat after me, because he goes on right after what is called
the Lord's Prayer and it says, there are people who think they're
heard for much speaking. but that's who the prayer is
addressed to the father above that's who our Lord's prayer
was addressed to and he is our example now that
all being said Everything in this prayer is
here for our edification, for our education, and for our learning. Otherwise, John wouldn't have
recorded it here. The Holy Spirit wouldn't have
had John record this here. It is here for us. It's not addressed
to us, but it is here for us. We are to believe these words. We are to learn them. We are
to study them. And we are to repeat these words
to each other. That's why we're assembled here,
to proclaim the word of the Lord to us and for us. Now, he starts with this statement,
his speaking to the Father. He says, Father, the hour has
come. The hour has come. Now this hour that he's talking
about has been coming since before the foundation of the world. This is an explicit purpose of
God concerning the sun. This hour. Now there are many
hours spoken of in the gospel. He told his mother in John 2.
Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour has not yet come. That had to do with making water
into wine, doing a miracle. He did it anyway. In John 5 and verse 25, he says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. That hour's coming and that hour
is coming. Why? There were some that were hearing
the voice of the Son of God on this earth at that time and they
lived. And the hour's coming because
there are more who are going to hear the words, the voice,
the voice, not the words, the voice. They'll hear the words
but they're going to hear the voice of the Son of God What
is that word? Live. I came upon thee when thou
art polluted in thine own blood, and I said unto thee, live. That
voice speaks, live, and that soul that it's speaking to, that
he is speaking to, shall live. So that hour's come. It's coming
and it is come. Then a couple verses after that, Verse 28 of John 5 says, marvel
not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the
grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have
done good under the resurrection of life and they that have done
evil under the resurrection of damnation. That hasn't happened
yet. That hour is still coming. So
there's many, there's different hours that he's spoken. But there
was a few times when people tried to kill him, and he said he walked
right out of the midst. Why? His time hadn't come. His time
had not come. But this hour, right here, right
now, it says this hour has come. Turn back, if you would, to John
chapter 13. Now if you look at this, John
chapter 13 to about John chapter 18 is all one night. This is
all the Passover. John chapter 13 verse 1. Now
before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come. Now what is this hour? That he should depart out of
this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the
world, he loved them unto the end. This is the hour that Christ
is speaking of here. The hour has come. The hour has
come. What did he say next? Glorify
thy son that thy son may glorify thee. Well, let's stay in John
13 for just a moment. Verse 31, Therefore, when he was gone out,
Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified
in him. And if God be glorified in him,
God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway
glorify him. He's saying it already happened.
These are in the past tense. And yet, when you come to verse
1, he says it again. He's praying to the Father, glorify
thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. This hour that
is come is the hour of glorifying God. Christ had just spoke of
this to the disciples at the Last Supper there, in verse 31
and 32 of chapter 13. And this word here, glorify,
in John 17, is active and imperative. It's gonna happen. And it's happened. This is an action of God. This is an action of the Son. This is the work of God and this
is the work of the Son. This word glorify is a verb.
It's an action. It means to praise, to honor,
to extol, to glorify, to give exceeding praise. John 16, verse 12 to 15, we'll
find the Spirit, the Holy Spirit also glorifies the Son. Yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now Christ speaking to his disciples How
be it when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into
all truth For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever. He
shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to
come and Verse 14, he, this is still the comforter, Christ speaking
of the comforter, the Holy Spirit, shall glorify me. For he shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are mine, therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall
show it unto you. How is the Spirit to glorify
the Son? He's going to take the things
of Christ and show them to you. The Holy Spirit of God reveals
unto men just a taste, because that's all we can handle, of
how glorious the Lord Jesus Christ is. Every word we have in here
is true, but we don't understand every word that's in here. And
every word about our Lord Jesus Christ, every word spoken by
our Lord Jesus Christ is glorious, was honoring to the Father, is
honoring to the Father, and was perfectly in the will of the
Father. Now those are the words we like
and those are the words we don't like. But this word here that
we have been given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is here for
the glory of God. Which Catechism is it? Westminster
Catechism says what is the chief end of man? To glorify God. That's the chief end of man.
But here we have The Son telling the Father to glorify Him. And
I will glorify you. What do we have here in John
7? We have God glorifying God. In chapter 16, the Holy Spirit. We have God glorifying God. God stated plainly in the Old
Testament He will not give his glory to another It's not gonna
happen and God does not change And Isaiah 42 and verse 80 said
I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give
to another neither my praise to graven images Isaiah 48 and verse 11 for mine
own sake even for mine own sake Will I do it? God does his work for his sake
we benefit His people benefit from his work, but he's doing
it for his sake for his holy name's sake for his glory and
Why? Because he deserves all the glory. Every bit of it. He deserves
all the credit. You'll find in this book statements
that there is no boasting. There is to be no boasting, put
it that way. Because there are people out
there who boast about what they've done for the Lord. No, if you
did anything for the Lord, it's because he put in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure And he did it for his own glory
and he did it for his namesake and he did it If it is for his
glory For mine own namesake even for
mine own sake I will I do it for how should my name be polluted
and I will not give my glory unto another he will not give his glory unto
another and he will glorify his son and has glorified his son How is that possible? I, Christ
said it, I and my Father are one. The only reason Jesus Christ
could ask the Father to glorify Him, Himself, is if He is God. Because His glory He will not
give to another. Now there are people all around,
they think Jesus is a wonderful teacher. They won't do what he says. They
won't listen to what he teaches. They hate his words, but they'll
say he's a good teacher. That's the part that Nicodemus
brought up. He says, we know you're a teacher come from God,
because no man could do these things, you know, unless God
be with him. But at that time, Nicodemus said
that, he wasn't doing what Christ said. He wasn't believing what
Christ taught. There's all kind of people out
there giving lip service, but their hearts are far from God. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. That's what we call the triune
God, the Holy Trinity. God Jesus Christ is God and just
thereby by definition is deserving of all the glory that there is
and he could perfectly and in the will of the father pray to
the father glorify thy son and then state that thy son may glorify
thee. This is the way it is. To God be the glory. How much? All of it. All of it. All of it. This earth we stand on is His
handiwork. This life we now live is His
handiwork. The life that we have in Christ
is the work of God. The faith that we have is the
faith of God's elect and Jesus Christ is the author and the
finisher of faith. Who gets the glory in those statements?
Who gets the credit? Who is to be praised? The Son
and the Father and the Spirit. God is to be praised. God is
to be honored and God is given all the glory. Why? Because we
don't have any glory. What was our part in all of this?
It's the next statement says as thou has given him power over
all flesh what that he should give eternal life What part did
we have in that ooh? We were the ungodly We were without
strength. We were dead and trespasses in
sin at this time. We weren't even born Our parents
weren't even born nobody. We know has been born But Jesus Christ died for the
ungodly. He came and saved sinners. They said, call his name Jesus.
That's what they told Joseph. The angels did. Why? For he shall
save his people from their sins. He's getting all the glory, folks.
Because it's his. The glory is his. And I like, I do like how he
goes from that to where it says and now it's giving him power
over all flesh. Living flesh, dead flesh, animal
flesh, man flesh. Doesn't matter if it's flesh,
he has power over it. How much power? All of it. All
of it. Jesus Christ is God. manifest
in the flesh. He is God. He is the very image
of the invisible God made visible. And people talk about that like
it's just an everyday thing, Mason. They talk about it, Paul, like
it's nothing. No, no. That took one of the
greatest workings of God this world has ever seen. For God
in Carnegie who had glory which I had with thee before the world
was he was the voice that spoke this
world into being and yet that voice condescended came down
and took upon himself the likeness the likeness a sinful flesh and condemn sin in the flesh. That was a glorious thing that
happened. And we go out and buy Christmas
presents. Oh, there's a war on Christmas
in this country. Yeah, Santa Claus won. Watch the television, see what
happens. the glory of the Lord is forever
and it is his glory but he says he has power over
all flesh we believers in him in him we live we move and we
have our being By Him, all things consist. That's it. That's flesh too. He's got power
over all flesh. By Him, all things consist. Including
us. We exist by Him. Not just in Him. By Him. But He has power over all flesh.
And here's the purpose. That. that little word big meaning
that there's a reason he was given power over all flesh the
reason he has power over all flesh that he should give eternal life what I say earlier the hour is
coming and now is when those that are dead gonna hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. He gives eternal life. Eternal life is a gift. There is no earning. All the
glory for giving eternal life goes to the Son, goes to the
Father, goes to the Spirit. All glory goes to God, but especially
the glory of the saving of His people. This is why Christ came. And then he says it, and these
are the words of Christ, they're not my words. To as many as thou, the Father,
has given him. Has given him. Again, past tense. This happened before the world
began. Now, I know the explanations.
Well, the father gave to the son, and yes, I'm doing a funny
voice because I'm making fun of someone. The father gave to
the son all that he saw would believe on him. All that he saw
would come to him. You will not come to me that
you might have eternal life. The natural man cannot know the
things of the Spirit of God. He cannot and He will not. And
He gives eternal life. This is not life to all. This
life, eternal life, was never promised to all. This eternal life was never made
possible to all. This eternal life was never made
available to all. That's the new word they like.
It's available, you just gotta go get it. If I could go get it, I'd be
alive. But I'm dead in trespasses and sins. Dead people don't do
nothing. That's the illustration. And
it's not my illustration. That's what the scriptures say.
What do dead people do? They lay there. No, no. You need to hear the
voice of the Son of God. And you need to hear Him say,
live. And guess what? You'll live. Why? Because He
gives eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Coming up here, I was listening
to Bruce Crabtree and he quoted this and it just kind of hit
me and it works out perfectly for this if I can find it. John 6 and verse 37, I wanted
to read it so I don't mess it up. All that the Father giveth
me what shall come to me and him. that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out it just hit me while he was preaching there
see here we have all the father giveth me they're gonna come
but then it goes from a group to an individual HIM each and every single one of
this all We'll come to Him, but you come individually. You will
come individually. All are going to come, and all
are going to be saved, but Him's coming by Himself. I can't bring
anybody with me, and can't nobody else bring me with them. But,
Him that cometh, what does it say? I will in no wise cast out. You know what that is? That is
eternal life. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Those that are given eternal
life are the same ones that have been made alive by His voice. Because if the Son speaks to
you, you will live. He spoke to Saul of Tarsus on
the road. Yeah. They heard the sound, but They
didn't hear the voice of him that spoke to me That's why Saul
of Tarsus put it they heard the voice they heard a sound But
they didn't hear the voice that spoke to me The speaking of the Son to his
people is done individually And He gets all the glory for
it. The Son speaks to you, you will live. If the Son does not
speak to you, you're dead in your trespasses and sins. That's
just the way it is. Both the Father and the Son quicken,
whom He will. And nobody else. He told Moses, and he ain't never change I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy this life this eternal life is
real and it is given by God to every single individual in His proper purposed time This
has been purposed from before the foundation of the world Excuse
me But this is going to happen in time For every single one
who has been chosen by God before the foundation of the world chosen
in Christ And this is life eternal that they might know thee. The
only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. It takes a miracle of grace,
a miracle of life from God, the power of God to even know God. Ye must be born from above, born
again, what? To see the kingdom. And guess what? If you don't
see the king, you're not gonna see the king. Ye must be born from above to
see the king. Ye must be born with water and
the spirit to enter. But you gotta be born from above
to see. I said it a little bit earlier.
I mean, this world thinks everybody knows Jesus. No, they don't. No, they don't. No, they don't. They know a Jesus. They know
their Jesus. Mason, like I said, they don't
know the Jesus of this Bible. They don't know the one that's
praying to the Father here when he comes down and he says, I
pray for them, I pray not for the world. They don't want to
know that. And if you read it to them, they
don't believe it. Won't have it. Knowledge of God is exactly that. It's knowledge of God. It's of God. It's from God. It's a gift to you to know the
Father and the Son and the Spirit. And the only ones who do know
are those to whom the Son has revealed Himself. Because if
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. That's what Christ said. If you've seen Him, you've seen
the Father. I and my Father are one. I have glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. Jesus has glorified the Father
on the earth Everything he did fulfilled and was done perfectly
according to the will of the Father and That just goes as
much as I said last week the calling little children together
to suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them
not as when he went and he platted that whip and and went in to
the temple and kicked over the money changers tables and whipped
that whip around saying you took my father's house and made it
a den of iniquity. When he told them, behold unto
you Pharisees, scribes, and hypocrites, ye generation of vipers, you
bunch of snakes, that was according to the will
of the father perfectly in accord he finished the work the father
gave him to do on this earth his work's not over but what
he had to do on this earth is done this is the hour father glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was. Glory is nothing new to the Son
of God. He was with the Father. In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. And guess what? Right now he
is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. In glory. Jesus Christ is Lord. Every ton
is going to confess this. That Jesus Christ is Lord. What? To the glory of God the
Father. We do it here and now. There
are others that are just going to do it later. But every tongue
is going to confess that He is Lord. This is the hour. Let me look
here. John chapter 18, verse 36. This
is Jesus speaking to Pilate. Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. Now notice very carefully, no
matter what anyone says, he's already got a kingdom. is my
kingdom. It's not from hence, but it's
my kingdom, okay? That's free. Verse 37, Pilate
therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. Here's the point. To this end
was I born. And For this cause came I into
the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every
one that is of the truth heareth my voice. I ain't worried about what Pilate
said next, because that ain't important. That's just the view
of the world, and that world hasn't changed. What is true?
Well if you've got to ask that question, you don't know. You
don't know. And I can't help you. I can't
help you. Because if you know the truth,
you will glorify God. You will glorify the Son. For
this cause, to this end, I came into this world. to die and to
purchase my people to be condemned to be forsaken of God and he's given power over all
flesh to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him God glorifies God And we are to glorify God. We are to praise Him, extol Him,
exalt Him. Give Him all the credit for all
the work that He has done. The Father glorifies the Son,
the Son glorifies the Father, and the Holy Spirit glorifies
the Son. And we are to give glory to God,
praise His holy name, for He came into the world for this
cause. He came to save His people from
their sin. And He did. It's done. Redemption is complete. We say it. I'll say it. I said
it before. You can't preach God high enough
and you can't preach man low enough. And I mean that. Sincerely. You can't preach man dead enough. and the more you grow in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
the more you will give all the glory to God you will learn and the learning
will be reinforced Because to Him be the glory now and forever,
both now and forever. Amen. It's His glory. It's all His. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. Lord, thank You most of all for Your
Son. Your glorious Son, our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, who came and gave Himself for us. Thank You, Lord, for all You
do and all You're doing and all You have done. In His name we
pray, Amen.