The name of the message tonight
is The Father Declared. The Father Declared, and this
will be the last message in this study of John chapter 17. It has been in no way exhaustive. There is so much still there,
beloved. I could go through this whole
section again with you, and we'd see things that we never saw
before. It's just the Bible. You cannot exhaust the scriptures.
You just cannot. But what we've learned has been
tremendous and wonderful, hasn't it? It's been wonderful. Oh my. It's just this study has been
so rich for me and so enjoyable and so incredible to know how
much the Father loves us. how much Christ loves us, and
how much the Holy Spirit of God loves us. It's been absolutely
incredible. And to know that God planned
and purposed our salvation, chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, and has loved us with an unchanging, eternal love,
has been absolutely incredible. And we believe it, don't we?
Because the word of God says it. We don't understand it all. And the little bit of understanding
we have of it, it just makes our minds just, it blows our
minds away, doesn't it? And how much God truly loves
us. My oh my. Now we've journeyed
through this chapter for 29 weeks. Tonight will be the 30th week
that we've journeyed through this chapter, this study of the
high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's been absolutely
amazing. Let's look at the context of
our verse tonight, which will be the last verse in this chapter. Let's read from verse 20 to 26. The scriptures declare, and I
have declared unto them thy name and will. Nope, I'm sorry, I
went too far. 19, or 20, I mean, 20 to 26. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
They all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me. and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. In the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. 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. O righteous Father, the
world hath not known thee, But I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them. My, what a verse. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." Beloved, that's
Christ in us, the hope of glory. My, oh my. And that love that's
spoken of here, God sheds it abroad in our hearts, the scriptures
say. See, the one thing, you've heard me say this many times,
the one thing that Satan can't counterfeit, he can counterfeit
a lot of things. And it's proven out there with
all the religion out there, right? But he can't counterfeit the
love of God in Christ. The love that we have for one
another, the love that we have for the Father, the love that
we have for Christ, the love that we have for his gospel,
he can't counterfeit that. Now, man can be very religious
and yet not know Christ. Man can know doctrine and not
know Christ. Right doctrine. Many have sat
under the gospel for years and years and not knowing Christ.
Our dear brother, you sat under for years and then the Lord revealed
himself to you. Praise be to God. Some of us was just out in the
world. And God led us to hear the gospel. Saved us. Some of us were saved out of
religion. In the bondage of religion. And we heard a preacher preach
the gospel. We rejoiced as the Holy Spirit
made it effectual we're born again by his almighty power. Now in chapter 18, right after
this chapter, look at verse 1. Our Lord crosses over Cedron
and enters into the garden. Look at verse 1 of chapter 18
of John. When Jesus had spoken these words,
he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where
was a garden, into the which he entered and his disciples.
Now John Gill bought something really interesting in this. I
didn't include it in my notes but it's worth saying. He said
that Christ went into the garden and Adam had fallen in the garden.
And Christ is the second Adam in full obedience to God. Isn't
that amazing? And that's where they take him
from. That's where they take him from. A garden. Now we know
that garden is called Gethsemane because over in Matthew chapter
26 verse 36 It says, then cometh Jesus with
them into a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto his disciples,
sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. That's Matthew 26, 36. Then in chapter 19 of John, let's
turn there, our Lord is crucified in the room and place of his
people. And this is shortly after this high priestly prayer, too.
Very shortly after this high priestly prayer, our Lord's crucified
in the ruined place of His people to suffer the wrath of God that
was due us fell upon Him. And He redeemed His people by
His precious, precious blood. Look at John 19, verses 16 to
19. Then delivered he, him, Pilate
delivered him unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus
and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the Place of a Skull, which in the
Hebrew, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, outside the
city, outside the camp. where they crucified him. They
nailed him to a cross. He's totally innocent. He's totally, now there was one
who was supposed to die with those two thieves, right? Called Barabbas. But somebody's gonna die in his
place. And he was, the law had found him absolutely guilty,
right? He was already sentenced. He was condemned to die. Beloved,
what did the law of God find us? Sentenced. Condemned. That's why Paul writes, there's
now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. The law
of God found us guilty. Guilty as charged. Just like
the Hebrew law found Barabbas guilty as charged. And here, is an innocent one
dying. One who's not guilty of anything.
One who's absolutely sinless, spotless. But he's doing it,
beloved, for you and I. And for all the elect of all
the ages. And the scripture says in Isaiah
that he shall not fail, the Messiah shall not fail. Jesus Christ
is the Messiah. He's the sent one of God. And
he is on a mission. And he must finish that mission. Oh, he says in John 17 verse
4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work which
thou sentest me to do. And now here we see, let's continue
reading this. Where they crucified him and two other with him on
either side, one in Jesus in the midst. Again, that ties into
the verse we looked at last week, which is amazing. And Pilate,
look what Pilate wrote, a title, and put on it, on the cross,
and writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. He is the
true King of spiritual Israel. He's our King, isn't he? And
we bow to him. Willingly we bow to him. We've
been made willing, but now we willingly bow, don't we? We willingly
name as our king. We willingly proclaim that he's
the only savior of sinners. He saved us. He can save all
who come to him, can't he? Will everyone come to him? No. None of us would by nature. That's
why we have to be made willing, beloved, in the day of God's
power. Now let's go down to verse 28 and read to verse 34. And
here's our Lord, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I, first. Now there was said a vessel full
of vinegar. They filled the sponge with vinegar
and put upon it hyssop and put it to his mouth. They didn't
even give him water. Stuck vinegar. I used to have to drink apple
cider vinegar to stop pains in my legs. You know how awful that
stuff tastes? It's not very fun. It puckers you. My oh my. And they gave it to him, and
he said, I thirst, and they gave him a sponge full of vinegar. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, look at these words, it is finished. Perfect. Complete. Now, finished there
means perfect. Why does man think he has to
add something to the perfect finished work of Christ? And we were there, weren't we?
Yeah, it's our depravity, brother. We were all there, weren't we?
It's depravity that makes us think that way. It's our nature
in our natural state. But after the Lord saves us,
after we're regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit of God,
our whole outlook on that changes, doesn't it? We look at these
words as three of the most precious words ever spoken. It is finished. Hallelujah, right? Our salvation
is complete, beloved. There's absolutely nothing for
us to do. We just look to Christ, don't we? We just look to Him. And tonight we're going to find
out why we look to Him. Because of the work of the Son
and the Holy Spirit of God. Oh my. He said, it is finished. Now look at that. He voluntarily
gave up the ghost, right? He bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. He gave his life for us, beloved.
The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the
bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day,
for that Sabbath day wasn't high day, besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then
came the soldiers and break the legs of the first. Now, the reason
they did that is to bring death speedily upon those who were
being crucified if they were still alive. Because they would
push up with their legs And if, yeah, but if you, if
you cut, broke them, they'd suffocate. So we see here, they broke, broke
legs of the first and then the other. So they were both still
alive when Christ died, which was crucified with them. But
when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they
break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side. What came out, beloved? Blood. The blood of the Lamb. The blood
of the Lamb. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission for sins, right? They pierced his side,
and forthwith there came out blood and water. Look at that. So that's the setting of this
high priestly prayer. right before our Lord goes to
the Garden of Gethsemane and right before He goes to the cross.
Because we know they came and took Him away while He was in
Gethsemane. And He knows exactly what's coming.
He's God. He knows. He knows exactly what's
coming. He knows He's the Lamb of God. Right? He knows who he is. My oh my. He's the Lamb of God. He knows why he came. He knows
what's coming. And we see him in the garden,
praying for himself first, as we went through the study, the
first five verses. And then from six to 19, he prays
for the apostles. And then from 20 to 26 of this
high priestly prayer, he prays for us. we who would believe on the words
of the apostles and all the elect of all the ages as well. My, he spends more time on others
than himself. Five verses on himself, but we're
scattered all through those verses too. And the rest, I'm praying for
his people. What a wonderful Savior. And
He knows what's coming. He knows exactly what's coming. He's praying for those who would
believe on the words of the Apostles. And He's also praying for all
those who the Father gave Him. In eternity, the elect of all
the ages. We've seen that in the last few
verses we've studied. Now our Lord Jesus Christ is
going to close this wonderful prayer in verse 26, and then
he's going to go and finish the work by dying on Calvary's cross. He's a great substitute of sinners.
And we've seen all through this prayer, and Dave, you brought
it up all through John, now you just see everywhere, sent, sent,
sent. He's sent by the Father. He's
sent by the Father. to give us life, beloved, eternal
life. But what motivated him to do
that? His great love for us. See, the same love the Father
has for us is the same love Christ has for us and is the same love
the Holy Spirit has for us. They're in perfect unity, right?
So imagine that. God, the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit loves us. Oh, we see the Father loves us
as Christ loves us. That would be true of the Holy
Spirit of God, too, wouldn't it? And we've seen Christ's love
manifested for us at Calvary's cross, what we just read. You
know, that's the greatest manifestation of love, again, this world has
ever seen. When our Lord died on that cross for you and I. And those beautiful words, it's
finished. Salvation is in no way dependent
upon myself. Hallelujah. It's all based upon
what Christ has done for us. I'll tell you what, that is the
best news a sinner can hear in. That's the best news. My, oh, my. So let us consider
this. I was thinking about this today.
What an honor and a privilege it is for us to know God. For years I groped around in
the darkness, did you? For years. I groped around in
the darkness of just my natural depravity. I groped around in
the darkness of religion, did you? And one day I heard a gospel
preacher Oh, and the Lord just shone the light of his love in
my heart. Born again, just like that. My, oh, my. And now we cry out
with Peter, help my unbelief. I know you love me, Lord, but
help my unbelief. Help me keep trusting you, Lord, and resting
in just looking to you. And think of what an honor and
a privilege it is for us to know God. To know who He is now. When so many others do not know
Him. When for so long we didn't know
Him. Oh my. And you know, without
the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God, who again is sent by
the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Sent not to reveal himself, but
sent to reveal Christ. If he hadn't of sent the Holy
Spirit, we would have no understanding of who the Father is. We would
have no understanding of who Christ is. So wonder of wonders,
what mercy. God the Father sends his Son
to come and die for us. And then the Son sends the Holy
Spirit to reveal Himself to us and to reveal to us who the Father
is and how much He loves us. That's absolutely incredible,
isn't it? Look at verse 25 and 26. We have to read them together
because the word and in verse 26 connects us to verse 25. O righteous father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee. And these have known
that thou didst send me. Notice that the world doesn't
know him. But he has revealed himself to
those who are his people. It says,
but I've known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it.
That the love therewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. See the word declare there? Now
we would think declare would be like, you know, Jesus Christ
is Lord, right? Declaring like that. Because
that's what declaration is to us, right? You know what the
word declare there means? Declared in the Greek? This blew
my mind away. To make no one. Did we know Christ before we
were born again? We were a bunch of prophets, weren't
we? He's made him known. It goes on too, though. Listen
to this. To make known, to know, to certify, and then the word
declare comes in. Make known, and like this, give
to understand. We did not know him, and we had
no understanding of him, just like the scripture says. There's
none that seeketh after God. There's none that understandeth
him. None. Absolutely none. And this is the Savior saying,
I've made known unto them. I've made known unto them, Father,
you. Without the revelation of God
revealing Christ to us, we'd all still be groping in the dark,
beloved. What mercy. And we see here that
Christ then is the great revealer of the Father. And he sends the
Holy Spirit to reveal himself, and then the Holy Spirit Reveals
to us who the Father is too, doesn't he? Oh my, Christ is the great revealer. Holy Spirit reveals Christ to
us and God the Father, who is the very one who sent the Lord
Jesus Christ into this world to save us from our sins. There was a time when we didn't
know that. Rejoice, beloved. God did this for you and I. The one who cannot be known unless
he reveals himself sent his son into this world to reveal himself
to his people. And this is still being answered,
isn't it? As the Holy Spirit regenerates
the lost sheep, right? And calls them by their name
to come to Christ, gives them faith to believe like he did
for you and I. And now we believe these words spoken by our elder
brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. Do you know that we cannot
know God, we cannot know the love of God without him being
revealed to us? We can have no understanding
of this great love that's spoken of, even though it's hard for
us to understand that the Father loves us as he loves Christ.
It's truth, it's in the word of God, right? But if he hadn't
revealed himself, we wouldn't have even saw that. Do you know
I read the Bible before the Lord saved me? You know what it was?
Paper and ink. I remember, I remember sitting
in a room, in Canada, reading the scriptures, going, there's
nothing here for me. It was just a book. There was nothing in it that
spoke to my heart. But I'll tell you, when the Lord
saved me, that book's alive. That's a whole new book there.
I'm seeing things I never saw before, are you? By the power
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Spurgeon said that. Every day,
he's the revealer of Christ more and more to us. I was looking
at some notes for this message, and Spurgeon brought that out.
He says, this prayer is answered every single day. Because he
just keeps revealing more and more of himself to us, beloved.
Oh, it's wonderful, I'll tell you what. Oh, my. And when our eyes are
open to behold the loveliness of God, and He is absolutely
lovely, isn't He? He is lovely. God is lovely.
He is love. When we behold the loveliness
of God, then our heart goes out towards Him, and only because
we're born again. And what does He do? What happens?
He becomes the most desirable object of our lives. Like Paul wrote, I was writing
back and forth to Marcus, and Marcus wrote, we were talking
about the message night, Marcus wrote, after the Lord saves us
and Christ reveals himself to us, Christ is all. That's what he becomes, eh? All
in all, that's what he becomes to us. He is our everything. Potentate. The only potentate. The only potentate. The one true
God. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
And our eyes are open. We were once blind, but now we
see. Now we see. Now our hearts rejoice, don't
they? Oh my. And this knowledge of God is
a knowledge given to us by Christ. It's not a knowledge we pick
up by being taught by man. No. Many people sit under the gospel
and don't even know Christ. Right? No. It's not knowledge that we can
pick up by academia. Right? You know, we can study
and study and study and still not know Christ. Look at Catholics.
Right? Look at the scribes and Pharisees.
They studied the Word of God. And they didn't even know the
Messiah they were talking to. Now that woman at the well found
out who he was. And then what'd she do? She went back to the
city and told everybody, come and hear this man! Oh, it's wonderful. And that's what happens to us,
isn't it, when the Lord saves us? Oh, it's wonderful. So this isn't a head knowledge.
No amount of head knowledge will reveal the father. All it'll
do is cause people to boast. No, we must be born again. We
must be born again. We must be given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then this knowledge that
he reveals to us of God, who he is, it's so sweet. It's the sweetest thing we've
ever found in this world. Oh my. And it only comes, this
knowledge spoken of in verse 26, only comes by revelation
of God. No book learning will ever bring
us to Christ. Not even the knowledge communicated
by a preacher alone. It must be taken by the Holy
Spirit of God and applied. And that's why I marvel, somewhere
between my words and your ears, God the Holy Spirit takes this
message, it's wonderful, and blesses you just as he's blessed
me putting the message together. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. I remember someone saying, a
preacher a long time ago said, somebody came up to him and said,
well, I didn't get nothing out of your message. He says, well, take it up with
God. It's not my problem. Right? Oh, my. I tell you, every message
I listen to, I get something out of it. I'm usually at the
end of it, I'm rejoicing. That message Brother Travis preached
that Sunday was wonderful. But the blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. That was just absolutely wonderful.
Oh, my gosh. It's absolutely, you know, we
have to have teachable spirits, don't we? And that's what we
want. We come before the Lord saying, teach me, Lord. We're
going through a trial or tribulation. Lord, what are you trying to
teach me through this? We know he's conforming us to
his image. We don't see it. But he is, beloved. He is. It's absolutely wonderful.
Oh, my. And in verse 25, we see that
the world does not know the righteous father, but God's people know
him only because Christ has revealed him to us. And he sent the Holy
Spirit, and the Holy Spirit's revealed who Christ is. He's
revealed why he came, right? He's revealed more importantly
what we are and who we are by nature. And we desperately need
him, need Christ. And he gives us faith to believe,
doesn't he? And we just run to Christ. It's absolutely amazing. And it says in verse 25 there
that we now know that Christ was sent by the Father. That's
something we do know. Who made us to differ? Well,
it's God. It's Christ and Christ alone.
Let's read verse 26 with that in mind. And it brings forth
that Christ has declared the Father to we who are his people. Again, what an honor and a privilege
that he makes known to you and I, God the Father. And I have declared, made known
unto them thy name. Well, what's his name? Jehovah. Jehovah, the self-existent one. My, oh my. And we'll declare
it. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, that's that everlasting
love, may be in them, and I in them. Again, Christ in us, the
hope of glory. Now look at verse six. He's going
back to something he's already spoken of. Look at verse six
of John 17. Look at this. I have manifest
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. That's
what we know as men and women. Thine they were, They were the
father's first, right? We marveled at that when we went
through this. They were the father's first. Thine they were, and thou
gavest them me. We were the father's chosen by
him, and we were given to Christ, beloved. We're a love gift to
him. That's hard for us to understand
because we're just, we're sinners. But we're a love gift from the
father to the son. It's amazing. My, oh my. Thou gavest to me
and they have kept thy word. How have they kept thy word?
Because Christ kept us. Zane and I were laughing the
other day about how that footprints in the sand, first they show
two sets of footprints. There were never no two sets
of footprints. Zane said there was only one the whole time of
our lives. And that's him carrying us, beloved.
Right? From the moment of conception,
even before that, He's loved us from eternity. But from the
moment of conception till the day we die and then He just carries
us home, He's taken care of us the whole time, beloved. Even
when we were dead in trespasses and sins, He's still watching
over us. Does a shepherd stop watching
the sheep if he keeps wandering away? No, he's got his eye on
him, don't he? puts that crook around his neck
and just gently brings him back. Remember the crook and the shepherd's
staff? That staff's not to beat on the
sheep. That staff's to beat on the wolves.
But for the sheep, they get that little crook in the neck and
come on, come on. Come on back over here. You're
my little one. Back in the fold. My oh my, it's
wonderful. So the world does not know the
Father. Oh, the world doesn't know Him.
We saw that in verse 25. The world abides in darkness,
sin, and death. And that's where the Lord plucked
us out of. No matter what state we were
in, religion or not religion, He plucked us out of darkness,
sin, and death. We're like a bran plucked from
the fire. Bought out to burn no more. My oh my. What happens if that
brand still stays in the fire? Whoosh. Gone. My oh my, beloved. And this knowledge of the Father
given to us by By Christ, Jesus our Lord distinguishes us from
the world. We see that in verse six of John
17. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. So we're distinguished by God
from the world, beloved. And this knowledge that Christ
reveals is the knowledge of who God is, his name, Jehovah. The self-existent One. The One
who needs no one, nothing. The One who has no beginning
or end. He's the self-existent One. The One who sent He, who
is both our Savior and our God. The Lord Jesus Christ. God manifest
in the flesh. My, oh my. The One who will be
our Savior. but will be the judge of the
whole world. My, aren't you thankful we're safe in Christ? Oh my,
glory to his name. And what joy comes to the born-again,
blood-washed believer in knowing, knowing that the righteous father
proclaimed in verse 25, this is who we now know. He's both
righteous as God, And he's also our father. The one who is perfect and holy is our father. He's a father to we who are his
people. What joy, what joy when we see
the righteousness of God. And the father, the named father,
united in one. United in one. He's our righteous
father who's loved us as he loves Christ from eternity. We can't quite get our mind around
that, can we? But it's true. It's a fact. Remember, these are facts being
proclaimed. The scripture is a book of facts.
It is not up for debate. Our Lord is proclaiming a fact
when 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
from before the foundation of the world. That's a fact. Verse
25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have
known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. That's
a fact, beloved. And then in verse 23, it says, that thou hast sent me and hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. That's a fact, beloved. These
are facts being proclaimed. They're not up for debate. And we as God's people, we believe
them because God says them. And we believe it. We didn't
believe it before we were saved, did we? But now we do. Imagine your favorite food, this
is like just gobbling down your favorite, just those beautiful
things bursting in your mouth with your taste buds and so wonderful
and so good. This is so good. This is the
best thing that we could ever feast on is word. You know why? Because it's food for the soul.
It's food for our soul, beloved. We eat food to keep our body
going. Oh how we need to feast on the word. It's all food. That's what the word of God is. Oh my. Let's read verse 26 again. And I have declared unto them thy
name, and I will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them. Here our Lord briefly
sums up what he had done and would still do for his disciples
and for his people, for all the elect of all the ages, which
is to make no one the father to us. He returns again at the end to
what he Stated near the first, again let's read verse six, I
have manifested thy name unto the man which thou gavest me
out of the world, thine they were, and thou gavest them me,
and they have kept thy word. And then verse 26, and I have
declared unto them thy name. So he's going back to what he's
already declared. Isn't it wonderful? And it's
by the Holy Spirit of God that Christ Jesus our Lord is revealing
the Father to his lost sheep. And I believe we're going to
learn more and more about God in eternity. That's just my own
thought. I think he's going to reveal
himself more and more to us. And we're just going to rejoice.
We know that this is all that he's revealed to us while we're
here on this earth. Right? Everything that God wanted to
reveal to man on this earth, he's done it right here. Right
here, right in this book. But you know, there's so much
more about him that we don't even know. I hope he reveals more
of himself to us. That would be wonderful, wouldn't
it? So we can be even more in awe of him then. I guess we're
all going to find out, aren't we? One day, one day we will. Oh my, it'll be a wondrous day. And notice who reveals the father
in verse 26. He says, unto the men, who he reveals the father
to, he says, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast given me, or thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them. Oh my. But in verse, up there in verse
six, he says that the father's revealed to those who was given
to Christ out of the world. I have manifest 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.
The Lord states here in verse 26, then, why he's the declarer
of the Father's name. Look at this. That the love wherewith
thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them. Beloved, we're
going to marvel, and we still do, marvel. The more we grow
in grace, the more we're going to marvel at the love of God
in Christ. And Christ is known as the Father's
sent one. He's the sent one of God, and
the deepest blessings and the highest privileges are now given
and possessed by the born-again, blood-washed saint, only in and
through Jesus Christ our Lord. In Him are all spiritual blessings.
All in Him. And we're in Him, beloved. My. Christ Jesus, our Lord, has made
known us to the Father. We have had made manifest to
us He who cannot be known unless He reveals Himself. And we're living proof of that,
aren't we? Because I'll tell you what, Dave,
you and I talked about it in our teenage years and our young
male years. We were groping around in the dark, brother. Didn't
have a clue who he was, eh? Brabus is right. We were Brabus.
Condemned. My, what mercy, eh? What mercy? The Lord says, like Paul said
to Philemon about Onesimus, charge it to my account. Our sins being charged to his
account, the sinless sacrifice imputed to him. And he who is
holy, he who the demons declared, is the holy one of Israel, the
holy one of has paid it all, beloved. Charge
it to my account. And then he says, it is finished. We say hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior is Jesus Christ
our Lord. And I have declared unto them
thy name and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. How striking to
note the love, that the love, not the, now, Spurgeon brought
this out, and I had to repeat this. He said, how striking to
note that love, not eternal life or faith or even glory, is the
last word spoken here by the Savior. The last thing that he brings
up in this is love, the love of God. And it reminded me of
what Paul said, and now, Hold on a second. And now abideth faith, hope,
love, these three, but the greatest of thee is love. Love. Being revealed to us, isn't
it? It's been shed abroad in our
hearts, beloved. The love of God. Christ in us. The hope of
glory. My, oh my. And notice also that
the love of the Father dwells in us, and only through the mediation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way it can come
to us, is through Christ. That's the only way. We see these
final words in I in them. Christ in us, the hope glory. And this ties into verse 23 again
that just absolutely made my mind blow. I in them and thou
in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may
know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved
me. And then he closes with this, and I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Isn't that incredible? Leaves you speechless, doesn't
it? Christ in us, the hope of glory,
the love of the Father in us, shed abroad in our hearts by
the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And think of the blessedness
of these wonderful verses which we've studied in this chapter.
Absolutely incredible as we went through this chapter. And let
us think of the glorious radiance of the love of God. Let us think
of how we think of it now, but let us think of how we're gonna
bask in it in eternity. The saints in glory are basking
in the love of God right now. It's absolutely wonderful. So
rejoice, beloved of God, as many as the world religions and the
world in general do not know God. Well, they don't know God
at all. And here we are, we've had God revealed to us. That's
why I keep saying we're the most blessed people in this world. We're the most blessed people
in this world, beloved. Because the world doesn't know
them, the religions of the world don't know them, And yet here
we know Him as the God of all mercy, the God of all grace,
the God of all comfort. That's what He is. Scripture declares this in John
chapter 1. It says, He was in the world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But you know who receives Him? as many as the Father gave him. Praise God we're included in
that number, eh? By the power of God the Holy
Spirit. And we've seen tonight that the
Son knows the Father and has manifested, made known to us,
the Father, to every believer. And we know Christ to be the
Messiah, don't we? We know Christ by God's grace and mercy. We
know Christ is the Messiah, the sent one of God. In Christ Jesus, our Lord, he's
declared the name of the Father being Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord
will provide. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's declared
unto us the name of the Father being Jehovah-Rapha. The Lord
will provide. Christ Jesus, our Lord, is declared
unto us the name of the Father being Jehovah-Nissi. which means the Lord our banner. My oh my, Jesus Christ our Lord
has declared the name of the Father being Jehovah Shalom,
which means the Lord is our peace. Jesus Christ has declared the
name of the Father being Jehovah Ra, which means the Lord my shepherd. Jesus Christ has declared the
name of the Father being Jehovah's akin to the Lord, our righteousness. And Jesus Christ has declared
the name of the Father being Jehovah Shama, which means the
Lord is there. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. So rejoice, beloved of God. He
who has revealed the Father to us, his name is wonderful. Wonderful, isn't he? Isn't the
name of Christ wonderful to us? Oh, he's wonderful. And he's
loved us with an unchanging love. And the love of God has been
revealed to our heart, our hearts, the hearts of every believer
through Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm gonna close with this verse
here, 1 John 4, 9. this was manifest the love of
God towards us how was his love manifested to us because God
sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live
through him what do we say hallelujah hallelujah
oh what a Savior brother Brian can