Again, open your Bibles to John
chapter 17. The name of the message is Beholding
Christ's Glory. Let us think for a minute what
it will be like when we leave the land of the dead, which is
this world, and we wake up in the land of the living. And we
open up our eyes, and the very one we behold is Christ. Now that'll thrill our souls,
won't it? That'll just... There'll be no joy, I don't think,
like that joy. We get a little taste of it now.
But then we'll be home. In what comfort, when we see
Him face to face. That's what scripture says. We
see through a glass darkly now. Right? You ever have a glass
and you put some chemicals in it or something and it's still
got a little bit of clarity in it and you try to look through
it to see what's on the other side and you can't see very good but
you see this fog? That's how we see right now.
You got this veil. Veil of flesh. So right now we
see the glory of God through a glass darkly. But one day,
beloved, we will behold the glory of God in Christ face to face. We will see him as we're seen.
As we see one another, we'll see him. You hope it'll come
to pass. But he says this, for now we
see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know
in part, I know a little bit right now about God and his glory. But then shall I know even as
also I am knowing. Face to face, like we know each
other, brother, like we know each other, sister. We're going
to know Christ. We're going to see him face to
face. And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, love. These
three, but the greatest of these is love, charity. But the verse
that I wanted to pull from there, and that was 1 Corinthians chapter
13, verses 11 to 13, is verse 12. For now we see through a
glass darkly. That's how we see Christ now,
darkly. But then face to face. We know
that the just live by faith, right? We've seen that in Galatians,
in our study in Galatians. That the just live by faith,
and we know that's the righteous ones. And we know that those
are the ones who are made righteous by Christ and him alone. There's
no other way to be made righteous except through Christ. We can't
make ourselves righteous. Just will live by faith. Living
and moving in heaven are being, doing what? Trusting and resting
in Christ. That's what we do. We now live
a life by faith. And that faith is that God-given
faith that God gives us. And that faith has one object,
and that's Christ. We look to him and him alone.
We rest in his perfect finished work, don't we? For the salvation
of our souls. Now, look at verse 24 in John
17. Christ is for his people all
in all, but in glory, that faith and hope shall become sight. shall become sight, as we behold
Christ." Now think of this. We're going to behold Christ
in all His glory. Remember He revealed a little
bit of that on the Mount of Transfiguration? Just a little bit. That's just
a glimpse. We're going to behold Him in
all His glory. How do we know that? Well, look
what Christ prays for in tonight's verse, which is verse 24 of John
chapter 17. Father, I will, that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. We're gonna behold the glory
of Christ, beloved. Excuse me. Which thou hast given
me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
These are just wonderful words, beloved. They're just absolutely
wonderful words. And they're uttered by he who
is God incarnate in the flesh. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
These are his words. Again, like we looked at last
night, or last week, these are words of fact, right? These are
facts. When he says here, that his people
be with him where he was, and behold his glory which God gave
him before the foundation of the world. And when we breathe
our last breath, beloved, we will open our eyes in glory,
looking at the one who is full of glory. and grace and truth. My, oh, my. Now let's read verses
20 to 26 so we can see the context of verse 24 tonight. Again, he's
praying for all the elect of all the ages in these verses.
This is the last section of this prayer. And again, he's praying
for all the elect of all the ages. He says, neither pray I
for these alone, which he was praying for the apostles in the
section before this, But for them which shall believe on me
through their word. That 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 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's a whole message by itself that I'm gonna preach
in the future, Lord willing. I will. Christ, 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. So verse 24 is where we're going
to be looking at tonight, and there's so much joy that can
come from this verse. It's absolutely incredible. This
whole chapter has been absolutely incredible to study. And I found
preparing this message that it's just blessings on top of blessings.
Just wonderful, wonderful. The more we hear about Christ,
the more we want to hear about Christ. And the more the more
the Holy Spirit reveals to us these wonderful truths in the
scripture, the more we can't wait to be at home in heaven
with him. Oh, my. Let's read verse 24 one more
time. It's truly a wonderful verse of scripture. It'll bring
the believer in Christ much comfort and joy. 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. Now there will
come a day when this world will be no more. this world is gonna
just be rolled up along with the universe and burned up. And there be a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. No sin. No sin at all. And there come a day when this
world's no more. And we who are the redeemed of the Lord will
not suffer with the troubles of this world anymore. There
be no more sorrow. It's a world of sorrow, isn't
it? There'd be no more pain. It's a world of pain. There'd
be no more tears. It's a world of tears. So, my
oh my. But you know, that's the only
tribulation we will ever face is in this life. There'd be no
tribulation in heaven. Nothing. There'd be no sin. Imagine
never having a sin thought never being distracted, never always
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. We won't be distracted anymore,
brother. We'll just be like, no more ADD. Oh, Lord. We'll just be looking at him,
won't we? Right? Yeah. It'll be wonderful, won't
it? Forever. Oh, it'll be wonderful. No more, no more of anything
like that. No more troubles, no more sickness,
no more sorrow. We'll be in a place called heaven.
And you know that place called heaven is a place prepared by
God the Father for our chosen people. He's already prepared
it. That's why the Lord said, I go
to prepare a place for you. Don't let your heart not be troubled
with the things in this world. Don't be carried away by the
things of this world. And why did he tell us that?
Why did he tell the apostles that? Because that happens to
us, isn't it? See, that's what I noticed in
the scriptures. I don't know if you guys have
noticed. You probably have too. That we constantly have these exhortations. Come unto me, all you who are
weary and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Why does
he tell us that? Because we're heavy laden and
we're weary. Right? Yeah. He says, let not
your heart be troubled. Why? Because our hearts get troubled.
Right? Peter says, Lord, help my unbelief.
Because we all have unbelief. Right? All of us. All of us. And so we pray that God will
give us the grace and the strength to go through the various things,
especially that occur in this world. Right? And He would help
us and give us the grace to look to Him in all situations. We see this wonderful line in
this high priestly prayer in verse 24. Do you know this prayer
is still being answered today? The first part of this verse
says, Father, I will. They also, whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am." Now where is he going? He's going
back to glory, isn't he? When he completes the mission,
when he redeems his people from their sins, he's going right
back to glory. And I was reading a commentator today, he brought
up something fantastic that before the sacrifices and all that,
the high priest would go in and light the incense and light all
that stuff, right? And then apply the blood. He
likened Christ's prayers to like the high priest going in and
lighting the incenses and praying for his people before he sheds
his blood. I thought it was wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. So here is this high priestly
prayer for you and I, beloved. For his people, for his apostles,
and for you and I. All the elect of all the ages.
It's absolutely wonderful. Before he offers himself up as
a sacrifice, he's praying a sweet-smelling perfume of prayer to the Father.
That's what Hawke bought out. I thought it was magnificent.
It's so true. So true. And you know, every
time a saint goes home to be with the Lord, to be with the
Lord, this prayer is answered, where he says, Father, I will
that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
am. Every time a saint departs this world, that prayer is answered. Because where are they? To be
absent from the Lord is to be... Boy, I'm talking, my tongue is
tangling all over. Thank you guys for having grace
with me tonight. To be absent from the body is what? Be present
with the Lord. Just like that. So I said, that's
why Donny Bell said, Mary just opened her eyes and she's in
glory. And we know where our dear brother is. Opened his eyes
and he's in glory. My oh my, it's wonderful. It's
absolutely wonderful. I'll never forget when I talk
to Jim, he says, Wayne, I'm just resting in the Savior. I'm resting
in the great shepherd of my soul. Oh, bless me so much. Oh my. And he, when he, when he passed
away, he woke up in glory. This is amazing. Absolutely amazing. So the minute, the second, the
second we breathe our last breath, we are immediately with the Lord.
Immediately with Him. Beholding the glory of the Redeemer. We won't care about anything
else in this world. We will just be beholding, we
will be so caught up in awe at the glory of the Redeemer. at
the presence, face to face, of the lover of our souls, the one
who shed his precious blood for us, still has the handprints, where the nails pierced him,
in his hands and his feet. He's the God-man. He's the God-man
mediator. And we're going to see him face
to face. And you know what? That's when our hope instantly
becomes sight. Because remember, when you hope
for something, you don't see it. Instantly, our faith becomes
sight. That's what Paul was writing
about, when we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Just like that. Just like that.
Oh, it's wonderful. And again, I hope to do a message
on the first part of that verse. I will. I did a little bit of
prep work on that today, and it's... If you want to do a little
word study, type in, I wills of Christ, and just do the New
Testament. It's absolutely incredible. Now
let's read the middle of this verse and the latter part of
this verse and marvel again at the words set before us. These words, they magnify the
deity of Christ. Number one, when he says, I will,
that's magnifying his deity, who he is. He's God in the flesh,
right? This is part of his will as God. Right? Remember, there was an everlasting
covenant made with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Well, this I will concerns Him as God. Concerns Him as the Word
of God in that covenant. Because the Father gave Him a
people. And He's to redeem those people. He's to purchase them
with His blood. And He says, I will that they
be with Me. Knowing, too, and think of this, too. This blew
my mind when one of the guys brought it forth, and one of
the old commentators, he said, this shows you that Christ's
will as God the Word was an exact, that the Father's will and the
Son's will and the Holy Spirit were all one. Why? Because the Father chose us in
Christ, the Son, redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit regenerates
us, gives us faith, and we cry, Abba, Father. Isn't that magnificent? Their will is all one, as God. And this shows, too, this shows
the full submission of the Son to the Father's will. Now when
He's in Gethsemane, He says, Father, not My will, but Thy
will be done, that's His humanity speaking. But here is His deity. Father, I will. I will. Again, one of the old timers
said, that part right there is not a petition. That's a demand. I will. Strictly because of the
covenant obligations made between the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. It's absolutely magnificent. And again, it shows that Christ's
prayer shows that His will is one with the Father and the Holy
Spirit. The Father has given Christ to people. The Holy Spirit
regenerates them and gives them faith to believe. And we see
that the Son's will, the Word of God's will, the Lord Jesus
Christ's will, is that the people of God, who the Father gave Him,
may behold, look at this in verse 24, may behold my, that's Christ's,
glory. which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Beloved God, we do not see Christ
now, but we hear of him, don't we? We read of him. Through the preaching of the
word, we hear of him. And by God-given faith, we believe
on him. We believe on Him. We rest our
eternal souls in His finished work, don't we? His perfect,
sin-atoning work. My, oh, my. And we walk by faith,
not by sight. We've never seen Christ face
to face, and yet we trust Him with our souls. That's a work
of God. Because natural man, we don't
want to trust Him. We don't want nothing to do with
Him. But God's grace, He makes us willing in the day of His
power. So what comfort we can glean here? We've been made willing.
We've been given faith to believe. We've been given faith to rest
on Christ, to say, Christ, my soul is in Your hands. It's in Your hands. I believe
that Thou died for me. I believe Your blood was shed
for me. And sometimes we're weak in the
faith, aren't we? Yeah, every day, brother, yeah. And sometimes
we're strong in the faith. Sometimes we're strong, sometimes
we're weak. And this makes us to walk sometimes very weakly in our way to heaven, but praise
be to God. He who keeps us from falling
will also preserve us in the way. It's not up to us. We don't keep ourselves. He keeps
us. When our faith is strong, He
keeps us. When our faith is low, He keeps us. When our faith is
in between, He keeps us. When we're tempted and we fall,
He keeps us from utterly falling away, from being consumed by
our sin. It grants us repentance. But one day there'll be an end
to this world. This time state which we are
in, time will be no more. When this world is rolled up
like a scroll in the universe and all we see, time will be
no more. In new heaven and new earth,
time will be no more. It'll be eternity. And then, again, we will see
Christ, not for the first time, but forever. Face to face. We are going to behold Him forever. Forever. Oh my. My oh my. And we will know Him as we're
knowing. You guys know me. You see me.
You know me. We're going to know Him in that
way. It'll be forever. Amen, sister. Forever. It'll
be amazing. It'll be absolutely amazing. Forever. My, for all
of eternity. We will be in His presence forever.
For all of eternity. We will be in His presence. Why?
Because of the grace of God in Christ. Showing to sinners like
we. I was talking to a fellow today.
Went out for lunch with him. A good friend of mine, at the
end of the meeting, I said, well, we're a couple of safe sinners,
eh? And he didn't say anything. And I said again, yeah, well,
we're just safe sinners, aren't we? Yeah, that's right. Yeah,
because that's all we are. We're just safe sinners. By the
mercy and grace of God, we're safe sinners. You know, we can get so caught
up in pointing the finger at other people. This fella tends
to do that a lot. We can get so caught up in pointing
the finger at other people. And that's why I just keep saying,
we're safe singers. Don't get caught up looking at
someone else. This world is a world of iniquity. We know it. Scripture
declares it, right? World's full of evil. I remember I had a guy tell me
one time there was no evil in the world. I laughed at him so
hard. And Vicky's family for years
wouldn't talk to me after that. Because it was one of her aunt's
boyfriends. And then I gave him the gospel.
Well, I said, there's sin in this world. No, there's not.
Yeah, I said, you're a sinner right now. And I didn't mince
words with him. You know, I said, I've never
heard anyone who says they're intelligent say there's not evil
in this world, because there's evil. All you got to do is look
around, right? We see it all the time. Yeah,
it's right here. See, now, as believers, we see
that, right? But think of this. There's going to be a day when
we'll never have trouble with sin again. It'll be gone. It'll be gone. We will never
sin again. Never. Our minds, think of this,
our minds will be totally fixated on Christ. Because we're going
to see him, right? And everybody we talk to in heaven
are all like us. Sinners saved by the grace. I
believe we're going to be going around just in awe that we don't
sin anymore. It'll be gone. And to think we
can look at him and go, he redeemed me with his blood. Those hands
pierced nails were for me. Were for me. He left heaven for
me. Every one of us will be able
to say that. And we're gonna see him face to face again. So
it'll be even more right before us. Again, we see through a glass
darkly right now. We have a little understanding.
I think in heaven we're gonna know more about what our sin
was too. Now it's gone, there'll be no tears for it, but we're
gonna see the cost right before us. But there'll be no tears,
we'll be rejoicing. We'll be singing with the saints
of God, unto Him. Unto Him, holy, holy, holy, unto
Him. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. He was slain for my sins, hallelujah. You know what? Baptists are gonna
say hallelujah and glory. Yeah. That's right. We're going
to be praising God in glory. I'll tell you what. There'll
be no denominations in glory. Just a bunch of saved sinners,
beloved. Just a bunch of saved sinners.
Oh my. There'll be no argument. Paul
and Barnabas, they're having a wonderful time right now. That's
why you don't hear preachers having a hard time with another
preacher. That's all going to stop in glory. Or one believer
having trouble with another believer, that's all going to stop in glory.
There'll be perfect unity. There'll be no sin. There'll
be no sin. It'll be glorious. And we're
not see through a glass darkly then, we're see face to face.
We'll be in His presence forever. Think of how much joy we've experienced
even now. When we hear a gospel message,
how much joy that gives our soul. How much comfort it gives us.
But think of how much joy we're going to have when we see Christ
face to face. Our hearts almost explode. It'll
be so incredible. Absolutely incredible. We hear
and we read and we see, we focus our minds upon Christ but But we hope to see Him. On that day... See, death for
a believer, it's a sad day for we who are left behind. But it's
not a sad day for those who go home. Not at all. Brother Newell, man, he is beholding
Christ. And he has been for months now. My, oh, my. Can you imagine that?
Seeing the Redeemer face to face? My, oh, my, oh, my. We have several.
Sister Sylvia. Several sisters up there. Right? Sister Louise. Brothers and sisters.
Sister Louise. Sister Marge. Brother Wayne. Brother Jim. Saints that have
left us here. And we sorrow for that. But my, oh, my. Their troubles
are finished. Their struggles are finished.
It's gone. It's absolutely gone. So what
joy? Paul writes that we shall ever
be with the Lord. In 1 Thessalonians 4, 17 and
18, that's at the latter part of verse 17, and then he says,
he adds these words, comfort one another with these words.
I'm going to say this again, beloved. We shall ever be with
the Lord. Comfort one another with these
words. Comfort one another. We're going to be forever with
the Lord. That's what the Bible says. Isn't that wonderful? Who's the
author of the scriptures? The Holy Spirit. Those are His
words through Paul. We know very little about heaven
right now. I always have to laugh when these
people write books on heaven. They have no clue. The Bible
speaks very little of heaven. Now, it's a place, we know that,
and we're going there as God's people. But again, how can a
man who sees through a glass darkly write about something
that God's made? We can't even imagine. See, that's
why when I see those books, I'm just like, it is, it's foolishness. Because he's looking at it, the
author then, he or she is looking at it through the eyes of one
who sees through a glass darkly. We don't know. I can tell you
this, it'll be a place where there's no sin. But the most important thing, You know what the most important
thing is? We'll be with Christ. And it will be perfect, brother.
But we'll be with Christ. We'll be with him who is our
redeemer. And it'll be like nothing we
can ever imagine. I think about the most beautiful
places I've seen in this earth. And I think of those, think of
the most beautiful place you've seen on the earth. And sometimes,
some places, you've seen the pyramids, sister, you've seen
all the, you know, and they're magnificent. You know, I've seen
a couple, I've seen both oceans and they're just absolutely stunning.
But that's nothing, absolutely nothing compared to what we will
see the second we open our eyes and behold Christ in His glory. What a day that'll be, beloved. You know, the Apostle Paul, turn
if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Do you know the Apostle
Paul was caught up into the third heaven? And when he was caught up there,
he saw things and heard things that he couldn't even utter about. You wonder if he couldn't even
put them in human words, what he saw. Look at this in 2 Corinthians,
actually, 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 2. Paul writes this, he says, I
knew a man in Christ There's the key right there, in Christ.
About 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or out
of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, such as one caught up
in, up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words.
Look at that. unspeakable words, which is not
lawful for a man to utter. He heard things that he couldn't
even explain, and they were not lawful for a man to utter. What's waiting for us, beloved? What's waiting for us? Now I'll
turn, if you would, to 1 John. Chapter 3. Now think of the comfort and
joy we feel, that we're feeling in heaven as pardoned sinners.
When our faith becomes sight, think of how that will feel for
us when we behold the one who purchased our eternal souls with
his precious blood. We behold the very one who died
in our ruined place and redeemed us. His name being the Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to what the Apostle John
writes here in 1 John 3, verses 1 to 5. Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now, right now, right
now, right now, Not in the future, right now. We're the sons of
God. Look at this. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
faith, in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Whosoever
committeth sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And look at this. And you know,
this is something that we know as believers. That he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. But look at verse 2, right? We know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So the
minute we die, or if we're alive at His coming and He calls us,
we shall see Him face to face. Oh my. Doth not yet appear what
we shall be. Sinless. Sinless, spotless. But we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Now turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 3. There's two little words here
that I want us to look at. Because remember what Christ
is praying for. He's praying that we would behold
His glory, right? So the only way we can behold
His glory is if we're with Him. Because right now we hope, our
faith is a hope right now, right? But then, we're going to see
Him face to face. Look at this. Colossians chapter
3, we're starting verse 1 and read to verse 4. If ye then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now you ever hear people
say this silly statement that you're too heavenly minded to
be any earthly good? Just toss that away. Because
what they're saying is, you've always got your head looking
to Christ or thinking about Christ. Look what the scriptures tell
us to do. Exactly. Look at the next verse. Set your affection on things
above, not on things of the earth. That means our heart. When we
do the study in Colossians here, that means your heart and your
mind. That's all our affections. So when I hear people say that,
I just, I stop them. I've had somebody tell me that,
and I said, you know what? You're wrong. We can never, do we ever
think, think of Christ even how we should? I get so distracted
during the day and all these things that happen in the world,
and I've got to sit and say, Lord, you're in control. You're
in control. You're sovereign. And I tell
you, the peace that floods my soul when I do that, when I believe
what God says, when he says, hey, I'm in control. This is
my world, not mine. I'm just living in it. I'm just
renting space. I'm not even renting space in
it. He put me here, which I'm thrilled to be with you guys.
He moved me from one plot of land out in Oregon. You know,
it's coming up, we're on our eighth year now. And he brought
me here. So this plot of land, and I'm
so happy, it's wonderful. But that was all by His grace
and His sovereignty. And when I look back on my life,
even before He was saved and how He took care of me and how
He preserved me before, because I could have died. And if I had
died, I'd have perished from my sins, but I was one of His
people and I didn't even know it. And how He took care of me
and cared for me then, loved me then with an everlasting love,
and then He revealed Himself to me, and oh my, my whole world
changed. Right? Now I've got peace. Now I've got joy in Christ. The
reason I say that is look at this, look at this next verse,
for ye are dead and your life is hid, look at this, with Christ
in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. These are
absolutely wonderful words and how, and how they tie in Just
those two words, with Christ, right? Think of how they tie
in with this. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou has given me, be with me where I am. Where's that?
With Christ. With Christ. Those are precious words. With
Christ. Oh, how this makes the Christian's
heart sing. How this fills our heart with
joy. We're gonna be with Christ. We're
gonna be with Him. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but may we comfort one another with these words.
We don't know what we're gonna be, right? We don't know. We
know we're gonna be sinless, right? It doesn't appear right
now that we're gonna be sinless because we're just a bunch of
sinners. But may we comfort ourselves
with the simple words, the blessed truth, brought forth in verse
three there, with Christ. When we are with Christ, that
prayer is answered. Every time a saint goes home,
that prayer is answered. Isn't that magnificent? All through
the ages, the father will not let one of them not be with Christ,
whom he gave to Christ. That's magnificent. That's absolutely
magnificent. So now we know, to be absent
from the body is what? We can even say, to be absent
from the body is to be with Christ. Oh, my. You see how I said this
message is going to fill us with joy? It's just wonderful. And even, think of this, even
right now, we're still with Christ. He said, I'm going to carry you
from conception all the way to your gray hairs, he says. I'm
going to do a message on that, Lord willing, down the road,
too. Wonderful. That means through everything
we go through in our lives, When I thought that God wasn't with
me, He was always with me. And all,
think of this too, think of all we went through. All those things
were working for our good and for His glory. That's a mystery,
isn't it? But it's, now we look back and
we go, my. Dave, you said something a couple
weeks ago. If we hadn't have went through some of the things
we went through, we wouldn't be who we are today. Yeah, all
those things work for the gift. All those things. It's absolutely
amazing. All through our life, our Lord was molding us and making
us, and we had no idea. No idea at all. My, oh my. Preparing us for that which he
had for us. Every believer is a part of this
church. I get to stand up and preach,
right? I get that blessing. It's a great, great honor. I
can't do anything without you guys. We all work together. I look at the church as like
an outpost. And here we are from Almont,
in the regions around us, and we're all brought together here
for the gospel to go out. And every one of us is being
used by God. Every single one of us. Whether
it be support in church, Prayer, I covet prayer so much, the prayers
of the saints. Pray for me, beloved. Pray for
the messages as they go out. Oh my, everything. How we all
get together, audio, video, all the different things. Dave, you're
doing the music and piano and everybody who's, everybody, we're
all involved. You know, prayer is just as important
as preaching. Somebody said, what? Oh yeah.
It all gives glory to God, doesn't it? Now preaching is the means
that God uses to save souls. But I guarantee you there's been
some saints praying according to the will of God.
Oh my, it's absolutely magnificent. So with Christ, we don't need
any more information, do we? I'm going to be with Christ.
That's wonderful! I'm going to take God at His
word, are you? Right? One day we're going to be with
Christ. See, that's part of what we've been talking about in the
messages, in a little bit of a vein that's been going through
the messages, is just believing what God says. He says, my people
are going to be with me. Christ prayed for us. Who's Christ? Well, He's God in the flesh.
Is God the Father ever going to say to God the Son, no, I'm
not going to do that? No, because of the conditions
of the everlasting covenant that they all agreed upon in the Father. Would any father who loves his
child cast him away? No, not if they truly loved him. You know, they often talk about
a mother's love. I'll tell you why. I messed up
so much when I was a kid. I mean, I messed up so much and
my mom's love for me never changed. Now, my dad got pretty mad at
me sometimes, but my mom's love didn't change. It was absolutely
amazing. And when I consider the father's
love, it's not the same as my mom's love, because I told you
guys before that no love on this earth can compare to that. But
the love that a mom has for her child is absolutely amazing. A child can do almost anything.
A mom will still love him. Yeah. Yeah, their mom would still
love them. Yeah. It's incredible. Now take that and magnify it
to a number that you cannot even imagine. You can't even fathom
that love. My, my oh my. And that's a love the Father
has for us. Because look what it says again
in verse 24. Father I will that they also
whom thou has 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. In thy presence is fullness and
joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm
16, verse 11. Now note the latter part of this
verse. Our Lord prays that his people will behold his glory
which was given to him because the Father has loved Christ before
the foundation of the world." Now remember verse 23. Remember
verse 23, the end of that? Remember where the Father proclaims
that He's loved us as He's loved Christ? Or that Christ proclaims
that the Father's loved us as He loved Christ? Well, we see in our text here
that the Father's loved Christ before the foundation of the
world. Now what can we deduce from that? that the fathers loved
us from before the foundation of the world. This is wondrous love. As the
hymn writer wrote, oh what wondrous love is this, oh my soul, oh
my soul. You know the words Before the
foundation of the world is the same phrase which is being used
in other portions of scripture. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places according as he has chosen us
in him. Before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame, before him in love. having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved and
then in first Peter it says this For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
So he came here for us. He was manifest for us. He saved
our souls. who by him do believe in God
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your
faith and hope might be in God. Who's our faith and hope in?
Christ. Who's Christ? He's God. Now I want to leave
us with this. I looked this up. I thought this
would be a fitting end for this message. We always hear before
the foundation of the world, right? Do you know what the Greek word
for foundation means? It means before conception. Before the world was conceived. Before the world was conceived. We were chosen in Christ. Before God even conceived it
in His mind. He loved us in Christ. I wanted
us to leave with that. I decided to look that word up,
because we hear it all the time. And we think it's, oh, it's before,
it's probably right before. No, it's before it was even conceived. We plan to have children and
then they're conceived, right, by God's grace and by God's mercy.
Sometimes we don't plan to have children and then they're conceived,
right? But before the world was even thought of, His love was set upon us. Oh, what wondrous love is this. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. Before there was ever
a sinner, there was a Savior. Because He's the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. Oh, my. Makes it even deeper,
doesn't it, beloved? Makes it even more wondrous,
this wonderful love that God has for his people. Brother Dave,
can you close us in prayer?