Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 17. We spent the last two weeks on
the introduction and then the first verse, and last week we
marveled at the fact that Jesus prayed for us. Jesus prayed for
us. Each one of his sheep, 2,000
years ago, he prayed for us. My, I've still been chewing on
that all week and just been marveling. As a matter of fact, I had a
dear friend call me from Oregon today and I was telling him,
I said, rejoice, brother. Jesus prayed for you 2,000 years
ago. He goes, man, I'm gonna remember
that, keep that at the forefront. I said, amen. That's what we
need to keep it. We need to tell one another that
too, don't we? Just to rejoice. So this prayer here, is one of
the only recorded prayers of Christ. Christ usually went out
away from the disciples and prayed. But this prayer is after he's
preached the sermon in chapters 14, 15, and 16. The greatest
preacher preached the greatest sermon. And now this is the greatest
prayer ever uttered by any man. And that's the man Christ Jesus.
So the greatest preacher just preached the greatest sermon.
And now he's praying the greatest prayer. And remember, Our prayers
are tainted with sin. He's the sinless one. He's in
full fellowship with the Father. The Father didn't forsake him
to the cross in all his life. He's had full fellowship with
the Father. And so we get a glimpse of that in these verses. Let's
read the first five verses now. I had planned to go through all
of verse two, but you know what? I only got halfway through it.
So tonight, we're gonna be looking at the first half of verse two,
and next week, we'll look at the second half of verse two.
There's so much packed in here. It's absolutely incredible. Let's
read the first five verses, John chapter 17. 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 has 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. First week, we
looked at how this prayer is broken up into three different
sections. First, Christ prays for himself to the Father. Then
he prays for the apostles. Then he prays for all the elect
of all the ages in the latter part of this chapter here. And
in John 17, the veil is drawn aside. The veil is drawn aside,
beloved. And we are admitted with our
great highest priest into the holiest of all. Here is the sinless
one. the Passover lamb praying to
the Father. This is the holy ground, beloved.
Here we approach the secret place of the tabernacle, the Most High,
and it behooves us to put off our shoes, beloved. Put off our
shoes from our feet and listen with humble, reverent, and prepared
hearts for the place where we stand now is holy ground. All this chapter the words of
our master praying to our great father. And we see two pleas
of our Lord and Savior in the first verse in John 17. Let's
look at this. First plea is, Father, the hour
has come. Glorify thy son. There's the first plea of the
son to the father. And then the second plea is our
great redeemer pours out his soul to the father. He says that
thy son also may glorify thee. Oh my. And tonight we'll be looking
at verse 2. And here our Lord proclaims that
the Father has given Him all power over all flesh. All power. Let us have that sink
in. All power over all flesh. So that means that He's in control
of everything. There's not one person that's
not under His dominion. People might think they are.
They claim, oh, I don't believe God. It doesn't change the fact
that you're still under His dominion. He has all power. And He has
all power to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave
Him. Who has the power to give eternal life? Can we get it ourselves?
Amen, brother. We can't, we can't satisfy the
laws of man. We can't satisfy the justice
of God, but Christ did that in our place. And he gives eternal
life to those who the Father gave him. And now that's a number,
now let us rejoice. That's a number that no man can
number. We may be small upon this earth,
but I'll tell you what, In glory. It's a number that no man can
number. Spurgeon actually thinks that there's going to be more
people in heaven than there will be in hell, because he says,
I don't think God will be outdone by the devil. That's his point
of view. Because it's a number that no
man can number, the redeemed of the Lord. Although, like I
said, when we're here on Earth, it's a small number, isn't it?
It's a small number. Oh, my. And now we've seen those
two pleas, and we'll be looking at verse two where our Lord proclaims
that the Father has given him again power over all flesh. And
this is the saved and the lost too. This isn't just speaking
about the church. When he says here, as thou has
given him power over all flesh, he's speaking over everybody.
And that's including all things visible and invisible. See, Satan
bows at his feet. You listen to some religious
folks, they give more power to Satan than they do to God. It's
not the way it is. Satan's on the leash, beloved. Who was it? Big Don Fortner used
to say, he's God's devil. He's under God's control. And
we know that, don't we, from the book of Job, right? He approaches
the father, and he says, you just drop that hedge down, Lord,
and he's going to curse your name. My father says, okay, you
go and do what you will, but you can't take his life. See,
he can only do what God allows. He can only do what God allows.
Now, we're no match for him. I had a friend of mine one time,
he said, I'm going to punch that Satan in the head. And I just
bowed my head and went, oh my gosh, Wayne. His name was Wayne,
too. Dear friend of mine. And I said, oh, Wayne, you don't
know what you're talking about, man. We are no match for him.
But our elder brother crushed him. Our elder brother defeated
him. He's a defeated foe. We call on our elder brother,
don't we? Oh, my. He's our great god and king.
And tonight we're gonna see that our Redeemer, our Savior, He's
the sovereign King, beloved. He's an absolute sovereign. I'm
telling you, He's, you know, you guys hear me say, I believe
in the absolute sovereignty of God. This verse is gonna solidify
that. Even more, the more I study about
His sovereignty, the more I believe in the absolute sovereignty of
God. I mean, there's not even a particle of dust floating in
the air that's not falling and moving according to His will
and purpose. I saw two robins today at my window. I'm just
sitting there, washing my hands, and I look up, and there's two
beautiful robins sitting right in front of me. And I'm like,
thank you, Lord, for letting me see these two beautiful birds. And then we know what I was reminded?
Consider the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they
spend, yet your Heavenly Father cares for them. Right? We're
to consider that. We're to consider the birds.
Look, the birds, they fly around, they get fed. The food comes
from the Master's hands. Out of the abundance of His goodness.
Oh my, that's our great King. Let's read verse two again. It
says, as thou has given him, being Christ, power over all
flesh. So the Father, it says here,
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. Now this is the third plea
of the Savior, which he presents to the Father. The first and
the second plea was to glorify the Son in accord with the mission
of the Father that he had sent him on to accomplish. He lived
as our substitute. And then he died as our substitute.
And he'd been appointed by the Father to do all that. And by the Holy Spirit in eternity. Christ, think of this too, Christ
had been appointed in eternity. Far before there ever was a world,
the scriptures declare he's the lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world. He's the appointed sacrifice.
He's in the council halls of eternity. We can't even fathom
that. He's the lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. So that before there was ever
a sinner, you and I, there was a Savior. There was a Savior, the Word
of God. He had covenant with the Father
and the Holy Spirit to become a man. And the scripture calls
him the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world,
beloved. Oh my. He'd been appointed from all
of eternity to be our sin offering. He knew that when he came, he
knew that when he laid aside his glory in his humiliation,
he knew that he was the great sin offering. Because it was
all according to God's scheme of salvation, right? The plan
of salvation from eternity. It was all purposed and planned
by God. See, God doesn't go, well, the
Israelites rejected me. I got to go plan B now. Now I'm
going to go to the Gentiles. I used to tell people that. That's
a horrendous thing to say. God never has a plan B. When
Adam fell, it was all according to his plan and purpose. that the Redeemer might come
into this world and to save all those people, a number no man
can number from every tribe, tongue, kindred, and nation, that were given to Christ before
the foundation of the world. And He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as He appointed sin offering, for the sins of all the elect
of all the ages. And we are sinners by birth,
nature, and choice, aren't we? We know what we are. We know
we're sinners from the top of our head to the bottom of our
feet. Just look at how we think. And we're saved men and women.
My, oh my. My, oh my. Think of our dreams
even. My, oh my. I remember you guys
heard me talk about that fellow that said he didn't sin, and
I said, well, are you married? He said, yeah. I said, did you
ever fight with your wife? Come on. Come on. We're all sinners. That's just
a self-righteous person saying that. That's all that is. And
we can't say anything, because isn't that what I used to say?
You calling me a sinner? Well, I know a real sinner. It's
this guy down the street that I'll take you to his house even.
He's a notorious sinner. Seriously, that's what I used
to do when those guys came around me with them gospel tracts every
day. Well, I'm not that bad, but I really know someone who's
bad. Oh, meanwhile, dead in trespassing sins, not having a clue that
I was shaking my fist to God. My, we learn fast though, don't
we, after the Lord saves us. We grieve over our own sin more
than anybody else's. That's why Paul said, I'm the
chief of sinners. And that was at the end of his ministry. You
know, people say, well, you get better and better as you grow
in grace. No, growing in grace, you see
yourself as more of a sinner than you've ever seen yourself
before. That's growing in grace. That's what growing in grace
is. That's why Paul said, oh, wretched man that I am. Who can
deliver me from this body? I'm the chief of sinners. And
he meant that when he said that. And every one of us can look
at that verse and go, that's me, Paul. Isn't it amazing the Holy
Spirit had him pen that? And every one of us can relate
to that. Isn't that incredible? My oh my. So the glorification
of the son was necessary for him to execute the work that
he was sent to do. He must finish the work, then
he must be glorified. He must be. He must rise from
the grave. You know why, as we saw on Sunday?
For our justification, right? If he doesn't rise from the grave,
we don't know if God's satisfied. But because he rose, We can live
in this world, beloved, knowing that we're justified because
He rose. Come see the tomb. It's empty.
No one there. He's risen. Where is He? At the right hand of the Father.
That's where He is right now. I was talking to Donny Bell last
night. We were rejoicing over the fact that our head is in
heaven and we're the body. We're gonna soon be there with
Him. And because He's there, we're
guaranteed to be there, right? He's not gonna leave one of His
sheep behind, is He? Not one. You know, see, this
is why we can preach with confidence, knowing that the Lord will get
His sheep. I can proclaim Christ with confidence,
knowing not only that He saved me, but He's gonna get every
one of His sheep. And whether it's me preaching
or whether it's some other gospel preacher preaching, the Lord's
going to take that message and he's going to use it to regenerate
his lost sheep. And hallelujah, praise be to
God. He gets all the glory. All the glory and honor and praise.
So the glorification of the Son was necessary to His executing
the work that He was sent to do, which is His death upon the
cross, His perfect, His perfect sin-atoning death, beloved. And
He finished it. It's completed. It's completed. And now He's given all authority.
That's what that word power means in the Greek, too, authority. We've all been under people with
authority, right? Every believer has an authority that we all
bow to, that's our king. Don't we? We bow to our king.
We have an authority over us. Isn't it amazing that in our
natural state, we hate authority? We don't like authority, you
know, because we don't like being told what to do, right? But when
the Lord saves His people, we want to serve Him. We love being under His authority. We love being under His power
because we know without Him, we'd perish. We'd perish. We'd be, as Donny Bell said,
we'd be a gone Jesse. We'd be lost as a white goose
in a snowstorm. That's what we'd be. We wouldn't
have any hope, beloved. My. And the Greek word there
again for power means authority. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
5. And we see that the Father has given all authority to the
Son. I'll ask you, do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because he has all authority,
all power. And may God give you grace and
show mercy to you to bow your knee right now to his majesty.
right now in this life. Because if you don't bow your
knee to him in this life, you're going to bow your knee to him
at the great white judgment throne. And every one of us is going
to say, saved and lost. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. And then those who died in their
sins are going to be cast into hell forever. So either you bow
your knee now to the Lord as Lord and Savior, or you're
going to bow your knee in judgment. Either way, you're going to bow
your knee. People say, well, I don't believe him. It don't
change the fact that you're going to see him face to face and you're
going to bow your knee to him. I'll tell you, God's no one to
trifle with. He's no, you know, people trifle
with all kinds of authority in our lives, right? He is no one
to trifle with. We know that, don't we, as God's
people? That's why we're so amazed that
He's had mercy on us. That's why we're so amazed at
His grace, because we do not deserve it. We deserve to go to hell just
like everybody else. But His love has been set upon
us from eternity. And He says, Thou art mine. You're mine. I bought you. I saved you. I redeemed you.
And you're mine. And you're going to be with me
forever, not because of anything you've done, but all because
of what I've done for you. And we say, hallelujah. Praise
be to God. Oh, what a Savior. What a Savior. And so we tell sinner friends,
and this is from a saved sinner. Sinner friend, bow in humble
submission to the great king. May God give you grace to do
that, because he has all authority. Look at here, John chapter 5,
starting in verse 19. And we see our great Redeemer.
He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He's a ruler over everything,
beloved. Look at this. What a declaration
here. He's Lord over all things, visible
and invisible. Angels fall before Him. Remember
the demons? They said, we know who you are,
that Holy One of God. Are you come to torment us before
the time? Oh, they knew who he was. And
with a word, he cast him out of that man into the pigs. Oh, what power, beloved. Big
storm raging. And he's sleeping in the bottom
of the boat. He says, why are you troubled? Think of that.
He's the ruler of the waves and the wind. And he says, peace,
be still. And it was like, you ever seen
a lake and it's like glass? That storm all of a sudden was
like glass. That water was like glass. Oh,
what power, beloved. Oh, what power. Now listen to
what he says here. John 5, 19 to 27. Then answered Jesus and
said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, the son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeeth the father do. For
what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that
himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these,
that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises up the
dead, in quickening them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he
will. Remember, God's given him all
power to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him.
See how it ties right in here? Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. And look at that, the Son quickeneth whom He will,
who He will. Look at this, for the Father
judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which sent him. So if you don't honor
Jesus Christ, you don't honor the Father. You don't honor God
who sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. Look at that. Has it? Period. Great door, big doors swing on
little hinges, right? There's another little hinge
word, hath. There it is. And shall not, there's another
one, shall, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
what? Death unto life, hallelujah. 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, no
doubt. For as the father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself. Here we go. And hath given him
authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of
man. There it is. All authority given
to him by the father. Now let's read John chapter 17,
verse two again. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. Now the work, appointed to him,
appointed to Christ, was to come to save his people from their
sins, and we see here, was to give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given him. My, oh, my. Christ must suffer
on the cross. You know why? That's the only
way we'll be saved. We can't save ourselves, can
we? Anyone who says they saved themselves, they're lying. We can't save ourselves. We can't
pay for one sin. Not one. Nothing like, the scripture
says, for what shall profit the man if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? And then it says, and what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? We know the answer. Nothing. Nothing. Who's the one the Father's
pleased in? Amen. Christ, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. And you know what? You heard
me say it, I'm gonna say it again. It's worth saying. He's pleased
with everybody in Christ. He's pleased with them all. Oh
my, this old sinner's rejoicing all day long. Oh my, it's wonderful,
I'll tell you. The perfect, sinless God-man
died in my room and place, and yours too, if you're a believer. He died for sinners. Undeserving, ungrateful in our
natural state, ungrateful for the things of God. You know, somebody told us, well,
everything comes from God. We'd say, well, I work awful hard in our
natural state. It don't matter how hard you
work. God just blesses you with that stuff. It's good to work
hard, though, isn't it? It's good. It's good to work
hard. Workman's worth is wages. But it all comes from God's hands.
Whether you're rich or poor, it all comes from God's hands.
And we always have what we need. We don't always have what we
want. Yeah, amen. Because the scripture says we
ask amiss. We ask amiss, we consume ourselves with our own lust and
our own flesh if we could. So we often, scripture says,
we often ask amiss. People say, well, God won't answer
my prayer or that. Well, maybe it's something that would destroy
you. But we always have what we need,
don't we? Always. Hey, I got three meals a day,
clothes on my back, a loving wife, wonderful children, a beautiful
church family. I'll tell you, I'm the most blessed
man in the world. I feel that way, I honestly feel that way.
I love you guys and I'm so thankful to be here with you. I look forward
every week to Wednesdays and Sundays. This is my favorite
days of the week. I'm telling you that, because I get to be
with you. And we get to rejoice. Now, Dave
and I were talking. If you had told him and I 20
years ago, 30 years ago, when we were in our teens, that we'd
be here on a Wednesday night? And Charlie, I know you're the
same way. We've talked about that too. That we'd be here?
We'd have laughed you to scorn. We'd have laughed at you. And
here we are, by the grace of God. My buddy in Oregon, you
know what he said today in the phone with me? We're all miracles
of God's grace. I said, amen, brother, we are.
Every one of us is a miracle of God's grace. It's a miracle
when God saves someone. It's a miracle of grace. My oh
my. It's wonderful. Man, here's the
great God man. He's about to finish the work.
He's lived the perfect life. Now he's about to go to that
cross and die. It's our sin atoning sacrifice. The sinless one. And our sins
are gonna be imputed to him. And he's gonna bear them. And
in that wrath, God's gonna fall upon him. I'll tell you why.
That's the part that amazes me, that my sins were imputed to
him, and that he died as my substitute
before God's justice, and he never sinned. And in that wrath, what was due
to me, he suffered it. And think of this, he suffered
all the wrath He, you know, and I'm gonna keep saying this too.
He literally extinguished the wrath of God that was against
us. There's no wrath of God against us ever anymore, because there's
therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. That's
good news for sinners, isn't it? That's really good news. And that's all by God's grace,
beloved. It's all by his mercy. And we just saw there that he's
got all authority. So let us pause and wonder at
this text. Our Lord has been given all power
over all flesh. There is nothing that is not
under his control. And not as God only, for as God,
nothing could have been added to him or given to him. It was
all his. But here he's speaking of himself
as the man Christ Jesus, as the mediator between God and man. My, oh my. See, he's going back
to heaven as the God man. We're gonna see, we're gonna
see the piercings in glory. Remember he said to Thomas, Look at this. Those hands were
pierced through me and through you. That side was riven, pierced
with a spear for us. I heard one preacher say one
time, he was pierced in the feet. He was pierced in the feet for
sins of where we go places. He was pierced in our hands for
the things that we do that we shouldn't do. He was pierced in the side for
sins of affection, and he had a crown of thorns plated upon
his head for sins of the mind. My oh my. And he bled from all
those places. And that blood redeemed our eternal
souls, beloved. That's God's blood. That's not
the blood of no mere man, that's God's. Precious, precious blood,
beloved. And he shed it for you and I.
You know why he shed it? Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
13. I'll tell you. He's the mediator of the everlasting
covenant of grace. And the everlasting covenant,
which was made between the persons of the Godhead, the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit, Christ is to make manifest the name of
Jehovah, as we've seen in this prayer. He's to speak of Jehovah's glory
to all those who the Father gave Him. Look at this in Hebrews
13 20. Look at this. Now the God of
peace. Oh my. You know what? Outside
of Christ God is a consuming fire. You know what He is to
His people? The God of peace. Why? Because that consuming fire is
being extinguished. That was against us. Now it says,
Paul's writing to believers, now the God of peace, that bought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, look at this, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, his blood, beloved,
was shed to ratify the everlasting covenant. He ratified that covenant
with His blood. It says, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight. Look at that, He's working in
us. He's chipping us. He's chipping us, conforming
us to the image of Christ, beloved. Working you in you that which
is well-pleasing in His sight, in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Seal it with an A-N. But there, look at that, the
blood of the everlasting covenant. That blood was shed to redeem
us, beloved. And that's, remember, I told
you earlier, he's the lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. Planned and purposed that the son of God, he knew
when he left glory. I remember some guy tell me,
well, he didn't really know what he did and why he came here.
Are you kidding me? He's the son of God. He's God. He's the word of God. He said,
well, he learned it as he was getting older. No, he knew the
reason he left heaven was to redeem us from our sins and to
be born as a baby. Now, I know he grew in wisdom
and stature as a man, but I'll tell you what, what did he tell
them? What did he tell Mary and Joseph? See, this is proof. What
did he tell them? Amen, I'm about my father's business. Oh, what's that tell you right
away? He's just a little fella. I'm about my father's business. Oh my, he knew. He knew he's
a son of God. He's a son of God. And included
in the everlasting covenant is the eternal and original appointment
of the church before all the worlds before time was. We are chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. God the Father looked and knew
that we would fall in Adam. And he planned our recovery,
didn't he? Because we fell in Adam, dead in trespasses and
sins. Well, he planned our recovery,
our salvation. And think of this, he planned
that. I'm gonna say what one time commentator
said, he planned that in time state. See, He's outside of time. He created time so that the salvation
of His people could occur. And when it's all done, guess
what happens to the time? It's all gone, beloved. That's
why one day is like a thousand years with the Lord. When we're
in glory, one day with Him will be like a thousand years here
on this earth, beloved. He's outside of time and space.
He does not dwell. He's not constrained by time
like we are. Not at all. And think of this,
Christ came into time to redeem our souls. Isn't that
amazing? And where is he now? Back in
eternity. Outside of time and space. Watching
over every single one of us. He knows that. He watches over
us every day. like a shepherd watches over
his sheep. Oh, let there be honey for your soul. It's wonderful. And what is this a result of?
His everlasting love. His everlasting love for us.
His unchanging, everlasting love flowing from the great three
in one. And they're all equal, right? Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. And they're equal in their love for us, too. You know,
we think, oh, God the Father chose us in love, The Holy Spirit
also loves us as much as the Father does and as much as the
Son does. And the Son loves us as much
as the Father does and the Holy Spirit does, because they're
in total unity. See, people often forget about
the Holy Spirit that way, but He's God just as much as the
Father and the Son. And if it wasn't for Him, we'd
never be born again, which means we'd never see God. But Christ
said, I'm going to send you the comforter. I'm going to send
you the comforter. After I go, I'm sending you the
comforter, my beloved, my people. I'm going to send you the comforter.
You'll never be alone. Never be alone. Oh, praise be
to God. Praise the Father, praise the
Son, and praise the Holy Spirit. They all cooperated in the accomplishment
of our salvation. My, oh, my. And the Father is
said to have sent the Son, right? Scripture declares, and we have
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the
Savior of the world, 1 John 4, 14. The Lord Jesus Christ is
said to have all things given to Him by the Father, John 3,
35. The Father loved the Son and hath given all things into
His hand. So this is not just any mere
man. This is the one who has all power.
In note, he said, who has all power. That power was demonstrated
while he was on this earth, wasn't it? By the miracles that he did. One of my favorite narratives
is the leper that comes to him. I love that one where the leper
comes to him. Luke chapter 5, one of my favorite narratives
in the scriptures. The leper comes to him and he says, well,
you have me to do. And he says, Lord, if Thou will,
Thou can make me clean. That's my cry. If you will, Lord. You know what our great king
said to him? Same thing he says to each one of his people. I
will be thou clean. And immediately, the leprosy
was gone. It must be born again. And when
we're born again, beloved, that leprosy gone. Our sins already been bought
and paid for. Right? Oh my, already being bought and
paid for. We just find out what God's already
done for us in Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. Let's read
verse 2 again. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. We see here again the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking as the mediator of his people. His office as
mediator is being brought forth here, the God-man, the mediator
between God and man. He's expressing himself in these
words here, in marvel at the sinless one praying to our great
God. Marvel at the fact that by his righteousness, he's brought
in everlasting righteousness for his people. And by his death,
he's overcome death for us, as we looked at on Sunday. And marvel
at the fact alone that we are saved by Him alone, by His work,
and we are clothed in His perfect, spotless righteousness. Again,
talking to my friend today from Oregon, and we were talking about
how we know people who, they're going about trying to establish
their own righteousness. Well, I gotta do this, gotta
read my Bible five times a day, gotta do this, gotta pray X amount
of time, gotta do this, gotta do that, gotta do that. Well,
you know what? I get to pray. I don't have to pray, but I get
to pray. It's a privilege. It's a privilege to you. I get
to read my Bible or listen to the audio version of it. I get
to do that. That's a privilege, isn't it?
I get to come to church. I get to be with the Lord's people.
That's a privilege. That's a privilege. My, oh my. See, we need to look at it as
a privilege, right? Because not everyone believes.
Not everyone believes. Not everyone loves the scriptures.
Not everyone loves the gospel. God's put that in our hearts,
beloved. He's put that in our hearts. And look at this. When Christ
came, He overcame death. He finished the transgression,
was made a sin offering for His people, our sins were imputed
to Him, and He made an end to sin, beloved. He made the end
of our sins. He made reconciliation for iniquity,
didn't he? For our iniquity. He's the sinless
one. And he destroyed Satan's empire,
you know that? He destroyed his empire. My,
he obtained eternal salvation for his whole body. The church,
those he's praying for at the end of this chapter. We who are
dead in trespasses and sins. Praise be to God, he saved us
by his sin atoning blood. Let's read the verse again. As
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Now consider whose
lips are speaking these words. This is the God man. This is the word of God incarnate
speaking these words. This is the second person of
the Trinity speaking these words. And he proclaims here that he
has power over all flesh that's been given to him. And that's
all flesh. That's you and me, our neighbors,
people we see every day, people we pass by in our cars, people
we see in the shopping malls, includes the birds, the insects. He's got power over everything.
Over everything. I ask you this then. If he has power over all flesh,
and he does, then why should we fear man? Why should we ever fear what
man can do to us? Man can destroy the body, right?
We can't take the soul. But if our King has all power,
and He does, then why do we fear? Well, I know why. The flesh,
the flesh, the flesh. That's what it is. It's our flesh.
Oh, my. I look at the Scripture, and
I was telling Vicki, I said, why do I ever fear about anything?
He's got all power. I need the rest right here in
John 17, too. I need the rest right here. He's
got my life and your life in His hands, beloved. And every
second of our life is ordained. And when it comes to breathe
our last breath, He's just going to take us home. Like Spurgeon
said, he goes into his garden, because we're his garden. We're a fenced-in garden. Song
of Solomon talks about that. And Spurgeon says he goes in
and he clips a rose. I want that in my house. Takes us home. Isn't that wonderful? What a beautiful way to look
at dying, eh? What a beautiful way to look at it. So should we fear man? Should
we fear what man can do to us? No. Again, they can destroy the
body, but they can't take the soul. We who are the people of
God, we've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The one who
saved us has all power. The one who saved us has all
power. The one who keeps us has all
power. You see, our security is out
of our hands. Amen, brother Dave. Praise be
to God. It's out of our hands, beloved.
It's in God's hands. Like Joe Terrell says, the hardest
thing for us to do is just rest in those truths. There's not a second that goes
by that God doesn't know what's happening to him. You know, and
He's already made provision for the things that are going to
come in our lives, the hard things and the easy things. He's already
made provision already for them. We have no idea what they are,
but He's already made provision for it. Get something come in my life.
Oh man, I'm looking at this mountain. Lord, what am I going to do?
I've had so many of those. And you know, you think I'd learn.
You think I'd learn, right? You think I'd learn. After, you
know, the Lord saved me when I was in my 30s. Do you think
I'd learn by now? I'm 58. You think I'd learn by
now? After all those years of him
taking those mountains and just mowing them down. But I'm a slow
learner. You know that? I'm a slow learner. But I'm still learning. I'm still
learning. If the one who has One who has
saved us has power over all flesh. I ask you this, can we be lost
ever again? Nope, not at all. Not at all. You know the one
who keeps us never slumbers or sleeps? We're in his grip. I remember I used to get letters
from an old preacher and he used to put, in his grip. I don't
like that. In his grip. That's where we
are. We're in his grip, beloved. In
the grip of God. God ever gonna let go of us?
Nope. Never. Oh, hallelujah. Oh my, oh my,
I get so excited. I get so excited. Christ has
all power, not simply in relation to having all power over his
church, because we know he ever watches over his sheep, but he
has all power over everything, visible and invisible. All the
angels. Everything we see and everything
we don't see. See that star falling in the
middle of the night? It's falling all according to
God's purpose. He got the power. That thing's falling because
He's willed it. They say we're only seeing it like it's already
falling. How does that all work? I don't
know how that all works. But we see it and He knows it's all
happening. Every one of them stars, they're
all hung in place as He pleases. You ever see the canopy of stars
late at night? We used to go to a place in Oregon, up in the
mountains, no lights. You look up there, you see the
Milky Way. Oh my, I'll never forget being with my little girl,
my daughter, being up there. And she just started shaking.
She goes, daddy, that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Milky Way,
all that just star clusters. That's just a little wee piece.
You wanna be amazed? Go on the internet and look up
Hubble space pictures. Look at some of the clusters
and pictures that they found of these stars. Not just a few,
just a little wee drop in a bucket. It'll blow you away what's out
there in the sky. Stuff we can't even see with the naked eye.
Such beauty. Such beauty. But you know what it's there
for? God's glory. It's there for His glory, manifest His glory.
So Christ has all power, not only over the church, but as
the text proclaims here, over all flesh. Turn, if you would,
to Colossians 1. Colossians 1, then put your finger
in Proverbs 8. We're going to go to two different
places here. He has not only power over the
church, but he has power over all flesh, saved and lost, things
visible and invisible. Christ, they were all created
by Christ. Oh my, and by him all things
consist. And he's not only the head of the body, but he's the
fullness which filleth all in all. Look at this in Colossians
chapter one. Remember, this book is a book
about the preeminence of Christ. And Paul pens these beautiful
words by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in verses 15 to 23. Look
at this. Speaking of Christ, who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
Remember he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. For
by him, this is Christ, were all things created. That means
you and I. That means everything we see
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
things we can't even see. my oh my, all, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, thrones in this world,
or angels, they're all things were created by Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
Think of that, He even gives breath to these folks who curse
Him. They consist because of Him. They don't even know it. And he is the head of the body,
this is speaking of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have what? The preeminence.
Christ always must have the preeminence in our lives. When I first came
here, Jean-Claude told me, in your preaching, Wayne, and in
your leadership, Christ always has to have the preeminence,
always. I never forgot that. He is the preeminent one. It's
not about me, it's all about him. all about Him. He is the preeminent one. He
gets the preempts. He gets the glory. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Look at that.
And heaven made, oh look at this beloved, and heaven made peace
through the blood of His cross. Who'd He make peace for? You
and I, sinners. by his blood, through his blood,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself. Oh, we were, we
needed to be reconciled to God, didn't we? We fell on Adam. My, we were separated from God.
We were born dead spiritually. We'd be made alive, don't we,
spiritually? We weren't. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. Look at that. Peace through the blood of Christ.
Peace with God. Oh my, I say whether they be
things in earth or in heaven. And you that were sometimes alien,
look at this, this is our state before the Lord saved us. And
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet how hath he reconciled? All I can say is hallelujah.
I'll tell you what. Because that was me. That was
us. Enemies in our minds. That's
what the scripture declares. But now we're reconciled in the
body of his flesh out through death, through his death. Look
at this, look at this. To present you holy. Sinners, to present you holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. What are we? Sinners. What were we? Enemies in our
minds, alienated from God. Look at this. But now He presents
us holy, sanctified in Christ, unblameable, unreprovable, which
means without blemish. Oh, it don't get any better than
that, does it? And who's he presenting us to?
The Father. You know why? You know why we're unblameable? Because of what Christ's done.
You know why we're without blemish? Because we're clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. This is good news for sinners.
He says, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you've
heard, and which was preached to every creature, which is under
heaven, where have I, Paul, and made a minister. And you know
what? Christ will keep his people. Here, keep this. And then, turn
if you would quick to Proverbs. Oh, the Son of God, the Word
of God, you know, He's the wisdom of God. He's set up from everlasting.
He's set up from everlasting. Look at this in Proverbs 8. This
one who's praying this prayer to the Father, He's the wisdom
of God. That's one of His names. Look
at this in Proverbs 8, verses 22 to 31. The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his ways before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was. That's a long time ago. When there was no depths, I was
bought forth. When there was no fountains abounding
with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills
was I bought forth. Well, as yet, he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the dust
of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree, look at this, that the waters
should not pass his commandment. I'll tell you what, people talk
about the water flooding all this earth. Do you see what it
says right there? See what it says right there? Look at this,
look at this. When he gave the sea his decree
that the water should not pass his commandment, he has set boundaries
for the sea and it shall not pass his commandment. It shall
not. That's what that says. God, He's
sovereign. And this is speaking of Christ.
Look at this. Then I was by Him, as one bought
up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always
before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth,
and my delights were with the sons of man. Whoo! My, that's our King, beloved.
Now turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1, and then I'll just
have a few things to say and we'll be done. Ephesians chapter
1. So we saw there the Son of God,
the wisdom of God, was set up for everlasting. And we were
chosen in Christ. When were we chosen in Christ?
Well, let's look at this verses here. Ephesians chapter 1. Look
at verses 3 to 6. Paul's writing this. Again, by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. You see, when men deny
election, they are denying what God says. Election is not my opinion. Election
is in the scriptures. And you know what? I like that
old hymn writer said, you've heard me say it many times, if
God hadn't chosen me, I'd never chose you, God. And we all know
that. Look what it says here. Look
at this. Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus. Verse three,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Where are all the spiritual blessings? They're
in Christ. There's nowhere else. Justification,
redemption, sanctification, they're all in him. All those great doctrines
are all in him. They're nowhere else. This is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So all the spiritual
blessings we have are all in Christ. Now look at this, according
as He has chosen us. That word chosen in the Greek
means to select. Who's doing the selecting? Well,
it says here, according, and we know God the Father, speaking
of God the Father in verse three, and it says, according as He
hath chosen us in Him, when? When we believed. No, no, no,
no, no, no. We can't muster up faith in anything. We do. You must be born again.
And then when we're born again, we're given the faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a gift of God. Look what
this says here. I just marvel. I marvel at this.
This is just, this is amazing. Accordingly, he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. To what end? That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Who are we holy in? Not in ourselves,
are we? But we're holy in Christ, beloved.
He's our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He's everything to us. He's our all in all. Look at
this. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Now let that sink in. If you're
saved, it's according to the good pleasure of God's will. Now that's honey to my soul.
I'll tell you what, I can feast there for the rest of my life.
According to the good, I'm saved, you're saved according to the
good pleasure of God's will. And then look at this, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, accepted in Christ, accepted by God in Christ beloved. And all this was planned and
purposed in the infinite mind of Jehovah, Jehovah the Father,
Jehovah the Son, and Jehovah the Holy Spirit. The sacred trinity
covenanted to save a number of fallen men and women in Christ
from eternity. So marvel, beloved of God, marvel
that the one who's praying these words here, as thou has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. This is the savior of sinners.
This is the redeemer of our souls. This is the one who keeps us.
No matter what's going on in this world, no matter how messed
up things look, where are we? In his hands. in His hand. And this, the Savior of sinners,
is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, beloved. He was
hungry like we hunger, He was thirsty like we thirst, and yet
He was without sin. So fearful, fretting child of
God, rejoice in the midst of our trials. in the turmoil of
this world, the uncertainty all around us, because the one who
saved us is the one who keeps us, and the one who saved us
and the one who keeps us has power over all flesh, and his
name is the Lord Jesus Christ.