For a Scripture reading, turn
with me to John 17. John chapter 17. I'm not going to read the whole
chapter, but I will be preaching through this prayer of our Lord. And I want these verses to be
fresh in your mind. John chapter 17, beginning with
verse 1. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. And they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given
me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee. And they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the works. But
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. If you will turn back with me
to John 17. John 17. is the Lord's Prayer. Most of the religion of our day
refers to Matthew 6 and Luke chapter 11 as the Lord's Prayer. When I was a young man growing
up, before they outlawed it, we memorized that prayer in Matthew
6 and Luke 11 and we would stand say that prayer in the morning
when we arrived at school. And it was called then the Lord's
Prayer. But in truth, that prayer is
the disciple's prayer. If you simply look at what the
prayer is asking, forgive us our trespasses. Our Lord had
no trespasses. Neither did he ever ask God to
forgive him his trespasses. That's not the Lord's prayer,
that's the disciples' prayer. And what he's given to them in
those verses is an outline for prayer. Pray like this. And they ask him, teach us how
to pray. He said, okay, after this manner,
pray ye, our Father. That's where prayer has to start,
because that's the source of all things. and so on, and he
gave them a model for prayer, an outline. The instructions he gives before
this outline, he never intended, folks, to repeat this prayer.
How do I know that? Well, read the verse above it. His instructions he gave before
this outline for prayer, Matthew 6, verse 7, But when you pray,
use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. Don't do that, for
they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not
ye therefore alike unto them, for your father knoweth what
things have need of before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye. John 17 is the Lord's Prayer. And when I read this prayer,
I want to identify with His disciples to whom our Lord said, Terry
here, I go yonder to pray. You sit here and listen. I'm going yonder to pray. You
just listen. You listen. Well, to listen, I was thinking
about this When I ask Brother Gene to pray, we need to listen
when I have somebody pray for us. Or if I'm praying, you need
to listen to what I'm saying. Listen to what I'm saying. Because
that's what we're doing. We're leading this congregation
in prayer. It's a serious matter. But O
my soul, when I think about this prayer, this is the Lord. This is the Lord's prayer. What do I know about this prayer?
What do I know about this prayer that gives me an interest to
preach from it? There's a whole Bible to preach
from. Why would I go to the Lord's
Prayer? Why would I go to John 17 to preach or teach? And especially
if I'm going to teach a series. Why would I do so? What do I know? What did I see? What did I learn as I read this
prayer that would lead me to want to preach from it? Well, I know six things from
his introduction alone. That's all we're going to look
at today, verses 1 and 2. I know six things from his introduction
alone that immediately give me an appetite to study this whole
prayer. I know I see here an introduction
to its author. These words speak Jesus. I see in this introduction the
eyes of Christ. He tells us about this one who
looks up into heaven. He states in this introduction
a heavenly interest. My Father. My Father. And then he states a monumental
occasion. The hour has come. And then he
gets down to the heart of the matter. Glorify thou me, that
thy son also may glorify thee. So let's look at these things
and see if the Lord will allow us to graze in this pasture that
he's provided for us. We have at the outset of this
prayer an introduction to the author of the prayer. These words
speak Jesus. At his conception, what do we
know about Jesus? What's that mean? This whole
religious world uses that name the same as they use, what was
the dog's name in the grade school book, Spock, C. Spock. They use
that name in the same familiarity, and they don't understand anything
at all about that name. At his conception, Mary was told
by the angel of God, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Mary didn't come
up with it, Joseph didn't come up with it, Elizabeth didn't
recommend the name to Mary, How'd they come up with this
name? The angel of God was sent to them by God to command them
to name this child Jesus. Jesus. And in Luke 1.32 it says, For
he shall be great. Boy, here's a tiny baby. He's born in a cow stable, he's
wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And here's
an angel saying he's going to be great. Boy, didn't seem like
it at the time, did he? He should be great. And he shall be called the son
of the highest. And the Lord shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he'll reign over the
house of Jacob forever. and of his kingdom there'll be
no end. That holy thing, that's how the
angel described him, that holy thing that is in thee is the
Son of God. He's the Son of God. In Hebrews 6, 19 we're told that
the hope we have as an anchor of the soul, which is both sure
and steadfast, has entered within the veil. Now anybody that's
ever studied the Bible understands the old tabernacle had a veil. What took place back there took
place by the high priest alone. One time a year he took the blood
and he went beyond that veil into the Holy of Holies and did
business with God on the mercy seat, the high priest. And here Paul said, our hope
is both sure and steadfast and has entered within the veil.
That's where atonement was made. That's where sins were forgiven.
That's where justice was satisfied. And knowing that the high priest
could enter beyond the veil, and so Paul tells us we're in,
the forerunner is for us entered. Who did that? Even Jesus. Made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Who's he? Well, Melchizedek is
the priest of the Most High God. That's what it says. He's the
priest of the Most High God. He has no father, no mother. He's without descent, having
neither beginning of days or end of life, but made like unto
the Son of God, and abideth a priest continually. Hebrews 7, verse
3. This man, born of Mary, born
in Bethlehem, born in a stable, is the eternal High Priest of
God. Who is Jesus? He's the High Priest of God. Why are you telling us this?
Because this prayer is the prayer of the High Priest of God. That's
why I'm telling you. Who's doing the praying? He's
introducing us to the other. It's Jesus. Jesus. And listen to this, he doesn't
pray for God to glorify the priest. Have you ever noticed that? He
said, glorify thy son. It's the Son of God is our priest. That man praying that prayer
is the Son of God who came into this world as the high priest He's entering into prayer. Secondly,
this Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. Glorified by Son. In Hebrews chapter 1 it says,
He being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His
person and upholding all things by the word of His power. when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of God. Being made, now listen to this,
being made, Paul writes, so much better than the angels, as he
has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For
unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son. He never said that to Gabriel,
did he? Or Michael? To which of the angels said,
God, at any time, sit thou beside me. Thou sit here my son. Called him my son. Thou art my
son this day of thy begotten day. And again, I'll be to him
a father, and he'll be to me a son. And again, he saith, and
let all the angels of God worship him. This priest, this one who's
about to pray for the church of God, for God's elect, all the angels of God bow and
cover their eyes and cry, holy, holy, holy. His train fills the
temple. All the angels of God worship
him. Well, what's that mean? He's
the only begotten of God. That means He knows what He's
praying for and whom He's praying to. That's what that means. That
means that everything in His prayer is consistent with the
character of God because He is God. That means that He has an
ear. He has the ear of His Father.
When he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, his
father heard him. Didn't he say that too? I forget
if it's Pilate or, he said, my father heareth me all the time,
continually. He never ignores me. He heareth me. Thirdly, this man, this one called
Jesus of Nazareth, is Lord. He has power over all flesh to
give eternal life to all God's elect. And he must be Lord to
overcome the enemies of God. He must be Lord in order to command. He must be Lord to govern. The
government shall be upon his shoulders. And he must be Lord
to do the redemptive will of God. And then fourthly, Jesus
is the prophet of God. I've given them thy word. That's
what prophets do. They give the people the word
of God. Inspired of God. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. I have given
them the words which thou gavest me. Did you know this one about
to pray, His eternal name is the Word? John didn't say in
the beginning was Jesus, he said in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. To Him give all the prophets
witness. And then fifthly, Jesus is a
representative man. Praying there is not just a man
praying in general. This is a representative man.
His prayer is my prayer. Lock in on that. His prayer is
my prayer. And boy, when I look at it, I
wonder if I've ever prayed. But I'm glad he prayed. He's
a representative man. In verse 8 he tells us that those
he taught have known surely that he came out from God and was
sent of God and everything he had was given him by God and
for them. He's a representative man. God's
people are in union with him, one with him. And we could go
on and on about this man Jesus, but here's an introduction. He's
introducing us to the author of this prayer. Why would I have
an appetite to preach from it? Because he who is all is the
author of it. That's why. And he's the reason that I might
be comforted by. All right, here's the second
thing I see in this introduction that brings comfort and joy to
my heart. A divine look. He lifted up his
eyes to heaven. The only other person that I've
read in here about that lifted up his eyes to heaven was that
proud Pharisee who went out not justified. He lifted up his eyes
to heaven. But here it says, our Lord lifted
up his eyes to heaven. And heaven, my friends, is the
eternal dwelling place of God. And heaven is where Christ came
from. I came down from heaven. Ain't that what he said? The
reason he's looking up is because back yonder in eternity, he looked
down. He's looking up because he looked
down. God looked down from heaven to
see if there was any righteous, to see if any done any good. Any of them was seeking Him.
He looked down. He looked down on hopeless humanity. He looked down on suffering sinners.
He looked down on the oppressed. He looked down on ignorant men.
And the reason He's looking up is because He looked down. He looked down and then he came
down and then he looked up. Huh? He looked down because everything
is under heaven, isn't it? He uses that term over and over.
No other hope under heaven given. Everything is under heaven. He looked down in compassion
and mercy and grace and he looked down that way because he was
chosen to be our provision. He said, I came down from heaven,
John 6, 38. And there's no other reason for
God to come down from heaven except to save. But that's sinking in. He didn't
have to leave heaven to judge. He judged this whole race and
never stood up from the throne. He sat right there on the throne.
He created a whole world, never rose from his throne. But to save, he must come down. Everything else God does, he
can do from heaven. But to save, to redeem, to reconcile,
he must come down and be made of a woman and made under the
law. He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself
of no reputation and took on him the form of a servant. God can and did create all things
from His heavenly throne. He can and did judge mankind
without rising from the throne. But to say, He must condescend
from the throne of glory and take upon Himself the form of
a man. And he who came down from glory
now looks up into glory as God's faithful servant and prays for
those given him by God. Is that important? In John 3, verse 31, it says,
He that cometh from above is above all. One fellow got all upset with
me one night for saying that. He said, you're trying to put
Jesus above the Father and above the Holy Spirit. I said, I'm
not putting Him anywhere. In fact, it says it pleased the
Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. It pleased God
that he had this preeminence. He gave it to him. I'm not trying
to put him anywhere. He that's from above is above
all, all creation, all providence, all situations, all circumstances,
all men, all angels. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifies. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
him. This one looking up to his heavenly Father is one
who looked down upon suffering sinners and came down from his
throne in glory to do something about it. Think about that. He lifted up his eyes unto heaven. And then thirdly, I see in these
first verses a heavenly interest. Boy, when I think about heaven,
and I think about myself, and I think about mankind, boy, there's
just no interest there, is there? You couldn't even get the interest
of an angel, let alone the interest of God. And no interest there. But this
man had an interest. And his interest was on the throne
of glory. What kind of interest did he
have? Father. Oh my soul. He called God his
Father because he's the only begotten of the Father. It is
as God is the Father of Christ that he's our Father. Huh? You ever think about that? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Those who by the intervention
of God receive that adoption having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. Who did that?
The Father. The Father. And those who, by
intervention of God, receive that adoption, they all cry,
Abba, Father. There is no prayer of no saint
and no prayer of our Lord that does not address God as Father. And it's one thing to imagine
ourselves to stand before a holy, just, and righteous God who has
no respect for persons. If that don't scare you, there's
something wrong with you. Stand before God with no buffer. Stand before God as holy and
just and righteous. And it's quite another thing
to stand before a loving Father, isn't it? who made provision
for the prodigal, who runs to the prodigal. He don't wait for
the prodigal to come to him. He runs to him. This prodigal has no idea how
much love the father has for him. It never entered into his thinking. The best he could come up with
was even the servants is treated better than I am out here. I'm
going to go home. I'll just be a servant. No. No, you won't. God has enough
servants. He's not looking for servants.
He's looking for the Son. And He sees Him. Where does He
see Him? A great way off. And He runs
to Him and throws His arms around Him and kisses His Son. Now it's one thing to imagine
yourself to stand before a holy, just, and righteous God, but
I'm telling you it's another thing to stand there in Christ
and know that He's your Heavenly Father. He means you no ill. All provision has been made.
I've kept, the cash has been kept and fatted, it's ready for
the banquet. And the servant, whom the son
thought that's what he was going to be, the servant, he said,
now you go get the ring. He didn't tell the boy to do
anything, did he? You go get the ring. And get
his roller. Get my roller. Put it on. Huh? Father, listen to this prayer.
Father! He's praying for us, and he said, He's praying, now listen, in
my stead. And he's saying, Father, Father, he had no need to pray
this prayer apart from me or you, his elect, did he? He left heaven. He already had
heaven. He's testifying what he's seen
and heard. He came down from heaven. This
prayer, He's praying in my stead. Are you with me? And how does
He start it? Father, Father. And then fourthly, I see in these
first verses of His prayer, a monumental occasion. Whatever it is, it's
something of eternal proportion, and it's about to transpire.
The hour, he said, has come. Now, he was up preaching in one
place, and more or less told them he was the son of God, making
himself equal with God, and they picked up stones, and that city
was up on a big high brow. They were going to stone him
and throw him over the cliff. But he walked through their midst.
How come? Well, he tells you, his hour
was not yet come. Now, he said, the hour has come. The hour has come. What hour? The hour of accomplished
redemption. Redemption is a work that must
be accomplished. Sin must be paid for. Justice
must be satisfied. Righteousness must be maintained. God cannot, I hope you can hear
me, God cannot simply forgive and forget. That's what people
tell me that God does. No, we don't. God cannot simply
forgive and forget. Sin has to be paid for. The soul
that sinneth shall surely die. Did he make a misstatement when
he said that? Uh-uh. Every sinful soul He's gonna
die. He'll die forever in the fires
of hell or he'll die in a slain substitute, but he's gonna die.
Sin has to be paid for. The hour fast approaching is
an hour of restitution. The restoring of something lost. What is this hour? It's the hour
of God manifesting His name. manifesting the glory of his
great name and the salvation of chosen sinners. And what God
manifested in the suffering and death of Christ is the whole
purpose behind creation. Is that right? It's the whole purpose. All of
creation groaneth and prevaileth in pain. What are they waiting
for? waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God. All of creation has its being. Everything that
you see going on around you, everything that's happening from
here on, all of these things, they're just playing a little
part in this thing. This whole thing is about God
manifesting His name in the death of His son on that cross. It's not just another hour. He
said this is the hour. The hour. And then lastly, I
see in these verses the heart of the matter. Glorify thy son,
that thy son also may glorify thee. Now what exactly is the
Son of God asking the Father to do? Huh? Have you ever read that verse
and thought about it? What is he asking the Father to do? He's the Son of God. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. What is he asking the Father
to do when he said, glorify thy Son? Or when he prays for God to glorify
His Son, he's asking for His Father to make Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. That's what he's asking. He's asking of His Father to
pour out His just wrath upon Him until that fiery vengeance
burns itself out on Him. Oh, my soul. He's asking his
Father to look upon him as the sinner, to look upon him in righteous
anger, to look upon him without compromise and extract the full
penalty for sin. Glorify. When he prays for his father
to glorify his son, that his son also may glorify his father,
he's praying for the infinite justice of God to find satisfaction
in him alone. He'll never look to another after
this. It pleased the Lord, Isaiah said,
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. And he, that is God the Father,
shall see the travail of his soul, the reason for his suffering,
the reason for his dying, the reason for it, and shall be satisfied. Aren't you glad you don't have
to satisfy God? Huh? All my soul. Men will suffer
in hell for eternity, never able to satisfy God. But this man,
in a matter of hours, satisfied God. God set forth His Son both in
type and in person as the propitiation for sin, that which enables God
to forgive sin. And He does it and gives it to
us through faith in His blood. Does that mean we believe He
bled? No, that means we see satisfaction
in the shedding of His blood. My sins put away. Is this not the heart of the
gospel? The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He
delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.
He both delivered us from the wrath to come. For Christ won't
suffer for sins, but just for the unjust that He might bring
us to God. This is the heart of the gospel. The glorification our Lord is
praying for here is that of our divine substitute. Can there
be anyone or anything other than Christ crucified that can honor
God and justify guilty sinners? It's not there. I've looked. Oh, how I've looked. It's not
there. Here is where real hope for real
sinners is born. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. You know, Moses, I think about some of the things
that he saw and did. You've got to be awed by it.
And Moses said to God, Show me thy glory. Show me your glory. He said, Moses, No man can look
on my face and live. No man. No man. But I tell you what I'm going
to do. There's a place by me. And I'm going to put you over
here on this rock. Who's that? That's Christ, isn't
it? And when I pass by, I'm going to put you down in the cleft
of that rock. And I'm going to cover you with
my hand. And when I pass by, I'll let you see my hinder parts.
I'll let you see the end of what I did. Because you can't possibly
look at what I actually did. Does that make sense? You couldn't take it. Just the
thought of being made sin, our Lord sweat until His sweat become
as great drops of blood. I have no idea what it is to
be absolutely, totally forsaken of God. No buffer. Nobody to
make up the heads. Nobody to stand in the gap. Just
stand there and say, glorify thyself. Pour
it out on me that I might glorify. Oh, I tell you, what did Moses
see? Exodus 34, 6. The Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed the Lord. This was the Lord's doing. Moses'
hand wasn't in this. This was the Lord's doing. He
proclaimed unto him the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Long-suffering, abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Now let me ask you something,
and I'll bring this whole thing to a close. What do you see in
these things? That's what I see. What do you
see? The Lord passed by this morning
in His gospel. What do you see? Can I see the
Lord, the Lord God? Can I see the very hand and counsel
of God? Can I see divinity, satisfying
divinity? Are we looking for mercy? If
you are, this is where you'll find it. Are you looking for
grace? This is where you'll find it.