John chapter 17. In Isaiah's that brother John
read from a moment ago, God said twice to the prophet
and I think that shows how important this is to our God concerning
his people. When God spoke this world into
existence, wielded into existence. He only said once, let there
be light, and light was. But concerning the comfort that
his people need, he told the prophet twice, repeated himself,
and said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Comfort ye, Isaiah, again. Hear me. Comfort ye my people. And the reason is simple, isn't
it? The reason is obvious for a child
of God. It's because we need it. We need
comfort. We stand in need of it because
we're often, including myself, especially myself, I should say,
stand in need of the comfort that only God can give because
we're often cast down, aren't we? Turn, if you will, we'll
come back to our text here in John 17, but turn, if you will,
for a moment to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Look
what the Apostle Paul wrote here concerning this thing of comfort,
God's comfort to his own. In verse 3 of chapter 1 in 2
Corinthians, the Apostle writes, Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, But he doesn't
stop there, does he? The Father of mercies and the
God of all comfort. All comfort. Now, who else can
lay claim to that other than our Father, the Father of mercies? Verse 4, who comforted us in
all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted
of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Verse 7, And our hope of you
is steadfast. Why, Paul? Knowing as ye are
partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye also be of the consolation. The God of all comfort, what
a blessed thought. Mr. Newton, in one of his many
hymns, I know the most famous one, I'm sure, is Amazing Grace,
but he expressed it this way. He wrote, and as I read this,
I believe for every believer there'll be a response in their
heart You'll say, yes, I know. I've experienced what that fellow
wrote about. Newton wrote, how tedious and
tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects,
sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
with me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim. The fields strive in vain to
look gay. Oh, but when I am happy in him,
December's as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest perfume,
and sweeter than music his voice. His presence disperses my gloom,
and makes all within me rejoice. I should, were he always thus
nigh, have nothing to wish nor to fear. No mortal so happy as
I, my summer would last all the year. Dear Lord, if indeed I
am thine, if thou art my sun and my sun, say, why do I languish
in time, and why are my winters so long? Oh, drive these dark
clouds from my sky. Thy soul-cheering presence restore,
or take me unto thee on high, where winter and clouds are no
more. Take me unto thee on high where
winter and clouds are no more. That brings me to my text. I
want to read one verse here in John's Gospel, chapter 17, verse
24. What a comfort. What a blessed,
blessed comfort from the lips of our great high priest. Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. I couldn't think of a better
definition of heaven if I sat for a week and tried to come
up with it. It's where he is. that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world." In John 17, we are allowed
to listen in to the prayer of our great high priest. And as
the Lord God said to Moses, When Moses turned aside to see that
bush on fire but was yet not consumed, put off your shoes,
Moses, this is holy ground. You're in the presence of the
Lord God. Act like it, Moses. And indeed,
this prayer of our great high priest is holy ground. The high
priest, you recall, of the Old Testament not only offer sacrifice,
but he would first intercede for Israel and then offer sacrifice. Our great high priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is here in his prayer doing that. He's interceding
for his people. And then after this, shortly
after this, he, like the old high priest that was a type of
him, that typified him, that was a picture of him that was
to come, he offered sacrifice. But not the lamb. Oh, no. He offered himself. He offered
himself after interceding for his people. He offers himself. Here am I, take me, he said shortly
after this. He offered himself without spot
to God. In just a few hours from this
that we read of in John chapter 17, he would enter in to the
wine press of enduring the wrath of a holy, holier than you and
I can get a hold of. He would enter into that winepress
of enduring the wrath, the fierceness of a righteous, holy God. And he would go in alone. He
would go in alone. How alone? Loneliness. Must that have been? For the Son of God to endure
the wrath of His Father. What kind of isolation must that
have been? Something that had never taken
place before. Unheard of, unthought of, except
in the mind of the triune God. He told his disciples in chapter
16 verse 32 here in John's Gospel, Behold, the hour cometh. It swiftly
approaches. My time is at hand. Behold, the
hour cometh. Yea, it's now come. That ye shall
be scattered, every man to his own, and leave me alone. But look what he says, And yet
I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I'm not alone. The Father's with me. I always
do those things that please him. I came here on the mission that
he sent me on. And yet, when he was made sin,
then even God his Father forsook him, left him alone. As Isaiah foretold, The words
of our Redeemer, I have trodden the winepress alone. Alone. No one was with me. In chapter 18, he tells Peter,
put up your sword, Peter. This cup, this cup that my father's
given me, Shall I not drink it? That's the cup that just before
he prayed, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. We see the Lord, although John
doesn't record it, the other three gospel writers do, that
struggle, we see him in a way that we've never seen him before.
We see him act in a way that seemed so uncharacteristic of
him. What was going on when he prayed
such a prayer? What was happening when he fell
down on his face before God? This cup, this cup, this cup,
he prayed. What was he speaking of? What
so troubled the soul and the heart, the depths of the Son
of God? What was in that cup? It was that cup that he should
take and drink alone. It was that cup containing all
the wrath, the unmitigated wrath and fury of the Holy God. In that cup, he saw the prophecy
about to be fulfilled when God says, Awake, O sword, against
the man who is. My fellow, my companion, awake
on sword, smite the shepherd. Oh, Father, may this cup pass
from me. And he arises and goes back to
the three disciples, seeking, it seems, some sort of solace,
some companionship, but they're sleeping. I've trod the winepress
alone. There's nobody. And then he says, Father, not my will, but thine be done. And he arises triumphant and
says, Here I am, take me. And then afterwards, that happens
which we said had never happened before. Read Proverbs 8, where
it speaks about that eternal union between the father and
the son. The son speaks to the father
and says, I was as one brought up with him. I was daily before
him as his delight. Before the mountains were brought
forth, I was there. Before God created the heavens
and the earth, I was there. I was his delight, his joy. This eternal union, he spoke
of it here in John 17, though we didn't read it. the glory
that I had with Thee, Father, before the world was. With that
in mind, we hear these words and wonder. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? How do you describe? You can't. How do you understand the loneliness
the loneliness of God being forsaken by God. Oh, what loneliness that
must have been. Before that, that is, giving
his life for his sheep, he prays for them. I don't pray for the
world, Father. I'm praying for these that you
gave me and all those that shall believe on me hereafter. I pray
for them that thou gavest me that they might be with me where
I am. My soul, what comfort! What blessed, blessed comfort! They whom thou hast given me
He'd already asked prior to this that they'd be sanctified, that
they'd be one with the Father and the Son. What a blessing,
what a wonder, united to him. He prayed that they might be
preserved while they were in the world, that they might be
kept from the evil one. I pray not that you should take
them out of the world, but you should keep them, preserve them,
Father. but he seems to save the very
best for last, doesn't he? Like the governor of the feast
where our Lord turned the water into wine at the wedding feast,
you've kept the very best for last. And so it is. So it is with the wondrous works
of our wonder-working God. The God in our Savior has saved
the very best for last. Like he said concerning the blessings
that he gives his own, he said in the Sermon on the Mount, Give
and it shall be given unto you good measure. Good measure. Shaken down. Shaken down. Why? So more can be put in. Shaken down and pressed. Pressed down, brother-in-law.
Why? So more can be put in. And shaken
together, he said. And what? Running over? He giveth. And he giveth. And he giveth
more grace, glory to his name. And he says here in this These
words in verse 24, he seems to rise to heavenly places, does
he not? In his prayer for his people,
this is the apex of the pyramid of his prayer, the height of
it. I mean, he can go no further,
no higher than this, and neither can you and I, because we go
on the wings of our glorious Redeemer. In one giant step,
he seems to go from asking for grace for his sheep below to
having them with him in glory above. And for those God gave
him, Paul said, I have not seen, ear has not heard. It's not entered
into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them,
for they. They were given to the Son by
the Father. They whom thou gavest me. Think about that, child of God. They whom thou gavest me. Folks, hear that. Oh, I know
where you're going with that. Talking about a choice, Joe read
about it a moment ago. Talking about that election. I just can't believe that, they
say. Well, I'll tell you what. For far different reasons, John,
I pinch myself often. Because it is hard to believe.
Not because it's not in God's Word, but oh my soul, God chose this sinner. He chose me before the world
was. He chose me in Christ. He chose this rebel, this sinner,
this despiser of His grace, His mercy, His Son, and yet He chose
me not based on any good foreseen. He couldn't foresee what wasn't
there. Nothing in me. But He chose me
and He gave me the Father. This is what Christ prays. Those
whom thou gavest me, thine they were, and you gave them to me.
You put them into my hands, O my soul. And Christ promised His
Father that he would in the fullness of time go, be made like unto
his brethren, and do everything that God required, including
dying under the wrath of a holy God in order to put away their
sins, and he agreed to do that for me, my soul. What a wonder. What a miracle. Turn, if you
will, to 2 Thessalonians. Look what Look what Paul writes
here. And you're familiar with the
passage, 2 Thessalonians 2. And Paul writes these words against
the backdrop of religious darkness. We've never lived in a day. The
world's always been religious, but oh my soul, has there ever
been a time they were more religious than today? Everybody's a Christian. People don't know God, but they're
a Christian. People don't love Christ, but
they're believers. People, and you've got preachers
that hold Christ up to the highest bidder. He's a doormat into heaven. He's your far escape out of hell. Whatever you want, this Jesus
has got it for you. And people just eat it up like
a hog eats slop. Paul talks about that sort of
thing here. Verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. Ralph Barnard
said if there's one place in America where you dare not preach
the gospel, it's in the average church. That is a sad, sad truth,
is it not? Verse 11, and for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
Just leave them where they want to be, rightly so, justly so. Leave us alone, God says, so
be it. Verse 12, that they might all
believe a lie and be damned who believe not the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. Child of God, when we come to
verse 13, in the light of what we just read, And if we have
eyes to see, we look out and say, oh, my soul, Paul, you could
have wrote that this morning. It's like you're looking out
on the day that we're living in with what you just wrote.
It's so. It seems like the whole world,
this whole religious world is engulfed in darkness. They've
embraced the lie. They're bowing down to that whore
Babylon. That being the case, That being
the reality, when we come to verse 13, my soul, how we ought
to lift our hearts up to God Almighty and say, oh, thank you,
thank you. But, but, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren. because God had from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those are they that he wills
be with him. Father, I will that those whom
thou hast given Me, be with me where I am. Is that not grace? Shaken down and running over. One hymn writer expressed it
this way, By God's sovereign grace united to his Son eternally,
I can never be divided from my covenant surety. God's free love
from everlasting made me one with his dear Son. Blessed union,
strong and unchanging. I am with my Savior, one. Oh, my. One with Jesus, one with
Jesus. By eternal union, one. One with
Jesus, one with Jesus. Oh, the wondrous grace has done. one with Christ from everlasting,
one with Him upon the tree, one with Him on high ascending, one
with Him eternally. That's what he prayed, is it
not? From all grace needed to bring each of them to glory that
they might be with me, he says. Be with me. And here's the force. Here's
the force that will bring that to pass. Here's the power that
will bring that to pass. Don't look for it in the sheep.
Oh, no. But look for it in the omnipotent
arm and purpose of the great shepherd of the sheep. Here it
is. Father, I will. I will. That's the force, that's
the power, that's the strength that carries all of his elect
to be with him in glory. It's his mighty will. Oops, someone would say, the
average religious church member in our day would say, oops, there
he goes again. There's the problem. He's going
to talk about sovereign mercy and grace. He's going to talk
about God's sovereignty. That's the problem. No, no. Oh, how mistaken they are, Joe. That's not the problem. That's
the solution. That's not nothing to frown about.
That's something to rejoice in. that the fulfillment of this
in no way, listen, it's good news, the fulfillment of this
sinner being brought to the Father's house where I shall see with
mine eyes That one who loved me and gave himself for me, that
glorious, glorious prospect, that certain reality in no way
whatsoever is dependent upon me. Glory, glory, glory. Isn't that good news? It's not
of my will, but His will. I will, Father. Therefore, it can only be a problem
if it's of Larry that willeth. Oh, but not of the great God
and Savior, not the great I Am. Remember, as we've mentioned
before, this prayer we could consider, I don't think it would
be wrong, to refer to it as our Lord's last will and testament.
before he left this world to go back to the Father. Remember,
just prior to this, he gave them that cup of wine and said, pass
this among you, all of you drink from it, because this is the
blood, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed
for you for the remission of sin. Hebrews 13, now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ
through the blood, according to, because of the blood of the
everlasting covenant or testament. Oh yes, he must be heard. He must be heard. This, I will,
as we said, is the force that draws us home. It's like a magnet. in the hand of our Redeemer. And it carries us through every
trial, through every temptation, over every enemy, through every
difficulty. We're drawn to Him so that every
one of them in Zion appeareth before God. I will, Father. The
great shepherd says that they all be with me where I am. Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Must bring. When I read these
words of our great God and Savior, I will that they be with me. I ask who can hold them back. If he who holds the oceans in the hollow
of his hand, wills that they be with him, who can hold them
back? Is his will, or rather his power,
equal to his will? Of course, of course. Remember,
he who wills this is that one whose will cannot be resisted.
The will of him who is the mighty Father, or rather the everlasting
Father, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the governments upon
His shoulders, it's His will. That one that Paul said God is
highly exalted and given a name above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess,
it's His will that is spoken of here. And whose will is greater
than His? Some idiots will tell you the
devil's. Wrong. Wrong. No, no, no. Whose will is greater
than his? None. None. Not mine, not yours,
not angels, not demons, not our rebel sons or daughters, thank
God. No, his will. David, where's
your God? Where's your God? Look at you
now, hiding out in this cave. You've been chased from your
throne. Your house is in rebellion. Your own son has chased you from
the throne. Where's your God now, David? Why don't you curse him and die?
And here's a testimony to the sufficiency of God's grace, not
the man David, but David's God, enabled him to say, my God's
in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he hath
pleased, whatever he wills, glory to his name, that they be with
me where I am. Notice he says, Father. Remember what he said to Magdalene?
when he appeared to her that morning, that one who was alive and dead,
but now is alive forevermore. He said, Mary, go tell my brethren
that I send them my Father and their Father and my God and their
God. This is what he prays, Father,
I want them with me. with you in the Father's house. Isn't that a sweet, sweet meditation? The Father's house. In the Father's
house, they'll never hurt anymore. In the Father's house, they'll never experience pain
anymore of any kind. like my dear friends I spoke
about a moment ago. In the Father's house, all sorrow
will flee away. We have our nights here of weeping,
don't we? Oh, but the joy in that morning that shall never,
never end. when God himself wipes away all
tears from our eyes. When we experience the death,
the dying of a believer, a loved one, we naturally say, especially
at the first, Lord, I want him to stay here with me. But the
great shepherd who loved them with a greater love than we ever
could says, no, I will, that they come and be with me. That's enough. It's time for
them to come and be with me. They, they. Don't overlook who our Lord prays
for here. They. Look at them. Look at them. As we read in chapter 16, you'll
all forsake me. You'll all flee from me. You'll
all put as much space between yourself and me as you can so
nobody will suspect you of having any acquaintance with me. But
he said, after I'm risen again, I'll go before you. I'll meet
you in Galilee. although you all forsake me." Nothing's changed. Won't change
anything. Peter said, they all might, but
I won't. I'll die with you. Will you, Peter? Will you? Peter,
before sunrise, before the cock crows, you're going to deny me
Three times. Three times. But you know what
he said before that? He said, Peter, you can't follow
me now, but you'll follow me afterwards. Nothing has changed. And the angel told the women,
go tell my disciples saying, Peter, tell that poor fallen
sinner, Peter, Tell that one who bragged the most and fell
so swiftly, go tell Peter that his Savior, his Redeemer, will
meet him in Galilee. If someone came in here this
morning and threatened us with imprisonment or death for professing
faith in Christ, And I'd stand here and say, I don't know him. I don't know him. I've never
believed on him. And begin to cuss and swear to
convince him that I couldn't be one of his disciples. Not in that way, but in other
ways. I've denied him. And he says, Go tell my disciples
and Larry, and Larry, nothing has changed. I still
will, I still want Him with me where I am. I want Him in glory with me. No wonder, no wonder the hymn
writer expressed it this way. I need help, that's why I referred
to him so much. To which Jesus and the chosen
race subsist a bond of sovereign grace that hell with its infernal
train shall never dissolve nor rand in twain. He swore, but
once the deed was done, was settled by the great three in one, Christ
was appointed to redeem all that the Father loved in him. One
in the tomb. One when he rose. One when he
triumphed over his foes. One when in heaven he took his
seat while seraphs sang all hell's defeat. Listen, this sacred tie
forbids our fears, for all he is and has is theirs. With him
their head, they stand or fall, their life, their surety, their
all. Last of all, look again at our
text. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my
glory. What shall we say to this? Consider a couple of practical
conclusions. People say the doctrines of grace,
the gospel of God's free grace, it's high and lofty, no practical
benefit, my soul. What could be more practical?
They give us hope. to give us assurance, to give
us comfort, than this. In light of this sure purpose
of our Savior for us, consider this. Peter said, what matter
of persons, and we need reminded of this, don't we? What matter
of persons ought ye to be in all living? and conversation, seeing that
all this will be dissolved and we'll go home to be with our
Redeemer. What manner of persons ought ye to be? And John said,
don't love the world. Don't love the world. Be careful.
Don't love the world. Don't get so entangled with this
world, child of God, that you take your eyes off the prize,
Christ Jesus, of being with Him. Everything in this world you're
going to let go of. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. And also this, Hebrews 10. It says, forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together. Let's turn there, if you will,
Hebrews chapter 10. I want you to look at this with
me. Hebrews 10 verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised,
and let us consider one another." Consider one another. I'm by
nature so selfish. God, give me grace to consider
you and not myself. Consider my brothers and sisters
here in Christ and not myself, their needs and not my needs.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
matter of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching." You know, this is the one place
that the Lord Jesus has promised to meet with his people. where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I." He didn't
say that about anywhere else. There am I in the midst of them. Do we need any more reason? Is
there a greater reason not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together? And yet I know there's a terrible
tendency in us to neglect that which is the most needful for
us. We don't neglect the needs of
the flesh, make sure it doesn't go without, but all that which
is so much important, so much more important, there's a tendency
to neglect. I read a story, I think it was
in maybe one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, I don't recall
for sure, but a pastor visited one of his members who he hadn't
seen for a while, they sat in front of the fireplace, As they
sat there, the pastor took the poker and raked the coal out
of the fire onto the hearth. They sat there and looked at
it. It didn't take very long. It began to lose its glow. It got dark. And the fellow looked
at him and said, Pastor, I get the message. I'll be in my place. I'll be in my place very next
service. We need one another, don't we?
Consider one another, the writer said, your fellow brethren, your
family in Christ. It certainly is encouraging to
see you here praying for God's blessing on His word that He
would use it to edify His people to save the lost. Good reason. together, is it not? It's such
an encouragement. There's such Miss Best down there.
She probably doesn't know this. It encourages my heart. Every
Sunday morning, rarely is Best not here, unless she's just providentially
prevented. Sunday morning, Sunday night,
there she comes. She's there. What an encouragement. Another benefit, and we'll wrap
this up. Paul says, know this, know this,
that your labor in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15, 57, that your
labor in the Lord is not in vain in the Lord. Let me give you
a personal illustration of that. My mother, who most of you met
when she was down here last year, 85 years old. She's lived alone
since 93, since my father died. What's that, 21 years? Often, I get a card in the mail
from somebody that my mother has given a CD to of her son's
preaching that goes on here. Phone call. She doesn't drive.
If she gets out of the house, my brother's sister has to take
her. She's never driven in her life. So she's not going to start
now. I hope not. But there she is
alone, living in that house. I don't know how many people
she'll mail them, and they pass them around. I visited her one
time, was getting out of the car in front of their house,
and some neighbor opened the door and said, hey, you guys are preaching?
Your mother gave me tapes. Man, thank you. Mom, Bobby makes
copies of the message on CD and mails them to Mom. The other
couple weeks ago, she called and said, Larry, do you think
Bobby can make me an extra copy? She said, it takes a while to
get one copy to go all around to all these folks. She said,
two copies, we can go around quicker. I said, sure, Mom, Bobby
will do that. And Bobby's done it. Oh, brethren, our labor in
the Lord can't be in vain. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am." When I was finishing up
my notes last night, looking at this text, and it was such
a comfort to my own heart, I remembered years ago, I was visiting one
of my mother's sisters, Gideon. She was dying of cancer. And
she wanted to have service in her home. She was in a hospital
bed in her home. She couldn't go out. And so I
said, sure, Aunt Genevieve, if you want, I will. And me and
Mom, one or two others, my grandmother would meet there and have service
and pray. I'd preach. Just a day or two
before she died, I was at her house. And she asked me and her
son, I think it was there at the time, She said, would y'all
turn my bed around so that I can look out the window, so I can
see out the backyard and beyond to the fields and the trees.
And of course we did. And just a day or two after that,
she was looking out and she said, I see Jesus. And she closed her eyes and she
was with her king. You know why? Because he says,
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. And child of God, that prayer
is for you and me too. What a day. God bless you. Thank
you for your attention.