Okay, we'll turn back to John
17, John's Gospel chapter 17, and I want to look at the last
few verses of this great high priestly prayer that our Lord
Jesus Christ prayed to His Father the night before He went to the
cross. We've already seen that He's
He's prayed for what He has earned as a man. He came and earned
salvation for His people. And because Christ has prayed
for it, the Father must grant the petition. You know, we often
pray thinking, I wonder if God will grant this petition. I wonder
if He will answer this prayer. I wonder if He will say yes to
this desire. But because Christ has prayed
for the salvation of His people, the Father must answer the prayer. He must grant the request. The
eternal covenant we saw is the foundation. It cannot be altered,
for God is unchangeable. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. The God who determined in eternity
before the world began to save a people will bring them to glory
for eternity when this passing world is done. He will do all
of those things. And his completed work, Christ's
completed work, is the payment, is the guarantee, He has paid
the price of it all. He came to fulfill all righteousness
and He fulfilled it and therefore He has qualified His people.
We read that in Colossians I think it is, qualified us to be partakers
of the heavenly glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's walked
this earth as a man for thirty three and a bit years for three
and a half of them with these disciples around him and in verse
twenty six he says I have declared unto them thy name and will declare
it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them
and I in them he declared the name of God unto them what is
it to declare the name of God you may have heard me say these
things before but it doesn't hurt to be repeated the names
of God. Here's seven of them that he
had declared. Here's seven of the names because
the names are the characteristics, the personality, the glories
of the eternal God. He'd shown them as Christ walked
this earth, he'd shown them Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah the one who provides
Where does that come from? Genesis 22, Abraham and his son
Isaac, where is the sacrifice for an offering that will make
us acceptable to God? Ah, my son, God will provide
Himself a sacrifice, Jehovah Jireh, the one who provides.
Jesus walked this earth and showed them that He was the God who
provides in salvation. Jehovah Rapha the healer he will
heal all of their diseases and he walked this earth and they'd
seen the disciples of John were sent are you the one are you
the Christ or do we look for another and Jesus said go and
tell him that everything that was promised concerning the Messiah
is fulfilled in this person that you've seen The lame are healed. The sick, the blind are given
sight. They're made well. The Lord,
our healer, is amongst us. And what is the disease of which
he heals his people the most? The disease of sin. The Lord,
our healer, has healed his people from their sins. Jehovah-Nissi,
the banner. I have declared unto them thy
name, Jehovah-Nissi, the banner. And Song of Solomon tells us
his banner over us was love. Love in the gospel of His grace.
The banner over His people. And it's to that banner, you
know, the banner in the historical battles of hundreds of years
ago, the banner was the place to which you came. It was the
rallying call. It was the rallying point. The
banner. The banner over them is love. And what does He say?
Come unto Me. Come unto Jehovah-Nissi, the
banner over them, which is love. And I will give you rest for
your souls. He's Jehovah Shalom, because
by nature we are children of wrath and enemies of the living
God, but in our Lord Jesus Christ, He's peace. How many of Paul's
epistles does he say, the peace of God, and the God of peace,
and that you might have peace with God? He is Jehovah Shalom,
peace with God. When Gideon saw the pre-incarnate
Christ, that theophany, when he saw that, he was convinced
that he would die because it says that no man shall see me
and live. And he was convinced that he
would die. But God said to him, don't be
afraid, you shall not die. Where shall you not die when
you look on God? when you look on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He had declared His name as Jehovah Shalom, the God
of peace and of goodwill. What was declared the night that
Christ was born in Bethlehem? What did the angels sing? Praise
to God, Hosanna and peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Peace. He's Jehovah Shalom. And Jehovah
Rahah, the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And
he came as the shepherd. I am the good shepherd, he said.
He declared the name of the Father. He is Jehovah Rahah, the Lord
is my shepherd. And he's Jehovah Tzidkeno, because
the thing that they need, we need, more than anything else,
is the righteousness without which no man shall see the Lord.
And he is the Lord our righteousness. Look in Jeremiah 23, you'll see
it written in capital letters in your Bible. This is the name
by which He is called the Lord our righteousness Jehovah Tzedkenu
and Jehovah Shammah Jehovah Shammah is the immanent God. Now that's a hard word and it's
very easy to confuse with other words that are very similar to
it but it means the God who is there the God who is there, the
One who is there, He is there, we live and move and have our
being in Jehovah Shammah, He is the God who is there and as
Christ walked this earth we read in Colossians 2 verse 9 what
Paul says, that in Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead,
bodily. He declared the name of God to
the people of God, to His disciples, to those who heard Him And now
we've got to this point where the objective is in sight. There's
a tortuous path to walk. He must go to the cross. He must
suffer the wrath of God for the sins of his people he must shed
his blood for the sins of his people out of pure love for a
righteous man scarcely would one die but God commends his
love to us in this that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us to pay the penalty of our sins And that terrible way
he has to walk, that dreadful path of judgment, he must walk
in order to accomplish his purposes. But the objective is there. And
what is the objective? It's glory. It's Christ in glory,
restored to his pre-incarnate glory with his Father and with
the Holy Spirit, and for his people to be with him in glory
for eternity. beyond this veil of tears we
have ups and downs we have joys and sorrows and delights and
disappointments in this life and it is but for a season whereas
the flower of the field that flourishes in the bud and it
opens and it's at its height and then before you know it we're
at the end of August and September and it withers and it dies and
then it's just a seed and it's blown away and that's what we're
like the scriptures say we're just like the grass of the field
that is here just for a little while But that isn't it for the
children of God. That isn't it. There's a hope
of glory. There's heaven. There's the glory. And what is the glory? It's that
redemptive, gracious, electing glory of God. When Moses asked
to see the glory of God, there wasn't like Elijah in the cave. There wasn't the earthquake,
the wind, the fire, the great... There was the still, small voice
speaking the grace of God. the grace of God that's the glory
of God I will show you my glory in that I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious and have compassion on whom I'll have
compassion and the prospect that set before us here in verse 24
father I will this is the will of Christ the Son of God praying
to his father as a man clothed in flesh just looking like another
man I will i will this is what i want he says that they also
they also whom you have given me his people whom the father
gave to the son from before the beginning of time be with me
where i am that they may behold my glory the will of christ at
this point before he goes to the cross is to bring everyone
of the sheep that the father gave to the shepherd to glory,
to be with Him in that wonderful place called heaven. It used
to be a children's chorus. You might remember it. Heaven
is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace. I want to see
my Savior's face. Heaven is a wonderful place.
And then it goes on and on and on. We used to have a recording
of it and there was a little Irish girl. At the end of it,
she'd say, I want to go there. Heaven is a wonderful place.
I want to go there. And so that's what this is about.
heaven. He prays that his people be with
him in heaven. Do you know, it's real. We live
in this world where everything around us seems so solid, but
heaven is reality. Heaven is real. Jesus said at
the start of chapter 14, I go to prepare a place for you. that you may come and be with
me where I am. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it weren't so, I would have
told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you." Now, as soon
as we think of a place, we think of a place in this realm of time
and space. We think of a country like South
Africa or a planet somewhere. No. No, not in this physical
universe of time and space, but outside of it, in eternity, outside
of this universe of time and space. He's gone to prepare a
place. And what is it? We experience
the Kingdom of God now in a measure oh yes we you know unless a man
is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God but if he is born
again he can see the kingdom of God he can see the things
but our sight is shrouded and veiled and blurred by this world
of sin and the flesh and everything that would drag us down but there
It will be unshrouded by fleshly, worldly distractions. There,
it will be without all of those things that would drag us down.
As Revelation 21 says, this is what it's going to be like. A
new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first
earth passed away. And there was no more sea, no
more separation. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem. This is the people of God coming
down from God out of heaven. prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men."
Being with God, with God forever. and he will dwell with them and
they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them
and be their God and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes all the sorrows of this life and there shall be no more
death the fear of death all their lifetime through bondage of the
fear of death says the writer to the Hebrews subject to bondage
through fear of death but there will be no more death there neither
sorrow the sorrows that afflict us in this life neither sorrow
nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former
things are passed away and he that sat upon the throne said
behold I make all things new and he said unto me write for
these words are true and faithful this is the Alpha and the Omega
speaking about the reality of heaven you see the things that
we as Paul says end of 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 18 he says he says
that the things that we see we think that they're permanent
but they're not they're just temporal they're just for a time
but the unseen things of eternity they're the things that last
they're the things that are real they're the things that endure
we read when Stephen read to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15
just turn over there this chapter of 1 Corinthians which is about
the end of things and about the resurrection and about this you
know it's a big chapter 58 verses that Paul devotes to talking
about the reality of eternity and the reality of heaven and
how there was some creeping in who were saying it's not true
and there is no resurrection and and and he goes to great
lengths to talk about it and in verse 48 As is the earthy,
such are they also that are earthy. That's us, flesh and blood, that
fleshly nature. And as is the heavenly, we have
a heavenly nature if we're Christ's, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, which we're well
aware of, this earthy image, this flesh that we dwell in,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. That's the scripture
saying that. We, those who believe Christ,
who are the objects of the gospel of His grace, shall also bear
the image of the heavenly. That's a reality. When the time
comes for you to pass from this life into the next, as a child
of God you know this, in my flesh I shall see God I'll be there
I'll be in the heavenly I will bear the image of the heavenly
that trumpet will sound perhaps we'll all be here when the trumpet
sounds the last trumpet of God bringing this creation to an
end and the dead shall be raised and we'll experience and know
that heavenly realm it's a promise of heavenly life a promise. And there are people there. Do
you remember that verse I pointed you to a few weeks ago in Revelation
19? No need to turn there because
I'm only going to mention one phrase out of it. But this is
John's vision. This is John's vision of the
revelation of Christ. After these things I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven. He saw it. Much people. Who? Loved ones who've gone before
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Much people in heaven. Those
have passed from this life into eternity. Much people in heaven. A great voice, a loud voice,
a multitude that no man can number. Much people in heaven. It's real. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. He's praying,
Lord, take them. This is the purpose. This is
the culmination. This is the objective, the great
objective. Take them and bring them to be
with me where I am. What is it like there? What is
heaven like? Well, it's where Christ is. That
they may be with me where I am. That's where He's going to be
in heaven. That's where He is now. It's
to be where Christ is. That they should be with Him
where He is. And what is it? It is all that
He is. And everything that He is is
what this place of heaven is that He's preparing for His people.
That His praying will be accomplished by taking His people to be there.
It'll be holy there. It will be good there. It will
be without sin there. It will be peaceful there. There
will be peace with God. There will be the presence of
the God of the universe. There will be communion between
God and His people for they will be His people and God will be
their God. And there will be this, in that
phrase, in that simple phrase is tied up this glorious experience
of blissful communion with the living God in eternity. That's
what it will be like. That's, it will be outside of
this physical realm. We have the sun shining through
the window this morning, giving us light, but there, there will
be no need for physical light for the Lamb, says Revelation
21. The Lamb is the light of it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
its light in eternity. What it's saying is this, you
can't envisage what it will be like but it will be outside of
this physical realm and it will be an experience of glory and
bliss and everything that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and
every characteristic of His that we know of from the Scriptures
will be the characteristic of that place. glorious, good, blissful,
peaceful presence of God forever. The happiness of that place,
the happiness that we read so much of in the revelation of
the people of God there, the happiness of that place consists
in His presence. Look at Philippians chapter 1,
the epistle to the Philippians and the first chapter where Paul
is talking about the situation that he's in, he was in prison,
he was in chains in Rome and in verse 22 he says this, well
verse 21 he says for to me to live is Christ if I don't have
Christ I'm not living, for him to live is Christ and to die
is gain, so to live in this life is to go on experiencing Christ
but to die is gain, it's yet more but if I live in the flesh
This is the fruit of my labor. Yet what shall I choose? I what
not? I can't make up my mind. Verse
23, for I am in a strait betwixt two. I'm wavering between two
opinions, having a desire to depart through death into eternity
and to be with Christ, which is far better. nevertheless to
abide in the flesh is more needful for you for his ministry to them
but he had this desire to depart and be with Christ which is far
better because there his experience will be filled with the glory
of the Redeemer I will that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am that they may behold my glory behold, what
is his glory? it's his redemptive gracious
glory that they may behold, that they may look upon, that they
may drink in, that they may bathe in, that they may immerse themselves
in the glory of Christ in eternity, that they may behold my glory,
that redemptive, saving glory of Christ. The place is filled
with it. You know we have so little appreciation
or thought or understanding of what it is like We read in Isaiah
of Him seeing the glory of Christ. This is what Christ prays for
all His people that they might see His glory and live in it
in eternity. and on earth there have been
glimpses in Isaiah 6 Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah
died, Isaiah went into the temple and saw the glory of Christ and
we know it was because John's gospel chapter 12, 41 that tells
us that it was he saw Christ's glory and we have that which
cannot really be put into effective words because words are so limited
but he saw the glory of Christ and this is the lot of those
who are in Christ to go and be with him and behold his glory
for eternity it's filled with the glory of the Redeemer it's
an eternal life of praise and oh think for a moment what it
is not to have that is that not surely hell to know that in this
life you rejected, you willfully rejected, and it's your fault
and your fault alone, that you willfully rejected the gracious
words of the gospel of grace, that you willfully, deliberately
refused the grace of God and said you wanted nothing to do
with it. And oh, what an eternity of bitter torment and torture
there is of knowing that you rejected those things. Heaven
is a glorious place. It's filled with the glory of
Christ. It's a real place. It's a wonderful
place. It's the place to which Christ
is doing all of this. He's going to walk this dreadful
path to save his people that they might be with him where
he is and beholding his glory. Do you have a hope for it? Is
it something that fills your mind with hope? I know you say,
oh, I'm young, it's just too far away. Nobody knows the time
or the place, nobody knows how long they've got. As Jesus said
to Peter when Peter said, okay, I'm going to die soon as you've
told me, but what about John? And he said, what does it matter
to you if I keep him till I come again? It matters nothing to
you. Christ has his own time for every single one of his people
that he takes to be with him but do you have a hope of going
to be with him? I've already mentioned Job you
know we go through trials in this life and often our trials
are just trivial really but for a season but Job as the trials
of people go Job went through very serious trials and he was
suffering physically terribly And yet, in the midst of all
of that, the thing that filled his heart was his hope of eternity.
He said, I want to write it with a pen. It's Job chapter 19. He
said, I want to write it with a pen. I want to engrave it so
that people will know it and see it. that the worms destroy
this body yet in my flesh shall I see God how my heart longs
and yearns for that that though this body will die of whatever
it will die of and it will go it will return to its dust and
it will return to that form from which it came in the first place
it will return there yet in my flesh shall I see God he had
a hope of eternity he had a hope of heaven and all believers have
a hope of heaven what is that hope of heaven? it's that we
will be like him for we'll see him as he is, look at 1 John
the verse that Stephen quoted in his prayer 1 John and chapter
3 and verse 2 when I eventually get there,
1 John chapter 3 Now are we the sons of God, and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is. We should be like Him. We'll
see Him as He is. Is that your hope? That you're
going to be like Christ? That this flesh with its sin
is going to be put off? That this flesh with its such
proneness to unbelief is going to be put off? And we're going
to see Him as He is. Does that not give you a hope?
Turn again to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians and chapter 4. And verse 16, because here Paul is trying to
encourage these brethren, these Christians in Thessalonica, that
Christ is coming again. And in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians
verse 16 he says, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall
be forever with the Lord wherefore Comfort one another with these
words do we comfort one another? With these words that we shall
be caught up together with the lord to be with him forever Whether
death takes us or whether he comes again and takes us at the
end of time We shall be forever with the lord comfort one another
says paul with these words We have a hope of heaven and you
know what peter says about that hope of heaven you see The hope
of heaven, I think, is the most distinguishing mark of the true
people of God. This hope of heaven. It's the
most effective witness to fallen, dying mankind around us. That
in all the situations of terrible grief and sorrow with which we
can empathize with people and sympathize and seek to help them
and be with them, yet in the midst of that, have they any
hope of eternity? Or are they without Christ and
without hope in this world? And if you have a hope then let
it be known that you have a hope and it may be that people will
ask a reason for the hope that is in you that hope of eternity
and you'll be ready to give an answer to anyone that asks you
for that reason of the hope that is in you. Why? What is the reason
for it? The reason for it is because
I believe the Lord Jesus Christ who's done everything to guarantee
my eternal existence he's done everything to pay the price of
my sin he's done everything to make me righteous in the sight
of God he's fitted me for heaven through the gospel of his grace
that's the foundation of my hope nothing that I do nothing in
my hand I bring simply to the cross of Christ I cling not as
an object of idolatry but as the symbol of what he did of
what he did, of what he accomplished. I have a hope of heaven. Can
we be sure of it? Can we be certain of it? Is there
a guarantee about it? Well there is. There is. We've
read about the Father's love for the Son. We've read about
the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We've read about the will of the Son which must be granted
because of who He is, because He is God. But this is the reason,
this is the basis of the guarantee that Christ has already paid
the price. There is nothing left to accomplish.
He has finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. he's
accomplished all things and how do we know that he's accomplished
all things because God raised him from the dead he was delivered
up for our transgressions says Romans 4.25 he was delivered
up for our transgressions for the transgressions of his people
to pay the price of those transgressions but having been delivered up
and crucified and dead and buried his soul was not left in hell
he was not left there he was raised from the dead for justice
was satisfied for the price was paid he drank that full cup of
the judgment of God and there was nothing left to owe and this
is the guarantee that if you're in Christ and I'm in Christ we're
going to heaven is that Christ was raised from the dead He didn't
stay dead, He was raised from the dead. There are no remains
of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. He was raised from the
dead as the first fruits, as the guarantee, as the down payment
that we as His people will be raised to be with Him in glory
forever. And not only that, but you go
to the first chapter of the book of Acts, and we won't go there
now, but there are the disciples with the risen Lord Jesus Christ,
whom they've seen many times, and he's been seen of 500 people
at one time. And there's no doubt about the
fact that he rose from the dead and that he's alive. And there
he is, and he commissions them and tells them to go and wait
for the Spirit. And then before their gaze, he's
taken up and taken out of their sight into a cloud as he ascends
to heaven. symbolically showing by his physical
ascension showing that he's going to that place where his people
are going to be taken to be with him forevermore and they saw
him taken they weren't fooled there were many of them and they
went back to the upper room having seen what they saw that this
one who promised all these things was taken up and there stood
by them were two angels saying why are you standing gazing heavenward
this one whom you've seen go will come again to take you to
be with him where he is exactly as he prayed father I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that
they may behold my glory he's paid the price this is the other
thing he's determined he's going to accomplish it if you were
to look in Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 quotes passages from
the Old Testament about the accomplishment of Christ, accomplishing salvation,
and in verse 10 course he says it became him for whom are all
things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings
he's bringing many sons to glory this is his purpose and verse
thirteen and again I will put my trust in him and again behold
I and the children which God hath given me this is Christ
coming into glory, you know, I love to quote Psalm 24, Who
is the King of Glory? Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, strong and mighty,
who's come and bound the strong man of the house that he might
that he might rescue his people from the dominion of Satan. The
Lord, strong and mighty. And then it says again, Lift
up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King
of Glory? the Lord of hosts because when he comes again he comes
again to catch his people up into the air with him to meet
him in the air to take them to be with him in glory this is
the promise of scripture behold I and the children whom you have
given me he comes to take all of his people to be with him
in glory and on the strength of that he can guarantee and
he can promise with absolute confidence We love to think of
the thief on the cross who had spent his life in utter rejection
of the truth of God and lived a life of crime and there he
is and in his dying moments he's given faith to see who this is
and what he's doing. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Remember me when you come in.
Is this not your prayer and mine? Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. I tell you the truth, says Christ
to him, this day you shall be with me in paradise. I pray,
I will, that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory in paradise, that they
may be with me. Paul's confidence was this, in
2 Timothy 1 and verse 12, we often sing a hymn about it, we're
not going to this morning, but he says this, Is it guaranteed? Paul says, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him. What have I committed unto him?
The eternal good of my sinful soul I've committed unto him
against that day of judgment. He is able, he is able to do
it and he has done it and this is the guarantee of heaven. Thomas
Manton wrote this a long time ago. God could not love us with
honor to himself if his wisdom had not found out this way of
loving us in Christ. He had to love us in Christ.
God was resolved to manifest an infinite love to man, but
he would still manifest an infinite hatred against sin because he's
God and he must hate and punish sin, which could not be more
fully manifested than by making Christ the ground of our reconciliation. How could the Holy God, the just
God, love such vile and unworthy creatures as we are, and take
us to be with Him in His glorious heaven? The question is answered. He loves us in Christ, and for
Christ's sake. This guarantees glory for his
people. Christ prayed this. Think on
these things. Think on these things. When you
wake and meditate in the hours of night, think on these things. Christ has prayed this. Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory. That's our hope. That's our confidence.