Turn, if you will, to John chapter
17. John 17. This chapter contains
the real Lord's Prayer. The words of this chapter are
the praying of our Savior as our mediator. This is His intercession
for His people. is what he prays for. Therefore,
here's a wonderful way to learn what we should pray for as well. And it may surprise you, unless
you've already been surprised, and if, oh, you're probably not
like me, but I'm beginning to forget more than I can remember.
That ain't fun. That's how it is. So we might
as well just enjoy the ride. John 17, verse 1. I bring you
to this chapter because out of verse 4, I've taken a text for
this morning. It is the second half of that
verse. The Savior Himself is speaking. to do. A work given Christ to
do. And He declares He has finished
it. Alright, now beginning at verse
1. These words spoke Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify Your Son that Your
Son also may glorify You. As you have given Him, as the
Father has given to the Son, power over all flesh, all human
beings, no matter what generation, you have given Him power over
all flesh that He should give eternal life. Any son or daughter
of Adam who possesses eternal life It is a gift of the Son
of God. It cannot be earned. It cannot
be deserved. It cannot be merited. That He
should give eternal life to whom? To as many as the Father has
given to the Son in that covenant of grace in old eternity. It
is a precise number that cannot be added to or taken from. It is an exact listing of the
very persons by name that God purposed to give to His Son. These are the ones for whom our
Savior is praying. And it is to them that He gives
eternal life. And the first thing that pops
into our ignorant minds is, that ain't fair. Just who are we to
tell God what is fair? We're born with such prejudice
in our hearts that we can't see straight until we're born again,
and then we have problems seeing straight. Verse 3, now he tells
us what life eternal is. And this is life eternal. This
is everlasting life that they, those persons referred to in
verse 2, might know you, speaking of God, the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Now that's the definition of
eternal life. Verse 4, I have glorified you
on the earth. At this point, our Savior has
been on this earth about 33 plus years, and yet the time that
remains until he goes to the cross and to the grave and to
the resurrection and to the ascension is very short. I have glorified
you on the earth. I have finished the work which
you gave me to do. Now, O Father, glorify you me
with your own self. Watch this, with the glory which
I had with you before the world was. You and I had no beginning
until we were conceived in our mother's womb, but not so the
Lord Jesus. Oh, no. He's God and man. one person. Verse 6, I have manifested
your name unto the men which you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave
them me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever you have given me are of you. For I have
given unto them the words which you gave Me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they
have believed that you did sin Me." Watch verse 9. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world. You can't have half of that statement,
you have to have the whole thing. You mean the Lord Jesus didn't
pray for all men? I'm just reading His own words.
What other construction can we put upon them? But I love everybody,
but God doesn't. That's the truth. I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me, for they are yours, and all
mine are yours, and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them. Now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father,
keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that
they may be one as we are." That is, one. Men, through what they
call an ecumenical movement, are trying to make professing
believers to be one. And it is a complete and total
waste of time. It never accomplishes that end. But the truth is that God's children
are already one. That's what he said. This is
his own praying. Do you think the Lord Jesus can
pray unsuccessfully? That would be absurd. He said,
Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given
me that they may be one as we are. Verse 12, while I was with
them in the world, I kept them in your name, those that you
gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of
perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come
I to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you should take
them out of the world. but that you should keep them
from the evil or the evil one. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through your truth. Your word is truth. As you have sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes, I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone.
Ah, we have a little alteration to that earlier statement, it
would seem. Neither pray I for these alone,
referring to the twelve, actually the eleven, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word. They may be one as
you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one
in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the
glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be
one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
you have sent me. and that you have loved them
as you have loved me. Father, watch this closely. Father, I will that they also,
whom you have given me, I will that they also be with me where
I am. Be with the Lord Jesus where
he is. that they may behold my glory
which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation
of the world." That's one of the most glorious statements
in verse 24 of the death of a believer. Why do they have to die now?
Why under these circumstances? Why at this unripe age? Why this and why that and why
the other? Because the Lord Jesus prays
like No man has ever prayed before or since. He's the God-man. Every sinner saved by grace prays,
Father, not my will, Thine be done. But how does the Lord Jesus
pray? Father, I will that they also
whom You've given me be with me where I am. What a difference,
what a difference indeed. O righteous Father, the world
has not known you, and it still doesn't. But I have known you,
and these have known that you have sent me. And I have declared
unto them your name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
you've loved me may be in them, and I Now we're working on just
this one statement in verse 4. These are the Savior's own words.
I have finished the work which you gave me to do. John 17.4. Now may we pray together. Lord, we stand before you this
day, everything about us, everything in us, fully revealed in your
sight. Oh, dear God, deliver me and
deliver us from religious pretense and hypocrisy. Who knows where
this could be worse, in the political world or in the religious world? Deliver us, we pray. Dear Father, we have before us
one of the more simple statements found anywhere in our Bibles,
and we are deeply concerned lest we miss the glory, the wonder
of this statement. Like our Savior Himself, all
that He does is glorious indeed. infinitely so. We plead this
morning, first of all, that you'd give us a desire to hear. Secondly,
that you would give us a hearing ear and a seeing eye and a heart
that loves your son and his precious gospel. Lord, we understand that
all three of these things, seeing eye, a hearing ear, the heart
that rejoices in your grace in Christ, all three are miracles
of your grace. Therefore, we plead that you
would, from the majesty of heaven, send to this sin-cursed and forsaken
world mercy, mercy to poor, helpless, hell-deserving sinners like we
are. Lord, lead us by your hand through
this holy book to bring us to an understanding of this wonderful
statement. Help us, we pray, for your honor
and glory as you have revealed it in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless your Word, we pray for Christ's sake. Amen. All right,
let's read this statement once more. I have finished the work,
John 17, The Lord Jesus says, I have finished the work which
you gave me to do. And if you're familiar with the
statements that our Savior made from the cross, the sixth one,
I think there are seven altogether, but the sixth one is in John
19 and verse 30 where he said simply these words, it is finished. And that's all that John tells
us that he said from the tree. But the other Gospels inform
us of a statement that followed. And he bowed his head and commended
his spirit to God and gave up the ghost. So there's at least
one statement after that one. But there it is declared, it
is finished, and here it is stated, I have finished the work which
you gave me to do. So there are a number of things
here that should require our attention. What is this work,
for example? I have finished the work. Well,
what is the work? Simply put, it is the work of
redemption. The Scripture plainly says, without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission, no remitting
of sins. Therefore, we must have a Redeemer. That Redeemer must be kin to
us, yea, our next of kin, our brother now, as John Newton puts
it in that famous hymn. And so the Lord Jesus must be
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He cannot represent
us. He cannot do for us vicariously
what must be done if we're to have any connection with God
whatsoever other than divine judgment. The Lord Jesus must
be our federal head and representative. And not just anybody can do this. My soul, what does it take? Imagine
the power, just merely the power that is required to put the sins
away of all of God's people that were given to Christ in old eternity. From Genesis to Malachi, from
Matthew to Revelation, and from then until now, and from now
until the end. How much power does it take to
put sin away? I have no way to measure it.
None whatsoever. Let's look at this work called
redemption. First of all, there is the executing
of this work, the accomplishing of redemption. This is done by
none other than our Lord Jesus Himself. The work must be put
into effect. It must be executed. Therefore,
the Scripture speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ as help that is
laid on one that is almighty. The Lord Jesus cannot be just
a man. He must be God as well as man. It is His Godhood that sustains
His manhood in the act of accomplishing our redemption on the tree. This
ought to be obvious to us. Dying is no picnic. And dying
on a cross is certainly difficult to be born. That's not even anything
compared to what was going on in our Savior's soul. There's
the real suffering. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied, Isaiah 53.11. Not only that, in order
for the Lord Jesus be our representative, our Redeemer, He must Himself
be without sin, not one single solitary mark against Him, both
as man as well as God. He must be and is sinlessly perfect. He is what we are not, but He
might make us what He is. His work must be voluntary. He said in John 10 that he lays
his life down of himself, no man takes it from him, that it
is purely an act. You want free will? Of his free
will. We do not have free wills. We
have wills that are in bondage to sin, to the devil, to this
world, and to everything under the sun except where it ought
to be. The Lord Jesus' work must be
voluntary. And the Lord Jesus is declared
in Colossians 2.9. I can't get it to come to my
mind, but it tells us that in His physical body is the Godhead
of God. Let me see if I can get to it
and I'll read it to you. If I hadn't already told you,
I won't tell you where it is and then I'll tell you after
I read it. For in Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In the human nature of our Lord
Jesus Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead embodied. That's who our Redeemer must
be. And a Redeemer who does not meet
these qualifications, these standards, these requirements, cannot redeem
the sons and daughters of Adam. Then there's another statement
made in our text in John 17 and verse 4, and that is the Lord
Jesus speaks of having finished the work. And yet it's not until
we get to chapter 9 that we even find Him on the cross. How could
He speak? And this be true. Here's the
answer. Purpose and fulfillment are the
very same thing to God. If He purposes it, it's done. It's done. Do you see that? That it is the Savior's covenant
oath when He became the surety for us in that covenant. He pledged
Himself before man was ever created, before this world was ever made.
He covenanted for His people and those people were given to
Him in that covenant. Let me show you, you can't get
by without turning at all. So if you'd turn to the book
of Psalms, the 22nd by the way, Psalm 22. Now, the 22nd Psalm has, for
many generations past, been given a nickname. I have no clue when
it first started, but you can read all the old writers and
they refer to it by this title. It's called the Psalm of the
Cross. Some people even think, and they could be right, that
here is the full transcript of everything that our Savior said
hanging on that tree. whereas we have but seven statements
recorded in the four Gospels that our Savior audibly made
from the tree. It's also possible that many
of the things that we read in Psalm 22 were the thoughts of
His mind. But one thing is for sure, their
statements made in, well, for that matter, not only this Psalm,
but their statements throughout the Scripture, that speak of
things that are still thousands of years away, and they speak
of it as if it were done. Let me show you a sample. Psalm
22, verse 16. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and
my feet. And the word pierced is in the
past tense. as though it were already done. And indeed, in God's eternal
purpose, it's always been done before time ever was. Look at
verse 18. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. These are spoken of as facts
already having taken place. My mathematician's not here this
morning, so I can't tell you exactly how long that is before
Christ actually came. But my guess is it would be over
1,500 years, a pretty long period of time in between the statement
that declares it to be so and the actual fulfillment in time.
Don't forget this statement. Purpose and fulfillment are the
same thing to God. If He purposes it, it's as good
as done. Next, we'll turn to the book
of Hebrews chapter 9. And hang on to Hebrews 9 because
I want to make a statement out of Hebrews 10 while you're over
in that part of the Scriptures. Hebrews chapter 9, here's what
I want you to see. We need to distinguish between
redemption In the Bible, salvation is spoken
of in three tenses, the past, the present, and the future. We have been saved, we are being
saved, and we shall be saved so that salvation is not complete
until we have all three of those tenses. Therefore, pay careful
attention now. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. Here we read concerning redemption. Verse 12, Hebrews 9. Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place. That means heaven itself. This
is not some temple on earth. He entered into the holy place. Watch this. Because He has already
obtained eternal redemption for us. In other words, when our
Lord takes that shed blood to glory, redemption is accomplished. And it ain't just any redemption.
If we are redeemed by the grace of God in Christ, we are redeemed
forever and ever and ever. There's nothing less than that. Anything less than that would
be a disgrace. Now look over to verse 28 in
this same chapter. Chapter 9, Hebrews 9. Now let's
read this about salvation. There we're told that Christ
has already obtained eternal redemption for us. Verse 28.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time. Now watch this. Without sin. without his people's sin, he
no longer has it, he has put them away without sin unto salvation."
In other words, there's an aspect of salvation that we cannot even
know until the Lord Jesus returns. Salvation, unlike redemption,
is not yet complete. Now don't you worry. If it's
already begun, it cannot be stopped. God has taught us the blessed
gospel of Christ and given us grace and mercy to believe and
rejoice in our Savior. That ain't coming to an end.
It is also just like redemption forever and ever. But it's not
all at one time. Look in chapter 10. Let's take
the Oh, the first three verses, if I can read that without stopping. Hebrews 10 verse 1, For the law,
having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image,
not the very substance of the things, the law can never, with
those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually, The
law can never make the comers there unto perfect. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Instead of putting sin away,
it was a constant reminder of our sin. But oh, that's not true
in Christ, our blessed, precious kinsman, Redeemer. Look in the
same chapter, Hebrews chapter 10. Down to verse 14, redemption
work is done. And our Savior said it in our
text, I have finished the work which you gave me to do. Verse
14, Hebrews chapter 10, four by one offering. There are several contrasts drawn
in the intervening verses in chapter 10. For by one offering
he, Christ, has perfected forever them that are sanctified." I'm
telling you, whoever he died for, there they are. And this
description is made for them. They're perfected forever, and
they are said to be the very same persons that are sanctified,
perfected made holy forever and ever. How do we know that redemption's
work is done? I have just one question to ask
you, and you'll have the answer. Is Christ risen from the dead?
If He isn't, there is no such thing for anybody. But if He is, it means that the
work is done. The redemption is finished. God receives His Son to all the
honor and glory of heaven above. The resurrection of Christ is
absolute proof that the work that He came to do is finished. One more thing. Beware of any
attempt on our part or someone else's part who seeks to have
influence over you. Beware of any attempt. to add
to the finished work of the Lord Jesus. We cannot help him in
this endeavor. It is his and his alone. Strong as angels might be, and
in various places in the Bible they've been revealed to be fairly
so, they're not up to this task. One of them or all of them are
completely inadequate. to the work of putting away the
sins of God's people. Do not add our puny little efforts,
no matter what they're called or how advertised they are, they
have no business in this matter. This is the work of the God-man,
not of you and me. I'm telling you this because
on every hand people are urging you to do this very thing, add
something to what Christ has done. They might even say to
you that Christ has done His part and now it's up to you to
do your part. Well, just what part is that?