I'm going to be speaking from
that verse I just read, but I'd like you to turn to Luke chapter
10 for a moment. Luke chapter 10. The message of the law is due. D.O. do. Do something. Something's incomplete,
do something. And look here in Luke chapter
10, verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life. And he said unto him, what is
written in the law, how readest thou? And he answering said,
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind
and thy neighbor as thyself. And he, the Lord Jesus said unto
him, Thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. Now our
Lord met this man on the ground in which he came. And he said,
you gave the right answer. If you're trying to come into
my presence by law, now do it, do it, and you'll live. Now that's the message of the
law, do. But the message of the gospel
is, it is done. There's nothing to do. It is done. Now, the only thing I'm called
upon to do is believe that it's done. Do you believe it's finished?
Do you believe that there's absolutely nothing for you to do that it's
already done? Well, there's a lot of joy there,
isn't there? There's a lot of peace. There's a lot of rest.
May God give us the grace to enter into that. That's a very
simple concept, but it's so important. The message of law is do something
you need to do. It's not complete unless you
finish it. Something you need to do. And the message of the
gospel is it is done. Now, I hope we'll have a greater
understanding of that by the end of this message. In John
chapter 17, this is the Lord's great high priestly prayer for
His people. And He makes this statement in
verse 4. He says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work that thou gavest me to do. Now, the Lord's the only
one who can say this. I've glorified thee on the earth. I tell you, I wish I could say
that, don't you? But I know I haven't. I've sinned. I've sinned. I've sinned. I've not glorified God. Neither
have you. No man has, but he did. Somebody had to glorify God on
the earth. And He did. He completely glorified God. He kept God's holy law. He honored every one of God's
attributes. Everything there is to do, whatever
it has to do with glorifying God, He did it. He glorified
God on the earth. He magnified God's holy law by
keeping it, by bearing the punishment due against sin. He glorified
God. He finished the work God gave
Him to do. Now, these two things are connected.
I glorify, I've glorified thee on the earth. I finish the work
thou gavest me to do. Now, the whole Bible is about
the work the Father gave Him to do. I mean, every story, illustration, every doctrine,
every sacrifice, every type, it all points to the work the
Father gave him to do. You start off in Genesis chapter
3. Now, he's going to bruise, he's the seed of woman that will
bruise or crush the serpent's head. And on throughout the Scripture,
you find out something about the work the Father gave Him
to do. I mean, every Old Testament story is about that, the work
the Father gave Him to do. Now, there's a lot of things I could
say about the work the Father gave Him to do. It was to glorify
Him. It was to keep His law. It was
to make a payment for sin. It was to save His people from
their sins. I love that passage of Scripture. Matthew chapter
1 verse 21, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. That's what He came to do. And I know all those things.
And I rejoice in all those things. I believe all those things. But
you know something, even more personally, to think that He
came to save me. That the Father presented me
to Him. Here's Todd Nibbert. Put your
own name here. Here's Todd Nibbert. He's sinful. He's weak. He's helpless. Go save Him. And the Lord said, Here am I. I'll do it. Send me. Isn't that an incredible thing
to think about? That the Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience to
His Father, the Father gave Him a people. You know that. That's
the elect. That's those the Father gave
Him. But think of yourself, a believer. Your name was presented to Him
and He said, I'll do it. And He said, I have finished
the work that thou gavest Me to do. Now, let me show you a
scripture in Daniel chapter 9 that was a blessing to me to think
about. Like I said, all the Bible is used to illustrate what his
work was, what he came to do. But Daniel chapter 9 is one of
those scriptures that really tell us clearly what our Lord
intended on doing when he came here. Now, understand this. Whatever
it was he intended to do, that's what he did. Now, look here in
Daniel chapter 9. See, he's incapable of failure.
Verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
Messiah, the prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and
two weeks. The street shall be built in the wall, even in troublous
time. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, talking about his death, but not for himself. And the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and
the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood. and unto
the end of the world desolations are determined." So we see, obviously,
from this passage of Scripture, it's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word for
Messiah, the Hebrew word. It's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no question about that. Now, back up to verse 20. Daniel says, while I was speaking
and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people
Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the
holy mountain of my God, yea, while I was speaking in prayer,
even the man Gabriel, whom I'd seen in the vision at the beginning,
being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of
the evening oblation, and he informed me, and talked with
me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding. At the beginning of thy commandment,
the supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to
show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore, understand
the matter and consider the vision. Now, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon the holy city." Now, those 70 weeks,
a week means a seven-year period. So this was written 490 years
before the birth of Christ. He's talking about when the Christ
will come. 490 years are determined upon
by people and upon by Holy City. And this is what Messiah will
do. He's coming to finish the transgression, to make an end
of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness To seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint
the Most Holy. Now that's what He came to do.
He came to do those six things. He came to finish the transgression. When He died, it was put away. It was finished. He came to make
an end of sins. And that's what he did. On Calvary's
tree, he put sin away to the point that my sin is no more.
He came to make reconciliation for iniquity. He reconciled me
to God. I love that scripture, Romans
chapter 5 verse 10, where it says, for if when we were enemies,
He reconciled us by the death of His Son. When was I reconciled?
When I was the enemy. He reconciled me by the death
of His Son. That's what He came to do. He came to make reconciliation
for iniquity and He did it. Look what it says next. It says,
He came in to bring in an everlasting righteousness. And that's exactly
what He did. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He kept the law for me. He obeyed
God's law for me. And now I have this perfect everlasting
righteousness that can never be taken away. And He came to
seal up the vision and prophecy. What that means is He came to
fulfill every Scripture. That's what He came to do. How
many times do we read He did something that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, that the Scripture might be fulfilled?
He came to fulfill the Scripture. And I love this last thing. It
says in verse 24, He came to anoint the Most Holy. Now what
is the Most Holy or the Holy of Holies? The Holy Place. Now,
that's that place in the tabernacle that signifies the presence of
God. You remember it had the veil. There was the holy place
and the holy of holies. There was a veil of separation.
In the most holy place, there was the Ark of the Covenant.
There was the Shekinah Glory. It represented the presence of
God. Now, that was just a material
tabernacle. Here's what our Lord is saying.
He came to make the true temple fit for God. You know who the
true temple is? Me and you. We are the holy place. He made us so. And He now dwells
within the hearts of His people. That's what He came to do. He
came to put away sin, to make reconciliation, remove God's
reason for anger, finish transgressions, bring in everlasting righteousness.
And He came to make this fit temple for God. And now, every
believer is that most holy place, fit for the habitation of God.
Now, I want you to think about this. This is so hard to get
a hold of. But if I'm a believer, you know
what that means? That means God dwells in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, here's what is a blessing
to think about. Because I think about why would
Christ want to dwell in me, dwell in my heart? Well, he gives a
new heart that he can dwell in. And that's what he does. That's
why he came. He came to do those things. He says, now, I finished
the work that thou gavest me to do. I've glorified thee on
the earth. Here on this planet, he lived
as no man has ever lived. without sin. He died as no man
has ever died. You see, he's the only one to
truly die voluntarily. Me and you don't have a choice.
We're going to die sometime. Now somebody says, what about
somebody who commits suicide? Well, they still have to die sometime,
but he didn't. He didn't because of who he is. So he's the only
one who yielded up the ghost. He gave permission to death to
come and take him. It couldn't do it before he willed
it. He lived as no man ever lived. He died as no man ever died.
And he was raised from the dead as no man was ever raised from
the dead because he raised himself. He said, I have power to lay
down my life and I have power to take it up again. No man takes
it from me. He actually had the power. This
is how glorious this person is. He could die and he could raise
himself from the dead. Now He glorified God on the earth
and He finished the work that the Father gave Him to do. Now, I want us to look in John
chapter 17 at the I haves of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
seven or eight of them where He talks about what I've done.
He says, I finished the work You gave Me to do. I have. I have. Okay, we've already considered
I've glorified Thee on the earth. He did that. I finish the work
that thou gavest me to do." Now look at verse 6 of John chapter
17. He says, 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've kept thy word. I have manifested thy name
to the men you gave me out of the world." Now, he didn't manifest
his name to everybody. He manifested his name to God's
elect, those the Father gave him before time began. But, I've
manifested thy name. Throughout the scripture, what
the name of God means is the person behind the name. It doesn't
simply mean that we know his names. I can rattle them off,
you know, El Shaddai and El and Jah and Jehovah. It doesn't mean
I can just rattle off all those different names. It means I know
the person behind the name. I know him. I know him and he
knows me. And this is what this is talking
about, the name of the Lord. Let me show you this in the scripture.
Turn to Exodus 33. Exodus 33. Moses asked this question in
verse 18, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And
he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I will
show mercy. Now, look down in verse 5 of
chapter 34. So now the Lord's doing what
He said He was going to do. He's going to make all His goodness
pass before Moses. He's going to proclaim His name
before Moses. And He's going to be merciful
to whom He will be merciful. And we read in verse 5, And the
Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and
proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth
generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his name toward the
earth and worshiped. Now, we see from that the name
of the Lord is who He is. It's His attributes. So, I know,
let's talk about, I know the Lord. If He's manifested His
name to me, I know Him. Now, here's how I can know if
I know Him. Because I want to know if I know Him. You want
to know if you know Him? If you really know Him, I mean,
to where you actually know the living God and He knows your
name. I mean, there's a relationship. How can I know if I know Him? Here's how. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's it. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. Now what does it mean to call
upon the name of the Lord? I call In my need, I call upon
His mercy. Lord, be merciful to me. Lord,
save me by Your will, by Your sovereign will. Will my salvation. If You do it, I know I'm saved.
Lord, save me by Your justice. Put away my sin. Make it to be
obliterated. Make it to where I'm perfect
before you. Make it to where I'm... That's
what it is to call on His name. You're calling on His attributes
to save you. Every attribute of God, His mercy,
His justice, His grace, His long-suffering, His kindness, His sovereignty,
all of His attributes, I'm saying, Lord, save me by who You are. Lord, be my prophet. I'm so ignorant I can't know
you. I can't know your Word. Truly
be prophet to me. Make yourself known to me. Be
the Word of God to me. Lord, be my priest. I'm so defiled. I'm so sinful. There's no way
I could come into God's presence. I have to have you come into
God's presence for me. I can't call on His name. I need
you to enable me to call on His name. I need you to be my priest.
Oh Lord, I'm calling on you to be my king. Rule and reign over
me because my sin is such that I can't control myself. I'm a
wicked, evil person. I can't stop it. Lord, reign
in me. Rule in me. Subdue me. Calling
on His name. Now that's what believers do.
They call upon the name of the Lord. Now that's how you can
know if He's manifested His name to you. You call upon his name. And I tell you what, I'm doing
it right now. Lord, I'm calling on your name. Save me! Have mercy on me! Call on his name. I've manifested thy name to the
men thou gavest me out of the wharf. Well, he did it, didn't
he? I have. I have. I'm proof of it right
now. I'm calling on his name. He says, For I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest Me. John 17, 8. I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest Me. Now, how can I know
if He's given me His Word? How can I know if he's actually
spoke to my heart and given me his word? Well, let's read it
on. For I've given unto them the words which thou gavest me,
and they've received them. If God gives you something, you
receive it. If you don't receive it, he never
gave it. This is how I can know if the
Lord has given me his word, I receive his word. Oh, the word of God. What is the word of God to you? You know, what you think about
God, what you think about the Lord Jesus Christ, what you really
believe regarding Him is seen in your attitude toward this
book. This is the Word of God. The Gospel message is the Word
of God and a believer receives it. I love the way Peter described
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord looked at that bunch leaving
him and he said, will you also go away? He said to his disciples,
after so many people left him, they said, concerning his words,
they said, these are hard words, hard sayings. Who can hear them?
Who can listen to stuff like this? And he watched them leave
and he looked at his disciples. He said, you fellows want to
leave too? And Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. And we believe and we are sure
that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." Do you
believe that? Are you sure of it? I believe
and are sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And I believe His Word is the
Word of God. He said, I have given them thy
Word. What we really think about God
is seen by what we think of His Word. I love that scripture in
Isaiah 66, where the God of glory says, to this man will I look, even to him that's poor, bankrupt
of righteousness. and contrite in spirit, broken
in spirit, and He trembles, He trembles at my word. I've given them my words. Whatever the Father gave Him
to do, He did it. Now look in verse 11. And now I'm no more in the world,
But these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those thou gavest me, I've kept. And none of them is lost but
the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled."
Now, he's saying, everybody you gave me, every single one of
them, I've saved them. I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. You gave me these people to save,
and that's exactly what I did. I have saved them. Now back up in verse 4, when
he says, I finished the work thou gavest me to do, he said
it before it actually happened. He hadn't died on the cross yet,
yet he says, I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do.
He says this in the past tense. Already done. This tells us how
supreme His will is. When He says, I've done something,
it's already done before it's happened. He hadn't yet said
from the cross, it is finished. But He says, I finished the work
Thou gavest Me to do. Now, this is such a glorious,
blessed thing because there's nothing to do. There's nothing to do. It's already
done. I am justified by what He did. He's brought in that everlasting
righteousness for me. I'm sanctified. I'm glorified
according to the Scripture. Now, it takes faith to believe
that, but still the Word of God says, Whom He justified, them
He also glorified. And as Christ is seated at the
right hand of the Father in eternal glory, I am too. I'm glorified
because I'm right there with Him. He says, I've saved everybody
you gave Me to save. That's what He did. I've finished
the work Thou gavest Me to do. How finished is it? How finished is it? You know,
there's so many scriptures you can bring out on that. How finished
is it? Well, it's finished. It's finished. He's made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Scripture says
you're complete in Him. It says we're holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable in His sight. It says He's made us accepted
in the Beloved. How finished is it? It's plumb
finished. Completely. I've saved every
one of them. I've kept them. And I'm proof
of that right now. Now look in verse 14. John 17. I have given them thy word. And the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world. but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They're not of
the world, even as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou has
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. Now here's what he's done. He
sent them into the world. Now we're in the world. And he
prays not that we might be taken out of the world, but that we
might be kept from evil. I sure want that, don't you?
I want the Lord to keep me from evil, because I know if he doesn't
keep me from evil, I know what's going to happen to me. I need
him to keep me. But notice how he says, I've
sent him into the world. Well, what did he send him into
the world for? For the preaching of the gospel. Anna and I said
to Paul, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst
know his will, and see that just one, and hear the voice of his
mouth. For thou shalt be his witness to all men of what you've
seen and what you've heard. Now, do you want to know what
your purpose in life is? Right here. It's to be his witness. to tell others of who he is and
what he did. That's your purpose. Don't lose
sight of that. Your purpose here on earth is
to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach his gospel
to everybody God puts you in contact with. That's your purpose.
Now, he said, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have
I sent them. Now look in verse 20. Here's what happens out of Him sending
us to preach. He says, Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their
word. Now that's a promise. I'm not
just praying for the eleven. I'm praying for those who shall
believe on Me through their word. That's Me. I'm one of those people
who's believing right now through the gospel preaching. The Lord
is going to fulfill this promise. Now look at verse 20, neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one. as Thou, Father, art in me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that Thou hast sent me, and look, now catch this,
and the glory which Thou gavest me. Now, you think of that glory.
Oh, the high achievements of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
think of the glory the Father poured upon His hand? The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
The glory as the true Son. The glory as the obedient one.
The glory as the servant. Oh, the glory that the Lord showered
on His Son. Oh, this is my beloved Son in
whom I'm well pleased. The glory God has bestowed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at it. And the glory. which thou gavest me, I have given them." What? You believe that? We wouldn't believe that unless
the Word of God said it. But there it says, this is the
glory every believer has. Now, when we think of ourselves,
I know what we think. I think of I think in heaven I'll just be
so happy to be there. Made it in by the skin of my
teeth. You think of a big throng worshiping
the Lord, and I think of myself being there on the outside looking
in. Happy to be there, but just kind
of one of the outsiders, I guess. But what does the scripture say?
The Lord says regarding every single believer, the glory that
you gave Me, I have given them. That's the glory every believer
has. Whatever Christ is, whoever Christ
is, whatever glory He achieved, that's the glory I have. And
that's why I can say, bold shall I stand in that great day. Because
the glory of Christ is the glory that's covering me. His perfect
obedience, His glory. Colossians 1.12 says, He hath
made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. Now, there's a great multitude
right now around the throne. And right now, I'm fit to be
in that group. The glory that Thou gavest me,
I have given them. Then He says in verse 26, And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it. I've done it, and I'll keep doing
it. That's why we keep calling upon
the name of the Lord. That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them. Now, the law says
go and do. The gospel says, it's done. It's finished. Surely there's
something I must do. Yes, you must believe that it
is all done and there's nothing for you to do. You must believe
that. May God give us all grace to
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.