By grace I'm saved, grace free
and boundless. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor. We
are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar
Boulevard. Sunday morning Bible class at 9 45 a.m. Sunday services
are at 10 30 a.m. At 6 p.m Wednesday services at
7 p.m Is what I believe would be
called the holy of holies in the scripture in the Old Testament
tabernacle There was a holy place and then there was the holy of
holies and I believe John chapter 17 is the holy of holies in the
scripture because in this chapter we're allowed to listen in as
the Lord Jesus addresses his father as the great high priest
of his people. We're privileged to hear the
very words of our Lord Jesus Christ to his father. Now, I
just want to consider one verse this morning. The first verse
of this wonderful chapter. I'm going to read it to you.
These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son. that thy son also might glorify
thee." I claim to be a preacher. I claim to be a God-called preacher,
not a man-made preacher, but a God-called preacher. That's
my claim. You know, there is such a thing as a God-called
preacher, a man sent from God with a message for that hour. Paul said in Romans 10, how should
they hear without a preacher? And how should they preach except
they be sent? I claim to be a preacher. And if I have to try and convince
you of that, I'm probably not. But if I am, I better have something
to say, something that comes from God, something that we need
to hear. Well, these words spake Jesus. Now here is what a true preacher
preaches, the words of the Lord Jesus, the Word of God. The Bible, these words spake
Jesus. Now, I realize he's referring
to this last message that the Lord brought his disciples. You can read it in John chapter
13 through 16. And I'm so thankful we have his
word. These words spake Jesus. Whether
we're talking about this verse, or these chapters, or any other
place in the Bible, the Bible is the word of God. It claims to be inspired by God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now that is either true or it
is false. Now if it's false, the Bible
doesn't have any credibility. It's like any other book. But
if it's true, I must hear what God says. Now I'm so thankful
God has given a revelation of Himself. We're not dependent
upon men, sinful men, fallible men, to know the truth regarding
God. He's given us this book, and
the preacher's job is to preach this book. It's either divinely
inspired or uninspired. The Lord Jesus is either who
He claimed to be, the eternal uncreated son of God or he is
the most delusional man and arrogant man and deceitful man to ever
live. Don't patronize him by saying
well he was a good man and a teacher and a reformer. That's patronizing.
You look at the claims he made concerning himself. He's either
who he said he is, the God-man, the eternal Son of God, the uncreated
Lord of Glory, or he is the most delusional man to ever live. These words spake Jesus. This is the message of the true
preacher. The Word of God. These words spake Jesus. And I think every phrase of this
is so important. Look, it says, He lifted up his
eyes to heaven. This is his great high priestly
prayer for his people. As a matter of fact, if you read
the ninth verse of this chapter, he says, I pray for them. Speaking
of his elect, those who believe, I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. He lets us know I'm not praying
for everybody. The Lord Jesus did not represent
everybody. I'm praying for those thou hast
given me, for they are thine. Now he's lifting up his eyes
to address his father concerning these people. Now when I pray,
I pray like the publican. You can read about him in the
book of Luke, where he would not so much as lift up his eyes
to heaven, but he smoked upon his breast. saying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. But the Lord Jesus could lift
up his eyes to heaven. Look how he addresses him as
his father. He lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father. Now he addresses him in reverence,
in submission, in subordination, but he addresses him as his equal. equal with the father he thought
it not robbery to be equal with God as a matter of fact in the
same prayer in the 24th verse he says father I will that they
also whom thou has given me be with me where I am now I can't
address the father like that I can't say father I will that
this take place or I will that that take place no I say if it
be your will but he says father I will he could Speak to the
Father. Yes, in reverence. Yes, in fear
and submission. Yes, in subordination. But yes,
in equality. He lifted up his eyes and said,
Father, there we have the mysterious, glorious relationship between
God the Father and God the Son. God said concerning him, this
is my beloved son. the son of my love, hear ye him."
These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour is come. Now this is repeated seven times
in the book of John. There were several times when
men tried to kill the Lord Jesus Christ after something he said. You know, our Lord, the religious
people hated him. And they wanted to kill him. How many times did
they pick up stones to throw at him? But the scripture would
point out that his hour was not yet come. But now, he says, my
hour is come. And this is a reference to the
hour of his death. This is why he came. He said
regarding this hour, what shall I say? Father, save me from this
hour? But for this cause came I into this hour. Our Lord came
to die. No other man has come simply
to die. Our Lord came to die. He knew upon the completion of
this prayer he would be arrested and the hour of darkness had
begun. Now this hour he's speaking of,
Father the hour is come, is both the darkest hour and the brightest
hour we've ever seen. First, it is the darkest hour. The Lord said to those who arrested
him in Luke, this is your hour and the power of darkness. Oh, what a dark thing when the
Lord Jesus was delivered up to the will of the people. That's what Luke 23, 25 says. Pilate delivered Jesus to their
will. Now, all restraints were taken
away and man was left to do what he wanted to do and the preacher
nailed the creator to a tree at this time the sun refused
to shine The rocks rent and the earth quaked in protest as the
creature was allowed to nail the Creator to the tree. God
took the restraints off. And we find out what's really
in man. Now if you want to know how bad,
how evil all men are, me and you included, take a look at
the cross. You take away the restraints.
The one time holiness walks upon the face of this earth. This
is God. Here's what men thought of Him.
They hated Him and they nailed Him to a tree. They wanted to
get rid of Him. Now, this is what you and I are
really like. This is the real me. This is
the real you. By nature, we're born into this
world enemies of God. And that was proved on the cross.
Now, I'm not asking you to believe this because I'm telling you
this, but because God tells us this. This is what man is by
nature. Evil. God hated. Oh, we don't hate the God we've
invented, or we don't hate the Jesus Christ that is not the
true Christ, the one we can control, the one that we can manipulate,
but I'm talking about the Christ of the Bible. I'm talking about
the God of the Bible. The one time men were given the
ability to do what they wanted to do they nailed him to a tree
and this is the darkest hour I've got one I've got one daughter
and if I knew that there's somebody who wanted to kill her if they
could they put her to death that person would be my enemy and
men by nature because of their sin men are God's Now this is
the darkest hour, the cross. Believe this about yourself.
If the Lord left you yourself, you would have been one of the
people nailing Him to a tree. Now this is the darkest hour,
but it's also the brightest hour, it's the lightest hour. In John
chapter 7 verse 39, when John is talking about the death of
the Lord, He says Jesus had not yet been glorified. When he spoke
of his death, he talked about it as being his glory. Yes, this
is the darkest hour where we see what man is all about, but
this is also the brightest hour. You see, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ was an accomplishment. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was an achievement. Now, when a regular man dies,
it's not an achievement. But when Moses and Elijah were
talking with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, in
Luke 9, verse 31, it says, they spake of the decease which he
should accomplish. Now, our Lord said, the hour
has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also might glorify thee. You see, the death of Christ
is all about and for the glory of God. His death is His greatest
achievement by what He accomplished. Now, what is the glory of God?
The glory of God is who He is. You see, glory is essential to
His being. It's not essential to the creature's
being. Man is a fallen creature and
deserves no glory. But glory is essential to the
being of God. To glorify God is to praise God. It's to extol God. It's to worship
God for who He is. If I glorify God, I praise Him
as the sovereign God. I worship Him as the one who
has complete control. I glorify Him by worshiping Him
for His justice, the fact that He will not let sin go unpunished. He's the judge of the earth who
always does right. I glorify Him as the all-powerful
God who has the power to do whatever His will. is. I glorify Him as
the wise God who's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. I glorify every one of His attributes. I worship Him. I praise Him.
I extol Him for who He is. God's glory is who He is. And when Moses said, I beseech
thee, Show me thy glory. Now let me give you the setting.
This is found in Exodus chapter 33 verse 18. Moses said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. Now Moses had seen the parting
of the Red Sea. He'd seen the ten plagues. He'd
seen a lot of things. But yet he says, I haven't seen
your glory yet. Now he was praying for the children of Israel because
they had made that golden calf. What a wicked bunch of people.
Right after God had delivered them, Moses has gone 40 days,
they make that golden calf, saying, These be thy gods, O Israel.
Moses comes down, he sees what's happened, and he's gone back
to the Lord to pray for these people, not knowing what the
Lord was going to do with them. And during this prayer, he said,
I beseech thee, show me your glory. And God said, I'll make
my goodness pass before thee. His goodness is his capacity. to save such unworthy people
as the children of Israel and me and you. That's His goodness.
I'll make all my goodness to pass before you. I'll proclaim
the name of the Lord before you. His name is His attributes, who
He is. His justice, His righteousness, His holiness, His sovereignty.
It's the person behind the name. And then He says, I will be gracious.
To whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. And that is realized in the cross. How God can save is all realized
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I would like to
attempt to speak about the glory of His death. Now, when we speak
of His death, we're also speaking of His incarnation. That means
God became flesh. We're also speaking of His life,
His law-keeping, His perfect righteousness. We're also speaking
of His resurrection after His death. And we're speaking of
His ascension back to the Father. And we're speaking of His present
intercession for His people. When you speak of His death,
you're speaking of everything He does. But it would all be
meaningless without His death. What if? The Lord came down here
and lived a perfect life and just went back to His Father.
What good would that do us? Absolutely none. It's His death,
His sin offering that saves us. Oh, the glory of His death. His death was His greatest achievement. It was more glorious than the
creation. It's the most God-like thing
that God ever did. Now, there are some things that
only God can do, and the death of Christ is an achievement that
only God can do. You see, this one nailed to a
tree, in agony, in pain, in physical
sufferings and soul sufferings, I think of what He said as He's
nailed to that cross. He says, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. There's His purpose to forgive
those the Father gave Him. He says, Woman, behold thy son
and behold thy mother. There's His compassion. He says,
I thirst. There's His physical sufferings.
He said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? There's
His soul sufferings. You see, the sin of God's people
became His. That's why God killed Him. The
sin of His people became His, and God forsook Him. Oh, what
soul-suffering! He said, Father, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit. There's His faith. He said to
the thief, today you'll be with Me in Paradise. There's His purpose. It is finished. Whatever he did
was accomplished. Now, in his death, Every attribute
of God is glorified. You know you can't and I cannot
know God apart from the cross. It's the cross, it's the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ that reveals to us who God is. Every attribute of God is on
display in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you say, how
could that be? Well, here's how. Christ is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And Peter said
regarding his death, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken, and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. You see, his death was
according to the purpose of God. The reason he died is because
God purposed for him to die. And it's a display of the sovereignty
of God. His death glorifies the holiness
and justice of God. God is holy. God is just. He
will not let sin go unpunished. No sin will ever be unpunished.
The sins of God's elect became Christ, and He was still the
Son of God, but God will not let even His own Son go free
if there's sin on Him. The Scripture says He bare our
sins in His own body on the tree, and God is just. He must punish
sin. That's why He punished His Son.
We see God's power in the death of Christ. It's an awesome, powerful
thing that He could die in the first place. I don't understand
how He died, the God-man, but yet He died. And what did He
do in this death? He actually annihilated sin.
He put away sin to where it is no more. That's what He did.
What power, what wisdom that God has found a way to be just
and to let no sin go unpunished, and yet justify somebody like
me when I'm a sinner, and make me truly just. Only God can do
this. What wisdom, what awesome wisdom
there is in God. Oh, how we see God's mercy, God's
love, God's grace that God would give His Son for sinners. Does God really love sinners?
Look at the cross and that question is answered. Every attribute
of God is fully displayed in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His death was the greatest act
of obedience. He became, as Philippians 2 says,
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The Father
said to the Son, Go, let them take you. And he let him take
him. Now remember, Christ was no victim. He was not a victim. He said
to the women who were crying as they watched him walk toward
Golgotha's hill, daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but
weep for yourselves. The Son of God doesn't need our
pity. You know, people, poor Jesus. No, not poor Jesus. He's
the eternal Son of God. And when He was going to the
cross, it was in obedience to His Father. He was doing what
His Father told Him to do. And the death of Christ, not
only is the greatest act of obedience ever, it's the greatest act of
faith. He said, Father, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit. Job said, though He slay me,
yet will I trust Him. But if you read through Job,
he was always complaining about whatever took place. These are
really the words of the Lord Jesus. He's the only one who
could truly say, though he slay me, I still trust him. He completely trusted his father
when all circumstances seemed terrible. And in the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he actually achieved the salvation of all
of God's elect. He said in John chapter 17 verse
4, just a few verses down, he said, I have glorified thee on
the earth, I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. Now what was the work that the
Father gave him to do? Well, we're told in the opening
chapter of the New Testament, in Matthew chapter 1, verse 21,
very first page of the New Testament, Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And beloved,
that's exactly what he did. When he said it is finished,
he had saved his people from their sins. You see, my sin was
paid for. Therefore, I'm justified. I'll never be condemned. I have
no sin if he saved me from my sins. You see, the sins of the
elect were annihilated. They were put away. They were
abolished. You look in that tomb, after
he was resurrected, what do you see? Nothing. It's empty. He
put those sins away. The ungodly, by his death, were
justified. The scripture says he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And there's
nothing that thrills my soul more than this. If Christ died
for me, I stand before God not guilty. Not simply forgiven. Not guilty. There's nothing to
condemn me for. I stand without guilt. Now that's
the power of his death. His death, his blood made every
believer holy. and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Because of his death, all that
is associated with God's salvation, the believer has. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not also with him freely give us all things? I'm given faith. The reason I believe is not because
of an act of my free will. That's foolishness. The reason
I believe is because Christ died for me, and gave me a new heart,
and gave me faith, and gave me repentance, and gave me love
to Him. And the reason I persevere is not because of some kind of
spiritual strength in myself, it's because Christ died for
me. Every blessing I have is because Christ died for me. Every
blessing any believer has is only for this reason, because
of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this, by his
death he made every believer the very righteousness of God. Now if Christ died for me, that
means I am in my person. Now I tremble when I say this,
but I am the very righteousness of God. Now let me back that
up with the scripture. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
he, God, hath made him to be sin for us. That holy one, that
righteous one, the one who never sinned, was made to be sinned. Now, what all that means, it's
too horrible to even contemplate. But on the cross, the Holy Son
of God was made sin. All that sin is, was made to
be. The scripture says, the Lord
had laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was made to be
sin. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God." That righteousness that he worked out, which is the righteousness
of God, is the righteousness of every believer. Just as truly
as he was made sin and suffered and died, every believer is made
the very righteousness of God. The death of Christ, This is
what inspires believers. They do not need to be threatened. They do not need to be motivated
by a hope for reward. Just the fact that He died for
them, and what He's done for them, makes them give themselves
wholly to Him. Isaac Watts put it this way,
Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would
he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Was it for
crimes that I have done he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity,
grace unknown, and love beyond degree. He said, when I survey
the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest
gain I count but loss, and poor contempt on all my pride. That's a believer's response
to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the most glorious. It's my hope. It's my hope. His death, that's my hope. That's
my salvation. Now we have this message on cassette
tape, on CD, or on DVD. If you want a copy, write the
church, or email the church, or call the church, and we'll
send you a copy. This is Todd Kniford praying
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer. By grace I'm saved, grace free
and boundless.