John chapter 17, and let's just
read the first five verses. I want to look in verse 1 and
2 this morning with you, and that will keep us busy this morning,
I think. But let's read the first five
verses of John chapter 17. 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 may glorify
thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was." There is no doubt as we follow the
life as Brother Larry is going to be doing with the life of
our Lord Jesus that he was a praying man. I doubt if any prophet or any
believer or any apostle ever prayed like the Master. He often
went out before day and prayed, and prayed to His Father. We
have a few prayers recorded in the gospel of our Lord, but all
of them are short. Father, I thank Thee that Thou
hast heard me, and I knew that You hearest me always, that because
of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe
that You have sent me. Now, that is one of His prayers.
A very short prayer that our Master prayed. In another prayer,
He said, O Father, I thank Thee, Lord of heaven and earth, because
You have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes, even so it seemed good in Thy sight. Now that's
another short prayer. A lot in it, but it's a short
prayer. And then again in John chapter
12, He prays like this. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour. For this cause came I unto the
world. Father, glorify Thy name. But here in John 17, he seems
to take us to the inner sanctuary, this holy place. And he is praying
to his Father. His Father. My Father. My Father. And he is speaking to his father
here as an obedient son, a child who loves his father, a child
who adores his father and has the utmost reverence for him,
and one who has seeked to please
God in all that he has done and said and thought. And six times
in this prayer, addresses God under the title of Father. Six
times in this prayer, Father, O Father, Holy Father, Righteous
Father. You know, it's just as natural
for a child of God to address God as their Father as Jesus
Christ did here. And you know when we address
Him, when every blood-bought child of God, everybody who is
a child of God by adoption prays, you know they pray with the same
spirit that Jesus Christ was prayed with. That's why it's
just as natural for us to address Him as our Father. Our Father. I've noticed when you pray, you
begin your prayer that way. Father. God has sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Father, Father. You have not received the Spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit
of adoption, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God's Son. And
what do we cry? Father, Father. Just as the Lord Jesus prayed,
so do we, so naturally. But there is an essential difference
in our prayers and His. You and I pray as adopted sons
and daughters. We pray as children who have
been born of God, born again. The scripture says He has predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. We pray as adopted children. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. But here in John chapter 17,
we have the prayer of the eternal Son of God. He's called the only begotten
of the Father. The only begotten of the Father. He's not called that because
He was born. He is that by His eternal being. Now, that's a mystery, isn't
it? He is eternally begotten of the Father. You talk about not being able
to get a hold of something. Eternally begotten. There have
been men who erred in this because they said if He was begotten,
if He is the only begotten, there must have been a time in which
He was begotten. But there's not. That's the mystery
of who He is. He is the eternally begotten
of the Father. He's eternally one with the Father,
not just in purpose, not just in will, but in His very essence. I and my Father are one. Here's the mystery. of this Godhead. Here is the mystery of Jesus
Christ being the eternal Son of God. He is one with God, for
the Bible says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
God. He is one with God for all eternity,
and yet He is distinct. For in the beginning was the
Word, the Word was with God. The Word was alongside of God. Isn't that a mystery? And it's
a mystery we can't grasp in our poor finite minds. We just believe
it. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son
of God. There has always been God the
Father. There has always been God the
Son. There has always been God the
Holy Spirit. three distinct persons, one eternal
God. And the only way we can get a
hold of that and begin to grasp it is simply believe it. We believe
it. The last verse I read here in
your hearing, He asked the Father to glorify Thou Him with His
own self with the glory that I had with Thee before the world. So what do we have here in John
chapter 17? We have the eternal Son of God
praying to the eternal Father about our eternal salvation. Now I want us to look in verse
1 and verse 2. Back here in verse 1. The hour
is come. He had been speaking to his disciples
and now He ceases to speak to them and He lifts up His eyes
towards heaven. You and I often bow our heads
when we pray. He lifts His eyes to heaven.
And He says, Father, the hour has come, the hour, the very
hour. You know this hour had been set
from all eternity. It had been planned, it had been
agreed upon before the world ever was. Jesus Christ stood
as a Lamb slain from the very foundation of the world. And
that very hour that He should come to, that He should suffer
and die and be buried, had already been agreed upon. And here He
says, It's come. The hour has come. Throughout
the Old Testament Scripture, you often read where the Lord
Himself was anticipating this hour. You look in the Old Testament
Scripture, and He speaks like this. Sometimes He looks upon
this hour with dread. A thousand years, two thousand
years, three thousand years, even four thousand years before
this hour, and you see the Lord anticipating this hour, and sometimes
He looks upon it, and you can see the apprehension. You can
feel it in His voice. Psalms 22.1, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? That happened in this hour, didn't
it? Thou hast brought me to the dust of death. All your waves
and your billows have gone over me. You who pass by, behold and
see, if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, wherewith the Lord
hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. That all
took place upon the cross. But it was all thought about
and wrote down by the Spirit of Christ back in the Old Testament. He was anticipating this hour. He anticipated it with great
joy and delight. Psalm 40, Lo, I come, I delight
to do thy will, O my God. I delight. I delight to do Your
will. And if you read Hebrews chapter
10, that is pertaining to His suffering. It is pertaining to
this hour. My hour has come, and I delight
to do Thy will. Sometimes He looks upon it with
triumph. Listen to Psalms chapter 98 and
verse 1, O sing unto the Lord a new song, For He has done marvelous
things. This hour had come, and before
it ever came, He anticipated it. And He made this statement,
I have done marvelous things. What was He doing? I tell you,
He had brought in an everlasting righteousness. That's a marvelous
thing, isn't it? He put an end to the power, the
damning power of sin. It was in this hour that He made
reconciliation for iniquity. It was in this hour that He opened
a fountain for sin and uncleanness. It was in this hour that He satisfied
the justice of God for our transgressions. Marvelous things that He has
done. And He says, Your right hand
in Your holy arm has gotten you the victory. He looked at this
time with great triumphant joy. I want you to hold John 17 and
look in Psalms chapter 2. Look in Psalms chapter 2. If you have your fruit view Bible,
you will find it on page 637. This whole Psalm is about this
hour. The hour has come, and the Lord
Jesus, by His Spirit, moved upon David, anticipating this hour
all the way back in David's lifetime. And he wrote about it. We know
that because in the early church, these apostles went to prayer
and they quoted the Scripture. And he was looking to this hour,
and look how triumphant he looks to it. Look what he says in verse
1. Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves. The apostles named those kings,
didn't they? Herod and Pilate were the children
of Israel and the Gentiles. The rulers take counsel together,
those Pharisees and scribes, against the Lord and against
His Christ, His anointed, Let us break their bands asunder
and let us cast away their cords from us. That's what they said. This man has bothered us. He's
tormented us for three and a half years. He's exposed our self-righteousness,
our legality, our meanness. We're sick of him. We're tired
of him. Let's break his bands asunder. Let's kill him. Let's
crucify him and get rid of him. And that's what they thought
they had done. when he lifted up his voice and said, It's finished.
Those Pharisees went back down and told their wives, I'm a happy
man. We got rid of a man today that's
pestered us for three and a half years. I feel so good. What's
for lunch, sweetheart? That's their attitude. What was
the Lord's attitude? Was he frustrated? Was he confused? Was he wringing his hands? Did
He say, Oh, no, they've got the best of Me? What did He say? He tells us, doesn't He? Look
in verse 4. He that saith in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. He shall speak unto them in His
wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. You think you've
killed My Son? Listen to what I've done with
it. I have set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare
the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee, begotten thee from the dead. Ask of me,
my son, and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possessions, and
thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel." This hour had come. And I tell you,
he never looked upon it as defeat or as plan B, but as a triumphant
accomplishment. Then we come over to the New
Testament, and when our Lord Jesus was first conscious, we find His first words when
He was twelve years old. And what was he anticipating? Being about his father's business.
Coming to this hour, finishing the father's work that he had
gave him to do. Sometimes with heaviness he anticipated
this hour because of his sufferings. He was a man, a real man. He
wasn't a man that delighted in suffering. He said, I have a
baptism to be baptized with. Sufferings. I'm going to be baptized
in my sufferings. And now am I straightened. I'm
burdened. I'm troubled. I'm heavy. Until
they be accomplished. Sometimes he was grieved when
he thought of this hour because of the betrayal of Judas who
professed to be his friend. The Scripture says he was grieved
in spirit and said, one of you shall betray me. This hour, this
hour he looked to it. He faced this hour with confidence
even when he came right to this very hour itself with boldness. He was there in the garden sweating
great drops of blood and the Scripture says he got up off
the ground and went forth. And who did he go forth to face
but his enemies? He faced this hour with confidence. The scent of victory was in the
air. He could smell it. Oh, our Lord
was fearless, was He not? I like to think of Him sometimes
as we see these boxers on TV and they are ready to fight and
they stand face to face and they stare each other down. Waiting
for the other to blink. Waiting to see some weakness.
But he has stirred his enemies right in the eye. And he never
blinked. He was courageous. From the time
of his birth, they tried to kill him. They tried to kill him when
he was born. The first message he ever preached,
his hearers tried to throw him over the cliff. Other times they
tried to stone him. They wanted to kill him. But
he looked at them right in the eye and says, no man takes my
life from me. No man takes my life. I lay it
down of myself. I've got power to lay it down.
I've got power to take it up again. Pilate said, I've got
power to crucify you. And he looked at him right in
the eye, never blinked, and says, you have no power. You have no
power over me. I can crush you by merely willing
it. I've set you there and I'll remove
you in my good time. You've got no power. This hour. Boy, he never flinched. He's
not this weak little Jesus, is he? Not even in his hour of weakness. When he had to face his enemies,
he never did flinch. This hour has come. Destroy this
temple, he said, and three days I'll raise it up again. And he
did. And he seated there at the Father's
right hand. All of this was to take place
in this hour. Oh, this hour. This hour. I tell you, the Lord Jesus looked
upon this hour in a solemn way. This was a serious moment. Your
hour is coming too, isn't it? Our hour is coming. I bet you
will face it with some solemn thoughts. I bet we won't be so
light and flippant when we face death. And I, for one, don't
want to face it. I, for one, have some apprehensions
about it. And I, for one, do not want to
face it. I'll never be willing to face
it. If I cannot face it in Jesus Christ, the only way anybody
can face death and triumph over it is to know that somebody else
has already been there and already dealt with it on our behalf.
We can come to our hour. since He has come to His hour.
Because what He faced, He faced for us. The hour. The hour. He says here in the last part
of verse 1, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that
Your Son also may glorify Thee. Glorify Thy Son. Uphold Him. Strengthen him. Make him strong
for yourself. Accept my obedience. Accept my
blood as a full atonement for sin. Keep my body while it's
in the grave. Raise it from the grave and exalt
me in heaven. Glorify your son. Honor your
son. Fulfill the covenant promises
that you made to me back in eternity. Glorify me. that I in turn may
honor you and may magnify you, may be to demands of all your
law and reveal your divine attributes of justice and goodness and love
and mercy, that you might be just in the justifier of them
which believe in me." What's this business of being saved
all about? It's about the glory of God,
isn't it? It's about the glory of the Son
of God. I honor the Father. He honors
me. That's what it's about. Everybody's
going to be saved that can be saved for the glory of God and
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And nobody's not going to be
saved but because of that. That's what it's about. the glory
of God. And when everything is said and
done, and all the church stands yonder before the throne, that
is why everybody is going to take off their crowns, and they
are going to cast it before His throne, and they are going to
bow in humbly worship and say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name give glory and honor. For thy mercy and
thy truth shall be. It's about His glory. That's
what it's about. And if He can save you, if He
can possibly save you for His glory, then He'll save you. But
if He can't save you and get all the glory for it, He ain't
going to save you. He's not going to give that glory
to anybody else, is He? Father, glorify Your Son that
Your Son may also glorify Thee. And here in verse 2, here is
a portion of the glory that belongs to the Father and to the Son. Here is a portion of that glory
that He has given to His Son. Father, glorify Thou me. Well,
He is going to tell us here what it is. And it has to do with
Him giving eternal life. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, That he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. That's what the glory is all
about. Father, here's my glory. You've given me power over all
things. For this reason that I could
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. Let's
look at this this way for just a minute. Let's see some things
regarding this life. That he should give eternal life. Now notice some things concerning
this life, that he should give eternal life. First of all, notice
this about it. The quality, the quality of it. It's life. It's real life. You and I, you and I know very
little about life, do we? Because we're dying. We get acquainted
with somebody, we love them for a few years, and what happens?
They die. We die while we live. We're dying. We're dying. The life that we
have now is so temporal. It's subject to corruption. It's
subject to death and decay. This life here is not subject
to corruption. It is life. It is the life of
God's own Son. Listen to what He said. I am
the resurrection, and I am the life. The life. I am the life. God has given to us eternal life,
and where is this life? In His Son. The life that He
gives to you comes from Himself. And that life is incorruptible. It cannot perish. It cannot die. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. This life is not subject to death. It is not subject to corruption. or decay. It is the very life
of Jesus Christ Himself. The Father has life in Himself
and He has given to the Son to have life in Himself. And when
Christ gives life to a poor sinner, that is real life. That is real
life. It is not subject to perish.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should have eternal life, and
never perish." Should never perish, but have eternal life. Why can't
he perish? This life is not subject to such
things. It's life. It's life. And in
heaven, this life will be manifested in a much greater degree than
it is now. It's in His mouth. Oh, but how
seldom we even detect it. It's hid away down deep in our
bosom. And sometimes it's just not manifested
to our understanding and the faith, the eye of our faith,
as we would long for it to be. But in heaven, this life will
be manifested in a much greater degree. We profess it here. But because of this body of death,
and the presence of devils, and grief from others, and the darkness
of our understanding, and the weakness of our faith, we're
greatly hindered from enjoying this life. That's why we long to lay aside
this body of death, that we may live in the fuller enjoyment
of that life that we now have. That's why Paul said, I desire
to be with Christ, which is far better. It's far better. That's my desire, that's my longing.
Why? Because there I won't have this
darkened understanding. There I won't be hindered with
this body of death. There I will enjoy this life,
this life that Jesus Christ has given to me. And on the resurrection day,
when the body is reunited to the soul, and the body and soul
possess this life, then it will be completely apprehended. There will be anything, nothing,
in that day, in the slightest manner, that disturbs or hinders
our full enjoyment. of that life. No sorrow of soul
or pain of body. No heaviness of heart or tear-dimmed
eyes. Only a sight and sense and reality
of eternal happiness. If someone asks me in one word
to describe this life, I think the word that I would use to
describe it more than anything else is happiness. True happiness. Because that
brings in holiness, that brings in goodness, that brings in justice. It brings in all these things
that's wonderful to think about. Happy, happy, happy life. But He not only said that I might
give eternal life to as many as you have given me, Not only
is there quality in that life, but the duration, the longevity
of it. It has no end. It's everlasting
happiness. If it was just for ten million
years, we would have a sad apprehension in our subconscious, wouldn't
we? Well, yes, I'm happy now. I'm holy now. I'm in heaven now. I'm rejoicing now. But ten million
years! It's going to cease. Not with
this lie. It's eternal lie. I give unto them eternal lie,
and they shall never perish. We can't get a hold of that,
can we? And you talk to these poor people. Bless their hearts.
And they say, well, I know you can lose it. You could lose it. How do you know that? Well, I
knew this fellow. And he lost it. How do you know he had it? You're
pretty smart, aren't you? You're pretty perceptive, aren't
you? Did you look in his soul? Did you see that life eternal
that Christ had given him? No. Then how do you know he had
it? And if you don't know infallibly
that He had it, how do you know He lost it? Don't let man deceive you. Don't
let your own heart deceive you. We don't have to go on what we
see men do. We don't have to establish truth
by men's experiences. We have an infallible Word. We have Him who is called the
faithful and true witness, and here is what He says, I give
unto them eternal, everlasting, never-ending life. Who are we
going to believe? The Word. That is infallible,
isn't it? I sometimes used to tell
my cousin, the free willed Baptist preacher, When I asked him how
he read that eternal life, I said, you must have a big pair of rubber
lips, because you've got to do some stretching to get that to
mean anything else. But I give to them eternal life. I tell you, when the Lord Jesus
makes a statement like that, I hope I'm never so bold to stand
up in His face and try to qualify. I think He gives to them eternal
life, don't you? The quality of it and the longevity
of it. Notice something else here He
says about this life. It's limited as far as the number
of those who possess it. Do you notice that? Who does
He give life to? As many as thou hast given Me. It's limited. Now, that may be
a sad thing. That may be a sad thing in a
sense. Everybody's not going to be saved.
We know that. There's no such thing as universal
redemption. We know that from several scriptures.
The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment. Straight
is the gate that leads to life, and few there be that find it
in comparison. But you know something? Here
is the glorious part. If it wasn't for electing love,
nobody would have life. Everybody would die. There would
be no heaven for any of us. There would be no eternal happiness.
We would all perish. in eternal misery. As many as the Father hath given
me. As many. I'm glad He never says,
as few as He gives me. There's a number that no man
can number. You'll never number them. I think if the Lord told
Abraham, I'm going to make your seed as the stars of heaven.
He's not going to bless His Son any less than that, is He? If
He promised His Friend that, how much more has He promised
His Son? A multitude that no man can number
out of every kindred, every location. There in Newcastle, Indiana,
Springport, Indiana, Alexandria, Indianapolis, all over the place, those that
the Father has given to me. Fourthly, here's something else
he says about this life, the quality of it, the duration of
it. It's limited to those whom the
Father has given Him, and here he says it's a gift, that I may
give eternal life. Salvation is a gift. You can't
earn it. You can't merit it. It's a gift. By grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourself, it is the
gift of God. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. All the
gospel is about is giving. Everybody is giving. The Father
gave the elect to Christ. Then He gave His Son for the
elect. The Son gave Himself upon the
cross. He comes to us and brings us
to Himself. We give ourselves up to Him.
Then we give ourselves one to another. Then we give everything
we have. I pity those who are always talking
about merit. I tell you, there ain't no merit
about this. It's just giving and receiving. That's all it
is. Giving and receiving. I've got to merit something.
I've got to earn something. You'll never make it in this
salvation. It's all about giving. It's all about receiving. In the first part of verse 2,
look at this for a minute before we close. And you wonder what
this has to do with what we've been talking about. Thou hast
given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life.
Now, how does this fit in here to the giving of this life? What
does this have to do? The Father had given him power.
What does this have to do with what we've been reading about? Well, there's things involved
in giving of this life. and enter into that life in heaven
that's yet to come. And they all have to do with
the power of the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. Repentance
is involved in the giving of this life. There's no life apart
from repentance. You remember when Peter had gone
down to preach to Cornelius, and the Lord saved him, and he
came back up to his friends and they got upset with him and said,
you know, why were you down there preaching to them? And he told
them what happened. The Holy Spirit had came upon them. The
Lord had saved them. And here is how they answered
Peter. Then hath God to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto
life. See that? Repentance unto life. Turning from self. turning from
sin to God in Christ. That's repentance. And it's necessary
for this life. Paul was writing to the Apostle
Michael Church, and he said, you turn from your idols to God. That's repentance. And it has
to do with life. It's so vitally linked to Christ
giving life, there's no life apart from repentance. Now, watch
these hyper-Calvinists. And watch these hardshells, these
old primitive Baptists, that tell you election is salvation. They tell you that when God elected
you, there's nothing else to be done. Election is life. But that's not so, is it? Something
else has to be done in the giving of this life. We
must be brought to repentance. Begin to see now why it is necessary
for Christ to say, I have power. I have power. Who has power to
come to a sinner who is dead in trespasses and sin, who is
head over heels in love with his sins, who hates God, who
laps up iniquity like a thirsty dog lapping up water? Who has
the power to get into his heart? and make him sick of sin, make
him hate his sin, and love the God that he used to hate. That
takes some kind of power, doesn't it? I tell you, no less than
the power of the sovereign Son of God. He's the only one that
can do it. And that's so. You see a man here beaten on
his chest saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. The Lord Jesus
is bringing that man to life. Faith is involved in it. It is
obviously involved in the giving of this life. Listen to John
chapter 20 and verse 30 and 31. Many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of His disciples. That is not written in this book,
but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and believing you might have life through His
name. But no man ever believed by his
own power and his own effort. We don't have faith to muster
up. The best of us are yet saying,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. How do we believe? Only through the working of His
mighty power. You can find that in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 19. We believe through the exceeding
greatness of His power. And I'll tell you something else
that's involved in salvation. And that's the will. The will. The Lord don't save anybody apart
from their being willing. If you be willing and obedient,
you shall eat the fat of the land. If you refuse and rebel,
you're going to be devoured with a sword. Whosoever will, let
him take what? The water of life. When that
will reaches out with the arms of faith and embraces that life,
he's got it. But he doesn't have it apart
from the will. Well, then how in the world, and we've taught
this over and over and insisted upon it, that man's will is depraved,
it's in bondage, it's in the prison house of sin and the devil,
how then can he become willing? It has to do with his sovereign
Lord, doesn't it? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Father, you've given me power
over all flesh. And there ain't going to be no
flesh saved but those I work in by my sovereign grace and
my sovereign power." And boy, his sustaining of this
life. Sustaining it is by His power. He gives it, and then He sustains
it. He feeds it. He upholds it. You
and I couldn't get through this world of devils, could we? Weak
flesh that we're in, temptations, the world's allurement, we couldn't
make it through this world. How have we continued on today? We're kept by the power of God,
He is the author and the finisher of our faith. And think about
this lastly. Think about this. When this body is laying cold
in the grave, they have sucked all the blood
out of it, pumped you full of embalming fluid, and there you
lay it all made up in your heart. They take you out and they put
you down in the cold, wet ground. You may buy one of these fancy
balls to keep water out, but they tell me none of them ever
does. How then is your body that begins
to decay, how is it going to partake of this life eternal
which it must? You can't raise it. You can affect
it. I'll tell you one who can, though.
That one who has this power given to him over all flesh. And it
has to do with his power. He said there's coming an hour
when those that are in the grave shall hear his voice. And what's
going to happen when they hear? Power. Power. The working whereby He is able,
the Apostle said, He will speak in the body, lay Him there in
His decayed deadness, will suddenly be fashioned, likened to His
glorious body, and new life, eternal life, never-ending life
will enter that body, and He will be glorified, and the grave
will bust. And every last saint, the weakest
and the meanest among us, will fly from the grave singing, O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
And how will all this be effective? Thou hast given me power. He
will raise up these bodies by His own power. O life! God bless His Word. Let's pray.