before he was crucified, before
his return to glory, and he instructed them about his death, about his
sacrifice, about going to the Father, about their ministry. John 13, you remember he arose
from supper and girded himself with a towel, washed their feet.
He talked to them about two things, about loving one another. loving
one another. This is my commandment, he said,
that you love one another as I love you. And he talked to
them about humility, about serving one another, taking the lower
place, not the higher place. And then John 14, you're familiar
with that, when they were so down, so troubled, so brokenhearted
when he talked about leaving them. And he said to them, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. And in that chapter, he comforted
them. It's a chapter of comfort. You
remember Brother Bob's message on it a few months ago. It's
the chapter of comfort for God's people. And also he talked to
them in that chapter about going to prepare a place for them.
He's not talking about building a city. He's talking about preparing
a righteousness and an atonement and reconciliation. preparing
heaven, opening the way for them into the presence of the Father.
That's the preparation. And then he talked about in John
15, you remember how it began with, I'm the vine, you're the
branches? And how he spoke to them about
he and the Father are one, I and my Father are one. And he said,
I and my sheep are one. As the branch and the vine are
one, You and I are one. The Father and the Son are one,
and the Son and His people are one. And then in John 16, He
said, I'm going away, but I'm not going to leave you alone.
I won't leave you comfortless. I'll send you another comforter.
The Holy Spirit will come. And He'll convince the world
of sin and righteousness and of judgment, and He'll be your
teacher. He will not speak of himself,
but what he hears, he will speak. And he will not glorify himself.
The Holy Spirit will take the things of mine and reveal them
unto you. He will open for you all the
things you need to know in your faith, in your Christian experience,
in your walk, in your ministry, in your troubles, in your sorrows,
in your mountain experiences or in your valley. He will teach
you. And then I would like for you to look at John 16, the last
few verses, and here he sums it up after instructing these
disciples and talking to them about these monumental things. He said, verse 28, John 16, I
came forth from the Father. I'm coming to the world. Again,
I leave the world and I go to the Father. And his disciples
said unto him, Lo, now thou speakest plainly, and speakest no parable,
proverb, parable. Now are we sure that thou knowest
all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee, or question
thee. By this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. And Jesus answered them, Do ye? Do ye? Do you now believe? Do you really believe? Behold,
here's a summary. Behold, the hour cometh. Yea,
and is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone. He's got to walk that winepress
alone. No matter the the well-meaning
words of Peter or the boasting words of Peter and the other
disciples. He's got to go there alone. He said, you leave me
alone. And yet I'm not alone because
the Father's with me. And these things have I spoken
unto you. See, these things have I spoken
unto you. And please take those four chapters,
13, 14, 15, 16. We need them. These things have
I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have trouble, but you be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world." These words speak to you. Then it says, and then he lifted
his eyes to heaven. And what he says after he lifted
his eyes to heaven is recorded and was just read to us by Brother
Coffey. This is the prayer of our great
high priest. This is the eternal son speaking
to the eternal father about the eternal covenant. And he tells
us in verse 9 for whom he prays, I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. I pray
for them, which thou hast given me. For they are thine. I pray for them. This is an effectual
prayer. You see, Christ the Lord can
never ask anything that's not granted. Because he said, I always
do those things that please my Father. I always ask those things
that are in the will of my Father. So he can't pray for something
that does not happen. Can't do it. Not for Christ.
I pray for them. I don't pray for the Word. I
pray for them which thou hast given me. And this, the language
of this prayer is simple. We can learn, we can learn something
of prayer by reading the prayers of men of God, especially the
Son of God. And yet the language is simple,
and yet it's, as Bob said, too profound for a human mind. You know, Paul said, I went to
the third heaven and I heard things. It's not possible for
man to utter. And when we read this prayer,
when I talk about it tonight, this prayer, the purest, the
sweetest, The strongest outpouring of love and devotion and submission
to the Father and love for people recorded anywhere in the Word
of God. And to properly read it and properly speak from it
is to listen in on heaven. That's what we're doing. That's
the way you felt when you were reading it, like listening in
on heaven. And I can't in any one sermon
or dozens of sermons or a lifetime of sermons cover even one verse
of this awesome, awesome prayer. But tonight, I want to look at
a few statements which our Lord makes in this prayer. And each
statement begins with these two words. Each one of them, I have. I have. He speaks to the Father
about what He has done. What I have done. Is not this
our task? To tell our generation who He
is and what He has done? And why He did it? Is not that
our task? Isn't that, Paul, what we were
talking about should come from this pulpit? Every time a man
stands here to preach, to talk about Christ, we preach Christ.
Who He is, what He did, why He did it. And that's what He does
in this prayer. He says six or seven times, I
have, I have, I have. That's my task to tell you what
He did. But I'll tell you this, much
better to hear it from Him than from me. Much better. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him authority over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. And this is life eternal. This
is it, not how long it lasts. It's the quality of it, the nature
of it, here it is, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Now watch this next
statement. I have glorified thee on this earth. I have glorified
thee. Here's a man, born of a woman,
taken one night from a mother's womb. and washed and swaddled
and salted and put in a blanket and given to the mother to nurse
her breast. A man born of a woman who looks
into heaven and says to the Father, I have glorified Thee. I have glorified Thee. I have
loved Thee perfectly. I have honored Thee perfectly. I have obeyed Thee perfectly. I have served thee perfectly. I have done it." You say, he's
always done that throughout eternity. He says, I've done it on this
earth. I have glorified thee on this
earth, on this sinful earth, surrounded by sinful people. On this earth where none have
honored thee ever ever, ever. No one has ever honored thee.
In heaven they honor thee. In the temple of God, every creature
glorifies him, the scripture says. But here, none righteous,
none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, none
good, no, not one. But I have glorified thee. Thank God
he did. This is what man was created
to do. This is what God made man to
do. Glorify Him. This is the chief
end. As our catechisms say, the chief
end of man is to glorify God. And no man has ever done it but
one. Adam fell. He fell and fell. And the whole world was plunged
into darkness and death and sin and rebellion and wickedness.
And no man has ever glorified God. By one man sin entered this
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. But God
sent a man, the second Adam, in the same flesh. And he says,
I glorify thee. And he did that. for you and
me. And in him, I can say, I glorified
God. Isn't that something? All right, secondly, in verse
4, he says, I have glorified thee on this earth. There's the
key. On this earth, I glorified thee. That's where it had to be done.
Righteousness and redemption could not be worked out in heaven
and brought down here. He had to do it in the flesh.
tempted in all points as we are. And then he said, I finished
the work you gave me to do. Now, I believe I can shed some
light on this with three questions. I have finished the work you
gave me to do. Whose work is it? It's the Father's
work. I have finished the work you
gave me. It's the Father's Word. What's
the first words Jesus Christ, first recorded words? Now if
all that our Lord said and all that our Lord did were put in
books, no, the world wouldn't hold the books. That's what Scripture
said. But what's the first recorded words of Jesus of Nazareth on
this earth? First words we have recorded
in this Bible that he spoke on this earth. You know what they
were? I must be about my Father's business." That's what he came to do, his
Father's business. I finished the work you gave
me to do. I came down from heaven, he said,
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. So whose
work is it? The Father's work. What is the
work? What is the work? The angel said
to Joseph, don't be afraid to take unto thee Mary to be thy
wife. For that holy thing which is
conceived in her is the Son of God. And you call his name Jesus. That's his name of humiliation,
his earthly name. You call his name Jesus because
he'll save his people from their sins. That's what he came to
do. to save his people from their sin. This is a faithful saying,
Paul said, worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ is coming to
the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. The Son
of Man has come to seek and save the lost. He pleased the Lord
to bruise him, to make his soul an offering for sin. to make
him the just, suffering for the unjust, that he might bring us
to God. That's the work. Whose work is
it? Father's work. What is the work? To perfect
the righteousness and the atonement, to honor the law, satisfy the
justice of God, and take the covenant people home. Third question. Did he do it? I finished the work he gave me
to do. But isn't there something for
me to do? I finished the work you gave me to do. The last words he spoke on this
earth. What were they? As a man, he
spoke some words after he was the glorified Lord who arose
from the grave, but in the flesh, the first words he said, recorded,
I must be about my father's business. The last words before he gave
up the ghost. It's finished. Finished. Finished. He didn't try to save anybody.
He saved them. It's finished. The hymn writer
said, it's finished. Oh, what pleasure do these glorious
words afford. Heavenly blessings without measure
flow to us through Christ our Lord. Finished. all the types
and shadows of the ceremonial law, finished all that God promised,
and saints from this all comfort draw. Verse 6, I have glorified
thee on this earth, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.
Verse 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men thou gavest
me. My friends, God has revealed
Himself in creation. I read Psalm 8. When I consider
the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the things I have
made, what is man without mindful of Him? The heavens declare the
glory of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork.
God has revealed Himself in creation. He has revealed Himself in providence.
He talked to Job about, have you entered the treasures of
the snow? the hail, the rain, do you speak and the lightning
comes and goes? Have you entered into these things?
God Almighty in creation, in providence, in judgment, in law
has revealed His wisdom, His power, His glory, His majesty. These things are open for any
human being to see who has eyes to see. You can hear the voice
of God in the wind, in the rain, in the song of a bird, in the bleeding of a sheep, in
seeing the hand of God in the blooming of a rose, in the birth
of an animal and how it's known to take care of its young, how
the birds build their nests. See God in everything. But how
are we to know the heart of God? How are we to know the love of
God? How are we to know the mercy of God? How are we to know the
will of God? How are we to know the purpose
of God? The Scripture says no man knows
the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him.
That's the reason there's so much hypocrisy and deceit because
men say one thing with their lips and think another thing
in their heart. They deceive one another. They don't speak
the truth. So you can't tell a man's real
nature by his actions. You'll have to tell you what's
in him. Spirit of man. No man knows the
things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him, even
so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. So how are we going to know the
heart of God, the love of God, the mercy of God? The grace of
God, the will of God, the purpose of God. Christ said, I have manifested
thy name. I reveal to them who you are. Philip said, well, show us the
Father. He said, Philip, have I been with you this long and
you don't know me? He that has seen me has seen the Father. Now try it. He that has seen
me has seen the Father. John 1.18, let me turn over there
and read it to you. You just listen. No man has seen
God. We see His wisdom, power, majesty,
greatness, strength, sovereignty, but not the heart of God, not
the will of God. No man has seen God. At any time, the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He had declared Him. He had declared Him. He had declared Him. Before Christ
came into this world, now listen to me, before He came into this
world, the Lord God revealed His nature and character to Moses
and Abraham, some of these men. He revealed His nature and character,
mercy and grace in His name. Jehovah. Jehovah. God my Savior. They knew about
Jehovah. God my Savior. He called Himself
Jehovah Jireh in Genesis 22 to Abraham. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord
will provide. The Lord will see to it. His
mercy, His grace, His kindness, His love, Abraham was going up
there to offer his son. His son said, Father, where's
the lamb? My son, Jehovah-Jireh, will provide. That's right. Long before Christ
came. Then he called himself Jehovah-Raper.
I am the Lord that healeth thee. He forgiveth all thy sins, healeth
all thy diseases. Psalms way back there. Jehovah. I'm the Lord that healeth thee."
Then he called himself Jehovah-nissa, the banner. The Lord is our banner. Under His banner, we are owned
and kept. We're the kingdom people, the
kingdom of the Son of His love. He's the banner. His banner over
me was love, Solomon said. This is before Christ came. His
name, Jehovah. Sidkenew. Jehovah, my righteousness. Jehovah Shalem, the Lord our
peace. Is God at peace? He said He was. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is
there. Where a believer is, the Lord
is there. I'll never leave you. Jehovah
Reah. David said, He's my shepherd.
And yet all of this was in a name. In a name. Jehovah Reah. Jehovah Shalem. the Lord our
Peace, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, Jehovah Rapha,
the Lord our Healer, Jehovah Nisa, the Lord our Banner. And
when Christ came, every one of these names was put in a person
and His tenderness and love and grace. That's right. He went down to the well A woman
came and had been married five times, a great sinner. And our Lord said, if you knew
who he was speaking to, you'd ask me and I'd give you living
water. Then he walked under a tree in Jericho and he looked up and
there was a tax collector, a hated man, a publican. And our Lord looked up and said,
Zacchaeus, come on down. I'm going to your house. God's
going to your house. Zacchaeus said, Lord, half my
goods I give to feed the poor. If I've wronged anybody, I'll
restore it fourfold. God did something for him. Our
Lord walked through Jericho to the outskirts, and there a blind
man cried, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord
stood still. The whole Roman Empire couldn't
make him stand still. Every enemy of the world couldn't
make him stand still. All of the Satan said, if you
be the Son of God, worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms
of the world. He wouldn't stand still. But the brokenhearted
cry of a needy sinner stopped him. He looked over at him and said,
tell him to come over here. And that blind man threw his
robe off, his blanket, and staggered towards the voice that called
him. And the Lord Jesus said, what do you want me to do for
you? He said, Lord, that I may see.
So be it. Going through the Word, seeing
him come to the tombs, there was a man crazy, out of his mind,
cutting himself with stone. No man could tame him, but my
Lord tamed him. Gave Him grace, grace, grace,
grace all the way through. I have manifested Your name,
Jehovah, Savior to these fellows. Eternal life is to know God. Not to know there is a God. Not
to know there is a God, to know Him. in the character of his
Son. He that hath seen me hath seen
my Father. He that believeth on the Son
hath eternal life. Then in verse 8, he says, I have
given them the words that you gave me. I have given them the
words. Back in Deuteronomy, Moses said
God is going to send a prophet. God is going to send a prophet,
and him you shall hear. Him you shall hear. And Christ
is that prophet. And when He came, He said, He
said, I have given them thy Word. There is a whole lot more than
just preaching to them. I can't do what He did here.
He said, I have given them thy Word. People all the way through
the past had preached the Word, preached the Word, Noah preached
the Word 120 years, and nobody heard it. Nobody. He was a preacher of righteousness.
Nobody heard it. So our Lord is not saying here,
I preached the Word to them. He preached the Word to many.
But I'll tell you what He's saying. I want you to turn to this, Luke
24. I'll tell you what He's saying.
Luke 24. Now listen to this. Luke 24. Verse 44, He said to them, listen,
these are the words I have spoken to you while I was yet with you,
same words, that all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, in the Psalms concerning me.
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. Remember what you said about
that. Just follow it up. Thank God you've given us an
understanding. The Son of God hath come, listen,
1 John 5, 20, the Son of God hath come and given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true. This is the true God. And this is eternal life. He said, give them thy word. And listen to the results. Verse
8, I have given them the word. I have put it in their hearts.
I have opened their eyes. I have opened their ears. And
they know two things. Listen. I've given unto them
the words which you gave me, and they have received them.
And they have known two things. I came from thee. I came from
thee. Jesus Christ is not the son of
a Joseph. He's not the son of a human being. He's the Son of God. And being
born of a woman, He's the Son of Man. But I know He came from
God. A child is born, but a son was
given. They know that I came from thee. Listen. And they believe
that you sent me. You sent me on a mission. You
sent me with a work. You sent me with a task. You
sent me to redeem sinners. And they know it. And I pray for them. And I'll pray for the world.
Because this world He's not the friend of God, just those who
have their hearts open. And look at verse 12. And while
I was with them in the world, he's going back to the Father,
and I kept them. I kept them in thy name. Those that thou
gavest me, I have kept. I have kept. My friends, I know
people, listen to me, get religion. and leave it after a while. They get a feeling and lose it
after a while. They learn some doctrine and
grow weary of it after a while. This is no new thing. This was
prevalent in the days of the apostles. When our Lord spoke
in John chapter 6, there were 5,000 people there to hear Him.
John 6, verse 66. And he told who he is, his sovereignty,
and his power, and his glory, and what he came to do. And it
said, and from that time, many of his disciples went back and
walked no more with him. And he turned to the 12, and
he said, you want to go with them? Will you also go away? Will you go away? I preached a sermon one time
on, will you go away? Will you? By God's grace, I don't
plan to go away. I found life, love, truth, and
hope. But many do. Will you go away? They said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe
and are sure you're the Son of God. And our Lord said, blessed
are you. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear. And Demas, Paul said, Demas left
me. Why did he leave you, Paul? He
loved the world. He left me. 1 John 2, John says, they went
out from us. I'll tell you why they went out.
They never were of us. If they had been of us, they
would have remained with us, because he said here, I kept
them. And none of them is lost. but
the son of perdition, Judas, that the scripture may be fulfilled.
Whereunto he was appointed. Our Lord said, I know my sheep. I give them eternal life, and
they'll never perish. My Father gave them me, and no
man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. I am the Father
of one. I've kept them. Now watch verse
18. I have. Now listen, as thou hast
sent me into this world, even so have I also sent them into
this world. Now you, everybody, Brother Mews
used to say, don't move a hand nor a hair. Now you listen to
me. Listening in on heaven, he says, I've manifested your name to
them. I've given them your word. I've kept them. And as you sent
me down here into this world, even so, I've sent them. Now,
false religion sends its disciples into monasteries, separates them
from the world. False religion sends its women
into nunneries, separates them, dresses them differently. shuts
them off in a cave. False religion puts its people
in communes and cults and caves and secret societies. False religion
puts its children in schools for Christians only. Our Lord said, I've sent them
into the world. A light is not supposed to be
put in a closet, it's supposed to be put on a candlestick. Salt
is not worth anything if you don't put it on the meal. So
he says, I've sent them into the world, and in that world
they'll sin, but I'll forgive them, I'll keep them. And in that world they'll work
with people and be associated with enemies of the gospel, but
I'll separate them, I'll deliver them. In that world they'll be
tempted and try on every hand, but I'll give them grace. I'll
give them strength. In that world, they'll have sorrow
and broken hearts. They'll be married and have children.
And Jacob said, when I bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved
like no other time. They'll have sorrow, but I'll
comfort them. And in that world, they'll suffer
pain. and agony, and embarrassment,
and conflict. But the God of all grace, after
they've suffered a while, I'll perfect them, establish them,
strengthen them, and settle them. And in that world, there'll be
witnesses. And they'll suffer many things,
even to bonds, Paul said. But the Word of God is not bound.
And I suffer all these things for the elect's sake, that they
may come to know Christ. You sent me into the world to
save a people. As you sent me, I send them. And you're a witness. Wherever you are, whomever you
encounter in your home, in your schools, on the street, on the
job. You never know when you're going
to run into a sheep. And if you was up there in a
cave somewhere rejoicing over your salvation and your doctrine,
you'd never meet that sheep. That's right. Kept you 30 years
in that school over there, ruling the unruly. But you crossed the
path. You cross the path. You men on
your job, you cross the path of a believer, of a cow that
God sends you into the world. No, it's not a nice world, but
he said back in verse 15, I don't pray that you take them out of
the world. I don't pray you take them out
of the world. That defeats the purpose for which I've sent them
into the world. But I pray this, keep them from the evil one,
from Satan. You get there, I'll send them
into the world. And you girls that are down there
in the hospital nursing, you're going to run into some people.
You're a witness. Ever believe as a preacher? I'm
not the only preacher. We'd be in trouble, wouldn't
we? Ever believe as a preacher? Ever believe as a missionary?
Ever believe as a witness? Ever believe as a son of God?
With a message. And with a mission. And with
a course to finish. and don't run hide somewhere.
But it gets tough, preacher. Every preacher ought to have
to work for a living a little while so he'll understand his
people. That's right. Every preacher ought to join
the Army or join the Navy and get in there with the messiest
mess that ever lived. That's right. And work in a steel
mill, and work in a refinery, or work somewhere where he has
to earn his keep, where he has to take the... you all fill it
in. from all these people and listen
to them, ought to, ought to, work in an office, work for a
woman. They're the toughest bosses that
ever lived. Good for them. And then you'll know what God's
people go through. I don't ask you to take them
out of the world. But I asked you to keep them
from the evil one, because you sent me down here and he was
harassed and humiliated and spat upon and hated and despised and
crucified. They hadn't crucified me yet.
You either. That's right. We've got a task. And that's
when Paul said, the time of my departure is at hand. I've fought
a good fight. And it's a fight too. But I didn't
quit. fought a good fight, and I kept
the faith, and it laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
All right, here's the last thing, and I'll close. Verse 22. He
said, and the glory which thou gavest
me, I've given them, that they may be one even as we are. David
wrote in the Psalms, he'll give grace and glory. He'll give grace,
and glory. No glory without grace. And true grace leads to glory. I saw a bumper sticker. Doris
and I were really honestly led me to preach this message with
that bumper sticker I saw down at the hospital Monday. And I
know the dear old man driving that truck When he put that bumper
sticker on his truck, I know exactly what he had in mind.
This is what it said. I want us to be together in heaven. I want us to be together in heaven.
I understand that. That's a justifiable human desire
and emotion. He said, I want. And I guess
the one reading it, I guess he wanted me and him to be together
in heaven. And I do too. I want him to be there. And I
want to be there. And maybe he meant he wanted
him and his wife to be there. And I do too. I want us to be
there. I want to see Becky. Don't you? I want to be with
you in heaven. I want to. I want to see every one of you
there. But that won't get us there. My wanting it, my desiring
it, willing it, won't do it. And I know, I understand what
he means. It's justifiable human emotion. But that's not the way you go
there. You want me to read in this chapter the way? Look at verse 24. And he closes
his prayer and he said, Father, I will. Oh, not my will, His
will. Father, I will, and He's the
only one who can will anything and have it done. I will that
those whom Thou hast given me, those that Thou hast given me
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, Listen, be with
me! Now, it's not you and me, it's me
and Him. This dear man, I want us to be
together in heaven. Well, if you're with Him and
I'm with Him, we'll be together. But that's not the end. You and
me, that's got nothing to do with it. It's you and Him. Father,
I tell you, if you're in this prayer, you'll be in heaven. But it's not heaven that He's
talking about. He said, with me. What did He say to the thief? Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. And so here's the only one who
can will you into heaven. Because He laid down His life
for you. He died for you. He worked out
a perfect righteousness. He finished the work the Father
gave Him to do on your behalf, so He can say, Father, I've finished
the work now, and I will. He didn't say, Thy will be done.
He said, I will. And I'll tell you, He came to
do the Father's will, and that makes it His will. I will that
ever one of those you gave me be with me where I am. Now wait
a minute. What part? That they may behold my glory. My glory. It's not seeing our loved ones,
it's seeing Him. And seeing Him, we'll see them.
But that His glory That's uppermost. That's this whole thing. He said
you have not because you ask not. And you ask amiss that you
may consume it on your lust. Lord, let me behold your glory. God has revealed to us His glory
in the face of Christ Jesus. Now listen, here's the foundation
of the whole thing. Because you love me before the
foundation of the world. That's why God saved you and
me. We were in Christ. And loving Christ, he loved us. Father, in summing this, bringing
this prayer to a close, all these he's prayed for, I will get those
that you gave me. ever one of them be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory.