The Lord's Prayer

Now let's open our Bibles to John 17. John 17. Last Thursday night, I went with
Brother Gruber down to Pikeville, Kentucky for services at Zebulon
Baptist Church. And he announced that he was
going to speak that night from John 17. So I opened the Bible
to John 17 and I began reading it. And I've been in it since
Thursday night, looking at this portion of God's Word. And I
wanted to speak from it tonight. Now when I look at John 17, I
have mixed emotions. It's no more inspired than all
the rest of the Word of God. It's no more inspired than all
the rest of the Word of God. John 17 is no more inspired than
Romans chapter 8, or James 2, or Matthew 1. Yet there's something special
about John 17. There's just something special
about it. And when I look at John 17, and
when I've looked at it Friday, Saturday, and again this evening,
it makes me feel much like Moses as he stood on the mountain and
God spoke to him. And God said, take off your shoes,
you're indeed on holy ground. And that's what John 17, as all
the word of God, it's the holy word of God. But here, this is
the Lord's prayer. This is the Lord's prayer. I
wish I could emphasize that. This is the Lord's prayer. This
is the Lord's prayer to the Father just before the agony, the awesome
agony of the garden. and the cross. Here our great
High Priest allows us to listen in to his private devotion and
prayer before the Father. You realize that's what this
is? I've often thought I'd like to
have heard John Newton preach. I would like to have heard John
Newton expound the word. But I would also like to have
slipped into his study and heard him pray, wouldn't you? Talk
to God about this word that he preached. And here our Lord literally
allows us to listen in as he speaks to the Father regarding
He is coming into the world, His redemptive work and His return
to the Father and the future. He prays about all these things.
He prays from the time He was glorified with the Father all
the way to the time when we shall be one with Him. He covers all
that in this prayer. Do you realize that? All of that,
He covers that in this prayer. Dare any of us take it lightly? Dare any of us take this lightly? You know, I was saying this morning,
and I wish we would solemnly and soberly and seriously get
into the Word, get into the Word. Charlie said, I love this Word.
Do we love it enough to study it, to read to seek to know the
mind of God. In chapter 17, verse 1, it begins
this way, these words spake Jesus. Now that refers to the preceding
chapters. These words spake Jesus refers
to the preceding words of comfort and of instruction and direction
that he'd given his apostles in chapters 13, 14, and 15. These
words spake Jesus to his disciples in the preceding chapters. Now,
he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Now, it's not essential for a
man to lift his eyes when he prays. Of course, God dwells
everywhere. There's nowhere God does not
dwell. His greatest glory is manifested in the heavens. And
our Master taught us to pray, our Father which art in heaven.
God's throne is in the heavens. But I do know that our Lord Jesus
Christ, once when he prayed, fell on his face. It says he
fell on his face. And I do know that the publican
contacted heaven in prayer, and he wouldn't even lift his eyes,
Paul, would he? But here our Lord lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and he said, Father, the hour is come, the hour. And my friends, I wish we could
get through our heads. I wish, but preachers are not
going to do it. They're just not going to do
it, because the majority of this world's preachers are covetous
men, and they're not going to tell the truth about God. And
they're not going to tell the truth about men, and they're
not going to tell the truth about Christ, and they're not going
to tell the truth about salvation. Because the world no more received
the truth today than it did in the days of the prophets and
the apostles. And which of the prophets did they not kill? They
killed every one of them. And they martyred every apostle
but one. Did you know that? They killed,
they literally slaughtered every apostle except one, eleven of
them. Paul was the other one. martyrdom. Do we think if we tell the truth
we're going to fare any better? Now the hour has come, he's talking
about the hour of his suffering, his atonement, and his death.
That's the hour he's talking about. Shall I pray, Father,
deliver me from this hour? For this hour came I into the
world. The hour that, let me tell you
something, Christ is the appointed Savior who died the appointed
at the appointed hour for the appointed people. Now, every
event which led up to that hour is designed and decreed by Almighty
God. Every event. This is the hour
he's talking about, the hour to redeem his sheep, his people. The hour designed by the Father.
Wicked men with wicked hands nailed Christ to the cross, but
they did what God designed and determined before to be done. That's what the scripture said.
His death was no accident. His death wasn't even an example
alone. His death was a substitutionary
death. It was an atonement. It was a
vicarious in the place of, in the stead of, we for whom he
died. You see that? The hour has come,
the hour to redeem his people, the hour of which he spoke so
often, the hour is here now. It's the very hour that Abel
pictured in his sacrifice. It was the hour pictured when
the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was put on the door.
This is the hour that Christ designed from all eternity to
redeem a people. Now he says, Glorify thy son. Now, as God, he needed no added
glory. He had all glory. As God, Jesus
Christ, does not need to be glorified, he is glorified. He is glorified. The glory of God is seen in the
face of Jesus Christ. But you've got to remember, he's
praying here as man, as mediator. He's praying here as our great
high priest. And he's praying that the Father
will sustain him and support him and uphold him through all
that he must endure for our redemption. And the Father did just that
in the garden when he said, If it be thy will, let this cup
pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but thy will be done.
And God sent the angels and they sustained him. They supported
him and they comforted him. Glorify the Son, sustain the
Son in this awful agony, keep me, support me, help me. You see, when Jesus Christ came
to this earth, it's something I cannot explain, it's beyond
me, I don't understand it. But I do know that he left heaven
and came to this earth and made himself of no reputation, took
on himself the form of a servant. was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh and became obedient unto death. Jesus Christ is God. Dwelling in that tabernacle of
flesh is God, but in such a way that he is a man, the man Christ
Jesus. And as a man, he needs the Spirit. As a man, he needs support. As
a man, he needs to be sustained. As a man, he needs the Father's
help. And that's what he's praying
for. As he comes under the awful agony
and burden of bearing our guilt and shame and sin, he needs divine
help. And that's what he's praying
for. Glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee. That is,
that in the Son might be seen all the Father's excellent virtues
and attributes. I came to manifest the Father,
and I want you to glorify me that I may glorify you. I want
you to help me and sustain me and keep me and support me that
all of the Father's virtues and attributes of love and mercy
and grace and righteousness may be honored and glorified. God
set him forth that his righteousness might be shown. God set him forth
that his love and mercy might be shown, that it might be manifested.
In Christ, mercy and truth met together. In Christ's righteousness
and peace, kiss to each other, I pray. Glorify me, sustain me,
support me, help me, that in it all I may glorify thee. I
tell you this, I don't mean to bring this prayer down from anywhere,
down at all from where it ought to be, as the son speaking to
the father. But I wonder if you and I could
get hold of this here and whatever we do for the glory of God, help
me, sustain me, glorify me that I might glorify you. See what
I'm saying, that I might glorify you. That my one purpose might
be your glory, that in all things God may be glorified. Whatever
I do in word or deed, let it be done for the glory of God. I want faith. I want it to glorify
God. this person to be saved, can
he be saved for the glory of God? Then I want him saved for
the glory of God. If he, like Pharaoh, is raised
up to accomplish God's judgment and justice and glorify God,
can I be happy with that? Verse 2, now watch this carefully,
and here is where we take separate roads from the world's And here's
where the word religion takes a separate road from Christ.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh. You know what
the word power is? It's authority. It's absolute
authority. Thou hast given him authority.
Now let me quote a couple of scriptures. In Matthew 28, 18,
Christ said, I have all authority in heaven and earth. All authority. In Colossians 1, it says everything
that's made in heaven, earth, and under the earth was made
by him. It was made for him. And by him, it exists. It consists. In him, everything exists. Christ
Jesus has total, complete, absolute authority over the whole universe
and over every human being. Now, is that the Christ that
you hear preached today? The Christ that Jesus out here
preached today is a very pitiful spectacle. He's a very weak and
frustrated Savior. But that's not the Christ that's
praying here. He says, Father, thou hast given
me control, authority, and power over all flesh. There isn't a
human being on this earth over which Jesus Christ does not have
absolute control, did you know? The heart of the King is in the
hands of the Lord, to turn it whithersoever he will. Our Lord
will quicken whom he will, that's what the scripture says. As the
Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself, and the Son will quicken whom he will,
when he will. And he's given, listen, you've
given me power over all flesh for what purpose? That I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. My friends,
eternal life is not something we earn, it's the gift of God. This is the record God hath given
us eternal life. Eternal life's the gift of God.
It's the unspeakable gift of God. And the Son gives it through
himself, of himself, and for himself, I have all control and
all authority over all flesh." Isn't that what he's saying?
Listen to me, remember again. This is the Christ, the Son of
God, speaking to the Father. This is that holy, priestly prayer
of the Son of God regarding what he came to do. He said, I have
all authority over all flesh that I should give eternal life. In order to give eternal life
to some, he must have authority over all. Is that not true? In
order to give eternal life to some, he must have authority
over all. And he gives eternal life to
as many as the Father hath given him. Now, let me tell you something.
You'll mark it as we go through reading. But do you know he uses
this phrase, to as many as thou hast given him, six times in
this prayer? Six times. He talks about those
whom the Father hath given me. Back in John chapter 6, he said,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. Well, when
did the Father give him these sheep? He gave them as sheep
before the foundation of the world. I'm not preaching error
and heresy and some new doctrine. I'm preaching the truth of God's
Word. It goes all the way back to eternity
past when the Father gave the Son of People. All that my Father giveth me
will come to me, and him that cometh I'll in no wise cast out.
I came down from heaven not to do my will, I came to do the
will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all he hath given me I'll lose nothing, but
raise it up at the last day." I hear preachers preach today
and they say, Jesus wants to save everybody and they won't
let him. He wants you to open your heart
and let him in if you'll let him. But I can't read that in
here anywhere. I read over in Isaiah where it
says the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. I
read where it says, where God declares none can stay my hand
or say unto me what doest thou? I read where God says I purposed
it, shall I not bring it to pass? I've spoken it, shall I not do
it? I read where it says the arm of the Lord is not heavy,
that he cannot save. I read where the Son said he
quickens whom he will. I read here where he says I have
all authority over all flesh, all power, all control, nothing
is out of my hands, everything consists by my will in heaven
and earth, and I'll give eternal life to as many as you gave me. I see no frustration there. I
see none whatsoever. I read in Isaiah where he said
that he'll see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And
I read in Hebrews where Christ is not walking the floor in heaven
at all, nor wringing his hands, nor disturbed, but the scripture
says he's sitting down. A man who's sitting down is not
working, nor is he weary, but he's resting. He has ceased from
his labors and entered into his rest. That's what the Word said. And this is eternal life. Now
what's this? The reason, one reason I love
this portion of the Word so much is I feel so confident here. It's my Lord speaking. I know
Paul's inspired and Peter and James and John are inspired.
They're apostles of God. I love their words that they've
written, they've spoken. God breathed on the inspiration
of God. This is my Master speaking. This is my God speaking. This is my Lord speaking, and
this is my Lord. And I hear preachers giving definitions
of eternal life, but this is my Lord's definition. And he
said this is eternal life. This is life eternal. And he's
not talking about the length of it or the comfort of it. About all we preach today is
the length of it. Everybody's going to live forever,
live forever, live forever. The comfort of it. We're not
going to work. They sing these gospel quartets, get around and
dance and sing about heaven and the comfort and the streaks of
gold and all these things. But here my Lord says, this is
eternal life. What is eternal life? Let's listen
in. It is that they might know thee,
the only true God. To know, not a God, or some God. but the only true God that they
might know thee, to know God, to worship God, to live in God,
to know the attributes of God, the holiness of God, the power
of God, the eternality of God, the greatness of God, the wisdom
of God, the justice of God, the love of God, the wrath of God,
the works of God, to know God. You know, most people, I'm afraid,
and I was this way for a long time. I just, years ago, I was
brought up in religious traditions, and I just sort of, sort of took
this thing of, this God business for granted. I just sort of said,
well, God is, and God's there, and you know, and there is a
God, but one day a few years ago, I became interested in finding
out who He is. Who He is. Who is God? And I'll tell you this, you can
learn something about the power of God by the things that are
made, no question about that. You can stand in awe. David said,
when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy hands, what is
man that art mindful of him? There's no language in which
his voice is not heard in creation, isn't that right? In creation,
you see the power of God. In Providence, you can see the
wisdom of God. But you know, to know the mind
of God, the mind of God, and the will of God, His redemptive
will, even His will of commandment, His will of purpose, you know
there's only one place you can go, and that's this book? That's
right, to know, to know the mind of God. No man knoweth the things
of a man, save the Spirit of man that is in him. Even so,
no man knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God, and
he to whom the Spirit will reveal it, reveals it to the Word. I come to the Word, I see the
power of God in creation, and the wisdom of God in providence.
But here in the Word, I see the holiness of God, I see the righteousness
of God, I see the justice of God. I see the mercy and grace
of God. I see all these things. I see
these attributes of God in the Word. Now, wait a minute. And
in the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, I see how these
attributes can meet together and become satisfied and justified
in my redemption. To know God. To know God. That God might open my eyes to
see his power. And God might open my eyes to
behold the little things of life, and despise not the day of little
things, small things, that I might see the hand of God. Our Lord
said, Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your father.
Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like
one of these. The hairs of your head are numbered. God said,
Have you considered the treasures of the snow and the rain? and
to watch the birds build their nests and care for their young.
And I want eyes, Mike, to see those things and see God. Know
something about the wisdom of God and the particular providential
care of God. But I want to know God more than
that. I want to know God, God's holiness and God's righteousness
and God's truth and God's grace and mercy. But when I come to
the word and I see, when I see those things, when I see the
holy law of God, I'm smitten with guilt. When I see the holy
righteousness of God, who shall stand in his presence? He's got
clean hands and a pure heart, who's never lifted up his soul
to vanity, who's never sworn to seek for it. Oh God, I can't
know that God. He dwells in a life to which
no man can approach. That God's beyond my comprehension. He's beyond my reach. He's beyond
my fellowship. I'm down here on the dunghill
and He's there on the throne. We can have nothing in common.
But wait a minute, that you might know Him, the only true God. Don't compromise God. Don't try
to bring Him down a little bit. Just leave Him where He is. Leave
God on the throne. Leave God in perfect holiness.
Then accommodate yourself by compromising God. Leave him there,
and he's the only true God. Wait a minute, I know Jesus Christ
whom he sent, whom he sent in his holiness, whom he sent in
his righteousness, whom he sent to satisfy his justice, whom
he sent to manifest and reveal his love, whom he sent to enable
him to be just and justifier. That's eternal life! Eternal life is not deciding you're going to join
the church when you're 12 years old. God help us. Preachers have gone
crazy in order to build organizations. They prostitute the truth and
compromise children. Eternal life. What is eternal
life? It's the life of God. What is eternal life? It's the
quality of it. What is eternal life? It's what
Adam lost in the garden. What is eternal life? It's the
divine nature of God. What is eternal life? It's life
that never dies. That even though I'm standing
here in the flesh and I'm on my way to the grave in just a
few years, I'm going to never die. Never die. I've got eternal life. That's
God's in me. And I didn't get that by coming
down an aisle and saying I believe the Baptist doctrine or the Methodist
doctrine or the Presbyterian doctrine. That eternal life,
the life of God, the divine nature of God, the very power of God,
the very God himself, Christ said, My Father and I will come
and take up our gold in you, and God can't die. You live because
I live, Christ said. Well, that doesn't become my
possession by coming down an aisle and praying the sinner's
prayer. That's regeneration. That's born from above. That's
the wind blowing where it pleases and giving life to a dead sinner.
That's resurrection. That's the well of living water.
That's God coming down and dwelling in a person. I might hold out
a little hope for my generation. But no. They said in the last
days they'll heap to themselves teachers having itching ears
who'll turn away their ears from the truth. Let them alone. They're
good people. There ain't no good people. Let
them alone, leave them alone. They're saved, they just don't
know the deep things. Christ is the deep things. He
is the deep things of God. What are deep things? Truth,
mystery, hid from generation. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
They don't know the sure thing. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
may glorify thee. Thou hast given him authority
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as you have given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ."
And you know what he adds? "...whom thou hast sent." There's
another Jesus. There's another Jesus. I warn
myself and I warn you. Paul talks about another Jesus.
There's a Jesus that's impotent. There's a Jesus that's frustrated.
There's a Jesus that wants to entangle. There's another Jesus.
But I tell you, eternal life is to know the one God sent.
God sent. That's the one. God sent. The victorious Christ, the conquering
Christ, the enthroned Christ, the exalted Christ. Listen to
him. How did he glorify the Father?
Here is the mediator, here is the man, Jesus Christ. He said,
I've glorified you on the earth. You know how he glorified God?
He perfectly loved the Father. He perfectly obeyed the Father. He perfectly submitted to the
will of the Father. And the Father said, this is
my Son in whom I'm well pleased. And he's the only human being
that ever glorified God on this earth. But you know something? He's doing that for you and me.
He literally, perfectly glorified God on this earth in human flesh. I perfectly glorified Him. Now
watch this. And I finished the work you gave
me to do. Now that doesn't sound like a
defeated person. I finished it. Such a joy to finish something. finish it. Nothing else to be
done. Some of you men have built houses,
and some of you build furniture. You got your blueprints. There's
the blueprints. And you get about in your shop,
and you can't, some of us can't quit until we finish something.
Many of you that way. You just, and then you stand
back, and it's all finished. Put the ribbon on it. It's finished.
I want to tell you something. Call me a heretic or whatever
you want to, but my Lord said this. Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. And he turned over into the hands
of Christ the work of a covenant of redemption and a mediatorial
kingdom. That's the work he gave him.
He gave him a work to perfect for us a righteousness and atonement,
a sin offering, and to redeem his sheep. as a surety, prophet,
priest, and king. And my Lord, when he died on
that cross, as he stretched forth his hands, through all of his
birth, temptations, manner of sorrows, acquainted with grief,
through his obedience, through his agony, prayers, through his
suffering and death, he stretched forth his hands and said, it's
finished. What's finished? The redemption,
the atonement, the righteousness of every sheep, every believer,
and all of God's elect of all generations. I finished it. I
have finished the work you gave me today. I've completed it. I've finished it. That's the
cry from Calvary. All right, look at verse 5. And
now, and now, O Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now
there's two vastly important things here, two vastly important
things. I finished the work you gave
me to do, I've completed it. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Christ is God. He's God from
all eternity. He's with God, and he was God,
and he's returning to that glorious presence and that delight in
the bosom of the Father. But there's a second thing here.
Having finished the work you gave me to do, and I'm being
glorified with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was, He returns to the presence of God as the man, Christ Jesus,
with us in him. With us in him. That's exactly
right. Now, I want you to look down here at verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them. And the glory which thou hast
given me I have given them. Verse 24. Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, and to behold his glory is to participate
in his glory. To see life is to have life.
To behold his glory is to share in that glory. For thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world, the glory which thou gavest
me." Now he's going back to glory and he's taking us with him.
Turn to Proverbs 8. I want you to look at this, Proverbs
8. Proverbs 8, and beginning with verse 23. Proverbs 8, 23. This is the Lord Jesus speaking
here. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth Proverbs 8, 24. When there was no depth, I was
brought forth. When there were no fountains,
abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, When
he gave the sea, he of the sea has decreed that the waters should
not pass his commandment when he appointed the foundations
of the earth. Then I was by him as one brought up with him. I
was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. That's the
glory he had before. Now then, Father, back where
I was, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. and I'm bringing with me a people, and they're
going to participate and partake of the same glory. That's right. Only in Christ. Now, you're not
going to get that in a pool of water. That glory and that, and
here's the thing. There's so much made of rewards
and When we talk about mansions in
John 14, it's dwelling places. But we talk about heaven and
we talk about eternal life as if it's some materialistic thing. But here is the essence of eternal
life. It's the glory of God. It's the
glory of God. And whether it's on the new earth
or the new heaven or whether it's where it is, or how it is,
or where we know each other, and will we have bodies, or will
we eat, or will we drink, and they ask, will they marry in
heaven, who's wife, all these questions. But here is where
it all begins. If we are glorified with the
same glory which Christ had before the world was. And whatever comes
from that is fine. But before I start answering
questions about what I'll be like and what I'll know and what
I'll do in my activities, let's establish this, first of all,
that I'm going to be there. I think we get the cart before
the horse. We get to talking about these things about activities
and who and what and how and when, when we ought to be trying
to find out what it means to be born again, to be saved, to
be regenerated, to know God. God said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and my ways are not your ways. Let's see for a time that we
can, we can set aside these, this, we're not going to continue
this present life in glory. It's a new life that he said,
behold, I make all things new, new. Well, I've got to, I've got to
determine, oh, that I may know him, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, that I may attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Now, verse 6, watch this, and I'll try to move along. I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of this world. Now, he's referring specifically
and mainly to the apostles. He's referring to the apostles.
He'll talk later about you and me, but right now he's talking
about these men right here. And I've manifested your name.
Now, listen to me. What he's saying is, I've manifested
your character, your attributes. I've manifested your perfection.
I've manifested your redemptive will. I've manifested your mercy,
grace, power, and glory. That's the reason I said a while
ago, a person can't know God who does not know the Christ,
because the Christ is the manifestation of God. Thomas said, show us
the Father. He said, he that seen me hath
seen the Father. I know we, we, this sounds harsh. Felt a little bad this morning.
I felt like, well, you're just too mean. But I'm telling you, no man can
know God who doesn't know Christ. Okay, if it's Jew or Gentile,
Protestant, Catholic, or if it's the Pope himself. It's an impossibility
to know the Father without knowing the Son. It's an impossibility
to worship the Father if you do not worship and know the Son,
I'm telling you. Christ says, I've manifested
your name. It's the name of God by which
we're saved. It's the name of God that's the
character of God. Jehovah Sidkenu, Jehovah Reu,
Jehovah Shalem, the Lord is present. That's the sevenfold name of
God. And the name of God and the character
of God is revealed through the person of Christ. The glory of
God is seen only in Christ, nowhere else. And he said, I manifested
your name. And the only way you're going
to know the true and living God is to know his name. And the
only way you're going to know his name is to know the one who
manifested his name. Now, somebody's going to want
him out of that. I don't care how strong, and
this is the Master that said this. And yet I'll tell you,
they'll do it every time. They'll say, well, I know that
so but. There ain't no but to it. It's just so. I manifested
your name. Now watch this. To the men you
gave me out of this world, thine they were and you gave them me.
And they kept that word. They believed that word. They
received that word. They received that name and believed
it. They believed it. That's what you've got to do,
what I've got to do. I've got to receive the word
and believe it. Look at verse 20. Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them which shall believe on me further their word.
See, that's me and you now, Bob. He prays, this is the master. I have manifested your name.
No man has seen God, the Son hath revealed him. No man knows
God, the Only Begotten hath manifested it. You've got to come to Christ.
No man can come to the Father but by me, because I am the Father
of One, and I've manifested your name, and these men have received
it and believed it, and I pray for them. And I don't only pray
for them, I pray for the people like you and you and you and
you who have believed on me through the world of these men, Peter,
James, and John. He said this salvation first
was spoken by our Lord and then by them who heard him. Don't
let it slip. Don't let it slip. Verse 7, And they know, they've
known, that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee,
that I am the representative, I am the elect, I am the servant,
I am the messenger, I am the prophet, I am the priest, I am
the king, and everything I have you gave me and invested in me.
The Father loved the Son and had given everything into his
hands. You can't glorify Christ too much. We'd best start glorifying
him some, because everything's in his hands. He's got the whole
thing. They say he's got the whole world
in his hands. Now wait a minute, he's got the
purpose of God, and the glory of God, and the redemptive will
of God, and the grace of God, and the fullness of God in his
hands too. I pray for them. This is an earthly
word, I pray for them. Our Lord Jesus Christ's present
work in heaven is not called praying for us, it's called intercession.
And our Lord doesn't have to say a thing in intercession,
his presence is sufficient. If he's there and I'm in him,
I'm there too. If he's accepted and I'm in him,
I'm accepted too. He doesn't have The Lord, when
he says he ever liveth to make intercession for us, he doesn't
have to turn, and I hate to try to divide the Godhead because
they're one, but our Lord doesn't have to say, now forgive Joe,
forgive Bill. They're already forgiven, the
very fact that he's there, because they're in him. He's the man,
Christ Jesus, you see that? But I pray for them. Look at
verse 9. I pray for these men. I don't pray for the world. I
don't pray for the world. never did pray for the world.
He prays for those whom thou hast given him out of the world.
You see, now listen to me. Listen carefully. The Lord Jesus'
prayers are always heard, are they not? He said, Thou hearest
me always. Secondly, he can't pray contrary
to the will of the Father. He can't do it, because he and
the Father are one. And what he asks will be given, consequently. He can't pray for the world.
If he would ask for the world and the redemption of every human
being, they'd have to all be redeemed. But he wouldn't ask
that, because that's not the Father's will. That's not the
Father's purpose. He said, I came to fulfill your
will. I came to do the will of him
that sent me. And he always prayed in accord with that will. He
said, I will be done. I don't pray for the world. I
pray for those whom thou hast given me." Is that, come on now,
what if we change places tonight? Anybody out there that's come
up here, let me go sit down. You tell me what that means. You tell me what that means.
You get up here and preach this. Are you going to lie on God?
Are you going to say, I don't believe that? Are you going to
do like these lying preachers around here and say that God's
will is to save every son of Adam? Are you going to do that? I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to stand up here and read it just exactly like he said it. The Son of God. And I'm going
to tell everybody who will listen to me just exactly what he meant.
He meant what he said. He said, I have manifested your
name, your glory, your character, your purpose, your redemptive
will to the men you gave me. They were dying and you gave
them to me. And I pray for them. I don't pray for every Tom, Dick,
and Harry in this world. I pray for them. I don't pray
for this world, I pray for them. For he said, verse 10, All mine
are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. And
now, Father, verse 11, I'm no more in this world. He's about
to leave. Go back to the Father. His bodily presence is leaving.
But these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father.
And that's the only Holy Father there is. It makes my stomach
upset when I hear that old So-and-so in Rome being called Holy Father.
He's neither a father nor is he holy. I'm afraid he's not
a father. He's not supposed to be anyway. Holy Father, keep, sustain and
provide for thine own name. Those whom thou hast given me. That's who I want you to keep.
Keep them from sin, keep them from the evil one, keep them
from falling. He's able to keep you from falling. that they may
be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in your name. Those that thou gavest me I kept,
and none of them's lost but the son of perdition." And that was
prophesied in the word of God. He was the son of perdition from
the beginning. That's Judas. He's always been
lost. And now I come to thee. And these
things I speak in this world, that they may have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word. Look
at verse 8 again, verse 8, the first part, I have given unto
them the word you gave me. Now verse 14, I have given them
thy word. This is not the bare preaching
of the word. This is I have given them thy
word. That word you was talking about,
Charlie, that word, I've given them thy word. And we'll read
a few verses and quit. I've given them your word, your
truth, and the world's hated them. The world does not hate
a religious person. The world hates the testimony
and gospel of God, and it'll hate anyone who preaches it and
believes it and stands for the truth of Christ. Now, the world
doesn't hate good works, humanitarian works. Now, the world doesn't
hate that. They took up stoning him, and
he said, many good works have I done. For which of these do
you stone me? They said, we're not stoning you for good work.
We've got no objections to good work. We're stoning you because
you're a man, and you say you're God. And that's what this world
hates. They hate the message of substitution,
the message of redemption, and the message of a successful,
vicarious redeemer. That's what they hate. And Christ
said, I've given them I didn't just preach it to them, I gave
it to them. Your word has been put in their
souls and in their hearts and therefore the world hates them
because they're not of this world as I'm not of this world. God's
people are different. They worship a different God.
They believe a different gospel. They sing a different song. They're
not only just different in their conduct and conversation, they
are, but they got different principles. They got different direction.
They got different family. They glorify God. All the religions
of this world can get together and resolve their differences
and go the same direction. But the people of grace, the
people of God, the people of truth can never get together
with error. They don't fit in. They don't
talk the same language. They're not of this world as
Christ is not of this world. They're sons of God. They're
the sheep of Christ. They're the family of God. They're
the children of God. They're different. In verse 15, I don't pray that
you should take them out of the world, I just pray that you keep
them from the evil one, because they're not of this world as
I'm not of this world. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. Here's the importance of the
word. This thing of sanctification is to be set apart, to be set
apart for the glory of God, for the purpose of God. for the glory
of God. You're His, you belong to Him.
You're His property. You're His. Set apart. Sanctification
is to be made holy. It's to be made righteous. We're
sanctified in Christ Jesus. And sanctification is a maturity
and a growth in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. And
every one of these things are done by the Word. Did you know
that? Every one of them are done by
the Word of God. That's the reason, and you know, I know a lot of
people like to be entertained, they like to hear preachers preach
on current events, and they like to hear preachers fight abortion,
and fight this, and fight that, and fight the other, and you
know. But no preaching is quite as God-honoring and effective
as the kind I've tried to do today, verse by verse through
the Word, because it's by the Word of God that we're sanctified.
Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. If you're
ever born again, it'll be by the word of God. That's right. If you ever come to believe on
Christ, trust him, receive him, so as to be sanctified by him,
it'll be by the word. He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath eternal life. If you ever manifest any
growth in faith, growth and grace, it'll be by the Word of God.
That's right. And that's the reason through
these years I've tried and trying more and more all the time, I'm
trying more and more all the time to emphasize and to get
you interested in and to preach and to ground us in the Word. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. And a man that's established
on the Word cannot be shaken. They can knock on his door, he
can turn on the television, listen to them. They can deceive all
people, but they can't deceive God's elect, because they're
grounded and established and founded on the Word of God. And
they're able to answer, just like our Lord did when Satan
came to tempt him, he said, It's written, thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. It's written, man shall not live
by bread alone. It's written, thou shalt not
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. that's
literally saturated in God's Word and has a foundation for
his feet in the Word of God and knows the Word of God. He can
handle any antichrist that comes along by the grace of God. He can.

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The Lord's Prayer

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