for every one of you, if you
will, to listen very carefully to the message that I believe
God has given me for you today. The message is entitled, All
Things Given to Christ. All Things Given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. In John chapter 3, verse 35,
the Apostle wrote, The Father loveth the Son. And hath given
all things, all things. Do you see the significance there?
All things into his hand. Now all things were given to
him by the Father. They were decreed and designed
to be his, by the Father himself. And all things were given to
him because he is the heir. Jesus Christ himself is the heir. He's the son. He's the only begotten,
well-beloved Son of God's love. And all things are given to Him
because He is the Son. And all things are given to Him
because He earned that right. He bought them. He died that
He might be Lord of the dead and the living. And all things... He is the only one in heaven
or earth who is sufficient to contain all things. That's right. He contains all
things. And because He's the only one
who can properly, for the glory of God, sustain them and preserve
them and dispose or disperse them. Christ is the only one.
Now, if you turn to John 17, we can look more carefully at
these things given to Christ. Now this is so important. All
things have been put in His hands. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into His hands. That's not enough just
to say that. We've got to find out what these
things are that the Father hath given to the Son. We've got to
find out what these things are and what our relationship is
to the Son because if everything's in Him, In order for me to participate
in these things, I've got to have some relationship with the
Son. John Flavel used to say, all
spiritual blessings are in Christ. And they're ours as we're joint
heirs with Christ. And as we're brought into a living
union with Christ. And that living union with Christ
is by faith. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. It's got to be an intelligent
faith. It's got to be faith with some understanding. Faith must
have an object, and that object must be known. How can they call
on Him of whom they've not heard? How can they believe in Him of
whom they've not heard? And how can they hear without
a preacher? In John 17, verse 1, the Scripture
says, The Lord Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, and He said,
Father, the hour is come. The hour, the hour of all hours. This is the hour of which he
spake when he said to Mary, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
Mine hour is not yet come. This is the hour of which he
spake when he said to his disciples, You say, deliver me from this
hour? For this cause came I unto this
hour. This is the hour, this is the
great hour of redemption. This is the hour prophesied and
promised and typified throughout the whole Old Testament Scriptures. This is the hour in which the
fulfillment of all things is about to take place, the hour
of the cross, the hour of the sacrifice, the hour of the sin
offering. This is the hour of the atonement. And our Lord Jesus, in speaking
to His Father, He said, Father, the hour has come. glorify thy
son that thy son may glorify thee." God's greater glory is
his redemptive glory. What took place at Calvary is
the greater glory of God. Moses said to the Lord, show
me your glory. And God said, I'll cause my goodness
to pass before you. My goodness is my greater glory. I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious." And then our Lord said in verse 2, now listen,
this is the Lord's prayer. The Lord Himself is speaking
to the Father. Here's communion of the eternal
Trinity. Here's the Son speaking to the
Father about redemptive glory. The hour, He said, has come.
That great hour of all hours. The climax of the universe. the
accomplishment of the atonement, the redemption of his people.
The hours come, now glorify your son, that their son may glorify
thee. Now watch verse 2. Thou hast
given him power over all flesh. What did I say at the beginning
of this message? I was going to speak on all things given
to Christ. The Father loveth the Son, and
the Father hath given all things into his hands, What's the first
thing he said in this great high priestly prayer, when he prayed
about this great hour of all hours, when he talked about the
redemptive glory of God? The first thing he says is, Father,
You have given me authority. You have given me power over
all flesh, over all creation, over all creatures. I have supreme,
absolute authority. Now, I know there are people
who feel that I preach too much, too much or perhaps too strongly
on the sovereignty of Christ, upon the authority of Jesus Christ,
but I don't think so. I really don't think so. I don't
believe it's possible for any human being to be able to properly
exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ in his majesty and power
and sovereignty like he ought to be magnified. I don't believe
a man could. I do know this. I know that the
little weak, feminine failure which is called Jesus today is
not the Christ of the Bible because Christ said this in Matthew 28,
18 to his disciples before he ascended back to the Father.
Listen to him. He said, all authority given unto me in heaven and earth."
Now you think about that. Here's the master. He's been
crucified, buried, risen again. He's about to ascend to the Father,
to the right hand of God, and he speaks to his disciples gathered
about him before he sends them into the world to preach the
gospel. And what he says is this, all authority, all power, control
is given unto me in heaven and earth, all authority. Now you
go preach the gospel, and he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. In Philippians
2, the Scripture says, God hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above, above, above every name, in heaven,
earth, and under the earth, that every knee will bow, every knee,
yours, mine, and everybody else's, every monarch, every pauper,
and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God hath made the same
Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ, King of kings and
Lord of lords. Listen to Hebrews 2.8. Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet. God hath left
nothing, nothing that is not under him. Kind of wasting our
time feeling sorry for Jesus, aren't we? Kind of wasting our
time because our Lord Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and
earth. I tell folks to feel sorry for
us, ourselves. Not weep for Christ. Thou hast
given him all power, all authority in heaven and earth. He's the
sovereign, infinite, immutable, unchangeable, almighty, eternal
God. That's who Jesus Christ is. All right, here's the second
thing that the Father hath given. He's given all things into His
hand. All things. You know, Pilate
said to him as he stood before Pilate, he said, Answerest thou
not me? You know who I am? I'm Pilate.
I'm the governor around this place. And you answer me not? Don't you know that I have the
power to crucify you or let you go? And our Lord looked at him,
and this is what he said. Thou couldest have no power over
me at all, except it were given thee of my Father." That's exactly
right. You know where the Father has
put all the power? In the hands of the resurrected
Christ. Here's the second thing, verse 2. Thou hast given him
all power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. What's my message? All things
given to Christ. The Father has given him all
power, and the Father had given him a people. I have people say,
well, you preach election. Of course I do. You preach a
covenant of grace. Of course I do. You preach that
the Father gave the Son of people back before the foundation of
the world and made Him their surety and their Redeemer, and
they shall come to Him through belief of the truth and through
the sanctification of the Spirit. Of course I do, because that's
what the Bible says. God hath given him a people.
Our Lord is speaking here of a chosen people, which the Father
hath given to him out of Adam's race. He said that in John chapter
6 verse 37. He said, All that my Father giveth
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
will of him that sent me. that of all which he hath given
me I'll lose nothing but raise it up at the last day." He said
in John 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they
follow me and I give them eternal life and they'll never perish.
My Father which gave them me. Who gave them to him? My Father
is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. Our Lord uses this phrase six times in this one prayer.
Six times. Six times. John 17, look at it.
Verse 2, are you open to what Scripture says? In verse 2, he
says, Thou hast given me all authority over all flesh that
I should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me.
In verse 6, he said, I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them me. In verse 9, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. I pray for them which Thou hast
given me. They are Thine, and all mine are Thine. In verse
11, he said, Father, keep those whom thou hast given me. In verse
12, he said, I have kept those whom thou hast given me. And
in verse 24, he said, I will that those whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am. The Father gave the Son of people
an innumerable company as the stars of the sky and the sands
of the seashore. Out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, tongue unto heaven, the Father gave the Son a people."
That's what Scripture said. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us. Oh, we called on
God, but He called us first. We sought the Lord, but He sought
us first. Our Lord gathered His disciples
about Him. He said, you didn't choose me,
I chose you. I chose you. Abraham found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And he has a people. that the
Father gave him. I don't know who they are, where
they are. I'm looking for them. I'm looking for the sheep. Preaching
to them. My sheep will hear my voice.
A bunch of people said to him one day, if you be the Christ,
why don't you tell us plainly? He said, I told you, and you
didn't believe me because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice. He calls them his sheep, his
jewels, his people, his brethren, his nation. God's sons were sons of God. What did the Father give to the
Son? Gave Him all power in heaven and earth. What did the Father
give to the Son? He gave Him a people. Gave Him
a people. Countless beyond the star. And
then thirdly, look at verse 2 and 3. Now listen to it. Thou hast
given Him all power over all flesh that He should give eternal
life. He should give eternal life to
as many as now has given him He's going to give eternal life
the father gave him life to give The gift of God's eternal life
eternal life's a gift the wages of sin is death But the gift
of God's eternal life God's not selling eternal life to the highest
bidder Or the hardest worker or the most diligent disciple
He'd given eternal life to folks who can't afford it. He said,
this is eternal life, this is eternal life, not to be a Baptist
or a Catholic or a Presbyterian or a Methodist, it's to know
God. And not any God, but the Living God. And Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent, the Father hath given the Son eternal life
to give to the people whom He gave the Son. What is eternal
life? Well, eternal life is not how
long it's going to last. It's the quality of it. Eternal
life is that life. It's spiritual life. It's spiritual
life. It's that life which Adam lost
in the garden when he died, when he disobeyed God. Eternal life
is divine life. Eternal life is the life of God.
He restores my soul. Eternal life is something men
do not have apart from God. Now, they can have natural life.
There are several forms of life. There's plant life, animal life,
human life, and divine life, spiritual life. When Adam was
in the Garden of Eden, he had spiritual life and human life. And when he fell, when he sinned,
he died. And death passed upon all men.
And that death was spiritual death. And that's the reason
the Holy Spirit writes in Ephesians 2, you have to quicken who were
dead. We weren't dead physically, we
were dead spiritually. He hath given us life. That's
the new birth that most folks don't know anything about. Most
folks that claim it don't know anything about it. Eternal life
is spiritual life. It's not a religious decision.
It's not a religious profession. It's not accepting Jesus. It's
being born of the Spirit of God. That's having life restored.
A man can't see unless he's got life. He can't hear unless he's
got life. He can't believe unless he's got life. They got the cart
before the horse. You don't believe and receive
life. You receive life and you believe. God gives life. Eternal life is in the hands
of Christ to give to people. As many as thou hast given him.
Listen to this. Now we have physical life. Nobody
denying that. As the father hath life in himself,
so hath he given the son to have life in himself. And the son
quickeneth, makes alive whom he will." Everybody's not alive. You mean all these people running
around town here are not alive? They're alive physically. They're
not alive spiritually. They're dead. And they have to
be born again. That's what it is. It's a new
birth. It's something God does. The new birth, you don't have
anything to do with it. God does it. Christ gives it
this is the record God had given us eternal life and this life
is in his son. It's a gift It's a spiritual
life and the father had given that in the hands of Christ See
what I said when I opened this program. I said it's serious
business. I'm dealing with today. I Wish you'd listen the father
love is the son the Lord Jesus Christ and had given all things
into his hand and he prayed and he said father I Thank you Father,
I thank you. I praise your name. You've given
me power over all flesh that I should give eternal life, spiritual
life to those whom thou hast given me. I'll tell you something
else the Father gave him, verse 4. I have finished the work you
gave me to do. That's right. He said, Father,
I've glorified thee on this earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ was born,
conceived of the Holy Ghost and born in the womb of a virgin
woman. Born like any other person except
his heavenly father is his father. He had no human father. But he
was struggled in the womb and came forth and nursed on a mother's
breast and grew up in a carpenter's shop. And he walked on this earth
in the flesh, in flesh and bones and blood like you and me, tempted
in all points as we are yet without sin, died on the cross. And in
all of this human, in this human journey, he glorified his father
on this earth. We've never glorified God. We've
sinned and come short of the glory of God. But he glorified
his Father and he said, I've finished the work you gave me
to do. What was the work the Father
gave him to do? Now, notice this. Whatever the
Father gave him to do, he did it. He finished it. He didn't
start it. He didn't make a great contribution
to it. He didn't partially accomplish
it. He didn't get four-fifths of it done. He said, I finished
it. Now, whatever that work was that
he came to do, he did it 100%. I finished it. Well, that work
was prophesied in Genesis 3, 15, the seed of woman will bruise
the serpent's head. The serpent's Satan, his head
is his government, power, control, and Christ did that. It was pictured
in Genesis 3, 21 when God slew an animal and covered Adam and
Eve's nakedness. And our Lord is the righteousness
that covers our nakedness. It was typified in the Passover
lamb. God said, kill a lamb, consume
its flesh, put its blood on the doorpost and lintel, and when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Christ is our Passover.
The brazen serpent lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The high priest went
into the Holy of Holies with the atonement to cover the sins
of the people, to cover the mercy seat, which contained the broken
law. That's what Christ worked, which
the Father gave Him to accomplish. That's it. To redeem a people,
totally, fully, finally, and completely. And He came down
here being born of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were born under the law, and when he died on that cross,
he said, it's finished. I've finished the work you gave
me to do. Now then, if Christ is my Savior
and my Lord and my Redeemer, and if by his stripes I'm healed,
and if he's my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
pray tell me what is there left for me to do to contribute to
what he did to get God in a notion of saving my soul. Nothing but
to believe. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Christ
said, I finished the work you gave me to do. When He had, listen,
by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high. He did what? by himself purged,
paid for, finished the payment of our sins. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are what? Complete. Now, that's as complete a word
as you can get on that subject. Complete. That defines the whole
thing. Nothing's added to something
that's complete. If it's complete, it's finished. And we're complete
in here. Now, verse 6, he said, I've manifested
thy name. No man knows who the Father is
except the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. The
heavens declare the glory of God. The conscience declares
the holiness of God. The creation declares the power
of God. But only Christ can declare the
mercy and grace of God. It's in Christ. Philip said,
Show us the Father. And He said, Philip, he that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Our Lord Jesus came down here
to this earth to reveal to us the Father. Listen to Hebrews
1 through 3. God, who at sundry times and
in different matters spoke in time past to our fathers with
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. The Son reveals the Father. whom
he hath appointed heir of all things." He's the heir of all
things. I told you that. He's the Son.
He's the heir. We just join heirs with Christ.
That's exactly right. "...by whom he made the worlds,
who, being in the brightness of God's glory, the exact image
of his person, who upholdeth all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, He sat down
on the right hand of God. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name,
His covenant, His blood. Support me in this whelming flood
when all around my soul gives way. He, then, is my only hope
and stain because He manifests to me the mercy and grace of
God. It's all in Christ. And then
what's this? Last of all, he said, I have
given them the words which you gave me. You gave me your words
and I gave it to them. When our Lord Jesus speaks the
words which the Father gave to him, he speaks the testimony
of the gospel concerning himself. Listen to this, in John 14.10,
the words that I speak, these words of comfort, These words
of grace, grace flowed from His lips. These words of hope. He said, these words are not
my words. They're the words of Him that
sent me. They're the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the
works. Jehovah God decreed the way of
life. It's not ours to say, well, I
just don't agree with the Bible. It's not ours to say at all.
We must agree with the Word of God. That's our only source. of any understanding of God. It's our only rule of faith and
practice. There's nothing left. Jehovah
God decreed the way of life, and He gave all things to the
Son to fulfill, and Christ came into the world and fulfilled
all that was written of Him. He died according to the Scriptures.
He rose according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven as our
intercessor according to the Scriptures. And the Holy Spirit
wrote these words down through the apostles, and the apostles
gave them to us, and the apostles declared this, these things we
have written, that you might believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Christ, and that believing you might have life through his
name. And one other thing, and I'll
close. In verse 22, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have
given them, that they may be one as we are. The glory the
Father gave the Son, He has given to us. All the glory arising
from His Sonship, all the glory arising from His sacrifice, all
the glory arising from His conquest of death and hell, all the glory
arising from His resurrection, His exaltation, and all the glory
of His riches, all the glory of all these things given to
Christ. through Him are given to those
who believe. What a blessing! What a promise!