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This Young Gospel, chapter 17.
Seem to give us there a little bit of the relationship between your father and son.
Son praying to the Father and his total confidence in the Father, especially with regards the Father gift of the Son.
Concern for us and the love that he had been given.
He had been worse than he did.
Help them. And now he was going to leave.
And seemed that we had something of the heart of our Lord Jesus brought out there with regard to it.
I had the same chapter on my heart.
John chapter 17 verse one These words fake 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.
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That 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 like eternal, that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, and thou hast sent, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do, And now old Father.
Glorify thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.
Thine they were, and thou gave us them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me.
Are of they For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me, And they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee. And they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine.
And thine are mine.
And I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those, and thou hast given me that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the Son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now I come to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou should just take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through Thy truth by word is truth.
As thou has sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world, And for their sake I sanctify myself. But they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me.
And I and thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gave us, may I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I and them, and thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and has loved them.
As thou hast loved me, Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
And I have declared unto them by name, and will declare it, that the love for with thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
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I.
There's a beautiful order in these chapters, isn't it? This what is sometimes called the upper room ministry. The Lord washing the disciples feet was preparing them for what was going to be like when he was taken away from them and how we often need to have our feet washed for their hindrances to our enjoyment of what the Lord has for us. And then I believe the 14th chapter, we have communion so necessary.
We're going to walk to please the Lord down here, and then fruit bearing and service in the 15th chapter, intelligence in the 15th chapter, and then dependence, this prayer of the Lord Jesus that we might be kept during His absence, kept in the enjoyment of that which is ours in the relationship into which He has brought us here. We don't have so much the one body but the truth of the family brought before us.
Because we're children in the family.
And richly blessed.
Through such a closeness and intimacy here isn't there between him and God the Father, His Father, and we've been brought right into that relationship. It's a beautiful thought, and in fact, if we look at John's Gospel, chapter one, verse 18.
The Lord Jesus said where it was said in 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him. And so the Lord could say in that 14th chapter, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And then he told Mary that I go to my Father, and your Father, my God, and your God. So when we.
Read this wonderful prayer. We sense the intimacy of it. Isn't it the closeness as he addresses God his Father?
The first time in the Bible we get the Trinity talking together.
Are members of the Bot of the Godhead speaking to one another?
Is in Genesis 126 or they say, let us make man in our image. Man did not hold that wonderful image. It was there in perfection and innocence lost it. Now this very large chapter, as we commonly speak, the second member of the Godhead, the Son, is talking to the Father. And who's he talking about?
That love gift of the Father to the Son that we might have, that oneness. It comes out in three aspects in this chapter. First, it's one in communion. Oh, Communion is so beautiful, so necessary, and it must come first before there can be the second Oneness. And that's oneness in testimony.
We have seriously broken down in that Christendom is in Saturn, outwardly. Nevertheless, the truth of the one body is not affected. God keeps that well. If we keep the Oneness in communion, then we can have something of the Oneness in witness or testimony. But even when that is broken down, as we confess, God is going to bring it up to the Oneness and glory where all will be perfect.
I've enjoyed 3 distinct things that seem to be brought out in this prayer of the Lord Jesus. And in the 1St 5 verses we might have what we say the Father glorified in the Son. And it's good to realize that that was His purpose for coming, to fully show out the Father's heart and to glorify God in this world. And at the end of His pathway He could say with confidence I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do.
And then we might say from the sixth verse to the end of the 21St verse, we have the Son glorified in the Saints. And that's why he's left us here, as he says in the 10th verse. And I am glorified in them. And that's why we're left here in this world, that we might be a reflection of Christ as we walk through the path of faith and service, he says in Philippians 2. I think it's the 15th verse, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of in the midst of a crooked.
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And perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights or illuminators in this world, that is where to be a reflection of Christ. And in the measure in which we walk and enjoy that communion with the Father and with the Son, there will be that reflection in our lives. And then in the end, from the 22nd verse to the end, we have what we might say are the Saints glorified with the sun. And so we're looking on to that day when there will be the full display of all this. And so he says, I will that they also whom thou has given me.
Be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, and so on. So sometimes it's good to get an overall view of it, of a chapter, and to realize that in this chapter everything is in connection ultimately, with the glory of God.
In the beginning of that address where Gord referred to in the 13th chapter.
The Lord said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. And it goes on, of course, to speak of if God be glorified in him, God will straightway glorify him, and glorify him immediately. And so here we have the end of that address is speaking to the Father of those things of which he introduced in saying that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Man should go in obedience to God is the glory of man even to death. Respect to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says to the Father, the hours come.
So he is going to be taken up to glory in order that he may glorify God in his own, as has been pointed up to us.
It's very lovely to turn to first, second Thessalonians one and see how that the Lord Jesus is going to come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Brothers spoke of how everything has broken down, testimony and all and the failure in the hands of man were part of it. But there's a day coming and we love to look on to that day when he'll be glorified in all them that believe. Just think what a day that will be as the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven.
And presents the church to the world and says, these are the people whom I chose out of the world for myself. And there won't be one, as there often is now, in which there's something that doesn't glorify Christ, but in that day he'll be glorified in all them that believe.
I was also thinking Brother Clem, you mentioned about the image and how man fell in the garden, but isn't it nice to see also in Colossians?
That the Newman is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. So that when you and I as believers display the new man, what is seen, that image which man lost through the fall through the new life that God has given to us, The life of Christ can be manifested in US, and it's renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. So we're still in that test and.
It's not an impossible thing.
If we live in that Newman, there is that reflection of that which is perfect, that which is of God.
My brother in the Dominican Republic told me years ago that.
The verb to give.
Appears 17 times in the 17th of John.
I haven't checked it out. Some form of the verb to give. Well, that's the God we have. He's a giving God. And the main subject of the gift here is the love gift of the father to the son his church.
It is marvelous that the whole prayer is concerned with the gift of the Father to the Son. Isn't it thanking him and asking him to care for us too, in that sense, to sanctify us through His word? But I believe that expression of them that thou hast given me, or a like expression, appears 7 * 7 times. He thanks his Father for them that thou hast given me for the gift, and it really should exercise us when we read it.
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But the first time, each time there's something very special. And that first time in verse two, it's eternal life. Isn't it wonderful? We have that very life of Christ, eternal life, and it's the beginning of everything for us. And I just mentioned the second time in verse six, it's his name, that precious name above every name, and it's lovely. We have that. I believe the third time in six to eight, it's the word which we're enjoying now.
And which is so precious in fact in the Psalms that says he's magnified his word above all his name. This is everything for us to have this precious word. And in the 4th, the 4th one is verse nine. We have his high priestly prayer. How wonderful to think who's praying for us and looking out for us. And I just mentioned the fifth one is verse 11. I think it's eternal security. It's that keeping that if we're not kept by Him, we can't keep ourselves. And that's a wonderful thought. And I think the 6th one is verse 12 to 13.
It says joy, it's his joy. And then the last, the 7th is verse 21 and I think it's very beautiful, he said It's his will that we be with him where he is and behold his glory which which was given him by the Father. So those things are very precious when we think what comes to us each time we're mentioned as as his thankfulness.
Gift the church from the Father to the Son.
It draws out our affections, does it not? When we realize what the church is to Christ. It's a very wonderful line of truth as to what Christ is to the church. You get that in the book of Colossians. But it's very wonderful to realize what the church means to his heart. And I believe that that is really what is going to drive our affections, because if we're occupied with our love and our response.
Then we're only going to become discouraged. But it's often been said, and I believe rightly so, that in the Psalm of Solomon, as the bride is occupied with her bridegroom, she becomes less and less occupied with herself and with her response to her bridegroom, and more occupied with him and with his love to her. I have no doubt that her affections were deeper at the end of that discourse, because she could say, yeah, he is altogether lovely, but the result of those affections, being deeper, were sprung from her enjoyment.
Of the bridegroom. And I really think this is what we need to encourage our hearts and to deepen our affections, is to be occupied with his love and what we mean to him. And then again to realize that there's a day coming when he's going to view us, brethren, and he's not going to be grieved or disappointed in us, but he's going to see if the travail of his soul and be satisfied. I find that a marvelous thought because I can in some way perhaps understand what David meant.
When he said I will be satisfied. When I awaken my likeness, we look on with joy to that day when the trials and the difficulties will be behind and will be there within life, our precious Savior and occupied with him. But to think that he's going to look at us rather. And they say there's nothing like a mutual feeling, but there's nothing like that mutual feeling of satisfaction in that day. When we look into his precious face, we're satisfied. We're home and He looks at us and he's satisfied.
Just for those of us who are younger, I've sometimes used a little illustration when I was still not very good with my hands. But when I was home sometimes I put together a model or do a little woodworking project in my parents basement. And we always had a large wood stove. And I would view the finished product and before anybody could see it the wood stove was open and the finished product was in the fire because I was disappointed with the work that I had completed. But I speak reverently the Lord Jesus who loved us enough to die for us.
Who then picks us up in all our needs, then carries us safely home to glory and he views us all with and like himself. I say again, what a wonderful day it's going to be when he sees the travail of his soul and is completely satisfied.
We haven't specifically said it, but perhaps it would be helpful to point out that the.
Viewpoint the Lord takes.
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Throughout the upper room ministry and in this prayer is a viewpoint which is characterized by two things.
I have finished the work that gave us me to do.
And.
The expression in verse 11 I am no longer in the world.
Now that's a very obvious.
Thing if you read that ministry, but it helps to understand the ministry to understand that the Lord's viewpoint is perspective of speak from which he speaks is that he has finished the work and he's no longer in the world. And I think if we fail to understand that when we don't get then what we should out of the upper room ministry and out of the high priestly prayer of the Lord.
That is characteristic of Christianity, isn't it? It is the work finish and a man at the right hand of God and really what we get in.
John's Gospel is what Brother AC Brown used to say.
The seeds of Christianity.
It's essential, beloved, to realize that the man at the right hand of God is the Son of God, who is glorified for having completed the work that God gave him to do what was here. The Son owned of God in his service when he began, proud of God and his exhortation when he finished the work. It has impressed my soul immensely.
To realize that the Son of God is the infinite Ness of his person, there in his own body, in the full possession of all his faculties, the accumulated guilt of all who had faith, from Adam until the Rapture, or on to the Millennium.
So that he consciously bore our judgment to the point that he says it's done, and having finished the work in the full confidence of his Father, he says into thy hands I commend my spirit, infinite Son of God, glorified that the right hand of God, because he finished the work.
God has been more than satisfied with the work. He has been glorified by the work. But that's very precious to say. Pardon me for using an illustration that I've used. If I had a debt and somebody pays the debt, my creditor is satisfied. But I don't know whether my creditor likes me or not. Maybe he doesn't, but at least he has had a satisfactory payment. But if my creditor's own son sold his home, that this debt might be paid.
And so it's paid by my son, but my my creditors own son. And it was his Father that asked him to do it. Now I've known the heart of my creditor, and isn't that very blessed? We had a great debt against God, brethren. And the Lord Jesus not only paid the debt, but he was sent of the Father to pay the debt. And it was the outtelling of the Father's heart when the Lord Jesus did that work. And that's why I believe it says glorified thy Son, that thy Son also make glorify thee.
So God has been fully glorified in the work that Christ has been done. He sent him to do that work, to tell out his heart to Wretch is like ourselves, and to bring us into such a wonderful place of blessing. And the Lord Jesus came in perfect obedience and love, and he did that work.
And now, as our brother has said, he's gone back to the Father. He's seen in this as the one who's gone back to the Father. And he not only wants us to know the blessedness of the question of sin being settled, but he says, I want you to walk constantly in the enjoyment of this until that time. And so until that time when we'll be there. And I'd like to thank rather than that there are three things that are given to us that make this possible.
That is, He's given us eternal life.
Because unless we possess the new life, we could never enjoy divine things. The carnal mind is enmity against God, but God gave us, and this is what eternal life is. This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. God has given to every believer a life by which he can hold fellowship, common thoughts with God, know what's in the heart of God, and now we need direction. So he tells us twice in this chapter.
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I have given them Thy word. And how are we going to know how to please him? We want to please him because we have a new life. His word gives us the instruction and shall I say, regulates our pathways so that we can know how we can please him. And because of the importance of his word, this is mentioned twice. And then I think it's very beautiful. The glory which Thou gave us me. It doesn't say I will give them, but I have given them. It looks on to that day, Brethren, we're just as sure of heaven as if we were already there.
We're just as sure of being with and like Christ as if we were already there, and this is the Lords prayer for us. So he has glorified God and God has been glorified in him, and now he has given us the capacity all that we need so that we might walk in the enjoyment of it and look on to a day when is that lovely? When we'll see the church presented A glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
In the Epistle of John.
Spirit of God gives us to see that eternal life that was manifested.
That eternal life which was promised before the world was getting, and the epistles. And here we have the sun coming out of glory to manifest that eternal life, and it has been given unto us. And so having finished the work, he then as Son returned. Oh, now verse five, Father, glorify thou me with the glory, because I don't self which I had before the world wants.
So it's so blessed that the very one who came is the Son sent of the Father. And now having finished the work, he goes back his Son to sit as the Father right hand until his anything made the footstool of his feet.
And in the meantime, while we wait that day, he's living for us. And I think this is nice to see in connection, I think, with our brother. Gorgeous mentioned that we here we have the Lords high priestly prayer, and his thoughts go beyond just those who were his own on that occasion, but all those that would believe. And I think it's just a little picture, a little foreshadow here of that work that the Lord Jesus was and has carried on since the hour of his return to the Father.
Because there he's there at the Father's right hand, the place of power. And what is he taking up there? He's taking up our interests, and he's praying for us every hour of every day. Sometimes we forget to pray for the needs of the Saints. Sometimes we're not even aware of them, or we forget to pray for our own needs. But it's been a tremendous comfort to me to realize that there's one there and he doesn't forget one of his own or one knee. And there he's there, not only praying for us, but he enters into what we're passing through.
And I don't want to get away from our chapter, but I was just thinking of how this is illustrated in the 14th of Matthew, because the people of God are going through and have gone through some real tests and trials collectively and individually and as families in the path of faith. And you see the disciples there in the 14th of John, constrained by the Lord Jesus himself, to get into a ship and to go across that sea to the other side. And that's where we are, brethren. We're crossing the Sea of Light.
We're going to the other side. But in the meantime, it was dark. It was midnight. The storm was, the waves were high, the wind was contrary. But there was one up on the mountain and he was praying. And we have one who's up on the mountain, brother, and he's gone on high and he's praying for us. And there's a nice comment made about that incident in Mark's Gospel that you don't get in Matthew, and that is he, it says. And he saw them toiling and rowing.
Brethren, He sees us toiling and rowing, Whether it's something personal, whether it's a difficulty in the in the family, whether it's something in the assembly. Maybe we say, well, no one knows what I'm going through. No one understands our situation where we are. There's one who sees Brethren. He sees us toiling and rowing, and more than that, he fully enters in to what we're passing through. Because as a man, he hasted through this world, glorified God, not only in the work of eternal redemption.
That's paramount, but in his pathway too. And he still feels as a man that which each one of us pass through. And so in Hebrews 8 he's at the right hand of God as our high praise. And in the 4th chapter there he says we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. So it's good to see this chapter in that light that it was just a pale reflection of that work that the Lord Jesus.
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Was and has carried on for 2000 years on behalf of his own.
I think there's a contrast in the second verse between Adam, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him, that is Adam as the head of the creation. For he was placed in that position. He brought him death, but the Lord Jesus by the glorious work that he accomplished, fully telling out and glorifying the heart of God. And now he takes his place and he doesn't impart life.
Like Adam brought in death, he imparts eternal life. That life that was given to Adam was forfeited through death. But isn't this lovely? He's given to us eternal life? And I say again, this third verse is the explanation. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent now, that is, God has given to us eternal life, a life by which we can have.
Communion and enter into We could read this blessed book and enter into the thoughts of God.
The natural man can natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are foolishness unto him. I say this because eternal life does not just mean eternal existence, because even the lust will exist eternally, but they will never have eternal life. In fact, God speaks of an eternal as eternal death because it's separation. But we have eternal life. We have a life given to us right now that we can enter into and enjoy what's in the heart of God.
As we seek to do here this morning, but which we're going to do without hindrance another day.
When every hindrance has been removed, and the Lord's Prayer here is that we might be in the intelligent enjoyment of this here and now. Pull out from this meeting, having fellowship with God, is entering into His thoughts concerning His Son and the blessing that He has in store for us.
That's all possible because of the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us, isn't it? And he brings Christ to our hearts and gives us those thoughts that are always pleasing to God. Life eternal in that third verse is not a definition, is it? It's of essence, of what it is. It's to know God is Father and Jesus Christ is warned. And we have it. But it goes so much deeper than just the definition.
But we know God as Father. It's wonderful to think about that and then we enjoy it. But the highest is we can please Him, and that's because of that life we have. That's Christ and the Spirit of God, that rich young ruler said, good ******* what must I do to inherit eternal life? What did he have in mind?
Undoubtedly, he thought he would have a special place in the Kingdom. Perhaps it was something no doubt of an earthly nature.
But what is eternal life, You know, it says that life and incorruptibility was brought to light through the gospel. Eternal life is a person which our eyes have seen, which are hands have handled. It's a person. And that's the key to the whole thought, is it not? Paul spoke of eternal life often. Is the issue of a life of godliness the expected end? But John in his ministry presents it.
As a present possession, and we have it in Christ. Everything that we have in our is in Christ.
Eternal life is not so much a question of duration, isn't it? Although it is forever, we, because of our position in time, always think of it immediately. That way it's a life that is forever. Which is true that the thought is more the quality of life is what the Lord Jesus says.
In John chapter 10, I am come that they might have life and have it in abundance. It's abundant life is the thought of eternal life.
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It's life in the full revealed knowledge of God as Father in the Lord Jesus.
I was wondering if we could read first John chapter one, just a few verses of what has been said, because they really quoted these verses in their brethren and their conversation. First John chapter one beginning with verse one, that which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.
For the life was manifested, and we had seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us that which we have seen, and heard fairly unto you, that he also may have fellowship with us.
And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
In connection with what our brother was saying about Paul, Speaking of eternal life as being at the end of the journey, I think it's simply the fact that we all, every believer, now possesses eternal life, but there's a hindrance to our enjoyment of it. I had a fish on this chair and it's alive. It doesn't enjoy life even though it has a fish life because it's out of its element here in the air. And if it could talk, it would say please put me in the water.
When you see it in the water, be swimming and enjoying, the life that it possessed wouldn't have a different life than it already had sitting in that chair. And so every believer possesses eternal life. You and I, brethren, will not receive a different new life. When we get to heaven, we already possess eternal life, But when we get to heaven, there will be no hindrance to our enjoyment. And Paul sought to lay hold of that more and more, because God has given us, by the Holy Spirit, the capacity.
To enjoy in a large measure this life that we possess, but not without hindrance. Here we're in a world where we still have the old nature, where we're still have around us those things that hinder our enjoyment. But we long for that time when we'll be in that sphere. Just like that fish that put me into the water, please, I can enjoy my life and and you and I are just longing for that time. When the Lord comes, the old man is gone, and there are two hindrances now to our enjoyment of these things.
And that is our physical bodies, because there's a hindrance. As we have mentioned in Romans, in this Tabernacle we've grown and so we're here with a hindrance. But the Spirit of God helps two things for us now as believers helps our infirmities and says the Spirit helps our infirmities. And then he also helps us in that conflict with the old man. It says the flash lusted against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other.
So God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in this difficulty that we have in this world the two things that hinder our enjoyment. But the moment we hear the shout, those two things will be gone. We lose that body of humiliation changed into the very likeness of Christ. No aches and pains, no groans there. And we'll also not have the old man. And so the spirit of God, the same Spirit of God who indwells us now, the same Newman that we possess now.
Will be without hindrance, Mr. Garvey's little hymn says by the Spirit all pervading hosts, unnumbered round the Lamb. What a blessed prospect. But the Lords high priestly prayers it mentioned is that we might be more in the enjoyment of these things here and now, brethren, because there's a lot of hindrances, but there's a lot of help. Also the High Priest, the Spirit of God indwelling us, although that's not brought in in this chapter, it is brought in in the 14th chapter particularly.
But what a blessed portion is ours and the Lord's prayers, that we might enjoy more of it now.
I've enjoyed the fact that God always did two things for His people, whether His people in this dispensation or His people in the Old Testament. He always gave them an eye to the future, a hope, an object, because faith needs an object. But then he also gave them a present portion, just like Israel in the wilderness, when they looked back after having got into the promised Land, they had to admit and to own that God had made full provision for them and brought them through.
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And as we've been speaking this morning, I've thought of that verse that says in Peter, he's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness so that we're not only the possessors of divine life, not only the possessors of eternal life, but we can live in the enjoyment of it and we can live for God's glory. Now it's true we have that hope, but there's always a present portion given to us, and I would just say to those of us who are younger, we can never look around at the condition of things, whether it's in the world.
Whether it's in Christendom or even in the assembly and blame our circumstances and the condition of things around us on our failure or compromise, Some of us were just enjoying it. The breakfast table this morning. How that when Paul wrote to Timothy, he wrote about the breakdown of all those things and complete failure and giving up outwardly. But he said in the midst of it to Timothy, two things. One, continue thou that is, there's individual faithfulness and we can go on amidst all the ruin and difficulties.
Because the resource that we have in Christ is the same limitless supply that the people of God have always enjoyed.
But then there's something else there in Timothy before he even tells him Continue thou as an individual, he says, Go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, because there's the collective aspect of things as well. And so it ought to encourage our hearts that there's never any excuse for failure, brethren. There's always provision for it, but never any excuse. Because, I say again, he's made full provision and given us all things that pertain under life and godliness.
Just thinking that in connection with verse three, that we've enjoyed so much this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou has sent, that the conclusion of John's epistle, first epistle, the next to the last verse first John 520, expresses it very fully and very deeply. First John 520 says, and we.
No.
Rather than that's true of it.
What do we know? That the Son of God is come remarkable statement since they came, since he's coming, which are both true, they seem to be in perpetuity. He took a form.
Like out became a man, He died as a man, he rose as a man. He's gone back to the glory. As a man, he brings us into that life. And that's expressed here and what it is, is the deepest thing you can possibly have. He is calm and have given us an understanding.
God didn't make man like He made the dogs and horses and fish. He made a creature. Let us make man in our image. He made a creature with whom he could commune and communicate, and He's given us an understanding.
Let's use it and.
Get this word that brings us the truth of all these things, given us an understanding what for that we may.
Know him that is true in the world, full of lies and falseness.
One who is always true, no lies of the truth. I am the way, the truth and the life know Him. The more we learn of him, the more we apprehend of this length that belongs to us And it goes on and explains it. And we are in Him that is true. He puts us into the same position. God puts us in the same position as Christ. He puts us in Christ. We are in Him that is true.
It's an absolute fact. That's where God looks at you and I. It's like those boards of the Tabernacle, which were cut out of the forest, had the roots in the earth, and that's disconnected, pulls over, just dead, lifeless. But it's shaped up and covered with gold, put on 2 sockets of silver and banded together with bars of gold and a picture of the house where God dwells today.
Without, each individual board was completely hidden as to the board factor.
It was all gold. We are in him, that is true.
Who is it? You said a person.
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Even in his Son Jesus Christ, that's where we are. God says this to us for our enjoyment.
Now the last part of it is so tremendous you just can't grasp it. This is the true God and eternal life.
In distinguishing in effect, in effect, the Father and the Son, they are one like the Lord, answered Philip, when he said, Show us the Father, and it suffices us. Have I been so long time unit? Yes, Thou not known me. He that has seen me has seen the Father. There was a Son who is the exact image of God.
Exact image of God. When they saw Jesus, they saw God. And we see Jesus, we saw, we see God. Now what is eternal life? It's where we are put in the Father and in the Son. Nothing So absolute, Nothing so secure.
What is the thought that you're getting in the first tenant, Fantasy Center?
Speaks about laying hold on eternal life. Read in verse. Well like the good fight of faith lay a hold on eternal life. We're on dissolve. Mark also called and has professed a good precision before many witnesses. An inverse 19 laying up in Stewart. With themselves a good foundation against the science of Congress. They may lay full on eternal life. What is the thought that we have to go.
Says in Galatians chapter 6 and verse eight, he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, eternal life. The thought I understand what to answer the question you ask is that we?
Enter into in a practical way the enjoyment of and give expression to the life that we have in Christ. He that soweth to the Spirit of the Spirit. Read Life Everlasting.
I suppose we have this messenger in contrast to those that were laying up store riches upon earth, whereas this was really a fleeting thing. The thing that is that that God would have for us is is here already and we can lay hold upon it, is that which is really life.
We just speak of it in just laying hold of it in a practical way. Somebody might give you a gift and it's sitting on the chair. You lay hold of it, you make it your own. But it was yours sitting on the chair. And so I think Timothy was exhorted and we all need to be exhorted. Every believer in this room, I say again, possesses new life. The reason it speaks in first in John chapter 10 about having life abundantly is because in the Old Testament they did not possess life in the same way.
Now, that is, they had a life, but until the work of redemption was accomplished, they weren't able to enter into the enjoyment of these things. And now the Spirit of God has come and it says, I think it's well described by the Spirit of God in Galatians chapter 3 or 4. Is it?
Where he speaks of the child in the royal family, he's a child but he doesn't know what really is his.
But when he comes to a certain age, then it says that his father declares him and he is in the enjoyment of his relationship.
He really had it in one sense before, but he's in the enjoyment of it in the Old Testament, excuse me, Before redemption was accomplished, they could not enter into these things. But when redemption is accomplished and the spirit of God has come, now it says, because ye our Son's God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying ABBA father. So they were children. It says they were children, but they were in *******. They didn't know what belonged to them. Just like that child in the royal family doesn't know the position he's been born into.
And I believe that that rich young ruler wanted to know how he could enjoy eternal life. Of course, theirs was an earthly inheritance, but he thought he could get it by his own works. And we know that it's a gift. The gift of God is the eternal life. But just let me say this, that it says I am come, that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. That expression has been taken up by some to say that.
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Even now, in this Christian dispensation, every Christian does not possess the abundant life.
But every Christian has it in the Christ now in the Christian dispensation.
They did not have it before the coming of the Holy Spirit, but now we're exhorted to live in the enjoyment of it. And as our brother has pointed out, lay hold of it. It's ours. Lay hold of it, make it our own. But no Old Testament could say could enjoy what we can enjoy now. Since redemption is completed, there's a glorified man at the right hand of God. The Spirit has been sent down, and because ye are sons, not just children, sons, the dignity of the position.
God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying. Have a Father.
And so I believe this is the difference now in Christianity. But I say again, every believer possesses it abundantly. But we're not all in the enjoyment of it. We're not all practically laying hold of it and living in the good of that new life communicated to us.
That man, Michael Milken, who came out in the news two or three years ago, a great trader in the largest exchanges in the world, gathered together more money than anybody has ever gathered together to be a traitor in it, and he was convicted of fraud.
And.
Spent a term in prison? Well, that's riches. And that's the contrast you had here.
He had more than nearly anybody, and he lost it in shame. He's recovered some of his popularity in the world.
That's the contrast in these things. Here lay on, lay hold on what is really like what we have got of this eternal life can never be forfeited, can never be lost, and it is so far superior value that we ought to be very careful with any of the.
Monetary things that are put in our hands, use them wisely and lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. That's very practical in this chapter that Ken had brought before us. Maybe. Maybe you have more say on it, Ken.
I'd like to ask a question about glory we we.
I think sometimes they've been guilty in our ministry of taking a word like that and using it and assuming everybody knows what it means.
What does it mean?
What does the word glory mean, and what does it mean? I have glorified thee, or thou hast glorified me. I don't think we ought to assume, brethren, that everybody is familiar with that word. We don't use it every day. We do among the Lord's people. But perhaps we do without even defining what the word means. And I think it might be helpful if one of our brothers would help us with what the word.
Glory means and glorified as a verb.
Keep going, Brother ****.
Well, in Philippians 29 it says, Wherefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name that which is above every name that is the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father. And I think that's an example, certainly, of what it means to be glorified. Having been obedient unto death, he was given the highest place in heaven by right. He sits there because he won the right to sit there.
As our great High Priest has been mentioned, he passed through all the initiatory rights that gave him the honor to be what he has been given to me. And these are all thoughts that suggest himself in my mind that these are what it is before to be exalted, to be extolled by his own.
Be given the highest place that in everything he might have the 1St place. Is that something of what we mean when we talk about the glory of the Lord Jesus? Let me ask a question to add to it in John Trail.
The Lord says.
Now it's the judgment of this world.
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31St verse Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out in the eye.
If I be lifted up.
From the earth will draw all men unto me this, he said, signifying.
What death? He should die? Does the cross enter into that glory and the display of it?
Perhaps I could use a little illustration. It might be in your heart to give somebody $1000. That's in your heart, but nobody knows about it. But when you have done that, when you have given that person, then other people know about it and they honor you for what you have done. There was a purpose in the heart of God, an eternal purpose to bring blessing to us, to manifest all that was in the heart of his beloved Son, because.
Jesus came as the willing person to glorify God his Father.
And not until that work of redemption was accomplished did we know all this that was in the heart of God. Our brother Armstead Barry, I think, used to use the definition manifested excellence. That is, all this excellence was in the eternal purposes of God. But where was it displayed?
It was displayed at the cross when there the Father's heart was told out that he sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. They're the heart of Christ is told out. And so now all that is made known. And so we glorify Him for what has been revealed to us through this work that he has accomplished. And also look on to the fulfillment of it when the whole scene is going to be filled with the results of what was originally in the heart of God but is going to be displayed in another day.
So I think the little definition our brother Armstead Barry had manifested excellence in some measure. We as believers have laid hold of this until we glorify God. We glorify the Lord Jesus because this is all been made known. But eternity is too short. We're going to learn more and more even here. I hope we're learning more this morning, but in heaven we're all hindrance has been removed. All this display of what was in the heart of God from all eternity.
Is unveiled as it were, Mr. Darby and Little Hymn says. And radiant hosts forever share the unveiled mystery.
What you say is borne out in the first chapter of John, where it says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And I think it was mentioned earlier, but I believe it's good to realize that that was his first purpose in coming into this world, was to completely tell out the heart of God and glorify God on the earth. It's a wonderful thing that through it all we have been brought into blessing and into the position that we've been Speaking of and enjoying this morning.
And through it we have a hope before us of that being with Christ in that full day of glory and manifestation. But we need to realize that his first purpose in coming, I say again, was to glorify God. And I believe that that's the main thrust of what you have in Hebrews chapter 12, where it says who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has forever sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Because there again, I believe you have his motive in coming in obedience to glorify God. I have no problem with applying that verse to His love for us and His realization that he would be alone for all eternity if he did not accomplish the work of eternal redemption. But nevertheless, we need to see God's portion.
Maybe we should just add 2 to be?
To be.
Careful that we understand that there are different kinds of glory that the Lord speaks of. That glory which He had with the Father before the world was. Perhaps we call that His essential glory, isn't it? Then there's that glory that he displayed as a man down here. We refer to that sometimes as the moral glory of the Lord Jesus. By the way, if any of the young people haven't read that wonderful little book by.
Mr. Bellitt, I try to read it about every five years, because I find I forget some of it, and it's just a delightful meditation on the Lord's glory that He manifested as a man down here into that in which he entered and displayed excellence in all of it. But then there is what we sometimes refer to also as his official glory, which was manifested on the Mount of Transfiguration.
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That which we will see the display of in the coming day. And then there's an interesting expression here, the glory that thou has given me. So we have various.
Kinds of glory that have been displayed. And all of it is excellence, isn't it? But each thing in its proper place.
What the Lord had before the world was his essential glory, that moral glory that he displayed as a man down here so perfectly.
When he came into this world, he displayed in that relationship all the excellence that was in his person.
And suited to that place he took as a man. And that's beautiful. It's food for our souls business. The manifested glory of the millennial reign which you get in the Transfiguration. Then we have the glory which thou gavest me. And could we say that that's new glory is that new glory, Acquired glory, acquired glory. That's it. Wonderful to think of that, isn't it? That's the 24th verse.
That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.
And that was really the character of Pauls. Gospel wasn't enough. It was really the gospel of the glory. That's how it should be worded in First Timothy chapter one, the Gospel of the Glory. It pertained to a risen and glorified man at the right hand of God.
And first one, the acquired glory.
The only reason I hesitate is that my Son also may glorify thee, and that's the Father that is horrify the Father. But certainly, as far as the Lord Jesus was concerned, he's doing this blessed work. He there was added glory brought to the.
Name of God in that sense that God's heart was on display in and through the sun.
And we sing together 110.
Glory for our way. Glory, Glory, glory.