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166.
Lord, thou hast run.
After me.
I don't know.
I don't know, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah.
Uh-huh.
And I'm checking.
Out I have a kidney because I've received a little bit of medicine.
All right. Well, I'm sorry, I can't.
Recreation the heart.
I've been calling Father. We're here this morning because we desire to learn more of thy beloved Son.
Think of this world that we live in and.
The anxieties, the trials, sorrows, and think of the much unrest.
And we just pray that as we are here, that.
That little spot to enjoy Thy work and that will feed our souls, our God by Thy Holy Spirit without guide us to a portion of being in our hearts and we'd be encouraged. And we too would say that we would take home something for those that were not able to come. Encouragement to them too.
So we just pray for each one of us. Lord, we need Thy help. Help us to pay attention, help us to focus and to put away the thoughts of this world from our heart. And we would just gain from being here. But there might be more to a real blessing. So we give thanks my name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
I would like to uh, suggest a portion and uh.
I genuinely would not be the least bit offended if someone felt strongly we should take up another one, but I do uh, wanna suggest John 17.
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Umm, just put that before the present.
I think that'd be fine, brother.
Happy to read that John chapter 17 and verse one these words speak 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 has always given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do and now will Father glorify thou me with thy own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gave us me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest Thou me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given me, are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou did 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'm glorified in them.
Now I have no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through Thy own name those whom 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 gave us, me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee, that these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Thy word, and the world 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 just keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth, as thou hast sent me into the world, even though have I also sent them into the world.
And for their sake, I sanctify myself, that 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, me 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 perfect in one. And that the world may know that Thou has sent me and has loved them as Thou has loved me, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am.
Behold my glory which thou hast given me, but thou loveth me before the foundation of the world.
A righteous father. The world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it. That the love were with thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them.
In another place where where the Lord addressed the Father, he said.
That he knew that the father always heard him. But he said I'm saying it for their sake.
And so.
We'll leave the principle that flies here, that he prays this prayer to the Father. In a sense he opens up.
Opens up a window. He had always communed with the Father, often going off by himself. And he kind of opens, opens a veil, you might say, as he addresses the Father and allows the disciples and all of us to witness this exchange he has with the Father. And he opens up his heart and he's praying for his disciples. And so there's a lot of instruction here. This was the Lord expressing his desire for his disciples in his absence.
And that's the time we're in now.
Believe at the very end of it.
And so there's much here for us to learn as to what the Lord's heart, what his desire was for us.
In this world, in his absence.
This is very much in view of the, umm, coming of Christianity. Uh, this is the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus in view of his absence, but it's anticipative of the Christian position, uh, from the 3rd to the 17th of John, we have the unfolding of.
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Of the provision that the Lord would make in his absence, the coming of the Holy Spirit.
His intercession for us at God's right hand and so on. So this is in view of his own being left in a dark and difficult world that was opposed to Christ, opposed to the Father. And it's a marvelous.
Unveiling of the heart of the Lord Jesus.
Uh, for the blessing of his own in his absence.
We look up now and we see the Lord exalted at God's right hand as our great high priest and our advocate. So this is really bringing us onto Christian ground, which we have in the Upper Room ministry that we are familiar with, I'm sure.
There are three things that characterize Christianity that did not characterize Judaism.
And one of them is that we are brought into relationship with the Father. We know the Father. We can address God as our Father. We don't pray when we pray to our heavenly Father.
That suggests the distance between US and that's what's the proper thing in connection with those that were Jewish and they were being taught by the Lord during the gospel era during those 3 1/2 years. But you and I can address God as our Father. It's unique to Christianity and so.
In John's Gospel chapter 14, the one of the disciples asked and said, Show us chapter 14 of John verse 5. Thomas saith on him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the light. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And then Philip says in verse 8, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And then the Lord could say to him in verse nine, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
And how fast thou then show us the Father? And so we have a position of nearness.
Before God, that we can address them freely as Father, and then we know the Son.
Were brought into relationship with the Sun.
And he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
That's unique to Christianity. And then the other thing, if we turn to John's Gospel, chapter 10.
We have in verse 10, just at the end, it says I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Well, that's eternal life. You and I have eternal life. It's the character of life that is unique, that is in relationship with the Father and with the Son, and we have eternal life. And so those three things characterize Christianity. And here we have in John's Gospel, chapter 17, the Lord's Prayer.
To his father.
And he addresses his Father as Father, and you and I can address God as our Father.
And we know him in that relationship and it's a blessed relationship. And as we read this chapter and meditate upon it, we are brought into knowledge of that relationship and how God has given us these this relationship to enjoy here now and no doubt in the future.
I'd like to know if someone could say something about verse one where it says.
These words speak Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven with the emphasis on lifting His eyes up to heaven.
Can someone give us a comment on that?
That's where he was going.
And so he turns his eyes there, because that's where he's going. And that's where.
And the consequence of which all our blessings flow from. It's not just his death and resurrection, but it's his glorification.
That all flows from for us in our Christian position. And so that's where.
He's lifting up his eyes because that's where he's going. And this is a consequence of his being glorified. And that's what he speaks of when he makes this. Really, it's it's a unique prayer. It's a demand. If you read Mr. Darby's translation, he doesn't say phrase of demand. And it's based on the finished work of Calvary. He's speaking as if Calvary's already completed and he's looking back up and he's about to go on up and return to where he came.
As a man.
And be glorified there. And so that is what he prays when he says, Glorify thy Son.
That I, Son, also may glorify thee. In what way? Not like John 13 where he speaks of God being glorified in the hours of darkness when the question of sin was dealt with, but here it has, giving eternal life.
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And so the Father would glorify him, and he would glorify the Father by giving eternal life to all those that the Father gave him.
You see this looking up to heaven. It might be good to just look at Matthew's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 19 to support what you have said in connection with the blessing coming from above.
Matthew 14 and verse 19.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and break. He gave the loaves to his disciples, and his disciples to the multitude, and they did all eat. And then if you look in Mark Gospel chapter.
7.
It says in verse 33, Mark seven and verse 33, he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears and he spit and touched his tongue.
And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said unto him, Ephrata, that is the open. So it says in James, that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above.
From the father of lights, with whom is no variable, is neither shadow of turning and the sun always.
Looked up to heaven for everything that he needed. He said truthfully in the Gospel of John several times. I do always those things that please my father. He never took anything that his father didn't give him. He always looked into dependence upon his father. We're not like that as much as we ought to be, are we? But the sun always look. He knew where the blessing came. And it says that Paul could say in First Corinthians, I think it's chapter 4, What hast thou that thou hast not received?
All of us can look at things in our homes that the Lord hasn't given us. All of us can look in our lives, and our consciences are smitten as we think. We didn't lift up our eyes to heaven. We picked up that piece of something. We ought not to have it, but the sun, always independence, could look up to heaven.
The yes of His perfection as a man was his complete dependence upon God.
It was always that, uh, unclouded, uh, communion between, uh, the Lord Jesus and his Father throughout his pathway down here. Uh, he fully, completely glorified the Father in every step of his earthly soldier. However, on the cross, although the relationship was not broken during the hours of darkness.
Communion was broken.
But up to that point.
The Lord Jesus always uses the name Father.
But uh, during the hours of darkness, as we know, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So although there was wonderful complacency even during the hours of darkness, there was not communion between the Father and the Son because Christ was being made sin in that, in that in that period.
And so the Lord was going to glorify his Father as never before through the work that He would accomplish at the Cross.
And he would, uh.
And he desires to return to that glory from whence he came, which was his, uh, his native place, uh, in that, uh, glory that he enjoyed from a past eternity. But he was going to return in a different character. He was going to return in manhood. Now, uh, this had never happened before. Here was the Lord going through the work of Calvary. It was before his holy soul at this point.
And he was going to return, having accomplished the will of God, and God glorifying his Son to his right hand. He couldn't do anything else because Christ had so completely finished the work on the cross that God was bound to raise him from the dead.
And, uh, second there in the glory. So, umm.
It's a wonderful thing to contemplate. Also we might remark that this.
Character of father was not known in the Old Testament. No Old Testament St. enjoyed that relationship of father as we enjoy now. It will not be enjoyed in the tribulation. It will not be.
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A character of the millennial period, it is peculiar to Christianity.
That relationship, we are in the same position before God as Christ is. We have the very life of Christ. In fact, the life of the eternal life here is, is also peculiar to Christianity. It's having the very life of Christ able to enjoy that relationship as children of God, sons of God. This was not known in the Old Testament, having the Spirit of God and so on. These are all.
Characteristic of the period in which we are now the dispensation of grace.
Might be good to point out in the John's Gospel many different hours are spoken of. And so here you have the hour has come in verse one. It was really the hour of his return to his father. And if you look back to chapter 13, it's really the reference to it there, Chapter 13 and verse one.
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world under the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them under the end and suffered.
And now he begins to give them the instructions in the upper room ministry here. And this is really chapter 17 that completes that ministry. And so if I'll just point out a couple of other hours and there are different ones, I think maybe there might be 10 of them, I can't remember. But if you look in John's gospel, I think it's chapter one. You have an hour there.
No chapter 2. Chapter 2 and uh.
Let's read verse 3.
When they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her woman.
What have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come. He was referring to the hour of his manifestation to this world.
He was revealed and it was God who was going to his Father who was going to reveal Him in manifestation and power. And then if you turn to chapter 4 and verse 21, there's another hour.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither.
In this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what we know, what we worship for salvation of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. So this is really the hour of Christian worship that is revealed by the Lord Jesus Himself. And then maybe just one more in chapter 5, verse 25.
Chapter 5 of John 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
And they that shall, that hear shall live, while he's Speaking of those that would be quickened.
And so God is working in sovereignty and quickening souls so that they can hear His voice, so that they can be saved. They have life. And so those that hear His voice have life. They hear and they live. Then you speak to one other hour in verse 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice. Well speaks of the hour of judgment. And so you have very orderly and very orderly fashion in John's gospel.
These different hours that are presented to us and in this hour, really the period of time that had come right on schedule and the sun was going to return to the Father. And so now he gives this, he prays to his father and his disciples needed comfort and he desired. He wasn't thinking of himself. This prayer really is in connection with his disciples and how he's desiring their blessing, their encouragement and their his desire was for them.
And that they would see him as they one who had glorified the Father. They would continue in the same.
Course.
In the.
17th chapter. First Samuel. The question is raised by David's brethren.
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Why came as thou down hit her?
David answers them in verse 29 and David said.
What I have, What have I now done? Is there not A cause?
And I believe that we have an answer to this in John chapter 12 and verse 27. Another reference.
Where the Lord Jesus says, for this cause have I come unto this hour, And I believe we can tie that in with that hymn that we often sing. The cause was love. We sink with shame before our blessed Savior's name, so that brings in that wondrous love.
That the Lord Jesus had for each one of us.
And looking at this chapter 2 it brings to mind.
Another Old Testament reference I believe that we have early on in this chapter both the essential.
Glory of the Lord Jesus brought before us and the acquired glory, so to speak, if we can speak in that way we read of Joseph his father made for him a coat of many colors and I believe that that would bring before us in Genesis chapter 37 the essential glories of the Lord Jesus But then if we go back to.
On to the 45th chapter of Genesis.
And we link that with.
The Lord Jesus referring to that finished work, we have something of the acquired.
Glories of the Lord Jesus. Let's just turn to Genesis 45.
There's one verse that sticks out.
And verse 13 it says, And ye shall tell my father.
Of all my glory in Egypt. That was as a result of, so to speak, what he had accomplished and what was accorded to him.
As a result of being in Pharaoh's household and.
I think that we can make a connection here in our chapter.
The glory which he always had from eternity really never ceased to exist. He veiled his glory when he came here. You remember when he went to the garden and they came to get him. It says in chapter 18 of John's Gospel. That's in verse 4. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he.
Judith also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon, as soon then, as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground.
Well, he unveiled his glory momentarily. You could use that terminology. And they couldn't stand before the glory of the Son of God. They fell on their faces, they fell backward. And but when it comes to those acquired glories of the Lord Jesus when he came as a man into this scene, why He's obtained the glories that God has given him as the Redeemer. And he has glories that are in connection with that work upon the cross of Calvary that he never had in the past eternity, but now that he has.
And so this is what our brother mentioned in connection with his acquired glories. He is, he is had glory added to the glories that he had from the past, as it were. And his Father is delighted to bestow upon him every dignity, every honor, every glory that is possible to be bestowed upon his Son as a man. And so This is why we have the expression that we use the acquired glories of the Lord Jesus.
So that acquired glory is what we have in verse one.
Father, the hours come glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. And then he talks there in verse 2 about.
What it was that He would do without a fire glory, if I was giving Him power over all the flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as hell has given him. The Lord Jesus did not have that glory before the glory of Redeemer, Savior. And having then given up His life in that and fulfilling the will of God in that, He was able then to give this eternal life to those who would believe on Him. That was something new.
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So we call it an acquired glory, something that you get. It was different from his essential glory, which has to do with.
What he was and the nature of his being and that we have in.
Verse 5 Now O Father, glorify thou may with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was that is what our brother was just speaking to us about, that the Lord Jesus always had this glory as to who he was his God, and that could never change. He always had it when her brother was referring to how in John chapter one it says the word word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Tabernacled among us, as in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. There the glory of the Lord was in that place, but it couldn't be seen on the outside until the Lord Jesus took upon him a body. And while he did that for only the briefest of time on the Mount of Transfiguration was that glorious scene.
Otherwise it was shielded and now the Lord is saying he's looking forward to that time when he would be glorified again.
And He would receive that glory that He had before the foundation of the world in an open way. It was always there, but it wasn't going to be shielded anymore. The acquired glories, just for those who have wondered about them, We have here the Redeemer creators and other ones. Until the Lord Jesus created this world, He didn't have that glory as the Creator. Another one is head of the Church, He has that glory. He will be King of kings and Lord of Lords. He will have that glory.
These are things that he did not have before, and he will have for all eternity to come.
There is another glory, though, that we should just mention.
Who often speak of it think about it in a in a hymn that Christ could not be hit. There was an essential glory that he had, but that couldn't be shielded and that was his moral glory. The Lord Jesus always had that the perfection of his being. And even though the glory of the excellence of the display of all that God was had to be shielded in his physical body, yet the display of that glory of his perfection could not be that shown out brilliantly every moment that he was ever here on this earth as it did before and as it ever will.
To come. So those are the glories of the Lord and I hope it helps. I always often wondered about them when I was younger.
But if you have these essential glories and these acquired glories that he has.
So verse five is interesting, so maybe we could get a little more clarification. He's praying to be glorified with glory, which he had.
If he had it, why is he requesting it?
Now I.
My thought has been, and looking for others to comment, is that He had glory as the divine. He was the divine, He was the Son of God. He had those glories before the world began, but now having become a man, He is requesting to be glorified as a man with those glories which He had as the divine Thomas God. Is it not related to the fact that He has taken the place of being a man and is now about to be glorified as a man?
Yes, absolutely. That was the position he had.
Of being in all the display of that divine glory. And like I mentioned, it was seen there as Matthew 16 when the Lord was on the amount of transfiguration and there were just a short time that glory was revealed to the disciples and they saw Him as He was the brightness of that light. Paul also saw it. He was an apostle of a different type. He was the one who saw.
Christ risen in glory, and so on the Damascus Rd. At the beginning of his Christian life, He saw the Lord in that same glory. And you find that these ones, whoever saw it, couldn't stop Speaking of that glory, could they? But that was the divine glory.
We will share his acquired glories, of course. His innate essential glories we will never share. But when we contemplate that.
We have a divine life now. We have the very life of Christ.
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We have a divine nature.
Uh, and we have the, uh, the capacity.
Enter into the very thoughts of God.
As has often been said in the uh, in eternity, we will not have a different life than we now have. We have the same life that we will have in the glory.
But we won't be hindered by a body of humiliation and alas, our own nature. But we have that eternal life now. We have the ability to enter into the the thoughts of God, the purposes, the counsels of God. We are children of God.
Our sons of God, although sons is not the particular thought in the writings of John, it's life and nature. It's not the one body of Christ in the in the writings of John, but it's having a divine life and a divine nature capable capable of understanding the very heart of God, the very.
The very nature of God, Of course, the Lord was the full exhibition of God.
He, he fully revealed the Father in his pathway down here. But now we have that divine life ourselves. Are we are we enjoying? Are we enjoying it?
There are three things in this chapter that the Lord Jesus gives to his disciples. And so in verse two you have one of those things that he gives his disciples as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. That's the first thing. The second thing is in verse 8. For I have given unto them the word which thou gave us me, and they have received them. And so he's given us his word, and then in.
Verse 22 In connection with glory, now we have, and the glory which thou gave us, me I have given them.
That they may be one even as we are one. And so here it's really Speaking of moral glory. You and I can reflect the moral glories of Christ, his Godhead. Glory we can observe and we can rejoice in that. God the Son, we know him, we're brought into relationship with Him. And as our brothers said, we have eternal life. It's the very life of Christ. We have divine life. The Old Testament Saints had divine life. They didn't have eternal life like you and I have, in the sense that they didn't know the Father.
And they didn't know the sun, they didn't have umm, they were not indwelled with the Spirit of God.
You and I are indwelled with the Spirit of God. We have a life that's far more abundant, if I could put it that way, then the Old Testament Saints, they did have a they did have divine life. And so we can be thankful for that. But here the Spirit of God brings before us those three things that the Lord Jesus himself desires to give us and has had the power to give us. One was eternal life. The other is the words in verse eight and the glory we have the.
Privilege and the responsibility to reflect the moral glories of Christ in this scene. If this world is going to see Christ in any way, that's going to look into your face and look at your life and see something of Christ and the perfections of his ways and his moral glories. That's really what he's presenting to us here.
We've been moved from.
Knowing no law to needing no law.
That's the verse you're referring to in is says that that the.
Law might be fulfilled in US who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
And so that fulfillment of the law in US is not by law keeping, it's by walking by the Spirit. But that's how the law is met.
The righteous requirement of the law was met by the Lord Himself, and there is no such requirement upon us any longer.
Connection with the acquired glory. If you think of someone who was born son of a king, they're they're going to eventually take the throne and they have a glory that belongs to them by virtue of who they are.
But if that Prince goes out and he fights battles and he wins victories, he comes home with glories that he didn't have just by virtue of his birth as being the King's son, but things that he won. And so I think of that in the way of acquired glory. They're the fruits of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look at a verse in John's gospel a little earlier in Chapter 11.
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The death of Lazarus and the Lord comes and meets Martha. She says to him in verse 22. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
That word, we'll ask, is a word that the Lord Jesus never used.
It suggests the petition of one who is in a lesser position to one who is in a higher position but the Lord. The Lord always used the word that suggested equality whenever he prayed, being on an equal footing and familiar with his God and Father, never the place of one who was lesser in position.
But now he's really speaking and the cross is half to the word isn't literally passed, but he's speaking from that position and he uses an even stronger word. He demands. And so that one might come home having one victory and he's won, right? And he's won titles and it is now his two step before his God and Father and demand as a result of his victories.
Expectations that are hisby right to now demand.
And that's what he comes in this chapter. And he never asked for anything that was not his father's will. And So what he is demanding is perfectly in accord with the father's will.
And it's for the Father's glory. And so we give in these first verses, the Father's glory thoroughly secured. And the what the Lord asked for in the rest of the chapter is all for God's glory. The oneness of the disciples is for God's Lord, everything that he asked them being kept through his Father's name, and so on. It's all for God's glory, the Father's glory.
It's based on the finished work and is giving eternal life. And it was mentioned just a little before that life and unity in John's gospel is different than Paul's. And so the Lord gives that in chapter 12. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to buy this alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. And so the the it's a very beautiful picture, that corn of wheat that goes into the ground and the stock springs up.
And it bears fruit. And on the head of that stock, there are rows of grains that look exactly like the one that went into the ground.
Where? And those little grains all have life. Why? Because they're connected to the stock, and you and I are one plant with the Lord. We are possessors of the same life and nature. But that life, John says in his epistle in the 5th chapter, is in his son. It isn't just from his son as something we have outside of the sun or separate from the sun. It's in the sun.
And we only have it in that intimate unity with the sun as one plant with the Lord.
And so there is the basis of that oneness that he requests in the balance of the chapter, because we all have the same life. It's the life of his son, and it's only had in the sun, and it comes out in a display of the sun. And so all of those kernels look just like the one that went into the ground. They're a perfect replication of the one that went into the ground.
And so you and I have that life that is going to manifest Christ.
It's interesting that you refer to the 11Th chapter of John. Just call attention to verse 4IN connection with Lazarus. When Jesus heard that that he said this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Even though you know if you're saved, your your salvation you're being saved was for the Father's glory.
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Puts it on a kind of a different plane, doesn't it? And everything that happens to us is for God's glory.
And, uh, you know, any of those that talk about in those doctrines which talk about losing your salvation because of the lack of performance, if I could put it that way, this, uh, this is slander against God. This slander is his character. It slanders and demeans the work of Christ because it was all God's work. If you're saved, the Father gave you to the Son, and he did not despise that gift.
He values that highly, and the Father gave you to Him so that He would give you eternal life.
So that the Father would be glorified.
So that puts your salvation on a completely different plane, doesn't it? It's not so much for you as it is for God himself. And He's not going to let that go. He's not going to waste it, He's not going to despise it, and he's not going to lose it.
I was going to say that the Lord is speaking as a as a divine person in the Gospel of John. So when he says I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do in the councils on purpose of God was accomplished. Yet the Lord had not gone to the cross. At this point I say that I'm going to Africa in the early part of June, but I couldn't be sure of that. I couldn't make a definite statement. Something might happen that I I'm not able to go.
But here the Lord is speaking as a divine person in the purpose of God. That work was accomplished. Also he this is the only gospel where the Lord says it is finished. As the divine person who makes a comment upon his own work. We could not do that to naturally speaking. If I did a prepared something or built something, I wouldn't make the comment about the quality of the work. Someone else would do that.
But the Lord as a divine person, he comments on his own work. It is finished. And so here in uh, in our verse, umm.
By umm, verse four, I have finished the work which Thou gave us me to do. Of course, that would include His perfect pathway down here as well as the work of the cross. I believe this is all embracing the whole pathway of the Lord, including the work that He would accomplish at Calvary. Is that right Bruce?
It's instructive to see that earlier in the 4th chapter of John, the Lord was looking forward.
Are looking ahead in connection with that work in verse 34 where he says my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work and as you say, brother John the Lord could speak.
In our chapter of a work being finished yet physically the cross had not. He had not gone to the cross yet. And then again in the 19th chapter we have the Lord.
Uttering those words from the cross, it is finished. So that word is used at least three times in John's Gospel.
You have a quoted, I believe in the 22nd Psalm. The Lord uses this prophetically spoken in verse 31 of the 22nd Psalm. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, and this is the expression.
That he had done this. It's a victorious cry. He had done it. It is finished and you have it in the Hebrew scriptures as it were. The Spirit of God records it prophetically. The Lords work was done, so the glory of God. And then you have that other Psalm, 23rd Psalm, the cross, the crook, and then the crown in the 24th Psalm.
In Ezra the Enemies.
Are taunting rather in Nehemiah? The enemies are taunting Nehemiah to come down from that wall.
But he says I am doing the good work and cannot come down. Well, that work is being what's being completed or finished, wasn't it? And so, uh, that's expressed in the Lord's words here.
I think it might be helpful to look at Ephesians chapter 2 just in connection with the comments that our brother Ted made, and to bring in the quickening chapter 2 of Ephesians and verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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Setting the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And so you and I have been quickened. Now here in Ephesians, it's by the power of God. But we know that the Lord Jesus has been given that power to quicken. And you have life because God through the sun has quickened you.
And he gave you faith to believe, it says, and that not of yourself it is to get to God. So he gave you faith to believe. So here in John's Gospel it says in verse 3, This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. None of us would know the Father, none of us would know the Son, None of us would ever hear his voice except we were quickened. It's a sovereign action of God himself.
And so we ought to be thankful that, you know, someone has said, expressed it this way. You were born into this world. What did you have to do with your natural birth? Nothing. You were there, you were present, but you had nothing to do with it, as it were. You were there. And it's the same thing in connection with eternal life and being quickened. You were there, but there was an outside work. Nothing would have happened. You were dead in your trespasses and sins and accept God had acted, you would still be dead in your sins.
And her brother Gordon Hale used to give us a little illustration. It's like a dead dog lying on the floor.
And he's dead. You put 100 lbs of bricks on top of him, he's still dead. He doesn't even know there's 100 lbs of bricks on him. He can't feel those 100 lbs.
But if you have the power to give that dog life, he would immediately feel 100 lbs of bricks on his back.
And you want to get rid of that weight. He would struggle to get rid of the weight. So that's really in connection with the struggles perhaps of Romans Chapter 7.
For a believer that is quickened, but not yet perhaps sealed with the Spirit of God. And so here in John's gospel, his desire is that we would come into the full knowledge of the relationship that we have. This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
Oh, it's a little question here. It says this is life eternal. If we were to write this today in English, would we put a colon after that word eternal? This is life eternal, in other words, as he's saying this.
Life eternal is to know God and Jesus Christ whom we have sent so are being saved isn't just so we can go to heaven.
Are are being saved. The purpose of eternal life is to know God. And it says they might, that they might know thee. Mr. Darby says that they should know thee. And so if we get saved, if we're truly saved and we don't take advantage of this, we miss out.
We miss out. What we were saved for is to know him if we don't take time.
To know him.
We miss out, but that is the purpose. God saved us that we might know Him.
Pattern here in verse four, I might point the pattern out. He says I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. So there's glorifying the Father 1St and then there's doing 2nd and that's the same in your life and mine. It ought to be. Why are you here? To have a good time, to enjoy your friends, to make lots of money, to have the best experience you can possibly have in this earth. That's what the man of the world thinks.
But that's not for you and I. You and I, who belong to Christ in our heavenly citizens, are here first.
To glorify God, to glorify him in our lives, to give Him His portion in this world, and that's what he delights in his people. And then by the grace of God, just to do something for him in affection for him, in devotedness for him. But we can never ever get the order reversed and have a right relationship with the Father and with the Son. It always has to be the glorifying of God in our practical lives, our spiritual lives, in every aspect of our lives.
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1St and then a doing. The Lord will prepare and have his portion first, and then he can use us if we're occupied with him.
Let me, uh, take a look at, uh, first Corinthians chapter 5, sorry, first, uh, chapter six, first drinkions, chapter 6. And I'm thinking particularly for the young people among us and for themselves. And starting at verse 19, First Corinthians 6, verse 19, watch knowing lot that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, that ye are not your own. This is the verse that we're thinking of, verse 20 For ye are bought with a Christ. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
That's one way we can glorify the Lord.
I don't think any of us could say in the same language as we have here that we have finished our work. Uh, we're such a failing group of believers, Paul said. He finished his course, but he didn't say he finished his work. Umm.
But uh, uh, we can speak to uh.
Glorify the Lord in our in our pathway. If you turn to Ephesians chapter 5, uh, first.
Verse Be therefore, followers of God as dear children.
Now we don't follow the Lord in order to become children, but because we are children and we have that divine nature.
The apostle exhorts us here in Ephesians 5 to walk in love, that in this chapter you have three things. You have love, you have light, you have wisdom. These are the practical exhortations in view of chapters one to three, where we have the unfolding of all the purposes and counsels of God in such heights. High measure the the greatest revelation in the Scriptures. But now here, this is the practical exhortation.
Walk as dear children.
Umm, the it's a loving obedience that is brought before us there walk in love. And what is the example given? As Christ also hath loved us, what kind of a love was His? It was a sacrificial love. It went even beyond the law because He gave himself as an offering.
And a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.
Well, the Lord's love led him right to the cross of Calvary.
He gave everything for us. He held back nothing. Now that's an example for us. Are we displaying this love to our brethren? This is the point of the passage I believe. Are we displaying this same love? The character was shown in the Lord that we fail very much, but we do have the divine nature and there can be that sweet smelling savour from our walk down here.
The lithiums were told that their gift was a sweet smelling savor that went up to to God. Well, the Lord's life was entirely a sweet smelling savour except.
During the hours of darkness.
When it's not the sin offering here, we can have no part in that. That was when God dealt with sin. That was not a sweet smelling savor there. The sin offering is not described in that way, but the whole character of the Lord's life down here is an example for us.
Eternal life is not unending existence and it was a help to me to get a hold of that because there are those in a lost eternity are going to have an unending existence in the Lake of Fire. That eternal life, Of course not.
Was brought out of eternal life as a character of life. Well, what does that mean? Well, we use expressions.
And are, and as we normally talk, maybe we talk about city life. I prefer city life. Well, I prefer Country Life. What are we saying? We're talking about a character of life that has certain relationships and activities and on and on that are associated with it. We know what we mean that way. Eternal life is a character of life.
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But it's eternal because it's a life that never had a beginning.
And it will never have an ending.
It's the very life and nature of the Son of God, and so in possessing that, we know the Father as He knew the Father, because He knows the Father.
And have been brought into that fellowship and that communion.
But it says also in Jesus Christ, whom now is sent.
Because He is the one who manifested the Father. And so in First Epistle of John in chapter 2, verse 23, whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. You cannot know the Father outside of the Son. He is the one who manifested Him. And so this character of life that knows the Father and the Son is what you and I possess. It's divine life.
That was mentioned to Old Testament. Saints had divine life. They were born of God.
In essence, it's divine. Mr. Patterson explained it very helpfully this way. He said, if I have a gold ingot, it's pure gold. If I take that gold and I mint it into a coin, it's still pure gold, still the same thing in essence. But now, of course, we don't use gold coins today. But now I can use it, I can possess it in a whole different way than if it was an ingot. I can go and buy something with it. I can spend it. It's.
It's in its essence divine, but it's life in a whole new character and has all new relationships and implications that go with it.
Maybe we could just refer to Ephesians chapter one in that.
Way just to support what you said, brother Steve.
In uh, chapter one.
And it says that in verse three, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.
In heavenly places, in Christ. And so the Old Testament Saints.
Are never seen as in Christ. They don't have those blessings, all of the blessings that you have. And that's what infuriated the Jews when Paul spoke to them. And he gave them the gospel of the grace of God and its fullness. And he spoke of the blessedness of what it was to be brought into relationship with the Father and with the Son and to have the highest place in heaven in Christ at Christ's side as being a part of the bride of Christ. Could God bestow any blessing upon you?
That have eternal life, the character of eternal life, the very life of His Son. Could He give you more than He has already given you?
God's Word says he couldn't. He said He blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Someone else gave a little illustration. I thought it was nice. He said, umm, that it's like the Old Testament Saints. If you were to compare a couple of computers, they had black and white screen, and they might have run on DOS and an old operating system and so on. But you have the latest and the greatest, the best memory cards. You have full color screen. You have a computer with every bell and whistle that's possible to have. Nobody could think of any bell or whistle to add to it.
You have the very best and this is what the Son of God is telling here in this chapter and his desire was, as Paul speaks in his prayer in chapter one of Ephesians that we would know it and enjoy it. Let's just look at it. It's a very short prayer, Ephesians chapter one.
There are two priorities in Ephesians, but this one in chapter one.
He begins. Let's read from verse 17 that God, our Father.
That God of our Lord Jesus Christ and Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to upward, who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him in His own right hand in the heavenly places.
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Far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And has put all things under his feet, and given, gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness or the completeness of him that is filleth All in all.
Oh, what a privilege, what a blessing is ours to be associated with that man of glory. And so often we live beneath the dignity of the place that we occupy before God as the sons of God. We don't recognize that we're Princess with God in such a way. We're sons, we're daughters, we're being brought into such a relationship.
To have eternal life and to have the knowledge of the Father and the Son, He couldn't give us anymore.
We believe it's in light of this the rest of the chapter the war takes up.
Can somewhat be summarized in that he's praying for their sanctification here on the earth. And uh, you know, for most of my Christian life, starting as a teenager, I, I loved this chapter, but I thought it was a prayer for oneness.
And I wouldn't say it's not, but more accurately, it's a prayer for sanctification that would result in oneness.
It's a prayer for sanctification that would result in oneness, and this is where the doctrine of the.
That Darby, Mr. Darby came up with and well, he didn't come up with it, but I believe he brought it out of the Scriptures and this Scripture in particular.
In a pamphlet he wrote early on that God's principle of unity is separation from evil. That's not something that he just made-up. That comes from the Scripture, and it particularly comes from this chapter. Each time you read of them being one, something precedes it. Now if you look at verse 11.
It says, Holy Father, keep through thine own name, That's sanctification. Keep through thy own name those who thou hast given me, that they may be one.
And then in verse 15 at the end it says, keep them from the evil. Verse 17 sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.
And uh, verse 19, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
And then verse 20 is a parenthesis where we get included. And then verse 21 That they all may be want. So you connect nineteen with 21, but they also might be sanctified through the truth that they all may be one. And then in verse 22, the glory which thou gave us, me I has given them that they may be one.
And so there is in a general way, this prayer is a prayer for sanctification in light of what we've been discussing, uh, and what has been brought out, what we have received and, uh, the position that we've been put in, in light of that, as he is leaving to go back to the Father and he's leaving these ones here, these ones, he's given eternal life and have received all the blessings.
That God could give He praised for their sanctification.
And that relates to what our brother was saying about.
You know our that from Ephesians about you know our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit and we should we've been purchased and.
The Apostle Paul there is.
Telling the believers the importance of being sanctified and keeping themselves.
It might be good to point out that the Lord, his prayer was answered. And let's look at Acts chapter 2 and read the answer that God gave to his Son.
Chapter 2 of Acts and verse one.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each one, each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Well, that's what we refer to as the baptism of the Spirit. It only happened once. The church was formed on that day, and they were all one.
There is one body, it says in Ephesians chapter 4. And so God formed that one thing and there still is one church. There's one body. It's unchangeable. You can't change it and I can't change it. Our behavior doesn't change it. There is one body and there is one God, one Father of all. And but what did change was the testimony of it is fractured. What was delivered to the responsibility of man. Now we have at the beginning, at the end of the church era.
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In the day of grace is all fractured. It doesn't look like there's one church. There is one church. It doesn't look like it, but there is. And so our brother brought out here in connection with this chapter, it does speak oftentimes of sanctification. It means that God has separated you and I. He separated you and I for himself.
Separated us from this world. He separated us that we might live for his glory and that we might be a separate entity in this scene. And so Harry speaks in verse 17 and he says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And so he uses his word to exercise as to those things that would not be consistent with a separate walk in this world. The Lord Jesus was wholly harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners.
And so he never was defiled. You and I come into contact with defiling things defilement so easily. But God has desired that you and I would separate ourselves unto himself and for his purpose, that there might be a testimony of those that are gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus to in this scene, that would reflect to this world that there is a testimony, and that there is cleanliness in connection with the person of the Lord Jesus.
The separation is not isolation.
We have been.
Taken out of the world and the whole system of things down here which is opposed to God, it's under the power of Satan. Satan is the Prince of this world politically and the God of this world, umm, religiously, and he, he controls the whole social system of this world. We're separate from all of that as we have here in verse six. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world.
Thine they were, and thou gave us them me. So we're a separate people. That's what the word St. means.
A separated or sanctified person and but then we are sent back into the world.
To be an imitator of God, as we refer to Ephesians chapter 6, we can't imitate God in his deity, but we can imitate the moral attributes of God that are brought out. We can imitate those because we have the same life and nature, and we should and so.
Uh, we have the assurance from the word of God of the person of Christ and, uh, the Lord did not pray for the, uh, for the world. That means, uh, he didn't break for the establishment of the Kingdom at that point.
Certainly is interested in the salvation of the lost in this world, and so should we be. But the Lord did not look on here at this point to uh, have the world Kingdom. Had he prayed for it, he would have received it. Uh, some too asked of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, the other marsh uttermost parts of the earth with thy possession. He will pray that prayer in the coming day and he will receive it, but not at this point. He was leaving the world, being rejected by the nation being rejected by.
The world really, and we are left down here now to be a testimony for him. Again, I say separation is not isolation. We're sent back into the world.
To be A to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
It might be good to point out that the in the Scriptures the world is spoken of in three different ways, and it's good to get those distinctions. So in John's Gospel chapter 3, verse 16, it says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Well, that's the world in connection with the people in the world. So he speaks of all the people in the world. God so loved the world. And then in first John chapter 2.
Verse 15 in the aspect that our brother was Speaking of, he says first John chapter 2 verse 15 lob not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So that's really the world system. Don't love the system, the world system of business, the world system of finance, the world system of manufacturing, the whole thing. The religious world. Men love the religious organizations of this world. They.
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Anyway, it's just the whole system of things that's raised up in opposition to God and to displace the glory of the sun and God says don't don't love that world and any speech of the habitable world the and if you look at just Luke's Gospel chapter 2 verse one, it gives us that little expression.
Chapter 2 of Luke verse one It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world.
Could be passed so really it's the habitable earth and so the Word of God uses and in John's gospel, when you read of the world you need to recognize in John's ministry.
Which one he's Speaking of? So the people.
Or the the habitable part of the earth, or the world system itself. And then Paul speaks as well. He uses the the term.
Oh, what is it that he uses?
I think it's in connection with the Millennium.
Maybe somebody who remembers that the world to come.
And so that freely Speaking of the Millennium, he refers to that in his epistles.
Could we sing 340?
It's a vast, exhaustless treasure, Savior we possess in thee.
Laughing out loud.
And there's a lot of things.