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Chapter 5.
Verse 16.
Rejoice evermore.
Gray without ceasing.
In everything, give thanks.
For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit.
Despise, not prophesying.
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.
Verse 23.
The very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God your whole spirit.
Soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Let's pray.
Our God and Father.
We've just been thinking about that. Found a very blessing.
We thank thee that thou is not spare thy son, that thou send him down to this world.
Of lost sinners.
Like ourselves.
To save us.
For himself.
For all eternity.
We are thankful that we are saved by Thy grace.
Through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus that was shed for us on Calvary's cross.
We do thank the Our Father that with Him also Thou has promised to give us all things.
There is no hindrance on my part to bless us this morning.
If there's any hindrance at all that we'll be on our flight.
We pray that thou is.
Granted grace to humble ourselves in My presence, realizing that we don't deserve the least of Thy mercies.
But that thou dost delight to bless us.
And so we just asked the Tupar of the blessing upon us.
That thou was directest to the portion of thy precious word.
Southwest, have us take up that would be for our eternal prophet and blessing.
And that we might be.
In the Spirit to receive myself and those that would minister thy word, that they would wait upon thee for the ministry of thy word, we do thank Thee for thy precious word that Thou hast given us. We thank thee for thy Holy Spirit, which thou hast sent down from heaven to make it good unto our souls. So this morning we are so thankful to be here.
Around thyself and just ask thee for a blessing as we wait upon thee. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
The prayers this morning.
Had in them the thought of our being sanctified.
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The verses that our brother just read ended with the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
That is completely.
I would suggest, brethren, that in light of that, that we take up the Lord's Prayer in John 17.
Which is a prayer that has in its character the desire of our Lord Jesus.
That we be a sanctified people to Himself, and He takes it up in several things that He asked the Father for to the end that we might be sanctified. So I suggest we take up that prayer in John 17.
John 17.
These words speak Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him 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 hast said. 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 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 gavest them 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 I've 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 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 gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And Thou come I to Thee. And 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 hath hated them, because they are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou should take them out of the world.
But thou shouldst 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 so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes 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 in 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 am them, and Thou in me, that they may be perfect, made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast 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 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 for with Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
The Lord Jesus came into the world as we have in John one as the Word.
And through himself, disciples were drawn after him.
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And became his followers.
And because He was the truth, they were set apart from what was not true by being with him and companying with him.
As He was in his public ministry down here on earth. But now, as we know, at this point, he's leaving the world. He's going back to the Father. He is not going to be personally present as he had been, which had that sanctifying, which means setting apart effects upon them. And when it's the setting apart to Himself, it's setting apart to truth and righteousness and holiness.
And divine love. And so now the Lord Jesus prays in this prayer that we.
We'll meditate together on this morning. And as he mentions in his prayer more than once that some of the things that he was going to do were for their to the end result, they might be kept, that is, they might be kept in a sanctified way, even though they were still as we are this morning in the world. And so we live in a defiled world.
We live in a world of sin. We don't leave it. Everyone of us has to deal with it most every day of our lives. But God has made provision. Our Lord Jesus has made provision for us to go through it in what perhaps we could call a sanctified way, that is a way that is separate from its evil and that draws us to our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the chapters that precede, we have what we often refer to as the Upper Room ministry. It's the Lord's final words to the disciples before he leaves them to go to the cross, and then, as our brother Dawn said, to return to the Father. And there were really two things that prompted the Upper Room ministry. I realized that all of it wasn't given in the Upper Room because in the end of chapter 15, they arrived from the Upper room to begin to walk to the garden. But we refer to it in that way.
But there were two things that sparked the Lord Jesus giving this ministry.
One Dawn has already brought before us. In the beginning of the 13th chapter, it says.
That the hour was come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father. That was the need. But there was a motive too. Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end in that beautiful forest. To consider as we embark on a chapter like this, what we sometimes refer to as the Lord's high priestly prayer. To consider, brethren, that the Lord Jesus has taken up an office, That this was a.
Foreshadow of he's taken up an office where he's praying for you and for me.
At the right hand of power, at the right hand of God, every hour of every day.
And it's interesting that in the preceding chapters from 13 to this point.
He just covers everything, Brother Dawn said. He was going to leave them in a world where.
They weren't going to see the removal of the difficulties or the work of the enemy. They were going to see him physically removed from them. But he says I'm making full and abundant provision for you in my absence. In fact, the things that they were going to have in his absence and being connected with him in glory now were far greater resources than they had had even with having the company.
Of the Lord Jesus with them physically. And then it has been said, he concludes with this prayer.
For the disciples, but not just for them. But we are going to notice as we go down these verses.
He doesn't just embrace the little company that was around him on that occasion, but all those that would believe.
And so we can apply this to ourselves and realize, brethren, that this prayer of the Lord Jesus was not only applicable to the little company of disciples gathered around him at the time, but it embraced he in anticipation. It embraced every one of us. And the truth that is brought out here is for our benefit and our blessing so that we can go on even in the absence of the Lord Jesus physically in this world.
But knowing we're connected with him and we have full resources to glorify him here in this world.
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He says here.
Father, the hour has come, and it's interesting that through this gospel we have a number of hours mentioned. In chapter 2 we have the hour of His public manifestation before the world. In chapter four we have the hour of Christian worship. In chapter 5 we have the hour of His grace towards sinners. And then a little further on in chapter 5 we have his hour, the hour of his supremacy over death in the grave.
Then in chapter seven and eight we have the hour of his suffering at the hand of man. Then in chapter 12 we have the hour of his suffering at the hand of God.
And now 7th, last but not least, the hour of his return to the glory. And as you mentioned, uh, this is a little picture foreshadow of the high priestly intercession that he would carry on throughout the whole time of his absence while we're here in this world. And these chapters most certainly go together. Chapter 13, we have a little picture of his advocacy that he would carry on.
In the time of his absence and now at the close of the Upper Room ministry in chapter 17, we have a high priestly, uh, intercession. So they kind of act as bookends to the, these wonderful chapters. And it really brings before us just how much the Lord cares for us. Sometimes we get going on through life and there's so many trials and troubles and problems that we lose sight of the fact that he's up above praying and he cares for us. And I think this chapter really brings that before us because as it breaks down, there's at least seven different specific requests that he makes.
And it's beautiful to see that He has us on his heart and his glory and the glory of the Father, but our blessing in a practical sense. So it's a good chapter to take up for encouragement.
This morning.
Just another little outline before we get into the specifics of this chapter, but I think it's helpful to see that it's divided really, or it can be divided into three different sections. In the 1St 5 verses we might have, we have what we might say is the Father glorified in the Son. That was the purpose the Lord Jesus came into this world for. And He could say at the end of it all, I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us to me to do.
In verses 6 through 21, we have Christ glorified in the Saints.
We're here in this world. The Lord Jesus is not here in this world the way he was.
When he walked with the, when the disciples walked with him during his public ministry, He's gone from this world.
But he's left us here to be a reflection of Himself, and in the measure in which we seek to walk a sanctified people according to the truth, we're going to reflect something of the glories of Christ in our lives so that Christ is glorified in the Saints.
Then from verse 22 to verse 26 to the end, we have what we might say are the Saints glorified with Christ. That's the day we're waiting for, brethren. There's a day coming when He's going to display us as His own.
And He's coming to be glorified in His Saints and admired in all them that are about Him in that day. What a day that's going to be. So these little outlines are just helpful in filling in the specifics of a portion. And I believe we have these three things in connection with Glory.
Something very important for our hearts as we take up this chapter.
And it is the recognition.
That some of what the Lord Jesus says here for us and it's recorded for our benefit.
Depends upon the assumption.
That we care about him.
And that we love him in the middle of the chapter when he says I sanctify myself.
It's based on the assumption that if he sanctifies himself, if he sets himself apart in heaven.
Then it will have the effect of setting us apart too, because our heart and the object of our heart is himself.
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As it's been said, your home is where your heart is, and if we have truly found the Lord Jesus to be the home of our hearts, then what concerns Him and the place and position that He takes will have its corresponding effect upon us. But if we sit here in our seats and we really don't have Him as an object before our souls, we can sit through an hour and hear about Him and hear about all that connects Him with heaven and how He's going there and.
He's going to be a high priestly prayer for us and so on, and it may have no effect upon our souls.
Unless there is active within us that which He counts upon when he speaks to the Father, as it were, without even having to say it. Father, they love me, they love me, they care. And so we see His love for us expressed in what He says in the chapter. But it also has an underlying sense that He counts upon a response in us to that love.
That will motivate us.
To be sanctified with himself, just a.
Expand on it in the 1St 5 verses that are mentioned. It talks about glory and we know that the end, the object of all God's ways, is to glorify Himself, and He has chosen to do it in the person of the Son. And so all that God does, He does ultimately to His own glory. He brought us into His existence for His own pleasure, for His own glory.
And he has.
Hon. So honored himself in the sun, and consequently do we care? Is it really have a meaning to us? Well, the Lord prays here. He knows it matters. And so when He speaks of that glory to God and glorifying of Himself in that purpose of God, then what effect does it have on us? It has upon us that effect of drawing out.
Our souls to be identified with it, and in that way we're sanctified by it.
We are separated from everything that is inconsistent with His own glory.
It's the sun speaking to the Father, and it's so beautiful that He allows us to listen to it. It's two eternal persons speaking together, or one speaking to another.
And in spirit is beyond the cross, the work is done.
Even though it was really the cross was still before, but it is so beautiful to see that these eternal councils.
That are going to be worked out and yet in that eternal sphere He speaks as if it was all accomplished yet already. What a beautiful thing to see the Lord Jesus in this fellowship that was always through his whole life unbroken. Now he comes to the end and to hear these words spoken, what a beautiful thing.
Oh, we need to stop and revel in it, brethren.
As we said, these first five verses speak to us of the glory, really the glory of God the Father. And to be glorified is to have every attribute that makes up a person's character brought into full display. And the Lord Jesus, when he was here in His life and in His work, He brought into full display every attribute that makes up the character of God. He could say at the end, Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me? He that hast seen me, hast seen the Father.
In the first chapter, John could declare, we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And we find in these first five verses that He not only completed and satisfied God as to the work that He was sent to accomplish here in this world, but He glorified God on the earth. And that's really more than just finishing a work or satisfying a person.
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As to a work, perhaps I can repeat an illustration I've sometimes used but.
Suppose I put one of my children to a task and I asked them to do a certain job.
And I come back after the task is completed. Maybe they did that job completely to my satisfaction.
But the job in itself may be no reflection of Maine. I may be satisfied with it. They may take that task and show what they did to someone else. But unless they said that it was their Father that asked them to do it, the job itself may be no reflection on myself. But the Lord Jesus, as I say, He not only completed the work that God had sent, the Father had sent him to do in His pathway here and in the work of eternal redemption, the work of atonement.
But every quality and attribute of God was brought into full display. And so can we doubt this morning who God the Father is? Can we doubt what His heart is? No, it's been completely manifested to us in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
My comment on this expression. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
The brother indicated that.
Where the heart is, that's where the eyes will follow. And we think of the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son, that's where his heart ever was in heaven. And John, he's the heavenly 1.
He was the Son of Man, which is in heaven, and that's where his heart is, and that's where he was going. And He came from that glory that far transcended any glory of this earth.
But I'm thinking of a practical word back in Genesis chapter 13 of two men that lifted up their eyes.
Because it has great bearing where our eyes are lifted up.
Genesis 13 we have the instance of Abram and Lot.
But in verse 10, it says in Lot lifted up his eyes. He certainly didn't lift them up to heaven.
Kneeled all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as alchemist and the Zohar so lot lifted up his eyes not to heaven, but indeed he looked upon the well watered plains and he said that's the Garden of Eden.
That's just what I want. That's what I want from myself. That's what I want from my family.
That's what he chose in verse 11. Then Lord chose him. All the plain of Jordan.
But it says in verse 13, But the men of Sodom were wicked in sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
The lost eyes. It looked like the garden of the Lord, the morally.
It was wickedness.
And so we find from that point that Abram is separated from Lot. And what does the Lord say to Abram in verse 14?
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. What a fateful decision lot made where he lifted up his eyes, because it says in lamentation, I believe that might not affecteth my heart, and his eye affecteth his heart. And he took his family down the well watered plains of Jordan, and left them there in judgment. So with the blessed Lord he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Thus for his heart was.
That's where he'd come from, and so as he's gone back to heaven, so he would take our hearts with him there.
The contrast there is beautiful has been presented and I was just enjoying this. Uh, we find such precious communion between the Father and the Son, uh, as we see the Lord's Prayer here, and it was struck especially with the words of the third ver the third verse here, the Lord Jesus praying to the Father. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee.
The only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast set.
It reminds me perhaps in a little different way, but the words of the Apostle Paul when he said that I might know him.
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And beloved brethren, if there's anything that we need, each one of us today and every day, is that we might know Him and know him better.
That there might be that communion between US and the Father and the Son.
That we might know him. It'll make the things of Earth grow strangely dim. It'll give us eternities values. It'll make us homesick for the glory which is so near at hand.
In the previous chapters he brought before them as one of the resources for their pathway in his absence, the resource of prayer and the privilege that they were going to have now in Christianity of being able to come and directly address the Father. Not just to come to him as they had done in his pathway. But he says you're going to have some a greater resource than even that, and that is you're going to be able to come directly to the Father.
And then he gives them this beautiful example, as you say, He himself lifts up his eyes to heaven and says, Father.
And brethren, to think that you and I can come in the same intimacy that the Lord Jesus came.
We can address the Lord Jesus as ABBA Father. We can come to Him in prayer. When the Lord came to the Father in prayer, he had the assurance that the Father heard him. We get that, I think earlier on in John, I know that thou hearest me, and so on. And we can come with that same assurance.
It's true that the Lord Jesus is and will remain the only begotten of the Father for eternity.
And heaven's going to be filled with the sons of God, but the Lord Jesus will remain the only begotten. He'll be distinct in that way.
But, brethren, we can come in all the assurance of sonship, all the.
Privilege of sonship and relationship that we can, we have, and we can address the Lord Jesus the Father in the same way that the Lord Jesus did.
So we know what it's like to have a family, or at least some of us do.
Or be part of a family. All of us are.
And within a family, there is.
A shared fellowship of those things that are common to the family.
And there's a capacity in a family to enjoy that.
If you're not part of the family, in some ways you don't have that necessary capacity to enjoy it.
And so, brethren, it's a tremendous thing that our God has, by his own glory and purposes, determined to have a family.
And in order to have us as part of his family, we have to have a life.
That can enter in to what's in the family. We were not born with the kind of life that is suited to the relationship that God has chosen to bring us into with Himself and with His Son. And consequently, as a gift, He has given us the life that we need to have, that we may have fellowship with Him, that we may know Him.
As he is, and So what we know God is light and God is love.
And in order to have fellowship with him, we have to have the capacity to enter into the enjoyment of what truly is light. And John's epistle develops the thought wonderfully for us. And he says, why do I do this? Well, if I'm going to have fellowship with God, it has to be on the basis of absolute light.
There can be nothing less. There cannot be one tiny bit of darkness, or I can't know God in that darkness. And so he says, Father, I've given to them that eternal life that they might know thee.
The only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And so we have a life now given to us that allows us to enter into the enjoyment of our God, that we can say we know Him, and this fellowship with Him perfectly in the light. For in Him there is no darkness at all. And a man that walks in darkness can't say, knows God. And the world walks in darkness in that way and does not know God.
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But we do.
But at the same time, it's connected with His love and His love is pure in its character. And so if we could, if I could use this expression as it's developed in this particular prayer, it's a sanctified life. It is a life that is set apart to be consistent with the family of our God and what He is.
And our Lord Jesus begins with that, you might say, as a foundation of the request that He's going to make for those who are part of the family. It doesn't apply to the world. The world has no fellowship with the Father. In fact, the world and the Father are two things in Scripture that are diametrically opposed, completely opposed to each other, and are shown to be so. And so there's no fellowship with God in the world.
There's fellowship with God apart from that world that wants to have nothing to do with His Son, and consequently nothing to do with the Father, because he has everything to do with his Son. But any in in here and where we start, when the Lord says that they might know thee, the only true God, What a tremendous thing, brethren, that we might know the only true God and have fellowship with Him as his children.
Like to connect that Don with verses verse two as well says as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Seems to be in contrast with what we have in the first creation where Adam was set in dominion over that creation and he led the whole creation into death.
But the Lord Jesus now in resurrection is head of a new creation, and what characterizes that new creation is eternal life, and it's the knowledge of God. It is so tremendously wonderful, brethren, that we can say we do know God in the fullest sense of the word. He has been revealed.
In the person of his son often mentioned that the Muslim religion they actually say God is unknown and unknowable.
That you and I can say we know God. What a tremendous blessing we have been brought to know Him. Notice in.
First or Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse that relates to this.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 4.
Verse six for God.
Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness?
Referring to Genesis 1, evidently.
Half shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Jesus Christ.
The blaze of glory shines in that face.
Isn't a wonderful brother. We know God, He is not someone as people think sometimes as some being way out in the universe just waiting to strike us down. No, God has shown himself.
Unquestionably to be a God, not only of light, as you say, Don, but have.
Infinite and divine love, O to God we have.
We've been brought into the full knowledge of God and we sit here in this room.
In view of the fact that God has been completely revealed and He has shown himself to be our Father, the Lord Jesus in resurrection could say to Mary, I ascend into my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. This is what is characteristic of Christianity, of this present dispensation. Abraham was a friend of God.
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They don't believe you ever called God his father. Many of the Old Testament were faithful men of God. That you and I today can look up and say to God of the universe is my father. And the intimacy of that relationship. We can say ABBA Father. That is what the Spirit gives us to say. What a beautiful thing. So Adam brought in death as the head of the first creation.
The Lord Jesus now as head of new creation, brings eternal life because he's been given the power over all flesh.
I'd like to hear something said before we go from verse one about that last expression. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify Thee. They have glory mentioned in a number of aspects in this chapter. In verse five, it's talking about the glory that He had with the Father before the world was.
That is evidently his Godhead glory.
And I do believe that what we have in verse one is not the same. Could some develop a little bit what it's referring to at the end of verse one?
Seems to be connected with his work, doesn't it? The hour is come.
We might think that the glory of God is sullied in creation because everything has gone amiss.
And His purposes in it all are going to be frustrated, and they would be but that the sun has come to restore. And God raised him from the dead in that great act of restoration at the cross, when he died there. And they put him in a grave, And God raised him from the dead, and seated him at his own right hand, elevated him to a place of authority.
And there is no hope for this world apart from that God has glorified him, and He will glorify God on this earth, representing Him as to who He actually is. Love and light that have been mentioned.
So God will glorify Him in resurrection because He has done a complete, finished work.
He will glorify God in creation, setting it straight.
As King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it's his title as Christ the Anointed or appointed 1 to restore that which he took not away.
The Lord Jesus in taking up the work here in this world with looking beyond the work itself to the results that that the result of it. And so he was looking forward to the time when his brother Steve said he would not only be raised from the dead, but he would ascend as a glorified man and be seated by God's command at God's right hand. And then as he seated there, brethren, what is he thinking about?
Hebrews tells us what he's thinking about henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, and God and the Lord Jesus are looking forward to that day when the Lord Jesus will come forth and will be vindicated here in this world. God will be glorified in His Son, taking up a future work that yet future when he puts down his enemies and he reigns in righteousness and his Saints are glorified with Him, and so on.
And so the Lord Jesus, he knew the import of that verse that says weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
And he always had that before him. And I really believe that when it says in Hebrews, who for the joy that was set before him?
Endured the cross, despising the shame that that joy was really the joy of returning to the Father.
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As a glorified man, knowing that he had glorified God on the earth.
Finish the work that was given him to do and to sit down as a glorified man at the right hand of God.
And then, as we've said, to anticipate that day when he will have his full place in this world.
And God will be glorified in his Son as his Son comes forth to take up that work.
And so the Lord Jesus had this before his soul, and that's how he could rise from the garden and go calmly forward.
That's how he could rise from his high priestly prayer and go calmly forward, because he looked beyond the long dark night and he hailed that future day of glory.
We get that in verse four, don't we? I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And I would take that, that that is includes redemption's work, doesn't it? Like, uh, we mentioned, uh, he in spirit is beyond the cross here. He's thinking of the results of it all. But it is a beautiful thing. Look at chapter 4 of John's gospel.
Uh, averse to put in contrast to that John chapter 4 and verse 34 when he's in Samaria.
Jesus saith unto them, He says his disciples, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. How often we perhaps have been given the work to do.
Will we ever be able to say we've finished it? Like the Lord Jesus says here in our chapter, I have finished the work which thou hast given me to do. Brethren, we don't value properly the full value of what redemption really means, how God has been so fully satisfied and glorified in that work.
Uh, the apostle Paul could say I have finished the course, but he didn't say I finished the work thou gavest me to do. I think only the Lord Jesus could properly say this.
But it is something to exercise our hearts. I think, brethren, the Lord has given each one of us something to do for him.
He is given gifts to each one.
And when we get home to glory, we're going to stand at the judgment seat to give an account.
We're going to say to him then about what was given us to do. Has there been diligence on our part to do it to the Lord Jesus? There was nothing that measured up to this joy of being able to go back into the Father's presence and say, Father, I finished the work which thou gave us me to do. Oh, a joy that must have been for him.
That moment when he went back into the glory, brethren.
And we, dear brethren, may the Lord give us a sense in our souls that Lord too has given each one of us something to do.
And to be diligent in doing it for him.
Our hearts are thrilled. I would think of the third chapter of Matthew, the last couple verses there, just to read that and to see if there is something there in connection with what we're saying. Uh, started with verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
Now this verse.
And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and whom I found my delight. But just that expression, This is my beloved Son. And then the commendation in whom He has found His delight, and how fully here in our chapter, and has been brought before us His perfect work in everything he.
Finished the work which God gave him to do and brethren, are not these the things that truly.
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Sanctify us the enjoyment of knowing the Father, of knowing the Son that sanctifies us and sets us free from this, from this world. And it's, uh, its course in its ways and fellowship with it. But I'd like to look at one other thing, just for a moment here. I'm thinking of, uh, how in the 51St Psalm, if we could just turn to that for a moment.
Perhaps diverting just a little from our subject, but.
Perhaps an application here in connection with David and and we have read this, this Psalm and been solemnized and yet it's so deep and so precious to see his exercise and his turning to the Lord and what he says in verse 6.
Connection with the truth. Behold, thou desirous truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, that thou shalt make me to know. Wisdom, No wisdom, no Him who is wisdom. But there's something there of acknowledging the need of truth, not just truth spoken of here. We can say a lot of things and thank God they're being said and we're hearing them this morning.
But all, may they be in the inward parts. May it be a reality with each one of us.
May that be that humbling of ourselves in His holy, blessed Presence.
That would have a true effect upon our lives and make us really in heart, not just in action, in the heart, separate from this world who still crying away with him.
The Old Testament Saints knew God and had a relationship with Him.
But the knowing of God here that we have in verse three is to know him in a special character as father. This is something the Old Testament Saints did not, uh, have. And so it's a special relationship that we have with God as father that he's Speaking of here. And if we're found in the enjoyment of that relationship with the father and the son, it is going to be the motivating factor to.
Act on the things that the Lord Jesus is praying about with regard to our practical sanctification in this world.
It begins with the heart being taken up with the persons of the Father and the Son, and that's why he brings in here eternal life in this way. And so it's a wonderful privilege as we sit here to think that as Christians in this Christian era, when the Spirit of God has come, the redemption has been accomplished, that we have a a privilege to know God in a way that Old Testament Saints like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and so on did not know.
And to enter into and enjoy that relationship with Him is what is going to give us the, the desire and the power to, to live for his glory in a way that would bring, uh, honor to Him. As we've said here, that Christ may be glorified in us. It begins with that communion that is so necessary. And I believe that's the reason why this Upper Room ministry begins.
With the washing of the feet, that's what brings us into communion with divine persons.
And everything that flows from it as the chapters unfold from chapter 13 on to 17.
Are based on and take for granted that communion is.
Is enjoyed.
Brings us to almost general Let's make it a comment this way. Generally, when the Father and the Son are brought before us in Scripture, there is the thought not only of relationship.
But love is connected in it.
The Father and the Son bring before us a relationship.
Of perfect love, and consequently the most well known of all verses. John 316.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That expression only begotten has multiple thoughts connected with it, but one of it is His dearly beloved Son, His one and only.
Begotten Son of special relationship to Himself, and consequently here in the chapter when He says Father.
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Concerning us, that we have been given to him, those whom thou hast given me.
It's a gift of love.
It's a gift between father and son and the son receives from the Father those that the Father gives him with the sense of love that is I am I sit here this morning as a gift of the Father to the Son of love. And consequently, as we know God in that special way, as the Old Testament Saints did not we enter into the enjoyment.
Of the father and the son in that relationship, in which they are to one another.
And to which they have brought us to be in that relationship of love.
That as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you again. The Father hath loved me, the Son, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. And so, brethren, is a tremendous thing to recognize. The Father sent the Son in love to us, and at the same time the Father gave us to the Son.
As a gift of his love and both of them share together in that.
Thought I want them to be here with me, that we together may enter in fully and perfectly and forever into that commonness of our relationship as father, Son and children of the Father. Just to notice that brought out in a in Ephesians chapter one. It's the same thought that's before the apostle.
In the beginning of Ephesians where he says in chapter one verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's an important expression, God and Father, because it brings before us in adding that expression, Father, it immediately is intended to bring to our hearts and our thoughts that relationship that involves love. And so he says, who has blessed us, verse four, according as he hath chosen us before the foundation of the worldwide.
That we should be holy and without blame. I'll put it this way, perfectly sanctified in connection with the thought of sanctification. That we should be wholly and without blame. How? Just before him, no more than that before Him, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.
He's adopted us. He's chosen us. He has given us life that we might.
Be bound together with him in that same bundle of life. And so it says.
The adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. It's a title. It's a title of affection for the sun. It should be capitalized as it is in the new translation. It's made us accepted in the Beloved.
What a tremendous.
Relationship. We have that as we enjoy it. It draws our hearts into the fellowship with our Father and with his Son and draws our hearts away from everything that would hinder or keep us from that enjoyment of our family relationship. There are three things that are necessary for the Saints.
In order that the Saints may have this wonderful privilege of eternal life, in chapter one and verse 18 it mentions there I'm talking now John one verse 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.
This was necessary, that the Lord Jesus would come into this world and reveal the Father to Him.
To us. But then in chapter 3 we have another thing, Chapter 3 and verse 14 and 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
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That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. So not only was there the need for the coming of the sun into this world to reveal the Father, there is also the length, the need for the laying of the groundwork of redemption. This is the cross that He's referring to, as He would be the one that would be lifted up. But more than that, in chapter four, chapter 4, and verse 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
Forever new translation. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well or a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting or eternal life.
And so this brings before us yet another thing, and that is the coming of the Spirit of God.
That would dwell in the believer and give the believer the present enjoyment of eternal life, which is to have fellowship with divine persons, the Father and the Son. And so we, as we stand here after the work of redemption, after Christ is coming to this world, redemption has been accomplished. The Spirit of God has come, and we have been brought into this special privilege of being in the family of God and have the privilege of enjoying the Father and the Son in this most blessed way that the Lord was praying about.
In our chapter.
So this expression glorify thou me has reference to the Son's present exultation by the Father consequent upon redemption. But if we could go back to chapter 13, just like to notice a few distinctions because we sometimes use the word glory or glorified and perhaps in our mind we're thinking of the same thing and and it's used a little bit differently. John 1331. Therefore, when he was gone out. That is due to this Iscariot, Jesus said.
Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him? If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. Well, here's the first expression is now is the is the Son of Man glorified? And how is it here that the Son of man is glorified? An exaltation? No, this is the cross. We sometimes sing that hymn Love that on death's dark veil. It's sweet as odor spread.
Where sin or all seem to prevail, redemption's glory shed. Never was a man seen here to be entirely what God desired at the cross. The Lord Jesus at the end of his ministry and perfection, and all that He displayed at the heart of God, and love and tenderness and kindness. That love, that glory, the moral glory was displayed in all of its excellence and all of its sweetness at the cross. And there we see the Son of Man glorified in all of his moral beauty.
And as a result of that, God is glorified in him. The life and indeed the death of the Lord Jesus brought the supreme glory to God. He was glorified in Him.
And in his work. And what's the answer to that if God be glorified in him?
Through his life and indeed his death, God shall also glorify him in Himself. This is the answer to the cross. This is the answer to the work and path of the Lord Jesus. God glorifies him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. He raised him from among the dead and set him at the highest place in heaven straightway.
We sometimes refer to those words in Peter of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.
Those glories haven't arrived yet. Those are His millennial glories when he will reign as a king and we look forward to that day, but that hasn't arrived yet, those future millennial Kingdom glories. But here it says He shall straightway glorify him in consequence of the Lord's atoning work, the sons atoning work. God straightly glorifies him immediately He puts Him at the highest place in heaven. And so this is what we have in John 17. This is God's answer, that present place.
Does the Lord Jesus now occupies caring for us? And so we have his glories, if we can think of it in this way, the glories that he displayed one here, those moral glories, His perfection, His tenderness, His love, His kindness, His forgiveness.
And to see it in all of its beauty and fullness at the cross. But now we see Him glorified, exalted by God to the highest place in heaven. And from that place He glorifies God. He has power over all flesh, and He gives eternal life to all that God has given him. That's the Son's present work. That's where He is now in this chapter. And then we look on to that day when we will be associated with Him in glory in His Kingdom reign. Those are the glories that should follow. He is not yet entered into those glories. And when He does.
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He will associate us with himself.
Maybe before we pray, Umm versus Exodus.
Exodus 3418.
Exodus 3418.
And he said this is Moses.
Saying it, I beseech thee.
Show me Thy glory.
33 eight I'm sorry, 3318.
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he and he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and show mercy, on whom I will show mercy.
Spray.