John 17, we'll be here for 16 years. We'll do the best we can. I do apologize. I have not really recovered, and it's been a busy week this week, and so I haven't given the time I needed to to this, but we are not done. We'll be here a while. Let's read 17, 1 through 5. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Now, we're just going to do verse 1, and I probably won't finish it, but that's okay, but that's what we'll do this morning. Let me give you just a backdrop, if you will. Back in the Old Testament, the ark of God represented the glory of God. Know this. You'll remember some old test, I'm not giving you the whole account, just trying to pique your interest, but you remember the people of Ashdod found out that God would not share his glory with another. They find their god, he falls down on his face, they pick him up, he falls down again, his arms are cut off. It's quite comical if you read 1 Samuel 5 about that. But Dagon and God, God's not sharing glory with Dagon, it's not happening. Then later, you find that David learned that it's dangerous to be close to God's glory and not follow God's directions carefully. So they carry the Ark of God in an improper way, and the oxen stumble. Uzzah reaches out his hand to stable the Ark. Bad idea. God strikes him dead for touching the Ark. David's upset about this, and then the Ark goes away for a period of time. And then later on he will retrieve it. It went to Obed Edom's house and God blessed them. And so he retrieves it, he brings it to Jerusalem. When David brings the ark into Jerusalem, they have this dancing party and he dances mightily before the Lord and there's this great rejoicing because the ark of God has come in to the city. Well, then later you have Solomon, David's son, who completes the temple and the ark of God is brought into the temple, 1 Kings chapter 8. When you get to 1 Kings chapter 8 and the ark of God is brought into the temple, you get to the end of that first section in chapter 8, it says that the cloud of the glory of God descended upon the temple there and filled the temple with smoke, if you will, and God's glory manifested there in the temple. And then after that, you have Babylonian captivity. They go into captivity for some 70 years. I don't know what happens in this process, but somewhere in that process, the Ark of God is lost. I don't know where it goes, and there's all these different theories, but it really kind of falls into silence, if you will. However, I'm not going to befuddle my brain with all of that and try to figure it out. Why? Because this is what I do know. I do know where the Ark of God is now. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, because the Bible says that he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Christ is the glory of God. And there he is, seated, having completed his work upon earth. Think about Christ being the absolute glory of God. Two quotes, one by Jonathan Edwards, one by Anthony Burgess, both Puritans in their thought. Jonathan Edwards says this, the great end of God's work, which is variously expressed in scripture, is indeed but one. And this one end is most properly and comprehensively called the glory of God. Anthony Burgess said, quote, if the words of a dying man are much to be regarded, how much more the words of a dying Christ. And that's what we have here. Christ is about to die. These are the last recorded words in a sense. And it's in behind the veil. It's the words between the Father and the Son. It's this communication that's opened up that He would allow creatures to enter and to listen to this conversation. There's no word here of our Father. which are in heaven. It's Father. Direct, clear, intimate reunion of Father and Son together. A prayer in which the Son commands the Father to glorify Him. Who in the world can pray and command the Father to do something? None other but the Son of God. And why would He command the Father to glorify Him? So that, for this purpose, that the Son would restore or return that glory back unto the Father. Very beautiful things here in this prayer. Now, as we proceed through this section of scripture, think about these things in the chapter as a whole. The priority of Jesus' prayer, great and wondrous things. Now, I can't make them great. I can't make them greater. I can't make them wondrous to you. All I can tell you is they are. Hey, I would share these things with you, and you're going to say, yeah, whatever. If that's your attitude, that's your attitude. But they're great things in this chapter for those who have the eyes of faith to see them. And if you come to this chapter rightly, I don't know any other words. There's not enough English words for me to work with here. If you've ever been to the Grand Canyon, and you stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and that first time you looked over the edge, how do you communicate that? If you've ever got to the bottom of the Alps and looked up, how exactly do you explain that in words? If you go to northern Peru, up around Suyana, and you find one of the tallest mountains in the world that supplies 80% of the drinking water to the whole country of Peru off melt-off snow, and you look at it, and your eyes can't take it in because it's too big, you can't explain it. You have to be there. I don't know words to do justice to Christ being the glory of God. It's a great thing. I don't know how to bring that out more fully. So in chapter 17, it is here that we get to take a glimpse into the relationship between the Father and the Son. We see the driving motive of Jesus' mission. His driving motive, and so much theology is corrected here. When Jesus was on the cross, I was on His mind. Where did you get that? From some lame-brained preacher with a yellow streak down his back? Christ is on the cross for the glory of God. That's why He's there, to secure glory, that all the world would praise God. He's on the cross for me? I'm secondary in this issue. The glory of God is primary. We see his intricate care towards his disciples. We see the exclusivity of his prayer. I pray for them, I do not pray for them. We see his infallibility to protect his flock and not even lose one. Well, except for the son of perdition because the scripture has said. See that there in this chapter. We see his desire for his followers to have fullness of joy and that they be protected from the evil one. We see his desire for his disciples to be sanctified by the word of truth. We see the things that he prays for the disciples is projected into the future for all of those who would believe upon him. We see that the issue of glory is to be shared with those who believe upon him and that he desires for all believers to abide in him and experience the same divine love that is expressed between the Father and the Son. we see the finality of Jesus' high priestly prayer has to do with genuine love. All of these things are here and available for anyone with eyes of faith to read. Let us behold great and wonderful things over the next months or years. So many things in this chapter, like what? The glory of God? election, predestination, soteriology, sanctification, perseverance of the saints, sovereignty. All of these and so much more are all found here. Here's my caution to you. You read chapter 17 and you're bored. I'm wondering if you're converted. You read chapter 17, you're like, yeah, I've read that before. I already know all that stuff. Something is wrong with you. If you can't read chapter 17 and be humbled and broken and have the priorities of your mind and heart changed, there's something not right. Jesus spoke all of these things, and you'll notice in our text, this is verse one only, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Father, the hour has come. Glorify, it's a command, glorify your son so that your son may glorify you. That's his prayer. The first thing of his prayer, he prays for himself. Who does that? Christ starts with prayer concerning Hisself. You'll notice that this is not new to Jesus. Remember when they took the stone away in John 11 of Lazarus and Jesus lifted up His eyes. We have to bow our head and we have to close our eyes in order that we're not distracted, in order that we're not confused about our prayers. We've got to really focus to be in tune. Jesus, eyes wide open, looking directly into heaven, looking directly into the eyes of His invisible Father, if you will, perceiving and seeing Him wholly and talking to Him as you and I would talk together. What a relationship, what unity, what a bond there is between Father and Son. And he says, remember in that prayer, he says, Father, I thank you. Lazarus is still dead when he says it, but he knows Lazarus is about to be alive because he's talking to his father and he knows what's about to happen. What's the contrast? The contrast is like that. It's kind of like back in the day, there was this sense when people held their heads up to pray. But in a sense, when you did it right, there's this tax collector. He says he wouldn't even lift up his eyes. Let him lift up his head. I can't even look up. I realize my sinfulness. And remember, he prayed, Lord, have mercy on me. I see this picture of humility and brokenness and the weight of sin upon this man asking for mercy. And then I see Christ, head up, looking to the Father. There's no sin, just absolute perfection, absolute communion with the Father, no distractions. His concern that his father would receive glory. We also find another man lifted up his eyes and prayed. His name was Daniel. I think that's why, it wasn't in the text he lifted up his eyes, but why else do you bow before a window to pray? Except that you would look out and call out to heaven and pray. Daniel did that three times a day, it was his custom. Let me ask you a few questions. They're rhetorical in nature, but perhaps you will think of them. Why in the world did Jesus pray? Why did Jesus pray so much? Because, you think about it, Jesus knows all things. He has all power. He's certainly in harmony with the inner workings of the Trinity. He knows he's redeeming a people here before the foundation of the world. He knows things are foreknown and predestined, yet he prayed. Yet he prayed. Why would the one who knows everything, does everything, and has all power pray? There's something in here about relationship. Could you grab a hold of that? Pastor, you said God's sovereign. Amen. He's sovereign. You said God predestines. Amen. He does. Then why do you pray? Because I love my Father. Why do you spend time in prayer? Because I want to commune with him, have a relationship with him. Why would I not pray? I would say to you, the prayer in the garden highlights his humanity, but John 17 highlights his deity. Here, he does not pray, not my will, but yours be done. He doesn't pray that way. Here, he prays for mutual glory. It is here that he prays for the cross to magnify the glory and to be the door which he will pass through on his way to glory. Learn something about Christ this morning, not to go around the cross, but to go through the cross for the glory of the father. We always want out. He prays himself in glory. It's an interesting word. I've heard the Greek word before, doxazo, used five times in these first five verses, noun form and the verb form, five times. This is the basic definition here. To cause to have splendid greatness, to clothe in splendor, glorify. The condition of being bright or shining. brightness, splendor, radiance, have splendid greatness. You need a picture. Think about a little girl raised in a homeschooling family. Think about a little girl that didn't have a lot of friends. has no popularity, has no social media account, just a humble little kid being raised in a Christian home. No attention, no awards, no plaques, no nothing, basically unknown to the world. And then comes that day that she embarks upon marriage. And all the people gather together in the church. Everybody's all dressed up. Everybody's waiting. And they play that song, and she comes walking in that door. She's wearing this long white dress, train all the way to the back. And what happens when she walks in the door? Everybody stands up. Everybody turns. Everybody pulls out their phone. And everybody's taking a picture. It's her glory. It's the day that it's all about her. We understand that and we're like, this day is her special day. Are you with me? It's just a sense of glory. Christ is the glory of God. Christ enters and all the world turns to behold great and wondrous things. To behold Christ in my heart by faith. Here is all my satisfaction, Christ. So many times in the gospel of John, he said things like this, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my father who glorifies me. He also said in John 12, His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered these things. John 12, again, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. John 12, again, Father, glorify your name. A voice comes from heaven, I have glorified it. And then John 13, he says, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. All of this issue, it's so hard for our brain to comprehend. This whole issue of glory has to do with the cross. How does God receive glory through the slaughter of His only begotten Son? We understand glory when the bride walks in the door in a white dress. What do you do when the bride walks in and they kill her? Is that glory? He's like, that doesn't work with my brain. You know, if Christ was put on a seat, like a royal seat, and he's made king over the world, and you put a crown and you coronate him before the whole world, it's like, yeah, I get it. But no, no, no, he's glorified by being nailed to a tree. The blood flowing down upon the ground. All the wrath of God being poured upon him. This is for the glory of God. Sounds strange to our ears. Glory is the primary issue for the Godhead. You must ask this question today. Is it a primary for you? is the glory of God an issue, a primary issue for you. Have you ever made a decision in your life by asking this question, how can I decide this issue in a way that brings great glory to God? Here's the decision, here's the fork in the road. Do I marry this woman? Do I marry this man? Do I live here? Do I live there? Do I take this job? Do I take that job? What do I do? I don't know what to do. What would bring the most glory to God? I really want to go over here, but the most glory to God is over here. Then I'm going to go over here. Do you make decisions this way? Do I go on vacation with my family or do I go on the mission trip with my church? Which one do I do? Should my kids be involved in these events? I mean, I know we're going to miss a lot of church and stuff, but we still love Jesus. Or do I tell my kids no and instill in them that the priority is Christ and His glory? No, little Johnny, you're not playing ball because ball don't equate to the glory of God. Won't you man up and be a father? Won't you look your kids in the eye and say, this house is conducted for the glory of God. And we're not going to digress into lesser things and trivial things. We're going to set our pursuits on that which is above. Well, my daughter won't like me no more. Whoop-dee-doo. It's not about friendship. It's about fathering. It's about leading your family. It's about establishing that the glory of God is why we exist. Whether you take this job, where you move to, who you marry, what you wear. Did you say that this morning? Does this outfit bring glory to God or does it attract attention to me? Live in a world where most women dress like prostitutes and then they come to church dressed like prostitutes and we want to know why we don't have revival or a move of God when there's so much carnality and skin showing all over the place. You're like, no wonder I'm distracted around here. Could we not somehow dress in a way that brings glory God? But should we wear a suit? Should we wear a tie? Should we wear this? Look, stop all of that. What should I wear for the glory of God? And answer that in your own heart. What do I do about missions? What do I do about evangelism? I do a motive for the glory of God. The place of glory. He says in our text, the hour has come He says this seven times in the Gospel of John. He said it in John 2, my hour has not yet come. John 7, they couldn't lay a hand on him because his hour had not come. John 8, his hour had not come. John 12, his hour had not come. John 12 again, save me from this hour. John 13, he loved his own, he loved them to the end. He knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world. And then you get to John 17, now we're here, now we're here. Now it's time for me to be spit upon. Now it's time for me to be beat and mocked, slandered, and all these things. Now's the time. Hold his head up straight. I'm going to Calvary, and I'm going to be nailed to that tree. I'm going to do a work to redeem a people. The hour has come to bear the awful weight of sin. If you get nothing else out of this sermon, get this this morning. Christ ought to be your hero. He bore your guilt. He carried the weight of your sin. Say it like Spurgeon said it. 10,000 Sampsons couldn't bear the weight of your sin, but one Christ can. What a load it was. He alone has the strength to bear human guilt. Angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim could not lift our burden. Only the Son of God, only the God-man can bear this load. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. Think about it. You can't even deal with one sin of your flesh on your own. And Christ bore the sin of all of His people from all of time at one moment on His own shoulders and He didn't ask anybody for help. What a Savior! He would do that for me. He would go into the face of mockery and bear my sin in order that I could go free. How could I not pour out my life for Him? How are we so cold and dead in our Christianity that we spend half of our time chasing little balls around and going over here for little things and material stuff and money and all this stupid junk when Christ is the one that should have captured our hearts and all of our satisfaction should be in Him? How does substitutional slaughter glorify the Father and the Son? It's a good question. How does substitutional slaughter glorify the Father and the Son? The Father is glorified because his justice is upheld. Sin is punished. It's not swept under a rug. The Father is glorified because his mercy is magnified. Sinners are pardoned. The Father is glorified because his promises are kept. He redeems a people. He really does. The Father is glorified because his enemies are all conquered. Satan is crushed. The father is glorified because his love is proven. You know it. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. And whoever would believe in him can have everlasting life. His love is proved. Just look at Calvary. The father is glorified because his generosity will be superlative. He gives bountifully through his son. His wrath is satisfied and poured out His wrath upon His Son so that you would not have to drink the cup of wrath. How is the Son glorified? He is glorified because His obedience is shown to be perfect. He sits down at the right hand of the throne of God. His impeccability will be vindicated. He is resurrected. His submission will be evident. He willingly lays his life down. He's not forced. He does so willingly. His purpose to redeem, contrary to Dr. Allen, his purpose to redeem will be accomplished. He completes the task. Christ on Calvary did not make redemption possible. He made it actual. His blood will be shown to be sufficient. Don't you remember the song? His blood will make the foulest clean. What a joy! I don't care how corrupt and depraved you are this morning, I don't care how long you put off Christ, His blood will make the foulest clean, and He will get the glory for saving a wretch like you. His accomplishment will be rewarded. He will receive the reward for his suffering. His love for the Father will be proved. His actions show unfeigned love to the Father. It's good to read hymns if you read the right ones. It's goofy junk on the radios these days, not worth listening to really. But old guys like Walter Chalmers Smith would say it something like this. Great Father of glory, pure Father of light, Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight. All praise we would render, O help us to see, Tis only the splendor of light that hideth Thee. Our old Fanny gets it right every now and then. Fanny says, to God be the glory, great things he hath done. So loved he the world that he gave us his son, who yielded his life and atonement for sin, and he opened the life gate that all may go in. What glory is seen here. Your life should demonstrate a willingness to die to the flesh and live to the glory of God. A few points of application. Would you as a Christian today consider making more preparations for missions than for the satisfaction of your own flesh? Do you make more time for meditation and memorization than for worldly endeavors? I know this is a stretch and I'm saying it sarcastically, but I'm still saying it. Would you check in with God and his word before you check in with Facebook? Why in the world would you post five things on Facebook before you've even read the book? Why? Because Facebook's more important to you. That's why. That's why you went there first, because that's your God. That's what you long for, and so that's where you run. Don't tell me it's not true. What you love is what you pursue. You love Christ, you wake up looking for Christ. Would you consider that? And say, you know what, if I never see electric media again, so be it, as long as I've got some time here in order that I can have a life that would bring glory to God. Would you consider making sure that your children see the priority of church over hobbies and activities and other non-essentials? Would you see that that happens? Look, I'm not the best parent. I'm not the best dad. And I know my kids get mad at me through life, and maybe they didn't understand some things. Dad, we're on vacation. Why do we got to go to church? Because it's Sunday. But dad, we're camping, and it's a river, and we're going canoeing. Not today. Why not? Because the priority is Christ. The priority is worship. And so we put away ourself in order to put Christ first. That's the heart of Christianity. How can my life bring glory to God? Your life should demonstrate more concern for God's glory than for man's. How much planning do you do to bring glory to God? What's your plan today? What's your plan? If you don't have a plan, you'll never do it. How are you going to glorify God today, this afternoon? Here, I have an idea. Let's all go to the restaurant and act like the world. I bet that'll get their attention. You know it's true. Was there not a plan here to read, to pray, to rest, to worship, to focus my attention on God? I mean, He gave me six days to do my thing. How about this day be devoted wholly unto Him? How much do you invest in the things that God commands? What is it about your daily routine that expresses your desire for God to be glorified? And here's the thing, it's not legalism, I don't care how you're hearing it, it's not legalism. You should joyfully, delightfully, and zealously follow, serve, and worship King Jesus. You need an illustration to make that work where it's not legalism? Okay, fine. Do you kiss your wife because you have to? Is that why you do it? Marriage 101, kiss wife every day. That's the law. I have to do this or I'm a bad husband. So you kiss your wife every day because the marriage manual said so? How does she feel about that? Is she very excited about that? You know she's not. Surely, if there's any genuineness here, you don't kiss your wife out of legalism, you kiss her because you love her. It's the joy of your heart to express love to her because you're in love with her. Men, right now is the time you say amen. That attitude is Christ. I don't read my Bible because the manual says I have to. I don't go to church because the manual says I have to. I got to check off these blocks. It's because I'm in love with Him and I want Him to be honored above all other things. I am fighting for the glory of God to be primary. And I'm living in an American world that is inundated with materialism and selfishness and picket fences that don't care about anybody. I realize the battle, but I'm not going to stop fighting that God receive the glory he deserves. Church, I'm calling upon you to die to yourself. Stop playing with little things that don't work. Give your life to Christ. Give your kids to Christ. Sell out for the kingdom and to hell with the world. Put the priority on the glory of Christ and you'll never have any regrets. Father, I thank you for this church. I thank you for by the word. Thank you for over two decades of walking together in the things of God. I've seen people come. I've seen people go. I've seen all kinds of things flow by in these years. But Lord, I commend this church to you. I trust and pray that they would bring glory to your great name. Help us in missions, in evangelism, in unity, in service, in prayer. Help us to be healthy for your glory. Lord, whether the world is watching or not, Lord, we don't care. Lord, our concern is that you're watching, and we want to be pleasing unto you. So Lord, we commit these things to you today. We ask that you help us to be what you've called us to be. We pray these things by your Spirit. In Christ's name, amen.