The Finished Work (John 17:1-4)
John 17:1-4, These words spake 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: 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, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
A preacher closed a sermon with these words, "Virtue is so attractive that, if she were to become incarnate, and walk the world in human form, men would fall down and worship her." The pulpit of that church was occupied the same evening by another preacher, a humble evangelical man, who loved the gospel of a crucified Redeemer. He preached Christ crucified, and at the close of his sermon reminded the congregation of the statement made in the morning by the previous preacher, and then added, "I am sorry to say that Virtue did once walk the world in human form, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and men, instead of falling down and worshipping Him, crucified and nailed Him to a tree."
John 17 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, and certainly one of the most treasured. Some have referred to it as the "Holy of Holies of Sacred Scripture." This is Christ’s final public prayer to the Father before He went to the cross. In this prayer, Christ gives an account of His performance. Despite the opposition on earth, Jesus’ will was to glorify God.
Jesus set His glory aside when He came to earth as man (Philippians 2:7). On the cross, Jesus glorified God by revealing how much God loves us. Without the cross, we could never understand how much God loves us (John 3:16). The reason Jesus was now ready to be glorified is simply stated: He had finished the work God had given Him to do. In doing the work God had given Him to do, He had glorified God on earth. "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4). This is the prayer we all should want to be able to pray when it comes our time to die.
Jesus prays to His Father that He has glorified Him during His earthly presence. His example remains for us today. He finished the work God gave Him to accomplish. He spoke to His disciples three years earlier, His very ‘meat’ was to do “the will of him that sent, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). He now had. Again, He has left an example for us. He finished His work. So should we. The only way a person can glorify God on earth is to do what God says. If a man is interested in glorifying God, he will obey God. Now the most important thing that you could do, that I could do, that anyone else could do would be to do what God wants us to do. Just as God had a purpose for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; He has a purpose for you as well.
In 1935, Charles Darrow brought his invention of Monopoly to Parker Brothers. The experts at Parker Brothers rejected the game for "containing fifty-two fundamental errors." Ironically, in 1936, Mr. Darrow was well-received by the embarrassed Parker Brothers. The persistent Charles Darrow, who would not quit, had spent the year after his rejection demonstrating the potential success of the game by selling numerous editions of the board game himself. Parker Brothers helped make the unemployed heating engineer from Germantown, Pennsylvania, a multi-millionaire. Since that time, over 100 million copies of Monopoly have been sold in 31 countries. Each year Parker Brothers prints more than $40 billion dollars worth of Monopoly money—more than twice the amount printed annually by the U.S. Mint. Monopoly's success has produced 3.2 billion of those little green houses, enough to circle the globe. Persistence does have its benefits! We need the same type of persistence when it comes to living for Christ and making our lives count for Him. Beloved, don't stand ashamed before Christ one day because you quit serving Him or never got started in the first place.
1. Jesus Christ our Substitute.
God demands the death of every transgressor. Every sinner must suffer the infinite wrath of God for sin. ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23). And God always pays men their wages. ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20). When Christ hung upon the cross, He died under the penalty of the law. He died as the object of God’s wrath, because He was made to be sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). And by His death, He satisfied the claims of justice against us, so that those for whom He died are no longer under the sentence of death.
2. Jesus Christ our Saviour.
He took our sins upon Himself and made them His own. Dying under the penalty of sin for us, Christ put away our sins. He COVERED them in His precious blood. In so far as the law and justice of God are concerned, our sins, the sins of all who believe, the sins of God’s elect do not exist! In Christ we are freed from all sin. ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin’ (Romans 4:8).
3. Jesus Christ our Salvation.
By his life of submission and obedience to the law of God as a man, the Son of God established righteousness in the earth. It is this righteousness, performed by Christ, which God imputes to believers. He declares us righteous by virtue of Christ’s righteousness for us. We have no righteousness of our own, but we are made righteous before God in Christ. Jesus will save every sinner who puts their faith in Him and trusts Him for salvation. This gift of salvation is secured, guaranteed, and eternal. Not one of God’s children will perish. By His life of righteousness as our Redeemer, and by His sin-atoning death as our Substitute He silenced the claims of justice against us. All for whom Christ died shall live forever in glory.
PRAYER: Father in Heaven, though I often struggle, help me to never lose sight of doing Your will. Your Son loved me us enough to die for me, the only reasonable thing that I can do is present myself a living sacrifice. Your will is good, perfect and acceptable. And Lord, we know through prayer, we'll find it. May You have Your own way. In Jesus name, Amen.
If this post in any way, has blessed you,
please share this website and its articles with others:
www.fellowshipbaptistcarrabelle.com
John 17:1-4, These words spake 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: 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, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
A preacher closed a sermon with these words, "Virtue is so attractive that, if she were to become incarnate, and walk the world in human form, men would fall down and worship her." The pulpit of that church was occupied the same evening by another preacher, a humble evangelical man, who loved the gospel of a crucified Redeemer. He preached Christ crucified, and at the close of his sermon reminded the congregation of the statement made in the morning by the previous preacher, and then added, "I am sorry to say that Virtue did once walk the world in human form, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and men, instead of falling down and worshipping Him, crucified and nailed Him to a tree."
John 17 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, and certainly one of the most treasured. Some have referred to it as the "Holy of Holies of Sacred Scripture." This is Christ’s final public prayer to the Father before He went to the cross. In this prayer, Christ gives an account of His performance. Despite the opposition on earth, Jesus’ will was to glorify God.
Jesus set His glory aside when He came to earth as man (Philippians 2:7). On the cross, Jesus glorified God by revealing how much God loves us. Without the cross, we could never understand how much God loves us (John 3:16). The reason Jesus was now ready to be glorified is simply stated: He had finished the work God had given Him to do. In doing the work God had given Him to do, He had glorified God on earth. "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4). This is the prayer we all should want to be able to pray when it comes our time to die.
Jesus prays to His Father that He has glorified Him during His earthly presence. His example remains for us today. He finished the work God gave Him to accomplish. He spoke to His disciples three years earlier, His very ‘meat’ was to do “the will of him that sent, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). He now had. Again, He has left an example for us. He finished His work. So should we. The only way a person can glorify God on earth is to do what God says. If a man is interested in glorifying God, he will obey God. Now the most important thing that you could do, that I could do, that anyone else could do would be to do what God wants us to do. Just as God had a purpose for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; He has a purpose for you as well.
In 1935, Charles Darrow brought his invention of Monopoly to Parker Brothers. The experts at Parker Brothers rejected the game for "containing fifty-two fundamental errors." Ironically, in 1936, Mr. Darrow was well-received by the embarrassed Parker Brothers. The persistent Charles Darrow, who would not quit, had spent the year after his rejection demonstrating the potential success of the game by selling numerous editions of the board game himself. Parker Brothers helped make the unemployed heating engineer from Germantown, Pennsylvania, a multi-millionaire. Since that time, over 100 million copies of Monopoly have been sold in 31 countries. Each year Parker Brothers prints more than $40 billion dollars worth of Monopoly money—more than twice the amount printed annually by the U.S. Mint. Monopoly's success has produced 3.2 billion of those little green houses, enough to circle the globe. Persistence does have its benefits! We need the same type of persistence when it comes to living for Christ and making our lives count for Him. Beloved, don't stand ashamed before Christ one day because you quit serving Him or never got started in the first place.
1. Jesus Christ our Substitute.
God demands the death of every transgressor. Every sinner must suffer the infinite wrath of God for sin. ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23). And God always pays men their wages. ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20). When Christ hung upon the cross, He died under the penalty of the law. He died as the object of God’s wrath, because He was made to be sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). And by His death, He satisfied the claims of justice against us, so that those for whom He died are no longer under the sentence of death.
2. Jesus Christ our Saviour.
He took our sins upon Himself and made them His own. Dying under the penalty of sin for us, Christ put away our sins. He COVERED them in His precious blood. In so far as the law and justice of God are concerned, our sins, the sins of all who believe, the sins of God’s elect do not exist! In Christ we are freed from all sin. ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin’ (Romans 4:8).
3. Jesus Christ our Salvation.
By his life of submission and obedience to the law of God as a man, the Son of God established righteousness in the earth. It is this righteousness, performed by Christ, which God imputes to believers. He declares us righteous by virtue of Christ’s righteousness for us. We have no righteousness of our own, but we are made righteous before God in Christ. Jesus will save every sinner who puts their faith in Him and trusts Him for salvation. This gift of salvation is secured, guaranteed, and eternal. Not one of God’s children will perish. By His life of righteousness as our Redeemer, and by His sin-atoning death as our Substitute He silenced the claims of justice against us. All for whom Christ died shall live forever in glory.
PRAYER: Father in Heaven, though I often struggle, help me to never lose sight of doing Your will. Your Son loved me us enough to die for me, the only reasonable thing that I can do is present myself a living sacrifice. Your will is good, perfect and acceptable. And Lord, we know through prayer, we'll find it. May You have Your own way. In Jesus name, Amen.
If this post in any way, has blessed you,
please share this website and its articles with others:
www.fellowshipbaptistcarrabelle.com