Bill Gaither had an interview with Cliff Barrows, the
famed singer with Billy Graham.
He had had some health issues with a tumor and Barrows had a lady come into the doctor's office, said, oh, she said it's awful. I just heard the report about Cliff Barrows. It said he's gonna be dead in one year
And the nurse said, "you heard what?"
And she repeated. "Yes, it’s just terrible he's
gonna be dead in one year."
And the nurse said, "No, it's not dead in one year...It's that he’s going to be deaf in one ear!"
And the lady, "Oh, well, there's a lot of different."
Barrows later asked the lady "well, would you like you to make an appointment with the doctor? You might better have your hearing checked too."
Our text this morning is John 17:24-26. But I want to read a familiar passage before we read what is the seventh of seven prayer requests that our Lord made in John 17.
In Matthew 26:39 we read, “And he went a
little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
“not as I will, but as You will.”
It reads similarly in Mark and Luke but not in John.
In John, we don’t have the Gethsemane prayer, but we
do have John 17, “I will” “I desire” the same word in Greek is used
here, recalling that while it was not Jesus’s will to take the cup, it
was the will of the Father.
And while Jesus did not desire to drink the cup, He
did will, he did desire that all believers “may be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You
loved Me before the foundation of the world.
24
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am
that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before
the foundation of the world.”
25
“O righteous Father! The world has not known You but I have known You and these
have known that You sent Me. ”
26 “And
I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with
which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
It is the same word used in the Lord’s Model Prayer,
Your Kingdom Come, Your will YOUR THELO be done.
In 1888, just three years before he died, Charles
Hadden Spurgeon, in the throes of gout and much agonizing pain, made the
connection between the prayer of John 17 and the Gethsemane prayer
Spurgeon said “It
is the same Man, and an unchangeable Man, too, as to his essence, who uttered
both prayers; yet see how different were his frames of mind, and how different
the prayers he offered. …He used these two expressions almost at the same time.
I do not know how many minutes intervened between the wonderful high-priestly
prayer, and the agonizing cries of Gethsemane….At one end of the walk, Jesus
prays, “Father, I will;” and at the other end of it, he says, “Not as I will.”
Spurgeon gave an illustration of
a godly woman who lay near to death, and one said to her, “Do you not expect
soon to die?”
She answered, “I do not know
whether I shall live or die; and what is more, I have no concern which way it
is.”
Then the friend asked, “But if
you had your choice whether you should live or die, which would you choose?”
She replied, “I would rather that
the Lord’s will should be done.”
“But suppose the Lord’s will were
to leave it entirely to you to choose whichever you liked?”
“Then,” she said, “I would kneel
down, and pray the Lord to choose for me.”
And I do think that is the best
way to live; not to have any choice at all, but to ask the Lord to choose for
you. You can always have your way, you know, when your way is God’s way.
“Father, I desire
that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold
My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the
world.” (John 17:24 NKJV)
“I Will”… Jesus’s final Priestly Prayer Request
John 17:24–26
1.
Jesus’s Desire (Will) for Us
24
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am
that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before
the foundation of the world.”
a. The WILL of Jesus is that we be with Him for all
eternity (2 Pet. 3:8-9)
b. so they
may see His GLORY given by the Father
c. given
because of the Father’s LOVE for the Son
2.
Jesus’s Seventh Request to the Righteous Father
25
“O righteous Father! The world has not known You but I have known You and these
have known that You sent Me. ”
a. The world does not know the Father
b. Jesus knows the Father (Matt. 11:27,
Jer. 31:31–34)
c. We know the Father sent JESUS
(17:3, 8, 18, 23; 7:29;
15:21)
3.
Jesus’s Revelation of His Relationship
26 “And
I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with
which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
a. The Revelation’s Proclamation
b. The Revelation’s Power in the
Father’s Name
c. The Revelation’s Purpose
1) The Father’s love for the Son revealed
in us
2) The Son’s Presence revealed in us
There’s a story from the world of Christian music that
reminds us how deep the Father’s love runs, even when His children fall hard.
It’s the story of Michael English, a man whose voice filled arenas with
worship, but whose life collapsed almost overnight.
For years, Michael English stood on the biggest stages
in Christian music. He sang with the Gaither Vocal Band. He recorded songs that
lifted hearts toward heaven. He won award after award. In 1994, he swept the
Dove Awards, Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year.
He was at the very top. But one week later, everything fell apart.
News broke of an extramarital affair. Christian radio
pulled his songs. His label dropped him. Stores removed his albums. The man who
had been celebrated by the church was suddenly rejected by the church. And
Michael English spiraled, into addiction, into shame, numerous suicide
attempts, into a darkness he had never known. He later said that he felt like a
man who had “lost everything but breath.” And yet, this is where grace walked in.
In the years that followed, God began to rebuild what
Michael had shattered. Not quickly. Not easily. But faithfully. Michael entered
treatment. He slowly returned to faith. He wrote a book called The Prodigal
Comes Home, because that’s exactly what happened, the Father ran to him
He eventually returned to singing, not from a
pedestal, but from a place of humility. He sang not as a man who had never
fallen, but as a man who had been picked up by grace.
More than a decade after his fall, English slowly
regained his faith and penned one of the most glorious songs of How we want to
see the glories of heaven.
I dreamed of a city called Glory,
So bright and so fair.
When I entered the gates I cried, "Holy"
The angels all met me there:
They carried me from mansion to mansion,
And oh the sights I saw,
But I said, "I want to see Jesus,
The One who died for all."
Then I bowed on my knees and cried,
"Holy, Holy, Holy."
I clapped my hands and sang, "Glory,
Glory to the Son of God."
I bowed on my knees and cried,
"Holy, Holy, Holy."
Then I clapped my hands and sang, "Glory,
Glory to the Son of God."
They took me down the streets of Heaven;
Such scenes were too many to tell;
I saw Abraham, Jacob and Isaac
Talked with Mark, and Timothy
But I said, "O Timothy I want to see Jesus,
'Cause He's the One who died for me."
Then I bowed on my knees and cried,
"Holy, Holy, Holy."
I clapped my hands and sang,
"Glory, Glory, Glory."
I clapped my hands and sang, "Glory"
"Glory to the Son of God"
I sang, "Glory to the Son of God."
I share this song and lyrics because Jesus’s final request, He wants to see us there. And according to Zeph 3:17, he will sing over us.
“The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
