We turn again tonight to John chapter 17.
It was the great John Knox who, during
his long illness before his death, had this
chapter read to him every day, every day.
I would suggest that if you want to
comfort a person on a deathbed, this is
a far better passage of scripture to read
than John 14.
Knox had it read to him every day.
The famous doce, the French preacher, had it
read to him 60 times on his deathbed,
60 times.
And Spiner, the great German, the great pietist,
who never in his lifetime could bring himself
to the place where he could preach on
this chapter, because he felt it was completely
beyond his power to do so.
Yet he was a great preacher, a great
man of God.
On his deathbed, had it read three times
to him before he died.
And this gives us some little understanding of
the tremendous import of this prayer in the
17th chapter of the Gospel of John.
Bishop Ryle, any evangelical scholar who knows his
literature knows that Ryle was one of the
great commentators of this century and the last,
has this to say about this chapter.
He says it is the most remarkable chapter
in all the Bible.
It stands alone.
There is nothing like it.
That's quite a statement.
It's true.
And Brown, the commentator, said it is the
most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book
in the world.
And little wonder then that it's very difficult
to get away from it.
You think you can grasp it in a
message or two and then you find 15
or 20 messages opening up before you from
the chapter.
At least that's what I have found during
this past week.
And so we will look at it again
tonight.
John 17, reading from verse 1.
These words begged 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.
Now, usually the chapter is divided into our
Lord's Prayer for himself, which is in verses
1 to 5, for his apostles in verses
6 to 19, and then verse 20 to
the end for his church.
Firstly for himself, then for the apostles, then
for his church.
And I want to say in passing that
it is his church.
Once you realize it is his church, that
can revolutionize your activity toward ministry.
I'm always a little disturbed by people who
say, my church.
Is it?
I go to my church, I give to
my church.
You are mistaken, it's his church.
And this assembly here tonight is just as
much his church as any other church in
any other part of the world.
You don't serve in your church, you serve
his church as he directs you.
And this can save us from the pernicious
sin of denominationalism, and give us a true
vision of a world in need of Christ,
which was our Lord's vision.
It's his church.
Not yours, not mine, it's his.
We are members of his body and of
his church, but it's his church.
It's his church worldwide.
We need a world view of the body
of Christ, his church.
And so he prays for himself, he prays
for his apostles, and he prays for his
church.
But I want you to notice a very
important point here.
It's not obvious, but it's very important.
When Christ prayed for himself, he had the
work that his father gave him to do
in view.
When he prayed for his apostles, he also
had the work that his father gave him
to do in view.
And when he prayed for his church, he
also has in view the work that his
father gave him to do.
That's very important.
I want you to observe it here.
Father, 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.
Now, what was the work the father gave
him to do?
The giving of eternal life to as many
as the father gave him.
That was the work the father sent him
into the world to do.
And in order that the son might do
the will of the father in the world,
he was given power over all flesh.
God will never give you a work to
do, but that he will give you with
the commission the power to fulfill it.
This was true of the son.
It is true of every person called of
God to do the will of God, for
the glory of God.
He was given power over all flesh, to
what end?
That he might give eternal life to as
many as the father had given him.
Therefore, he could say, I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do.
The giving of eternal life to as many
as had been given him by the father.
And this brings us to another important point.
It's this.
I'm often asked, do you think this man
is a good preacher?
And I always give the same answer.
There is only one test, and it's this.
Does he preach with power?
That's all.
Does he preach with power?
Now, some people might give you seven or
eight conditions to test a good preacher by,
but it's superfluous.
Just one is enough.
Does he preach with power?
But what about the content of his message?
If the content isn't what God would have
it to be, he won't preach with power.
If the message is not the message God
would have him to deliver, he won't preach
with power.
If he is preaching for his own glory
or the glory of his denomination or some
movement, he won't preach with power.
He must preach for the glory of God.
If he is living for himself and not
for the glory of his Lord, he won't
preach with power.
If he is trusting his own gifts, capacities,
experience, anything else, he won't preach with power.
Only one test.
Is the power of the Spirit of God
manifest when he preaches?
If it isn't there, he's not an effective
preacher.
Homiletically, his sermon may be perfect.
Intellectually, he may be a giant.
Spiritually, he adds up to zero in God's
sight.
Sounding brass, tinkling cymbals.
A man is given power, the power of
God's Spirit, for one thing only, to finish
the work God gives him to do.
The Spirit of God is given to glorify
Jesus Christ because the desire of the Son
is the glory of the Father.
And ultimately, all things shall be delivered up
to the Father that he might be all
in all.
So let's get these very important truths very
clearly before us.
It's not a matter of knowledge.
Some of the greatest preachers the world has
ever known have been, in the eyes of
the world, very unsophisticated, illiterate men.
Moody was one.
I was reading a sermon of Dr. Tozer's
just last night of a very great Methodist
preacher, Peter Cartwright, who was also, in the
eyes of the world, an illiterate man.
And he was at this big Methodist camp
meeting and this evening, this particular evening, he
preached on hill and a great big old
logger, a big lumber man, about 260 pounds,
came to the mourner's rail and knelt and
sobbed and quaked and cried and called upon
the Lord.
And there was a young, in the eyes
of the world, very sophisticated young man, not
too long out of seminary, and he was
deeply disturbed by this old logger crying and
weeping and convulsing.
And he said, compose yourself, compose yourself.
And Peter Cartwright was standing next to this
young man and he put his hand on
the shoulder of the logger and he said,
pray on, my dear man, there will be
no composure in hell where you're going.
That's preaching.
And then in true early Methodist style, the
old logger got through the Lord and the
glory of the Lord filled his soul.
And he leapt into the air with a
yell.
And to express his joy, he grabbed the
first person next to him, which was this
little fellow, hugged him and began to jog
around the room with him.
Would that we saw more of that.
That's preaching.
He's a man controlled by the Spirit of
God.
Preaching with power.
Peter Cartwright.
So let's be careful to fully understand these
principles.
The man of God is called by God
for one thing primarily, to glorify by the
power of the Spirit, Jesus Christ his Lord.
To glorify Jesus Christ.
I had a long distance telephone call from
a brother preacher just last week.
And he said to me, do you know
so and so?
I said, yes, he's a very gifted man,
very gifted preacher.
He said, my, does he know his Latin
and his Greek and his Hebrew?
And he went on for a few minutes.
I said, yes, that's what's wrong with him.
And he was shocked.
I said, you came away from that service
very conscious of what this man was.
And that was the impression that was left
with you.
He failed that night in his preaching.
You glorified Jesus Christ.
Not yourself.
No preacher worthy of the name is pedantic.
He's self-effacing.
He glorifies Jesus Christ.
When the apostle Paul was caught up into
the third heaven, into the presence of God
himself, he didn't say a word about it
for thirteen years.
Why?
Because he thought if he did, they would
think of him above what they ought to
think.
So he didn't mention it.
The true man of God.
Why?
If they had known he was caught up
into heaven himself.
Nobody has ever been there.
Paul's the greatest.
So he didn't mention it.
The true man of God and the true
preacher is very careful never to mention anything
that will glorify him and thereby in the
slightest degree detract from the glory of his
Lord.
There are not very many good books on
preaching.
But Campbell Morgan has one.
And he says the good preacher will never
use a three-syllable word if he can
use a two-syllable word to do the
same job.
Good word for you preachers out there.
I want you to notice he was given
power that he might do the work that
his father had given him to do and
finish it, which was the giving of eternal
life to as many as the father gave
him.
Then in his prayer for the apostles, I
want you to notice how it finishes.
Verse 18, As thou hast sent me into
the world, even so have I also sent
them into the world.
What to do?
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.
Why is he praying?
Where is the climax in his prayer for
his apostles that others may believe?
This is a continuation of the work that
the father gave him to do through the
apostles.
So why is he praying for them?
And it's a tremendous prayer for them.
Ultimately that there might be the continuation of
the proclamation of the truth that others might
believe.
Why was he sent into the world?
That sinners might have eternal life.
Why is he praying for the apostles?
That they might go out into the world
as witnesses that sinners might have eternal life.
And why is he praying for his church?
That they all may be one.
And why is the glory which the father
gave him, given them that they may be
one, even as we are one?
Why?
That the world may believe.
They have the climax in his praying for
himself, for his apostles, and for the church.
The unity of the body.
What should dominate our praying?
It should culminate in the glory of God
through the salvation of sinners.
That's it.
In each case it is so here.
He prays for himself, why?
For the glory of God through the salvation
of sinners, that he should give eternal life
to as many as the father had given
him.
He prays for the apostles and how does
he culminate?
That there might be those who believe because
of their word, because of their witness.
He prays for the unity of the body,
why?
That the world may believe that the father
has sent his son, that they may believe.
When you pray for your child, what should
be the culmination of your prayer?
Heavenly father, that through his separation unto thyself,
through his sanctification, through the manifestation of the
living Christ in him, others might see Christ
and believe.
Is that how you pray for your son?
Is that how you pray for your daughter?
Is that how you pray for your wife?
Is that how you pray for your husband?
Is that how you pray for the church
or the fellowship where you assemble?
There's a terrible danger of settling down into
sinful self-satisfaction and becoming absorbed with that
which contributes to my well-being and that
little circle that concerns me most in this
world, that is most un-Christlike.
And our praying can very often finish with
a desire merely for the well-being of
the person we pray for, rather that through
the answer to our prayer for them, God
will be glorified through them, that others seeing
them might see the Christ in them, and
others hearing the word that goes forth from
their lips in the power of the Spirit,
might believe.
That's the ultimate goal, the glorifying of our
Lord in the salvation of sinners.
We must never forget that.
Why do we constantly preach the need to
strive together for the unity of the Spirit
and the bond of peace?
In order that the Spirit of God through
the body might be free to make increase
of the body in love.
And it's a wonderful thing at times, it's
very rare, it's a very wonderful thing to
go into an assembly or into a church
and as soon as you enter the door
you're conscious of the presence of the Spirit
of God.
I tell you in a church like that,
it's hard for a sinner not to come
under great conviction of sin.
It's very difficult.
Early this century there was a great moving
of the Spirit in Ulster, actually primarily in
the city of Belfast, through a great preacher,
a very unusual preacher.
He once preached in Sydney, and you may
have read some of the books by the
jungle doctor, Dr. Paul White of Tanganyika.
Dr. Paul White was a student at Sydney
University, a medical student at the time, had
no time for the things of God, but
the first evening Nicholson preached, he said something
like this to a congregation in a large
church, he said, well as far as I'm
concerned the Bishop of Sydney has no more
grace than this lectern I'm leaning on.
And Paul White read this and he said,
my, any man that can say that, I
must go and hear him.
So he went to hear him, he got
saved the first night.
Saved the first night.
He said some, what many people thought were
terrible things.
I remember one night in the city of
Brisbane in Queensland, there was a certain man
in a certain denomination who was a terror.
Everybody quaked before him in that denomination.
And he lived in an outlying district and
he had to catch the last train at
a certain time.
And Nicholson was just about to make his
appeal when this man, he didn't know him,
stood up in the congregation and began to
lead.
And he said, there you are, you go
you old sinner, dodging the appeal.
On another occasion he was in one of
the most prestigious churches in Sydney.
And he said, all you elders and deacons
come up to the front.
Didn't know what was going to happen.
So when he got up to the front
he said, pillars of the church, caterpillars.
This was Nicholson, this was Nicholson.
But I tell you that man had more
converts in the city of Sydney and more
men preaching in pulpits than all the rest
of the preachers combined over the 20 years
that he had been to Sydney and his
last visit.
Preachers everywhere saved under Nicholson.
I remember the last time I heard him
preach, he said I was in a butcher
shop today.
And I saw this ox tongue.
He said the butcher took his knife and
he cut that very rough surface, that outer
edge off the tongue.
He said it was as smooth as silk.
And I prayed on the spot in that
butcher shop, dear Lord, never let them skin
my tongue.
Unusual man, only one Nicholson, only one Nicholson.
But God's man, God's man.
Tremendous power of the Spirit when he preached.
And in the midst of that great revival
in Belfast, he was on his way to
the meeting one evening and he met a
great company of men marching away from the
hall.
They were singing a hymn as they marched
along.
And he said to them, where are you
going?
They said, well, Mr. Nicholson, we felt we
should leave our seats tonight for sinners to
be able to come to the meeting.
He said, if you don't go back, I'm
not going.
What did he realize?
That in that meeting, he needed those who
really loved the Lord.
In order that through the unity of the
body of Christ in that place, there might
be the manifestation of the power of the
living Christ by His Spirit.
He said, if you don't go, I don't
go.
In one shipyard, they had to build a
number of large sheds because the men were
bringing back all the tools that they'd stolen.
That's revival.
That's the power of God.
You never have a moving of God's Spirit
until men and women come under tremendous conviction
of sin.
When He, the Spirit, has come, He will
convict of sin.
The first thing He does.
If there's no conviction of sin, He hasn't
come.
With power.
Our Lord's prayer is dominated by one thought.
The glory of the Father.
Even as His whole life was dominated by
this one desire to do the will of
His Father, to finish the work that He
had sent Him into the world to do.
Now this was His ultimate objective, and this
should be our ultimate objective.
And I want to say again tonight, did
you do today the work God gave you
to do today?
Did you?
You say, well, Mr. Carroll, you see, I'm
a businessman.
That's right, you may be a businessman, but
did you do today the work God gave
you to do today?
Two things certainly He requires of us every
day, that by walking in fellowship with Him,
those who see us should see Christ in
us.
That's the first thing He gives you to
do every day.
And I want to tell you that if
as a businessman you are merely grubbing around
to make money, nobody's going to see much
of Christ in you.
That's impossible.
You might say, well, Mr. Carroll, I'm just
a housewife.
What do you mean just a housewife?
That's a very noble calling.
Well, Mr. Carroll, I'm just a mother.
A mother, is there any higher calling than
a mother?
I believe many mothers who have been faithful
to their opportunity, where God has placed them,
will receive greater rewards than many of the
men whom we think are great leaders.
The Lord Jesus requires of you every day,
and He requires of me every day, that
I walk in such fellowship with Him that
others seeing me see something of Christ in
me.
What else does He give you to do?
That as the Spirit prompts you, you speak
the word that the Spirit gives you to
speak for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
That's the work He has given you to
do.
Your business is incidental compared with that.
Why?
Because your business, like everything in this world,
is going to go up in smoke finally.
Nothing left.
I have finished the work which you gave
me to do.
This is the ultimate objective, and we must
never lose sight of it.
The glorifying of God.
But the glorifying of God first.
I am not unsympathetic with certain movements that
make much of what is called soul winning.
What I object to in many cases is
that they do not make enough of exhibiting
Christ in the life, or presenting Christ before
you preach Christ.
That somehow a person can be saved on
a 1, 2, 3, 4 formula.
I am not convinced of that.
The man who is used by God is
the man who lives for one thing, and
it's not the salvation of God.
The man who is used of God is
the man who lives for the glory of
God.
And because he lives for the glory of
God, the work that God gives him to
do wherever he places him is done, because
it's for the glory of God.
It's not even for the salvation of the
sinner.
It's for the glory of God, who is
glorified in the salvation of the sinner.
Now there is an important difference here.
Any young person who goes out to a
foreign field, idealistic, with a desire that people
should be saved, very often runs into a
certain type of person, and the devil can
very easily convince them that they are not
worth saving.
They lie, they rob, they cheat, they are
deceitful in certain countries.
You could give your life blood for them
one day, and they could crucify you the
next day.
Children of the devil, just like some people
in this.
And the devil comes and he says it's
not worth it.
It's not worth it.
And the young missionary very often wobbles, and
sometimes they quit.
But if the young missionary goes to a
foreign field to glorify God, in his body
and spirit which are God's, he'll never quit.
Because he's there primarily for the glory of
God, not for the salvation of sinners.
And because he is there for the glory
of God, in the will of God, those
who are to be saved are saved.
But he won't move.
He'll not be troubled.
He'll not be turned aside.
Why?
Because he hasn't gone out there to save
sinners.
He's gone out there to glorify God.
And God is glorified when sinners are saved.
But whether or not they respond, it's not
going to move him, and he shouldn't move
up.
When William Burns, the great Scottish preacher, who
saw a tremendous revival under his preaching in
Scotland, was called to China, a lady said
to him, Mr. Burns, I suppose you're going
out to China to convert the heathen.
He said, No, ma'am.
I'm going out to China to glorify God.
That's different.
That was a fine point.
It was a very important point.
Whatever God calls you to, He is calling
you to that work to glorify Him, whatever
it is.
It may be motherhood.
It may be as a housewife.
It may be as a businessman.
It may be as a truck driver.
It could be as a preacher, possibly a
missionary.
But you make absolutely certain that what you're
doing and what you're in, God has called
you to it.
Make certain of that.
Make absolutely certain of it.
That's important.
And don't try to fool the Lord because
you're not going to fool Him.
He knows.
And if you're not certain that what you
are doing with the time that God has
given you on this earth is not what
He has called you to do, then, my
dear brother and my sister, I believe you
would do well to get on your knees
tonight and ask Him what He wants you
to do.
And do it.
Do it.
In that role which He has called you
to, you are to glorify God.
You've heard of Brother Lawrence, the famous Brother
Lawrence, who, much to the amazement of his
fellows, could work in a kitchen scrubbing pots
and pans day after day after day, month
after month, and always be bright and cheerful
and joyous in Victoria.
What was his secret?
Brother Lawrence, he did everything to the glory
of God.
Everything to the glory of God.
If he scrubbed a pot, it was to
the glory of God.
If he scrubbed a floor, it was to
the glory of God.
That's the key.
Do everything to the glory of God.
Hallelujah.
And if you do it, you'll receive a
reward.
Yes, you'll receive a reward.
Even scrubbing a floor for the glory of
God, you'll receive a reward from the Lord.
But you could preach for 20 years and
never get any reward if it wasn't for
the glory of God.
Now, he said, Madam, I'm not going out
to China to convert the heathen.
I'm going out to China to glorify God.
Oh, my dear friends, this is a solemn
prayer.
Because basically, and we must face it today,
people are self-centered.
Self-centered.
I mean professing Christians.
I mean so-called evangelical Christians are self
-centered.
I had a chat with a brother this
afternoon about a certain matter and I said,
now listen, my brother.
Do you know why you're getting nowhere and
you will get nowhere?
You are not appealing to the appropriate motive.
And he said, what is that?
I said, you'll not get anywhere until you
appeal to the selfish motive.
Because Christians today are basically self-oriented.
This is a tragedy.
If there is something that will contribute to
what they want for themselves or some loved
ones, they are immediately involved.
But if it's for somebody else, uh-uh.
Not the response.
They're basically self-centered.
This is a tragedy, but it's true.
You announce any work of God that may
be a far superior work of God, we
will say to some dead church or half
-dead church where a person worships, which is
worthy of their time and support in every
way.
But I'll tell you where the support and
the time goes into that half-dead church.
And some are fundamental and still half-dead.
Basically self-centered.
And I'm sure if the gentleman does what
I tell him to do, there'll be a
response.
My dear brother, my dear sister, unless we
lose this self-centeredness and live for the
glory of God and the glory of God
alone and do what the Spirit tells us
to do and the Spirit of God alone,
we're going to be put to shame at
the coming of Jesus Christ.
Put to shame at the coming of Jesus
Christ.
A brother told me after last week's meeting
two young couples that he brought with him
were convinced I really didn't love my children.
And I didn't love my children because I
had said we must die to our children.
The only parent that loves his children is
the parent that has died to his children.
Do you know why?
If you don't die to your children, you
will make your children just what you are,
self-centered.
If you don't love the Lord more than
your wife, your husband, your son, your daughter,
you're not worthy of Him.
And the love which you need for your
child is resurrection love, the power of a
resurrected Christ in you to love them.
Nothing less will suffice.
And until you die to your children, you
will never operate on the resurrection side of
the cross as far as your children are
concerned.
You'll always gravitate back to what the children
want and what you want for the children
and not what God wants.
That's true and you know it.
So do I.
And therefore you don't really love your children.
You love yourself, not the children in the
way God would have you to love.
You die to your children.
They are not in the world that they
might have what they want to have or
you want them to have.
They are in the world for one reason,
to glorify God.
That's all.
And the mother and the father are in
the world for one reason, to glorify God.
That's all.
Nothing more, nothing less because there's nothing greater.
But that means an utter annihilation of all
self-interest as far as you personally are
concerned or as far as your children are
concerned.
They are Lord's children.
They belong to Him.
He alone can give them to you.
He alone can take them, ultimately.
Why not die to them and let them
be what the Lord wants them to be?
We are in the world for one thing,
to glorify God and only as we glorify
Him in all that we do is the
ultimate objective of life will we be able
to say at the end I have finished
the work which you gave me to do.
Now shall we pray?
Holy Father, Thou knowest that these are very
plain words but there are times Thou knowest
when we need plain speech.
We long for a great outpouring of Thy
Spirit in our midst.
The coming of the Spirit of God with
power.
And our Father, we confess to Thee that
this prayer is ultimately completely beyond us.
We do not begin to even understand its
depth.
But we thank Thee for what we do
understand.
And we see this tremendous objective of the
Son of God, the man Christ Jesus, whom
God had sent into the world, unique God
and man, never swerving, never deviating, never turning
aside from seeking Your glory.
Even knowing that ultimately this meant the cross
with its shame and with its sins and
with its rejection.
O Lord, give us a single eye for
Thy glory so that we can go out
into this night and into tomorrow if Thy
Son should tarry with one desire only that
You will be glorified in us by what
we are, by what we do, by what
we say.
That our children and all who concern us
shall be taught one thing primarily above all
others that they're in this world to glorify
God and not to please themselves.
O Lord, write on our hearts those truths
which Thy Spirit Himself knows we need and
give us grace to live by them.
In Jesus' name, Amen.