In these recent Lord's Day evening services, we've been considering together what I've been pleased to call the real Lord's Prayer. Not the one that begins, Our Father which art in heaven, but the one that's recorded here in John 17, where the Lord spoke certain words to his Father in heaven. It is a very interesting prayer. We call it the high priestly prayer of Christ. And one of the reasons that we do that is because this prayer actually gives us a foretaste of how the Lord is interceding in heaven today. We have a clue to this in the words that the Lord uses. He says, for example, in verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The reality is that the Lord had not yet gone to the cross. He had not yet uttered those great words. It is finished. But he is here anticipating that event, and he's looking beyond that time to when he will be in heaven itself at the right hand of God. I have glorified thee on the earth. The Lord goes on to speak further in this passage, in verse 11, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Well, the reality is, if you go back to verse one, You'll see that these words, the Lord Jesus spoke and lifted up his eyes to heaven. And it was right after the time when he had been speaking to his own disciples. And if you go to chapter 18, verse one, it's even clearer. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron. So he obviously is still on the earth, but he's praying as though he has already entered heaven. And so we've got a real clue here in these words of Christ in prayer as to how Jesus is praying today. His high priestly ministry is in view. That's why we call it the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Now, we introduced the prayer, we said certain things about it and the circumstances and the posture that Christ took up in prayer when he lifted up his eyes to heaven and so on. But we also must think about the prayer itself. And we wanna come to that prayer this evening. We noted the person who's praying. We noticed the posture of his praying. We even talked about the plea in prayer when he used the word Father. But now we're going to deal with the petitioning in the prayer, the actual prayer itself. Look at verse one. where the Lord lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. There's the very first petition that he uses. Glorify thy son. You go to verse two. As thou hast given him power, which means authority over all flesh, that in order that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Verse five, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Someone summed up this prayer in the following way. What Jesus is here asking is that through his death that's now just at hand, and as the reward of his finished work, he might be exalted to the right hand of God, that there, in this new position, he also might glorify the Father by applying the redemption which he had wrought out upon the earth. By way of introduction, let me just make several observations about this petition of the Lord Jesus. You'll note in the first place the aim that he had in this prayer. What was his goal? What was his objective? What was the aim of Christ in this prayer? Very simple. It was the glory of God. That's how he begins. Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. Everything that Christ did in his earthly ministry was with this great end in view. He did what he did for the glory of God. Look at John chapter 12. Just go back there a few pages to verse 28. John 12, verse 28. And again, he's praying. Father, "'Glorify thy name.' Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, "'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. "'Father, glorify thy name.'" Now, the aim in this prayer speaks to us. It not only speaks to us about our praying, which should be for the glory of God first and foremost, not for our own selfish interests, but for God's glory, that he might be glorified. But not only is that true of our praying, but it's true of all things connected with our lives. The glory of God should be our aim and object. Look at what Paul said about this in 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, very mundane things, The two greatest human instincts or desires are hunger and thirst. Wherefore, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, and that brings in everything else, do all to the glory of God. Boy, will that keep you from doing things that are wrong. Will that keep you from going astray? If you look at anything at all that you're about to do and think, is this gonna bring glory to God? Because if it's not, I shouldn't be doing it. It has to be for God's glory, for his honor, for his praise. The Lord Jesus told his disciples and us, really, in Matthew 5 and verse 16, let your light so shine before men. that they may see your good works and say, what a great fellow you are. No, it doesn't say that at all. That they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. When we live for the Lord, it is that it might redound to his glory. People would look at how you're living, how you behave and think, there's a man who's had God working in his life. It brings glory to God. It brings honor and praise to His name. That should be the aim of everything that we do, including our praying. So, the aim in this prayer speaks to us. Again, the ambition in this prayer speaks to us. What is it that Christ is seeking for? Well, it's not the empty glory and praise of the world, that's for sure. But to be glorified along with the Father. Turn back there to John chapter 5. John's Gospel chapter 5, verse 41. The Lord wasn't after the praise of men. He wasn't interested in it. Neither should we be. You go then to chapter 8 of John's Gospel and look at verse 50. John 8, verse 50. And I seek not mine own glory. There is one that seeketh and judgeth. I seek not mine own glory. He wasn't out for praise. That was not on his mind at all. But then you go to John 12 and verse 43. And there the Bible says this. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." That's a sad place to be, where what you're doing is to get noticed by men. You want people to see it. You want people to talk about it. Whereas you should be living and acting and doing what you do for the praise that you receive from the Lord, whether men praise you or not. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. The ambition in this prayer was to be glorified along with the Father. You see, to be honored of the Lord is all that should matter to us. At the end of the day, if I hear those words, well done, The good and faithful servant, that'll do for me. That's what it's all about. The aim in this prayer, the glory of God. The ambition in this prayer, it is to be glorified with the Father. And then there's the assurance in this prayer. Once again, I want to emphasize that great truth that Christ asked for what he knew would be given to him. If you just go back there again to John 12, Verse 23. It says simply, "'Jesus answered them, saying, "'The hour has come, "'that this Son of Man should be glorified.'" Then verse 28. "'Father, glorify thy name.' Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, "'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.'" Christ was asking of the Father for what He knew the Father was going to give Him. And that's the great thing about the promises of God. We plead those promises because God has said, this is what I'm going to do for you. You can bring them before God, and we can say with the psalmist, Lord, do as thou hast said. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. Lord, you've given me a word. Fulfill that word now to me." Arthur Pink said, neither promises nor providence render prayer meaningless or useless. That's good. Neither promises nor providence render prayer meaningless or useless. Or as Thomas Manton, the Puritan, said, assurance is a ground of the more earnest request. When Elijah heard the sound of the rain, he prayed. Prayer is to help on providences that are already in motion. Elijah, when he prayed, He saw that cloud the size of a man's hand. You might say, well, what does that mean, the size of a man's hand? Well, did you ever look at something that was in the sky and you put your hand up like this and it covers it completely? That's what that's talking about. He could see the cloud up there, but when he put his hand up, it was completely hidden from view. That was a harbinger of blessing to come. When he saw that cloud, just that small cloud, he realized that where there are clouds, there's usually rain and there's going to be rain. And God had given him that assurance that there would be rain. And on that basis, he said to Ahab, don't be holding back in as many words, don't slow down, go in haste, go quickly, because there's going to be a deluge of rain coming. Of course, before long, the heavens were black. and the rain began to fall at a great deluge. Prayer is to help on providences that are already in motion. There's assurance in this prayer. Isn't it good to come to the Lord in prayer, and you're praying about things that you know the Lord's going to give? You know he's going to do it. Now, you might not know when he's going to do it. He may not have told you when exactly it will happen, but he has told you it will happen. Remember the promise there in the prophet, is that Haggai, the Lord said, though it tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not tarry. In other words, though it's gonna take a while for it to come, just keep waiting on the Lord because when it comes, it's gonna come quickly. That's a great promise for revival and for blessing upon the church. There's assurance in this prayer. And then the fourth thing is there's the argument of this prayer. The Lord Jesus prays to be glorified in order that He might glorify His Father in what? In the imparting of salvation unto all His elect people. See, the Savior knew that there was a people given to Him before the foundation of the world, that He had come to die for them, and they would undoubtedly be saved. There's no question about it, no doubt. He said in verse two, as thou hast given him power, it means authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. What does that mean? As many as thou hast given him, that's the elect. That's those that from eternity were designated to be his people. He would come and die for them. He would save them. He was going to give eternal life to those people. The prayer of Christ here has an argument within it. And there are two basic subjects in view in these verses. One, we've noted, is the glorifying of God, and the other is the giving of God. Verse one is the glorifying of God. Verse two is the giving of God. Let's think of these in turn. The glorifying of God. Now, both the Father and the Son are referred to together. It's a fact that the glory of the one is bound up with the glory of the other. You find somebody who wants to honor the father, but they don't want to honor the son, they're not honoring the father or the son. I had a witness with an Orthodox Jewish man just over a week ago. I met him in the airport. I engaged him in conversation, which was a shock to me because normally Orthodox or Hasidic Jews don't want anything to do with Gentiles. They'll not even look your direction. I caught his eye. I was able to get a conversation with him. We got to talking about the things of God. And it helped that I told him I was a supporter of Israel. So we had a very interesting conversation. And of course, I was seeking to bring the gospel to him. You've only got a few minutes. It was meant to be I don't think there are any accidents with God. You don't meet people just on a happenstance. The Lord ordained that. And I thought, I've got this one opportunity, and I've only got a few minutes as we wait in line in security. And I began to talk to him. I talked to him about the Old Testament. I said, you believe the Old Testament, don't you? Oh yes, it's the word of God. I said, yes, it is the word of God. And you should read. Two portions in particular in the Old Testament. One is Psalm 22 and the other is Isaiah 53. Of course both of those passages talk about Jesus. It doesn't say that it's Jesus. But if you look at Psalm 22, the very first verse is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's what Jesus said at the cross. They pierced my hands and my feet. That's in Psalm 22. They parted my raiment among them and cast lots for my vesture. That's in Psalm 22. Christ is there. And then of course, Isaiah 53. Oh, what a portion that is. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was numbered with the transgressors. He made intercession for the transgressors. It's all about Christ. And I said that to this man. Read these two portions, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, and ask yourself the question, who is this talking about? Of course, that's not original because when Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch said to him, and he was a bigoted Jew, he said to Philip, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself or some other man. He's talking about Isaiah 53. And Philip took the opportunity to preach unto him Jesus. And I thought about that. But I said to this man, I know that your great creed in Deuteronomy is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You believe in one God, right? I said, but you see, this is where I differ from you, because that one God is in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, co-equal, co-eternal. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's the Messiah. I know you don't believe that, but it's true. He's the Messiah, and he came for our salvation. So we heard the gospel just in a few minutes, and I'm praying for that man. As the Lord brings him to my mind, which is just about every day since, I'm praying for that man, that the Lord will use the things that I said to him to save his precious soul. He needs to be saved. When you talk about God, you have to talk about Christ. If you try to say there's a God, one God, but you don't factor in the Lord Jesus Christ, you haven't really got a God at all. You're a Unitarian. But the glory of the one is bound up with the glory of the other. If you say, well, I'm going to glorify the Father, but I'm not going to glorify the Son, you can't do that. The Lord Jesus said this in John chapter 5, look at it. From verse 17, Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto up to now, and I work. There he is linking his work with the work of the Father. Therefore, the Jews sought the Moor to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, in their opinion, but said also that God was his Father, listen, making himself equal with God. They knew exactly what he was claiming. They had no doubt about it. And the Lord went on to say something. Verse 19. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he saith the Father do. For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. You see how equal they are, the one to the other. The Father quickens, the Son quickens. The Father judgeth no man, verse 22, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Watch this, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. And I've quoted that to Jehovah's Witnesses, so-called, to Mormons, and to various other cults. because they all are under this one common denominator. They do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. That's how you know the cults. They all meet together at this point. Oh, they believe in God the Father, but they do not believe that there's such a thing as God the Son. But the Bible teaches that. In magnifying and exalting God the Father, we're doing the exact same in regard to the Son. And here in the prayer in John 17, we can see that Christ regards the Father's glory as the great end, and His own glory as the means of accomplishing that end. The Father and the Son together. The glorifying of God consists of the Father being glorified in the Son. Now, let's look at these. First of all, the glorifying of the Son. That's what Jesus prayed for. Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. The Son of God was glorified in the suffering that he endured. Christ was glorified even in his sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see our Lord in Luke 22, verse 43. The Bible tells us there that he suffered. There appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Not only in Gethsemane, but at his trial, we see this. John chapter 18, verse 38, right after this prayer. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. Here's Christ being glorified. And then when he was on the cross, in Luke chapter 23, as we've been noticing in recent days, in verse 43, he said to the thief, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Verse 45, the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And verse 47, now when the centurion saw what was done, what did he do? He glorified God. saying, certainly this was a righteous man. The death of Christ glorified God. Christ was glorified even in his sufferings. In his sufferings, God the Father magnified his Son before men. And of course, Christ had predicted that glory. We were studying the paschal discourse, and in John chapter 13, verses 31 and 32, We read, therefore, when he was gone out, that's Judas, 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. The Lord Jesus predicted this. And now he's praying about this very thing. He prays for this glory. And that prayer was answered in his sufferings. But not only was he glorified in the suffering which he endured, but after his suffering was ended. Just go back there to John chapter 7. John 7, and verse 39. Well, verse 38 will give you the context. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Look at the words in parenthesis. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given. That means he wasn't given in fullness. It wasn't poured out in fullness. Why? Because that Jesus was not yet glorified. In other words, he hadn't yet gone to the cross. He hadn't yet endured these sufferings. And Christ intended, I believe, in his prayer, not only the cross, but his resurrection and his ascension to heaven as well. And those are brought to our mind in Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3 and verse 13. the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, look at it, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go." What does it mean, he had glorified his son? Well, he had raised him from the dead. He had ascended up into heaven. After his death, After his suffering was ended, there was this glorifying of the Son, his exaltation. And by the way, in the New Testament, you'll always find the glory of Christ is linked to his sufferings. I'll just show you a few Scriptures that prove this. Luke 24, verse 26. 1 Peter 1, verse 11 and verse 21. Let's read those in turn. Look at chapter 24 and verse 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? See that? The sufferings and the glory that followed. Now then, you go to 1 Peter 1. And there, Peter brings these together again. 1 Peter 1, verse 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, notice this, and the glory that should follow. There it is, the sufferings and the glory. And you go down to verse 21 of the same chapter, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. The glory of Christ is linked with his sufferings. Christ was glorified by the reception of his humanity into heaven. You know, it's a really interesting thing to think about. Before the incarnation, Christ did not have a body. That's clear. He was pure spirit. How do we know that? Because he came into this world entering the womb of the Virgin as seed, a conception. That's when the body was placed in this world in the womb of Mary. That body grew. In her womb he was born. He became a young boy and then an older boy and a young man and died when he was about 33. But he never had a body before that. He took onto himself a body as one of the catechisms tells us. He took onto him a true body and a reasonable soul. A soul that was capable of reason. Before In eternity, when he dwelt with the Father and the Spirit, he did not have a body. Now, people will say, well, what about what happened in the Old Testament with the Christophanies? We think of the one standing with the sword in his hand to Joshua. What about the one who appeared in the bush to Moses? What about the one who said his name was wonderful, who appeared to Samson's parents? What about the one who appeared with the three Hebrew children in the fire? The form of the fourth was like unto the Son of God. He took a body to himself. What about the three that met with Abraham and he made a meal for them and one of them was Christ? But these were temporary appearances where the Lord took unto him a form. The Bible even talks about that in another place in the New Testament where he appeared in another form to the disciples. But what I'm saying is permanently, he did not possess a body before Bethlehem. But notice that whenever he came into this world, he took unto him a body, and eventually not only was that body killed, but then raised from the dead to life, and he was on the earth for a time, and then he ascended up into heaven, where he now sits on the right hand of God. The book of Philippians talks about this in chapter 2, where Paul says from verse 9 to verse 11, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. Here's the glorifying of Christ, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The Lord went up into heaven in a body. And in that body, he now sits at the right hand of the Father on high. And in that body, he will return to this earth to be admired in all them that believe. There's a man in the glory who pleads our cause before the Father's face, a real man, One who said to the disciples after his resurrection, handle me and see, a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. That's how Christ now is in glory. That wasn't true before the incarnation, but now it's true. Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He appears in heaven for us. He appears there as us. And he will come for the fullness the final installment, if you like, of our redemption. That's a great thought. And Christ is not only glorified by the receiving of his humanity into heaven, but is also glorified in his people, us, by our salvation and our growth in holiness. John 17 verse 10 puts it like this. Look at it. and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." You know, when a soul is saved, it brings glory to Christ. It brings glory to God when people are converted. That's why there's rejoicing in heaven. There's the joy of God himself, and there's the joy of the redeemed in heaven. It brings glory to God. because they're his people. Jesus says, all mine are thine, and thine are mine. They belong to me, they belong to you, and I am glorified in them. And we ought to note as well that as believers, we must follow our Lord in this respect, that there has to be suffering and then glory. There were those in the old days who used to talk about no cross, no crown. And that's a biblical concept. It's a biblical idea. You can't have the crown unless you first endure the cross. This idea of a salvation that brings you your best life now, there's no suffering, there's no persecution, there's no reproach, it's absolute nonsense. It's not biblical. It just isn't. It's not biblical. The idea you become a Christian and everybody loves you, nobody hates you, nobody's against you. You'll have an easy time of it in this world. You'll have what Osteen calls your best life now, or is it that other crackpot with the megachurch? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Rick Warren. The idea that you're not going to suffer. It's not scriptural. Look at 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul writing here to this young preacher. He says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 5 and 6. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully, the husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Verse 11. It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, that's with Christ, we shall also live with him. Look at the next verse. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. There it is. Now, obviously, that suffering that we endure in this life is, in the great scheme of things, a light thing. Our light affliction. Paul said, which is, but for a moment worketh for us an exceeding weight of glory. Romans 8, 17. If children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. We suffer with him. but we're going to share the throne with Him. We're talking here about the glorifying of God. We talked about the glorifying of the Son and the suffering that He endured after His suffering was ended. Now let's think about the glorifying of the Father. In verse one, the Lord prays about this, that the Son also may glorify Thee. The principal end of all our Savior did was not the salvation of men. There are gospel preachers who say that the Lord's great end in view in the cross was the salvation of sinners. That is not the whole truth. The truth is that God's end in the cross was the glorifying of God, bringing glory to God first. And of course, saving his people brings glory to God. That's part of it. The glory of God was the great objective. The cross, you see, let's not miss this, was a Godward act, first and foremost. Again, this is kind of foreign to some preachers. They don't like to talk about the Godward aspect of the cross, but there is a Godward aspect. He was offered as a sacrifice unto God for sin. Hebrews 9 verse 14 puts it like this. That's what happened at Calvary. He offered himself. That's a sacrifice without spot. unto God." The glorifying of the Father. This was the chief end at Calvary. And as I said earlier, it ought to be our chief end as well. However, the glorifying of the Father, as I just stated, was to be accomplished in the salvation of His elect. And verse 2 of John 17 makes that clear, that the Son was to glorify the Father by communicating, by giving eternal life to as many as the Father had given to Him. The glory of the Father and eternal life of His people are both gloriously harmonized in the cross. God is glorified, men are redeemed. And it all brings glory to God and to Christ. How was God glorified in the work of atonement of Calvary? Well, His justice was satisfied to begin with. God had a law, He has a law, which says, the soul that sinneth it shall die. That's an inflexible law. The Lord doesn't just say, oh, well, I know the law says that, but I'm just gonna forget about the law and just have mercy on people. No, God doesn't forget about the law. He has to exact that penalty for sin. He's going to do that either in the sinner himself or the sinner's substitute. That's the way it is. Justice has to be satisfied. And satisfaction is a big part of the cross. God was glorified in the work of atonement. His justice was satisfied. His holy law was upheld and honored. And at the same time, His great love was manifested. God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God is glorified in our salvation when we repent and believe the gospel. This is something the Bible talks about. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, for example, he said in Ephesians 1 and verse 6, referring to God's salvation, It is to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, and the Beloved is Jesus. Now, notice how this prayer of Christ guarantees the salvation of every believer. The security of all God's chosen ones is revealed here. There's no doubt about this. You look at verse two, if the father has promised absolute power, authority to Jesus, and he has, for the purpose of bestowing eternal life on his elect ones, those that were given to him from eternity, then how can they possibly fail to enjoy it? This is something Jesus is praying for, for the arrival of all of his elect in heaven. See this again in verse two. As thou hast given him, that's to Christ, power, it means authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Do you think that the Father's going to give people to Christ and he's not going to give to those people eternal life? Of course he's going to save them. That's why he came. The Son of Man has come. to seek and to save that which is lost. He didn't come to try to save. The angel didn't say to Joseph, thou shall call his name Jesus, for he will attempt to save people from their sins. You'd think to hear some preachers that that's what the Lord has done. He's only provided the possibility of salvation, but not the actuality or the definite atonement of their sins. But that is not right. Because the sinless Savior died, the hymn tells us. We're going to be saved. We're going to be redeemed. There's no question about it. He's going to bestow eternal life on as many as the Father has given to Him. How can they possibly fail to receive it and to enjoy it? God the Father's going to be glorified as His elect people are brought to glory. In prayer meeting recently, we were studying 2 Thessalonians, we still are actually, and 2 Thessalonians chapter one, and verse 10, when it talks about the coming of Christ, it speaks of it this way. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Because our testimony among you was believed. But God the Father is glorified as well, not only in the salvation of his elect, but in their sanctification. That brings glory to the Lord when you and I grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. The Lord spoke about this in John 14 and verse 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. There's gonna be glory brought to God through answered prayer. We also see this in Philippians chapter one and verse 20. Philippians chapter one and verse number 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, watch this, so now also Christ shall be magnified, it means glorified, in my body, whether it be by life or by death. You know, when believers live holy lives, it's an answer to the prayer of Christ. This is what Christ has prayed for, that we might live for Him. The Father and the Son are glorified and they're magnified by the lives that we live to the praise of his name. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 13 is the last verse I want us to look at tonight. 2 Corinthians 9, 13. He's talking here about something mundane, like the giving of God's people. He says, whilst by the experiment of this ministration, They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men. What's he talking about? He's talking about the fact that these people, when they give their gifts to the work of God, those who benefit from that are going to glorify God because these people have been subject unto the gospel of Christ. They're showing the reality of their holiness. They're showing the reality of their faith in Christ by their actions, even by giving to the work of God. The Father and the Son are glorified and they're magnified by our sanctified living. Let's remember that. What I do, I'm not doing to be praised by men. In fact, as a Christian living in this world, if you live a holy life, you're not going to get the praise of men anyhow. They'll mock you for your worldview. They'll make fun of the things that you believe. They'll disagree with what you're saying. But nonetheless, when you live for God, it brings glory to God. Let us seek always to live to His glory. That is really the lesson we learn from this prayer. It's all about God's glory, all of it. Jesus prayed for that very thing. And having prayed for that, it will happen. Thousands of souls in heaven will be through the blood, through the blood. When we get to glory, there will be no empty places. There'll be no seats that should have been occupied by people who just wouldn't have the Lord to rule over them. It's not gonna happen. Every one of God's elect will be brought to glory. And for eternity, it will bring glory and praise to God. It'll be to His praise forever. So let us begin to practice up for heaven by glorifying Him here. May God help us. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank Thee that all that Thou hast called us to do as the people of God is really for one purpose. It is that Thy name may be honoured and glorified. Lord, let our name perish. Let the name of the Lord Jesus be exalted. We think of that great request that John the Baptist made, or that statement that he made of Jesus. He must increase, but I must decrease. Less of me and more of him. Let that be the motto of our lives. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we close, we'll sing hymn number 160. Hymn number 160. As I said earlier, the prayer of John 17 really brings us to eternity. It brings us to the throne of God and what the Savior is now doing. It's the high priestly prayer. Lamb of God, thou now art seated. high upon thy father's throne.