Our scripture reading from the sermon is found in John chapter 17, verses one to five. And that's found in page 1,149 in your Pew Bibles. Please turn there with me. We'll be reading just verses one to five, though this is one cohesive prayer from Jesus to the Father. 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 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. Please bow with me as we go to the Lord one more time in prayer. Lord, we do pray that your word would go forth for your glory, feeding the sheep, saving the lost. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Come and you will see. We see the phrase twice in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. First, when Jesus invites two of John the Baptist's disciples to see where he is staying. Second, when Philip presses his brother Nathanael to see him of whom the scriptures had spoken, Jesus of Nazareth. Come and see. becomes an invitation to the reader to gaze upon the glory, beauty, person, and work of the Son of God. Throughout, the reader is amazed and thrilled by views of Christ, the I Am statements, Christ as the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep, Christ the Word incarnate, his raising of Lazarus. It goes on and on. Maybe the apex or climax of this is the most detailed view we have of Christ praying to the Father. He anticipates the disciples' coming sadness and anxiety as he looks forward to the cross. This is immediately following his farewell discourse to them from chapters 14 to 16. And Jesus gives the Christian a most intimate peek at his glorious relationship with the Father. Again, like I said, he anticipates the disciples' coming sadness and anxiety and prays this awesome prayer in their presence for their ballast and comfort. And this longest recorded prayer of the Savior has been cherished by the Church since time immemorial. Now, the importance of this prayer can't be understated. One famous godly man named John Brown said, the 17th chapter of the book of John is without doubt the most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book in the world. And listen to Philip Melanchthon. He said this, there is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime than the prayer offered up by the Son to God himself. Now whether or not you agree with these statements, going through this prayer is an awesome experience and I encourage you to do it in your own quiet time before the Lord. Seeing the petitions of Christ in John 17 is overwhelming. His prayer of protection for the elect, His praying that His joy would be fulfilled in them, His strong desire that His people would be with Him where He is and that they would behold His glory. It's almost like a parting letter from a dying loved one. Except this one, about to face his death, is alive today, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And these prayers, these petitions he rose up to the Father, still reside in his heart today. Our living Savior is still concerned with these petitions. And these prayers, this prayer, will see us home. We're most fortunate to have this longest recorded prayer of the Son of God for our benefit. So this whole prayer, the prayer of John 17, can be divided into three portions. The first, from verses one to five, consists of Jesus's praying for himself. The second, from verses six to 19, consists of Jesus's praying for his disciples. And verses 20 to 26 consists of Jesus's prayers for all believers, for us. This evening we'll be centering on the first five verses of this prayer. Jesus' prayer for himself and Lord willing in the future we'll go over the subsequent portions of John 17. So we're looking specifically at John chapter 17 verses 1 to 5. And if this is going to be an expository message, meaning the point of the passage is the point of the message, the point of the passage is this. Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection has glorified God by giving eternal life to all his people, accomplishing the task that God has given him. Now, our aim is to get a view of this praying Christ as God-glorifying Savior. And we'll look at the text in three ways. For the first verse, the Son's glorifying work. For the second and third verses, the Son's gift of eternal life. And for the fourth and fifth verses, the Son's accomplished task. But first, the Son's glorifying work. Jesus is not shuddering away from the cross and hiding from prayer as he sees the cross in view. We have Jesus praying, first of all, that the Father glorify Him. We see this in the first verse, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. Now, there has been a lot of discussion as to what Jesus exactly means when He uses the word glorify here. Is it His being glorified in the presence of God after the atonement alone? We do believe as Christians that after Jesus' death, He rose from the dead with a glorified body and is exalted at the right hand of God the Father. So at face value, the most natural way to read this text, just reading it, is to see it as Jesus praying only for His future glorified state. This is fine if we read the chapter by itself, but we have to remember that this verse is couched within a book. There's context. And within this book, Jesus uses that similar language of glory and the hour coming, or Jesus being glorified and the hour coming. What gives us a powerful glimpse into what the Lord is exactly talking about is found in two places. Now remember, at this time, Jesus is nearing the end of his life. The cross is coming shortly. The Greeks, the Gentiles, are seeking after Jesus. And Jesus exclaims in John 12, and it's from verse 23 to 26, but just 23 in this quotation, He says this, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And later, right after Judas leaves the Last Supper to betray him, Jesus says in John 13, 32, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. So at least part of this verse is referencing Jesus' death specifically. The Son of Man is glorified in His humbling, shame-filled death. We might even cite another verse to support this. Isaiah chapter 52 verses 13 to 15 prophesies the death of Christ. This is what it says, Behold my servant, in the context of the atonement, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. Or in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, glorified. It's appropriate to say that Christ is glorified in the cross and that the cross leads Christ to glory. But how? For one, Jesus is praised and glorified throughout the earth by believers for the cross. The cross is the means by which believers praise the Son. It is also the means by which the Son is magnified and glorified by bringing many sons to glory. These rebels that hated God through the cross of Jesus Christ are brought into reconciliation with God. And read that passage in John 12 again about Him dying and then bearing much fruit. Through the Son's death, a people are secured for the Father, and this people glorifies the Son. This death bears fruit, and it bears witness to the character of the Father to all the world. And by going through this atoning sacrifice, the sacrifice on the cross, Jesus is resurrected, glorified, exalted, seated at the right hand of God, awaiting every need to bow and tongue confess that he is Lord. So both the atonement and the resurrection and glorification of Christ are in view here. But notice the emphasis of our Lord here. He's concerned with receiving glory, but to what purpose? He says this, glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you. The very opening of this prayer provides a window into Christ's heart for the Father, and we see Jesus' utmost concern being the Father's glorification even in His own glory. This for us is a peek into the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity from before the foundation of the world. The Father glorifies the name of the Son and the Son glorifies the name of the Father for all eternity. We see this throughout the life of Christ, do we not? His very lifeblood in His ministry is to do the will of his father and to give him utmost glory. Paul tells us in Romans 15 verse 3, a striking verse, Christ did not please himself. His very breath, as we see in John 4, his very food was to do the will of him who sent him. In the midst of his soul being troubled, what is Christ's concern? Look at John 12, 27. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No. Father, glorify your name. This obsession, this centeredness on the glory of God bleeds into the cross and the resurrection. Jesus, in the glorification he receives from God the Father, desires the Father to be glorified by him. John 17.1 is yet another instance of this. You can sense Jesus's anticipation at being glorified for the sake of bringing the Father glory and saving a people for himself. What love, what a glimpse into his person. This isn't just a self-seeking glory, it's a glory that glorifies the Father and leads to souls being saved. Jesus is eagerly looking forward to his death and resurrection. Christian, you who are being regularly conformed to the image of Christ, what does this view of Christ do to your soul? As one united with Christ and adopted by the Father, what's the temperature of your own zeal for God's glory? Again, we have to put our heads down in shame at the sight of Jesus moments away from the cross, this unbearable agony consumed with the Father's glory. But if we're being conformed to the image of Christ, as Romans 8 tells us is the purpose of our salvation, we're being conformed to the image of Christ, we too ought to share this intense desire for God's name to be magnified through us and in us. This other-mindedness of Christ seen throughout the Gospels, do we share it? Are we leveraging all that we have materially physically putting it upon the altar of God, devoting it to Him, to the praise of the Father. With Christ, dear Christian, let's not seek to please ourselves. With every promotion or every extra bit of comfort, let us be hungry to devote it to the furtherance of the Lord's cause. If He'll give us anything, shall we not think first of the furtherance of His glory and kingdom? How can the gospel be furthered through what God has given me? How can my brothers and sisters be served by this? Brothers and sisters, a summer has come. Maybe you've made some resolutions like I have in the coming season. Maybe we've all failed at some of those resolutions. You've promised to read more, pray more. And maybe you failed. Take the preaching heard here to say this to you. Do not give up. You're being conformed to the image of this person. Set it up tonight. Tell the Lord even now your desire to be consistently zealous for his glory, to forgive you. Place yourself afresh upon the altar of God and ask him to send fresh fire from heaven to serve his name. Secondly, should we not imitate our Savior in his method of praying? The tenor of Jesus's prayer is that the Father receive glory. His desire in his upcoming suffering and in his exaltation is for the Father to receive glory. Are our prayers so saturated with the desire for God to be magnified and for God to receive glory? Our Savior provides us this perfect model of prayer. Dear friends, God promises to answer such prayers centered around the glory of God. Now for the second point, the son's gift of eternal life. The second subject Christ takes himself up with is that of eternal life in verses two to three. The son seeks glory from the father since you have given him authority, he prays, over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. God has given the son authority over all flesh, all human beings from eternity past. In John chapter 5, the Father is said to give the Son authority and judgment over all flesh. And Christ, while giving the Great Commission, declares, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So God gives this King of Glory absolute authority over all humans. And yet we read in that verse that he'd give eternal life, particularly to whom God had given him. Father has made Christ king of all the earth and of all humanity, but there's something more. The Father gives the Son a people. The Son has gifted a people from the Father. He gives them over to Him for the purpose of giving them eternal life. We could think of Psalm 2, which deals explicitly with Christ's kingship. The Son has given the nations as an inheritance. We ought to think of it this way. From eternity past, God the Father gifted his only begotten Son with rebels, hell-bound sinners. This is the Father's very gift to the Son from eternity past. Think of Titus chapter 1 verse 2. which says, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. Who could God have promised this to if it was before the ages began? The answer is obviously God. And out of all humanity, all the nations, he's given his son a people for his son to do one thing with, give eternal life. Now just thinking and meditating over this, I couldn't help but come across another portion of scripture, Jeremiah chapter one, verse 10, which says this, God says this through Jeremiah. See, he says, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow. Yet Christ as king doesn't pluck down, destroy or overthrow this people given by the father. No, he gives them eternal life. And again, what are these people that Christ reigns over in tenderness, kindness, and love, but initial rebels who hated Him and waged war against Him? Yet this is His gift from the Father, and He has authority over all flesh, so He has authority and power over the flesh of these sinners to change their hearts, conform them to His image, and save them everlastingly. What a gift from the Father. A group of people given to Jesus so that they'd look like Jesus. Of saying we belong to Jesus, we sing that in songs and hymns. It's not just a pious platitude, it's a doctrinal reality. We are the Son's possession because the Father has given us to him from eternity past. We are Christ and Christ is God, Paul says. Jesus purchases for himself a peculiar people zealous for good works, as Titus 2.14 tells us. And look at Revelation 7.9. John sees a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Christian, since you are given by the Father to the Son, nothing will snatch you from His hand. You can't even do it yourself. Listen to the words of this life giver in John chapter 10, verses 28 to 29. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them from my hand. In eternity past, you were given by name to the son and are his prized possession. Most more intimate language can't be imagined. And look at the tender disposition of your reigning king. If he reigns in this way over you, let him not reign over you in loving kindness in all things, including your failures and miseries. Any sense that Christ is harsh will look to you with a scowl when he sees you in glory. It's total nonsense. The Father and the Son agreed to get a people for themselves, and that's you. This is the Father's very gift to the Son. Remember this verse in Isaiah 53, he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And in Hebrews 12 too, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame. Dear Christian, you are that joy and that satisfaction that Christ received at the end of his atonement, securing salvation for his people. And one evangelist that I'd heard in the past said it so powerfully about this very doctrine. Can you imagine, he said, how many gods stepped over and around to get to you? God has given authority, Jesus' authority over all humans, and he's chosen you. He's foreknown you, which means he set his affections before the foundations of the world upon you. and chooses you to be with Him for all eternity to the glory of the Father. And all this for a bunch of bruised reeds. If we bruised reeds that we are are the gift of the Father to the Son, how tenderly will He deal with this gift? God knows all our weaknesses and failings. before his very, or at the very giving of us to the Son, and because of his great love, clings to us. Now I'm gonna quote from a Puritan, I'm not sure if you guys have heard this before, but a Puritan named John Flavell imagines an exchange between the Father and the Son, and securing a people for the Son's glory. And I'm just gonna read it to you, and I hope it edifies you. So here it is, this is what the father says and it's obviously imagined but the father says this, my son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these souls? And the son says to the father, oh, my father, such is my love to and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their guarantee. Bring in all your bills, that I may see what they owe you. Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after reckonings with them. At my hand shall you require it. I will rather choose to suffer your wrath than they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon me be all their debt. And the father says to the son, but my son, if thou undertake for them, you must reckon to pay the last might. Expect no abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare thee. And the son says to the father, content father, let it be so. Charge it all upon me. I'm able to discharge it. And though it prove a kind of undoing to me, Though it impoverish me of all my riches and empty me of all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it. Now I want to speak to those of you tonight who are here and have not dealt with the King of Glory. You haven't had a face-to-face dealing with the Son of God. This verse for you is both a warning and an invitation. Jesus Christ, as the High King, as I said many times, has authority over all flesh, and that includes you, non-Christian. And what He will do with that flesh is made abundantly clear. Remember, God has given Him authority in John 5, and He's given Him authority to judge. In Psalm 2, we see what the Son does with those nations who will not pledge allegiance to Him. He says this, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. How can you be sure, non-Christian, that you've been given to the Son by the Father? It almost sounds like there's nothing you can do. It's something that's outside of you. The way you know that you're given to the Father is the way every Christian knows that they're given to Him. Go to Him. Friend, if you have the slightest desire to be reconciled to God, go to him immediately. Jesus Christ has never cast out a single person who has come to him. John chapter 6 verse 37 says this, whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out, run to Christ. What is this eternal life? What does it really mean? We hear the term thrown around constantly in Christian lingo and even in the Bible, but do we wonder what God's definition of the term is? Jesus tells us in the third verse, knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Now what this can't mean at the outset, congregation, is intellectual knowledge alone. If that were the case, we'd have a Bible contradiction. James 2.19 tells us, you believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. So this can't just be an intellectual knowing, I know that Jesus is God, I know that Jesus died for me on the cross, and that God the Father is God. Can't be that alone. It is that, but it's something more than that. Now there are some who have that idea. Some love to debate doctrine. They have an obsession with intellectual debates and conversations. There's nothing wrong with intellectual debates and conversations. They have a passion for, let's say, like the five points of Calvinism and debating that. Again, nothing wrong with that. But if you ask them when they were converted, sweat will break out on their forehead. It can shoot the breeze with the best of them, but they have not come to know God personally. Now doctrine has wings, brothers and sisters. Doctrine is like an airplane. You can obsess over its features, you can ooh and ahh over the jet engine and the wing, but what good is it if you don't use it to get to your destination? If doctrine doesn't get you to Christ, either to embrace Him savingly, to know Him in truth, or commune in fellowship with Him, what's the point? Doctrinism means to an end, and this knowledge is characterized by a life of fellowship. It's defined by a life of intimacy. It's real concrete truth, but it's the embrace of that truth, the trusting in that truth, the believing in that truth for oneself. We can look through the scriptures and see that this idea of the knowledge of God has always been central to salvation. Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, enjoyed uninhibited access to the God of glory. God spoke to them directly and walked in their midst. Yet following the fall, God removes them from the Garden of Eden, that first temple, and two angels, two cherubim, are placed at the entrance of the Garden of Eden, guarding the way with swords, prohibiting direct access. After that, God was accessed through middlemen or intermediaries. We remember that the Holy of Holies and the tabernacle could only be accessed by the high priest and only once a year. Again, what was on the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place? Those very same angels or cherubim were embroidered on it, and it's the same for the temple. But suddenly a prophecy arises. We read of a new covenant to be made with man, a new way of salvation. This covenant, the Lord says, is not like the covenant he made with Israel beforehand. He says in Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 33 to 34, and Jeremiah 31 is worth memorizing by the way, that particular section. But he says there, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. And Habakkuk 2.14 says, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and the waters cover the sea. So when is this Jeremiah passage fulfilled? When is it made true? Well, when Jesus Christ on the cross cries out victoriously, it is finished. And that veil with those guarding cherubim on it is torn. The veil is rent, access and knowledge is given to the children of God. All of God's children will know Him personally and they'll be characterized, they'll be defined by personal intimate communion with Him. They will know Him personally and savingly. Paul even says it quite clearly in Galatians 4.9, you have come to know God. But this includes a real intellectual knowledge as well. Now there's a strange doctrine going around and I'm sure you guys have heard it as you've talked to other Christians. This notion that unreached people groups, people that have never heard the gospel before, are going to be saved because no one's preached the gospel to them and God sees them as innocent and will save them because of their ignorance. This verse defies such an argument. They can't be saved apart from concrete knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent particularly. This is the very heartbeat of missions. Romans 10, 14, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? When we spread a doctrine like that, saying we don't have to worry about these people, God thinks they're innocent, we're acting in cruelty. God in his infinite mercy and love reaches to these far out idolaters and people groups through the preaching of the gospel, through missionaries. Let us then either be sent or send and pray joyfully that the Lord would send more laborers into the harvest. Now, have you come to know the true God by Jesus Christ whom he has sent? Have you sought to come to God directly? Maybe you've prayed a prayer of reconciliation, God forgive me, I know you're a merciful God and you love and so just forgive me and skirt past this sin, and thought that God would forgive you on the basis of that prayer. We know that God in his mercy may still look past our ignorant prayers, but friend, apart from Jesus Christ, apart from Jesus Christ whom God has sent, God is terrifying. He's a consuming fire and can't be approached apart from the mediating work of the only begotten Son of God. The author of Hebrews in the 12th chapter gives us a view of two mountains. The first is taken from the one that the Israelites saw as they came out of Egypt. And it displays the terror of approaching God apart from Christ. Look what it says, starting in verse 18 of chapter 12. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. New Covenant people have come to know and thus love God. We, I mean, in the church, we might find people having different experiences at the preaching of the Word of God and at the singing of hymns. One might be thrilled by the glories of Christ. One might be bored stiff. There are, every Sunday, radically different experiences going on in the hearts of people in pews all throughout the world. To know God, friends, is to love and cherish Him. And boredom with the things of God is evidence you've not come to know Him. Now the good news, friend, if you're not a believer, if you haven't trusted in Jesus Christ, is that Jesus loves to disclose Himself. He loves to open up and show the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge residing in Him. He, the pre-incarnate Word, came down that mere flesh might behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He came down to be known. And non-Christian, I would just quote this pastor who gives this exhortation from hundreds of years ago. It's still relevant. He says, quote, follow Christ in a gospel duty, and that is prayer. Beseech him to reveal God to you. Make your address to him as Philip does in John 14.9. Show us the Father. We cannot see him of ourselves unless you show him to us. Lord, show him to your poor servants, end quote. Dear friend, come to Christ as mediator, the one that stands in between an angry God and you. Come to Him as an intercessor, as a savior, as the God-man redeemer. He will save you. And Christian particularly, I want to give this application for you. Do you realize that eternal life is not just a never-ending extension of your life? It consists of the knowledge of God. Your spiritual life and your communion with God consists of the fact that you see God, you know God, that through a mirror dimly, but you still see Him. But at death, you will see God face to face. What was the cross for except to pardon a people for God's glory unto unending spiritual fellowship and communion and knowledge with Him for all eternity. That's eternal life. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that prophecies, tongues, ministries, it will all cease. But spiritual knowledge will continue forever. Think of Mary and Martha. Martha was occupied with the busyness of ministry, serving Jesus Christ, which was a good thing in and of itself. Mary sat at his feet listening to his teaching, listening to the word, knowing God. Jesus says in that portion of scripture, that Mary's choice, Mary's portion will not be taken away from her. This self-disclosure of Christ and knowledge of him is what we will have for eternity. Think of your sweetest times of fellowship and communion with Christ where you feasted on his delights by the Holy Spirit. You dreaded sleep because of the sweetness of communion between you and the Savior and that that would interrupt it. Those times, Christian, are but a dark image in a mirror in comparison to what will then be revealed. We come to our last point, the Son's accomplished task. Jesus prays lastly to the Father, I 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. What is this accomplished work given for Christ to do? Again, we have a Savior looking forward to the cross. So Christ is mainly looking forward, seeing that His sacrifice would be fulfilled, that He would finish that atoning work the Father had for Him. On top of this, God would resurrect Him as the public declaration towards all the world of His satisfaction in the Son's sacrifice. Christ saying in this verse, I have accomplished, or I think more accurately, I have finished in this verse is echoed in John chapter 19 verse 30. When Jesus cries out on the cross, it is finished. At the same time, it's backward looking. So it looks forward to the cross, but it looks backward. Jesus has fully accomplished all that the Father had for him to do. He lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father for the sake of his people. As he prays later in this chapter, he manifested God's name to the God's people and kept his disciples. He fully accomplished the task set before him. This task, saving the people God had entrusted him with. So we could look at this and say, okay, this is a challenge to glorify God to the max. But brothers and sisters, first of all, in truth, none of us can say what Christ has said here ever. The Lord Jesus is the only person in all of history who could faithfully say, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Any of us who would try to pray this to God would be completely insane. We can't plead or use our righteousness in prayer like Jesus did. We can't say anything remotely like this in prayer, but we can plead His righteousness and His accomplished task in prayer. If our standing or confidence in prayer is based on our own ability to glorify God, we're to be pitied and we ought to give up on the exercise of prayer. If, however, it's all founded upon the finished work of Jesus Christ and His perfect standing, nothing should bar us from prayer. This ultimately is what it means to pray in Jesus' name. But just to close, I've said it once and I'll say it again, God is absolutely terrifying apart from Jesus Christ. Why? Well, we see in this verse God demands absolute perfection. But isn't God merciful, you might say? Friend, God's holiness, God's holiness apart from Jesus Christ should be your greatest fear if you're not in Him. Because of His perfect holiness and justice, He demands perfection. If God is holy, He can't wink at sin. The psalmist in Psalm 130 cries out, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? And when God reveals the glory of His character to Moses, God says that He will by no means clear the guilty. And friend, you are guilty if you've not come to Christ. Just one sin committed is equivalent to the breaking of the whole law of God. God's law stands there teaching us we're separated from this holy God. We have been liars, adulterers in heart, idolaters, prizing other things above God. We have not given God the due glory. These seem like small sins to you. We all mess up and God will understand. This just testifies to the darkness of our own heart. One seemingly small sin is like spitting in the face of a king. Now again, we have not accomplished what God has demanded. We failed utterly and miserably and God's justice demands either satisfaction or perfection. And satisfaction means an eternity in hell, experiencing the wrath of God. But praise the Lord for His mercy. The only one who could accomplish this mighty task for God was God. The only begotten Son of God takes on human flesh and is born of a woman, born under the law. At every moment we failed, Christ fully and completely obeys the Father. Every millisecond of His earthly existence was to the Father's praise and glory. All your lies, all your lust, all your pride, all your idolatry, overpowered, silenced by His perfect record. When tempted by Satan himself, he did not budge, not even remotely, he stood firm. We sang it this morning when we sang His Robes for Mine, God's mounting law, Christ mastered in my stead. And what does this perfectly obedient one do after he has obeyed in perfection? He dies the death that we, sinners and rebels, deserve. He's mocked, beaten, and spat upon. And as he is crucified, he bears the sins of sinners. God treats him as if he is the filthiest of sinners. And he is punished for every single one of the sins of all who would believe on him. The wrath of God is poured out on him, and it is the will of God to crush him. The perfect, blameless son of God who knew no sin becomes sin. We would be made the righteousness of God. He offers himself up as a sacrifice for sinners and dies. The task God has given, accomplished. The holy wrath and displeasure of God appeased, made peace in Christ for those who will trust in him. God raises him from the dead to prove this, and Jesus ever lives to intercede for his people. If you've not believed on Christ or trusted in him as your only hope, if you've not been born again, trust in him tonight. The death of Christ for sinners is God's public display of love for the unreachable and for those beyond hope. If you feel even the slightest dread at your sin and desire to be rescued from the wrath to come, go to Christ, turn from your sins, fall on him, believe on him. Talk to one of us at the doors if you're curious about what it means to be a Christian or what it means to trust in Christ. We'd love to talk to you more about trusting in Christ savingly. So this task, accomplished for the Father's sake in bringing many sons to glory, a life of joy in place of sorrow, the embrace of eternal life in place of condemnation, intimacy with the living God, the heritage of every child of God, and it can be yours too. Let's pray. Lord, we do pray that at a view of your cross and the glory of your son. It would draw our hearts to love him more. Lord, we do pray for those that are not saved in this church, either by self-deceit or who know that they're in a state of being separated from you. Lord, would you reconcile them to yourself? And Lord, help us to glory in the cross afresh. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.