The Glory of Jesus

We're continuing to study the final discourse of Jesus Christ. We're in John 17. If you didn't have a Bible or was like a Bible, you can take the one in front of you. We ask that you please do so. If you're using a few Bible, our passage can be found on page 903. The final discourse makes up John. A key teaching of John right before Christ is about to die. He he's telling the disciples what they need to know what they need to cling to the promises they will need to hear, but yet won't quite get until after the resurrection. In the final discourse, we're actually continuing to study it because the prayer is a continuation of. The final teaching. This morning, we're looking at The great high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ is Ron said it's the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. Usually we think of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ is that ascended ministry when what he's doing now the right hand of the father. It's fitting to call this a high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ because he is our priest. He's going to the father on our behalf. And this is probably a summary of the kind of mediating he is doing for us even now. We're going to spend the next five weeks on this prayer. It's a it's an important teaching and section for us in Scripture. But I want to give us kind of a focus. First, as we look at this prayer, our focus is not on how to pray. We're going to learn how to pray from this. Jesus Christ is modeling prayer, but The Lord's Prayer is the way he taught us to pray. There are prayers in this passage we cannot make for ourselves. The focus isn't on how to pray. He really already taught us that in the first few chapters, but before this, he taught us to pray to the Father in the name of the Son, asking whatever, whatever will glorify God, whatever brings us joy. So the focus isn't necessarily on how to pray, but we will learn that. That's the focus. isn't even what we pray for. We should learn to pray the desires and the hearts of God by praying from Scripture, and we can certainly pray from these passages, but that's not the primary focus. We have to kind of see the big picture of what's happening here. The focus of what we're going to learn from this prayer is that we're going to be entering into God talking to God. Think about that. It's like sitting down at a table to hear God talking to God about what they desire and what they love. It's not merely how to pray, we will learn how to pray. It's not merely what we should be longing for and looking for, even though it will teach us that. Friends, you're being invited into the mind and the heart of God. The father. hearing the son, the son letting us in on a glimpse of his love and his commitment and relationship to the father. This is an amazing opportunity. What we're going to see is the heart of Jesus. We're going to learn about Jesus from this prayer. That's the first and most important thing we're going to learn from any part of the scripture. But here we're going to see the heart of Jesus, how he relates to the father, how he's asking for his own glory, how that's a commitment of his. How he loves his disciples in his church, us. So there's things that will be for us. The most important thing for us is to see the glory of God. And it's interesting, as we think about the big picture of what we're really going to learn from this prayer. You hear and see and know the heart of Jesus from his prayer. Let me just go ahead and give you some application. Your prayer reveals your heart. How often you pray reveals how self-sufficient you think you are. What you pray for reveals what you love. And here we're going to see what Jesus loves. The prayer is typically broken up into three parts, verses one through five. Jesus is praying for himself. His hour is coming, his work is going to be complete, his glory will be restored. That's verses one through five. The second. Part is for his disciples, their identity, their deliverance and their security, that's verses six through 19. The third part is for his church, our unity and multiplication. As far as 20 through 26. We read the prayer in its entirety, John Chapter 17 verses 1 through 26. Enter into the presence of God. 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 sun 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 presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world, yours, they were, and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, where I have given them the words that you gave me. And they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they believe that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I'm coming to you, Holy Father, Keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one. Well, I was with them. I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I'm coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. And I ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. I don't ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one, I and them and you and me, that they may become perfectly one. So the world may know that you sent me and love them, even as you love me. Father. I desire that they also whom you have given me, maybe with me where I am. to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father. Even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that a love with which you have loved me maybe in them and I in them. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that You have sent Your Son to purchase us, to finish Your work. We thank You that we are in Christ and we have confidence in Him and what He's accomplished for us and in You and Your keeping us We thank you that we have your love in Christ. We thank you that you sent your spirit. Illuminate our hearts and our minds now as we look to your word. And we get. To think about. The communication that's taking place within the Godhead. Help us stretch our minds to understand and change our hearts to adore. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Before we get into the prayer, I want to show some of the context and its importance here. Verse by verses, Jesus is praying for himself. He's a son of God. He's he's he's praying that his glory would be revealed in the hour of his death. He's praying that his glory would be restored. The big picture that we could think away for ourselves is that Our salvation is for God's glory. That would be the big picture of something you could take away this morning. Our salvation is for God's glory. Now, the context and the timing of the prayer is helpful to think about here because we're still in the final discourse. Jesus is still teaching and leading his disciples. Notice he says after he said these things. When Jesus had spoken these things, then he lifts up his eyes to heaven. Then he begins to speak to the Father. It's a continuation. Most of the final discourse we have in history, this isn't unique to Jesus, they would end with a prayer. This is the great crescendo, actually, of the final discourse, the highest point of the final teaching, his final instruction. Now, He's just given them the most central truth for the church. Maybe the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7, would be more important in terms of the straightforward teaching of who we're supposed to be. But here you could argue that the final discourse is very important. Love one another. Serve one another. I will send you the Spirit. Everything the church will need to know to be the victorious marching army of God for His glory. He's telling us right here in these chapters. And then he ends it with a prayer. And that's significant because Jesus didn't finally entrust those important truths to be fulfilled by his disciples. And that's important to notice here. This is why the prayer follows the teaching. It continues the teaching. It puts it in its proper place. The final fulfillment of all these truths, it's not left up to the disciples. All of us will deny Jesus. No, he takes it to the father and entrust them to the father. Keep them. They're yours, they're in me, they're in the world. Keep them, father. He doesn't entrust these truths to the disciples, takes them to God. This is helpful for us. I mean, the prayer shows the disciples are starting to get it, they believe Jesus is from the father, but this is helpful for us because We have to realize we're slow to learn. We're very forgetful. I can't tell you how often I was frustrated in my early preaching ministry when somebody asked a question and I would say, I taught on that five sermons ago. Were you not listening? Now, I've come to realize I don't pontificate as eloquent as I think. I've also come to realize people forget things in a week or a day or after lunch. It doesn't matter how clear we teach. It doesn't matter how forceful and how much I yell or how energetic I get or how clear it is. It doesn't mean anything if it's not empowered by the Holy Spirit, empowered by prayer to bring it down into our hearts so it actually changes us. How many prophets were sent out to proclaim God's word to dull ears that were not changed? I say this because I want to challenge you, church, If you're coming here without prayerfully saying, God, I want to hear from you. You're not getting out of this time of worship with the body of believers that you should be. I can't convince you of God's truth. I'm convinced of that. I'm convinced of God's truth, but if you want to come and hear what God has to say, it's not up to me. I have a role here that's an honor to be here, but it's up to the Holy Spirit. Are you preparing your heart to hear the word of God? A couple challenges. First, memorize John 17 over the next five weeks. Make yourself meditate upon this passage that gives you direct access into how God relates to God. The son relates to the father. Memorize John 17 over the next five weeks so that you're thinking about this passage constantly. Secondly, pray. Pray that as you're reading it and meditating upon it, memorizing it, that God would reveal himself to you. That you would see more of God's glory, that you would see more of God's plan for the church and for his disciples. This is why we pray on Wednesday night from the sermon. So we send prayers out in the evangel about the sermon. Hearing, yes, we have to hear. But as Calvin said, doctrine has no power unless efficacy is imparted to it from above. Truth must be spoken in love and it must be empowered by prayer. Let's look to the prayer. Let me read it again, the section we'll be looking at this morning, verses one through five. Father. The hour has come. Glorify your son, 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. The first thing I want us to look at this morning is a simple truth. The Father and Son are glorious. This is about God. We're learning about God. We get an insight into God here. And the most basic point is that the Father and Son are glorious. They're worthy of praise. Now, glory here means to honor, to praise, or something more immediate to the context, to clothe in splendor. Now, glory isn't one of God's attributes like power, wisdom, strength, knowledge. No, it's what Edwards calls the admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. Glory is His entire being and how wonderful He is in His entirety. Now, Jesus here, he's he's speaking of a shared glory. First, look at verse one. Glorify your son so the son may glorify you. There's a there's a mutual giving. There's a mutual giving of glory between the son and the father. They both recognize the others worthy of glory. Second, there's a mutual acknowledgment of glory. Look at verse 5. Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had before the world existed. There is a glory the Father and the Son give to one another. There's a glory that they have with one another. So there's two different kinds of glory he's speaking of here. Now, if you've ever asked, is Jesus God like the Father? That's a question that the church has had to answer throughout the ages. I believe it's been answered quite clearly and quite well. But if you ever ask that, this is the passage you want to go to. Is Jesus God? Does Jesus think he's God? Here you have to read this and conclude that Jesus thinks that he is equal in divine glory with the Father. His prayer is for the Father to glorify Him. We don't make that prayer. God glorify me. Why would God glorify us? The creature doesn't look at the Creator and say glorify me. We're not worthy. But the Son either has the audacity or the truth to say to the Father, glorify me. Father, bring me praise. Bring me honor. Clothe me in splendor. That's a bold request. Unless he's God. Jesus has a right to request this because he is truly glorious. His prayer is that his glory would be the same as it was with the Father before the world existed. Begin verse 5. Before the creation of the world, he was glorious with God, the father, the father and the son together will be again in one of those presents. They will again once once again share that glory. The father, the son, they share a glory with one another. Now, this helps us go back to the incarnation, it's it's it's August. We can think about Christmas a little bit here. It's warming up. We can think about the incarnation for a little while. The sun set aside his trappings of glory, he set aside the obvious demonstration of his glory in the incarnation, the word became flesh. The father sent his son to be lowly. God, the sun took on our likeness. Which is why there was no more splendor of his glory as a creator. He he looked like us creation. He set aside his glory. Now, this is amazing. The creator takes on creation, the glorious one becomes lowly. Why? So that being the righteous one, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect life, he could die in our place and could become sin for us. If we think about. What he's teaching here, restoring the glory had with you, which means he's he set aside that glory. He had to set aside his glory to come down to save us, not just because we're creatures, but because of how lonely we are, how far we were from God. He glorifies the father by obeying him. This is a big part of this glorification. Father, I was come, glorify your Son, that some may glorify you. I glorified you on earth. He is in equal glory, but here he is, the Son, equal with glory with the Father, having accomplished the work you gave me to do. I just want to point out something because it will be helpful from last week's sermon on marriage, which I highly recommend if you have not listened to it. Obeying and submitting does not make you inferior. The son who's equal in glory obeys and submits to the father. In fact, Jesus makes it very clear that that's how you're great in the kingdom of God. Submitting and serving and obeying is how you are great in the kingdom of God. This is how we glorify God by making much of him who became sin for us. Now I want you to notice here, this is the heart of Jesus Christ. He's praying for his own glory. Is this selfish of him? Should he be asking the Father, glorify me? I believe he should be asking this because he himself is truly glorious. Again, this is not the prayer we ask. We should be asking Father, And son, help me to delight in your glory. What keeps us from actually making that prayer is that we're too content with what we think is our glory. The problem we have as sinners is that we're consumed with our own glory. While the disciples are required or called to, we're called to deny ourselves. We're called to deny our own desire for glory. We're called to take up our cross, which is taking up on the lowly position, a desire to be obedient and lowly. so that we can make much of Christ. We're called to follow him, which means we glorify him. What keeps us from the glory of God is our desire for our own glory. I want to pull back for a moment. I want to just focus on something even more precise than than the glorification language. I just want to spend a moment and moments and meditate upon the very names father and son. This is behind the glorification of the mutual glorification. Let's think about the names father and son and what that reveals to us. First, the names father and son reveal a unity. A father begets a son who is like him in nature, right? So there's fathers and sons here. A father begets someone who's like him in nature. The Father, the eternal Father, eternally begets an eternal Son, who is not just like Him in nature, but is one with Him in nature. There's a great unity in the Godhead. The Father and the Son, they have one nature. There is one God, their Father and Son. Father and Son language also helps us see that there's distinction. Father Here's the son, the son speaks to the father, the father speaks to the son, the father directs the son, the father sends the son, the son obeys the father. There's distinction in the Godhead. You can't confuse the two. There's not one God who's putting on a role as if a father and then putting on a role as if a son. No, there's there's clear distinction. And I want to make this clear, just as marriage is not something God uses from creation as a metaphor for his relationship to the church. Christ is the ultimate, final, perfect bridegroom. The church is the ultimate, final bride. Our marriages reflect that. He's not just using that as a metaphor. God is ultimately the final and perfect father. And Jesus is the final and perfect son. They are forever father and son perfectly because the father was never a son and the son will never be a father. Our relationships only reflect that. You can see that in Ephesians 4 where Paul makes it clear every father is named from God the Father. What I really want to focus on isn't just the unity and the distinction, it's the relationship. Because the father and son reveal something. Just as a father-son relationship is supposed to reveal something to us here in this world. Ultimately it reveals a commitment and a love for one another. It's a perfect love. It's a perfect love because the son trusts The father. The son perfectly loves the father because he's willing to obey him to death, even death on the cross, we see in their relationship that it is toward one another. That's the first thing we need to see in their relationship. It is toward one another. The father glorifies the son, the son glorifies the father. Jesus praying for the father's glory and the father will seek out his glory. Jesus prays because this is the true best end. Again, getting back to the question, is this selfish for Jesus to pray? No. What else would Jesus Christ seek out other than his own glory? Because it is the highest and perfect, most perfect in. We pray with the son for his glory and not our own. Our error is that we desire our own glory too much. I want to press this in because if you wonder, what is the glory of the Father? What is the glory of the Son? How do I know more of the glory? What keeps you from knowing the glory of the Father and Son that you were created for, that you were created to know and to worship and to love and adore and to sing? It's our own glory. Ask yourself this. What do your prayers focus on? That God would be glorified no matter what. Or that he would somehow find a way to glorify you. What are you asking for? Is it stuff? Is it things? Is it for you? Or is it saying, God, how might you be glorified? Our prayers reveal our hearts. Our prayers focus on the glory of God. Are they focused on ourselves? Examine your prayer in whose glory you're pursuing. Now, here's a real tricky one. When we actually mix the two together. Father, I'll do this for you if you do this for me. I'll glorify you and give you my life if. There's no this. That is the greatest thing you could do no matter what he's worthy and St. Louis says we're so busy eating mud pies when we could be on holiday. We're so busy consumed with our own glory which is fleeting and nothing. It's a figment of our imagination. It won't matter. It won't last when we could be enjoying and alighting in the eternal glory. That is truly satisfying. There's a radical shift that has to take place in the Christian life. There's conversion, there's a change of heart, but there's a radical shift and we have to constantly be setting our goal and our desires away from our glory and on to God's. It's a constant and regular shift. If you're wondering, how do I do that? I'll challenge you to meditate on two things. The incarnation and the cross. Because that's where you see Jesus Christ setting aside his glory for you. That's where we see him setting aside his glory to save you. And you realize who you really are as a sinner. And you realize how glorious he is. The second thing I want us to see in this relationship between the father and the son is that first, it's mutual, but secondly, it's toward us. The father sends the son to die so that we might receive eternal life. We get to call God Father and pursue his glory. It's a privilege because the Father and the Son have been committed to saving us. We have to realize the entire Godhead is bent down to save us who are helpless. Notice one of the key verses here. And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on Earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. To give eternal life to all whom you have given me. That one phrase there to give eternal life to all whom you have given me. Now, there's numerous doctrinal conclusions we can make from this verse, but this is the one I want us to think about. If you believe in Jesus Christ and he's given you eternal life, this is your great assurance of salvation. The father gave you to the son, the son went and took his life and died for you on the cross. We can add to that that the father and the son both sent the Holy Spirit to seal you in his grace. Then the father keeps you. And the son keeps you and the Holy Spirit sustains you. Salvation is secure. And notice what you've done is trust him. You're trusting that God has revealed to you that you're a sinner in need of grace and Jesus Christ has died on you, died for you, but the eternal security is based upon what God has done. The father gave you to the son. The son died for you and completed God's work for you. And the Holy Spirit has sealed you. The second main point that I want us to see this this morning. Is that our salvation is for God's glory. Our salvation is for God's glory. As we consider Jesus' power to save, I want us to see a very important connector in the passage. We're going to be looking at verses one and two here for a moment. The very important word in the ESV is since, S-I-N-C-E, since. Notice how it connects verses one to two. Other translation has just as, or for. I want you to notice something about verse one and verse two related to this one word that connects those two sentences. Verse one and verse two have an action of God and then a purpose, right? Glorify your son, that's the action, the action of verse two, you gave him authority. So the action of the father versus one versus two glorify your son, you gave him authority. The purpose in verse one, so the son may glorify you, the purpose in verse two, so that he might give eternal life. Glorify your son that he may glorify you. You gave him authority to give eternal life. The father glorified the son by giving him authority over all flesh so that he would be the king who is righteous and reigns for God's goodness and for God's glory and bringing the people back to himself. The son glorifies the father by giving us eternal life. The father glorifies the son by sending him with authority The son glorifies the father by giving eternal life. Now, let's focus on verse three, and this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ and your son. What's eternal life? How do you know you have eternal life? A lot of people will answer that question. I walked an aisle. I prayed a prayer. I committed my life to Jesus at this time and that day. Jesus doesn't make it that simple. There's one way you know you have eternal life. And that is that you know God, the father who sent his son, Jesus Christ. This is eternal life, knowing God. It's not that you can just give some facts about God or give some facts about things you've done in your life. It's personally knowing. It's personally rejoicing. It's personally commuting with God. Eternal life isn't something God just wanted to give out tickets to. That's not how it works. Eternal life is him saying, comma, to me. I'm calling you, I'm giving you an invitation. Come and know what life is really like. Realize how perverted it is when you live it in your own sin and I'll come, come and repent and I'll give you a new life. Come and know me and you can have life. What an invitation. You know, God, you have eternal life. The other option is you continue to know sin and you will die in that sin and you will face eternal judgment. There's two ways to live. To know and to love God and to have eternal life. Life as he designed it for, a life of worship or a life of loving sin that leads to death. I'm going to go back up to verse 1. The timing of this prayer is very important if you've been with us throughout the study of John. Jesus references the hour. If you've been in John for a while, you've been longing to know what is this he's talking about. John 2, 4, there's a wedding at Cana. His mom wants him to make water into wine and provide wine. He says, Woman, my hour has not yet come. And I think there he's referring to, it's not yet time for me to pour out my blood to purchase my bride. My wedding day isn't here yet when I will make my bride pure with my blood. John 7 and 8, the crowds are coming and they're doubting and they're seeking to arrest him. And John, our narrator, our gospel writer, he continues to say, they couldn't do it. Jesus is teaching in the temple and the guards of the temple can't arrest him. Because his hour had not yet come. God was sovereign over this specific hour. John 12, 23. The disciples come and they tell him, the Greeks, the Greeks are wanting to know about you. They're coming to hear about you. Jesus responds, my hour has come. Because now all nations want to know who this is. See, the hour is a constant reference to this very specific time that God would do a mighty work. The hour is when God will fulfill every promise he's ever made. The hour is when sin will be washed away. The hour is when he will give new life. The hour is when the sun will be crushed on the cross for our iniquity. The hour has come, Father. Glorify me. There's two particular truths we need to recognize in the hour. The hour is when Jesus will be glorified. The hour is when he would die on the cross. Now, those aren't very those aren't obviously connected, are they? Because the cross, while we wear it, it's a symbol that we see in our culture, but in this day and age, the cross was a symbol of shame. It's the most painful and shamed way to die. And Jesus is saying the hour that I would put on a cross, that's when you will glorify me. We have to come to the conclusion, glory is found on the cross. It's fairly counterintuitive. The death of Christ is his glory. The place of shame for sinners is the place of glory for God. How can that be? It's because it's on the cross that sinners are reconciled to God. The hour of death is connected to his glory throughout John. When John speaks of Jesus being exalted, it's always a connection to the cross. You can go back to John chapter 3. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. That being lifted up is a reference to the cross. Or John 1232, when I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself, Jesus says. And John tells us he's referring to the kind of death. Jesus being exalted, being glorified, is connected to the cross. There's three ways in which I want us to think about the cross as a place of glory. First, the cross is a place of glory because it is where the son reveals his obedience to the father. We can go to Philippians 2. This is why he receives the name above every name. This is why he is the glorious son of God. He was obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross. When the son accomplished the work of the father, he cries out, it is finished. He's been the perfectly obedient son. The son glorifies the father with his obedience. It's where the son demonstrates his absolute allegiance to the father, and it's where the father displays his love for us. Secondly, the cross is a place of glory because it is where the son gives eternal life to sinners. Again, the cultural symbol would have been agonizing and shameful death in that time. The eternal life is found. By looking up to the God of glory who dies on a shameful cross. If you're not a Christian this morning. The cross needs to teach you two things. First, what you deserve. See, Jesus Christ came to be a substitute for us. He came to take what we deserve. So we look at Jesus Christ and how he's treated in his life. That's what we deserve. We've lived shameful lives. We've cursed God, we've rejected him, and just as Christ is mocked and beaten and spat upon and hung on the tree, those physical things, that's not the worst thing that happened to Jesus Christ. That's really not what you need to be worried about and fearful of. The worst thing that happened to Jesus Christ on that cross is when he cried out, Father, why have you forsaken me? What's waiting for sinners who do not repent and turn to Jesus is the wrath of God being poured out upon them for every sin they've ever committed. Jesus Christ died on the cross as a substitute. He took the wrath of everybody who believes in him so that they do not have to have that wrath upon themselves. Friends, recognize he was crushed for iniquities. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you will live a life eternally crushed under the glory and holiness of God. It's the first thing you need to know and realize about the cross. Second. So Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners. He did die for sinners, he did die for everybody who believes in him, that that if you believe in him, you will not be crushed. You can receive eternal life rather than wrath. This is the invitation. Will you believe in Jesus Christ? The cross is a place of glory because it could be where you receive new life. But you must believe you're a sinner. It deserves wrath. You must believe Jesus Christ has taken that wrath. The third way we see the cross is a place of glory. The cross is a place of glory because it is where the Son reveals the love of the Father. John 118, it continues to come back to mind every time I'm reading John. No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten one, the Son of God, he's made him known. Again, the whole point of the prayer is to help us know more of God, Jesus Christ, he's made him known. And we know God. Most on the cross, because we can see that while we were still sinners, he loved us. We know his love is perfectly demonstrated and displayed because he lays down his life for us. We've been called back to God, and it's not because of our work, it's because of the son and his completed work. It's not because we deserve it, it's because he deserves our worship. We've been saved to praise him. As we conclude, we now are going to be turning to the Lord's Supper. We celebrate his death today. That's what we're doing again, pointing back to the fact that the cross is glorious. We're going to praise God for sending his son to die. We're going to reflect and rejoice upon the fact that Christ died. His body was broken. His blood was spilled. This is a time of rejoicing and meditation. It helps us to reflect upon the glory of Jesus Christ that he died for us. It helps us reflect on something we'll hear later in the prayer that we're called to be a united body, loving one another and caring for another. If you're not a Christian, I want to give you advice as you watch and observe the Lord's Supper. When Jesus Christ prayed in Gethsemane, he asked God, let this cup pass from me. And the cup he was referring to was God's wrath. He was asking God, do not, if there's any way, if there's any way you can let this cup pass me, let it be so. Don't pour out your wrath upon me. If there's any way, don't make me drink the wrath of God. And there was no other way, so on the cross, Jesus took the wrath of God represented by a cup. Now we take the Lord's Supper. Recognizing and remembering he took that cup of wrath for us. If you're not a Christian, you're going to have to watch that cup go by. And you have to realize if you don't believe in Jesus, that cup is still waiting. If you can't take that cup that Jesus represents with his death, a cup of wrath is still waiting. I plead with you, do not leave here without talking to somebody about how you can believe in Jesus Christ and have everlasting life. Church, as we come together, we're coming together to unite and rejoicing in the death of Christ. rejoicing in the glory of His cross that gives us eternal life. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise You that we can step into Your presence and hear You and know You, be loved by You and love You. Help us to glory in Your presence. Help us to glorify You. Help us to turn from our own glory into Yours. Reveal Yourself to us. Draw us to Your Son, so that we can be drawn up to You, to be in Your presence, and to adore You. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.