Please turn to the Book of Exodus chapter 28. We are studying the Book of John and have come to chapter 17 where we’ve been now for 3 weeks. And John 17 is where Jesus, our great High Priest, goes into the throne room of God, and He has His people on His heart as He prays for them. There is a striking example of this in the Book of Exodus when Aaron the High Priest enters into the throne room. If you look in chapter 28 vs. 29 it says: “²⁹ Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the LORD.” You could write Exodus 28:29 right by John 17, because this is a picture of Jesus; our great High Priest who has us on His heart as He prays to His Father. Let’s turn now and continue our study in John chapter 17.

We have said that John 17 is a very precious chapter in the Word of God because in it we see Jesus at the throne of God praying for His disciples and for all who would believe down through all the centuries. And for a moment I want us to view John 17 as the sequel to John 13 where Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. Putting these chapters together gives us a very full picture of what Jesus came to do. In the 13th chapter Jesus, as it were, put one hand on the defiled feet of His disciples; in John 17 He puts the other hand on the throne of God. Thereby making a link that reaches from holy God to sinful man. In the 13th chapter He was stooping down towards our feet; in the 17^th chapter, vs. 1 He is looking up to the face of His Father. And so in these two chapters we see Jesus filling up the whole distance between God’s throne and defiled man. He is our Advocate, touching us both and bringing us together.

Now as we look at John 17 we pick up where we left off last week, and today we will see a challenge for our lives. Jesus says in vs. 4 “⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” So Jesus glorified God, based on the fact that He finished God’s work. Now you’ll remember that doing God’s work was Jesus’ goal all through His life. When He came into this world He said in Hebrews 10:7 “⁷‘Here I am—- I have come to do your will, O God.’” At the age of 12 His parents were looking for Him and He said: ⁴⁹“Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s work?” Luke 2:49 And in John chapter 4 He said, ³⁴ “My food,”…”is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” And when He hung on a cross, dying for the sins of mankind, He cried out “It is finished.”

And let’s take a second and apply this passage to ourselves, because it teaches us that completing the work God gives us is the way to glorify God in our lives. Ephesians 2:10 says, “¹⁰ …created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” But let’s be honest here, finishing God’s work is no small thing, for in God’s work there is always much discouragement, always much temptation to escape what He calls us to do. That was true with Jesus, and God will have it no other way with us, because His whole purpose is to make us like Jesus.

Think of this: Jesus Christ was rejected by masses of people, He was ridiculed and scoffed, He was lied about and mocked, He was deserted by the majority of His followers. In fact, so many people left Him that He finally asked the handful that remained, “Are you going to leave to?” He was abandoned, and persecuted, His Father laid a heavy cross to bear on His shoulders, and we know that in the garden He cried out “please, Father if it’s possible, take this cup from me.” But Jesus kept right on going and finished the work God gave Him to do, thereby glorifying God.

And oftentimes, there is much in God’s work that would tempt us just to hang it all up and quit. But we have to understand that quitting does not glorify God. James tell us that “perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” and we’re told to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Do you ever find yourself thinking, “What use is it, Lord? I don’t see light at the end of the tunnel and I’d just like to walk away from the whole thing?” Remember Jesus’ words, “I have brought you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do.” And remember what Paul said to the Corinthians: “² It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Faithful in the midst of opposition, faithful in the midst of persecution, faithful in the midst of desertion…faithful as the One Who, while hanging on a cross, having been pierced in His hands and side, and totally covered in blood, and was non-recognizable as a human, said “It is finished.” Question: at the end of your life, will you be able to say vs. 4? “I have brought You glory by finishing the work You gave me to do.” May God enable us to be faithful in whatever He calls us to do so that we can say with Paul, “⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

And now we come to the next section, and for the rest of today I only have two points. I just want us to notice what Jesus does for people, and secondly, what the people are to do in return: so, what He does, and what we are to do. And verse 6 gives us both: ⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” So what Jesus does is reveal God to people, what the people are to do is to obey Him. So let’s look at those two things for the rest of our time together today:

So Jesus reveals God to us so that we can know Him. And look at vs. 26 : “²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known…” Imagine for a moment that you were the third child born to a poor family in China. And in certain parts of China it is illegal to have more than two children, and you’re number three; so you were born in a basement and you were never taken outside for fear of the government taking you away. And you would hear stories from your older brother and sister of what it was like to play outside in the sun, and to feel its warmth, but you can’t even imagine what the sun is like, all you know is the dark basement. And then one day you hear that the law in China has changed and it’s no longer illegal to have more than 2 children, and you remember the day your dad came to you, and he took you by the hand, and lead you up the stairs, and took you outside, and now what you had only heard about you get to experience. You see the light, you feel the warmth of the sun on your body and you smell the fresh air.

For thousands of years the priests told the people about God, they read His law to them, and tried to describe Him. And then Jesus came, and He takes us by the hand, lifts us out of our darkness and in Jesus we get to experience God. In Jesus we see God for ourselves, and we experience His presence. Listen to John 1:18: “¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” John 1:18

So how did Jesus reveal God to His disciples? Well just look at His life. In Jesus’ life we see that God is perfect, righteous, holy, wise, loving, kind and gracious and at the same time stern and just and filled with righteous anger. That’s what God is.

In Jesus’ life we see God has power over all nature (calmed the storm, turned water into wine), He has power over all the animals (He made a fish swallow a coin to give to Peter, He rode a donkey that had never been ridden), and He has power over all people (some He granted repentance, like Zacchaeus, and to others He left in their sin, like the rich young ruler). He has power over nature, power over all the animal kingdom, and He is Lord over every person. If you want to know God, just look at Jesus in your Bibles because Jesus reveals God to us, Jesus unveils God.

I remember watching the unveiling of the first electric car; this has been years ago now, but they had this car at a huge expo center with thousands of people all around, and the car was under this big red curtain. And then came the drum roll, and the curtain slowly lifted, and there was the first electric car, and everybody burst out in applause. Even better than an electric car, Jesus came to lift the curtain off of Almighty God, to reveal Him to us, to make the invisible God visible so that we might know Him.

But I want us to notice something very precious this morning. Notice in vs. 26 where Jesus said, “I have made you known, and I will continue to make you known.” Wait a minute, at the time He said this He only has about a day left on this earth, what would He do during that final day where He would “continue to make God known?” I mean all He was going to do was to die on a cross. That’s right, that’s how Jesus would really make God known to people!

You see, the cross is proof that God absolutely hates sin. He hates it so much that He had to flog it and beat it and crucify it and kill it. We have a sin-hating God.

But the cross is also proof positive that God loves people. You know some people would say “God is so harsh and unloving to let people suffer with disease, and to let people die.” But the cross shuts their mouth because it shows God giving His own Son to suffer for us, to carry all diseases in His body, and to die for our sins so that we can be forgiven and live forever. Talk about love, we see it clearly at the cross.

See the cross is how God put all of His sin-hating energy and His people-loving power together. The cross is why Psalm 85:10 can say: “¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” At the cross, God’s righteousness, holiness and justice, kissed His love and grace and peace. Yes, Jesus would “continue to make God known” even, and especially in His death.

And Jesus reveals God not only in His life, and in His death, but in His words. Look at vs. 8: “⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me.” See that’s how people get to know God, is through His Word. You remember when Jesus asked the few disciples that were left “are you going to leave too?” and Peter responds, “to whom shall we go, Jesus, you have the words of eternal life.” I just want to hug Peter some day. Everybody else had deserted Jesus, and most people would be tempted to join the crowd and jump ship, but Peter just wanted the words of life. And Jesus spoke the word, and Jesus was the Word, and that was enough for Peter.

So Jesus reveals God to us, through His life, His death, and through His Word. That’s what Jesus does for people.

Now let’s finish by looking at what people are to do. What are we to do today?

Look at vs. 6: ⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” This is what the disciples of Jesus are called to do, obey the Word. But notice the order here: the Father’s role is to give people to His Son (that’s called election), the Son’s role is to reveal God to them (that’s called revelation), and the people’s role is to submit and obey (and that’s called salvation). 

So here’s how it goes in real life. A man or woman or child lives their life without any thought of God; just doing their work, or going to school, hangin’ out with friends. And then they hear a message about God, and that message says that they are sinning against a holy God and that the wages of their sin is death. And it honestly frightens them. Unlike their unbelieving friends who mock at that message, this person is honestly scared to death because they see that they don’t measure up. And then they hear part 2, “the rest of the story”, that Jesus came to account for their sins, to take their sins upon Himself as if they were His, that Jesus has come to pay those wages of sin which is death. And they ask what they must do to be saved, and they hear that they need to believe in Jesus, and turn away from their sin.

And here is where it gets sticky doesn’t it. Because now they are in a valley of decision, weighing it out. “I want to know God and have eternal life, but I have to give up this that I have always turned to in my time of need.” And some will say, no, I can’t give it up, and they will turn and walk away.

But a smaller crowd, will hear and believe and turn completely away from what they used to find comfort in, they will reject it entirely and embrace Jesus as their Savior and Lord and friend. They are the ones described in vs. 8: “⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” So they accepted the Words, believed in the Son, and obeyed the Lord and are saved.

Which group are we in this morning? I minister on Twitter as much as I can and listen to a couple responses I got back this past week to something I wrote, “that, is a bunch of hooey, it’s narrow minded religious jibberish.” Here’s another, “well I hope that you and your imaginary, three-in-one friend are real happy together.” And here is one more, “I believe that with all my heart, thank you for ministering the gospel to me.” Some people mock God’s Word, and turn their back and run; some accept those words as truth and believe and obey. Which are we today? 

Well we can tell by listening to some of the things that God tells us in His Word to obey:

1.      “¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).

2.      “repent, turn away from all your offenses” (Ezekiel 18:30).

3.      “¹⁸ …grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18).

So this is what the Word teaches all of us: believe and repent, and change and grow.

And I will close with this thought from verse 8: “⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” Look how the Word leads to faith. When God saves somebody He gets them in the Word, they are convinced that they must read this Book, and that is how their faith grows. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). How plain is the lesson here taught us! If our faith is to be strengthened, deepened and increased, it can only be by our diligent attention to, prayerful meditation on, and personal appropriation of the words of God! And that is our responsibility right now, today; to accept these Words and to act on them.

Jesus brought glory to the Father by finishing the work God gave Him to do. That work culminated in His death on the cross, by which He has made God known to us. And we see that our response is to accept His Word, and follow Christ in obedience.

John 17. We have come to one of the most important passages in all the Bible. John 17 is the longest recorded prayer that Jesus prayed for His disciples, and according to vs. 20 He was not just praying for them but for us, for all who would believe. And this passage tells us, very clearly, how people can live forever. We see it right there in vs. 3: “³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” So it is clear then that knowing God and Jesus Christ is the way to eternal life.

And it’s important that we understand that this word “know” does not mean to understand some things about God, or to have some general knowledge of God; no, the word itself means to know God intimately. It’s the same root word as when Adam “knew” Eve and they had a son. And so Jesus says “this is eternal life, that we might know God intimately”.

But there is a problem right here, and if we are honest we will admit that we sense this problem in our own lives. The problem is that God is holy, and righteous and just, and we are sinful and broken and fallen people. And we sense that we cannot approach Him, much less know Him in an intimate way.

When I was young my brother and I used to walk to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow. Not really. But we did walk to the school bus which was just a couple of blocks, and I still remember one house that we used to pass. It was a big black house, completely surrounded by a chain-link fence, sort of a haunted-house type place. And on the fence there were numerous signs, I can still see them in my mind today: “Keep out”, “No trespassing.” “Beware of Dog.” And one that sticks out in my mind, and always scared me every time I read it, “Trespassers will be shot.” Now this was not the type of home that you would call warm, and open and inviting, no in fact my brother and I always wondered if we’d make it past the house or if we’d get too close to it and get shot. It was certainly not a place that was welcoming whatsoever.

And God is much like that. When we come to the Bible we see God’s perfect law that demands perfect obedience or we die. The Law tells us of God’s perfect righteousness, His absolute holiness, His inflexible justice, and the requirements that Jesus gave us to “be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” And if we are honest we admit that we do not measure up to that. And so God’s law becomes a chain link fence around God, it’s the “keep out” and “no-trespassing” signs, and in our souls we seem to hear the words, “violaters will be sent to hell.” And we don’t want to come any closer to God than my brother and I wanted to go knock on the door of that frightening black house.

And so if eternal life depends upon knowing God, but His holy Law keeps us away from Him, how in the world can we know God and live forever?

Well to answer that question, I just want us to compare two passages of Scripture, and we will see the answer very clearly. First, look with me at Jeremiah chapter 31. Now the setting of this chapter is that God is promising to give a new covenant. The Old Covenant Law, given at Mt. Sinai has been broken by His people, they could not keep it, and so God promises a New Covenant. That is the context of this chapter. Let’s read it together starting at vs. ³¹ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

So for a minute let’s contrast the Old and New Covenants God made with people:

First, in the Old Covenant God wrote His law on stone tablets; remember Moses up on the mountain and the mountain is quaking and there is fire everywhere and God is writing the Law with His finger on tablets of stone. In the New Covenant God sends the fire of His presence right into our hearts, and He writes His law in our hearts. The Old Covenant was external, outside of us, the New Covenant works on our hearts, changes desires, passions and loves.

Second, in the Old Covenant God actually disowned His people, because they broke His Law. And so Isaiah 50 shows God giving His wife, Israel, a certificate of divorce and sending her away because she was unfaithful. But oh, in the New Covenant God owns His people for life and eternity, saying “I will be their God and they will be my people.” In the New Covenant God never disowns His bride.

Third, in the Old Covenant priests would stand before the people and teach them about God, so that they could know about God; in the New Covenant all people would know God themselves. Not just the priests, but all people, from the least to the greatest, would have a personal relationship with God.

Finally, the Old Covenant was based upon the people’s performance (“do this and live”) but the New Covenant is based upon people’s forgiveness. Vs. 34 tells us: “for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Think of this: God enters into covenant, a promise, an agreement, to forgive the sins of people, so that they can know Him.

And so here is the summary: for thousands of years people looked forward to a time coming when God would work in their hearts and change their desires and cause them to love Him. A time when God would own them as His own people, a time when they could know God and be intimate with Him based upon having all their sins forgiven and forgotten. When oh when would this time come? It was the longing in the hearts of people, when will God make this new covenant?

Now I want us to compare Jeremiah 31 with Matthew 26. In Matthew 26 Jesus has come to earth and lived a perfect life and is about to die. As He eats the last supper with His disciples He says in Matthew 26: “²⁷ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Ah, Jesus came to make a New Covenant by dying for people, pouring out His blood to cover their sins, so that God would “forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.”

And now through this new covenant, God works in the hearts of people, writes His Word in our hearts, causes us to love Him and obey Him and worship Him and serve Him. God’s promise to write His law in our hearts finds its fulfillment with each clang of the hammer as God Himself pounds the nails into His only Son, for there our names are written on His hands, and His Law is written in our hearts.

Now, anyone who repents and believes in Jesus, God will never send them away, never disown them, God calls them “my people”. God sent His own Son away instead, as if He were the law-breaker, as if He were the adulterer, as if He were unfaithful, so that you and I might be received and accepted and brought near and be owned by God. Picture for a moment, Jesus suffering on the cross, and through parched lips saying to the devil, “you cannot have these people, right now I am buying them, and taking them to be my own. They are my people and I am their God.”

And finally, the greatest benefit of the New Covenant is we can know God through the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus said in John 17:3, “this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Jesus removed our sins, covered them in His blood, took them out of the way, nailed them to the cross, removed them as far as the East is from the West, so that we can know God.

I remember reading of a large bomb that was discovered in Germany after the war, and the soldiers didn’t know what to do with it, because anything they could think of might make it explode. You know what they did? They dug a deep hole in the ground, literally hundreds of feet down into the earth, and they put that bomb there and covered it over with the earth. That’s what God has done with our sins, buried them in the depths of the earth and covered them over with the blood of His Son, and we are forgiven. That’s why Mr. Spafford can write,

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

God has removed all barriers to us knowing Him, and has opened the way for God Himself to be our best friend. In our check-in sent to the leadership team at Setting Captives Free Bryan Reif wrote this question, “what does Jesus mean to you?” This is what one of the older ladies, a grandma wrote, “Jesus is the best friend I can ever have. He is always there for me.  He walks and talks with me daily. He assures me every morning that no matter what happens that day, he will be there to walk me through it. He gives me the strength I need to keep going and pushes me along when I get tired.  He assures me that there is nothing that together we cannot accomplish. I could go on and on about who Jesus is to me.”

And finally, another man wrote, “The Lord has been sweet to me this week.  I love Him so much.  I do not understand His great love for this great sinner.  I had struggled with remembrance of my sin lately.  Satan threw it all back at me and somehow I began to fear that I might fall back into it. I really cried out to God and He came to me in a wave of grace and swept over me with His love again, reminding me that my sin has been completely removed and can never be brought up again.  And He reminded me that I am safe with Him.  He has put Himself between me and that which desires to have me.” 

And I have to read you one more, because this one came from a man who lives at home and who works his ministry from his computer, because he is paralyzed with muscular sclerosis. He has worked in our ministry for 8 years now and unless God does a miracle his life is coming to an end. Listen to what he wrote, “To me, He’s my forgiver and redeemer, my savior and my rock, my perfect righteous king and the best friend I’ve ever had, who never will leave me nor forsake me, He’s my hope and my hope giver, I have hope for an eternity with Him and He is my peaceful calm sustainer in this life.” A man on his deathbed has a peaceful calm sustainer who is his best friend.

We can know God. I love that old hymn, “and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

So God has in effect opened the door, through Jesus death, for us to know Him and have eternal life. And because knowing Him is so important, I want to just give us three ways by which we can know God, and then we’re done. So we’ll look up 3 passages of Scripture on how to know God.

First, is to believe in Jesus. Turn with me if you will to Romans chapter 10. Here is the value of preaching, and this is why every church should place an emphasis on preaching. Romans 10:13 says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but then Paul begins to ask a series of questions: “¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15. So let’s see what God is saying: God sends someone to preach good news. People hear, some will believe, which will lead to them calling on the Name of the Lord to save them.  

See some people do not want preaching, they just want to have home groups where we all share and discuss and talk about the Scriptures. But listen to 1 Corinthians 1:21 “²¹ God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” This is why preaching is so important and why all churches should make it a priority. Knowing God starts with believing the gospel that is preached.

Secondly, to know God there is nothing more important than reading our Bibles. Look with me at 1 John chapter 2. And in this chapter we have 3 levels of maturity presented to us, and what I want us to notice is what characterizes each person. “¹² I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. ¹³ I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. ¹⁴ I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 1 John 2:12-14 So we have 3 levels of maturity here: we have little children, young men and fathers. And notice what characterizes each one:

Little children are characterized by forgiveness of sins, that’s about the extent of what they know. Little children fall a lot, stumble, make a mess of things. But they know that Jesus died to forgive their sins and they cling to that.

But notice the young men, they are characterized by being strong in the Word. They have grown because of their feeding on God’s Word. Some of you have had teenagers, and you know that teenagers eat you out of house and home. And when they do that, we have a phrase that we say right? “Oh, they are going through a …” what? That’s right, a growth spurt. People go from little children to young men when they begin feeding on God’s Word. Let me ask you some questions, no need to answer, just think: what is the Book of Ruth all about? What is the main subject in Philemon? What are 3 things that the book of Leviticus teaches? When we can answer these questions we will be strong young men who overcome the devil through the Word living in you.

And finally we have fathers, and they are characterized by knowing God. So they’ve gone from little children who know they’re forgiven, to strong young men because they are feeding on God’s Word, to where they are characterized by their relationship with God.

Faith in Jesus, study of God’s Word, and finally, suffer. Does that seem strange? Let’s look at Philippians 3:10: “¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” If we want to know Christ we will also know power and suffering. Power over sin, and death and the devil, and suffering because we are denying ourselves the pleasure and the comfort that the world turns to. The world turns to drinking and drugs to help them make it through the day, to relieve their stress, the world turns to pornography and illicit relationships, but believers must turn away from those and die to sin and to ourselves. If we do that, turning away from the world’s comfort and dying to sin, we will have real fellowship with Jesus in His sufferings and we will know Him.

“¹ Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” Diet pills say “lose weight without being hungry”, no suffering needed; but God’s Word says the only way to be done with sin is to suffer. And the only way to really know Christ is to suffer by dying to sin, turning away from it, refusing to be comforted by it. If we do that we can then be comforted by Christ.

How to know God and have eternal life? Believe in Jesus, believe the good news that you’re forgiven because He was forsaken, secondly devour God’s Word, and finally choose to suffer rather than self-medicate, choose to die to sin and you will know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.  

Well I started this morning with an illustration of my brother and I walking to the school bus every day and passing an old black house that was not at all warm or inviting. I want to tell you what we walked by on the way home from school, on the other side of the street. Mrs. Johnson was an older lady, a widow who lived in this old home by herself. The home was white and she was out every day working in the yard. She had a little garden full of beautiful flowers, I still remember how many colors were spread throughout her yard. And every day she set cookies on the fencepost just for my brother and I. In fact she always set them there at 3:00 PM, and if we happened to be early from school we would walk really slow because we didn’t want to miss Mrs. Johnson’s cookies. She always gave us a friendly hello and was always very kind.

In Jesus Christ, God is like that. He has torn down the chain link fence of the law that barred us from His presence, He has covered over our sins and removed them from us, He has reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son, and He invites us to come and know Him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

In 2003, a frail black woman slowly rose to her feet in a South African courtroom. She was 74 years old. Facing her from across the room were several white security police officers. One, a Mr. van der Broek, had just been found guilty of murdering the woman’s son and her husband. The man had come to the woman’s home a number of years earlier, taken her son, shot him at point blank range, and then burned his body.

Several years later, van der Broek had returned to take away her husband as well. For two years, she could learn nothing of what happened to him. Then, Van der Broek came back for the woman herself. She was led to a place beside a river. There, she saw her husband, still alive, but bound and beaten, lying on a pile of wood. The last words she heard from his lips as the officers poured gasoline over his body and set him aflame were, “Father, forgive them.”

But not long ago, justice caught up with Mr. Van der Broek. He had been found guilty, and it was time to determine his sentence. And as the woman stood, the judge asked, “So, what do you want? How should justice be done to this man who has so brutally destroyed your family?”

In reply, the woman said, “I want three things. I want first to be taken to the place where my husband’s body was burned so that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial.” She pauses, then continues. “Secondly, my husband and son were my only family. I want, therefore, for Mr. van der Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me so that I can pour out on him the love of a mother for a son.” There were gasps in the courtroom.

“And, finally, “I want a third thing. I would like Mr. Van der Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive me and him. This was also the wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can embrace Mr. van der Broek and let him know that he truly is forgiven.”

As the court assistants led the elderly woman across the courtroom, Mr. van der Broek was overwhelmed by what he heard, and he fainted. Then quietly, from those in the courtroom, friends, family, and neighbors – all victims of similar oppression and injustice – began to sing “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”

Van der Broek committed horrible crimes against this woman, he was her enemy, yet she interceded on his behalf. She expressed a heart of love for him, went to bat for him so to speak. Well we have sinned against a holy God, we’ve been His enemy, but we have Someone who intercedes on our behalf, who pleads with the Father for us, expressing His heart of love. John chapter 17 shows Jesus praying to the Father for us, interceding for us, pouring out His heart for those who are guilty and deserving of death. Oh praise Him!

Well we come now to an amazing portion of Scripture. This is known as Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, and this is a passage of Scripture that is like no other passage in all the Bible. In John 17 we come right into the Tabernacle of God, and the curtain is drawn open, and we are admitted into the Most Holy Place, and there is our great High Priest Whose Name is Love, and He is before the throne of God above, and He is praying for you and me. So that in this chapter, we come to the throne of the Most High God, therefore we should, symbolically speaking, take off our shoes; that is, we should read with a reverent and receptive heart of worship, for the place where we now stand is holy ground.

To show you how amazing this chapter is, listen to what a couple of people throughout the centuries have said about this chapter: Martin Luther said, “In this chapter, Jesus opens the depths of His heart, and pours it all out. It sounds so honest, so simple, yet it is so deep, so rich, so wide, no one can fathom it” (Martin Luther).

Melancthon said, “There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered up by the Son to the Father”.

And finally, Bishop Ryle said, “John 17 is the most remarkable chapter in all the Bible. It stands alone, and there is nothing like it”. We are about to study the most remarkable chapter in all the Bible. Let’s pray.

You know, Jesus prayed often throughout His life. At the beginning of His public ministry Mark 1 says, “³⁵ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” On the evening before He chose His disciples Luke chapter 6 says, “¹² Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” It was while He was praying that He was transfigured before the disciples, and it was while He was praying that He breathed His last breath as He died on the cross.

But we don’t really have a record of most of what Jesus prayed in these prayers. His prayers for Himself and His ministry are hardly even recorded, but when we come to John 17 where He prays for us, oh my, we have the longest prayer by Jesus in all the Bible. The Holy Spirit wants us to know what Jesus is praying for us. He wants us to know His heart is for us, despite what we have done to Him.

And as we begin our study of this chapter, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Job chapter 9. Because I want us to see that the passage we are looking at today is the solution to the longing of Job’s heart. Let’s see what Job prays in chapter 9, beginning with vs. 32. Job is talking about God here, and he says in vs. 32: ³² “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.” He is saying “I’ve found this out: God and I are not equals, He does as He pleases and I can’t take him to court and put him on trial. He’s God.” And here comes the cry of Job’s heart, in vs. 33: Oh…“³³ If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, ³⁴ someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.” Job longed for somebody to come between God and him, and to stretch out one arm and touch God, and stretch out the other arm and touch Job, because without that Mediator, all that Job could expect was the rod of God’s wrath.

And Job is simply expressing the human problem here, that God punishes all sin, and we are deserving of the rod of God’s anger, and we are in need of someone to come between us, to intercede for us, and somehow remove God’s rod from off our backs.

And here comes Jesus in John 17, and He is the answer to Job’s prayer and He is the answer to the human problem. In John 17 Jesus is the go-between, the Mediator, in essence He connects God and man. And in John 18-20 He steps between God and man and receives the beating that we deserve. In dying for us, Jesus removed God’s rod from us. Now God’s terror frightens us no more. Hallelujah. So we could just write Job chapter 9 by John 17.

And the main content of Jesus’ prayer could be summarized by 5 words, and over the next several weeks we will study these five topics together: the first one is revelation. Vs. 6 says ⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” And look at vs. 26: “²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” The second word is Protection. The middle of vs. 11 says ^11…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name–the name you gave me–so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.” The third word is sanctification. In vs. 17 He prays “¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” The fourth word is glorification. In vs. 24 He says ²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.” And the fifth word, and I don’t really know if this is even a word, but “unification.” Vs. 23 says ²³ …May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

So Jesus wants God to be revealed to us, He wants God to protect us, He wants God to sanctify us, to show us His glory and to make us one, with no divisions among us.

Well I know that was a long introduction, but this is an important chapter we are about to study, and today we’ll look at the first few verses together. Starting at vs. 1: “¹ After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”

Ah the time had finally come. You’ll remember no doubt that 7 times throughout the book of John Jesus says “my time has not yet come”, or “His hour had not yet come”, until He is now facing the cross, and now His hour had come. This was the greatest hour in the history of the world: the hour when the Lord of glory would be made sin for His people. The hour when He would be beaten with rod of God’s wrath in order to remove God’s rod from us.

It was the hour when hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament would be fulfilled: It was the hour when Jesus, the last Adam, would be put into the deep sleep of death, and have his side opened so that He could have a bride. It was the hour when Christ the rock would be struck and out of His death would flow rivers of living water for all who believe. It was the hour when the remedy for the snakebite of sin would be lifted up on a cross-like pole, so that anybody who is under the death sentence of sin can look and live. It was an hour when the sun refused to shine and the earth began to quake, and all believers were redeemed and all heaven was made glad. Yes, the hour had now come. The most important hour in all of human history. The hour had come for Jesus to be glorified by dying and rising from the dead.

And Jesus prays in vs. 1 “glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify You.” And then He shows how He would be glorified in vs. 2: “² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” You see, God has given certain people to Jesus Christ so that Jesus can give eternal life to them. And Jesus is glorified by saving people and giving them eternal life. When a person turns from his sin, turns from the idols he was trusting in, and trusts Christ to save Him, Jesus is glorified.

Now this morning I want us to notice that Jesus has authority over all people. People don’t like to hear this, do they? “I’m the captain of my own ship, the master of my own destiny.” Frank Sinatra and I want to do things our way. But the truth is that Jesus is King over every heart and life, He is the Lord Jesus, and He has authority over you and me today.

But notice how He uses His authority in vs. 2. He uses His authority to save people and give them eternal life. I remember reading of King Eusubious of Ethiopia who was a tyrant and every year he took more and more taxes from the people. And everybody hated King Eusubious because he used his authority to take and take and take. But oh King Jesus uses His authority to give eternal life to all who come to Him. Now that’s a King I can love and submit to and worship and serve. One Who says “^28…I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” He uses His authority over all people to save us and to give us eternal life.

There’s an illustration of this in the Old Testament: remember that Joseph went from the pit to the palace. He was placed as second-in-command over the whole nation, and had been given authority over all people. But what did he use his authority to do? Well there was a severe famine in the land and people were starving, but everybody who came to Joseph was kept alive. He gave them grain and saved their lives. And He is a picture of King Jesus Who has authority over every person, and He uses His authority to save people and give eternal life to everybody who comes to Him.

And then He explains exactly what eternal life is. In vs. 3 He says “³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Notice that the way to eternal life is through relationship and intimacy and fellowship with God, so that there is no eternal life for those who do not know God. To those people in Matthew chapter 7 who did great things for God, Jesus says “away from me, I never knew you.” To the five foolish virgins who begged to be let in to the marriage celebration Jesus said “I tell you the truth, I do not know you.” These all illustrate the same truth, that eternal life comes by knowing God and Jesus Christ. Jesus says to His church today, “I’m standing outside your door knocking; if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door I will come in and eat with you (fellowship with you in relationship).”

So I want to say something to you this morning that is very important. In fact, it is so important that you may have been sleeping through this message up until now, and you might go back to sleep after I say this, but please give your full attention to this: because of John 17:3 we now know what our main mission in life should be: to know God and Jesus Christ. This is so important that all eternity hangs on whether you know Him or not. Men here today, our main goal in life should not be to provide for our families, though we need to do that, but our main goal should be to get to know Jesus and to build a relationship with Him. Ladies, you should have a goal in your life at home, and that is not to raise your kids properly, though that is important, but rather your goal should be for you yourself to know Jesus. Children here today: your main goal in life should not be to get a good education, or to find a good husband or wife to marry, or to make your mark in this world, but rather to know Jesus.

So because our eternal life is decided as to whether or not we know God, I want to close this message today with some practical things to do in order to know God. And I’m just going to touch on them briefly because next week we are dedicating a whole Sunday on “How to Know God.” It would be a good time to invite your friends and relatives and neighbors to church with you.

First, the only way to know God is to have our sins forgiven. God says in Hebrews 8, “they will know me for I will forgive their sins.” Only when our hearts are broken over our sin, and we cry out “Oh God have mercy on me a sinner” do we then find God and come to know Him through the forgiveness of our sins. Have you cried over your sin, and have you cried out to God? That’s how you will come to know Him.

Secondly, we know come to know God through His Word. 1 John chapter 2 talks about knowing God in His Word. You know when a man comes home from a long journey he will tell his family all about his trip. In essence, he is putting himself into his words, and conveying himself to his family. This is what God has done, He has put Himself in His Word, and we can only know God through His Word. Therefore a good portion of our day should be spent in study of God’s Word.

Prayer. Secret prayer, where we go into our closets, and just spend time with our God, is one of the greatest ways to know Him. How much time are you spending alone with God?

Finally, repent of sin. If we hold on to one thing that defiles our conscience it will prevent us from knowing God in all His fullness. Paul said in Philippians 3:8 “⁸ I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Paul gave up his entire past life, he lost it all and said it was great. Is there something that you need to give up today? Something that is preventing you from knowing God, and therefore having eternal life? Won’t you just let it go, give it up, and then come running into the arms of God.

Well in John 17 Jesus is praying for believers, interceding for them. His prayer is that they, and we, would come to know Him. And I just want to close today with this illustration. If you would, turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 17. In fact, Exodus 17 is the Old Testament version of John chapter 17.

In this chapter the Amalekites have come to attack God’s people, the Israelites. And we know the outcome, the Israelites won the battle. But I want us to notice how this battle was really won. Starting with vs. 10 “¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. Exodus 17:10-12

So here is the situation: there is a great battle being fought here. Other parts of the Bible tell us that the Amelekites are a huge army, and they are threatening the very life of God’s people. So Joshua begins to fight them, and Moses and 2 other men go up on a hill. Three men on a hill. And Moses raises his hands in intercession, in prayer for the people. And as long as Moses’ hands are raised up and outstretched, God’s people win the battle. Isn’t it amazing that God made the outcome of the battle dependent upon what that man in the middle, with the outstretched arms, did on that hill?

Now you and I today have real enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. And they are very real, and they are seeking to destroy us. But Jesus Christ went up on a hill 2000 years ago, and he was there with 2 other men. Three men on a hill. And Jesus raised His arms up and stretched them out, and what He did on that hill brings victory for everyone who believes.

Let’s worship Jesus that He began His work of intercession when He died for us on the cross, and now He ever lives to intercede for us. In fact the last picture we have of Him on this earth was as He was being taken up into heaven, and He had His arms raised up. As if He was saying “I will intercede for you every day of your life, I will pray for you when you fall, I will raise you up when you are down, I will secure every blessing for you, and I will do it until the very end of time.”  

I have only one point this morning, just one thought that seems to be conveyed from our text this morning. I want to convey that thought by way of some questions this morning, and I recognize how strange these questions sound. Do you rejoice in the death of Jesus Christ? Paul wrote to the Galatians “¹⁴ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14 Do you glory in the cross? Do you boast in the cross? Do you find joy in the cross?

Now in our passage this morning, Jesus’ words to His disciples are quite confusing. Let’s review their discussion in vss. 16-18. Jesus says in vs. 16:

 ¹⁶ “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” ¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” John 16:16-18

I mean this almost seems like a paradox for them: they would see Him, they would not see Him. It almost sounds like a contradiction. And even His statement that He was going to the Father was not plain to them; they thought the Messiah would remain on earth. They had no place in their theology for the Messiah leaving them and going away so they did not understand His words to them.

You know, God puts things in His Word at times that require us to dig and search out the meaning. He states things in such a way that if we just read rapidly and carelessly we will not understand the meaning. Sometimes we really have to wrestle with the text like Jacob wrestled with God all night long. While the main truths of Scripture are easy enough that a child can understand them there are things in God’s Word that are confusing and require us to ask God’s help in understanding them. David prayed to God in Psalm 119:18 and said, “¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” And Job prayed, “³² Teach me what I cannot see…’ Job 34:32 Those are good prayers for us; open my eyes that I can understand, teach me what I cannot see.

See the disciples were confused because they had no place in their understanding for the Messiah to die, to rise again, nor to go away from them. And yet they should have. Both Psalm 68 and Psalm 110 speak about the Messiah ascending on high, going to the Father, just to name a few. You see the disciples were in error because they did not know the Scriptures. I wonder this morning, how much in error are we if we do not know the Scriptures. God says “My people perish for lack of knowledge.”

And look at vs. 19: ¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? John 16:19

So before they could even ask Jesus is going to give an answer. See the Lord knows what we need before we even ask. All things are open before Him, even our hearts, and all of our questions. Listen to Isaiah 65:24: “²⁴ Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” And here is Jesus’ answer in vs. 20:

²⁰ I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. John 16:20

So they would mourn for Him when He died, and not only would His death result in their sorrow, but the world would rejoice over its apparent victory. But after a short time their grief would be turned into rejoicing as He rose from the dead. Isn’t it amazing how completely this prediction was fulfilled? When Mary Magdalene came to the disciples to tell them Jesus was alive, she found them mourning and weeping (Mark 16:10). When Christ came to the two disciples walking to Emmaus, it says “They stood still, their faces downcast.” How many times during those three days of death the disciples must have remembered His words “You will weep and mourn.” And while the beloved disciples were sunk in sorrow, their enemies were rejoicing in their victory. “He’s dead, He’s dead.” But then as Jesus rose from the dead, His prayer in Psalm 35:19 was answered: “¹⁹ Let not my enemies triumph over me.” As He rose from the dead, their sorrow turned to joy as John 20:20 says, “²⁰ The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”. John 20:20 and when He ascended to heaven it says  “⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” Luke 24:52

But look at the words Jesus used, and I want us to see a little different meaning here today. It was not only that their sorrow would be replaced by joy, but it would be “turned into joy.” Their sorrowing became joy, just like Jesus turned the water into wine! And this is what is important: the very cause of their sorrow — the death of Christ — now became the very basis of their rejoicing! In other words, Jesus’ death became the basis for their sorrow, then Jesus’ death became the foundation of all their joy.

And what brought about this change? What caused them to see the death of Jesus in a different light? It was the work of the Holy Spirit. “¹⁴ He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:14 The Holy Spirit reinterpreted the death of Jesus for them so that their sorrow was turned into joy.

They were sad because Jesus’ hands and feet and side and head were all pierced: the holy Spirit taught them that He was pierced for their transgressions, and their sorrow was turned to joy. They were sad because Jesus was crushed to death; the Holy Spirit taught them that He was crushed for their iniquities, and their sorrow was turned into joy. They were sad because Jesus was punished and wounded and then He died; the Holy Spirit taught them that Jesus was punished so that they might have peace with God, and He was wounded that they might be healed, and that He died that they might live, and their sorrow was turned to joy. 

And these words “your sorrow will be turned to joy” will find their ultimate fulfillment when He comes to get us and take us to be with Him. Because this life is full of sorrow (I know what some of you are going through right now), this life is a night of weeping. But weeping only endures for the night, joy comes in the morning. One day everything that caused you and I to weep will all be changed, and our sorrow will be turned into joy. So with that hope we can say “¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17). What a contrast to unbelievers, as Jesus said in Luke 6: “²⁵ Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.” Luke 6:25

 Then Jesus gives an analogy, a parable, a word picture in vs. 21: “²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” John 16:21 Jesus is using a very familiar situation to illustrate joy that comes from sorrow. In essence, He says just like a woman is filled with pain and sorrow when her baby is in her womb, so you will be filled with pain and sorrow when I am in the tomb. But both give way to joy. A pregnant woman has hours of pain followed by years of joy, just as you will have 3 days of pain followed by an eternity of joy.

See God wrote the gospel in nature. The pain, agony, travail a pregnant woman goes through, followed by the joy of the birth all picture the cross and the tomb and the resurrection. Listen to Isaiah 53:11 in the King James: “¹¹ He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” This means after Jesus suffering and death, He will see His children. So nature itself portrays the gospel.

And all of this is symbolic, this is a word picture of the birth of the new man; that before a man is born again there is suffering and sorrow over sin. There is pain and mourning over sin. “I’ve sinned against a holy God. I’ve hurt people. I’ve corrupted my life. I’m deserving of hell.” I don’t think anyone is a Christian who has not sorrowed and agonized over their sin. But then in the midst of our sorrow over sin the gospel comes to that person, and the person is born again, and then sorrow is turned into joy. “I’m forgiven. I’m accepted. I’m loved.”

But it’s not only a picture of the gospel, and a picture of the new birth, but it is also a picture of sanctification. The striving and the pangs of “mortification”, of killing sin, of dying to self, are all precursors of resurrection joy. For us too there has to be the cross, the dying to sin, the travail of our souls as we seek to die to our flesh, before the crown of joy and life. We have to fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, that is, in our own death to sin, before we can share with Christ in His glory.

But there is one more thing that this pregnancy and birth is a picture of: it is a picture of our entire Christian life here on this earth. Here we sorrow in a thousand ways, there we have joy. Here every true Christian suffers.  We suffer because of our continuing failures and sins, we suffer when people say bad things about us behind our backs, we suffer when people who have been confronted run away, we suffer for living righteously, we suffer when our bodies get sick, when our friends and family die. This whole life of ours is a travailing of our soul, it is birth pangs. But it all gives way to eternal joy. And this is the Christian’s hope, that all sorrow is turned into joy. This is what Jesus meant in vs. 22: “²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” See, between the Passion and Pentecost is symbolic of the Christian’s entire life. “Now is your time of grief.”

But Jesus told the disciples that they would have eternal joy, that nobody could take from them, but please notice what the source of their joy would be. “I will see you again, and you will rejoice.” Seeing Jesus Christ replaces all our sorrow with joy right here in this life. Listen, I know a lot of you are going through a lot of things right now, and the Bible tells you that the way to have joy in the midst of your trials is to see Jesus. Look with me at Hebrews chapter 12. “² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Did you notice? We can either grow weary and lose heart. This is depression. This is gloom. Growing weary, losing heart. We can either do that. Or we can look at Jesus and consider Jesus, but we can’t do both. Either we are depressed and discouraged or we are seeing Jesus. When we feel the power of the storm against us, we can also feel the worth of the anchor that holds us.

²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 2 Corinthians 11:24-27

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I remember old Mr. Hammond in Washington state who lost his first wife to cancer, his second wife to a car crash, both his sons were killed in Viet Nam. When I got to know him he had just officially gone blind, and was temporarily living in a hotel because his house just burned down. I want to tell you the words I heard this man say when our pastor asked him how he was doing. With a huge smile on his face he said, “the whole world cannot contain my joy in knowing Jesus.” God often digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow.