John Chapter 17:1-4

I thought as I wandered away from the Lord, I thought when I wanted to come back, the first order of business was going to be God beating me. And as I spoke to a Christian brother and I was thinking going into the conversation, I had to go talk to him about some other things and I thought, man, he's going to yell at me.

I wasn't looking forward to it. And so I went in to chat with him and I kept waiting for him to drop the hammer and he never did. And then as I went to leave, he said, hey, man, I love you and I miss you.

And as I walked outside with tears in my eyes, I realized that was God's heart towards me, that he loved me and he missed me. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. And one of the associate pastors at the Bridge is D.A.

Brown, who's with us right here on the program today. Welcome to the program, brother, and I got a question for you. Do you see God as angry and mean? Bob, I'm excited to be here, excited about this teaching. I know it's going to be life changing because you can't have God as a brutal bully and a God that gave his only son to die on the cross.

One of those has to go. Today, Pastor David explains that the death of Christ shows the heart of God as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 17. Now here's David McGee with part one of the teaching, The Real Lord's Prayer. Chapter 17, verse 1. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son that your son also may glorify you. Now, this is, in essence, chapter 17 is the real Lord's Prayer. Now I realize there's another section of scripture that we call the Lord's Prayer, but to be honest, that's not really the Lord's Prayer as much as it's him teaching us how to pray. See, we know it's not the Lord's Prayer because there's a line in there that says, Forgive us our debts.

Well, Jesus didn't have any debts and really what he's really saying is forgive us of our sins as we forgive others of their sins. It's interesting that chapter 17 of John here is the longest prayer recording in the whole Bible. And yet, do you realize you can read through it in about three, four minutes, something like that?

It's kind of interesting, isn't it? See, because what do we think when we think of prayer? We think long drawn out prayers.

That's not what the Bible talks about. Oh, and we love to do the thing where we change our voices, don't we? I mean, pastors, granted, we're the worst case of this. We're just talking normal and we're just conversational and then we go into prayer mode. Lord. And then we actually change our language. Have you ever noticed that one?

Lord, the ist thou ist the devil, the ist thou. And then it's like, people don't talk like that anymore. I love the King James Version Bible to read it, but people don't talk like that. I mean, ask a question. If you were having a conversation with somebody and all of a sudden, every time they went to talk to you, they talked to everybody else normal, but every time they went to talk to you, they started getting into the ist and thou ist and besettest and ye and all this stuff, what would you think?

Just be honest. What would you think? Yeah, you'd think, well, you could think a lot of things. You might think they're crazy. There's something wrong with them. But you would at least think, you know what? They're not being real with me.

They're not interacting with me the way that they're interacting with other people. We don't want to do that with the Lord. We want to be real with God.

That's part of what we get to do because of what he did. And notice, lifted up his eyes to heaven. Do you understand that's a way to pray? You can pray with your eyes open and your head lifted up. Now, I know sometimes we ask that you would bow your heads, close your eyes. Occasionally, I do that here. And there's a reason because I want the moment to be between you and God.

We did that I guess a week ago Thursday, right? But it's okay to pray with your eyes open. And it says glorify your son that your son also may glorify you. Do you understand what Jesus is talking about here? He's talking about giving his life. That's what he came to do because God the Father brings glory to God the Son through the cross. The first life lesson here is the death of Christ shows the heart of God. You see, you cannot have God as this brutal bully that's very angry. And yet, God has given his son to die upon the cross.

One of those concepts has to go. And many of us grew up with the concept of the brutal bully and nothing could be further from the truth. Again, John 3 16 says, for God so loved the world he gave his son. That verse is talking about God the Father. He's not a brutal bully. He loves us that much. The crucifixion, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus is and was a historic event.

It happened. History, literature records it. So the God of the brutal bully is not scriptural. Now I know guys, I know because I ran from what I turned the big stick God for a long time. You see, I thought as I wandered away from the Lord, I thought when I wanted to come back, the first order of business was going to be God beating me. And as I spoke to a Christian brother and I was thinking going into the conversation, I had to go talk to him about some other things and I thought, man, he's gonna yell at me.

He's gonna, you know, and that whole thing and I wasn't looking forward to it. And so I went in to chat with him and I kept waiting for him to drop the hammer and he never did. As a matter of fact, we kind of talked what we needed to talk about and then as I went to leave, he said, hey man, I love you and I miss you. And I had to get out of there quick because tears were welling up in my eyes. And as I walked outside with tears in my eyes, I realized that was God's heart towards me. That he loved me and he missed me.

Not that he was a brutal bully waiting to spank me, but he missed my fellowship. What an amazing thing. Verse two, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. That's an interesting thing. Notice it says you have given him authority over all flesh. In part, this is speaking I guess about the elect, but it also says all flesh. This is an interesting thing. You realize that Jesus has that power?

Maybe you're thinking, well, some people don't act like he has power over them. Oh, they will one day. See, we're told in Philippians chapter two verse 10 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It's gonna happen. Every person, every person in here, every person you'll see today at some point will confess that Jesus Christ is God and died for the sins of the world.

The question is when will they come to that recognition? Will they come to it here? I would highly suggest that you meet Jesus here. You're gonna meet him, but I suggest you meet him here for the first time and not wait until then.

Because if you wait until then, loved one, it's gonna be a different relationship. And so in here is the concept of the elect. That means God has chosen certain people. You and I don't know who they are. We've not been given that knowledge.

And you know what? Rightfully so, because the whole, God is so profound and so simple in his wisdom, isn't he? Because think of this, what if all the elect had like a, well Spurgeon said it would help him if all the elect had like a yellow stripe down their back and then he would know exactly who to preach to. But since nobody has that yellow stripe down their back, he's just gonna preach to everybody. I like that.

I like that. Because you know, as people, if we knew who was gonna end up going to heaven and who wasn't, can you imagine the mentality that we would have? I mean, we'd have greeters at the door, okay, you know?

Hey, those called to the left, you're not called to the right, to the left, to the right, you can't go in there, you don't have a yellow stripe, to the left, to the right. I mean, that would just make the whole thing so bizarre. God didn't set it up like that. But everyone will admit at some point that Jesus Christ is Lord. Everybody will meet Jesus.

It's just a question of when. Verse three, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Now, notice what eternal life is.

He describes it right here. It's to know God. And you know what? We often use unbiblical terms to describe heaven. You know, and we talk about angels and harps and, you know, laying around on clouds and golf courses and just all kinds of weirdness, man. You know, no offense, but it won't be heaven to me of the golf courses up there.

I mean, that little ball has tortured me too many times. So, now, so those are unscriptural things but understand what heaven really is, what heaven is about. It's not a nice place. What is a nice place? But it's much more than that. It's the place where God is. See, heaven is gonna be heaven because God's there, not because it's just a nice place. And what's interesting is sometimes people talk about, well, gee, I wonder if I'm gonna make it in by the skin of my teeth. Now, to me, to be honest, what a bizarre conversation.

The conversation is this. The God that, you know, I kind of said a prayer but never wanted to have anything to do with Him. I never wanted fellowship with Him. I never wanted to follow Him here on this earth but now I wanna spend eternity praising Him?

What a bizarre question. Why would you wanna spend an eternity with a God that you didn't wanna hang out with here? I don't understand that. See, I like to say and before we get into heaven, heaven gets into us. Heaven gets into us. I'm to the place, to be honest, that some days, man, I would just rather go. I would just rather be there with Him.

But it's His timing, not mine. Amen. But see, here's the thing. We think of Christianity or salvation or the born-again experience in so many ways but here, right here, Jesus describes that we may know God. We may know God.

The life lesson there, simple. We can know God. We can know God. Now, some people say, well, you can't know God. Agnostics, well, He probably exists but you can't know Him.

Wait a minute. The Bible says we can know Him. Jesus says we can know Him. Millions and millions of people claim that they know God.

There's just a few people pop up and say, well, you can't know. No, no, you can know God. Now, it's a different conversation if somebody wants to say I don't want to know God but you can know God because He's there and He is not silent. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to know Him. There's a lot of people around here, they know about God.

As a matter of fact, it's almost inoculated them to the truth. Hey, I know about God. That's not the question. The question is do you know God? And understand in the Hebraic sense, in the Hebrew, to know intimately. It's the same word used for an intimate knowledge between a man and a wife, that we can know God and have that intimate relationship. Now, notice He also says the only true God.

Hmm. That's what Jesus said. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying what He is saying. Jesus says the only true God.

You know what we know from that? There's only one. There's not many. As a matter of fact, since we know there's only one true God, what does that also tell us? There will be many false gods.

Why do you point that out? Because some Christians believe that they have the option of believing Jesus but believe there's many ways to heaven. They think it's okay to believe in Jesus and yet believe in other gods, that Allah and Buddha and all these others.

No, no, no. Jesus didn't leave that open to you. Now, I understand there's some people that don't believe Jesus. I understand that. There's some people that are following other gods.

I understand that too. But for a person to say I believe Jesus but I think there's other gods and I think there's other ways to heaven, I'm sorry. You have to make up your mind. You have to make a choice because either Jesus was telling the truth and He is who He says He is or He's a liar and you should go follow one of these other things. But don't sit on the fence and say, well, I believe in Jesus but I believe in all these other ways.

I'm sorry. That can't be an option for you because Jesus is the only true God. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment. But I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for them.

You need someone to present God's word to them. Every day we're presenting God's word to them here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior. Click on submit and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones.

And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from associate pastor DA Brown. We want to take just a minute to pray for seven cities in our listening audience.

Raymond and Waynesboro, Mississippi, Branson, Chillicothe, Festus, Joplin, and Nevada, Missouri. Lord, thank you for everyone listening in these cities. Lord, we know that you're at work in their hearts because they're tuning in now. Lord, I pray that you would remind them of that.

That you're at work. You have a good plan. You're going to protect them. Lord, give them wisdom and discernment. Help them to not fear during these tumultuous times that we live in. Lord, help them to constantly be in prayer for their family, for their loved ones, and for their co-workers. And use them as divine ambassadors in the cities that they live in. And Lord, anyone who doesn't yet know you in these cities, we pray that you would encourage them to put their trust in you. Use us, Father, to be a blessing to them with your good news. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 4, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Wow, these verses are so deep.

Jesus glorified Father God through the things that he did on the earth. And here he's saying, you know what, I've finished the work. Now, we understand in part Jesus is speaking prophetically of when he was on the cross and he said, to telestai in the Greek, it is finished. But what a thing to say, you know what, I've finished the work which you have given me to do. I don't know if you've ever seen that little cartoon, the lady says, you know, I won't go to be with the Lord until I get done with, you know, everything I've been here to do. That means it's like years away. But you know, reality is we don't know. We don't know when we finish.

God does. Charles and John Wesley, it was interesting years ago. I think it was John that was coming over and Charles said, well, if you go over there, you're going to die in the crossing.

And he made an incredible statement. He said, you know what, a man is immortal until he's finished what he was sent here to do. But to finish the work, see, that's the cry of my heart. I don't know when I cross that finish line. You know, it could be today. It could be five years.

It could be 20 years. I don't know where that line is. But I do know that I want to be able to say what Jesus says here. I finished the thing that you told me to do. I finished what you gave me to do. Not woulda, not shoulda, not coulda, not making excuses.

But you know what? God, I was gonzo for you. I was full in.

I was 24-7. That's what I want to be able to say. Now, does that mean I never failed?

No, no, it does not mean that unfortunately. But it means my heart wants to accomplish what God has given me to do. And let me ask you a question. Is that the cry of your heart? Guys, we get so easily distracted, don't we?

And I'm not pointing my finger at you guys. I'm saying we get so easily distracted we get our priorities out of whack. And the Lord speaks in that soft voice and says, you need to do this.

You need to do that. And we reject that. We turn away from that. See, one of the reasons we talk about serving a lot here is we want to put wheels on your faith. See, somehow in the church setting in America, we think, okay, you know, once you're saved, that's it. That's the end goal. We just want to get you saved. That was never the end goal for Jesus.

It was for you to be walking in faith. When did Jesus ever walk up to anybody and go, hey, agree with me? Never.

Not one time. What did he say? Follow me.

You know what that means? He was asking for an action. I mean, as a disciple, Jesus walks up to you, says, follow me.

You wouldn't sit there and go, hey, I'm with you. Go ahead. I'm following you. It might look like I'm still sitting here, but I'm with you in heart.

Follow me. An action on prayer. Now, again, let me clarify faith and works. We are saved by faith. We're saved by faith.

God does not require you on the front end to do anything except, except him. Now, somehow in the church today, we've actually built into this that you have to repent before salvation. Now, is repentance a part of salvation? Absolutely.

Absolutely. But let me ask you a question. When, theologically, does somebody repent?

Before they get saved? I'm sorry, you can't. Why? Because you can't have the Holy Spirit having you turn from your sins to God before you get saved.

Can't do it. There is part of you that wants to do that, but you do not yet have the power to do that. But as you turn to God, you turn from your sins, and that begins to work out in your life. So, again, so it's clear. Repentance is part of salvation, but it's part of salvation, not a pre-salvation thing. Are we clear on that? Are we all on the same page? Because, see, it's not a matter of you getting your life cleaned up to come to God.

See, that's the shame. Some people think, well, as soon as I get this right and that right, then I'll come to God. Wait a minute.

When is that going to be? You're going to get perfect, and then you're going to come to God? I'm sorry. If you could be perfect, you wouldn't need God, would you? So we're saved by faith and by faith alone, not through works. I've seen some people that got saved and immediately all the baggage dropped off. It's amazing. You know, people that were smoking crack and doing all these things, all of a sudden they get saved.

Man, they're on fire. I've seen other people that it seems like it's a really gradual process, and I'm so glad that God is in charge, amen? And not me. So we're saved by faith. I want to be very clear on this, but Jesus mentioned work, so what is the work? Well, the book of James, which is an encouragement in how to live our lives out in Christianity, has a few verses that I'd like to share this morning. James 1-22 says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. So as you hear the word of God, and I make sure that you hear the word of God, be sure you're beginning to do the word of God.

Now, again, let me clarify. Many people in here are doing the word. They're doers of the word. James continues in the epistle, in 2-14, says, what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

The New Living Translation puts it like this. Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone. These are strong words directly from the word of God. See, so put your faith into gear. I know this is very convicting, and part of this is, let me be honest, I want to shatter this spectator Christianity thing that has crept into the church today.

It has no place in the body of Christ. Somehow we think, okay, it's kind of like a professional sporting event in that 5% of the people are in the middle of the field doing the stuff, and then 95% are going, yay, no, it's not like that. Well, it's not supposed to be like that. Once you come into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, there's just something that happens. Everything changes. You begin to think, well, I want to do something for the Lord. I want to get involved. I want to get engaged. And you know what?

I love you enough to say this. If you're content with sitting on the sidelines and not pursuing the Lord and not living out a life that is glorifying to the Lord, you probably need to ask yourself some hard questions because you don't see that kind of faith in the Bible. Jesus himself in Matthew 5, 16 says, let your light so shine before men.

How do we let our light shine before men? That they may see your good works and they glorify your Father in heaven. Even in the verse that we quote a lot to talk about the grace that is saving grace, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, remember verse 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And while you may sit back and think, oh my, you know, I'm kind of overwhelmed. Can I do these things that the Lord wants me to do? Can I actually follow him?

Well, this is a really cool thing. Evidently, Jesus thinks you can. Jesus says, you know what? I saved you knowing that you can do these things. So for a believer to sit back and go, I can't. Oh, that's no longer an option.

I'm sorry. Because with God, all things are possible. Now what that means to you, I'm not sure. Some of you are called to do this or do that, but I just know that in following Jesus, it's an active thing.

It's not a passive thing. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven? You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit CrossTheBridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to Cross The Bridge at PO Box 12 515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life.

You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to CrossTheBridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross The Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at CrossTheBridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.