The Village Church
Jesus Unplugged His Life - Audio
this morning, be sure that God is at work in your life and everything that you go through. It's where it says, "He who began a good work in you, we carried on to completion to the day of Christ Jesus," and that's a promise, so he's at work. If you have your Bible, please open it to John chapter 17. The most misunderstood man to ever walk on the face of the earth. Those were the words I said last week to refer to Jesus, that he was misunderstood during his lifetime, and he continues to be misunderstood even today. Last week we saw Jesus get a little loose, we saw Jesus unplugged, we saw him unplug about the cross, it's who he is and what he came to do in his own words. This morning we're going to see him unplug about his life. Last week we talked about his cross, today we're going to talk about his life. So if you have your Bible, open it to John 17, beginning with verse 4. I glorify you on earth, having finished the work 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. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world, yours they were, you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for 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 have believed that you sent me. Please pray with me. As we come to your word I pray that your spirit who is the deposit guaranteed in our inheritance will move. I pray that he will take your word, your preach word and apply it to the hearts of your people. Apply it to our relationships, apply it to our circumstances, apply it to our struggles, to our successes, wherever we are, whatever we are dealing with, we need you spirit to speak truth into our lives and we pray for this in Christ's name, amen. Here in John 17 verses 4 through 8 we see Jesus unplugging about his life to the Father. And the first thing he says is that his life glorified the Father. There was the glorification of the Father, "I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do." Here Jesus is looking at his whole life, his whole past life up to this point, which glorified the Father. How did he do it? He glorified him by finishing the work the Father gave him to do. And that's an interesting statement because Jesus has not went to the cross yet. It sounds like he's saying the work is now over, it's now complete, but that cannot be the case because we all know that what was still to come was his cross. So what did he mean by these words, "I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do?" He meant one aspect of his work was complete, one, and that was his earthly ministry. You see this verse, it points you to Jesus three-year ministry. All he did and accomplished through those three years was part of the Father's work that he gave to him. And one Christian says that here Jesus is given a Father like a last report, kind of a last report of all that he did in the course of his ministry. In this prayer, Jesus is telling the Father, "My earthly ministry is complete. It has glorified you." Notice that he says the Father gave him the work. The Father gave it to him, why is that important? It's important because it was a divine initiative behind his earthly ministry. The Father initiated this, gave it to Jesus before the world existed. You have to realize that Jesus had this work given to him long before he was baptized by John the Baptist. Long before then, he just didn't start when he was baptized. Why do you think it's important for you to hear about Jesus' life? Isn't it enough that to know he went to the cross? Isn't it enough? He says in John 5, "For the testimony I have is greater than John the Baptist, for the works that the Father has given me to accomplish." The very works I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. Jesus' works, the works he accomplished through his earthly ministry were witness about him, that he was the Christ sent by the Father, his life, the life that he lived was just as important as his death on the cross. He glorified the Father in many ways during his lifetime. First, if you read through the Gospels, you know Jesus did a lot of miracles, a lot of signs, and those miracles and those signs that he performed glorified the Father. And if you ever read through the Gospel of John, you know the Gospel of John highlights seven miracles, seven signs, and all seven of those signs were, had a purpose. Do you know the purpose behind those were? To reveal that Jesus was the Messiah, all seven of them. Turning the water into wine, the healing on the official sun, healing the invalid, feeding the multitude, walking on water, healing the man born blind, and then raising Lazarus from the dead, all those pointed to Jesus as being the Messiah. Part of work the Father gave him to do. So his miracles, his signs glorified the Father. Second, his preaching, his teaching ministry glorified the Father. Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to all people. He preached it to the moral center like Nicodemus, the self-righteous center. He preached it to the immoral center, the woman at the well. He preached the Gospel to everybody in that glorified the Father. He didn't show favoritism in who he shared the Gospel truth with. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the Gospel." His teaching, his preaching gave a clear meaning of God's Word. It gave the fuller meaning of the Old Testament. He was the fulfillment of it, the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies. Jesus fulfills that. He said, "I did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. And when he fulfilled them, that glorified who, the Father." I think believers, if we are honest with ourselves, we have a selective focus when it comes to Jesus, or I should say a hobby horse, when it comes to Jesus. We have a tendency not to focus on what I call the trifecta of Jesus. There's a trifecta, his life, his cross, his resurrection. And all three are very, very important when it comes to your salvation. Because when we share the Gospel, we talk about the cross, right? We talk about the resurrection, but do you mention the truth about his life, your life that he lived, that he fulfilled all the requirements of God's law on your behalf? Because if he didn't do that, then guess who has to do it? You do. If he didn't do it, it still has to be done. If Jesus did not die, sinless, then his righteousness to us is nothing, is nothing. You can't be cupboarded with a tainted righteousness. You need a perfect holy righteousness without flaw, and I hope you see why his life, the life that he lived was just as important as his death. He had to be without sin. He had to be without flaw in order to be the one and only perfect sacrificial lamb on who he died in our place. He died as a lamb. You know the Old Testament when they sacrificed? The lamb? Was it any lamb? Could I just bring any lamb? What kind of lamb I had to sacrifice? One that was without flaw, one that was without blemish. That's who Christ wasn't across, that lamb for your sin. Jesus's humble obedience was the third way his life glorified the Father. He was perfectly obedient to the Word of God. He did what Adam failed to do and what we failed to do, is be perfect. So Jesus's life glorified the Father by accomplishing the Word the Father gave him. Next, his life was a manifestation of the Father himself. Look at verse 6, "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Because they were, you gave them to me and they have kept your word." What did Jesus mean by saying he manifested the Father's name? This was another aspect of the work the Father gave him to accomplish. The manifestation of the Father's name to manifest means to make known, to reveal, to make visible. And the only one who can do this perfectly when it comes to the Father was Jesus himself. When you look back at Jesus's life in ministry, it not only glorified the Father, but it made the Father known in ways that have never been known before. Yes, David was the mouth of God's own heart, but Jesus was the very Son of God. He made the Father known to the people that the Father had given him. As one Christian theologian says, "The name of the Father was so consistently on the lips of the Lord that the Father's name derived its living and powerful meaning for Jesus's teaching." That Jesus's teaching revealed the character of the Father. When Jesus says, "I made his name known, I'm making God's character known to you." Who God is? That's what he's saying. Who the Father is in his character? He did that both in his works and in his Word. In John 12, Jesus says, "Whoever sees me, sees him who sent me." That's a bold statement. If you see me, you have basically seen the Father, if you have seen me, if you have seen him who sent me, that's a manifestation. When in Philip, when in Jesus' disciples on one occasion, he said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Listen to how Jesus responded to Philip. He said to him, "Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his work. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me or else believe on the accounts of the works themselves, the works themselves. Jesus revealed the Father through his life, through his ministry. His life manifested the Father, but to whom? To whom did he manifest the Father to? To the people you gave me out of the world." What do you think he meant by that statement? He made a distinction between those in the world who did not believe and those in the world who did believe. The ones who believed were the ones the Father gave him. They ain't back to Jesus' ministry. Did everyone flock to him believe? Did everyone say, "Man, that's some good gospel truth. I just got to believe it today." No, not everyone believed. Not everyone accepted it. Those who did not believe, listen to what Jesus says to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me past present." Well, I came from God and I am here. I came down to my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot back to hear my word. You are the Father of the devil and your will is to do your Father's desire. On another occasion, he told them, "You do not believe because you're not part of my flock." So who were the ones who believed? It's those the Father drew to Jesus. Those are the ones he gave to Jesus. Notice what he says about these specific people. He says to them, "Father, your's they were." I found that interesting. Do you? These people, he says to the Father, "Yours they were." Jesus is pointing us to something that Paul talked about in Ephesians 1. I want to read that to you. You don't have to turn there. I should have had that bookmark without it. When Jesus says yours, there were, Paul I think explains what that means. Ephesians 1 beginning in verse 3, verse 3, "Blessed be the God of Father by Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will." If you all believe it this morning, receive Jesus in saving faith. Jesus telling you to follow chose you in him before the world existed, that Jesus came just for you. He came for you. He came for you. He gave you to Jesus in order that Jesus might purchase eternal life for you. That should be encouragement to you. That should get you through struggles. Before the world existed, the Father thought of me. I cannot bring me out of this. I cannot hear my marriage through this. How can you not rescue me out of this? If before any of this happened, before anything was created, he chose me in him. So I got, that should be a confidence in you, assurance in you, strength in you that he's not done with you, that he's not done with you, that he who began a good work in you would carry it on to completion today of Christ Jesus. And this choosing was not based upon your goodness or your merit, but it's purgrace, pur mercy is all it is. One Christian said, "The certainty of this choosing by free grace lies in this, that the Father commits to the guardianship of his Son, all he has chosen, the guardianship, that man, your soul, your soul is eternally secure, because the Son has hold of it, guard over it." These people, they belong to the Father, he gave to Jesus, and what was their response? Jesus said, "They kept your word, they have kept your word. They have kept your word and continue to keep your word, they keep none of your word is pointing to a faith response of those the Father has chosen. Now what does this faith response looks like? It looks at verse 8, verse 8 tells you what it looks like, for I have given them the words you gave me, they receive them, they have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me." First in faith they receive the words spoken by Jesus as the very word of God, as the very word of God. Just not words of any man, not words of a lunatic, not words of a heretic, but the very word of God himself. Second in faith they have come to know in truth that Jesus came from the Father. Now I personally think this phrase came out from the Father, it's the literal translation, it means something different than sent by the Father. I think they have different meanings, I believe the phrase came out from the Father means that the people that the Father gave Jesus have come to know in truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is divine, that he is just not a regular man, not just a regular man, that there is something different about him, the Father and the Son of one. Several times in the Gospel of John he said that, I and the Father are one, and if you warn with God the Father that means you are also divine, Jesus wasn't just human, but he was also basically God. John 6, we see many of Jesus' disciples turn their back on him, are y'all familiar with that? He's talking about the on the bread of life and you got to eat my flesh and all that. Many people left, they said this is too hard to take, and so they left, they abandoned him, and then he turns to the twelve, he says to them, do you want to go away as well? Do you two, do you twelve, do y'all want to leave as well? And Son of Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believe and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God, that's what he's talking about. The Holy One of God supports the Jesus deity, that he is God. Third, they have come to believe the Father sent Jesus, which means Jesus, God's Son is also the Lord's Messiah, the suffering Messiah. Now they didn't get all this in great detail, and we know that, but Jesus praises us if they have. Interesting as well, that Jesus came with the purpose of being the Lord's Christ, and finally, Jesus says, they have come to know that everything that you have given me is from you, is from you. Father gave Jesus divine revelation about himself, the words he spoke and preached, he had given him a divine mission as the Messiah, but he didn't give Jesus his divinity, he always had that, but they came to understand that Jesus was a more than just a man, more than just a man. So Jesus's life glorified the Father, his life manifested the Father, and then if you are a child of God this morning, if you have come to know Jesus of your Lord and Savior, then your life, the life that you live should glorify the Father as well. It can't manifest the Father, but it can be a reflection of him. So we live lives because of who we are in Christ as a result of this. That glorifies him and a life that reflects him. So as you think about your life, does it glorify him? Does it reflect him in every area, and if it doesn't, well, what should I do then, Alex? Let us repent, don't go out and make lists, just repent, and have the Spirit to do in your heart what you can't do, mold it more to Christ, let us pray. Father God, I thank you for Jesus's life, that his life, Father is just as important as his death, and now as we approach east of the Lord, let us be mindful of all that he did for us, that he fulfilled all of your righteous requirements of the law every last one of them on our behalf, and when we come to him in saving faith, Lord, we get his righteousness, covers us, that we no longer have to work for our salvation. We can't, all we do is receive what he has done for us, to finish Rooka Christ. To finish Rooka Christ, Father, that's all we have, and that is enough. So I pray for each family, each person here, the Lord, you watch over them, that you will sustain them, that you will encourage them, that you will build them up. I pray if anyone here who doesn't know you today, I pray that your Spirit will take your word, your gospel into their heart, and call them into your wonderful kingdom. There's nothing like being in the kingdom of God, nothing like having eternal security, it's nothing like it. And so, Lord, I pray that you will call meaning to yourself, that you will draw meaning to your kingdom. The Spirit has to do it, so Spirit is your job, we ask you to create revival, and Christ Stay up, Ray. - Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]