If you would, open your Bibles
to John chapter 17. I've entitled the message this
morning, What the Lord prays for his own. I sat here thinking as Leah was
singing, praying that the Lord would enable me to preach this
message of six things the Lord prays for his own. I want us
to look at this morning. And I pray the Spirit of God
will enable me to preach this in such a way that you who know
the Lord, who believe in Him and trust in Him, will leave
rejoicing with confidence in our Savior. And I pray for you
who do not know the Lord, that you leave here desiring above
all else to have the Lord Jesus Christ. These six things the
Lord prays for can only be had in Him. I pray you'll leave here
this morning desiring Christ above all else. I suppose that's
not different today than any message, but it's just on my
heart. Now, on the Day of Atonement,
we studied this some time ago in our study of the tabernacle.
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would wear special,
glorious garments. On his shoulders were the stones
that held those two pieces of the ephod together. On each stone
were six names of the twelve tribes of Israel. On the high
priest's shoulders that day were the twelve tribes of Israel.
On his chest was the breastplate. On that breastplate there were
twelve stones. One name of the tribe of Israel on each stone.
The high priest wore the names of Israel. He wore Israel on
his heart that day. Now whatever it was that the
high priest was doing that day, he was doing for the twelve tribes
of Israel. They were on his shoulders. The burden of them was on his
shoulders. The love of them was on his heart. What he was doing
was for Israel and only for Israel. There wasn't a Philistine name
on there. There wasn't an Amorite name on there. This was for Israel. What he was doing was for Israel.
And before the high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice
and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, he took coals from off
the altar. And he went into the holy place
and he put sweet incense, beaten small, on those coals and put
that incense, put that censer in the Holy of Holies, and the
smoke filled the room. That smoke is a picture of the
intercessory prayers of Christ for His people. Those prayers
for Israel were offered to God before the blood was sprinkled
upon the mercy seat. The fulfillment of that picture
on the Day of Atonement is what we have in John 17. This is the
prayer of our High Priest for his people. Before the Savior
goes to the cross to shed his blood as payment for the sins
of his people, to take that blood into heaven itself before the
Father and offer that blood before the Father for the sins of his
people. Our high priest stops and he prays for his elect. And
our Lord makes it plain, just like the high priest of old was
only interceding for Israel. Our Lord makes it plain. He's
only praying for his people, for God's elect. Look at verse
9, John 17. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. All mine are thine and thine
are mine. And I am glorified in them." Now, our Lord prays
only for His elect. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose a people to redeem through the sacrifice
of His Son. He made them His when He chose
them. And our Lord prays for those
people because they belong to His Father. The Father chose
them. They belong to Him because He
made them His. So, our Lord prays for them.
And our Lord prays for His elect because they belong to Him. The
Father chose them, but He gave them to Christ. He gave them
to His Son. And the Lord Jesus is getting
ready to go to the cross and He's going to purchase the salvation
of those people by His sacrifice. He's praying for those who will
be redeemed through His blood, through His broken body in just
a few hours. Now, our Lord plainly says, I
do not pray for the world. Anyone who believes in universal
redemption simply refuses to believe the plainly stated truth
of God's Word. I pray not for the world. Our
Lord is not praying for every son of Adam who ever lived on
this earth. The Savior does not pray for
everyone because everyone does not belong to Him. Everyone was
not chosen by His Father And Christ will not die for everyone.
He's not going to go die for everyone, hoping, giving them
a chance to be saved, hoping somebody will decide to accept
Him. Christ prays only for His elect, those that the Father
gave Him to redeem and those who will be redeemed by His sacrifice,
His blood and His broken body. Now, Frank, why make such a big
deal of this? Aren't you going to run people
off? I hope not. We're going to preach the truth
regardless. But why make such a big deal of this truth? Christ
does not pray for everyone. He doesn't pray for the world.
He's not going to die for everyone. I'll tell you why. Because the
glory of Christ hangs upon this truth. Our Lord says in verse
10, all mine are thine, thine are mine, and I am glorified
in them. Christ is glorified when he saves
God's elect. Christ gets all the glory when
a sinner saved. Isn't that obvious? If a sinner
is going to be saved, he didn't do anything to contribute to
it. Christ had to do it all. He gets all the glory in saving
a sinner. Now, if Christ died for someone
who at this moment is in hell, and we know from Scripture that
that's so, there are people at this moment who are in hell.
Well, if Christ died for someone who perished, Then Christ has
no glory. He failed to save someone. He gets no glory. And brethren,
we have no Savior. If there is anyone in hell for
whom Christ died, we have no Savior. We have no hope of salvation. Christ didn't die for anyone
who's in hell. Christ died for his elect. And
he will see all of them saved. All of them are going to come
to faith in him. And this prayer, our Lord's praying,
some people think, well, this is only for the eleven disciples
who are with him. No. This prayer is for every
believer, all of his people. Look at verse 20. He says this.
Neither pray I for these alone, these eleven who are with him,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
That's you. That's me. We believed on Christ
through the preaching of the word that they wrote in the New
Testament. So whatever it is, that Christ asks for His people
in this prayer, they will receive it. They must receive it. We
know Christ is always heard by the Father. The Father always
gives Him, His Son, everything His Son asks for. So whatever
it is that Christ prays for His people, Wayne, they're going
to receive it because Christ prays for it. So I want us to
look at these six requests that Christ makes for His people.
Number one, The Savior asks that eternal life be given to his
people. Verse 2, As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Now we looked at this earlier
in our study, but it doesn't hurt us to look at it again.
The Lord Jesus Christ has been given power over all flesh. over every son of Adam. So he
has the power to work all the events of Providence. We looked
at this Wednesday night, how he has the power to work all
events of Providence together so that his elect are, seems
like to us, miraculously brought to the place where we hear the
gospel and we're given faith to believe Christ. Christ has
power over all flesh. So he has the power to give the
new birth. whenever it pleases Him. He gives
this eternal life whenever it pleases Him. Now, what is eternal
life? Well, eternal life is the life,
it's spiritual life. It's the life Adam lost in the
garden when he fell. When God created Adam, put him
in the garden before Adam fell, he had spiritual life. Adam had
a life of union with God. Adam had fellowship with God. Adam walked with God in the cool
of the day. Can you imagine such a thing?
Adam had that, his spiritual life. Adam knew God because he
had spiritual life. Only someone with spiritual life
can know who God is. Adam knew God. But Adam lost
that life when he sinned against God. God told him, Adam, if they
eat that fruit, you're going to die. Sure enough, the moment
he ate it, he died. Spiritually, he died. And all
of us We're in the loins of Adam when he did that. When Adam fell,
he lost spiritual life. You and I lost spiritual life.
We have a natural life. We're born into this world, but
there's no spiritual life in us. We lost that life in Adam. And if we're going to have spiritual
life, if it's going to be given back to us, somebody's got to
give it to us. That's what the second Adam came
to do. We lost spiritual life in the first Adam. The second
Adam came. that we might have eternal life
in Him. He's going to give it to us.
And we'll see this in a minute. This life is union with God. We lost union with God in Adam
and we gain union with God in Christ. We lost the knowledge
of God. When Adam fell, Adam didn't know
who God was anymore. Adam used to walk with God and
talk with God. He knew God. He knew the attributes
of God. He knew God. And the moment Adam
ate that fruit, he thought he could cover his nakedness with
fig leaves. He thought he could hide from God. Why would he think
that? He didn't know God. He lost the
knowledge of who God is. Adam lost the knowledge of how
to come to God. He thought he could come to God
on some legal basis. Adam never one time asked for
mercy. Why didn't he ask for mercy?
Why didn't he ask for forgiveness? Just a moment ago, he knew God's
merciful. Why? Why didn't he? He didn't know God. So he didn't
ask for mercy. He didn't know how to come to
God. And you and I are born in this world the exact same way,
not knowing God, not knowing how to come to God, not knowing
who God is. We have a God of our imagination.
We made him up so we know him real well. But that's not the
Bible. That's not the true and living
God. And the only way we're going to know God is by being in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ reveals the Father to
us. That's what he says in verse 3. This is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. So whatever the Son asks, the
Father is going to grant, right? So everyone that Christ prays
for will have eternal life because he asks that they be given eternal
life. Now when the Son asks His father,
my people, I want them to have eternal life. He's not asking
for a favor from his father. When my dad was living, I'd go
talk to him sometimes. I'd ask him for a favor. Always
got it. God the Son is not asking for
a favor. He's asking for justice. He doesn't need a favor. God's
justice demands God's elect have eternal life because Christ died
the death that God's justice demands, then it's only right
that they have eternal life, because Christ died for them.
Verse 4, that's what our Lord says, I've glorified thee on
the earth. I've finished the work which thou gavest me to
do. The work of redemption is finished
for them. I've established righteousness
for them, and I'm going to satisfy the law's last demand for them.
It's only right that they be given eternal life. God's elect
will receive eternal life. Because Christ will be glorified
in their salvation. If they're not given eternal
life, Christ is not glorified. The Father's going to glorify
the Son. He asked it, and it'll be given eternal life. Isn't
that a comfort? Shane, I might not miss it. God's
going to be sure I have it. That's such a comfort. I just
love that. Second, Christ asked and His
elect be kept." Look at verse 11, "...and now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are." Now this word, keep, our Lord uses, is the same word
we looked at last week in verse 6. It means to guard carefully. It means to not allow them to
be corrupted. And our Lord prays, Keep my people. Hedge them about so they don't
wander off. Keep them holy. Don't let them
be corrupted. Now you'll notice our Lord's
not praying that his people always be kept safe from loss or sorrow. He's not asking that, is he?
He doesn't ask that his people be kept from sickness or persecution
of the world. We know that's not what our Lord's
asking because God's people do suffer loss and sorrow. We do
experience sickness and suffer persecution. So what does this
mean when our Lord asked the Father, keep my people? It means
keep their lives secure until they have accomplished the work
you gave them to do. These disciples enable them to
preach in the power of your spirit everywhere where you have sheep,
enable them to travel there, enable them to travel safely
and bless them with your spirit. Enable them to preach. Enable
them to do the job you've given them to do. Keep their life safe
until that work is done. Now, we're not all preachers,
but every one of us has a part in the ministry. In this ministry
in particular, you have a part in this ministry. Will our Lord
praise for you? Is it Lord enable them to do
that? Father, enable them to do it. And when our body's not
kept anymore, unless the Lord returns, all of us are going
to be put in the grave. Our body one day will not be
kept anymore. Well, what happened? The Lord's work for us was done. So our body was not protected
anymore. I promise you this. No one, not one of God's people
will die leaving something undone that God intended for them to
do. Their body will be protected until God's purpose is done.
Secondly, our Lord means this when he says, look, Father, keep
my people. He means enable them to both live and to die for the
glory of God. Keep them faithful. Don't let
them compromise. Don't let them fall into apostasy.
That prayer is answered. You're not going to compromise
the gospel. You're not going to compromise your Savior. You're
not going to fall into apostasy if Christ prayed for you. It
won't happen. And when our Lord says, Father,
keep them through your name. What he means is, Father, keep
them through who you are. The name of God shows us the
attributes of God. Father, keep them through your
name, through your name, Jehovah, God, my Savior. Keep them safe. Save them and keep them safe
through your name, Jehovah. Keep them righteous through your
name, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Keep them
provided with daily grace and mercy. Through your name, Jehovah
Jireh, the Lord will provide. Keep them in perfect peace. Keep them in peace with thee. Through your name, Jehovah Shalom,
the Lord our peace. Keep them in spiritual health.
Through your name, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. Keep
your sheep in the green pastures. Keep them beside the still waters.
Through your name, Jehovah Rea, the Lord my shepherd. See this
keeping? None of it depends on us, does
it? It's all through Him, through His name, through His power,
through His attributes. This keeping always depends upon
the name of the Lord. And this is a good lesson for
us. It shows us the weakness and the sinfulness of our nature.
The Savior here, He's praying for saved people. He's praying
for converted people. He's praying for people who know
God. And he has to pray, Father, keep
them, because they can't keep themselves. That's this nature
that we're born with. What a day, we lay it down. Thirdly,
when our Lord prays His people be kept, He means keep them from
the world. Look at verse 12. While I was
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that
thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the
son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled." While the
Lord Jesus was with His disciples, He is the one who kept them safe.
He is the one who kept them protected from the hatred and arrows of
the world. He shielded them because all
that was directed at Him, not at them. But now He is leaving
the world, and He prays that the Father keep them safe from
this world. Now, remember what the Lord prays
for these eleven. He's praying for us who believe
today. He prays, Father, keep them from falling into the way
of this world, because that way is a way of death. Every believer
here, if you're honest, this world holds no attraction to
you. You don't want it. You want it.
You're looking forward to the day you can depart from it. Yet,
there's part of you. This world, it holds some attraction. You know, the fine, wonderful
thing. Everybody in this world clamors
after you. There are times it appeals to you. What will keep
me from falling after those things and falling into the way of the
world instead of being in Christ? The Lord prayed for you. That's
what. The Lord prayed for you that
you will not fall into the way of the world. If He prayed for
you, then you won't. Simple as that. Now the Lord
says, I kept them all but Judas. Now, this doesn't mean that our
Savior failed to keep one that the Father gave to him in the
covenant of grace. Judas was never a child of God. How is he described here? The
son of perdition. He's not a son of God. He's the
son of perdition. He always was. He never did belong
to God. Judas was only kept around for
this reason, to fulfill God's purpose. And when he fulfilled
God's purpose, he hung himself. That's it. God's done with him.
If anyone dies in their sin and they're damned, it is not because
Christ failed to save them or failed to keep them. Never. If
anyone dies in their sin and they're damned, it's because
they never belonged to Christ. And Christ didn't die for them.
If Christ died for them, If they're redeemed, they'll be saved. But
if he didn't die for them, that's why they die in their sins. But
his elect, everyone Christ died for, will be kept from the way
of the world, the way of Adam's nature. And fourthly, when the
Savior prays his people be kept, he means that they be kept from
the evil one, from Satan. Look at verse 15. I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil, from the evil one. Father,
he prays, keep them from the wiles and temptations of Satan,
because they're no match for Satan. If you don't keep them,
they won't be kept. And we need our Lord to make
this prayer for us, because if we're a believer, if we belong
to Christ, Satan will try us with all the same tricks and
temptations that he put upon our Lord. that tempt us with
fame and power and popularity and riches. Now, Satan tempted
our Lord. Christ prevailed. You and I won't. We will fail every time unless
the Lord keeps us. And the believer's confidence
is not that I'm so strong I won't fall. Our confidence is the Lord
prayed for us, just like He prayed for Peter. Satan's desire to
sift his wheat. Well, Peter, just melt into a
puddle and it's over. But I pray for you that your
faith fail not. Peter failed, but his faith never
failed because the Lord prayed for him. Look at Psalm 121. If we belong to Christ, Christ
died for us, we shall be kept. Now that's a comfort to me. I
hope it is to you. That's a comfort to me because
I know enough of myself to know this. If Christ doesn't keep
me by His power and by His grace, I'll fall away. Simple as that. But if He prayed for us, we shall
be kept. Psalm 121, verse 5. What's your
confidence? That you won't fall away. The
Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil." He shall preserve. He shall keep thy soul. The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time
forth, even for evermore. The Lord prayed His people be
kept, and they shall. Thirdly, our Savior prays for
the joy of His people. Look at verse 13. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves." Now, no one sorrows like a believer. You know, you
read about joy. A believer is interested in that
because nobody sorrows like a believer. We sorrow over our sin. We sorrow
over the fact that we don't sorrow enough about our sins. We sorrow
about our lack of faith. Look at Romans chapter 9. We
sorrow over the lost world that we live in. The world that's
dying and going to hell every day. A believer sorrows over
that. I don't know if you listened to
the live broadcast from Todd's Road last night. Don Fortner
was preaching. Jan and I were watching it. And Don made a statement.
Jan and I both went, hmm. At the same time, he made this
statement. He says, you hear preachers say this is the truth.
I don't care whether you believe it or not. Don said, I do. And I am in that. I do. I care if you believe Christ. You don't know how much I care
that you know Christ. That's what Paul is saying here
in Romans chapter nine. I say the truth in Christ. I
lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost. I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."
Paul grieved over the world, his world, people in his world
dying and going to hell every day. We sorrow over that. We sorrow when we see our brethren
suffering. My sorrow for you. My heart's
broken. I hear the loss of your father.
My heart's broken. You suffer. I suffer with him.
I'm so sorry. We suffer with our brethren.
Everything in this world that makes you happy today, tomorrow
it won't. It'll eventually fail you. People
change or they die. Situations change. You think
money and popularity make you happy? It vanishes. It gets wings
and flies away. A believer sorrows like no other. But there's something wrong with
somebody who's always down in the mouth. Now, there's a time
to sorrow. There's a time to weep and mourn. I'm not saying
we should never weep and mourn. We ought to. But there's something
wrong. when a believer is always down
in the mouth. Now, I know this world brings
us sorrow. Yes, I understand that. It does. But we have joy
unspeakable in Christ. Joy unspeakable means that joy
is so great, I can't even put it into words. It's joy in Christ. The believer's joy is Christ. The person of Christ. You're
telling me that God became a man so he could say, me? Oh, that's
joy. What joy. Joy to the world. We just sang it. The Lord's come. The believer's joy is everything
that Christ is to us. And notice I'm not saying he
gives us what Christ is to us. He is our wisdom, our righteousness. sanctification, our redemption.
That's who Christ is. Oh, that's joy to me, joy to
my heart. The world can't touch that. A
believer's joy is everything we have in Christ, everything
we have because of who Christ is. Brothers and sisters, we
have the grace of God. We have God's mercy. God's forgiven
our sin. We have peace with God through
the blood of the cross of Christ. What joy we have in Christ. And our Savior says, I've said
all this in the world, everything I've told them, during my time
with them, everything I've taught them, through all the Word of
God, through everything I've said in this prayer, I've said
it all for this reason. That my joy would be fulfilled
in them. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. Now
whatever it is our Lord prays for, His people are going to
have. you can be sure of it. They're
going to have His joy which can never be taken from them. 1 Peter
1 verse 5, who are kept, there's a word
we looked at just a minute ago, who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein ye greatly rejoice. You have joy, even though it's
a time of sorrow, you greatly rejoice. Though now for a season,
if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations,
that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
the gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, in whom though now you
see not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls." That's the believer's joy, and it can
never be taken away from you. If Christ prayed for you, you'll
have that joy fulfilled in you. Fourth, our Savior prays that
his people be sanctified. Verse 17, "'Sanctify them through
thy Thy word is truth. Now, this word sanctify has several
meanings, really all means the same thing. But first, it means
to take something that's common and set it aside for holy use.
That's God's election. God chose a people out of Adam's
fallen race. They're no good, they're nothing,
they're common. But he set them apart for his use, for holy use,
for his glory. Secondly, this word sanctify
means to declare something holy. That's what God's done for his
people in Christ. He's declared them to be holy.
Now, if God declares something to be so, it is. God's declared his people to
be holy in Christ. And thirdly, this word sanctify,
it means to make something holy. And that's the believer in Christ.
You are made holy in Christ. In a new birth, there's a nature
born, a man born, a woman born, whichever, who'd never been there
before. And that nature is made holy
because it's born holy. It is holy. A believer is not
getting slowly more and more holy every day. No. A believer is as holy as he ever
will be right now. Our sanctification, being made
holy, is just as complete as our justification. A justification
is being made without sin. Having our sin washed away in
the blood of Christ. If Christ died for you, you're
justified. In the obvious, you're washed
from all your sin in his blood. Well, your sanctification is
just as complete as your justification. Complete. Look at 1 Corinthians
6. Brother Bell said this in a message
he preached at Todd's Road the day before he preached that he
and I talked about. He talked about his wife, Mary. She lay
there on her deathbed. He said, Mary's holy. She was
holy. Perfectly holy. She closed her
eyes in death. She went to glory into the presence
of the Father. She wasn't any more holy. She'd
been just what she was laying right there. Perfectly sanctified. That's the way for every believer.
1 Corinthians 6 verse 11. And such were some of you, but
you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
You are sanctified. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, verse 10. Look at verse 9. Then said he,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once, once for
all. Now, how is that done? What's
done, our Lord says in our text, through the Word of God. It's
done through the Word of Truth. Not the Word of Error. The Word
of Truth. You can't be cleansed with dirty
water. It's pure water. The pure, sincere
Word of God. We're not going to be cleansed
through the corrupted milk of the Word of God. It's through
the sincere milk of the Word of God. Now, a believer does
grow in grace and knowledge. We do. A believer grows in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the Word.
But don't confuse growth in grace with growth in sanctification.
Every believer is already holy in the new birth through the
Word of God. The Word of God is the pure,
holy seed that God uses to produce and give the new life and the
new birth. Well, the life is just like the
seed. The Word of God is the seed.
The seed's holy, then the life it produces is going to be holy.
Just like fleshly, sinful seed can't produce anything holy.
It only produces more sinful flesh. The Word of God can't
produce something sinful. It's pure, it's holy, and you're
sanctified, made holy because the seed's holy in the new birth.
And this sanctification by the Word of God being made holy,
it's in Christ, because of Christ. Look at verse 19. And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Now you know the Lord's not saying
that he somehow made himself more holy. He's God. By nature he's holy. So he can't
become more holy. You're either holy or not. There
are no degrees of holiness. He's already holy. But the Savior
set Himself apart to be the representative of His people, to be the Savior
of His people. He set Himself apart to be the
sacrifice for the sin of His people. And He became our sinless
sacrifice so that He could cleanse His people from all of their
sin, make them sanctified. And God's elect are holy in Christ
who is our sanctification. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Fifth, the Savior prays that
His people have union, union with Him, union with the Father,
and union with each other. that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." Now, throughout this
prayer, and God is teaching to his disciples throughout his
whole word, our Lord stresses this union. Union with Christ
is so important because our souls depend upon it. The only way
we can be justified The only way we can be sanctified, the
only way we can be righteous, the only way we can be forgiven,
the only way we can be accepted is by being in Christ through
union with him. Being joined to Christ like the
body is inseparably joined to the head. That's how the father
can accept sinners like us. Because if we're in Christ, the
father doesn't see us. He sees his son and he accepts
us and loves us. as he sees and loves his Son.
The Father loves his people with the same infinite, eternal love
wherewith he loves his Son because we're in Christ through union
with him. Now this union, it can be made
to sound very mysterious, but every believer has the exact
same union that Christ, the Son, has with the Father. He said
that in verse 21, that they all may be one, as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee. That they also may be one in
us. The union that a believer has
with Christ is the same union that the son has with the father.
Christ is in his people. The father is in Christ. So the
father is in his people. It's a union. It's not complicated
unless we make it complicated. Christ is in us. in the new man. That's the only way we can be
accepted by the holy God, is be made just like his son. So
the father put us in his son, so we'd be like him. It's union.
The believer has union with the father, with the son, and believers
have union with each other. Now, there are things we see
a little bit differently in different situations, and that's fine.
But every believer has union, union of faith. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Every believer has union of faith. We all believe the same Savior.
We all see our sin being put away in the exact same person,
in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10. I turned to chapter 10 verse
1. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that you preach the
same gospel, that there be no divisions among you, but that
you all be perfectly joined together in the same mind and same judgment. You believe the same person.
You believe the same gospel. We have a union of faith. Look
at Ephesians chapter 4. Every believer has a union of
love. We all love the same person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, so we love one another. Ephesians 4
verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with
all lowliness and meekness, with all longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring, striving to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. There's one body, one spirit,
even as you're calling, one hope of your calling. One Lord, one
faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who
is above all and through all and in you all. That's union
of love. Now look at Philippians chapter
2. We have union of faith. Every believer has union of love.
And we have union of desire. Every believer desires the glory
of God, and we desire to be made just like Christ. Philippians
2, verse 1. If there be any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory. But in lowliness
of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Every believer has union of desire. And the only way we can have
that is through union with Christ. Paul goes on to talk about have
the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you. Well,
if you have union with Christ, his mind is in you. And we have
this union with one another. union of faith, union of love,
and union of desire. Whatever Christ is, a believer
is. None of salvation depends upon
us. Whatever Christ is, a believer
is, through union with him. And that union can be made to
sound so complicated and mystical, but if you know Christ, this
union is as clear as a bell. It's not complicated if you've
got eyes to see. If Christ prayed this union for
you, you understand it. And in last, the Savior prays
that his people be with him forever. Verse 24, Father, I will, that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. Now remember, everything
our Lord is praying here, the Father gives Him. Our Savior
prays that every one the Father gave Him to redeem, every one
that He's going to go to the cross and die for, be brought
to glory to be with Him forever and to eternally bask in His
presence and His love. You and I can't imagine We don't
have the mind to be able to put in something that would comprehend
the happiness and the joy of that moment, to be in the presence
of Christ without sin, with nothing between, eternally. We went to the conference. We
were there Friday night and Saturday morning. We came home. I finished
up some work. Sitting in our living room watching
the live stream, just me and Janet. And I was sad when it
was over. What's it going to be like when
it's never over? Without sin to be. What joy. Not just to be in heaven, not
to be in a place where there's glass towers and pearly gates
and streets of gold and all that stuff. I don't know a lot, but
I know enough to know the place heaven must be glorious. But
that's not what interests a believer. That's not the glory of that
place. The joy of that place is to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And with pure, sinless eyes to
behold His glory. We could look at it now. We'll
never take our eyes off of it there. Never. But now listen. This is not something a believer
has to wait to enjoy in heaven. Those saints in glory, I know
they're enjoying it more perfectly, I suppose, than you and I are
right now. But our Lord's not just talking about Sunday. You'll
notice the Lord doesn't even mention eternity, does he? He doesn't mention heaven. He's
speaking about right now. Right now, you who believe You
are having Christ preach to you. You're beholding his glory. You
joy in it. You revel in it. It's the comfort
of your heart. I know it's not as clearly as
we see him someday. We're beholding him through a
glass darkly right now, but we're looking at him. We're beholding
his glory through a glass darkly, and that's all we can handle
right now. But it's enough, isn't it? Is that enough to comfort
your soul? To feed your soul? You who don't
know Christ, is it enough to make you long for him? To ask
for a more clear view of him by faith. If that makes us happy
now. What will glory be like? And every believer is going to
enjoy that. Because Christ, our Savior, he
said, Father, I will. I will. You know, I can't pray
like that, but he did. He can. He'll not be satisfied. And to everyone the Father gave
him in the covenant of grace, he'll not be satisfied. To everyone
he shed his precious blood to redeem is brought to glory in
perfect body and perfect soul and worshiping him perfectly,
beholding his glory, basking in his eternal love for his people.
I'm thankful the Lord receives. Our High Priest receives everything
he prays for his people. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we feel shamed to offer our prayer
before you after reading the perfect prayer of Christ our
High Priest. His precious name. In His intercession,
we come before You. And we pray that You'd bring
glory to the name of Your Son through the preaching of Your
gospel this morning. Father, I pray that You'd take Your Word
and apply it to the hearts of Your people to comfort us, to
give us assurance in Christ, to wean us more and more and
more away from self and from this world. and focus our attention
and our heart more and more and more on Christ our Redeemer. Father, I pray that you take
your word preached, you cause it to go forth in power, to break
the stony heart and to give a new heart of flesh to those of your
people who as of yet you have not given this eternal life. How thankful we are to know that
none of this is left to chance or our ability or our knowledge
or our skill, but it's all according to thy eternal purpose and will
that you will accomplish in your time for your glory and for the
sake of your people. Father, we're thankful. Bless
your word to our hearts, we pray. Amen.