Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to John chapter 17, and reading
from our text, verses 21, 22, and 23. John 17, reading three
verses from 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, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that Thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as
Thou hast loved me. John 17 and verses 21, 22 and
23. And the subject upon my spirit
is one with Christ and his people. It is that union between Christ
and his people, union to him, the Church of God, and their
Bridegroom, their Saviour, their Redeemer. In this prayer, the
Lord is first making intercession for his disciples. those that he has called, the
twelve especially, and this we may know because he says in 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. And he is referring to Judas
Iscariot. And so in the first place, it
is for those of his disciples. But he says in verse 20, the
verse before our text, neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word. And that word then gathers up
all that is prayed for them and applies that to believers right
through to the end of the world. It is the Lord praying for His
people. Now we know that in this chapter
He makes a very solemn separation between those that are His and
those that are not. Those that are in the world and
those that are His people. He says of His people, I pray
not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldst keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. And he says in verse 9, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world. What
a solemn thing. He does not pray for the world
at large or the world that lieth in wickedness. but for them which
thou hast given me, for they are thine. What the Lord has
given, the Father has given to his Son, a people from eternity. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me. They were chosen in Christ from
the foundation of the world. And every one of those at some
time will be, as they are born into this world, dead in trespasses
and sins. Their actions, their way will
be no different from the world at all, indistinguishable from
the world. And yet the Lord, He makes intercession
for His people. So He is praying for those that
shall believe on the Lord Jesus Christ through the word of those
that go forth and preach the gospel. So in one way, it's a,
to our view, a strange situation. How can the Lord pray for his
people and not pray for the world, when actually when his people,
before they are converted, they are in the world? But we think
of this scripture, the kingdom of God standeth sure, having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows them before
they know him, and he brings them into union with himself. Each one, he calls them, he says,
no man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. The Lord
has a particular love for his people. He has died for them,
he has redeemed them, and he will in his own time and way
in their lifetime, call them, bring them to a knowledge of
themselves as sinners, and He is the Saviour, and unite them
to Him, and unite them to His people." Now these things are
in the words of our text. In dealing with the union between
Christ and His Church, the Lord actually uses that union as a
means of bringing others into that union, and also he uses
it as a most solemn witness to the world that lies in sin and
wickedness, especially at the end of the world, that every
eye shall see the Lord, they shall see him come, and they
shall see his people, and they shall see him glorified in them,
and his people glorifying him, And they shall know then, they
shall be, you might say a believer, but the word here speaks that
the world shall know then what they did not know before, that
the Lord truly, Jesus Christ, was sent by the Father. and that
the churches that were despised and ridiculed and God's people
that were spoken against and hated, the Lord says in this
passage, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated
them and the world shall know at that time that they are the
people of the true and living God. So I want to look with the
Lord's help at this word that is before us, And each of the
three points I have this evening are based on each point of our
text. Firstly, in verse 21, a prayer
for a union that will be a witness to those that shall believe in
the world. He says that they may be one
as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent
me. So he gives an illustration,
as Thou, Father, art in me, his prayer that they might be one,
And the reason is that it might be a witness that the world may
believe. Or, shall we put it this way,
that those that are ordained unto life in the world, those
that are God's people, may be brought to believe through that
means. Then secondly, in verse 22, the
grace given to make that union, to bring it about. It's not man
making the union, it is Christ making that union. And the secret
is, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them,
that they may be one even as we are one. In other words, the
glory that he gives to his people is to this end, that they may
be one even as we are one. But then thirdly, there is the
union, in verse 23, that ensures the number of God's people will
be perfect or complete. There will not be any lacking,
and that will then be also a witness to an unsaved world. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect or complete in one, and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved
me. And the difference is that in
verse 21, it is that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. That's believers made. In verse
23, it's not believe, but that the world may know that thou
hast sent me. That is the difference. Well,
let us look there more closely. Firstly, at verse 21, the Lord's
prayer for a union that will be a witness to those that shall
believe in the world. He has just prayed for not just
the disciples, the 12, but also for those that should believe
on him through their word. and the aim is that they may
be one as Thou, Father, art in me." The effect of the Fall is
to separate between man and God. With the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, it's God and man, or God and sinners, reconciled. The work of the Gospel It brings
two together that are opposing. One of our hymns says, of the
people of God by nature, that in sin's dark maze they wander
far. And it is at peace with hell,
with God at war. The Lord changes that. The grace
of God changes that. We think of the Apostle Paul,
now that is uncalled, He was hailing men and women to prison
that called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
an enemy of the Church of God. But when the Lord met with him,
when the Lord blessed him on the Damascus Road, then immediately
he believed in the Lord and he became a preacher and preached
that Jesus was the Christ. The Apostle Paul's conversion
was a special one in that he had to be an apostle, that is,
one who had received his commission direct from the Lord. The same as the 12 apostles did. He received the word straight
from heaven. God's ordinary way of blessing
is as in verse 20, those that should believe on me through
their word. It hath pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It is that
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But the aim here of this prayer
in verse 21 is for a union, a oneness, a complete oneness between the
people of God, that they all may be one. John says in his
epistles, we know that we have passed from death unto life in
that we love the brethren. Paul's exhortation to two of
the disciples were that they were to be of one mind in the
Lord. Paul's reproof to those of the
church at Corinth was that one was saying, I'm a Paul, another
of Apollos, another of Cephas, another of Christ. And he says,
ye are carnal. Is Christ divided? No. He determined to know nothing
among men, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It was to
be one in Christ, a union. By this shall all men know, says
our Lord, that ye are my disciples indeed, in that ye love one another. Taught by the same Spirit, Redeemed
with the precious blood at Calvary, blessed through the same Holy
Sacred Word of God, they are a people that are brought in
one by the Lord's dealings with them, and here below they are
to be one as well. Now he gives an illustration. As thou, Father, art in me and
I in thee, There is a great mystery. The great mystery is God manifest
in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness,
God manifest in the flesh. We can only really understand
it by the words of scripture, the words of our Lord himself.
He says, I and my Father are one. Then he says that my Father
is greater than I. And then he says that I leave
the world and go unto my Father. And he speaks of the glory that
he had with the Father before the world was. We have many of these sayings
which in a natural way we would think are conflicting. How can the Lord be God, the
eternal God? How can he be? both on earth
and in heaven. At the same time, he says, I
must needs go away. If I go not away, the Holy Spirit
shall not come unto you. But if I go away, I pray the
Father and he'll give you another comforter, which shall abide
with you forever. The Lord's bodily presence is
in heaven. He has said, I ascend unto my
father and your father, my God and your God. But he says, I'm
with you always, by his spirit and by his grace. God is everywhere. He fills all things. And these
things are a great mystery to us. And we can only understand
them through the words of scripture. There is one God, one Father,
one Son, one Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons in one
Godhead, a trinity of persons, and each one is God, each one
is divine, each one may be worshipped. There's no division, a complete
oneness in salvation. Let us make man in our own image,
and we see the oneness there. The Lord speaks of that glory
and that union before the world was. The Father himself, he says,
loveth you. And the Lord Jesus Christ loves
his dear people. The Holy Spirit loves the person
of the Holy Spirit, not just an influence. When he, the Spirit
of Truth, shall come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you."
And so these sayings, they describe to us a union between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he speaks here of that union
between the Father and Himself, as Thou, Father, art in me, and
I in Thee. He says to his disciples, he
said to Philip, How sayest thou, show us the Father? Have I been
so long time with you, Philip? And yet have ye not known me?
If ye have seen me, ye have seen my Father also." That oneness,
that union. And this is the illustration,
that he desires that his people, as they are called, as they are
blessed, as they are gathered into the Church of God, that
they may be one. that they also may be one in
us, not just one in themselves, but one in God, not just one
great big indistinct being, but like the Trinity is, three distinct
persons, yet one God, and with the Church of God an innumerable
multitude, and yet all singing with one voice, redeemed with
one blood, brought out of every nation, kindred and tongue. One spirit, one teacher, one
redemption. And this is the illustration
that he gives here. This, of course, is not the only
illustration that is given of the union between Christ and
his church and of themselves. Paul, when he writes to the Romans,
He speaks to them, illustrating the church of God as a body. And in that body, it has many
different members. And we know with our members,
we have our arms and our different parts of our body, but it is
one body. In Romans chapter 12, we have
in verse four, For as we have many members in one body, and
all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are
one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, having
then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us." And he lists out those very gifts. But in Romans 12, this
illustration of oneness is given in a body, our own body. We have
arms and fingers and legs and different parts of us, and they're
very distinct and very different, but they are one. They act as
one. They all do to act that one body. And this is what the Church is
pictured of. If one member hurts, the other
members hurt. And one member serves the other. Our hands serve our mouth and
in feeding and in defence and our feet. serve the body by walking
and moving from one place to another and each has a role,
a different role. And then we have the beautiful
illustration in Ephesians 5 where we have the Lord speaking of
the marriage union. He says this great mystery in
verse 32 of Ephesians 5, this is a great mystery but I speak
concerning Christ and the Church. And he's spoken of the marriage
union as described in Genesis and Genesis 2. He says, for we
are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall
be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one. flesh. And so the exhortation throughout
this passage there is the description of a husband and wife in verse
23. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is
the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish, so ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And you see a good marriage,
a loving marriage, a loving union, and we see an illustration of
Christ and his church, an illustration of the truth that is set before
us here. Now in this first point, in verse
21, We have a reason that this is so, that the world may believe
that Thou hast sent me. It really is an illustration
and a voice to those in the world yet dead in trespasses and sins
that shall be brought to believe, believe on the Lord through their
word. Can you imagine if a preacher
was preaching a union like this between Christ and his church
and the world or those that have been brought to, attracted to
Christ. They looked at the church and
they were warring. They were loggerheads one with
another. They couldn't agree. They were
falling out here and there. Wouldn't very much recommend
that same teaching and same grace of God. You think, how can this
all flow from one spirit? How can this all be the people
of God? How vital it is for the people
of God to live as one, to be united one with another, and
to love one another, care for one another, watch over each
other in a spiritual way as well. As iron sharpeneth iron, so the
countenance of a man his friend. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. But the Lord says, be ye clothed
with humility. Each esteem each other better
than the other. And the Church of God then is
to show a witness and many people, the first thing they see of the
Church is not hearing the Gospel, is not hearing the Word of God,
it's seeing the people of God. Seeing how they act and how they
walk and what their attitude is and what their spirit is.
It's a blessed thing if we're able to say, come, come and walk
with us and we will do thee good. Come and gather with us. Join
with us. They're my best friends, my kindred
dwell. Their God, my saviour reigns. Blessed thing when we can say
that. of the Church of God, of a local church, of a gathering
together around the Word of God. Let it be known that they are
a people that are united in Christ. And in that way, there are those
that are drawn, drawn to be with them and to hear the Word and
to walk with them and to go with them. So this first point, the Lord's
petition that this union be formed and it be such a union that it
is a witness to the as yet unsaved that they might be brought to
believe and that they might be also added to the number of the
people of God that are made manifest and shown in this world that
they are the people of God. The Apostle says, and such were
some of you, describing the most wicked and evil men of this world,
such were some of you, but ye are washed and ye are cleansed. Blessed thing, when those who
once have been like the Apostle, haters of the people of God,
are now dear Beloved Brethren. I want to look then secondly at
the grace given to make that union. We need grace. We need the Lord to bring about
that union and to work that union and to keep that union. It is not man's ability to do
so. We should aim at it, we should
desire it, as it is set before us in the Word of God. But we
know that it is only the grace and blessings that come from
the Lord that make that union. That union is in Christ. It is around Him, unto Him shall
the gathering of the people be. The attraction, the common thing,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Other sheep I have, in John 10
he says, which are not of this fold, that is, not of the Jews,
them also must I bring, that there might be one fold and one
shepherd. All the time there's that uniting
together to bring one. The Lord Jesus Christ having
broken down the middle wall of petition between us, making of
twain and of two, the Jews and Gentiles of one flesh. Well, what he gives to his church
and his people to do that, we have in verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one. That is why he gives them that
glory. that they may be one as we are
one. What is that glory? It's not
the glory of our Lord as God, as the eternal Son of God. That
wasn't given Him. He already had that. This is
a glory that belongs to His incarnation. His humanity is a glory that
is for the Church of God. When he was named, his name shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And the glory of the Lord really
is summed up in Paul's epistle to the Philippines in chapter
two, that he was obedient even unto death, even unto the death
of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him and giving Him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow. There is the glory. The glory is the Saviour. Now
think of this. How could there be a glory of
the Saviour without there being any save? In a natural illustration, if
someone was being proclaimed as having saved someone from
drowning, they dived into a river, into a weir, and saved this person
and brought them out, and they're hailed as this wonderful hero
and saviour and deliverer. They couldn't be that if there
hadn't been anyone to save. The two things go actually together. And with the people of God, the
glory that is given to the Lord Jesus Christ is that He is the
Saviour of them. And what they are, they are by
the grace of God. He has imparted to them all that
they are. Hemrider says, he saw me lost
and ruined in the fall, and loved me notwithstanding all. The scriptures
say he passed by me when I was in my blood, and when I was in
my blood he bid me live. The Lord quickens his people
into life. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of mine hand. This is the work of God that
ye believe in him whom God has sent. And so the glory that has
been given unto the Son is the glory of the Saviour, the glory
of the Redeemer, the glories of sovereign saving grace, and
those glories the Lord has bestowed upon his people. All that is
bound up in the Gospel the good news of salvation through the
Lord, the proclamation of the angels was from heaven to the
shepherds, goodwill toward men. Yes, goodwill toward men. On earth peace, not peace on
earth, that will not be so, but on earth peace and every child
of God knows that truth in which the Lord says, in me you shall
have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
that be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The apostle
was very clear, I am what I am by the grace of God. The Lord says of his people,
this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise. And each one is a trophy of grace. Each one is a vessel unto honour. One of the examples in scripture
is of the potter. And if you've seen a potter working
with the clay on the wheel, and you can have a lump of clay and
you can start to form it, and it just flows underneath your
hand, but it doesn't look very nice, so you scrumple it up and
you start again. Sovereignly, the potter can do
that. But if he's a good potter, The end result, people will look
at that pot and say, what a wonderful creation that is. What skill
that potter had. How wonderfully that this was
made. They're not even looking at the
potter, but they're looking at what is made. And what is made
shows forth the glory and skill of the potter. We're used to
that in many things. We see buildings, we see cars,
we see things that men have made, and what they've made, we think,
well, what a good designer, or what a, one of a creator that
that was. But what greater creation can
be than a sinner saved by grace? One plucked from the burning,
a servant of Satan made the servant of God, an enemy made a friend,
One that was a hater of the things of God, made to love them. The
Apostle Paul, for him to say this, for me to live is Christ,
to die is gain. Or when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with him. And he speaks
of that union and living for him and running the race, looking
unto Jesus. And all the time, What the Apostle
is, is by the grace of God. When he had his afflictions,
the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan wanted it to be taken
away. The Lord said, no, my grace is
sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. You will show forth my power,
my grace, my blessing in your afflictions. By the grace, the
meekness, the submission, the helps that I give you, in spite
of all those things, the disability you might feel to have, and the
messenger of Satan you feel to have against you, to buffet you. And so the glory, the glory that
was given by the Father to the Son, He communicates to His people. That is so evident in this verse
22. is outside of the people of God
and is communicated to them. It is given to them for their
good, for their blessing. By in Him we live and move and
have our being. And it is through that life and
grace and help of the Lord that they are what they are. In chapter
15, the Lord speaks of this union. in another illustration, and
that is of the vine. And he says, I am the vine, ye
are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit
unless it abide in the vine. Neither can you, ye, except ye
abide in me. And again there's this union,
a very close union. But another thing he says, that
the branch that bringeth forth fruit, the husbandman, he purgeth
it, that it might bring forth more fruit. And the idea is,
is pruning a vine, it brings forth more fruit, and with the
people of God, the Lord chastens them, He corrects them, He reproves
them, He teaches them, He deals with them, so they do bring forth
fruits. and in bringing them into union
with himself, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. If we are yoked together,
you think of a yoke of wood that is over the shoulders of two
oxen so that they pull together. And if we were yoked together
with Christ, walking together, then whatever he did, we would
do. And we'd have to pull together,
have to learn to pull together. You think of the disciples, were
they pulling together when they're going with the Lord to Jerusalem
and the Samaritans didn't receive him? And they said, shall we
command fire to come down from heaven to consume them as Elias
did? The Lord says, ye know not what
spirit ye are of. The Son of Man is not come to
destroy men's lives, but to save them. And in that time they learnt
a little of the spirit of the Lord. The Lord reproving them
for what their spirit was and teaching them what His spirit
was. And it is in that way, as though
walking with Him, and as we would walk with the Lord, that we would
be in a oneness of His mind. Many of the Lord's dear people
in their early days have said things, they've done things,
and maybe the Church of God has kindly taken them aside and explained
to them, no, that is not the right way, that is not a Christian,
a right spirit, this is how we should act or this is how we
should respond to these occasions. And the Lord in that way has
instructed and taught them so that there is that oneness together. in the things of God. So in verse
22, we have this beautiful declaring where our help comes and what
is given to a believer so that they are one and that they do
walk together in love and union one to another. Make sure there's
no lifting up of pride. The Apostle Paul says, what have
we that we have not received? All of us have received whatever
grace and blessing we have in Christ from Christ in the same
way. Well then we have our third point. In verse 23, we have the union
that ensures the number of God's people will be perfect and complete. He says, I in them and thou in
me that they may be made perfect in one, or complete in one, the
number made up, not a hoof left behind, and that the world may
know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as Thou hast
loved me. What would it be if one that
was chosen before the foundation of the world was not saved? What
if it would be if one of God's children that he had shed his
blood for upon the Calvary's tree, that they weren't called,
that they never believed, they were never truly joined to the
Church of God? If one were lost, so may all.
The Gospel secures the salvation of all. The Lord says, Behold
I and the children whom thou hast given me. If we took an
overall view of the history of the world and we see before the
world began a people chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we
go right through the scenes of time when the world then is rolled
up as a scroll and we see an innumerable multitude in heaven. And he's exactly the same. He's
exactly the same. You know, when Ezra brought the
treasures back from Babylon, he brought them back to Israel. They numbered up those treasures
as they brought them from Babylon. When they got the other end,
there was full time. They're all there. Nothing was
lost. Nothing was stolen, nothing was
destroyed, all was there. And that's how it will be for
the people of God. They shall all be there. It shall
be a perfect, a complete tally. And that shall be a wonderful witness,
a most solemn witness, to a world that is mocked and scorned, despised
and ridiculed the people of God and their God. They shall see
that people with the Lord. The Lord spoke of the account
of the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man he could see Lazarus
in Abraham's bosom. And what a solemn thing when
the world they see the people of God, complete in Christ, but
them cast out. It is those that are one with
the Lord here below that shall be one with Him above. And that's why immediately after
our text in verse 24, we have this will of our Lord, 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. And those people were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. We read the beautiful
word in Jeremiah 31 verse 3, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, and therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn
thee. and those that are drawn. No
man cometh unto the Father but by me, and no man comes unto
me except the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. And so this union, this oneness,
this completeness, it begins here below by grace. We read
in Psalm 84, he shall give grace and glory. No good things shall
he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Those who are united
with the Lord Jesus Christ, those whose testimony here is that
their hope is built not on their works, not on their ways, but
on Christ, his righteousness, his blood alone. And that oneness,
that Beautiful occasion when the Church of God shall be seen
as complete in Christ. It will be this most solemn witness
to the world. The world may know that Thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me. What a thing, what a thing to
know it, but be too late to believe. To know that Actually, the one
that was rejected was truly the Christ. You know, on the day
of Pentecost, the blessing was that it was still the day of
grace. And so those that had crucified the Lord of life and
glory, they were brought to not only know that the one that they
crucified was the Savior, but they were brought to believe
on Him and to receive Him and to repent, and to be baptized,
and to be numbered amongst his dear people. But there shall
come a time when the day of grace is done, when your life, when
my life is done, then it is too late. But beyond the grave it
shall be known, before all worlds and before everyone that's ever
lived upon this earth, they shall see him, they shall know that
this Jesus is the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Head of the Church
of God, and that these are His people. He shall be glorified
in them, and they shall glorify Him and sing His praise to a
never-ending eternity. The message of this passage is
the vital necessity of a union with Christ and a union with
His dear people. May the Lord grant us that union
that begins with Christ, begins with his work, but it will extend
out to the people of God. We know that we have passed from
death unto life in that we love the brethren. The Lord grant
us that. Give us that union day by day
and make it very evident whose we are and whom we serve. And may all the glory be the
Lord's. and it be to his praise and honour. Amen.