Now we're with hymn number 212
from your hardbacked hymnal. Number 212. Let's all stand together. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon this I seek, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this I plead,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the flow, That
makes me white as snow, No other fount I know, Nothing but the
blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the flow, That
makes thee white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Please be seated, Brian. Morning. I'd like to read from
First Timothy, chapter one. And we'll begin at the first
verse. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of our God, of God, our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ, which is our hope unto Timothy, my own son and faith,
grace, mercy and peace from our God, Father in Jesus Christ,
our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still
at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest
charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give
heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather
than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. Now the end
of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a
good conscience, and faith unfeigned. from which some, having swerved,
turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for
the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for the unholy and profane, for the murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that
defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars,
for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that
is contrary to sound doctrine. According to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, and I
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that
he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. before
a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of
our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of who I am chief. How be it for this cause I obtained
mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern of them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever, amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank
you that you've showed us who we are, sinners, and who you
are, our Savior. We pray for Marvin, that if it
be your will, you allow the doctors to minister unto him and heal
his body. We pray for baby Jackson Dunbar. And like all our children, we
ask that in your time, you show them your grace and mercy and
their need for a savior. We pray for all the men that
stand this morning to proclaim your name, give them the words
that your children need to hear and give your children ears to
hear them. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of the bulletin,
on the back of the bulletin. Thou whose almighty word, chaos
and darkness spurred, and took their flight. Hear us, we humble
pray, and in the gospel day, shine forth thy glorious ray,
let there be light. ? How blessed incarnate were
? ? Burn on thy mighty sword ? ? Conquer thy foes ? ? Fullness
of grace divine ? ? Subdue this heart of mine ? ? And may thy
glory shine ? ? Let there be light ? Spirit of truth and love,
life-giving holy dove. Speed forth thy flight. Shine on the chosen race by thy
almighty grace. Dispel the dark of night. Let there be light. Please be seated. Hugo. Little mints for my throat. Good morning. We're going to
be looking at John chapter 17 this morning. This is the Lord's
prayer to God the Father on behalf of himself, on behalf of his
disciples. And on behalf of us, I'm going
to start with a word of prayer that Lord might be with us this
morning. Father God, we come before you
in the name of your dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank
you that you allow us to be here. We thank you that you have provided
a church where we can listen to the gospel. We thank you that
you provided a pastor to preach the gospel faithfully, Father.
We pray for him and other pastors preaching your gospel this morning,
Father, that they may preach it clearly and they might be
glorifying to you and to your son, Father. Saying we pray here
tonight, this morning, Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit
might be with us, Father. This is a time of great need,
Father. We are needed people. We need
ears to hear about your son. We need eyes to see his glory,
Father. And we need speech. We need words that you might
provide us by your word, Father, that may glorify you and your
son only, Father. In Jesus' name, we pray for this,
and we pray for the sick. We pray for Marvin, Father. pray
that you may heal him by your mercy, and that he may get well
soon, Father. Thank you once again for your
grace, your mercy that you provide us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We're gonna be looking at John
chapter 17 this morning. This is one of the most important
prayers, if not the longest prayer that we have in the scriptures.
from our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a model prayer like
what's called the Lord's Prayer, which is an example for us to
pray. This is the Lord Jesus Christ's own prayer to the Father. And this is a wonderful, wonderful
prayer, a wonderful piece of scripture that we can learn from
him. And if we were to have a title to this study or to this Preaching
will be when Jesus prays, when Jesus prays, what can we learn
about Jesus' prayer in this wonderful, wonderful prayer that he lifts
up. Let's go to John chapter 17.
We're gonna see first that Jesus prays for himself between verses
one and eight. I'm gonna read those verses one
through eight of John chapter 17. These words spoke Jesus and
he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify your son, that your son
may also may glorify you, as you have given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you
have given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who
you have sent. I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which
you gave me to do. And now, oh Father, glorify you
me with your own self, with the glory which I had with you before
the world was. I have manifested your name to
the men which you gave me out of the world. Yours they were,
and you gave them to me. And they have kept your word.
Now they have known all things whatsoever you have given me
out of you. For I have given to them the
words which you gave me, and they have received them. And
they have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed. that you did send me. Here at the beginning of this
portion of scripture says this words spoke Jesus, and he lifted
his eyes to heaven. He's praying to God and he's
lifted his eyes to heaven. And he says, Father, the hour
is come. The hour has come, right? And
many of the scriptures, especially in John, The Lord Jesus Christ
says the hour had not come, right? Do you remember possibly the
scripture that Pastor Greg is gonna be covering in John chapter
two regarding the wedding at Cana where Mary asked Jesus to
do something about the problem of not having wine and he says
the hour has not yet come. He said that to Mary. He said
also to his brothers, physical brothers, when they wanted Jesus
to go and go out in public and do miracles and be flashy and
do what he does in order to get recognition. His brothers did
not believe in him just yet. He's also said, my time has not
yet come. He said it several times during
the gospels, but now, The hour, he says, when he's praying to
the Lord, this is hours before his crucifixion. He says, the
Father, the hour is come, it has arrived. And this is that
great hour of him going to the cross, of culminating our salvation,
of doing what's necessary, what was totally necessary for us
to be saved. totally necessary for us to have
communion with God is to get rid of our sin, our sin problem,
that's our most important problem. And he says, the hour has come.
And his first request of the father is that he may glorify,
he says, glorify your son, speaking of himself, that your son may
glorify you immediately. He says what reason he gives
the reason why he's out to glorify him. And the purpose is to glorify
the father. Jesus always glorify the father
on earth. He continues to do so. So he
reminds him that he needs to be glorified. And then it goes
on and gives more explanation of what that means. But in verse
two, We find that he says, as you have given him power over
all flesh. He reminds him, you have given
the Lord Jesus power over all flesh. That's all authority has
been given to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the biblical
Jesus, of course, not any false Jesus. Any Jesus that does not
have the authority over all flesh is not the Jesus of the Bible.
He says that, that God the Father has given him all power, all
authority, that he should give eternal life as many as you have
given him. So the Lord Jesus Christ has
the authority to give life, to give life to those that the Father
has chosen before time began. He chose a people and he gave
this gift to the Son. God the Father chose He gave
it to the son and the Lord Jesus Christ has the authority to give
them life. Man hates this message. They
hate this message. They don't want the Lord Jesus
Christ to have authority. They try to take away his authority. They lie to you by saying that
he does not have this authority, but you have it. You see, putting
themselves in the place of God, Only the Lord Jesus Christ has
authority to give eternal life and notice to who is that he
gives it to. He gives this to only those that
the God the Father gave him. So any message that's different
from this is not of God. This is the Lord's authority. This is God's message. This is
the gospel. So any message contribute to
this is not from God. This is the Jesus of the Bible.
He has all authority over all flesh. All flesh means every
human being that has ever been born into this earth. He has
authority. And that's why he is God. God always has authority. And
in John chapter five, also tells us about the Lord having authority
over everyone. In John chapter five, verse 24
says, Verily, verily, I say to you, he that hears my words and
believe on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Verily,
verily, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is The hour
is coming, meaning that was the hour that was coming in the old
covenant time, in the Old Testament. And now is, is because this is
the new covenant. It has come to pass. When the
dead shall hear, this is, I believe this scripture was read by Jeff
earlier. And the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and
they shall live. The only way a dead person could
hear the voice of God and if he resurrects him first, if he
regenerates him first. We need to be regenerated before
God speaks to us and gives us life. Verse 26 is more specific
to what the point of the passage was. For us, the father has life
in himself. Meaning he doesn't derive it
from anybody else. God the Father has life in himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ says, so he given the son to have life
in himself. And he has given him the authority
to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. The Lord
Jesus Christ has this authority. And he uses this authority liberally
as he wishes. And with regards to salvation,
it is to those who the father has given him before the foundation
of the earth. So in verse three, we go, let
us go first to Ephesians one also, this might be a passage
that Jeff also read. Verse one, verse, Chapter one, verse three. Chapter
one, verse three of Ephesians. It tells us again, who chose
and how the God, the father chose his people and he gave them to
his son. And when did this happen? When
did it take place? It says, blessed be God the father. of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. The believers have received all
spiritual blessings, not some. All the blessings that there
is to receive, God the Father has given it to us. There's no
blessings left out. All the spiritual blessings.
are in heaven places, they're in Christ and only in Christ. Christ provides us with all these
spiritual blessings. According to verse four, according
to he has chosen us in him, in who? In Jesus Christ he's chose
us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. And this is the only
way to have fellowship with God, to be blameless, to be without
blame, to be holy. Every son of God is holy and
blameless because the Lord Jesus Christ has taken away the sin
and he has given us a new life in him. And that new life is
holy, it's righteous, it has the righteousness of Christ.
And we're without blame because he went to the cross and took
our sin. Even though this seems foreign to us sometimes because
we deal with our sin daily, we look at our sin, right? But the
word of God here says that we are holy without blame before
him in love. The only other way to be before
God is in judgment, under wrath. So you either under wrath or
you are blameless before him in love. Of course, having predestinated
us to adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to his good pleasure and will, not according to anything in
us, not according to anything that he sees in us, whether it's
before Christ or after Christ. No, it's according to his will,
according to his will. the Lord Jesus Christ, or God
the Father doesn't see us in the future, how good of a Christian
you're gonna be, or how faithful you're gonna be, and then chooses
you. No, no, no. Remember that he chooses his
people for his glory, to show his grace. If I was a restorer
of furniture, and they told me that I was gonna have a program,
a TV program, a show on TV, and my first show, I'm not gonna
choose the most beautiful furniture to show and restore it, right?
Because if I choose nice, beautiful furniture that is not too bad,
and I restore it, there won't be that much of a difference,
right? I'm gonna choose the worst furniture I find, the dirtiest
furniture, the oldest furniture, so they could see what I can
do, because I'm gonna restore it to look new. Well, perhaps
that's what God has done. God has not looked for the best,
he has looked for the worst, I believe, because it shows his
grace, he shows his mercy. It's more glorious in the future, the Lord Jesus
Christ is gonna parade his people as trophies of grace, right? Of trophies of grace. And everything
we are in Christ is because of him. because of Him alone by
grace. It is Him who works in us. So
we should not ever think that the Lord Jesus Christ or God
the Father looked ahead of time and saw how faithful we will
be because we're not faithful, are we? We're not faithful in
Christ. Christ is the faithful one. and
we look to Him for every bit of righteousness that we might
have. That righteousness comes from Christ in Christ alone.
He provides it to us. And it is Him, and that's the
reason why we are blameless. That's the reason why we are
holy in His sight is because Christ's righteousness, Christ's
holiness. So also we notice that we are
a gift from the Father to the Son. Amazingly, we are a gift. And we read in Romans 11 that
God's gifts are without repentance. He does not change His mind.
Can you think of God giving a gift to the Son and then taking it
back? Our security is in Christ. Our
security is because of His work. Our security is because His mercy
and his grace, not because of anything that we do. Going back
to our scriptures, he says that the Lord Jesus Christ has authority
to give this eternal life. Even though Satan wants to lie
to you, lie to everyone and say, no, he does not have that authority.
No, you have their authority. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
authority. He has given eternal life to
as many as you have given him. Remember, this is Jesus talking
to the Father. And now he goes and gives a definition
of what is eternal life in verse three. And this is eternal life,
that they might know you, the only true God. This is God from
the Bible, this is the true God, the Father, and Jesus Christ,
who you have sent. That is eternal life. Eternal
life is God revealing himself through the Lord Jesus Christ.
For us to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the biblical Jesus Christ,
is for us to know God, because he's the one that perfectly reveals
the Father. And he's the only true God. It has to be consistent with
everything we read so far. It has to be consistent that
the Lord Jesus Christ has this authority to give life. If your
Jesus does not have the authority to give life, but you do, that's
not the only true God. That is not the only true God.
The only true God is Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So the eternal
life is knowing him, meaning that everyone that does not have
eternal life does not truly know God, because they do not truly
know Jesus Christ. And you cannot go around Jesus
Christ and try to get to know God without knowing Christ. You will not know the true God.
And verse four says that, I have glorified you, the Lord Jesus
Christ tells his father. I have glorified you on earth. This is his life, his 33 years,
close to 33, 33 years, while he lived, he glorified
him on earth. He has, how did he glorify him? Well, he lived a perfect life. He accomplished, he obeyed God's
law, Moses' law, he fulfilled it. He had a perfect righteousness. This perfect righteousness was
not for himself, but was behalf of his chosen people. because
these chosen people cannot produce any righteousness at all. They
need this righteousness. We need the Lord Jesus Christ's
righteousness. And he did glorify him on earth. And I have finished the work
which you gave me to do. This is the true Christ. The
Christ of the scriptures has finished our salvation, has done
everything necessary for us to be saved. He finished the work,
he didn't do half and let you do the other half. He didn't
leave anything to chance because if he did not do 100%, he did
not do 100%. If he only does 99%, I won't
be able to do that 1% and you won't either because you're sinful
and you cannot please God without him. So he finished the work,
and this is the true Christ. The Christ that reveals the Father
has finished the work. Any Jesus that did not finish
the work is not the true Jesus, will not lead you to know the
true God, the only true God. And here, he also glorified the
Father by the cross. He provided a way which the Father
could pour out his wrath. on upon sin, the sin of his elect. He glorified God by that he was
God was able to be just. The only time where true justice
was executed so far is through Christ at the cross. So he glorified
him that way in verse six. No, verse, I'm sorry, verse five.
And now Father glorify you, me with your own self, with the
glory which I had before you, the world began. He's asking
the Father to glorify him with the same glory that he had before
he came to the earth. You know, he gave up his glory.
He became a human, right? So I'm gonna go through some
scriptures regarding this glory that he had previously. Starting in John 1, the very
beginning of this book, it says about the Lord Jesus Christ,
that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the form of God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him, and without him was not anything made that was made,
and in him was life. That's the life that you and
I need. We need this life. Without this
life, we have nothing. And the life was with the light
of men. So if we don't have this life,
we don't have any light. We still remain blind in our
sin. And the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness comprehend it not. We need grace. We need regeneration in order
to comprehend this light. We cannot comprehend it by ourselves.
So God, Jesus Christ beforehand, he was in the form of God. He
was a creator. In John 8, 58, if we go there,
John 8, 58, we read the following. It says, Jesus said to him very
early before, say to you before Abraham was, I am. Jesus is telling
them that before Abraham was, ever was, he is I am. He's the
great I am. He's in the form of God. In Hebrews, Hebrews does a wonderful
job exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter one, verse
three, we read about our Lord Jesus Christ who says, who being
the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
And I'm holding all things by the word of his power. When he
had by himself purge our sins, sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Here we begin to see the ant
gods, the father's answer to the Lord Jesus Christ prayer,
right? Being made so much better than the angels. And he was by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than day. So he was the
Lord Jesus Christ being the brightness of his glory. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ's glory as the second person of the triunity. In verse
eight, it says, but to the son, he says, this is God the father,
saying to the son, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever a
scepter of righteousness, is the scepter of your kingdom.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ's glory. But now, when he came
to earth, the reason why he's asking to restore him, because
in Philippians, we find what the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily
did for your salvation. He had to become a man because
we are man. He had to become a man because
Adam was a man. He fell. He was our first representative,
and he fell. he disobeyed God, God needed
a second, second representative, a second Adam, which was what
Jesus Christ was. And in Philippians chapter two,
verse six says, who being a former God, this is talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, being a former God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, meaning it was not unfair, it was correct
to be equal with God. made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of man and being found in the fashion as a man. He humbled
himself and became obedient. What kind of obedience? Obedience
to death, even to the death on the cross. This is what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. to be able to represent us here
on earth. And that's why he's now praying
this prayer. And notice that you know that
All the things that he's praying so far and will pray for are
already within God's sovereignty. They're already prophesied. So it is not wrong for us to
pray things that we know that are going to happen, that we
know are going to be God's will. The Lord Jesus Christ is praying
for this. So God's sovereignty should not
get in the way of us praying. Matter of fact, it's our motivation
to pray. is our motivation to pray. So here we find that in
verse six is beginning to transition between the pray for himself
and the prayer in behalf of his disciples. In verse six, he says,
I have manifested your name to the man you gave me out of this
world. He's right now talking specifically
about the disciples around him. Yours they were, you gave them
to me. and they have kept your word,
okay? So he's starting to, the introduction,
he's gonna start talking, praying about his disciples. He says
that he manifests that his name, how he manifests God's name,
first of all, by being himself. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
manifest God the Father. If you've seen him, you've seen
the Father, right? So he manifested himself that
way. He manifested himself, God's name by all the I am's of the
book of John. Lord willing, our pastor's gonna
be covering the book of John. We're gonna be able to see all
those I am statements that the Lord Jesus Christ makes during
this wonderful gospel. Those reveal God the Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God the Father.
And one of his main purposes for us to know God is to reveal
himself to us. If the Lord Jesus Christ reveals
himself to you, you are getting to know the father is the same
is God's way of revealing himself to man is through Jesus Christ.
So he says here that he has manifested to the man which he gave me out
of the world. Verse seven, now they have known
that all things whatsoever you have given me are of you. So he's saying these disciples
have already known, right? They were his, God opened their
eyes, they understood that he came from the father. They might
not have understood every teaching that he made so far to this point,
they had not received the Lord Jesus Christ spirit, but this
they did understand. They didn't have to understand
every teaching of Jesus just yet. Later on, they will, and
they will write those things in the Gospels. But what's important
is that they know that all things wherever you have given me are
of you, meaning that they knew that Jesus came from the Father,
and everything that he shared with him came directly from the
Father. For having given them He said,
verse eight, for I have given to them the words which you gave
me, and they have received them. Unlike when, in John, at the
beginning of John, the first chapter, where he came to his
own, meaning the Jewish people, and they did not receive them.
Well, these, the elect, do receive them. They have known surely
that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did
send me. This is what's important here.
This is what he's repeating. These disciples, they know I
came from you. Now he's going to start praying
for them on behalf of them. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me, for they are yours. He's not praying for the red
parade here. He's not praying for anyone else other than his
disciples. That's who God's love is manifested
through Jesus Christ to his disciples and his disciples only. I pray
for them. He does not pray for the world.
And it's not, but for them that you have given me. Again, these,
he's saying I'm praying for them, but remember you have given them
to me, right? He's justifying, he's praying
for them. These are yours, he's reminding the father. They are
yours. They are God the father's. God
the father has chosen them and he has given them to the son
and they're yours. I'm praying for them and all
mine are yours. All of Jesus Christ followers
came from the father and yours are mine. and I'm glorifying
in them. How is Jesus glorifying in them?
He gives them a new life. He gives them salvation. He dies
for them on the cross. He gives them, he births them
again. And anything that the believer
does glorify him because the believer doesn't work, doesn't
do anything on his own, doesn't do anything good on his own.
Anything that we receive, anything that we do is all because of
Christ. And that's the reason why in
Revelation it says that he will give us crowns and we will throw
them at Christ's feet. Because we know that he is the
one that deserves all credit, all merit, all glory is to the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that's why he's glorifying
in them. Everything that the believer
is, is because of Christ. Therefore, it glorifies Christ.
Verse 11 says, and now I am no more in the world. He's speaking right now as if
he had left already because the cross is coming very near. But
these are in the world. He's talking about his disciples.
And I come to you, I'm coming, I'm returning to you. He's talking,
holy father. You know, and John is the only
one that writes holy father, those two words together. And
he does them a couple of times in this passage. He says, holy
father, keep them, keep through your own name, those who you
have given me. And they said, they may be one
as we are one. It's actually for unity, and
this unity comes forth. We see that there is unity, especially
in these first disciples. They spread the gospel, and they
spread the same message, the same message that we find here
in this passage. They did not spread different
messages. The gospel was one and only the
truth, and they kept unifying, and that's the reason why also
In the New Testament, you don't see contradictions. They were
written by these disciples that were there. And you don't see
any contradiction. And he's asking for a unity.
You know, he's gonna be asking unity for us as well. And unity
is important to God. And what's important to God,
the world is always opposite, isn't it? Of God. The world values
diversity, don't they? They're always valuing diversity.
They value diversity in different ways. Right now, we see it supposedly
in sexuality, in genders, this diversity, instead of two, as
God has said, Satan wants diversity always, when there's union. Before that came around, there
was also diversities in a lot of religions. The world loves
a lot of religions, a lot of different gospels, diversity
again. Diversity is not of God, it's
of Satan because since God is one and this union, Satan always
wants the opposite. That's why we have so much diversity
in religions, many gospels. Before that, there was diversity
in gods. We see that in the Old Testament,
different gods that they worship. Diversity in creation as well. Diversity in Bibles, there's
tons of Bibles now. There's diversity in Bible interpretations
and opinions, right? So always diversity. God is not like man. An example
that I like to think is, I don't know if some of you might be
science fiction fans and remember Star Trek, remember the Borg?
The board was the bad guy because always truth and truth in movies
and series and TV is always bad. You find yourself the Borg, and
this Borg is this spaceship that assimilates, this being assimilates
different planets and makes them like themselves. And then that
was the villain in this thing. But assimilation for them is
bad, right? And it reminds me also in movies
where You find villains or people like either police captains or
military generals that are very stern and very, very rigid. And usually what comes out of
their mouth is true. And they're always the bad guys, right? It's
just the way it is. But the world loves diversity. But I don't believe there's going
to be much diversity in heaven. because we are gonna be one,
one in Christ. Our differences now is due to
our flesh. It's really sin. If we did not
have this flesh, because our new man is the same, we receive
the new man from God himself, and the Holy Spirit is one. So
there will be no diversity, we'll be all united, we'll be all,
worshiping Christ, we'll be all excited about the same things.
We see that somehow now as we grow in Christ, we become more
alike. But we'll see that really upon resurrection, where we'll
be all the same. So there's a lot about union
in this passage. We go on to the next verse, which
will be verse 12. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in your name. The Lord Jesus Christ keeps them
in their name. And to be honest, truth be known,
if the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't keep us, we won't be kept. We
don't have the power to continue, to persevere. Only the Holy Spirit
gives us that power. It's really the perseverance
of the Holy Spirit in us. And it says that, while I was
in the world, I kept them And those that you gave me, I have
kept every single one of them, those disciples that the father
gave the son, he kept them. None of them is lost, but the
son of perdition, which is talking about Judas, so that scripture
may be fulfilled. The scripture was fulfilled when
Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And now I, to you, I
come to you, he's talking to the father again, and these things
I speak in the world, that they may have joy fulfilled in themselves. When the Christian grows, as
he grows, his joy grows, but our joy is in Christ. Our truly
joy is in Christ's finished work, in the person of Jesus Christ,
and the fact that his work is finished, his salvation is finished. There's where the believer rests.
And with rest comes joy. You cannot have joy without rest.
You cannot have joy thinking that you have to do something
for your salvation, to maintain your salvation, or to get closer
to God, you have to do something. There's no joy in that. There's
no joy in that. Joy comes from resting in this
Christ, this Christ that has done it all. I have given them
your word. And the world has hated them.
Why? Because of course the world hates
God. They hate God's word. Therefore
they're gonna hate his followers. Because they are not of the world.
Talking about the believers. We are not of the world even
as I am not of the world. So we do not belong to the world.
We're here temporarily. We're here for a little while,
but we belong with Christ. We're seated with Christ right
now in heaven, heavenly places, it says. So we're not of this
world. I pray not that you shall take
them from the world, but that you should keep them from evil.
So he's not praying for isolation for us. We are not to go somewhere
and live in a Christian community only or go to a mountain or anything
like that. He doesn't pray for that. What
he prays is that he keeps them from the evil, from Satan, that
he keeps us from that. That they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through your truth. This is talking about his disciples. He's telling them to set them
apart for the work that they have. The work that they have
is to spread the gospel in the early years. Sanctify them through
your truth. Your word is truth. As you have
sent me into the world, even so I've sent them into the world.
He's praying for his disciples. He's sending them to spread the
gospel to all the world, to spread the news about this Jesus, the
biblical Jesus, and what he did, his work, his saving work. That
is the good news. So he's telling them, he's sending
them in the same way. So he's telling them to set them
apart. And verse 19 says, for this sakes
I sanctify myself. That's why this sanctify doesn't
mean getting any holier because Jesus never got any holier. He
was born holy, but he's saying that he's setting himself apart.
That's what the sanctify means here. He says, for this sakes
I set myself apart. He was going to the cross, he's
setting himself apart just as the priest would set themselves
apart and in the Old Testament bring the sacrifice. That they
may also be sanctified through the truth. Now in verse 20, he's
beginning to pray for you and I, right? You and I, neither
I pray for these alone, but for them that shall believe on me
through their word, through their scriptures, right? through their
word is where we are going to believe. And I have here Romans
10, 12, and 18, which was also, I believe, mentioned or read
by Jeff this morning, where it shows us how God uses means to
save us. In Romans 10, 12 through 18,
it says there's no difference between Jews and Greeks They
are the same Lord over all rich that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is
a promise. And how shall they call upon
him whom they have not believed? So you have to believe first
in order to call, right? And how shall they believe on
him whom they had not heard? And how they heard without a
preacher? How they shall preach as it be sent. It is written
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. What are these
glad tidings? That Jesus did it all. That he
was a successful savior and he did what God sent him to do,
which is all that's necessary for our salvation. So this report,
But not all have obeyed the gospel. Why? Because only the believers
believe. He has to regenerate us. For
Isaiah says, the Lord has, who has believed our report? You
see, only when he regenerates us can we hear his word, hear
his gospel and trust in him. There's no other way. Dead people
do not hear like we heard in the first hour. that people cannot
respond unless we are resurrected. So faith comes by hearing, and
hearing is the word of God. So verse 21, going back to John
17, that they may be one, again, unity, as you and the Father
are in me, I in you, that they also may be one in us. The believers really are one
in spirit. We believe the same gospel. Those
that believe a different gospel, they are not of his. They're
not. We are all one. And we're all
in Jesus. We're one in Jesus, that they
bore my belief that you have sent me. And it says, verse 22,
and the glory which you gave me, I have given to them. This
is amazing. This is a blessing that the Lord
gives us. The glory which you gave me,
you've given them. and they may be one as we are
one. This is, again, growing, growing. We are one now, and we will become
completely one as we are resurrected, as our salvation is complete.
I in them, and you in me, and they may be perfect, all in one. and that the world may know that
you have sent me and you have loved them as you have loved
me. This is incredible blessing as
we read it, isn't it? God the father loves us as he
loves the son. This, this out of warmer hearts,
this may God give us faith to believe this because we forget
this, don't we? We forget this, we forget that
God loves us. Father, I will, it says, I will
that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am. Jesus is asking that we be with
him. And this is answered, we will
be with him, living forever with him. We are his bride with this
community, a wedding feast. There's going to be a marriage
between the church and Christ. You have given me, for you have
loved me before the foundation of the world. Because God, the
father loves Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world,
he found him a bride. And just like the Jewish culture,
where the father chooses the bride for the son, so the father
did that before time began, in this covenant of grace before
time began. Our righteous father says, the
world has not known you. Why? Because he's righteous,
and the world is not righteous. Oh, righteous father, the world
has not known you, but I have known you, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I have known you that you have sent me, and these have
known that you have sent me, and I have declared to them your
name, and I will declare it." He will continue declaring it.
How will he declare it? Through the years where the gospel
is preached, where the sheep are called, is because he is
gonna declare it. He declared it while he was living,
and he continues to declare it through his spirit, through his
word, that the love where you have loved me may be in them
and I in them. He's gonna display his love through
the gospel, through our salvation and through everything we see.
This really is part of those old spiritual blessings that
God has bestowed upon us, all in Christ. all in the person
and his work. There are no blessings outside
of Christ, absolute none. Whatever the world receives is
going to be judgment for them because they do not seek God.
Whatever temporary blessings they might have, those are not
spiritual blessings. We ought to seek and we receive
spiritual blessings only. Those are the lasting blessings.
Those will last forever. Temporal blessings are nice to
have nowadays, but really they're meaningless when you consider
eternity. and will be eternal. Father God,
thank you for your wonderful blessing. Thank you for this
prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ made to you. Thank you because
you show us many truths in this wonderful prayer. Thank you because
you will and have answered the Lord Jesus Christ prayer. Thank
you because we might have peace knowing that every single thing
that he asked for you have answered and you have provided. Thank
you because we can get peace and joy because of the Lord Jesus
Christ work is done and who he is. Thank you because we're going
to be with you with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. And because
he's prayed, we know that he prayed this for us, that we're
going to be with you. We know that you will answer.
Thank you father for such a wonderful Grace being displayed by you
giving us all these spiritual blessings. In Jesus name we thank
you father. Amen. Let's close with him number 15
in the spiral gospel hymns him him no number 15. With his finished Jesus cried,
Then he bowed his head and died, Died for sins but not his own,
And redemption's work was done. Justice then was satisfied, God's
elect are justified, Righteousness our Lord brought in, And removed
His people's sin. Sin and death and hell subdued,
? By the power of Christ's blood ? Grace to sinners now is given
? Garden, holiness, and heaven ? It is finished, can it be ?
That Christ's blood was shed for me Yes, I know He died for
me. For my grace I now believe. Leading Christ's atoning blood,
Kneeling at the throne of God. Gone my guilt, my sin is gone,
It is finished, all is done.