seeking for God's help and blessing
on our time together this evening and to direct our thoughts tonight
to the chapter we read earlier in the gospel according to John
and chapter 17. John chapter 17. We're really
going to be in this chapter in its entirety tonight I'll read
the first few words, but not that's the only subject and the
only text we're going to look at. We read in the opening, these
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
and really those words introduced this prayer, that he turns his
eyes to his father in heaven and he said, or he prayed. So
tonight we're going to look at the prayers of our savior, Jesus
Christ, particularly in this chapter. Now we know that the
Lord Jesus Christ was a man of prayer. We read of times when
he went up a mountainside in the night times or in the early
morning to pray in the quietness to be alone with his Heavenly
Father. We know, of course, that the
Lord himself gave us that wonderful pattern of prayer, what we call
the Lord's Prayer, our Father which art in Heaven. And, of
course, there we have great instruction in the Lord's Prayer of a pattern
for prayer and how we should come to our Father in Heaven. Gives us a glimpse, perhaps,
of his prayers as well. of how he came to his father. But we also know from the word
of God that the prayers of Jesus have not ended with his ascension. We read in the Hebrews that he
ever lives to make intercession for us. And in that sense, the
Lord continues to pray in the way that he intercedes for the
church even today. He continues to bear them up
before his father. He continues to represent them
at God's throne. Like we thought this morning,
the high priest interceded as he went into the Holy of Holies
for the people. So Christ continues to intercede. In that way, he continues to
pray. And in this chapter, John 17,
we are given a glimpse of his prayers. We do not read many of his prayers.
As I say, we read of times that he went to pray, but this is
the longest account, the longest record of the very words of the
prayers of Jesus. And when we really consider,
firstly, who this is that is praying, This is the son of God
himself. This is the almighty, holy son
of God. This is the savior. This is the
one who has known that perfect, eternal union with God forever. This is the creator of the heavens
and the earth. This is Jesus, the son of God,
who prays. But also when we remember the
context of the prayer, It is remarkable that we are given
this very personal insight into listening to the prayer of Jesus. Because this prayer, of course,
was prayed just hours before his suffering. It's at the end
of this long discourse in John 14, 15, and 16, where we read
of how he spoke to the disciples in the upper room. There he instituted
the Lord's Supper. There he pointed them to his
own death, his broken body and shed blood. And there he speaks
to them wonderful truths in those three chapters. He speaks of
glory, a place that he has gone to prepare for his people. He
speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He speaks
of him being the true vine and of how his people are grafted
in to him and they find true life in him. he speaks these
wonderful things but then he prays and he prays knowing that
within the next few hours he will face the arrest in the Garden
of Gethsemane, he will face the trial of the high priest Caiaphas,
he will face the humiliation of Pilate's courtyard and judgment
hall, and he will face the cross. And yet the Lord's mind, though
it's on that suffering, as he institutes the Lord's Supper,
it is not so focused on his own suffering that he does not take
time to pray for his people. And this shows the loving, gracious
heart of our Savior, that even in the midst of that grief in
a natural way for himself, his heart is always in love to the
church. And so this prayer, you will
note, predominantly is a prayer for his people. We are privileged,
as it were, to listen in on this prayer. Now we know that God's people
are immeasurably blessed. To be a true believer, to be
a child of God is a blessing beyond our real imagination and
grasp. What it is to be called a child
of God And to get some idea of this, in the book of Ezekiel,
we have this quite striking picture of Israel. But in a spiritual
sense, it goes beyond just natural Israel and speaks to the church.
It's found in Ezekiel chapter 16, where we read, as for thy
nativity, in the day when thou was born, thy navel was not cut,
Neither was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou was not
salted at all, neither swabbed at all. None I pitted thee to
do any of these things to thee, to have compassion upon thee.
But thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou was born. We have a picture here of a newborn
baby. It's been born. It's not been properly washed. It's not been properly cared
for. It's been put out in a field. It's filthy. It's dirty. No one
cares for it. No one has pity on it. And in
a natural way, if you put a newborn baby out in a field in that state,
it will not survive for very long. And this is saying, this is what
you are like. Each and every one of us is like that by nature. It's like we've been born into
this world, but we've been born filthy and helpless. And no one has taken pity. Sinfulness of this world is such
that no one could save, no one could redeem, no one even cared. And we are all by nature like
that in the sight of God, cast out because of our sin, helpless
in that condition, filthy, destined to destruction. But then the Lord says this,
but when I pass by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood. I saw you, I saw you how bad you were. I said unto thee
when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee when
thou wast in thy blood, live. And I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field. And thou wast increased and waxen
great and art becoming excellent ornaments. And then he goes on
and says, when I passed by thee and looked upon thee by time,
a time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. And I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee and thou becamest mine. And I washed thee with water.
I washed away thy blood from thee and anointed thee with oil. And so what we have here in this
picture is this one has come by and seen this baby in this
desperate and heartbreaking condition. And although no one else has
had compassion, he has. And we read of a time of love.
And he washed them and cleansed them and anointed them and clothed
them. And it's a beautiful picture
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for all of his people.
He has seen them desperate in that condition, filthy, and he
saw them filthy. But instead of turning away,
he had compassion, and he washed them, and he cleansed them, and
he anointed them, and he clothed them, and he embraced them, and
he loved them. When we consider where they were
Can we not see just in that very picture how immeasurably blessed
each and every believer is? You're a believer tonight, that's
where you were. Don't ever lose sight of where
you were. And do not ever lose sight of
the magnitude of God's grace toward you. That he could have
passed by and said, live. If you don't know this evening,
you don't quite know where you stand, you feel that that wretched
condition is too bad, then hear the word of God that here is
one whom we preach, the Lord Jesus Christ, who passed by those
in that wretched condition and says, live. And you are not too wretched
for him. no sinner is beyond the reach of the grace of our
God. They are immeasurably blessed. I love the opening verses of
the Epistle to the Ephesians I think many people do but there
the Apostle Paul opens up again the great blessing that God's
people knows. He says in verse 3, blessed to
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed
us with all the spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Do you see how that unpicks or
when you try to unpick it that that gets bigger and bigger?
He has blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. And so we see just in the truth
of the gospel that the people of God are greatly blessed. But we know also that not only
are they greatly blessed there, that their state, if you like,
is a place of being blessed. But we know that God continues
his blessing to his people throughout their lives. And we read much of those things
in this prayer in John 17. Because the reality is, I believe,
that we often can lose sight of the great blessing that the
Christian knows. We can start to lose our grip
on certain truth and we start to doubt it and question or we
start to wonder whether it does not apply to us though it may
apply to others. We may think that it is only
applicable to some Christians but not to others. But the things
that the Lord Jesus Christ prays for are universal for all his
people. He does not single out just a
few. And what the Lord Jesus Christ
prays for is answered. For whatever reason in the wisdom
of God, our prayers are not always answered. or at least they're
not answered in the way that we expect. And so we have our
expectations on what the Lord is going to do. We bring our
requests to him, but in his wisdom, he may choose not to answer in
that way or in that time or whatever, because we don't always ask rightly.
But that's not the case with the Son of God. He asks rightly. And he asks for those things
that will surely be granted. And so when we consider these
points in his prayer this evening, remember, always remember, that
this is a prayer of the Son of God, and this prayer is heard
and answered. And as we see this prayer spoken
literally many, many years ago, we hear the voice of Christ in
his intercessory prayer today, because it's still his heart
for his people this evening. He still prays and these prayers
are answered. Now with those points in mind,
there are seven things I want to draw out this evening from
this chapter. Seven petitions that he particularly
prays for the church. And lest we be doubtful this
evening whether these things are true or whether these things
are solid and dependable, remember who is praying. First of all, we hear in the
prayer of Jesus that he has given his people life. He is the giver
of life. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, 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. His prayer is for those who have
this life. He has given them this life. And he tells us what this life
is. What is eternal life? You might
answer that in a number of ways if I ask the question tonight.
What do you understand as eternal life? You might immediately say,
well you might say, well it means going to heaven. It means having
life after this life, a life that goes on forever. And yes,
that's true. But the Lord Jesus Christ defines
eternal life in a different way. He says this is what it is, eternal
life. That they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is
what it is to have eternal life, to know God through Christ. And we need to understand that
both of those points are vital. is to know God through Jesus
Christ. Many might say they know God
in a sense that they understand something about God. Many may
say that they know their God. With the many different religions
and faiths in the world today, they might say, well, I know
God. I found him in my own way and through my own scriptures. But the Lord says that's not
eternal life. Eternal life isn't to find your way to God. Eternal
life is to know God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
And this point is, wow, the gospel is actually so discriminatory,
isn't it? Because it tells us that there
is actually only one way to eternal life. And it's to have a relationship
with God through Jesus Christ. And it's to be a believer in
the Savior. But he has power to give that
life to his people. And so this is who he prays for.
His prayer is in the heart of those for whom he died. Those
whom he gave his life for that they might have this eternal
life. That they who have been separated
from God because of their sin might now know him in that fullest
relational sense. And this life cannot be taken
away. I know when we read of the resurrection
of Jesus' friend Lazarus and Jesus goes to the tomb and
Lazarus has been dead for four days there's no doubt that Lazarus
is dead and the people are weeping and his sisters are crying and
he goes to the tomb and he asks tells them to roll back the stone
and he cries Lazarus Come forth. What happened? Lazarus came forth. Lazarus walked out of that grave
alive and he wasn't sick. You know, Lazarus had been sick
for a long time, hadn't he? Sick that his sister sent to
Jesus saying, come to heal him. They had watched him deteriorate.
They had watched him get sicker and sicker. And they had seen
him die. But when Jesus comes and raises
Lazarus out of the grave, Lazarus doesn't hobble out a poorly man.
Lazarus is alive and walking and healthy and strong. You see,
it's a total raising. It's complete life. That's what the Lord does in
the souls of his people. They are a new creation, a new
creature, the word puts it. For any man being Christ, he
is a new creature. All things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new, because fundamentally, they
were once outside of the family of God and did not know him in
this real spiritual sense. And now they have life, that
they know him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. Is our faith rooted, grounded,
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
only way to eternal life. Do not base your hope on anything
else. Do not base your hope on anything
you have done. Do not base your hope on a reformed
life. Do not base your hope on a good
outward religion. Do not base your hope on a knowledge
of God in your head. that you understand him from
what the Bible describes. Your hope can only be based on
the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior. He is the way to know
the Lord. And so this is this opening prayer. I have given them eternal life,
he says. And this is what eternal life
is. And no one can take that life away no one can pluck them
out of my hand which moves us on to the second
point verse nine he prays for his people those whom he has
given life to and they belong to him verse nine i pray for
them I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine. They whom thou hast given me. You see, they've always been
gods. You see, we're working in the mystery of the Trinity
here, that the Father can give a people to the Son. We remember
the Son is fully God, as such as the Father is fully God. And
so we're not trying to falsely divide God here. But the point
is that the people of God have always belonged to him. They've
always been his. But they've been given to Christ
particularly for him to redeem them, for him to pay this price
that he might purchase them with his blood. They are his people. This is where we see the beauty
of this particular redemption or election, that the Lord would
look on this people and they would be so deeply in his heart
that he would pray for them. That's not to say that he has
not, in a sense, got a concern for the world. Of course, all
people are his people in the sense that he made them and knows
them. But in a saving way, he prays this prayer for them. And so we can say this evening,
if we can say that we're a believer, that he prays this prayer for
you. That it wouldn't be wrong, I
don't think, to put your name in this prayer. When he says,
I pray for them, he could put your name there. He's praying
for you. Isn't that remarkable? This personal
prayer of the Lord. He is the shepherd of his sheep. He is the bride of his bridegroom.
He is over his family, his children. You know, we read, don't we,
in the parable of the lost son, or the prodigal son, as we call
it sometimes. You know the story, how the son
goes off, he leaves his father's house, he rejects his father,
he goes off into the world to a faraway country, he spends
everything he's been given, he wastes it, he lives with no thought
of his father's house, no thought of the ways of the Lord, enjoys
his life until he loses it all. Having lost it all, he's brought
down to destitution. He goes and feeds the pigs. His
friends desert him. He's left with nothing until
he comes to his senses and he thinks, but the servants do better
in my father's house than this. And so he gets up and he goes
back to his father's house with his rehearsed prayer of repentance.
He says, I'm no more worthy to be thy son. Make me as one of
your hired servants. But you know of how we read that
the father saw him coming, he had a great way off and he ran
down the road and he embraced him and he kissed him. And he
said, this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and
is found and he brings him home. And the son is ashamed and the
son has lost everything. But the son is still a son. And you could call that parable
many things. Is it the parable of the lost son? Is it the parable
of the two sons? Or is it the parable of the father's
love? Because that father never stopped
loving that son. Not even when he didn't know
where he was and didn't know when he was going to come back,
if at all, in the story of the parable. But he never stopped
loving him. And as soon as he saw him, he
ran out and put his arms around him and welcomed him back, not
as a servant, but as a son. This my son, he says, was lost
and is found. And even when he was lost, He
was still my son. And you see, this is the wonderful
love of God to his people, that even when they were like that
child out in the field and helpless, it's my child, it's my son. And here, when he prays for them,
that even when they did not seek him or desire him, they were
his people, that whilst they were yet sinners, Christ died
for them. Our Christian, your hope is not
based in your love for him, but in his love for you. Your security
is not rounded in your hold of him, but on his hold on you. And the words of Jesus Christ
tell us here that he is praying for you. They are his people. the third petition, and it is
that he will keep his people. See verse 11, 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. And again, verse 15,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Verse 11 seems
to be speaking of unity. Keep from thine own name thou
whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are. That they may be one as we are.
It's speaking about the unity of God's people. It's a prayer
that his people might be kept together And so this reminds
us that we know the reality is outwardly God's people are not
always together. There are disagreements, there
are divisions, sadly throughout the annals of church history
there has been separation between God's people for whatever reason,
whether it was warranted or not. But this isn't talking about
just that everyone has to be perfectly in line and always
in perfect agreement about everything in life. This is speaking deeper
than that. This is saying that the Church
of God will always be kept together. They will always, if you like,
be in the Church, just like we are. Just as the Trinity is always
together, that the Father could never stop being in the Trinity,
that the Spirit could never stop being in the Trinity. So keep
thy people in that bundle of love in the church. None of them
will be lost. None of them. Because the Lord
prays it. Because he desires it before
his Father. So this is a prayer of unity that they'll never be
separated in that sense. But it's also surely a prayer
that they'll never be separated from God. If they're kept in
unity together, then they'll be kept in him, as Romans puts
it. I am persuaded that neither death
nor life nor all of those other things can separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus. And so they are kept. But there's
also, surely, in verse 15, a desire that they would be kept from
evil, from sin. Again, we can say, well, is this
prayer answered? Because God's people do sin. God's people are not kept from
evil in that sense. They do do wrong. They do sin.
So what does it mean? Does it mean that this prayer
hasn't been answered? Or does it mean that God's people
should not ever sin, which would count us all out.
No, it doesn't mean either of those things. It means that they
would be kept from the dominion of evil. That is, that they will
not be again ever under the dominion of Satan, that they will not
be eternally lost. They will not be in that state
as they were before outside of the kingdom of God. Pray not
thou should take them out of the world. That is, that they
need to be, as it were, translated into heaven as soon as they're
converted. I think that sometimes. Why is
it that God doesn't translate us into heaven the moment we
come to faith? Why isn't it we're just taken straight to heaven?
Why do we have to live in this world? Well, there's a number
of answers to that. One is that he's called us to
be his witnesses. But how is it that we can continue living
in a sinful world as believers before he takes us home? He will
keep us from the evil. No one will pluck them out of
my hand. And I may have said it before,
but I love those verses because we read, in subsequent verses
we read, no one will pluck them out of my hand. And in the next
verse we read, no one will pluck them out of my father's hand.
And it's a two-handed grip. He in his hand or in the Father's
hand. No one can break the two-handed grip that holds the church. And we know it because he prays
it. He will keep them. Fourthly,
he will give them joy. Verse 13, now I come to thee
and these things I speak in the world that they might have my
joy fulfilled in themselves. We are called to joy. We don't deny that the Christian
life is not easy at times. We don't deny that we have things
to mourn over, our sin and the sinfulness of the world, the
difficulties, but we are called to joy. We should be a joyful
people because there is reason to joy, and true joy transcends
circumstances. If our joy was based on our circumstances,
well, one, we might not have much of it, and two, we would
be up and down all the time. How can we maintain a state of
joy when circumstances give us nothing to rejoice in? And we
are given the answer to that question in a little book of
Habakkuk. In the closing verses of Habakkuk,
which speaks of quite sad circumstances, there's nothing to rejoice in.
But the closing verses of Habakkuk put it this way. Although the
fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines.
The labor of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield
no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall
be no herd in the stools. You can't get much more depressing
than that. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy. in the God of my salvation. And
this is the answer to how this joy can transcend problems and
difficulties. Because even in that, I have
the Lord. Even there, I know the God of
my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.
And he will make my feet like hinds feet and to walk in my
high places. You see, true Christian joy is
not based on what goes on in our life. Though we may have
outward circumstances that give us joy, that's not wrong. But
true Christian joy isn't based on how we feel or what we're
doing. True Christian joy is based in
Him. And He doesn't change, though
your life may be turned upside down. that God of our salvation
is faithful and constant, though we may change. And so he prays
here, doesn't he, that they might have my joy. And he was a man
of joy, that settled joy at all times in doing his father's will,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. And so again,
this prayer is heard and answered as he gives his people this joy. Fifth, he will sanctify his people. Verse 17, sanctify them through
thy truth, thy word is truth. And so this prayer is a prayer
that his people will be sanctified. What do we mean by that? Well,
we mean that they will be made holy What do we mean by that? Does that mean that they'll be
made spotless and perfect? No. If you think you'll be made spotless
and perfect in this life, then you're wrong. So what does this
mean? What does this word sanctify
mean? It means to be set apart. It means to be consecrated to
God, to be his. He tells us in verse 19, I sanctify
myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
And so Jesus was sanctified. That means he was set apart. And what was he set apart for?
He was set apart to the cross and to suffering to be that holy,
perfect sacrifice for sin. And so his people are set apart. consecrated to the Lord. The Apostle Paul puts it this
way when he writes to the Romans, that they should be, we should
be, as living sacrifices unto the Lord. I beseech you therefore
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service, a living sacrifice, consecrated to God, sanctified
through the truth, through his word, called to serve him and
to worship him. Sanctify them. You know, if you're
a Christian tonight, you're a sanctified person. You are a separated person. And the Word of God puts it this
way, you are not your own. You're built with a price. I don't know what plans you might
have in your life. I don't know what ideas you might have for
your future. But whatever plans you make or whatever ideas you've
got, remember, you are not your own. Whatever you think you might
do, you're not your own. You're bought with a price. You
are to lay down your life as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. How
can you do that? How hard it is to lay down our
will and to say thy will be done. How hard it is to lay down our
plans and what we wanted and to say I will do or I will go
and whatever it might be for thee Lord. In obedience, how
easy when the Lord's will is in tune with ours, how hard when
it's us that's called to sacrifice. But hear the words of Jesus.
sanctify them through the truth, give them a heart for that reasonable
service, separate them, not in an aloof, better than the world
kind of way, because we're not better than the world. We're
not holier than the world. We're sinners saved by grace.
It's not an aloof kind of way to be separate from the world,
but in a privileged way. to be sanctified unto him. He
will sanctify them. Sixthly, he prays that he will
shine through them. It will shine through them. 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. Again in verse 23, I in them
and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou
has loved me. This is, you see, a prayer that
through the witness of his people, the world might come to know
something, that they might come to know that thou has sent me
and has loved them. The unity, the sanctified, consecrated
state of God's people gives a message to the world, he says. Sometimes the church may feel
that the message gives is a message that's derided. It's a message
that people hate, that they laugh at, that they don't want to hear. But there's a message nonetheless.
And it's important for the church today to stand for that, to unashamedly
show forth that they are what they are, that the world might
know that thou hast loved them. Ye are my witnesses, he says. You are. and through his grace
that is seen in the church, and through his love that they witness
to, it may be that the world around will also come to know
that he has come, Christ has come, and that he has loved them. Or we may feel, as I'm sure we
do, failures in our witness, individually and collectively.
We may wish there was more fruit, We may feel we say so little,
or our lives give off such poor witness, and maybe it does, and
there are things to be repented of. But remember this, that simply
walking with the Lord is in itself here, that witness. I in them, thou in me, that the
world might know. Just walking our lives with him
in us, with Christ, is a witness that the world will notice. How often we can get bogged down
and tied up in knots about what we should have said and what
we should have done. And I'm not saying we shouldn't think
about those things, but maybe our focus should be more like
this, am I walking in line with Jesus Christ? because then the
witness will be seen. Finally, he prays that they will
see his glory. 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. This is his
holy will. I will. And his will is this,
that these whom I have been given, remember we saw them earlier,
I pray for them which thou has given me, these for whom he's
been praying, these whom he will keep, he will never lose, these
who will know his joy, these who are sanctified, consecrated
to the Lord, these who are his witnesses, These will be with
him in glory. And that glory, as wonderful
as it will be, will be summed up in this, that they may be
with me where I am. As he has said right at the beginning
of this discourse, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, There
ye may be also. And so you may look, we don't know how long the Lord
will spare each one of us, but we may look at years that stretch
ahead of us. For a young Christian this evening,
we may look at many years that stretch ahead of us and say,
how can we reach the end? Will we reach the end? Will we
fail? But this prayer of the Lord Jesus
Christ tells us that we do not reach the end or we do not believe
in final perseverance because somehow we're given the ability
and strength to do it. We reach the end because it is
secure in the prayer and will of Christ. And his will must
come to pass. It is impossible. He would cease
to be God. His will would be broken. His
prayer would be unanswered if his people were not with him
in glory. Can you see, I hope, in this
prayer that what we see here is the solid truth, and we see
the certainty of those truths, because they are bound in the
very heart and prayer of the Son of God. And so today, as
you know, we've been thinking about prayer. And this morning
we thought, well, how can we pray? What encouragement? Bow
boldly to the throne of grace. And we come through the great
high priest. We come through Jesus Christ. And that's what
we saw in our prayers this morning. But as we come through the great
high priest, remember this. This is the prayer of that great
high priest. This is what he pleads and this
is what makes these glorious truths of being kept or of being
in his church or of being brought to final glory, what brings these
final glorious truths into certainty for the church. Oh hear him praying. Hear his intercession this evening.
You might feel to be slipping in your faith. You might feel
that that faith is growing weaker. But this prayer tells us that
his grip and his will is as tight and certain as it ever was. Here
is that solid ground. The psalmist put it this way.
He saw me in the miry clay. And he brought me out. And he
has set my feet upon a rock. And he has established my goings.
And he has put a new song in my mouth. Here is the solid rock,
the prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we sing the new song
of praise unto him. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes unto heaven. May the Lord bless his word to
us each. Confirming the people of God here in your prayers and
encouraging anyone seeking here tonight that you do not pray
in vain, but you pray through this one who prays for you. Amen. The final hymn this evening is
number 117. Hymn number 117. The tune is 196. Awake, sweet gratitude,
and sing the ascended Saviour's love. Sing how he lives to carry
on his people's cause above. With cries and tears, he offered
up his humble suit below, but with authority, he asks, enthroned
in glory now. Verse five, eternal life at his
request to every saint is given, safety on earth, and after death,
the plenitude of heaven. Hymn number 117. ? Which brought it to the sea ?
? This, and this, and it all ? ? Stake my hope in heaven above
? ? His minimals close upon. ? ?
With Christ as witness, be all that I am. ? ? This humble servant we learn
? ? How faithful the Lord is in thee ? ? He has remembered
thee ? ? To God the King ? ? Salvation
begins ? ? Christ's birth is near ? This Christ, such Christ, is
born. This my children's day. Ah, how I love you. O my sails, they wear thee well. ? Tell that which hath disdained
? ? Stay ye on earth ? ? And love one another ? ? But let
it be true ? you. Dear Lord, take us home and dismiss
us from this place with the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Bless us
with that help to come boldly to thy throne. And Lord, help
us to rest in that loving intercession of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Draw thy people to thyself, we pray. draw all here to thyself. May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God our Father, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with us all. Amen.