I've got a message here from
the same verse, John 17, 9, last week. I'm going to do another
one this week and deal with it from a whole other angle. But
our Lord said there in John 17, 9, I pray for them, and I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. Now, here in John 17, Our Lord
arises after this, and He goes into the Garden of Gethsemane
after He prayed this prayer. And this is a prayer. They call
it the Great High Priestly Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
what He does is He opens the veil. You know, the priest, he
went behind the veil. Here our Lord Jesus Christ, He
opens the veil and allows us to see and hear as He prays to
His Father. You know, our Lord was a praying
man. You find one several times where he'd go off alone, he'd
go up on a mountain and pray. And he prayed all night before
he ever called his disciples, the apostles. And he often went
across Brook Seagrand and went over to the garden and prayed.
And that's why Judas knew where he was at. And so our Lord was
a praying man. But here he opens the veil and
he prays in front of his disciples, his people. And he allows them
to hear. what he says to the Father, and
as he prays to the Father. And that's who he's praying for.
He said in verse 1, these words speak Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven and said, Father, Father, the hour has come. And
why did he lift up his eyes? You know, you see people lifting
up their eyes all the time when they pray, and these here gospel
singers, so-called gospel singers, you know, they stare up into
while they're singing like they saw some beatific vision. Our
Lord lifted up His eyes because He could actually see in the
glory. He could actually see His Father. And His Father was
looking at Him. He could look right into glory,
and He could see. And that's why He lifted up His
eyes. He could look where we couldn't
look. He could see what we couldn't see. And he had access. And here he says, Father, the
hour has come. And again, he says down in verse
5, he prays to the Father. And he says in verse 5, oh, and
he lets us hear this and see this. And now, oh, Father, oh,
Father, glorify Thou me. Oh, Father. Father. Then he says down in verse 11,
he calls Him Holy Father. And I'm no more in the world,
but these are, and I come to be Holy Father. Holy Father. But before you and I, even though
our Lord lifted the veil and let these men and let us see
and hear as He prays to the Father, but before you and I can see
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the veil must be taken away from
our hearts. The veil has to be taken off
our hearts. The scales have to be taken off our eyes. And that's
what has to happen if we're going to look behind the veil, if we're
going to see Him as He is. Now, we're told who it is that's
praying. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that's praying,
and it tells us who it is that He's praying for. I pray for
them. John 17. I pray for them. We talked last
week about who them are. And He also tells us what it
is that He's praying for them for. He didn't just... He don't
pray like people do today, just shotgun prayer and pray for everything
and everybody. No, He was very direct in His
prayer. He was focused in His prayer.
And He prayed for them for specific things. And when He asked His
Father for them for certain things, do you reckon we're going to
get those things? Do you reckon His Father hears Him? Do you
reckon His Father will give to us what He prayed for us for?
Well, the first thing He prays for them about, and prays for
them, us, and those, I hope you're of them. I hope you're of them. You know that our Lord Jesus
Christ, over in Hebrews 7.29, He said, He is able to say to
the uttermost, them, Them. Who are them? That come unto
God. How? By Him. By Him. And oh, may you be one of them
that come unto God by Him. May you be one of them that He's
praying for. May you be one of them, and you
know in your heart that you're one of them. And He's praying
for them. And I tell you, when He prayed
for them here, I didn't exist yet, but yet He was praying for
me. He was praying for me. And we'll see that here in a
minute, but here's the first thing he asked for as he prayed
for them. He said in verse 11, And now I have no more in the
world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep, keep through thine own name those thou hast given me.
That's the first thing he prays for. Why does this, you know,
this is one of the things he prays for us for, is why is this,
why he prays for us to be kept in his Father's name, in his
own name. Father, in your own name, keep them. And why would
he pray for that? Well, I'll tell you the first
reason he prays for it, because we need to be kept. We certainly
can't keep ourselves. Can you keep yourselves in the
grace of God? Can you keep yourselves in the
love of God? Can you keep yourself in a worshipful
attitude? Can you keep yourself righteous?
Can you keep yourself spotless? Can you keep yourself sinless?
So you see what he says, Father, through thy name, keep them,
through your own name. And what he is saying, Father,
keep them by your honor and the honor of God's what's at stake
here. And keep them through the truth of your name. Keep through
the power of your name. And we're talking about the name
of God. We're talking about the very
character of God. And when we talk about anybody's
name, it reveals their character. It reveals their nature. It reveals
their veracity, their honesty, their integrity, their power,
their glory. And that's why, you know, beloved,
He says, Father, keep through thine own name. And, oh my, that's
why our Lord, He says, Father, here they are. Here they are. These men are weak. Their flesh, They're sinful. They have no strength. They have
no ability. And here's the thing, they want
to be kept, but they can't keep themselves, so Father, keep them.
And keep them through Your name. Make Your name, like I call on
You, in Your name, in Your honor, in Your character, to keep these
men, keep these people. You know, when Moses was up on
the mountain, And God appeared to him out of that burning bush,
which was the Lord Jesus Christ. And he spoke to him out of that
burning bush. And he says, now you go down and you tell Pharaoh
to let my people go. Well, Moses, he turned around
and he says, well, now who am I going to tell? When I get there,
who it is that sent me? Well, who am I going to tell
them? So I've got to tell them somebody sent me. I can't say I came in
my own name. I just didn't decide to come down here and tell if
they were going to let my people go. So who in the world am I
going to tell sent me? He says, you tell them that I
am. That I am. Self-existent. Holy. I am that I am. Everything that I am, I am. Now
what is he? Is he holy? Is he righteous? Does he have all power? Is he
sovereign? Does He do according to His will?
Does He have the strength? Does He have the ability? Does
He have the honesty? Does He have the power? Does
He have the glory? Does He have the honor to keep
us? You know, if he let one of those,
for whom Christ committed to his hand, if one of those were
to be lost, if one of those was to fall, if one of those was
to end up in hell, do you know what that would mean to the name
and the character and the power of God? Oh, listen, and here's what he's
saying here, Keep to thine own name, acknowledge and claim them
as yours. For what he says, for they are
thine, you gave them to me. Look over there, you keep John
17, look over in Hebrews 11 with me just a moment. Excuse me. Hebrews 11, verse 16. You know what he's saying? Father,
acknowledge them, claim them as yours, for they are thine. And oh, look what he says here
in Hebrews 11, 16. Oh, acknowledge them, claim them,
keep them. But now he's talking about Abraham and all these saints
by faith, you know. But now they desire a better
country. That is, a heavenly. Now, we'll
listen to this right here. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God. Abraham was wandering around
in those tents, and Jacob was out there manipulating his brother,
and Isaac, and all the saints, and Noah, and Abel, and all these
saints. They was all looking for a better
country, and just because they was walking by faith and looking
to God and trusting God, said, I'm not ashamed to be called
their God. Well, they ain't got no place to dwell. I'm not ashamed
to be called their God. They're dwelling in tents. I'm
not ashamed to be called their God. Abraham told a lie. I'm
not ashamed to be called his God. Jacob was a supplanter. I'm not ashamed to be called
his God. In fact, I'm not ashamed. I tell you what I've done for
him. I've built him a city. And one of these days, they're
going to come and they're going to live in that city. Oh, my. Been back over here in our John
17. You know, his is the name. Talking
about keep to thine own. His is the name that Christ manifested
under them. Look what he says in verse 6. He said, I have manifested thy
name. And what does he mean? I manifested
your character. I manifested your power. I manifested
who you are. Unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. Oh my, he comes to manifest the
name of God. Here's God. Here's the name of
my Father. Here's who my Father is. And
look over here in John 14 with me just a moment. In verse 7,
I'll show you what I'm talking about, when he said he manifested
the name. And here in John 14, 7, he said,
If ye have known me, ye should have known my Father also. And
from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Oh my, if
you know me, you know the Father, and you're going to know Him
and see Him from here on? Philip said unto Him, Lord, show
us the Father. And it'll be sufficient for us.
It'll satisfy us. And our Lord said unto him, have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? Known me, Philip? He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? He says, when you're looking
at me, and when you hear me speak, when you see me act, when you
watch what I do, and watch everything that I say, He says, you're looking
at God. That's what he's saying. And
on down here in verse 26 of John 17, again, he says this, and
I'm laboring this for a little bit, but I'll get on. He said,
I have declared unto them thy name. I declared it. And that's
what we want to do. Declare it. That's what he says,
this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true
God. And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast, I have declared thy name,
and will declare it. And is that not what we do? The
name of the Lord is a strong tower. The name of the Lord is
a strong tower. And the righteous run into it,
and they're safe. And they're safe. And then look
what else he prayed for them for. Down in verse 13 here, John
17. Look what else he prayed for
them for. Now this is, he's praying for them, this is what he's going
to give to them. And now I come to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, I'm telling these things in the
world, I'm preaching these things in the world, I'm praying these
things in the world, that they might have my joy, my joy fulfilled
in them. My joy. This is the reason I
came, this is the message that I preached, this is the reason
I declared your name, this is the reason that I saved them.
You see, the Scripture tells us that he was acquainted with
grief and sorrow, well acquainted with sorrow and grief. But he
also was joyful. And what was our Lord's joy? What do you think his joy was?
What do you think made him full of joy? It certainly wasn't anything
that was in the world. It had to be something outside
the world. It had to be something in His
communion with God. And here's where His joy was.
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. And He found
delight in the Father's will, and He found delight in the Father's
work, who for the joy that was sent before Him, despised the
shame, despised the shame, and endured the cross, the joy that
was there, doing the Father's will. Fulfilling the Father's
will. Doing the Father's purpose. That's
where he found his joy. He found his joy in going to
the cross and saving us from our sin and satisfying the justice
of God on our behalf and fulfilling the law in our room. That was
his joy. That was his joy. And let me
tell you something, joy, when he said, my joy may be fulfilled
in them. Joy is, you know, there's a difference
between happiness and joy. Whenever you're trying to make
yourself joyful, whenever you're trying to make yourself happy,
you're going to miss it. It's just a consequence of being
in communion with God the Father. You see, joy is the fruit of
communion and fellowship with the Father. And I think somebody
read it the other night in 1 John 1 and verse 3, it says, Our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And
these things have I written unto you, that you may have your joy
full." And when you realize that you have fellowship, have access,
communion with God Himself, that we come to the Father, that's
when I tell you it gives such confidence. When I talk about
it, it fills me with joy. I stand here in the presence
of God Almighty with clean hands and a pure heart. Where did I
get it? I stand here before God the Father with a righteousness
that He Himself gave me. I have been promised an eternal
inheritance, and so what in the world I have to... Joy! Joy unspeakable! full of glory, and
not only that, but it's the fruit of faith. Joy is the fruit of
faith. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in what? Believing. Believing. You know, for the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace. You find folks with a long face
never know anything about joy. I'm sorry for them. I know what
it is. Even in your darkest hours, there's
some joy there. When you start talking to the
Father, and you start carrying your burdens to Him, you start
opening your heart to Him, joy starts coming. I mean, the joy
starts coming. It starts lifting your soul up
and your spirit up. And not only that, but unless
this joy he's talking about is a fruit, of being in the kingdom
of God, being in the kingdom of Christ. Romans 14, 17, and
you've seen it so many times, the kingdom of heaven is not
in meat, what you eat, it's not in what you drink, but it's in
righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. And whenever
you realize it's not in meat and drink, When you realize it's
not an external thing, when you realize it's not in what you're
doing or you're not doing, when you realize it's because of this
relationship that God gave us in Christ, that's when that joy
comes. Deep-seated joy. And our Lord
was full of joy, and He prays for us to have His joy fulfilled
in us. And will it? It will. You know,
one of these days, One of these days, we have lots of joy here.
I have lots of joy. There's lots of things that fill
my heart with joy. There's things in this world that give me joy.
My little granddaughter, she gives me great joy. A lot of
you give me joy. These kids give me joy. I look
at these kids and they grow up and what God has done for them.
I look at these young people that's married and got these
new babies and all that. They fill my heart with joy.
Hey, they do. I enjoy them so much, and I'm
so thankful for them. Some of you, all the years that
we've enjoyed one another, the joy that you give my heart just
thinking about you. And that's the way Christ was.
He looked at His people, and He had joy in Him because He
knew what the results of His work was, and what the results
of that, the inheritance that they had, He could be filled
with joy. And then remember what else he prayed for them for.
Not only that they'd be kept, that their joy be fulfilled,
but look what he says here in verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. Oh, my. Boy. Keep them from the evil. And
he didn't say, I don't ask you to take them out of the world.
They've got to live in this world. They got to live where men hate
God, where they hate Christ, they deny His Word, they're ridiculous
in their religion. James gave me some more things
this morning. Listen to this one. Here's one of the things
he got off the side this morning. Turn a new leaf. Rise above the
little things. And here's another one. We are
the sole S-O-U-L agents in this area. That's evil. That's hashed. by the evil one. And that's why
he says, keep faith. Father, I don't want you to take
them out of the world. But while they're in the world, I do pray
that you keep them from that evil one. There's an evil one
in this world. There's an evil one in this world, and I tell
you, he's not interested in people out in Honkytonk. He's not interested
in people out here living in the world. He's really not. They're
doing just exactly what they... The only person they're interested
in, the evil one's interested in, is God's people. The only
Lord he tried to stop coming into this world is the Lord Jesus
Christ. You look at how many times. And
that's what he overthrew us in the Garden of Eden. He comes
as an angel of light. He's a roaring lion. He's subtle,
he's deceitful, and he's crafty. And we're no match for him. That's
why our Lord says pray. I pray, Lord, lead us not into
temptation. Whatever you do, don't lead us
and let us go into temptation because we're not able to bear
it. And our Lord saw Satan fall from
heaven in Luke 10, 18. He said, how the hell Satan is
lightning. For if he fell so fast, he's
like lightning. And you know what he did? The
only thing he did, and I ain't a human being that ever drawed
a breath that didn't think like the devil. Not a human being
that they got, I mean, didn't think like a devil. Here's what
the devil did. He said, he thought within himself, this is what
he said, he thought within himself, I'll rise above the throne of
the Most High. He just thought that. Down he went. Down he went. Huh? And oh, he says, you know,
when that Greek, when the gospel's preached and that word's preached,
The wicked one cometh and catches away that spear. And you know
what our Lord said about him? Look over in John, keep John
17, look in John 8 maybe just a moment. And this is the way,
this is the way most people feel. That most of us at one time or
another have put our place, ourselves in the place of God. We set ourselves
up as our own Savior, set ourselves up as knowing what's best for
us, independent of God, independent of His will, independent of His
Word. I was sitting here thinking this morning, when I was in the Marines and
I was in Vietnam, most folks think because you're an American
and you're serving in the military that you know if you die on the
battlefield, some way or another you get to go to heaven just
because you're a patriot or you're dying. If I would have got killed
in Vietnam, I would have went to hell just because I was a
God-hater. Oh, I tell you, oh, you just
wouldn't believe how bitter and angry. And oh, listen, what I'm telling
you was that I set myself up to be my own God. I said, you
know, God has, I don't need God. What I need, God for it. And
if I was a God, He wouldn't let this mess be going on. I said,
you know, full of anger and bitterness, lifted my hands up. People do that all the time.
The fear of God, go ahead and strike me dead right here. You
don't have to do that. You're already dead. You're dead
in trespasses and sins, and you're going to go to the second death
if God in mercy don't open your heart and reveal Christ to you.
Now, ain't that right? So what I'm saying here is that,
you know, that's what our Lord said, and we've all, God, we
need to be, God, save us and keep us from this evil one. He,
you know how much power he's got? How deceptive he is? And look what he said here in
John 8 and 44. You know, this is what the Jews said,
you know, they said, you know, God, our Father, God's our Father.
And he said, no, in verse 44, you are your father, the devil.
You mean that there's people that their father's the devil?
That's what he says here. And the lust of your father you'll
do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
Who did he murder? Tried to murder God. When he
said, I'll ascend above the throne of the Most High. He murdered
our first parents. And watch what this is. And abode
not in the truth. He didn't live in the tree. He
didn't abide in the truth when he was loosed for the sun of
the morning when he was in heaven. And why didn't he buy it in the
truth? Because there's no truth in him. He does not have one
iota of truth in him. Not one iota of truth in him.
When he speaks a lie, all he does, speaking of his own nature,
speaking like it's natural, for he's a liar, and he's the father
of it. Now that's the fellowness. Oh, my. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was tempted of him in the wilderness. He knew his power, he knew his
subtlety, he knew his hatred, he knew his devices, and he says,
Father, keep them from the devil. Keep them. And, beloved, we need
keeping from him. I'm no match for him, you know.
People give him so much credit. They say, well, the devil, the
devil done this, the devil done that, and the devil done the
other thing. The devil does not do anything without the will
and permission of God. And that's the way I like it.
And I say, God, please don't turn Him loose on me. Don't let
Him get to me. Oh, please don't let Him get
to me. Do me like you done Job. Put a hedge around me. Yes, sir. And oh, Lord, I know that everything
I got, You gave me. I'm not going to attribute anything
to anything I say, think, or do but to You. So please keep
me. And that's why he says, Father,
keep them from that. Don't take them out of the world.
But there's evil out there. And there's an evil one. Keep
them from that evil one. And then look what else he says
here. I've got to hurry. In verse 17, look what he prays
for. He prays for them to be sanctified.
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Then down
in verse 19, and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified through the truth. Now he prays for our sanctification. What does sanctification mean
here? It means set them apart by the truth, by your word. And that's how God always sets
his people apart. He sets them apart. What sets
God's people apart more than anything in this world is the
truth they believe. That sets them apart more than
anything else, and this is the truth that they believe. And
he says, Sanctify them through thy truth. You know, and John,
I John over there, says, you know, we know that them that
are of God, for he that is of God heareth us. Hereby know we
are of the truth. And here it says, he sanctified
himself that they might be sanctified through thy truth. Now, did our
Lord Jesus Christ, when the sanctification means holiness in the strictest
sense of the word, does that mean that our Lord made himself
more holy when he sanctified himself? Did he make himself
more pure before God when he sanctified himself? What he's
saying is, I've set myself apart as a sacrifice as their substitute,
as their charity, as their sin offering, as their satisfaction.
I set myself apart to the will of God. I set myself apart as
the substitute, as the Lamb of God, to bear their sins in my
own body on the tree. I set myself apart as their sin
offering. They don't have a sin offering.
And I set myself apart and offer myself unto you. I shed my blood
for you. And oh, beloved, that's what
he means when he set himself apart as our representative.
He sanctified himself. He was set apart to the will
of God for our salvation. And oh, to be the satisfaction
to God. And I tell you, listen, if God
is satisfied, then I, my, only way in the world my conscience
can ever be satisfied if I know God's satisfied. And if I'm the
one trying to satisfy God, my conscience will never be satisfied.
I'll never be able to do enough. But if Christ satisfied God, satisfied all
the claims of God, His righteousness, His holiness, and His justice,
and bore His wrath, then my soul can find satisfaction and peace
too. You know why? Because I don't
have to do anything to satisfy God. Christ already did it. See,
that's what the Gospel does. It doesn't tell you What you
need to do to be saved, it tells you what's already been done
for His people's salvation. That's why it's called, it wouldn't
be good news if you was told what to do in order to be saved.
There's no good news in that. But there is good news in telling
you that what God's already done. This is done. This was done before
you and I ever come into this world. And I'm glad somebody
come along and told me it's done. Quit working! Rest! Stop! Cease!" And, O Beloved, here
he says he prays for our sanctification. You see, we're not our own. And
he says, sanctify them through thy truth. The truth is what
sets us free. Now, what is the truth when it
means sets us free? The truth sanctifies us, and
it sets us apart. It sets us apart from the world.
Truth is what sets us apart from the world. That's what sets us apart from
them. It's not that we look any different. We go to the same
place in the world. When we go eat dinner today or
wherever you go, you're going to sit down with people that
wouldn't know God from a goat. They're going to look just like
you. They get in the same kind of automobiles, watch the same
television shows. So what in the world sets us
apart? It's the truth that we believe. When we're out there,
we believe something that the average person doesn't. And it
sets us apart from religion. They set our Lord Jesus Christ
and His disciples apart from religion. Phariseeism. They despised
and hated the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples for the truth
that they preached. And it sets us apart and truth
sets us free from a love of ourselves. It sets us free from the lies
that we believe. It sets us free from the traditions
that we have. And the truth not only sets us
apart from things, but it also sets us apart to some things.
You know what it sets us apart to? It sets us apart to the gospel.
Ain't but one gospel. Only one gospel. And that's the
gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who
was made of the seed of David. It was promised a fourth time
by the holy prophets in the scripture. It's the gospel that gives God
all the glory. It's the gospel that sets forth
the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. And He sets us apart
to His church. God ain't got no footloose, fancy-free
sheep out here running around doing what they want to do. His
sheep always, those that are sanctified by the truth, have
joined themselves and identified themselves with the Lord's people
wherever they are. And somebody that won't identify
themselves with the Lord's people in the gospel of the free grace
of God in Christ, I'm telling you, beloved, I don't believe
the sheep. They run here, yonder, and everywhere else. And He sets
us apart to faith. He sets us apart to believing.
He sets us apart to the faith. He sets us apart to we look outside
ourselves, our salvations outside ourselves, and it's in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He sets us apart to good
works. Now, I'm going to tell you what they are. All I know
is this, that God has before ordained that we should walk
in good work. Now, what that means, I don't
know, but I know that when He ordains you to do it, you're
going to do it. And if you ever do one, and you tell somebody
you've done it, it seems to be a good work right there. It's
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. Ain't that right? Oh, my. Are you sanctified? The truth
is what makes us different. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy truth. Thy truth, not church truth,
not denominational truth, not Baptist truth or Presbyterian
truth, not Pentecostal truth, Methodist truth. Thy truth. And what I'm like Rolf Barnard
said, said the first, somebody tell him the truth somewhere
on this earth. He said, if I can find that person, I'm going to
sit down and listen to what they've got to say. He said, I've got
to have the truth and I'm looking for that man at Temple. And boy,
when we find somebody that tells us the truth. Truth. What is
truth? That's what John, that's what
Pilate asked the Lord Jesus Christ. What is truth? And he asked it
in such a facetious, arrogant, obnoxious way. What is truth?
Nobody can know what truth is. Truth is relative. There's moral
truth, there's scientific truth, there's all these truths. But
our Lord Jesus Christ said here that the truth is what sets us
free. Truth about God. This is the only true God. Do
you know the truth about God, that He's high and holy and He's
sovereign? That He does not ask leave to
do anything in this world? that you believe the truth of
God's sovereign election, that He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world? Do you know the truth of predestination,
that everything in this world, down to the smallest degree of
dust that's in the air, is predestinated of God Himself? Do you know the truth that man
is totally, completely, and absolutely unable to save himself, his sin,
from the inside to the outside, from the top to the bottom? And
he is that way until God saves him by His grace and gives him
a new heart. Do you know the truth that Jesus
Christ is the one and only Savior of sinners in this world that
God will not speak to nor be spoken to by any member of the
human race except through Jesus Christ. That governor that says,
you know, anybody that doesn't believe Jesus Christ is the Savior
is not my brother. He told absolute truth. And the
world went crazy about it. But it's the truth. We won't
back down from that. Listen, you cannot bypass... He don't need your help. Have
you ever heard the truth that Christ doesn't need your help?
That He don't need your ability, don't need your cooperation?
That salvation's of the Lord from beginning to end? That if
you're saved, you're saved on purpose? On God's purpose? that is not left to your will,
or your works, or your word, that salvation is of the Lord.
That's the truth that sets us apart. You know, and then he prays for
us here. Let me show you another thing here. Verse 20. He says,
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their work. That's why we're so adamant at
telling the truth. That's why we're so adamant that
we might be useful to those that are out there in the world. Our
Lord says, there are the sheep which are not His foal. And what
a request, He said. What a responsibility our Lord
gives us. Them that believe on Me through what? Through their
word. Now, what words is He talking about? The same truth that I
was just talking about. The same truth I'm talking about. And
you know, he says here, he says, I pray for them also which shall
believe on me through thy word. And you know how many people
have believed on God and believed on Christ and were brought to
trust Christ because somebody told them the truth. Started
with our Lord. It started with the prophets
and apostles, and through our Lord, and then through the apostles,
and then when the apostles were gone, men just kept preaching.
God's always had Himself a witness. And ours has always been somebody
come along with the Word, somebody come along with the Gospel. And
He said, those sheep, when they hear that voice of the shepherd,
they say, That's it! That's it! You know how many
people have heard the truth, and they've sat there, and after
they've heard it a while, they'll just jump up and say, That's it! That's
it! Why didn't I ever see it before?
Why didn't I ever hear it before? It's all over the Bible now that
you see it. That's exactly how it happens.
Boom! One day you're sitting there and you don't even suspect
nothing, and the next day, boom! There he is, the truth. Hits
you like a sledgehammer right between the eyes. And oh beloved,
our Lord Jesus Christ, you know, we're to speak the truth. And
we want to speak it in love. And may God bless us with the
truth that we may be made a blessing to others with the truth. And
then let me quickly hurry up and make another one real quick. Verse 21, He prays here for them
that we might be united one to another. 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. Now, there's a double union here.
There's the union of the Father and the Son. They're one. They're
one in will, they're one in purpose. They are one. And then there's
the union here of the brethren all together, that they all may
be one. All the brethren may be one. The union of the brethren,
the union of those that we all may be one. You know, it's God's
will and God's purpose for us to be united in spirit, in the
gospel and aim for the same. We're all striving for the same
thing, the furthest of the gospel, the furthest of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the glory of our Savior. And that's what our oneness is.
Our oneness is in Christ. You know, flesh and blood can
never be one. All of us got different ideas, we all like different
things, we go different places, we enjoy different things, and
we go our separate ways out of here. But do you know where our
union is, our unity, our peace is, and where our union is? It's
in Christ, it's in the gospel. That's why we're here today,
because we're all one in Christ. That's where our union is. Now
some of y'all like to go here, some of y'all like to go there
and do other things, but here's where our union is. It's not
in the fact that we see everything out. We're talking about our
union in the gospel, in Christ, and desire for Him to be honored
and magnified. And that's what He means for
us to be one. And He prays for this union, you know, and that's
why He says, you know, whether you're Jew or Gentile, bond or
free, all are one in Jesus Christ. And he prays for this union and
what it is that the world may believe that thou sent me. When
they see a whole bunch of people shooting at the same thing, they
say, well, those folks really believe it. There's something
to them. And it's unnatural. It's unnatural for flesh and
blood. And here's the last thing to get along with it. Oh my,
we just want in Christ, we do. And here's the last thing. Down
in verse 24. He prays for us, prays for them,
and he asks this. He says in verse 24, Father, I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which thou hast given me, for thou hast lovest me before
the foundation of the world." Now he says, Father, I will that
they may be glorified with me. This is the prayer. He's winding
this thing up. He's praying. He says, I will, that they also, that
they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." Oh,
my. He told that to people on the
cross. Today thou shalt be with me. Oh, be with me where I am. Listen,
watch this. And here's the kicker, that they
may behold my glory, my glory. David said like this, I'll be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Oh, we have suffering
and sorrow here at work. We've had grief. A lot of people
have had a lot of grief. But Paul said, I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory, with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
With the glory which shall be revealed in us.