Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John chapter 17. We'll continue our study tonight
in this wonderful chapter. So good to be back again on Wednesday
nights. And thankful I'm all over that
COVID and all that stuff. So thank you again for your prayers
and texts and phone calls. What a blessing. What a blessing.
So tonight's message is called Oneness in Christ. oneness in
Christ. The last time we met on Wednesday
evening, we looked at verse 20, where we saw the Lord praying
for all who would believe the preaching of the gospel through
the apostles until the end of the age. This wonderful prayer
is broken down into three sections. In verses 1 to 5, our Lord is
praying for himself. In verses 6 to 19, our Lord is
praying for the apostles, but There's also emphasis on God's
people as well, all is elect, and the same as in the first
five verses as well. And then in the last verses,
verses 20 to 26, our Lord is praying for we who would believe
on the words of the Apostle. Apostles. That means we who believe
the Gospel. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Christ is praying again for all
the elect in verse 20. He's praying for all the elect
who would believe the gospel, the words of the apostles. And
what they preached is they preached Christ in Him crucified. That's
all they preached. They didn't mess around with
anything else. They preached Christ. And the preaching of
the gospel is the preaching of salvation in and through Christ
alone. their salvation in no other,
no other, all by His precious work. When He died on Calvary's
cross, He performed a work of salvation by the shedding of
His precious blood and the giving of His life in the room and place
of sinners. It's wonderful. It's the best
news you'll ever hear. Best news you'll ever hear. As
Brother Scott Richardson said, once you hear the good news,
you'll never hear bad news after that, because the gospel is the
best news you're ever going to hear. Everything else in this
world, this world's full of bad news, isn't it? But the gospel,
you just keep that at the forefront and keep that before you, it's
the best news you ever heard in your life. And it proclaims
the fact that Christ died as our substitute, that he stood
in our room and place, hanging on that cross while the justice
of God was poured out upon him for our sin, totally fulfilling
the law of God in our room and place, and he actually bore the
wrath of God that was meant for you and I. That's absolutely
incredible. That's good news. That's good
news for this sinner. I'll tell you why. That's good
news. And then, in the preaching of the gospel, we preach that
Christ lived as a substitute of His people, that He died as
our substitute, all according to the wondrous
work that God had planned. He planned all this and purposed
all this, and He did it for His elect. for all the elect of all
the ages. Then he rose again from the grave
for our justification, beloved, all according to the divine counsel
and foreknowledge of God. And what do we say? Praise his
mighty name. Hallelujah. Wonderful. Wonderful. This is wonderful.
So let's read this section here. John chapter 17, verses 20 to
26. This is the master that God incarnated
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us,
and he prays these words, neither pray I for these alone, that
being the apostles, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word. And look at that little word,
shall, right? There's no doubt there, God will
get his sheep. God's people will believe the
gospel. We don't know who they are, therefore we preach the
gospel to all, but God will get his sheep. they shall believe
on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be
one even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, not being Christ, and that the world
may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as Thou
hast loved me." My, what a, what a, what a, what words there. That the Father's loved us as
He's loved Christ. My goodness. Father, I will. Notice the, this is not a request. This is not a request. He's saying,
Father, I will. I will. But they also whom Thou
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest me when? Before
the foundation of the world." And if He loves us because He's
loved Christ, then He's loved us from before the foundation
of the world. My, oh my, it's wonderful. Oh Righteous Father,
what a title. That's an incredible title for
the Father. Oh Righteous Father. The world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee. And these have known
that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name,
and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved
me may be in them, and I in them." My oh my, what a wonderful portion
of scripture. I've been waiting to get to this
part since we began this. And let's read verses 20 and
21 again together because they do go together. And he's saying,
neither pray I for these alone, being the apostles, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word. That's all
the elect who have heard the gospel being preached from the
apostles on down, even to today. We gospel preachers, we get up,
we proclaim the word of God, and the Holy Spirit, he does
the saving. And by his grace and mercy, we
believe on Christ through the word of a preacher. 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." So marvel at this fact, beloved God. Marvel at
this, Brother Dave. I marveled at this thing. That's
Christ praying for you and I 2,000 years ago. He's praying there
for us. That's just incredible. I'll
tell you why. That's absolutely amazing. And this prayer, do
you know this prayer will still be answered? Because there's
people still believing on the name of Christ through the preaching
of the gospel. It's amazing when you stop and
think about it. And it will be answered until
the last sheep is saved. Until the last sheep is saved
and then it's all over. So marvel then as we go through
this part of the High Priestly Prayer of our blessed Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He prays for his soon-to-be blood-bought
bride. He's praying this before He goes
to Calvary. Now we know He's the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. But now that which
was planned and purposed is going to occur in time and space now.
Remember, He entered into time and space. He was outside of
time and space as God the Son. He entered into time and space
to save us, to redeem us. So He is soon to go at the determinate
time and counsel and foreknowledge of God. The exact second, He
will hang on that cross and He will redeem His people. with
the giving of His life and the shedding of His precious, precious
blood. So He's soon to go to the cross.
He's soon to redeem His people, His blood-bought bride. And note
the love and compassion He has for us here. Note this. These
words are just dripping with the love of Christ. Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me
through their word, that they all may be one as Thou, Father,
art in Me. And remember the relationship
He had with the Father. and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me." My, oh, my. And what our great Savior is
praying for here is unity. It's unity. We can't be like
God. God's divine. We're not. We're
finite beings. We're mortal. He's immortal.
But what He's praying for here is that we would have a relationship
That we would have unity like the Father and the Son have.
And that can only be done by God the Holy Spirit. I see it
in our church. I see the unity that we have.
It's precious. And it all comes from God the
Holy Spirit. It all comes from Him. It all
comes from Him. Think of this. Outside of the
Son, there's no fellowship with the Father. None at all. Therefore, we must be born again.
We must be born again. We must have a new nature given
to us by God the Holy Spirit. We must be granted faith to believe
or we'll never believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then how
wonderful is the unity that we then have with fellow believers. It's absolutely amazing. And
think of the unity that we now have with the Father through
the Son. Now we have restored fellowship. Perfect fellowship
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Perfect. And we also have unity
with the Son and the Holy Spirit too, right? Because they're all
God. If we have unity with the Father, then we have unity with
the Son. Because we can only have unity
with the Father through the Son. And we have unity with the Holy
Spirit because we're born again and given faith to believe now
in time and space, right? And now we have unity. Now we
were always God's people, we just didn't know it. But now,
when Adam fell, we fell with him, right? Now that unity is
restored. Oh, that's wonderful. And so
notice the sweetness and the graciousness of our Lord's words
in verse 21. And we have this unity, remember,
because of a mighty work wrought in us by God the Holy Spirit. Again, we're born again, we're
given faith to believe and it says here that they may be, he's
praying for you and I, that they may be one as thou father art
in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me. And our Lord, he prays
for his beloved bride, he prays for unity within the body. Because
remember, he's the head and we're the body. And so he's praying
for unity, that we may be one in Christ. Similar to the relationship
that the Father has with the Son. It's like a reflection of
it. It can't be like that relationship,
right? But, it's a unity in Christ that
the world doesn't have. And that we never had before
the Lord saved us. And it's absolutely amazing.
And think of this. Think upon the blessings that
he's praying for. He's prayed for his apostles
in the section before us, but not just for them, but also for
us. For all who believe on what they preach, for all his redeemed
ones, for all his ransomed ones. And he's not limiting the blessings. No, no, no. Just to the apostles. No, those blessings are for us
too in Christ. because all the promises of God
are yea and amen in Christ for all believers and marvel at this
beloved of God that Christ puts before us the blessings in this
prayer and they're not just for the apostles but they're for
thousands and millions of believers who will believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ because we know it's going to be millions it's
going to be a number even more than that because it's a number
that no man can number my oh my, so he's praying for all his
redeemed he's praying for you and I in this prayer before we're
born 2,000 years before or 1,900 and something years before we're
even born I was born in 1964 alright so he prayed this prayer
1,964 years before I was even born My oh my. And then the Lord saved
me in my thirties, so it was another thirty years after that
that He revealed Himself to me. Oh, in all that time I was His
and had no clue at all. No clue at all. My oh my. What a statement. In this statement
that He says that they may all be as one, as I was contemplating
this today, this springs forth His deity. It brings forth his
deity, because he's saying only God can say to the Father that
they may be as one as we are one. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, only
God incarnated in the flesh can say these words. Knowing, and think of this, he
says these words knowing that his sheep will be saved, right? You know that? We know that right?
Look at verse 20. So he says these next words that
we're looking at in verse 21, knowing that we shall believe. Only God can know that, beloved.
So, in these words, I was just blown away today as I was reading
that. In these words, He's manifesting His deity. He's manifesting who
He is. That He's God incarnated in the
flesh. And one day, one day those He's
speaking of in verse 20, and those He's speaking of in verse
21, will hear His voice. Will hear His voice. Through
the preaching of the Gospel. And they shall believe, beloved.
They shall believe. That's what happened to us, right?
Oh, it's amazing. It just gets better and better,
doesn't it? Marvel again at the words in
verse 20. Again, I'm going to bring up that word again. For
them also which shall believe on me through their word. That's
just manifesting his deity. And then note in verse 20, 21,
that those who shall believe on his name, he now prays that
they would be one in unity. You know why he prays that, right?
Because he knows that as humans, we tend to not have unity. In
our natural flesh, we don't have unity, right? Because of our skin, because
of our selfishness, because of self, period. That's real, you
can just say self. It's me, yeah, yeah. And he says
that they all may, so the ones that shall believe, he says,
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. He's praying that the whole of
His bride, all the born-again, blood-washed church may partake
in the consequences of His mission. They shall believe. And then
He's praying, O Father, that they shall be one. That they
shall be one like we're one. Like we're one in unity. In the
oneness and union, that perfection and glory in Christ, and the
everlasting presence with him, to which the whole church shall
finally be bought, may be the privilege and blessings of all
his sheep." And what do we say? To God be the glory. To God be
the glory. All through Christ these blessings
come to us. Now look at, look at and notice
the words concerning these blessings that the Lord Jesus Christ has
prayed in verses 20 and 21. Notice verse 24. This is not
a petition. This is not a request. But what
Jesus says here is expressed in the nature of a right or demand.
Look what He says, Father I will. I will. Remember in the Garden
of Eden, He said, not my will but thy will be done. Now here He's
saying, Father I will. This is something I will, Father,
that they also whom thou has given me be with me. Where I
am. Now every time a saint dies,
where does he go? right to heaven, to be with the Lord. Every time
a saint dies, his prayer is being answered, beloved. Boom! Up he
goes, just in the twinkling of an eye. That they may behold
my glory. And that's what God's people
are doing right now. They're beholding the glory of their Savior. The
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Thou has given me, for
Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Now, some might
say, well, why does he say, Father, I will? It's not a petition. It's more of a right or a demand. One might say, well, why? Well,
when you consider the transactions of the Holy Three in One in the
everlasting covenant, there were stipulations made in that covenant,
right? The Father gave a people to Christ. Christ said, I'm going
to redeem them. I'm going to shed my blood. I'm
going to live a perfect life for them. The Holy Spirit said,
I'm going to regenerate them, give them faith to believe. So he's exercising here his covenant
office as the redeemer of God's people, which was made in the everlasting
covenant of grace by the glorious almighty coveteers, the three
in one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They're
all equal in the Godhead. They're all equal in covenant
offices, aren't they? They all have guaranteed each
other the transactions in the everlasting covenant of grace in the everlasting covenant of
grace the son gives his life for the bride which was given
to him by God the father and they are regenerated and granted
faith to believe on Christ so it is his right according to
the transactions of the everlasting covenant to say the words I will
about his people isn't that amazing? It's His right to say, Father,
I will. I will that they be with us. And that's all according
to the covenant transactions between the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, His blood ratifies
the everlasting covenant of grace. Because He purchased us with
His precious, precious blood. So that in the intercession of
Christ, by virtue of his human nature, this office leads to
the exercise of prayer in saying, Father I will, not by way of
petition, but by way of right. Father I will that they be with
me. Because of what I'm going to go do, because I'm going to
redeem them with my blood, I will that they be with me in glory.
Oh my. So he's here demanding the fulfillment
of the covenant stipulations for his people. which the Father
gave him before the foundation of the world, and he proclaims,
Father, I will. Now let's read tonight's verse again, which
is 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. So marvel here, beloved of God, that we are now one with
Christ. Remember when Paul was persecuting
the church? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He's the head, we're
the body. Right? We hit our, we hit, we
touch a burning hot stove with our finger. It sends a signal
to our brain saying, take that finger off of there. Right? The head says, get it off of
there, finger, get it off there, finger, and it does. My oh my. So he's talking here in this
verse about this union where he's the head and we're the body.
Now that we're born again blood-washed saints, we believe the gospel.
We believe that which the apostles preached. And remember, there's
only one gospel. There's not many. There's only
one. And that's salvation in and through Christ alone, by
his work alone, with nothing added by man. Now, men hate that
gospel. I hated it before the Lord saved
me, but now it's the most precious thing that I've ever heard. Oh
my! The fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ, God in the flesh, the perfect sinless Lamb of God,
came to this sin-cursed world, and lived the perfect life for
me, and for you, beloved of God, and that His death was a sinatoning
death, the sinless one died, the sinless one died for the
ungodly, that's me, that's you! My! That's incredible! The sinless
one died for sinners? No man could have ever came up
with this marvelous plan of salvation? That the king would give his
life for the peasants? Gave his blood? Shed it? Yeah,
and the life of the flesh is in the blood. So he shed that
blood for us, beloved. Oh, it's wonderful. My oh my. And so there's a union and a
oneness between the Father and the Son. and between the Holy
Spirit of God, but in here he's bringing forth the union between
the Father and the Son. That union is in nature, essence,
power, affection, and purpose, which infinitely transcends any
kind of union among men. It's so far above any union that
we can have. But that is not what this verse
is bringing forth. It's not bringing forth that
we're going to be like God, the Son, and the Father. This verse
is bringing forth the oneness that believers have in Christ.
The unity that believers have in Christ. And think of this,
we don't have this unity with unbelievers. Not at all. Not even our own family. I got
two brothers. I don't have this unity with
them. I don't. But I have unity with
you, my brother. And my sisters in Christ. My
oh my. So this is a union that resembles
that which exists between the Father and the Son. And how so,
might one ask? Well, we have a common faith.
We have a common faith. We have a faith given to us by
God, the Holy Spirit. It's a common faith. It's in
no way common, but it's common in the sense that it's the faith
we all have. My oh my. which we all experience and agree
is the main point of the gospel, right? Who is our faith in? Christ. In Him alone. Nowhere
else. And every believer who has unity
will say that. Our faith is in Christ. It's
not in the church. It's not in baptism. It's not
in a day. It's in Christ. It's in Christ
and Him alone. That's where our unity is. Salvation
and what's the main point of the gospel? Salvation in and
through Christ alone. We're united with that. If you
have God-given faith and I have God-given faith, we are going
to agree that salvation is all of grace. It's all in Christ
and Him alone. Absolutely nothing we do counts
towards that. Absolutely nothing. Now if someone
has The supposed faith that says, well, you've got to do this,
along with faith in Christ. That's not the same faith. We
can't have unity. See, that's what we're seeing
in Galatians, right? Paul says, you can't have unity with these
Judaizers. They're preaching a false gospel. They're preaching
a perverted gospel. It's perverted by man's works.
No, we all have unity in the fact that we believe that salvation
is of the Lord. And we also have a common affection.
You know our hearts have been knit together in love by God
the Holy Spirit. Think of the love that we have
for each other in Christ. Turn if you would to 1 John chapter
4. We're going to look at a little section here. 1 John chapter
4. I believe this brings us forth.
This blessed affection that God's people have for one another.
And this can't be mustered up by man. this can't be mustered
up by man at all. Look at this, 1 John 4, 7-11.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4, 8. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. in this was manifest the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him here in his
love not that we love God because we didn't in our natural state
did we but look at this that that he loved us and sent his
son to be a propitiation for our sins my oh my it's just amazing
beloved if God so loved us we are also to love one another
My! Isn't that beautiful? So we have
affection. Our hearts will be knit together.
Philemon, I believe it is, says that our hearts are knit together
in love. And we know that's by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And like a dear preacher friend of mine says, the one thing Satan
can't counterfeit is that true love. That true love. Someone can look like they love
the God's people, but in the long run, it's going to come
out that they really didn't. They really didn't. My! And then
we have a common goal, don't we? What's a common goal that
we have? The glory of God. We seek to
glorify God, don't we? We don't seek to glorify ourselves.
In religion, it was all about glorifying myself. Not like that
now. Now I want to glorify God. I
want to live a life glorifying God. And then, we're all one
in Christ, by God's grace. The only reason we're one in
Christ, brother, is because of God's grace. Isn't that amazing?
That's absolutely amazing. And it was his will, that it
would be so. That it would be so. We never
thought of that when we were in our different places growing
up. That's the last thing that entered into our minds. My oh
my. So God's will is manifest in
the fact that we're saved in Christ. And you know it will
be manifest to future believers too, who have not yet been saved. Because God shall, Christ says,
his people shall believe the word. the words of the apostles
and those who go on to preach it. My oh my. Listen to this. The God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
he has saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us to
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come, trophies and in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us toward
us through Christ Jesus trophies of his grace oh my so we've seen
this thread all through this chapter which is union and oneness
which Christ has with his people and our Lord he delighted he
delighted in this wonderful union in this unity which we have as
the born-again blood-washed people of God. And it comes only in
and through Christ. It's nowhere else. It's not bound
to anywhere else. And so marvel, marvel at how dear we are to
the Savior. Just let that sink in. You're
dear to the Savior. I'm dear to the Savior. We're
so dear to Christ that He prayed for us 2,000 years ago. and not
just for you and I, but for all who would believe on His name
through the preaching of the Gospel. Oh how dear God's people! We're so dear to Him that He
gave His life for us. Oh my! We're so dear to Him that He
went and bled and died to redeem our souls, to ransom our souls
as the sin of His great substitute. Now let's read the first part
of this wonderful verse. That they all may be one as Thou,
Father, art in me. So again, our Lord here is praying
for unity in faith and in knowledge of Himself for His people. There's only one faith. That's
God-given faith, isn't it? Which all true born-again believers
have. And we agree on that. We agree
on that. All of God's people are converted
by the same spirit, have the same work of grace wrought in
us. Though we may not have the same degree of light and measure
of spiritual knowledge, some may have great faith, some may
have small faith, some may have faith in between. Yet we agree
on the main point of the gospel, that salvation is by Christ alone,
by his work alone, through His shed blood alone and we agree also on the great
doctrines of faith the great doctrines of faith respecting
the person in the offices of Christ and this unity in Christ
is absolutely absolutely necessary for for we believers to live
comfortably while walking together as a church and having fellowship
with one another in honoring God through our worship, too.
Because we honor God together as we worship. We praise Him. Even though I'm praising Him
from my heart and you're praising Him from your heart, we're honoring
God with our worship, beloved. We're giving praise to the One
who has redeemed our eternal souls. Oh my! In the unity of which our Lord
speaks of at the beginning of this verse for His people, will
again bring great affection amongst the brethren. We see that here.
We see that here. And peace among the brethren.
You know why? Because our hearts are knit together.
They're knit together. We believe the same Christ. We
have the same spirit. We have the same faith given
to us. And we have, more importantly, the same Savior, the same Father,
And the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit has regenerated us.
And our hearts have been knit together in love, which is the
bond of perfectness, and the evidence of regeneration. The
fact that we love one another, as we looked at in John, 1 John
1, 4, or 1 John 4, those verses in 1 John 4, the fact that we
have this love is evidence of our regeneration. Isn't that
amazing? Because it all comes from the
Lord. It's His doing. It's His doing,
beloved. My, oh, my. Now let's read the
first part of tonight's verse and move into the middle of the
verse as well. That they may be one as thou,
Father, art in me and I in thee. Now, there is absolute union
between the Father and the Son. Absolute union between the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are united in providence.
They are united in will. They are united in everything.
Absolute unity in power, in will, in understanding, in affection.
And this unity transcends any kind of union, as I said earlier,
between man that we can even conceive. But our union is a
reflection, pale as it be, it's still a reflection of the divine
person's unity. Which must, again, not be understood
as a quality or likeness. It's just a reflection of it.
But here, and think of this, we have unity because Christ
prayed for us. His prayers being answered. even
with the unity we have within the body. This prayer is being
answered, beloved. My, oh, my. And note the words,
that they also may be one in us. That they all may be one,
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us. Next portion of the verse. This
is a union of all the elect of God and Christ. We have a union as God's elect
with Christ. He's the head and we're the body,
right? And this union's already complete. It's already complete. It's finished.
And does not need to be prayed for. For we're already loved
by God with an everlasting love. We're already inseparable to
Him. Isn't that amazing? We're already
inseparable to Him. Before Christ even prays this
prayer, we're already loved by God from eternity, and we're
already inseparably connected to Him. And we're already chosen in Christ
as members of His body, He being the head, and we are federally
united to Him. He's our mediator, our surety,
our representative, When he assumed our nature and stood in our place
before God's law and justice and wrath, and he did this by
the great work of salvation that bought us nigh to God. See, we
were far off, weren't we? He's bought us nigh, beloved.
But at the time when this is manifest, we are with loving
kindness drawn to the Father. Drawn to Christ. Do you remember
when the Lord was drawn you with loving kindness to Christ? Oh,
he was so loving, wasn't he? We fought about it. Sometimes
we fought about things and fought against things. He just lovingly
drew us to Christ. You know, I think about that.
He disarmed us, didn't he? Anything that we had that we
said, no, I can't come to God because I'm such a sinner. That
qualifies me to come to Christ. Right? The fact that I'm a sinner
qualifies me to come to Christ. See, people get hung up on who's
the elect and who's not the elect. Flee to Christ! Come! Come! Come unto me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. My, that's what
the Master said. So there's a manifestation of
this wonderful union that Christ is praying about here. And that
comes When we're born again, when we're drawn, it's already
a union we have and we just don't even know it. Yeah, from the
beginning. My oh my. And when persons openly
appear to be in Christ, we confess Christ, right? As a fruit and
effect of the everlasting love of God for His people, in His
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's an effect. in a fruit
of regeneration that's been done in us by God the fact that we
flee to Christ is because we're born again because we've been
given faith to believe that we didn't have before my oh my so
this wondrous unity then is manifest and we're lovingly
drawn unto Christ drawn unto Christ and this wondrous unity
is seen more and more And when all the elect of all the ages
are bought in, this unity will be complete. Let's read this wonderful verse
again. 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. It is to be carefully noted,
one commentator wrote, that Christ did not here pray that the result
of the manifest unity of his people should be that the world
would believe on him, but that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. And those two things are widely
different, aren't they? The world here has meant the
world of the ungodly, now unregenerated men and women, who are never
bought to Christ by... No man or no woman is ever bought
to Christ, or child, is ever bought to Christ by the external
manifestations of God's power. Because they're all around us.
And yet people don't believe. The sun rising every single day
and heating this earth is a manifestation of God's power. The moon hung
in the sky at night. Well, it's there all the time,
isn't it? But the moon hung there is a manifestation of the power
of God. The star canopy that we get to
look at every night is a manifestation of the power of God. And even
the divine miracles which Christ performed could never bring someone
to Christ. Oh, the only way that man and
woman and child is brought to Christ is by the word applied
by the Holy Spirit of God, by His almighty power, quickening
sinners and bringing us life. So marvel, beloved of God, at
this wonderful verse tonight. Marble Heart brings forth before
us, sets before us the unity of God's people in Christ alone.
And all these blessed benefits, redemption, sanctification, justification,
wisdom, the knowledge of Christ, even what we know about Christ,
all come to us in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. All according
to the covenant mercies of God. the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, which were set forth in the everlasting covenant of
grace. When the everlasting, think of
this, beloved of God, if you're one of God's people, think of
this, when that everlasting covenant of grace was made in eternity
before there was ever anything or anybody, we were included
in it. My, my oh my, all according to the will and
purpose of God. And our Lord delights to see
these truths set before His people. He delights in it. Think of this.
He had this prayer preserved by God the Holy Spirit. The only way this prayer is preserved
is by the will of God the Father, by the will of God the Son, and
by the will of God the Holy Spirit, right? Otherwise, it would not
be here. So it was God's will that this
wonderful prayer would be set before you and I, the loved of
God. That's amazing. That's amazing. And through this prayer, we see
that by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, that without union
with Christ, there can be no communion with Christ. There
can be no communion with God. Right? Because the Lord Jesus
Christ said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. So there's
no communion with the Father, no unity with the Father, except
through the Son. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Without being
grafted into the one true vine, we will not have any fruitfulness. Because Christ said, without
me you can do nothing. So marvel again at the oneness
that we as believers have in Christ. He's the head and we're
the body, all according to the divine will and purpose of Jehovah. My! Being chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, therefore the church receives
all her blessedness from Christ. And this union is the foundation
of all our blessings afterward. All of them. Salvation, redemption,
justification, propitiation. All these things. All these things
are a result of the blessed union that we have with the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that means that this union
then is the foundation of all blessings. This union that the
believer has with Christ. Because they all arise from Christ. Didn't the Holy Spirit have Paul
penned in Ephesians 1 verse 3 that all spiritual blessings are in
Christ Jesus? So that means that if we're in
Christ, we have all spiritual blessings. That's wonderful.
And all the blessings and mercies we receive from Christ in this
time state, because we are in time state, aren't we? Do you
know when we die and we leave this time state, there's no more
time and glory. There's no more time. So all
the mercies and all the blessings we receive in this time state
of the church are the result of the church's being considered
one in Christ. One in Christ. And that's from
all eternity. So that our redemption by Christ
is among the blessed, one of the most blessed effects of this
union. this union. And our union with Christ is
the cause of our redemption. The cause of our redemption.
Because Christ came to what? To save his people from their
sins. To redeem his people. To redeem
his church. To redeem his bride who had fallen
in Adam. Bless the Lord, O my soul, in
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. We were
Christ from before the foundation of the world, beloved. Praise
His mighty name. Amen and amen.