Back to John 17, title of the
message, From Purity to Unity. From Purity to Unity. He had prayed for their sanctification. He says, I pray, sanctify them,
verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And now he's going to pray for
their and our. This belongs to us too. This
prayer belongs to us. We'll see this in just a second.
But he prays for our unity also. They said in verse 20, neither
pray I for these alone. This prayer is not for his disciples
at that particular time only. It's not for them only. It is a prayer that includes
all future believers in all ages. How powerful is this prayer? How powerful? How far reaching
is this prayer? It reaches to the end of time. It reaches to our time. He is
praying for his children that have not yet been born. He's praying for them who have
not yet even been born. And at this time, He's praying
for us. And we can read this and realize this prayer is for
us as well as them. And He gives a mark here that
distinguishes them for whom He prays. He says, "...that shall
believe on Me through their word." Faith. Faith is the distinguishing
mark of all God's people. Everyone
for whom He prays shall believe from their heart on the Lord
Jesus Christ. They shall rest. They shall completely
rest their whole being, the salvation of their soul on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Christ is very real. He is
very real. to those who believe, who truly
believe on Him. He's not someone who lived. He's someone who lives right
now. He's seated at God's right hand,
and at this same time, He is in you. That's hard to grasp,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ, by His
Spirit, is in you right now. We'll see this in a minute. But
the distinguishing mark here is this, they believe. This is
who I'm praying for, those who shall believe on me through their
word. Here's the ground, the foundation
of their faith, their word, the gospel. Shall believe on me through
their word, their gospel. Paul calls the gospel his gospel.
He called it one time, he said, his gospel, because God gave
it to him. I tell you what, it's your gospel. God gave it to you. The gospel is our gospel. It's
given to us of God. But these men were sent out preaching
the Word. They went from place to place,
just as we do now. I preached on the radio yesterday.
The head of that radio station told me when we went on that
station, that at any given time, there'll be between 5,000 and
10,000 people listening at any given time to that message, that
program. That's the statistics they've
got on it. So yesterday, I preached to somewhere
between 5,000 and 10,000 people. Yesterday. And that's, you know,
you pay for the program, so we preached. We preached to 5,000
to 10,000 people yesterday. And listen, I want you to turn
over the book of Acts. I'll just read it to you out
of the Word of God. Will it do any good? Will anything
come of it? Preaching on the radio, paying
for that program? Will anything come of it? Look
in Acts chapter 13. In Acts 13, verse 48, and when the Gentiles
heard this, and I preached to a lot of Gentiles yesterday,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life, bled. I tell you what, God has He has
assured the success of salvation. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe the gospel. Look over in Psalm 22. This is
the psalm of the cross. Now it says in Psalm 22, look
in verse 30. A seed shall serve him. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come. It's not they might come. They
shall come. And shall declare His righteousness
unto a people that shall be born. He's going to send out His preachers.
They're going to preach the gospel. They're going to declare His
righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, unto
a people, listen, that shall be born. They're going to be
born again. They shall be born. that He hath
done this." Salvation is of the Lord. The Scripture says in Romans
10, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
I pray for them who shall believe on Me through their word. James
says in James 1.18, of His own will beget He us with the Word
of truth. That's how important this is,
what I'm doing this morning. You kids are sitting there It's
like one time you were just children sitting there and you think you're
not paying a bit of attention. And they're probably not on most
of it, but they're catching little things here and there, little
things here and there. And as they grow, if the Lord is pleased,
those things start to come together. And one day, by the Word of God,
by the power of God, they believe. They believe. So I pray for them
who shall believe on me through their word. And here's what he
prays for. He prays for their and our unity
and likeness. You see in verse 20, let me get
back here to the Gospel of John, verse 21, that they all may be
one. All of them, all of his children
in all ages may be one, unified. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. Unity, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. The Father and the Son are one. He says, as we are one. They
are one in will, they are one in purpose, and Christ prays
that all who believe, and he's going to get this because
he prayed for it. He prayed for their unity. He
prays that all who believe will be one, one in love, one in will,
one in purpose, one in aim. It was written in the psalm,
how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together In unity. When the family comes together
in unity. Isn't it pleasant? It's pleasant
if a family can sit down together in unity. Some have it, some
don't. But boy, it's pleasant when you
have it. And that's what he's praying
for here. Our unity. One of the greatest desires of
our Lord was a unity of His family. I believe that's the greatest
desire of every parent, is a unity of the family. Look in John 17
here, look in verse 11. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. 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. In verse 22, he says the same
thing, "...and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one, even as we are." Back there in verse
21, "...that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee." A house divided against itself, the Scripture
says, cannot stand. It cannot stand. It can't do it. The body of Christ
is to be one. He says over in Ephesians 2 that
he broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jew
and Gentile that they might be what? One. One body. Not two separate people, but
one. Jew and Gentile. One. One in
spirit. They have the same spirit moved
by the same spirit that they may be one. Why? He says that the world... that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me." Christ came into this world to
save a multitude of sinners out of this world. And He's going to save them.
But now listen, if we are divided, is anybody going to listen to
us? Is anyone going to listen to us? We go out and preach the
gospel. And we come here divided. He's
not going to listen. That they may be one, that the
gospel may go forth, and the world may know that thou hast
saved me. There's a multitude in this world that Christ died
for. And in a sense, you can say He died for the world. In
that sense. You know, in the ark, God saved
the animal world, didn't He? But He didn't save every animal
in the world. But He saved the animal world. God's going to
save His world, but He's not going to save everyone in it.
He's going to save everyone that He's called out of it. And here's the reason in verse
22. Here in verse 22, it says, "...the glory that Thou gavest
Me, I have given them." What is this glory? What is this glory
that was given to Him that he has given to us. Look over in verse 2. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. This glory that he
has given to his people is eternal life. It's eternal life. The Father vested eternal life
in His Son. And His Son has given eternal
life to His people, to His chosen, to a multitude of sinners that
no man can number. And look at verse 23. What a
glorious truth here. I in them and thou in me. God the Father
is in Christ. He is not only in Him as one
with Him as far as the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but He is in Him as the God-Man
Mediator. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. God was in Christ as the God-Man
Mediator. The Scripture says, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In that man, in the man
Christ Jesus, dwelleth the Godhead, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It was all in Him. God the Father
will always be in Him. He will always, He will always,
or we will always, listen, we will always know the Father through
the Son. We will always know. Everything
we'll always learn of God, even throughout eternity, we will
learn it through the Son. No man knows the Father save
the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. He'll
always operate through the Son. Always. But now listen here. He spoke of Him and the Father,
the Father being in Him. But He says here, I in them. I am them. In regeneration, in
the new birth, Christ is truly and really in you. He is really in you. Paul said
in Galatians, God revealed His Son in me. Not just to me, though
He does, but He revealed His Son in me. Christ is in you this
morning. If you're His, if you've believed
on Him, if you've been brought to faith, He's in you this morning.
Now, if that's so, it means He's with us, doesn't it? He's with
us. Christ in you, the Scripture
says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. My hope of glory is
Christ and Christ in me. Now, what does this mean, I in
them? What's the implication of this? Is He holy? Then if He's in you, you are
holy. Holiness is in you. Is He light? He said, I am the light. Is He light? Then you have the
light of God in you and you will not walk in darkness. You will
not walk in darkness because the light of God is in you. Is He eternal life? Then you
have eternal life in you. You have it. You possess it now. Whatever He is, is in you. And that's what you
are. As He is, so are we in this world. Is He in you? Is Christ in you? then you are loved and accepted
of the Father. So we ought to be on the edge of
our seat with this kind of good news. And here's the goal, I in them
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Brought to perfection. All that
Christ is to His people is for this purpose. It's for this purpose. that we might be made perfect
in one. We are made perfect in justification.
We are made perfect in sanctification. We are made perfect in wisdom.
We are made perfect in righteousness in Him. In Christ, we are made the righteousness
of God, it says in the scriptures. But soon, soon, we will be made perfect in glory. And we will enjoy this perfection. We will enjoy this perfection. We will enjoy our union with
the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. This is the goal. The
goal is not just to help us get through life, but that we might
be made perfect and enjoy His presence forever and ever. That's
what He's praying for. And He'll get it. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me." Someday, listen, someday, this whole world
will know, this whole world will know that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and that He was sent of the Father. He was denied,
He was rejected, He was despised, and even in this day, you go
throughout many lands, He's still just denied rejected. But someday, someday, every man,
every woman that's ever walked on this earth is going to realize
that Jesus Christ is the Christ, is the Son of God, and He was
sent to be the Savior of the world. Someday that's going to
happen. One day the whole world will
say, surely Surely, like that centurion standing at the foot
of the cross. He says, surely, this is the
Son of God. Someday that's going to happen.
Someday the whole world is going to say, surely, this is the Son
of God. This Jesus of Nazareth is the
Son of God. But now comes the sweet part.
Here's the icing on the cake. He says, and that's love them
as thou hast loved me. And in verse 23, I in them, thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them, listen,
as thou hast loved me. This is like a cold drink of
water on a hot day. The love that the Father bears
to His Son, His only Son, His only begotten Son, the Son of
His love. He bears the same to everyone
in Christ, to everyone who believes on Christ, to all those chosen
in Christ. The same love. The same love. That's amazing. There are no
words to express the fullness of this meaning. His love to
His Son is an eternal love. It is an immutable love. It is
a holy love. It is an intense love. The same love belongs to us in
Christ. Same love. Next time you go through
a heavy trial and you begin to suspect God's love, remember! Remember what He put Christ through, because He bears the same love
to you that He bears to His Son. Same love. Note the word, as. As, in that
verse. and has loved them as thou hast
loved me." This means just as. It means even as. It means to
the same degree as thou hast loved me. That's unimaginable,
as thou hast loved me. Now he says, Father, in verse
24, I will. The only one who can say, I will. I mean in praying. We prayed
this morning. I didn't say I will. Lord, if
you will. If you will. James said, if you're going to
go to a city and do business, this, that, or the other, say,
if the Lord will. But here is a man pray, and he
lifts up his eyes to heaven and he says, I will. Only God can
say, I will. Here is God speaking to God and
he says, I, I will. It is the will of the Son as
well as the will of the Father that all for whom he died be
with him where he is, and that they behold His glory, He said,
the glory that you gave Me before the world was. Now, as God, He
was not given glory, He possessed glory. He has to be speaking
here of His manhood as the mediator. There is a man seated at God's
right hand Right now, a man who is glorified, a man who rules
and reigns over all, the King of Glory sits at the right hand
of God right now, the High Priest, the Mediator, the Surety, and
He says, I want them, I will, this is My will, that you bring
them to glory, and they see and behold My glory. We are going
to see a man, God-man, but the man Christ Jesus glorified, seated
at God's right hand, the King of glory. We are going to behold
the King of glory. He said, I want them to behold
my glory, the glory you gave me before the world began, the
glory that He gave Him in the covenant of grace. He said, I
want them to see. I don't want them to just hear
about it. We hear about it. And by faith, we have some concept
of it. But you know, I don't want to compare that to when
faith gives way to sight. When one day we literally, in
glory, behold the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing a song, what
a day that will be. My Jesus I shall see, when I look upon
his face. We're here this morning, we're
hearing about Him. We come Wednesday, we're going to hear about Him.
Tonight, we're going to hear about Him. But someday we're going
to see Him. We're going to behold His glory. And then we'll understand
why all this has happened. We'll understand it when we see
it. And He says, Father, I will.
This is My will. That day. That day. Behold My glory. Which thou hast
given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. That's why he gave it all to him. He gave it all to
him. Because he loved him. His love. O righteous Father, righteous
in all His ways and in all His works. You can be sure of that.
Righteous Father. The world does not know Thee.
That knowledge was lost in the fall. The world doesn't know
Thee. These children, just as you and
I, we came into this world not knowing God. I have not known
God all my life. We came into this world dead,
spiritually dead, not knowing God. The world, he said, hath
not known me. We lost that in the fall. Only
Christ the Son knows the Father, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. They are the ones who know him
also. Because he says here, these have known that thou hast sent
me. They've known it. When the Spirit of God reveals
Christ in you, you know that the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world. Do you have any doubt of that?
Do you have any? You believe the gospel. Do you
have any doubt that the Father sent the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be the Savior of the world. No, you don't doubt it.
He's the Savior. He's the Messiah. He's the Son
of God. Now, why do you believe that?
Because of this, I have declared thy name to them. I have declared
thy perfection, thy attributes. I have revealed you to them.
That's how you know. And we'll continue to declare
it until the last one is saved. I'll continue to declare it. And notice how he ends. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, continue to declare it, that
the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and
I in them." The Scripture says there's three
things, faith, hope, and love over in Corinthians. Faith is
going to give way to sight. Hope is going to give way to
reality. But love, it abides, it's going
to grow and grow. and grow. And here's what he
prays for. That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them. They experience it. Paul said the love of Christ
constrains me. The Scripture says that the love
of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The goal here, he prays for in
this intercessory prayer, is not only for our purity, but
our oneness, and that the love of God would be in us and grow
in us. And I tell you what, nothing,
absolutely nothing, will ensure unity like love. Nothing will keep a family together
like love. And that's what he prays. Oh,
he says here, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me, the same love, the same love that you have loved
me, they may know it. They may experience it. They may experience it. Not just hear
about it, but to actually really experience the love of God in
Christ. And you know what? He prayed
for it. It'll happen. It'll happen. He'll get what he prayed for.
He will get what he prays for. All right, Mike.