John chapter 17. And we'll begin reading with verse 20. Jesus says as He prays, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You. That they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them. you have just heard the holy, inerrant, inspired Word of God. Today, we take our last look, at least in this study, at the prayer of the Lord Jesus, here in John chapter 17. And this prayer, as we've seen, could be described, as some have described it, as consisting of Three concentric circles. My mind thinks of it like ripples in the pond after you just threw a rock. The circle starts small, and then it expands, and the further it goes, the larger the circle gets. In this prayer, the circle starts small. Jesus prays for Himself. And then it grows as He prays for the eleven apostles who are with Him. But it grows even larger as His prayer expands to encompass not just the apostles who were with Him, but all believers of all time. And that's where we pick up in this prayer today. You see, when Jesus prayed for Himself, He made only one request. The only thing that Jesus prayed for, for Himself in this prayer, was for His own glory. Now it wasn't a selfish or a wrong thing for Jesus to pray for His own glory. It wasn't wrong in any kind of way, because the glory that He asks for is glory that He deserves. If I ask for glory, it's wrong, because I don't deserve glory. If Jesus prays for glory, it is right, because He is worthy of glory. And not only is it glory that He deserves, but it's glory that He once possessed, before He, the eternal Son of God, came to earth and became a man. Jesus prays for the glory that is already His own. So he prays for his own glory. But then, when he prayed for the disciples who were with him, he prayed mainly for two things. One, that the Father would keep them. That's what made the difference between Judas and Peter, isn't it? They both betrayed Jesus. They both denied Him as their Lord. Judas committed suicide, but Peter came back. Peter was restored. What made Peter something special over Judas? What was the difference? Why did Peter come back? The difference was that Jesus prayed for Peter, and the difference was that Peter belonged to and was kept by the Lord. Now applying that to us today, how can I be sure that I will remain a Christian? How do I know that I will not be lost? Let me tell you, it is not because of my own ability to persevere, but because of His preservation of me. Not merely because I keep holding on to Christ, but because I know that Christ will keep holding on to me. He has prayed for me. I am confident that I will always belong to God because my confidence is in His promise, Jesus' prayer to keep me. So one, Jesus prayed that the disciples would be kept, but He also prayed that the disciples would be sanctified. And what was the means of their sanctification? Their sanctification would be only by the truth of God's Word. He said, sanctify them in your truth, your Word is truth. It's God's will that all His disciples should be sanctified, including you. And sanctification can only happen by the power of the truth of the Word of God. Want to be sanctified? Want to be set aside for service to God? Want to be made pure? You have a book that God has given you. It will only happen one way. You need time with the Bible. personally, privately, and publicly. You need the Bible alone in your bedroom. You need the Bible in a close-knit group of Christian friends. You need the Bible as you gather with your local congregation. That is the only way you will be sanctified. And the sanctification by the Word of God, as Jesus showed us last time, lays the groundwork for our carrying out of the mission of God. He said in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth, and in the very next verse he says, as you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. If we want to do the work of God, if we want to carry out the mission of God, we must be sanctified by the truth of the word of God. So now, as we come to this last section, verses 20-26, I want you to understand the personal nature of this prayer. You see, we can read how Jesus prayed for Himself and be led to worship Him. That is a right response. That should happen. We can hear His prayer for the eleven apostles and do the work of making application to our own lives as we've just done. But when we get to this last section, there's no having to bring it into the 21st century. There's no work of trying to figure out whether this passage applies to us and take the principles and the truth and implement them in our own lives. No, we don't have to do that work. There's no need to wonder how it applies to us because Jesus is very specific in this part of the prayer. He clearly says that if you believe the message that the apostles preached, if you believe the message that they wrote in the New Testament, He is praying for you. Jesus is praying for you. Verse 20, He says, I do not pray for these alone, the disciples who are with Him, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. This is the condition of being included in the prayer. Because it's the condition of becoming a Christian. The word or the message of the apostles was the message that we find in the New Testament. It's the message that they preached. That is, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that faith in Him alone is the only way to God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. Our sin offends God and condemns us, but Jesus died in our place and took our punishment. If we repent of our sins, put our trust in Him alone, He forgives our sins, He grants us eternal life with God. That is the word that the apostles preached and wrote. If you believe that word, if you stake your life, your eternal soul on that message, you're a Christian. And not only are you a Christian, but you're the beneficiary of this prayer that Jesus prayed on the night before His death. 2,000 years ago, the night before He was crucified, Jesus took just a little bit of time and prayed for you. Now there are a lot of words in this prayer. And we're not going to consider every single phrase. But the gist of the passage boils down to two main things that Jesus prays for. He prayed two things for us on this night. First, Jesus prayed that we would be one. Now let me tell you briefly what that does not mean. Because that verse gets misused. I pray for all those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one. It doesn't mean that we reduce our doctrine down to the least common denominator and hold hands with everyone who claims to be a Christian. That is not what that means. That's what the ecumenicist would have you do. You don't want to go against what Jesus said in John 17 about us being one, do you? Let's not trifle with doctrine. Let's just all love Jesus. If you love Jesus, we can be friends. Who needs doctrine? Well, Christians need doctrine. Because if you really want to love Jesus, you have to know the truth about Jesus. And if you want to know the truth about Jesus, you have to know Bible doctrine. You have to know what the Bible teaches about Jesus. Remember, we're sanctified by the truth. His Word is truth. You can't set aside doctrine for the sake of unity. He actually gives us a couple of reasons for His desire here that we have unity, that we be one. In fact, He says something here that I think is kind of intimidating, to be honest. Verse 21, "...that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you." Jesus prays that we have unity like the Trinity. God, Father, Son, and Spirit have eternally existed, in perfect, loving fellowship. Perfect unity. The three are of the same mind, of the same essence, literally existing as one God in a way that the human mind cannot comprehend. And Jesus says, make my Christians like that. How we doing? Do we see this played out in Christianity? Is this what the church looks like? Has it ever been a reality in the church? I mean, we've been around for 2,000 years. Surely there was one year that we got it this way. Somebody brought it up just Wednesday night. Paul going toe-to-toe with Peter. He split ways even with Barnabas. Have we ever had the kind of perfect unity like in the Trinity? We might be discouraged when we look at the state of Christianity in the world. There's conflict across denominations. That's why there's denominations, right? Because we don't baptize babies. We don't let just anybody be members of the church. We believe that God's reserved the role of pastor and elder in the church for men. There's differences. In fact, there's conflict within our own denomination, or convention, if you're against saying denomination. Even within Baptist churches, we can't agree. Hey, you don't even like everybody in your own church. Do you? Can I encourage you? It may not look like it, but I think Jesus' prayer was answered. Don't throw me out for being crazy. I think His prayer was answered. I would hate to think that the perfect, holy Son of God ever prayed a prayer that didn't get answered. Because the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Has there ever been a more fervent, righteous man than the Lord Jesus? Now let me explain what I mean. We are still in our sinful flesh. So we have never played it out perfectly in our outward expression of this unity. But the unity that Jesus prays for among true believers, those who have entrusted their lives to the message of the apostles, is a present spiritual reality for all believers. Whether you're a Southern Baptist, an Independent Baptist, a Free Will Baptist, a Presbyterian, PCA, PCUSA, Methodist, Wesleyan, those who have entrusted their lives, their eternal souls to the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus have unity. Perfect spiritual unity. How could we not? We don't live it practically, but we have it. How could we not be in unity? How could we not be one? Remember what Paul told the Ephesians, he says, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. The message here is not that we should try to be as unified as the Trinity. The message is that we are as unified as God Himself. Now we have our differences. We don't see eye to eye. But we who have been born again all have the same Spirit within us. We are members of the same body. We are all individual bricks built into the same house. We are one. We are in unity. Whether you like it or not, you and I, we're one. Inseparable. In perfect unity. This is a unity that displays God's glory. He said in verse 22, the glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. You see, what else can unify people from every language and tribe and nation? What else can unify people, Christians, from the 1st century and the 4th century and the 16th century and the 21st century and every other century in between? What can unify multitudes of people from all the earth, from all time, under one banner to glorify one Lord? Nothing but the Spirit of God that dwells in us. This is why for all eternity we will declare the worth and the majesty of God, because He has made us all one in Christ. Read the book of Revelation sometime. The elders around the throne, the angels, they all sing, holy and worthy, because He has chosen a people from every nation and tribe and tongue. It's a unity that displays God's glory. It's a unity that perfects. Look at verse 23. It says, I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Now this is where the conflict tends to arise. You see, everything that God does in the life of a Christian is to make that Christian more like Christ. See Romans 8, 28 and 29. The church is no exception. How handicapped would our church be if every Christian was like me? I mean it. We would be a crippled congregation. Why? Shouldn't I be just this grand spiritual leader who's well-rounded in all areas and just has his act together so he can lead the church? No. And in case you thought that, I do not. I am a messed up, broken, sinful pastor who may have been gifted in some way to preach God's Word, but still broken. I still have my blind spots, and so do you. How would our church be if every member was exactly like you? Had your level of spiritual maturity? By the grace of God, we don't all have the same blind spots. So what do we do? We help each other see them. The unity that we have as a church should be such that you can help me to grow and mature in those areas that aren't obvious to me yet. And your relationship and unity should be such that we can do the same with each other. See, the problem is whenever people get their flaws pointed out in a not so loving way, That's how church splits happen. That's how new denominations get started up because that correction doesn't come from love from a pure heart like Paul told Timothy. But as we dwell together as the people of God, we are all being made more holy or more perfect, to use John's word, as we grow in maturity and in unity. It's a unity that perfects us, that helps us to mature, to make us holy. It's also a unity that loves. He said in that same verse, that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. As we grow in grace and in our unity that is already a spiritual reality, As it's progressively worked out practically, we will more and more display to one another the love that God has shown us. And that love should increasingly look like the love that the Father has for the Son. A perfect love. This is what will happen when we realize the unity that we already have in Christ, and start to live the way that God intends for us to. We will love each other. Jesus has already taught about loving one another on this night, hasn't He? It started out that way when He washed the disciples' feet. He said, do the same thing for each other. Serve one another, and the world will know that you are My disciples. When we display God's glory and help each other to mature in the faith and love one another as Christ loved us, the watching world will have occasion to believe in Jesus. He said it in verse 21 and verse 23. In 21 he said, that the world may believe that you sent me. Verse 23, that the world may know that you have sent me. Jesus wants the world to believe in Him, and that happens when Christians love one another and act like Christians. When the unity that we have in Christ is put on display, the world will take notice. Our witness will mean very little if we are not a people who live as though we have unity in the Christ that we preach. See, if I tell someone about Jesus, and then you go and tell the same person about Jesus, but they know that we're at odds, and we're talking about the same Jesus, what does that say? He is not a Christ who unifies His people. This Christ must not really love the way that they say He loves. Our witness becomes useless. Yes, the power of the Gospel can still change lives, But we hinder the opportunity for the gospel to display its power when we do not live together in unity and love one another. We have unity. We are unified in one Spirit in Christ. But we need to be learning how to put it into practice. We have unity. We are one in the Lord Jesus. Jesus prayed for it. His prayer was answered when He sent the Holy Spirit. We have unity. Now we must simply learn how to live like it. Jesus prayed one more thing for you. We won't take as much time on this one. He prayed that we would be with Him. Think about that. Jesus prayed for you just before His death, and the two things He thought to pray for was that we would be in unity and that we would be with Him. He prayed that we would be with Him, and He prayed it for one purpose. Verse 24, Father, I desire, I will, I wish that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that They may behold My glory which You've given Me." The prayer ends where it began, with Jesus' glory. What does it do for you to know that the last thing Jesus prayed for was that you would be with Him? It's almost like He likes us or something. Can you really believe that? He promised earlier on the same evening in chapter 14 that He was going to prepare a place for His people. He promised to come back to get us. But to think that He actually desires to have me there with Him? And more surprising than that, that He desires to have you there with Him? Yeah, well He just wants to show off His glory. It's not like we're going to have any fun or anything. Jesus just wants it there so that He can show us how glorious He is. If that's your attitude about the glory of Jesus, you know very little about the glory of Jesus. Because to live for eternity in the brightness of His glory, will be a greater pleasure than anything you could ever imagine. Whatever the best thing that you can imagine heaven to be like, because we'll be in the glory of Christ, it will be better than that. He concludes the prayer with these last two verses, verse 25 and 26. And I heard someone this week call these last two verses just one long amen. And that's basically what Jesus is doing here. He's concluding. I'll read these verses to you. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you. These have known that you sent me. I have declared to them your name, and I will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them." This is the basis for the whole prayer. Verse 1 through verse 24, Jesus has prayed for himself, for his disciples, and for us. And this is the basis for it all right here. We won't dig deeply, but I've put the four simple points there in your outline. One, the Father is righteous. Remember that when you think of the Father, know that the Father is righteous. There are times in your life you don't feel like He's very righteous, that He's very good. But Jesus can pray this prayer because the Father is righteous too, because Christ knows the Father. Jesus has every right to pray this to God. He has complete and full access to the Father because He is one with the Father. Three, the disciples have known Christ. How can this prayer that Christ prays to the Father become effective in the life of the disciple? And that's only because we know Christ. We can't come to God this way, apart from Him. But we come through Christ. And four, it's because Christ bestows His love. Everything about this night that Jesus spent with his disciples has displayed Jesus' love for his followers. From chapter 13 all the way through this prayer in chapter 17, Jesus has done nothing but ooze love for his disciples. And that includes you. Today we're going to observe the Lord's Supper. the meal that Jesus instituted on this night. We often call it communion. And I wonder if you've ever thought about that word, communion. See, we take the bread and the cup to remember Christ's death for us, the sacrifice He made in giving His own life in place of ours, But communion is also a time to remember these things that Christ has provided for us in His death. We remember Christ's death, but we also celebrate the things He's given us in His death. In communion, we celebrate the common union that we have as believers in the Lord Jesus. We celebrate and remember Christ, but we do it as the united family that He has made. That's why we wait for each other. That's why we all eat and drink at the same time. Because we are one body, one people, in one Christ. Communion is an opportunity to symbolize and show outwardly that reality of a union that we have with one another in Him. And we celebrate too in anticipation of the day that we go to be with Christ. He desires that we should be with Him. He has prayed for it. He made a way for us to come by His own death. And we eat and drink in remembrance of the death that made our eternal life something to look forward to.