Turn with me to John 17. John 17, continuing our series through the Lord's Upper Room Discourse and now continuing to look at the Lord's Upper Room Prayer. We'll be looking at verses 20 through 23 and considering unity and witness. John 17, verse 20 through 23, give attention to God's holy word. 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 and that the world may believe that you sent me. In the glory which you gave me, I have given 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, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the prayers of Christ that are recorded for us. For we know that the prayers of your son are always answered. And so we pray now, Lord, that you, by your spirit, would fulfill the prayer of your son that many would come to believe through the words of the apostle. We pray all of this for Jesus' sake. Amen. Some of you may or may not be aware, but there is a Presbyterian church in the country of Mexico. That Presbyterian church is three or four times the size of the largest conservative Presbyterian church in America. This church in Mexico is very conservative, by the way. There's another church, Presbyterian, reformed, conservative enough, in the country of Brazil. That Presbyterian Church is larger still than the Mexican Presbyterian Church. The Korean Presbyterian Church and several African churches send missionaries to North America. Now, you may be asking yourself, how did this happen? The land of Samuel Davies, the land of George Whitefield, how did this happen? As Americans, it's probably hard for us to realize we are no longer the best. This includes our economy as well as our religion. The American church has, in many ways, and in ways we have never had to face before, lost her witness. There are many causes we could point to. There are many reasons people come up with to explain this. But unless we learn the primary cause, we will never see the problem solved. Many of you know that I have an old Ford, and it has problems. And most of the time, I am kind of guessing what the problem is. I end up spending money replacing parts that probably needed to be replaced but didn't fix the problem I noticed. Likewise in the American church. Now, let me just be clear. Yeah, unless we learn the primary cause. The primary cause that the American church is losing her witness is because the American church is losing her unity. Now, I'm not talking about a visible unity. I'm not talking about everybody being under one denominational umbrella. I'm not talking about that. In the early days of the American Republic, up until the war between the states, you would hear stories of religious revival among the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and yes, even the Anglicans, all of them working together. It was the same in England. J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon both had great respect for one another, the Anglican and the Baptist. I'm not speaking about visible unity. I'm speaking about spiritual unity. The spiritual unity of the church consists in two things. This passage shows us what they are. What we're going to learn specifically is that the glory of the church's witness, the glory of the church's witness to the world is based on her union of faith and her communion in love. The glory of the church's witness to the world is based in her union of faith and her communion in love. We're going to notice these two things in this passage. Verses 20 and 21 is union by faith or of the faith. And verses 22 and 23 is the communion in love. So we begin with verse 20 and the union by faith. Just remember the context here. Christ is praying. for the invisible church. Notice how he opens up this verse. I do not pray for these alone, meaning the apostles, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. The invisible church is the total number of the elect who were, are, or shall be united to Christ by faith. We know that he's talking about the invisible church and the elect in all of this prayer. Look at verse 6. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me, whom the father chose in the decree of election and gave to his son. Now, he speaks about the decree of election in the earlier part of the prayer. Now he comes to verse 20 and speaks about how the elect show themselves. How it is that the elect actually come to be united to Christ. And notice what he says, I do not pray for these alone, but for those who will believe in me through their word. The elect are those who come to believe in Christ by the appointed means. It's not anybody who claims to believe in Christ, but it's those who believe in Christ according to the doctrine of the apostles. That's who Christ is speaking about. And so we can say to our Mormon neighbors, they are not the ones Christ is praying for because though they claim to believe in Christ, they don't believe in him according to the word of the apostles. Now, just a comment right here. This is the true apostolic succession. Apostolic succession is not the physical laying out of hands going all the way back to Peter. Apostolic succession is the doctrine of the gospel. We read it in Matthew 16. Peter confesses, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Christ says, on this rock, the confession of Peter, I will build my church. On this doctrine, I will build my church. Paul says in Galatians 2, verses 7 and 8, that the gospel to the circumcision was committed to Peter, and the gospel to the uncircumcision was committed to Paul. And so the apostles have been given the gospel. Paul says this as well in Ephesians 2.20, you may recall the verse, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And so Christ is praying for these who come to believe according to the appointed means. Note also what he says. I pray for those who come to believe in me through their word. This is similar to what we talked about this morning in the morning sermon. The faith that saves is a faith in Christ through the means. It is not faith in the means. And so he says, those that come to believe in me. Now we need to ask a question here because The unity that's being talked about in this passage, we can get really off the rails if we misunderstand what Christ is speaking about. Notice that he's talking about the apostles preaching the gospel and people coming to believe in Christ. Well, what must you come to believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? It's not enough to believe that he's the eternal son of God. You ever notice in Matthew 16, Peter comes and confesses and says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. That's step one. Step two, Christ immediately goes into teaching them about what? His cross. You must believe that Christ is the eternal son of God, but you must also believe that he is the mediator and savior of sinners and that his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is your only hope for salvation. In other words, the unity and the belief that he's talking about is believing in Christ as the Savior, not merely as the eternal Son of God. This is very important later on when he speaks about this unity. Think about it this way. Christ is the head of his church. He's the head of a new humanity. All those that believe in him, sorry, just like the fall into sin, Adam, the first head of humanity, all those united to Adam fell in his fall. Likewise, all those united to Christ rise in his salvation. It is because Christ is the mediator and we trust in him that we then enjoy the benefits. Okay? So this means that the thing that Christ is speaking about here, those that believe in me, and then in verse 21, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. Notice the unity he's talking about is the unity he has with the Father. If he only meant believing in Christ as the Son of God, that's a unity you and I can't enjoy because you and I will never become gods. You and I will never become the eternal son of God the way that Christ is. That's unique to him. But what you and I do become is adopted sons of God through faith in Christ. And so what Christ is speaking about is union with him by faith as the mediator. He says in here that they may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. And so the union he's speaking about is union with Christ and his benefits. This is a very important idea in this passage and across the New Testament. This idea of union with Christ by faith should be the driving force in your thoughts about yourself. And it is the ground of your sanctification in this life. Just think about some passages, Colossians 3, 1 through 12. Paul speaks about sanctification. And the first thing he opens up with is, if you have been raised with Christ, set your mind on things above. Why? Because Christ is there. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ appears, you also will appear with him in glory. This is the centerpiece of how Christians think about themselves. Romans chapter 6, Paul goes at great length to show that union with Christ is the ground of your sanctification. Now, how does this help us? You've fallen to sin. Your conscience and your guilt would have you believe that that's who you are. But as Paul teaches in Romans 6, you died with Christ and rose again with him. Therefore, reckon yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God through union with Christ. Likewise, in Ephesians chapter 2, our brother read it this morning in the prayer. You have been raised up together with Christ. and seated in heavenly places with Him." So this whole idea that Christ is praying for, that they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, this is the driving centerpiece of how Christians think about themselves. And this is one of the foundations for the unity of the elect, the unity of the church. Now, notice in this prayer, verse 21, the purpose of this prayer, that they may be one in you 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." He's speaking about the witness of the church. He's speaking about the power of the word of God, not in our lives, but in the world. Remember what the world is in the whole context of the Upper Room Discourse. The world is not those outside of the visible church. We're not talking about the visible church. We're talking about the invisible church. The world is all of those who live according to the flesh. And the elect, those that Christ is praying for, are those who live according to the Spirit. The world are those who are, as Calvin says, reprobate, the non-elect. And so Christ is praying that this unity would be a witness to those who will never come to believe in Christ. It is a witness to the world that they might be convinced God has sent his son. Just as a reminder, Matthew 15, verse 18, Christ is speaking about the world. He said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. He goes on to talk about those who will put you out of the synagogue. This is a reference to those that live by the flesh. And then note how the effectiveness of the church's witness is tied to this unity with the Father and the Son. You see that there. That they also may be one in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. Notice the logic of our Lord's teaching. I pray that they might be unified so that the world would be convinced I have been sent by the Father. And then notice also the content of this faith, that they may believe that you sent me. You see how that's different than what he started with in verse 20? Look at verse 20. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me. And then the end of verse 21, that the world may believe that you sent me. This is not saving faith that he's talking about. Rather, it's a confession extorted, as it were, from the Lord's enemies. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 14, verses 23 through 25. Paul writes there about the church and their public worship, and he says, if all of you are speaking in tongues and one who is unlearned or an unbeliever comes in, won't he think you're mad? But if one preaches, the secrets of the hearts are revealed, and the one who comes in will fall down on his face and confess, God is among you of a truth. That's the kind of faith that Christ is talking about here. Not saving faith, but persuading the enemies. The visible unity of the church is supposed to reflect the invisible unity of the church. This unity that Christ is praying for is a unity of the elect by faith in him. The outward unity of the church is supposed to reflect this internal invisible unity. The weakness of the church's witness in America today is due to the divisions that separate us. That's why the gospel is so ineffectual. Not doctrinal divisions. Not those kind of divisions. J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon can work hand in hand, and the Lord blesses it with souls coming to salvation. Not doctrinal divisions, but divisions of pride and offense. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 2, verses 1 through 17. Philippians 2, verses 1 through 17. We won't read the entire passage, but I want you to notice how Paul begins. Philippians 2 verse 1, therefore if there's any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if you have come to trust in Christ as your compassionate Savior, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Paul describes what the mind of Christ Jesus was in that he humbled himself. And then Paul goes on to say, in verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, the world, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain. Notice the apostle's logic is exactly the same. He exhorts the church to unity, following the example of Christ, so that They can shine as lights in the world. They can hold forth the word of life. And then Paul says, yes, and if I'm being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I'm glad and rejoice in you all. The unity that Christ prays for is the unity of humility. Seek it and watch what God will do through his church. Well, this is not the only unity that he speaks about, our Lord in his prayer. He speaks about the unity of faith, but then he also speaks about the communion in love, verses 22 and 23. Notice the shift in verse 22. And the glory which you gave me, I have given them. Now, ask yourself. What is the unique glory of Christ as the mediator? You might say His wisdom, His holiness, power, patience. All of these things are true of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that's not the unique glory that He's speaking of. The unique glory of Christ as our mediator is that the Father loves Him. You remember in Matthew 3, 17, when our Lord is baptized, he tells John the Baptist, suffer it so to be now so that we might fulfill all righteousness. And John suffers him, he's baptized, the heavens are opened, God the Father speaks and said, this is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased." Later on in John 17 when Christ is transfigured on the mount and his glory is displayed before the eyes of the apostles, the father speaks once again and says, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Paul the apostle writes in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 that through the doctrine, through the decree of election, God the father has chosen us in him that we should be accepted in the beloved. The love of the Father for the Son is His unique glory. And this is the glory He gives you, as those who through faith in Christ have been adopted into the family of God. The glory of the Christian is not His righteousness. The glory of the Christian is not His wisdom. The glory of the Christian is not his intelligence, it's not his emotions, it's nothing about him. But the glory of the Christian is that God the Father loves me. That is my glory and crown. And that's the glory that Christ gives to his people. The glory that you gave me, I have given to them. I want you to notice also, since we talked about the Lord's resurrection power this morning, This love of Jehovah placed upon his people comes about through God's resurrection power. Turn to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. You, of course, know the story. David has sinned grievously. He's conceived a child with Bathsheba. Nathan confronts him. David confesses, but the child dies. Now oftentimes we stop right there, in verse 23. But now he's dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. But then in the very next verse, David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went into her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him. And he sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet, so he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord. Put yourself in David's shoes. His sin with Bathsheba has brought him to the grave in the person of his son. But God, through his mercy and grace in the gospel, has caused him to conceive another son in the same woman, who's now his wife. That child is born, and the Lord says, I love him. Jedediah. You know what that name means? Beloved of Jehovah. That's Solomon. The glory of Solomon, just as you and I, brothers and sisters, is that God the Father loves you. John 17, Christ prays. Notice what he says, verse 22, the glory that I've given them, the glory that you have given to me, I've given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. The love of the Father for His people is also meant to unify us. It is meant to cause us to commune with one another in love. Ephesians 4, 1 through 3, Paul writes about endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Galatians 5, 13 through 26, it's very interesting in Galatians 5, he says that you have been set free by Christ, but do not use your liberty as an occasion for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. Don't bite and devour one another, lest you be consumed of one another. And then, of course, Romans 16, 17 through 20, Paul encourages unity based on the love that we have. He goes on in verse 23, continuing to pray for the church, 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. He prays for greater maturity in love. Isn't it interesting? Saving faith in the first section, is a unique sort of one-time thing. Saving faith doesn't really grow or increase. Now, we exercise our faith, we learn how to exercise it more, but the principle of faith itself is singular and unique. I believe, and the Lord saves you. But this love that the Christ prays for is a love that can grow into maturity. See what he says, that they may be made perfect in one. The word in Greek is a very common word that's translated as perfect. It's a word that means reach the appointed goal. Reach your intended purpose. It doesn't mean sinless perfection. It means growing in maturity. This is what John says in his first letter. 1 John 4, 7 through 20. He says, behold, this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He first loved us. God is love, and he who says he knows God must love God and the one who is begotten of God. And John writes at length about growing in our maturity in love. So how do we mature in love? Look at Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. Verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. He went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. But a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil. and stood at his feet behind him weeping. She began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. She kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, teachers say it. He said, there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other 50. When they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you've rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she's washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. This is how you mature in love, brothers and sisters. You mature in love by seeing the depth of your own sins. And as you see the depth of your own sins, you will see the lengths to which Christ gave himself for you. If we see our sins as little and superficial, we will have a little and superficial Christ. and we will have little and superficial love. But as Christ teaches us in this parable, it is through acknowledging our sins, this woman who was a sinner, probably a prostitute, probably a lady of the night, probably has done things that cannot be mentioned in polite company, but Christ forgave her. Therefore, she loved much. Here's a practical test or a practical way for you to do this. You know, it's often been used that all of us carry a backpack on our back. That backpack is full of your sins. And what's the interesting thing about backpacks? I can't see mine, but I can see yours. It's a good exercise for you to unpack your own backpack before you start trying to fix someone else's backpack. It's a good practice for you to search your own heart before you become overly critical of another's sins. So this is how we mature in love. Christ prayed for this. As we saw last week, Christ's prayers are always answered. Those who are the elect and united to Christ by faith will grow in their love. Those who are united to Christ by faith, they will have the glory of the Father's love shining upon them, and they will be unified in the faith and in love. Well, that's not all our Lord says. Notice again, verse 23, I am them and you and me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, repeats what he said before, and have loved them as you have loved me. Again, the purpose of this, the grounding of this is for the witness to the world. But there's a little bit more here than was said last time, that you have sent me and that you have loved the church even as you have loved Christ. This is another example All throughout this prayer, this is another example about how believers are made to be like Christ. You remember last time, he says this three times. I am not of the world just as they are not of the world. As you have sent me into the world, so I send them into the world. He's praying now that they may have a union of love so that the world might know you have loved them as you have loved me. We are made like Christ in this. The love that the Father gives to us sets us apart from the world. Now consider, all men tell themselves they're in the love of God. All men tell themselves that. But as we learn in this passage, the love of God to salvation, God might love men as his creatures, but that doesn't mean he loved them unto salvation. The love of God unto salvation is only found in Christ. And Christ is only found in the doctrine of the apostles. And it is this that grounds the world's hatred for the church. Remember what he said in John 15, 18, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Why did the world hate Christ? Because the father loved him. He's the beloved of heaven. He told the Jews, I and my father are one, and they took up stones to stone him. And yet, That which causes the world's hatred is the church's glory. It is this love of the Father that gives her confidence and causes her to glory in her Savior and to continue to remain unified, though all the world oppose her, is knowing that God loves her. And if God the Father loves you, there's nothing the world can do to you. Brothers and sisters, the Church is a city set on a hill. It's a lamp that cannot be hid. Her purpose in the world is to show men the way of salvation in Christ. But, as we see in America, the witness of the Church is weak and ineffectual. It would be easy to blame the commies, the liberals, church officers, congregants, the Democrats or the Republicans, the feminists or the patriarchs, all of these have been tried. At root, however, the reason our witness is weak and ineffectual is because we are losing our union by faith with God and our communion with each other in love. This is why Satan makes his strongest attacks against unity. This is why Satan starts by destroying the unity of a church because he knows this prayer is going to be answered. So if I don't want the church to know about Christ, I have got to disunify the church. Listen to what Paul says, 2 Corinthians. For this end, I also wrote that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven the one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, listen carefully, lest Satan should take advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his devices. Satan's strongest attacks come here because he understands how all this works. Seek the unity of humility. Seek to commune with one another in love. and the gates of hell will not prevail against this church or any church. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your word that you've committed to us through the words of the apostles. We thank you that you have commissioned these men and that they, by your spirit, were faithful even unto death to deliver to us the words of eternal life. We thank you also, O Lord, for the faith that you have given us that we might be united to your Son and in him might be one with you. We pray that you would help us to enjoy all the benefits of our union and we pray that you would cause us to glory in the love that you have given to us. We pray as well, O Lord, that you would unify your church. We pray that you would help us to walk in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace so that the world might know that you have sent Jesus and that you have loved us just as you have loved him. We pray all this for Jesus' sake. Amen.