perfect throne. We thank You that in Christ it's a throne of grace for us that we can come to. We thank You for this new and living way that we have through the body of Christ. We do pray, Lord, that You would help us this morning to give heed to Your Word, that Your Spirit might bring illumination, might bring light in the midst of darkness, so that we might not simply grasp things with our minds, but with our hearts and be transformed. That as we heard last week, as Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified, we pray that you would sanctify us today by your word. Your word is truth. We pray that you'd sanctify us this morning in this truth. So Father, we thank you for Christ. We thank you for the church. We pray that your word would now do its good work in each of us, that we would be good soil that the word of God would grow in. We pray in Christ's name, amen. John 17, beginning in verse 20, Jesus says to his father, 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 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. This is God's word. I assume, if you're a believer here this morning, that you this week prayed, and prayed often. I wonder who it was that you prayed for Who are those that you prayed for most often? And why did you pray for those people? Who did you pray for the most? And why did you pray for them? You may be answering things in your mind right now. I prayed for my family, I prayed for church, people here, brothers and sisters. You pray for them because you care for them, you love them. You have different reasons why you prayed for them. What kinds of things did you pray for them? Prayer really does reveal our hearts, who we pray for, what we pray for. We begin to see our hearts, our hearts come out in prayer. It says, Robert Murray McChaney once said, what a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more. If we really want to know who we are, it's on our knees before God, what it looks like. And so here in chapter 17 we have the Lord Jesus in prayer. And we see what kind of man he is in this prayer. We saw last week, we saw two weeks ago that Jesus began to pray for his glory and his father's glory and then he shifted like we saw last week in verses six all the way up to our passage this morning, to verse 19, that he prayed for those 11 apostles. He prayed that they would be kept. So in verse 9, he says very specifically, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but I pray for those whom you've given me, for they're yours. And so this prayer is Jesus as a high priest, and he is praying specifically for his people. He says, He says he excludes a lot. He says, I'm not praying for, remember I asked you this morning, who did you pray for? Well, Jesus prayed for specific people. We saw last week he prayed for those 11 apostles. But now, beginning in verse 20, we see that he adds to those 11 some others. He prays for more than them. Who are they? This morning I want us to consider that. Who does Jesus pray for? And what does he pray for them? What does he pray for them? So first of all, who does Jesus pray for? Well, in verse 20, he says, I do not pray for these alone. I'm not just praying for my 11 right here in this room with me right now, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. This is everyone who is going to believe this gospel message that they're going to bring to the world. I'm praying for them too. I'm adding to the 11, all who are gonna believe, all those who believe in the apostolic gospel. That's the first way Jesus describes those he's praying for, is those who believe the apostles' message. So we think about it, the apostles were kept by the Father. Jesus prayed, Father, keep them. And they were kept. The Father kept them. The Father listened to Jesus' prayer and he kept those 11 men. And their message went out, and others kept that message. So the apostles were kept by the Father, and their message was kept by others. You see, Christ does not bypass His apostles, but spreads the message through them. He doesn't simply say, well, I'll just do it from heaven. He says, no, I'm going to do it through these 11 men. I will send out this saving message that men and women boys and girls who believe upon this message will be saved, who believe upon my name that they're going to bring to the world. Now, Jesus gives a very specific prayer for a very specific group of people. I mean, he's been very clear. I'm not praying for everyone here. I am praying for those who are going to believe. I'm going to pray for these. And that makes sense, because if you think about a high priest in the Old Testament, before he went in on the Day of Atonement to offer a sacrifice, who was he praying for? He was praying for the people of God. He was praying for Israel. Well, Jesus, the next day, soon, within hours, He's going to be arrested, and then He's going to offer a sacrifice that's going to take away sins. And who's He praying for? He's praying for His. All who will believe upon Him. He's praying for them. He's going to offer an offering for them that will take away their sins. This is very specific because this priest has a people that belong to him. You think about prayer, we often talk in the church about the power of prayer, the power of a praying life. This person has great power in prayer before God. Well, I wonder what makes prayer powerful? What makes it powerful? What makes prayer something that God hears? Well, if you remember back in John chapter 11, Jesus said something interesting there. Remember, he's at the tomb of Lazarus, and he prays. In John 11, 41 and 42, listen to this. He says, it says, they brought Jesus to the place where Lazarus was buried, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me. So the father hears his prayer. And then in verse 42, he says, and I know that you always hear me. And so we know that Jesus has great power in prayer before his father, and his father always hears him. That means always receives everything that the son says. He receives it, listens to it, takes it in. You say, well, doesn't he hear all prayers? Well, yes, he can hear your prayers, but he doesn't receive them all. There's not great power in some people's prayers, but in Jesus's prayers, every single prayer that he's ever prayed, everything that he ever brought before the Father, the Father took it in, received it, and accepted it, and answered it. That's an amazing truth. That's great power in prayer. But what makes there to be great power in prayer? It reminds me of James chapter five, verse 16. James chapter 5 verse 16 There James says therefore confess your sins one to another and pray for one another so you may be healed now Listen to this the effective prayer of a what? Righteous man can accomplish much So I asked you what makes for powerful prayer It's a righteous man a righteous person. I Why was Jesus' prayers always received by the Father, always heard by the Father? She's perfectly righteous. The writer of Hebrews says this about Jesus. Remember this in Hebrews chapter five? In chapter five verse seven it says, about Jesus as a high priest, says, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications and cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard, why? because of his godly fear. Why was Jesus heard? Because of his righteous life, because of his godly fear. So when I ask what makes prayer powerful, it's a righteous life, it's a godly life, and Jesus had it perfectly. And thus, as he's praying this, his father is receiving all of it and answering all of it. His father's not saying, well, I like that, Jesus, I'll answer that, but not that. No, he's saying, all of it, my son, I'm pleased with, and I receive it, and I'm working in it. Why? Because of his righteous life, his godly fear. What an encouragement this should be for us who are included in this prayer, because the father said, yes, I'll answer it all. I will do it all. We know Jesus was heard that evening. We know it. You might be sitting here this morning going, yeah, I know, Jesus was, the Father heard him. The Father received it all. The only question that you might have and that maybe we all should ask ourselves is, was I included in that prayer? We all need to answer that. Have I truly believed upon Christ? Because he says here, I'm praying for all those who will believe in me. So, that night, in that upper room, surrounded by 11 disciples, he's about to close this prayer, he's about to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and pray some more there, and then be arrested there. That evening, when he was praying this prayer, was this prayer for you, individually? I asked you this morning. And you have to answer that. Have you truly believed upon Christ? Believed upon Christ for all that He is. Yes, He is Savior. He can rescue you from the penalty of your sins, but He also rescues you from the power of your sins. He's not simply a Savior. He is Lord. Do you receive Him? Do you believe upon His name and receive Him for all that He is? And that means surrendering your life to Him. Have you believed upon Christ? If you truly believed upon Christ, then yes, you were prayed for that evening. We think of Jesus praying that one time, and he gave that high priestly prayer once, and then the next day he offered an offering one time. He didn't do it a number of times, like the priests in the Old Testament where they offered lambs all the time. Jesus offered one. He offered one high priestly prayer, one offering, and that saves. And yet, As I think about Jesus offering that one prayer, was that the only prayer, is that the only prayer he prays for his church? I say no, that's right. He has prayed a lot of prayers for his church. In fact, he ever lives to make intercession for his people, the writer of Hebrews says. Listen to that verse, Hebrews 7, verse 25, and marvel at what Christ the High Priest does. So in Hebrews 7, verse 25, it says, Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. He always lives to pray for them. So yes, Jesus prayed that evening, and then he offered, he gave one high priestly prayer, he gave one offering, but then he, from that point on, as a high priest forever, he prays constantly, he prays without ceasing. Do you see why Jesus calls you to pray without ceasing? Because he's only asking you to imitate him. He prays without ceasing. He prays, he ever lives to make intercession for his people. You know, I thought about, been thinking a lot about planting grass recently. Early in the summer or late in the spring, I planted grass and it came up well. And I wanted to plant more and I've been waiting for fall because it says, you know, don't do it in summer because it just won't grow. But then I read, you know, you can if you really do it well. And so, you know, So I did, and it's growing, and I'm thrilled, but what I have to do is prepare the ground with water first. I soaked it all down and got it wet, and then I put the seed down. Well, I consider Jesus's high priestly prayer kind of the watering the ground, and then he gave the offering. He put the seed down into the ground. Actually, he uses that metaphor back in chapter 12. Unless a grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. But notice what I have to do is once I put it down, I water the ground, get it all nice and soaked, and then I put the seed down, but now it's every single day I'm out there watering that seed or it's not gonna grow. And then there's a sense that yes, Jesus offered the high priestly prayer once, he offered himself once, but then he lives to make intercession for us continually so that we will grow. In fact, what he's doing is he's praying that his sacrifice, that his atonement will have effect on you. So that you'll grow in it. He ever lives to make intercession for us. What a priest. He prays for those who will believe. But the second thing. Who does he pray for? How does Jesus describe them? It's in verse 24. So verse 20 says, I pray for those who will believe in me through their message. But then in verse 24 he says, Father, I desire that those also whom you have given me may be with me. Given me. He describes those he's praying for as those who have been given by the Father to the Son, like a gift. He said, I'm praying for the ones that you, Father, have given to me. So here's what we know. The father will keep the apostles. Others will keep their word. But how can we be sure there are going to be those who are gonna keep the apostles' words and believe upon the message of the apostles? How can we know that? You say, well, Jesus said it. But how can we really know? Well, the answer is right here in verse 24. It's because the father has chosen to take a group of people and give them to his son. And say, here they are, they're yours. because God has chosen to give his son a people. Now what a thought that is, that the infinite creator of all, the almighty, who's completely different than we are, wholly different than we are, this infinite one, would, within the divine being, one person would give another person a group of people. that the Father would take a group of human beings, like you and me, and give them to the Son as a gift. That's an amazing thought. It's like a gift, the Father's giving to the Son. I wonder, what makes a gift a great gift? Many of you probably coming up with ideas, you know, what makes a gift a great gift? You might say, well, it's the person that gives it to me, because, you know, if, particularly when my kids were little and they'd make me something and they'd put effort into it, you know, it wasn't costly, but I adored it. You know, and it said sweet things about me as a father and they loved me. I loved that gift. So, so often what makes a great gift is who it comes from, right? And maybe the effort that it took, that they put time and energy into it. Well, think about this. Jesus got this gift from his father. It's a great gift because it came from his father, the one who loves him more than any other. But also, you might say, well, I mean, I think of a great gift as the value of it. I remember years ago when I was pastoring a church in Georgia, I had made an illustration about Larry Bird, you know, mentioning he was my favorite basketball player growing up as a kid. And the very next day, Monday, I came into my office and somebody got in there before me and there was a signed basketball, Larry Bird basketball on my desk. And I found out it was from a brother in the church, and I just said, I can't take, he said, I want you to have it. And I was just like, wow, I mean, that's a value. I was just taken in that he would do that for me. And so what makes a great gift, a gift a great gift, is the value behind it. And so you just go, I can't believe you're giving me this. And to think that the church, would be a valuable gift from the Father to the Son just humbles us because we know that we recognize they have placed value upon us and the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and it's not inherent within us. You know, people are made in the image of God, so there is value to human life, but the church is valuable to God. And that makes, I guess, probably begs the question for us, is the church valuable to us? Because the father's not going to give the son a cheap gift, a valuable gift. The church is the beautiful bride of Christ, the body of Christ. We have to love it. Christ loves it. The Father loves it. So you think about the value of the gift. simply just the desire for it. You know, you might have been wanting something so bad, and then, you know, like a Christmas list. You have all these things, and you go, boy, if there's one thing, it's that right there. When you get it, you go, yes, I got the thing that I really desired. Well, think about it. This all applies to Christ. What was the thing that he desired? Well, we don't have to wonder. Look in verse 24. He says, Father, I desire what? that they also whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am. I desire them." Wow! The deep, deep love of Jesus. He loves the church. He values the church. The Father has given this gift to His Son, the church. I wonder, knowing that we are gifts to Christ, how should we then live? When you give the gift to somebody, it's now theirs, right? Who do you belong to this morning? We were bought with a price, we're not our own, therefore glorify God with your body, Paul says. Or 2 Corinthians 5.15, Christ died for all of His people, that those who live should no longer live for themselves. If you are a gift from the Father to the Son, who are you supposed to live for? I'll tell you number one is not yourself. Eric, this morning, the billboard, that's the world. That's the flesh. That's the devil. Live for yourself. You're number one. I was bought. I don't belong to me anymore. I belong to the one who bought me. No longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again for them. We live for God. If this is true, and it is true, I shouldn't say if, since this is true, church, we belong to Jesus. We don't decide what we do with our lives anymore. We pray and seek the Father's will. We look at His Word and we say we do this. He's given us His will right here. Do His will. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. And His commandments aren't burdensome. Not when you know that He loves you and values you and you are His gift from the Father. And so that's who He's praying for here at the end of chapter 17. So what is He praying for them? What does He pray for His church? You think about all the things Jesus could have prayed for. I mean, what could he have prayed for? He could have prayed for so many things, but I find two basic things that he prayed for here. And this is what they are. First of all, their unity. That seems strange. Out of all the things that Jesus could pray for his worldwide church, his church, his people, for all ages, and he prays for their unity. But then he also prays for their beholding something, that they would see something and behold it, really take it into them. So first of all, their unity though, he prays for their unity. You see that right from the beginning. Okay, verse 20, he says, I'm praying for those who will believe. And then verse 21, that they all may be one. I want them to be one unified people. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. That's incredible language 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. What's the comparison? Our oneness is compared to what? The father and the son's oneness. The church is one. We sang it this morning. The church is one foundation. We're one. Christ died to make us one. He prayed to make us one people, a unified people. And this is a spiritual unity that's like the Godhead. Now, we understand the Godhead. There are three distinct persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. They all share the same nature and essence, though. They are all one. But what does this oneness look like in the gospel of John? So I was trying to figure this out this week. I was just like, what is this oneness? What is the oneness that he's talking about between the father and the son? And I thought, well, let's just look, let me just go back into John's gospel and see what Jesus has been teaching us about his relationship to his father and the oneness that they have. And one of the first places I thought of was John chapter five. If you turn back with me to John chapter five, that's the third sign where Jesus heals the paralytic by the pool. Remember, he comes up to him and says, do you want to be healed? Do you really want to be healed? And he heals him, and what day of the week was it on that he healed him? Sabbath. And so this is the first Sabbath controversy. They get upset with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath and then in verse 17. Look how Jesus answers them My father has been working until now and I have been working Now notice that father and son have been working in step together same purpose same will same goals they are the same mind same heart and So you say, what does it mean to be, for the Father and the Son to be one? And what does it mean for us to be one like that? It is to have the same will, same purpose, same goal, walking in step with one another, the same work. And then Jesus goes on. Are we seeing going on in John 5 verse 18? Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the sabbath But also said that God was his father making himself equal with God Then Jesus answered and said to them Moses. Surely I say to you the son can do nothing of himself But what he sees his father do For whatever he does the son also does in like manner You see there's the oneness When you see what the Son is doing, you see what the Father is doing. They are one in purpose, one in work. And you can see this again and again if you turn to the next chapter in John, John 6, in the Bread of Life discourse, in 6, 38-40. Jesus says, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing. He came down, he said, to do my father's will. And so that's what I am seeing here when Jesus says to his father, I want them to be one like we are one. The father and the son were one in work, one in purpose, one in will, and he says the same thing for you and me. And that's the only way to have unity in an office or in a family is everybody kind of going in the same direction. Because I wonder, disunity, how is that usually created? In an office, in a family, it's everybody seeking their own will. And then those wills collide, right? The Father and the Son's wills have never collided. They were the same in purpose. And that's how it is to be with the church. We have the same purpose, the same goal. It is to glorify Christ. It is to seek Him. It's that we all might decrease and Christ increase. we might help each other see more of Christ. It's what the Apostle Paul wanted for the Philippians, that local church there. And God has put us into local churches to walk in step with each other, being of the same mind. Thinking the same way. Seeking the will of God alone. I want the will of God. You want the will of God. We're not after my will and your will. We're after God's will. And we're walking together in that. And we have a purpose and a goal. And so what Paul wanted for the Philippian church, you hear this in Philippians 2, verses 1-4. He says there, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fill my joy by being like minded. I wonder this morning. Are you like minded with the people sitting around you? With me, we ought to be. Christ has prayed for our oneness. Being like minded, having the same love Same love for Christ, same love for the body of Christ. Being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done from selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. I'm not here for my benefit. I'm here for you, brother, you, sister. You know, we can so easily get, say, turned off by the church But a lot of that's our own selfishness, too. The problem is, is all of us are too self-centered when we ought to be Christ-centered. When we ought to be seeking the same mind, the same purpose. The purpose is to glorify God. That He would be glorified, Christ would be exalted. So Christ says, make them one, Father. Did the Father answer that prayer? He did. Paul says that in Ephesians, by the way. At a two, he made them one. He did. He made the church one. Jesus doesn't have a bunch of bodies. He has one body, and they are a united body. He has made them one. And yet, in the same letter to the Ephesians, he says, make sure you keep this unity that Christ has already made for you. So, okay, well, Christ prayed for it, and through His death on the cross, He united all these people together so they might be of one mind and one heart and one purpose and one will, which is God's purposes and will. He's done this, but we are called to maintain the unity in the bond of peace. We are to do this. We are to work to keep this unity. How? How? How do you keep this unity? I believe it's what Jesus goes on to here back in chapter 17 when he says, That's amazing. Jesus came to the world full of the glory of God. displaying the glory of God, and now he says, I've given that glory to them, and how is that? He says that they might be one, verse 23, I in them, and you in me. He says, I'm gonna be in them. How do we maintain unity? But by abiding in Christ. for Him to abide in us, for us to abide in Him. This goes back to John chapter 15, when Jesus talks about the branches that are in the vine. How do we have life? It all comes from the same vine. And so you've got to be connected to Christ, and I've got to be connected to Christ. And if I'm connected and you're connected and we're all abiding in Him, then we're gaining our life from Him. I'm getting the same source of life and sanctification and growth from Christ, and you are too. And so this maintains the unity. As I abide in Christ, you abide in Christ. We are receiving the glory that Christ has given to the church. but it's also beholding the love of God. Did you see that? In verse 23, it says, I and them, that they may be perfect and one, and that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. I know the Father loves the Son. Did you just see that, though? That the Father loves the church? Like that? You say, how can that be? Mystery of mysteries. that he could love the church with that same love. I'll tell you what, if you can get your head around that and behold that, that the Father and the Son love the church, then yes, you will work to maintain the unity of the church. I'm gonna hold us together in Christ the head. I'm gonna pray for this and seek this unity and maintain this unity. by abiding in Christ, beholding the love of the Father and the Son for the church. There's a great end goal to all of this, and he says it twice, and it's that the world might believe or know. Did you notice that? Verse 21, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe you sent me. It's interesting. He says, I want them to be one so that the world out there might go, the Father did send the Son. And then if you look down further, I guess it's in verse 23, oh yeah, there it is. And that the world may know that you have sent me. That the world may know that you have sent me. And so there is a great purpose of our unity. Now remember this, remember just chapters before Jesus said, By this, all men will know that you're my disciples if you love one another. So a display of love for each other in the body is going to tell the world something. And what is it? They're disciples of Jesus. They love each other, they're disciples. Well, how's that? Well, because disciples become like their teacher. The love that he had begins to be formed in us. And so they start looking at the church and go, I see the love of Jesus in them. So Jesus says, this is how people will know that you're my disciples, by your love. Now he says, through your unity something's going to be displayed. And it's the very unity of the Trinity. That's incredible. That our union would display the Godhead. that so unique people, I mean, we are unique people, the church is made up of all different types of people, and yet they're united. How can that be? It's because the Father and the Son are united. And we see a little picture of that in the church. The church is displaying God's unity, just as it displays God's love. God is displaying who he is through the church. So our unity ought to be displayable. People ought to be able to see it. How? Like I said, through having the same will. What's your will? What do you desire? What do you want? What do I want? Let's get our wills aligned. And what is that will? It's the will of God. Jesus already said this back in John, I think seven, when he says, if anyone wants to know where my teachings from, let them will to do the will of my father. So if you seek the will of God and I seek the will of God, then of course there will be this this unity. It's seeking the same will, the same work of God. I mean, what has God called us to? He's called us to worship God. He made us to be a worshiping people. That's why we're here. It's like, what do I do with the Lord's day? I worship Him. Why? Because He commanded me to do so. And yes, we worship Him in our work, but there are times to pull out and we worship Him very specifically by sitting under His word. by singing Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, edifying one another. So we gather for worship, for edification of the church, to build one another up, to point each other to Christ, because we want their well-being, and their well-being is Christ. And we witness to the world. This is the will of God and the work of God. And so this is what Christ prays for, their unity, but also that they would behold something. In verse 24, he says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. He says, Father, I want them with me. And I want them to behold my glory. Do the apostles behold God's glory while Jesus walked the earth? Yes, but in a measure. They beheld His glory when they saw the first sign, water to wine. It says they beheld His glory through the sign. They beheld His glory when He raised Lazarus. They beheld His glory at the cross. They beheld His glory at the resurrection. They beheld His glory and we, the New Testament tells us, when we come to Christ, we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We behold the glory of God, but only in part now. Do you know that the Son wants the church to be with Him so they will see His splendor, so that we'll be awed by the beauty that's found in Christ. That's what he prays for, that they will see me. And we know, according to the Apostle John in his first epistle, that there's a glory coming that we can't imagine, 1 John 3, 2. John writes there, beloved, now we are children of God. Yes, we are children of God. We can see glimpses of the glory of God now as children. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. We will see his glory. It will be unveiled. That's what we long for. Jesus has prayed for it. It's gonna happen for his church. We will see his glory like this. All throughout this, you hear that the church is an object of God's love. But not only does God love the church, love his people, but God has also promised to transform his people. Do you notice in this final verse, this is a wonderful statement, incredible prayer. He says, and I have declared to them your name, and I'll continue to do it through the Spirit, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. That's incredible. The Son says, the love with which you love me is gonna be put into them. They are gonna be transformed by my love. They're gonna be transformed by God's love. And Christ himself will be in the church transforming them. You see, I've heard it said that beholding is transforming. That is what we behold, that is what we set our minds on, what we pay attention to, what we give ourselves to, we get transformed in the likeness of that thing. You love sports, you love some hobby, something, your life begins to be shaped by it. Because we are moldable creatures of clay. And whatever we spend our time and attention beholding, dwelling upon, looking upon, we begin to be molded by it into its likeness. If we behold Christ, The question is, what will we begin to look like? Beholding is transforming. We are transformed into his likeness. That's exactly what the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. Listen to this. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as an emir, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. And so here, God's love is not just for us, but now it actually is poured into us, like Paul says in Romans, that the love of God is poured into our hearts, transforming us. Christ himself lives within us. Both the love of the Father and the Son begin to take root in us. The high priest has prayed. He's prayed this, he's prayed for our unity, and he's prayed that we will continually behold his glory. And he gave himself for this purpose. He gave himself, he offered himself. When he gave himself on the cross, he gave himself to make us one, to transform us and change us. How has this affected you? How has the plans that Jesus has for you affected you? I mean, Jesus has these great plans for the church, and he prays for it. How has that changed you? Michael mentioned Jeremiah 29 as we were driving here, and he said, you know, we all know that those verses, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. And we love that, you know, because we want to make it about material type of things. But the plans that God has for his people is to be conformed to Christ's image. It may be more about a cross, in this life than a crown in this life. A crown's later. The cross is now. But God says, I know the plans I have for you. Christ says, I know the plans I have for my church. Do you think those plans are best? Yes. Then what should we do about those plans? If he knows these plans, he's prayed for these plans, well, Jeremiah says, well, if you seek me with all your heart, You'll find me. How do we respond to something like this? We say, well, I'll seek it, Lord. I'll seek it because this is what you want for your church. You want the unity of your church. You want your church to be about your will, not individual wills, but all having the same will because it's the Father's will. I'll seek it, Lord. As for me and my house, we will do it. We'll seek this. Because again, God says, if you seek me with all your heart, you'll find it. You'll find me. But you have to seek. Again, if beholding is transforming, what are we beholding and what are we being transformed into? Well, God's plan for us, Christ's plan for us, what he's prayed for us is there would be less of our will and more of his. Far less idolatry and much more worship of God. a lot less self-love and much more brotherly love, and a lot less self-promotion, and a lot more Christ-promotion in this world. So may Christ's prayer for each of us find fertile ground that we may grow in all the riches of Christ, becoming like Him, because to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen, let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this magnificent prayer. We thank you that Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he broke bread. He washed his disciples' feet. He loved them. He broke bread and had that Passover meal with them. He taught them all these wonderful truths and he prayed for them. And he prayed for us. He prayed for the church. Lord, we ask that what he prayed might have real effect in our lives here as a local church. We'd really love one another. Really be united in your will, walking in step together for the same purpose, your glory, Father, the glory of Jesus. May we behold more of Christ and be taken with his glory and realize that that's the only glory worth beholding is Christ. Everything else is cheap. Oh Lord, capture our hearts, for we so often stray, but put our eyes back upon Christ. We thank you that Christ is dedicated to the church. We thank you for that. Thank you for this prayer, in Christ's name, amen.