Well, today we conclude our study in the High Priestly Prayer, and this is the third part to the prayer. I followed that outline as there's three sections here of this prayer, three sermons. I think I moved too quickly through it. It would have been fun to go through each verse, or so much here, but it's also good to see the big picture. And today we come to verses 20 through 26. I think it's helpful to read the entirety of the prayer. So I'm going to begin at 17.1 and read all the way to verse 26. This is the word of the Lord. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours mine, and I am glorified in them, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I'm coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. And now our text this morning. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. And we'll end the reading of God's word and that's the end of the high priestly prayer. Well, today we come to the beautiful climax to this marvelous prayer. What a prayer to read and what a prayer to study. If you can, again, capture and have the word image that's given to you, Jesus' eyes are lifted up, probably hands up. This is what is the common posture of prayer. One of the professors said to me the other day something really helpful. Walking out, I can't find in anywhere in the scripture this posture. It's not there. It kind of challenges us a little bit to think about prayer and to think about how we pray. Jesus' eyes are lifted up. He's praying to his Father. The disciples are listening to this. The disciples are standing there observing this powerful prayer. And if you ever want to know the depth of the love of God, this is where you go. It's really a prayer that should be read frequently in our lives and something when we're in deep struggle and we're feeling alienated, and when we feel those periods that we say are dry periods and we feel distant and disconnected from the Lord, spend time reading this prayer. It's a beautiful prayer that helps us that way. He has prayed for himself in these first five verses, and then he prayed extensively, as we studied last week, for his disciples. There's a way of this prayer that is moving to a climax now, and that's where today we come to this beautiful sort of crescendo, this beautiful end of this prayer, this climax of this prayer that ends in his prayer for you, which is really remarkable, isn't it? Do you realize the knowledge of the Lord is that magnificent and great that he knows you when he's praying and he's thinking that way, that every sheep that was given to him by his father throughout history, he is praying for in this prayer. He has not missed one. And that's hard for us to even fathom or imagine. I know. But to know and realize he knows us by name. He's giving us each a new name. It wasn't just his disciples that he was praying for. And now today we listen to Jesus pray for us. Really, really a moment here in about AD 30, in the month of Nisan. In a few hours he's going to be on the cross, impaled on the cross and suffering for our very sins. And before he's going there, he's praying for us. And so that's what we're looking at briefly this morning, is Jesus' prayer for us. What is he thinking about when he thinks about us? What concerns Jesus about us? What is on his heart? What does he ask his father for? Those are important questions, aren't they? This is, we get to the heart of who we are as a people, the heart of what matters to Jesus as we listen to him ask certain things of his father regarding us. And you'll notice if you were to summarize this and to break this down, And there's three real things he asks of his father regarding us. First, that we would know him and his father. And second, that we would be one as the father and the son are one. And then third, that we would all be together. That's the climax of this prayer. Does it get any better than that? ending with him praying that we will all be together. We'll come back to that. Let's begin with this first point that we may know. Jesus is concerned that we may know him and his father. And that's where he begins in verse 20 of this prayer. I do not pray for these alone. I'm not just praying for my disciples. I'm not just praying for those who are standing here, Lord. But I'm also praying for those who will believe through their word. So you notice here there's a continuance of what was started in the gospel of John. He's thinking of you directly. He's thinking of the ministry that would come to you all the way in 2021. He is thinking of right here, right now, the Escondido URC and the ministry of the gospel. He's thinking of the word going out today to the ends of the earth. And that is an overwhelming thought to begin with today, that the omniscient Christ here, who is about to die on his mind in this prayer, is a knowledge so complete that he stood there that day with arms stretched, eyes up, praying for you. Psalm 139. You know me. You formed me in the womb. You know everything about me. It's overwhelming to think because this great truth of election has permeated this prayer. and there's nothing that is discouraging about the doctrine of election. We fought against it, of course. We haven't liked it. But I had somebody come up and say to me last week, I, for the first time, a somewhat new Christian said, for the first time, I never understood something that never made sense to me in Christianity before. He said, this whole world is a mess, if Jesus had planned to save the whole world and pray for the whole world, I've always been confused. Because it doesn't make any sense. But to say that he's saving a people out of the world, now that makes sense. Now I can understand that. Now that gives me a perspective of exactly what's happening because that I see. And I thought that was an overwhelming point to what he took away from that last sermon last week that was really helpful. Notice that just what Jesus says, I don't pray for the world. We have to reckon with that. I'm not praying for this whole world. I'm praying specifically for those who were given to me by my Father. Those who will never be plucked from my hand, not one. Again, it would be scary to think that Jesus prayed with great hopes and wishes that everyone would be brought into the kingdom and in fact didn't make it. That's not how the prayer goes. There's in fact many who will never believe. It's really remarkable because what Jesus is saying in this prayer is I'm not losing one of my sheep that the Father has given me. Not one. That's a whole different perspective. Now last week, his disciples, Remember in his prayer for them that you do not take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. He was praying that for them, and we sort of have to think for a minute, why was he praying that specifically for them? Why did he leave them here? And it's a moving thought because the desire of the Son of God's heart is that we would soon go to heaven to be with him. We're coming to that at the end of this. That his desire is to have us all together with him. To enjoy the glory that he has won for us. The presence. The beauty of this. But Jesus is burdened that if he did that right now, and he had taken the disciples out right then and there, and he had taken them home, then some of those whom the Father had given to the Son, Jesus would never know this eternal love, would never know the Father and the Son, would never have the gospel taken to them. And so Jesus is praying one of the most needful petitions here to his Father to keep and preserve the continuance of the ministry of the church. You should all be asking, you know, at this point, of all the things that Jesus could have prayed, could what was on his heart to pray for you what was the number one concern first off in his prayer for you as he was thinking about the future and thinking about what you needed most what do you need most well he says it in verse 21 I'm praying for all those who will come in through the word Notice that. That's the beauty of verse 21. I do not ask for these only, but for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be one, may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Now, I want us to ponder that for a minute. He said he's keeping the disciples behind, and of course, Satan had asked to sift the disciples as wheat, and Jesus had said, I'm praying for you that your faith would not fail. They were left in the world for a specific purpose, and in that purpose, of course, he had said nothing the evil one could do could hurt them or harm them, ultimately. So they were completely shielded and protected in the world that he left them here, and notice here what he said. He's keeping his disciples behind so that the word would continue throughout all the generations to be heard and to be preached and to be given. That there would be, as the apostles would say, pastors given. There's some to be prophets and remember apostles and then pastors and teachers. These would be given to the church as gifts. That continuance of the ministry would would be happening so that many who are going to believe through the word would be able to receive it. So he's praying for the ministry of the word here, isn't he? He's praying for the continuance of the ministry of the word. Remember what he celebrated last time. I have, Father, I have manifested your name to the men whom you've given me out of the world. They were yours. You have given them to me and they have kept your word. I've done something, Father. I have, remember the joy of the excitement of this prayer. I have, I told them the words that you gave me to tell. Everything that you gave me to tell them to reveal the Father, I have, I have done. I have given them your word. And then it gets overwhelming in the celebration, remember? He didn't just dispense the word. But he's celebrating in this prayer that Jesus had the faith, that Jesus had the power to overcome and give them faith. He's declaring something that happened. Father, they kept your word. They kept your word. Because they believed in me. And remember John 6, we looked at that was a work of God, that they should believe in. Anyone who keeps the word will never taste death, Jesus said. So these were prayers that we've been looking at and petitions that are as good as done because Jesus accomplished it. Jesus fulfilled it. This is glorious for the Christian life that whatever failures you're about to go do, I want you to think about here for a minute. Just as the disciples have no idea standing there that day what is about to happen. They have no idea how bad they are about to fall. They have no idea the failure that is coming in their own lives. And Jesus is here praying ahead of time, they've kept your word. because they believed in me. And then he says, Father, I pray that not just for these, I pray that those who come will believe in me through their word. In other words, it's the same thing Jesus just said. Jesus said, this is going to continue this way. That these apostles are going to take your word to the ends of the earth. And that same word that, Father, you gave me, now I'm giving to them that they would give to others and that this would go on throughout time so that all of your sheep would believe. All of them would know. That's the beauty of this. Now, this is the great truth of where we are today, that there's a succession of ministry. This is one of the heirs, just to see throughout church history, that there was always the heir of Rome that said, well, it's a succession of popes. There's always a pope, a pope, a pope, and that the authority is handed down to the pope, the pope, the pope. Here was the Protestant understanding of this right from John 17. No, no, no, no, no. That's a big error. It's not a man. It's the ministry that's handed down, the word that's handed down throughout history. It's a succession of the word, of the ministry. And Jesus spoke that we would all be kept by this word so that the very thing that happened to them in being kept, we are being kept. Now that's why I say today in the first point here, in the first point of this prayer, Do you see how important the ministry is to you today of Jesus' word to you? When you believe in him, through this ministry of the word, you too have kept the word. You too have passed from death to life. You too have received the word and believed in Jesus. Is evidence that Jesus has answered, the father has answered this prayer of his son. So you need to stop and say, look at the success today. This is, I think, what we need more than ever in our day right now, is to understand the success of Christianity. We don't seem to get this. We feel like a defeated bunch. We feel like nothing marvelous is happening. And the ministry is a huge success to the ends of the earth. You're here, aren't you? And this simple, great question that we ask, if you can answer in sincerity, do you believe this word? do you know all that God has done to make that so to you you didn't do that on your own I I've referenced this before but all these years there have been faithful pastors who've been given to you there have been catechism teachers there have been your your teachers in the home think of your parents who've cared about you boys and girls if you've gone to to school where where Where there's a Christian worldview, think of how much has been given to you. All of this is given to you. That the ministry that's been handed and that you've believed is evidence of the Lord answering this prayer. I think of how much is working against this to this day. Look at how much struggle we have to do this. Look at how much difficulty today. Look at how much hardship. We can't really see behind the scenes of the spiritual darkness that is all working against this. And here we are. Stop and look at it. Here we are. You talk with some of those here in the church who go down to Mexico. They're planting churches down there. Here we are. We're still doing it. Here we are to the ends of the earth today. The word is still being preached with a method and a means that the world has by and large said is the most unproductive and foolish things you could ever do. Nobody lectures anymore in the colleges, do they? Well, preaching is not a lecture. But here we are. And if the Lord continues this, you will be dead and gone real soon. I hate to be told discouraging, but real soon you're going to be dead and gone. And what are you worried about? Well, you're worried about those little ones sitting here. And then you're going to have grandchildren. And you're worried about Great Crane Kids. And you think, how in the world are they going to make it in this world? How in the world are they? How did you ever make it in this world? You think you made it better than anyone else? You never made it in this world. You've been kept in this world. I pray for those. Think about this now. I pray for those who will believe. They've already been given to the Son. They can't be taken from the Son. I pray for those who will believe I will not lose one of them. So I'm going to pray for them, Father, that you keep them through the Word. You know, every time you worry about the future for your kids and your grandkids and your future, I want you to stop and I want you to read John 17, 20. 17, 20, over and over. For I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may be in us. You think that prayer is not heard? Your proof it's been heard. So stop the fear. Right? Jesus prayed that the word would be given. And as some of you struggle even raising children in the midst of this, and you see them make choices and things that happen and they seem to go this way and that way, we have to trust that this word is powerful to bring them back. This is the Lord's, what he's saying to us today. That's the first thing. That's the first thing, that we would know the Son and the Father the same way the apostles knew the Son and the Father through the ministry of the word. The second thing that he's saying here is somewhat shocking, isn't it? I pray, O Lord, that they would be one. notice what he says, Make them one as we are one, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, verse 21, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you've given me, I've given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them as you loved me. That's one of the most beautiful parts of this prayer, isn't it? The unity here of the Godhead witnessed in this unbreakable love of the Father and the Son that in their purposes and plans to save, nothing has been able to break that unity. Notice that. Nothing with Jesus on earth has been able to break that perfect, beautiful unity. And Jesus has been saying that this mutual indwelling and unity that has manifested itself in this perfect plan of redemption has unfolded to the ends of the earth in his great love for you. Now, where does he go with this? Well, he says that the glory which you have given me, I've given them that they may be one. That we are one as we are one. Remember at the beginning of John, the father showed himself through the son. And remember Jesus said that the only begotten son of God has declared him the Father. The glory of God was shown in the face of Jesus Christ so that when anyone looked and believed in Jesus, Jesus would say they saw the Father. But think about this. Jesus says, Father, the glory that you gave to me now, I have given to them to reveal. So the glory of the Father shown in Jesus, the glory of Christ has been given to us to be shown in us. That's how Christ was revealed to us in the Word. Now, I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly one. Christ fills you with him so that the purpose is is that we would become one. Now, this is a really important point in the sermon. Jesus gives the purpose that the world may believe that you sent me. The first thing to say here is that if we ever are going to fulfill the purpose for which Jesus left us here, unity is our strongest witness. Did you know that? Unity is our strongest witness. My first inclination as I was working on this this week is to stop and say, yeah, but that hasn't seemed to go, gone real well, has it? This is where the sermon was a bit of a struggle for me. Because here it seems like the prayers failed. All the church splits, all the theological fights, all the separations, all the denominations. Look at how splintered the church is today. Look at all the theological fights we've been through. Look at the split we've known. Still there's wounds to that. People will often say this, well, that's exactly, exactly why I want nothing to do with Christianity. Because of all the divisions. And I want to stop and say to them kindly, that's an excuse. What have you stood for? This is where people say, well, I'm going to move then to the world to find unity. And we have all these causes we can get involved with to try to fix the problems, right? Look at the state of the world. Is it unified? Look at the division. Look at the discord. Look at the fighting. Is it unified? Look at all the competing agendas. You want to know what the world's experience is? This is where Sesame Street's really helpful for the boys and girls. Here's what the world's unity is like. You know this. Five bears in a bed, and one little one said, I'm crowded, roll over. So they all rolled over, and one fell out. Four bears in the bed, and one little one said, I'm crowded, roll over. So they all rolled over, and one fell out. Three bears in the bed, and a little one said, I'm crowded, roll over. So they all rolled over, and one fell out. Two little bears in the bed, and one little one said, I'm crowded, roll over. So they all rolled over and one fell out. One little bear in the bed and the little one said, I'm lonely. That's the world. All these competing agendas are right in front of you right now. Do you think transgenders putting out, pushing out feminists in women's sports is going to go well? They're pushing people right out of the bed in their agendas. So I stopped in this prayer and I said, what gives with Christianity? And then I realized I've read this prayer all wrong my whole life. None of this rests on me. Father, I just hope they get along. Is that the prayer? Father, I hope it turns out well for them I'm so distressed. I'm concerned for them, these weak sheep that follow me. They just keep stumbling and I don't know what to do. I've given them your word, and they've been slow to understand, and they don't keep it very well. And look how fickle they are, and Judas is lost, and I don't know what to do. And Father, they're not really one. Is that how Jesus prayed? Shame on us for taking that glory from him. He just prayed that we'd be one, and guess what? We are. Why do you think the apostles would say there's one body, one spirit to which we were called with one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. What do you mean we're not one? Stop using that. One gathering all over the face of the world today. Same Lord, same gospel, same spirit who dwells in all of us. And by the way, this is so successful that on the last day, we're going to see a multitude from the whole earth throughout all these times and places of a number that no man can number like God promised to Abraham because that's the fulfillment. What do you mean we're not one? And through all of the theological fights and splits of what we have to discern the truth, God makes us one. He's talking about the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace by those who are truly joined to Jesus. What a celebration. We're one. We're one. See, this is what we do to this prayer as we start at this point and start lecturing the church about all of its failures. This is what we do. And we're not listening to the prayer of Jesus. That doesn't get people up to be one. Listen to the prayer. This is so. That's the single most powerful witness to the world, believe it or not. Pastor tells of a church who had a really bad reputation. History of conflicts and fights and splits and nothing but problems. And the pastor, here's what the pastor said. Many in the church were sick of strife. They were sick of all the division. And as they sat under the gospel ministry, the body began to look a lot like Jesus all of a sudden. Gossip died down. The gifts of the Spirit began to flourish. The bitterness went away. The deacons were faithfully sending flowers to the hospitalized and sick in the community. Hot meals were taken to chronically ill persons. The spirit of prayer and intercession began to come alive in the church meetings. Visitors were impressed by a new attendiveness in Sunday worship. It wasn't just the old tradition. They were believing it. One of them, Mark, before when I visited, everyone read their bulletins and just looked around. No one was engaged. The youth were all disconnected. But now they listen like a hungry people. The change is so mysterious, it's frightening. This is what the gospel ministry does. It unites us. It's his power to do this. You're one. You know that? The father heard this. The father answered this. And you're proof. You're proof. I'm not turning this into a beating session. That's not what this prayer is. One more request today to close. So think of the two things so far. I pray, oh Lord, that the same word in ministry, the word that you gave me to tell, that I told them that they would go, and for all those in the future who haven't believed yet that this would continue to go on, it's been answered. Here we are. I pray that they would be one. As we are one, he has answered. Here we are. But one more thing today to close this prayer out. Here's the most overwhelming part. Verse 24. Now listen to this. 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 is not known, but I've 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 have loved me may be in them and I in them. My desire, listen to this, my desire is that they would receive the full reward for everything that I did for them. My desire is that they would be with me where I am and that they would behold my glory. I want you to let that set in just for a second. I long to be with them. Do you hear your God saying this? I long to be with you face to face. But you'll see my face, says Jesus, in the beatific vision, the glory that is mine. I want them to have that. I love them that much, and I want them to know that you love them that much. Father, I desire this also that whom you've given me, they may be where I am. To see my glory that you've given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. I'm not sure there's anything more beautiful in this prayer than that. But it's set in today. Meditate on it. Father, I want them to be with me. You think he doesn't love you? Why do you think he went through all this? I want them to be with me. To see my glory. Can you imagine what that's going to be like, beloved? I can't. I think that's why the apostle said, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. The glory of heaven, the glory of glory is to be in the face and presence of Jesus and to think he's going to come and talk to me. But for now, there's a very important reason that hasn't happened. What is that reason? The world needs to know. That the world may know. All my elect need to be brought in. When the last of the elect come in, then the end comes. I've declared your name and I will declare it and that's why we're here today. That's why we're left here. That's why we have a short time left in this life. It is for other people, not for you. It's that other people would know. And this is the beauty of it. That's why we're still doing this today. That's why you need this today. This is how you're kept. Through this wonderful word. And that he's still declaring his name today. And to think of the little ones sitting next to you who haven't professed faith yet. They need to know. And your neighbor needs to know. And your friend who's in darkness needs to know. That's why you're here. I want to give him the glory now, oh Father. I want to take him now. But we've got to go get the rest of them. Then it comes. That's the message of John 17. What a fitting conclusion to this prayer. May the love with which you loved me be in them and I in them. For when they love one another, all people will know that they are my disciples by the love that they have for one another. that's John 17 beloved and next week he goes to the cross as you think about the love of God the height, width, and depth of the love of God for you simply receive it, believe it marvel over it and understand what he's done and accomplished that's how great the love with which he loved us let's pray Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us a moment to stand and to be in the counsel of God and listen to what is so. Evidence is all around us. The ministry of the word has continued from the beginning. We're still doing this. The gospel's still being preached. You're still gathering a people who are saved in the same message with one spirit, one Lord, one baptism, one hope. And then encouraging us at the end, the only reason you haven't taken us home yet is because we have a purpose here and you're still gathering all of the sheep. But to hear the truth that our God longs to be with us face to face, it's overwhelming. Soft in our hearts through this. Give us believing hearts. Let us be a people, O Lord, who understand who we are now in love for one another because of the great love with which we've been loved. Bless us, O Lord, in understanding. And thank you for cheering our hearts this day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.