United and Glorious in Christ

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:08.949 I'm going to begin in verse twenty and I'll read through twenty three. So 2 00:00:09.109 --> 00:00:17.710 twenty through twenty three, Jesus says an he praise. I do not ask 3 00:00:17.870 --> 00:00:21.940 for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their 4 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:26.739 word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, 5 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:31.100 are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, 6 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:36.090 so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory 7 00:00:36.369 --> 00:00:39.969 that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be 8 00:00:40.210 --> 00:00:44.890 one, even as we are one. I am them and you and me, 9 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:49.890 that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that 10 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:57.200 you send me and loved them even as you loved me. And Praise God. 11 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:04.670 So what is Jesus telling us here? What does Jesus want us to 12 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:14.310 know? Well, it should be pretty clear. He wants the father to 13 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:18.620 make himself known through the son, so that we may be one, and 14 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:23.340 not just one with the one another, but one with God. This prayer 15 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:30.379 for unity among the people of God starts with the unity between the apostles and 16 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.930 those who come after him or after them. This is probably on what Jesus 17 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:40.730 means when he says I do now ask for these only speaking about his immediate 18 00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:45.569 disciples right there, but also for those who will believe in me through their 19 00:01:45.769 --> 00:01:51.799 word. He's talking about us. He's praying specifically for us right here. 20 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.680 I we you may know in general that Jesus prays for you, that he 21 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:01.150 intercedes from you. I'm here. We have his exact words recorded for us, 22 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:07.909 his prayer for us that we would believe through their word, and indeed 23 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:14.189 we have. As I said earlier, we confess the apostles creed because the 24 00:02:14.270 --> 00:02:21.620 apostles have delivered the message of Jesus to us. In confessing the apostles creed, 25 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:25.780 therefore, we are seeing God fulfill this very prayer this very morning. 26 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:32.889 It's a breathtaking thing. Praise be to God. This prayer for unity and 27 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:38.210 begins with the disciples and to those who would follow after them, but it 28 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:43.409 includes, of course, all of the church. God's desire is that we 29 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:47.840 would be a one with one another, and that starts by unity with him. 30 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:54.080 But of course we know that division is a perennial problem in the church, 31 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:59.270 perennial problem them in the world, but in the church as well, 32 00:02:59.389 --> 00:03:02.509 in the Kingdom of God. In Mark, Chapter Ten, for example, 33 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:07.789 there's a story about a time when Jesus was cornered by two of his disciples, 34 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:12.229 some of the disciples he's praying for here, James and John. They 35 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:15.860 take Jesus aside, away from the other ten disciples and ask them something special. 36 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:21.500 They say, grant to grant us to sit one at your right hand 37 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:25.060 and one at your left in your glory. They demand this. In fact, 38 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:29.849 leaving aside Jesus is reaction for the moment. How do you think the 39 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:34.770 other disciples would have felt finding out that Jesus are James and John had said 40 00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:38.250 this to Jesus, that had wanted special privileges and special favors and sort of 41 00:03:38.569 --> 00:03:44.360 said this in this way? Well, the Bible tells us exactly what they 42 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.080 thought. It says when the ten heard it, they became indignant at James 43 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:54.560 and John. They were upset, as you would expect. In acts for, 44 00:03:54.909 --> 00:04:01.110 Luke writes about a worldwide at this point, a worldwide church disagreement between 45 00:04:01.189 --> 00:04:08.389 the gentile and Jewish Christians about the care for gentile widows. Later's it. 46 00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:12.860 Later in acts fifteen, we read about a big disagreement in the church about 47 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:16.220 which of the a Jewish custom should be observed and who should observe them. 48 00:04:18.139 --> 00:04:24.930 There was a sharp disagreement. The scriptures say and acts about Paul and Barnabass, 49 00:04:25.649 --> 00:04:29.569 whether or not they should whether or not a certain man should serve with 50 00:04:29.730 --> 00:04:35.129 them. They ended up separating from one another. In James and James Five, 51 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:41.040 James chastises those in the church who are catering to the rich but neglecting 52 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:45.839 the poor. In Philippians for two, Paul tells you to and Synthiki to 53 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:51.399 stop arguing and agree. In the Lord and he lets the Corinthians know that 54 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:57.310 the word has come to him about quarreling in their church. The list could 55 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:00.230 go on and on, and we're just in the scriptures. We haven't even 56 00:05:00.269 --> 00:05:06.220 talked about our own church. You get the point. The Church has struggled 57 00:05:06.259 --> 00:05:11.500 with this problem of division since the beginning, in fact ever since the very 58 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:20.220 beginning, when Adam first blamed God and his wife for his disobedience to God's 59 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:27.089 command. Ever since then there has been division between God and man and man 60 00:05:27.449 --> 00:05:34.209 in man. And, as you know, there are many, many denominations 61 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:39.480 in the world today, many people who claim the name of Christ and yet 62 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:46.519 are separated from one another. But that division, as we see, is 63 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:51.829 not just an international one, but it's a local one to perhaps you've been 64 00:05:51.910 --> 00:06:00.790 in and churches and situations where there have been very difficult disagreements, sometimes quiet 65 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:06.660 ones in the corners, sometimes very open and public ones. Sometimes division is, 66 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:13.060 of course, necessary. We think of Martin Luther. He was not 67 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:17.019 being silly or I'm wrong, when he stood in the Diet Worms. We 68 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:20.649 shouldn't have told him to just get over it and be unified about things. 69 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:26.850 He was standing on the ground of the Word of God and the Gospel. 70 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:32.279 He was defending it, and sometimes that creates division. But even there we 71 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:38.519 see that it is because of sin that these things happen. Straying from God's 72 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:43.720 word, not believing God's word, pride, anger, jealousy, strife, 73 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.069 doctrinal error, love of the world, all of these things divide us, 74 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:54.589 and so we are right to admit that sin isn't going away until the Lord 75 00:06:54.709 --> 00:07:03.459 returns, and so also division will remain until the Lord returns. And yet, 76 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:09.139 while division isn't going away, neither, it seems, is the desire 77 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:15.620 of Christians for Church unity, despite the fact that we are divided in so 78 00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:18.410 many ways and we continue to separate and be cruel to each other and all 79 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:24.569 the rest, we continue to long on for being at one with one another, 80 00:07:25.649 --> 00:07:30.000 despite the problems we have achieving and maintaining a unified visible church, we 81 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:39.240 continually seek it and then, and we express that in various ways with our 82 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:45.389 in our own communion and denomination. We express this through our union with other 83 00:07:45.509 --> 00:07:50.470 churches, other Orthodox Presbyterian churches. As a denomination, we try to work 84 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:55.949 together and support and help each other in various ways. This is one way 85 00:07:56.069 --> 00:08:01.060 we strive for church unity. We try to do this even beyond our own 86 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:05.899 denomination by working with other denominations. In as you read in my update this 87 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:09.180 last week, I'm going to be going on some vacation in August and during 88 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:13.769 that time we will have the joy and pleasure of having other people come and 89 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:20.649 fill this pulpit, some from sister denominations. This church in fact exists because 90 00:08:22.089 --> 00:08:28.279 pastors from other denominic this church covenant exists because pastors from other denominations gave up 91 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:33.919 their time and their energy to help us exist. This is an expression of 92 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.639 the unity of the church and it is a good thing when it's founded in 93 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:43.110 the Gospel and God's word. And so we continue to seek this, even 94 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:48.629 on an international level, there is an international conference of reformed churches. The 95 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:54.070 inner national conference aims to lower the walls and build more bridges between confessional churches, 96 00:08:54.710 --> 00:09:00.940 and there are member churches from Sudan to Scotland, Netherlands to New Zealand, 97 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:05.539 a total of thirty two member churches from eighteen different countries seeking to try 98 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:11.009 to find in practical ways to be more one, because this is our desire, 99 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:13.529 this is what the Lord has prayed for us, this is what we 100 00:09:15.370 --> 00:09:20.169 we want. But at the same time we know how difficult unity is to 101 00:09:20.330 --> 00:09:24.879 achieve, how difficult it is to maintain. My question for you this morning 102 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:30.240 is, what is it that makes us keep trying again and again and again 103 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:35.279 and again at every level? Why do we keep trying? Why do we 104 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:41.509 keep engaging in family camps and Worship Services and theological debates and all the rest? 105 00:09:43.710 --> 00:09:48.669 It's because the unity of the church is baked into who we are. 106 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:56.059 It's part of our spiritual DNA. Why? Because this is who god saved 107 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:01.740 us to be and it's a part of our sanctification to continue striving towards those 108 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.450 ends, imperfectly here on Earth, but one day finally, when we all 109 00:10:07.529 --> 00:10:16.370 get to glory, singing victory and praise to Jesus as one. I want 110 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:22.559 to look at John Seventeen now and John as a whole as we begin to 111 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:28.399 come to through this chapter, into the Cross and the resurrection of Christ and 112 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:33.240 the things that he accomplishes there, and think about on this from the scriptures 113 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:41.110 in particular, where is this desire borne out of? Is this desire borne 114 00:10:41.149 --> 00:10:45.590 out of our own sinful nature, or is it borne out of our place 115 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:52.580 in Christ? Well, notice what Jesus says. He says again in John 116 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:54.659 Twenty. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who 117 00:10:54.740 --> 00:11:00.379 believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. That's 118 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:03.649 his desire. Another word to this desire that we take in ourselves, this 119 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:07.330 desire that we express and we desire are we strive for, is not one 120 00:11:07.409 --> 00:11:11.370 that we've just made up or not one we're trying to appease the world with. 121 00:11:11.889 --> 00:11:18.370 It is the Lord's desire and in fact he hits so strong and so 122 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.240 deep that he explains it in this way. He says that they may all 123 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.600 be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in 124 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:35.750 you. There is no greater language of union that you could a point to. 125 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.309 No other concept of unity that you could point to, then the union 126 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:52.580 between the father and the son, as Jesus points in this way. Now, 127 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:56.740 how are we to understand this union, though, the union between the 128 00:11:56.899 --> 00:12:01.929 father and the son? What does that mean for us, because the union 129 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:05.610 between the father and the son is a very mysterious one. How does that 130 00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:09.289 play out practically among God's people? How does that play out in the church? 131 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:16.120 What are God's intentions for us? Well, there are two ways in 132 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:22.080 which we might think about the union between the father and the son. One 133 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:26.600 is a union in regard to their being. To use a fancy word, 134 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:33.389 we might call it an ontological union, a union of their their being one. 135 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:37.429 Now, this is true, and I will give some verses to describe 136 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:41.870 that. Why? We do believe that Jesus, the son of God, 137 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:45.539 and the father are one. But this is not what Jesus is after when 138 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:50.220 he describes us. So it is true that Jesus and the father are one. 139 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:54.700 For example, right at the beginning of John we are told in the 140 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.539 beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word 141 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:05.730 was God, not two Gods God, the word was God, and in 142 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:11.879 the following verses He John Tells Us specifically that Jesus is the Creator, Verse 143 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.919 Three of Chapter One, the giver of life, first for the Eternal One, 144 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:22.320 verse two, to put a strong point on it. And John Chapter 145 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:30.590 Eight, Jesus says before Abraham was I am amazing statement. This is only 146 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:37.629 true if Jesus is God, and he is. Jesus is referring to himself 147 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:43.899 as being the one true, eternal God. But this is not what he 148 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:52.340 desires for us. We do not become God by being in Christ. We 149 00:13:52.500 --> 00:14:01.529 are not ones who become worshiped. We always remain worshipers. So if that's 150 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:05.850 not what Jesus means, what does he mean about our union with him and 151 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:11.919 with one another? The way to understand it is to understand in the way 152 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:16.320 that Jesus has been bringing this message. What is the message that he has 153 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.240 been giving to the disciples? What is the message that they will preach? 154 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.990 What is what is the thing in which our union will be grounded in? 155 00:14:26.830 --> 00:14:30.269 Well, it is, of course, that Jesus is God, but more 156 00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:35.470 specifically, it is this message that Jesus is from the father to do this 157 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:41.620 work. In other words, the answer about the unity between the father is 158 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:46.700 in the sun and the specific kind of unity that he's talking about here as 159 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:52.610 a unity of purpose, a unity of work and of will think about it 160 00:14:52.690 --> 00:14:58.970 according to the way Jesus has been talking and to us. The father, 161 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:03.250 for example, in verse four of Chapter Seventeen, has given all things to 162 00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:07.639 the sun, quote, authority over all flesh, authority to give eternal life. 163 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.639 This is a mission that the father gave to the son. It's true 164 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.639 Jesus asked that he would be glorified, quote, with the glory he had 165 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:22.870 from the father before the world existed, but it is the glory as the 166 00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:28.950 scent son. It is the glory of the mediate or not the divine glory 167 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:33.230 he already has, that Jesus is asking for. Jesus is not asking, 168 00:15:33.269 --> 00:15:37.659 in other words, to become deified. That's not what he says. When 169 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:41.460 he says glorify me, he's not saying make me a god so that all 170 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:48.460 of these children can become God's he is saying, glorify me in my mediatorial 171 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:52.769 role, glorify me in this work that you have sent me to do. 172 00:15:54.370 --> 00:16:00.409 Glorify me is the second Adam who has come to conquer death and in them, 173 00:16:02.129 --> 00:16:07.120 if through me, glorify them, bring them to fulfill the image that 174 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:15.159 you have made, for them to be glorified creatures. Hume's, not God's. 175 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:22.830 And this is the overwhelming emphasis on the unity between the father and son. 176 00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:27.629 Throughout the entire book. There's hardly a single chapter where this is not 177 00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:33.700 addressed in part, and sometimes the whole chapter itself. In fact, the 178 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:38.860 whole book of John Seems to be addressing this point. Not just that Jesus 179 00:16:38.899 --> 00:16:45.059 is God, but that he is the son of God. And almost everything 180 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:48.370 that Jesus says about himself as the son of God and John is about the 181 00:16:48.529 --> 00:16:53.649 mission he has received from the father, and it's on that mission and it's 182 00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:59.570 in his work that we find our unity. Not Unity in becoming God, 183 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:04.079 but unity by being the result of his work and being the tools of his 184 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:10.440 workman ship. Let me give you a few examples. Here are some ways 185 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:15.640 in which Jesus expresses himself as the one who comes the scent, one of 186 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:18.589 God. So in John Seven, twenty eight through twenty nine, he says, 187 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:22.789 you know me and you know where I come from, but I have 188 00:17:22.990 --> 00:17:26.710 not come of my own accord. I know him, for I come from 189 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:33.579 him and he sent me. He repeats this in John Forty two. That's 190 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:40.299 Jesus is coming. What about Jesus? Is Mission, Jesus says in John 191 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:44.220 Fourteen ten. The words that I say to you, I do not speak 192 00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:48.609 on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does his works. 193 00:17:49.450 --> 00:17:53.049 John Fourteen, twenty four, and the word that you hear is not 194 00:17:53.289 --> 00:17:59.839 mine, but the fathers who sent me. And so Jesus says in the 195 00:17:59.880 --> 00:18:03.440 beginning of our prayer. John Seventeen, six through eight, I have manifested 196 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:07.799 your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Now 197 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.269 that they know, what do they know? Now that they know that everything 198 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:18.390 you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words 199 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:22.390 that you gave me and they have received them and they have come to know 200 00:18:22.630 --> 00:18:26.740 the truth that I came from you and they believed that you sent me. 201 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:32.140 You see, this is Jesus. His whole mission is to deliver the words 202 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:36.339 that he received from the father that they and what are those words? What 203 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:41.140 is it that he really really wants us to know that he has come from 204 00:18:41.259 --> 00:18:45.609 God, to reveal to us that he has been sent for our salvation? 205 00:18:47.970 --> 00:18:52.250 You see, Jesus doesn't want them to just generally know him. The Heart 206 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:56.480 of the Gospel. The Heart of the Gospel is that he has been sent 207 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.200 from the father. This is what he says over and over and over and 208 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:08.799 over again. This is why Christians put Trinitarianism at our foundation. Our Salvation 209 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:18.190 is founded is resting entirely upon these things. We do not come into eternal 210 00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:25.339 life by believing generically in a superpower, by breathing generically in a higher God, 211 00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:30.460 a higher power, a spiritual force in our lives. We believe in 212 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:34.700 Jesus, the son of God, who is sent from the father to reveal 213 00:19:34.819 --> 00:19:44.250 these things. There's no other salvation apart from that. Jesus consider more. 214 00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:48.890 John Fourteen thirty one, Jesus says, I do as the father has commanded 215 00:19:49.049 --> 00:19:55.640 me, so that the world may know I love the father. John Fifteenth, 216 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:59.240 Nineteen. Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can 217 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.559 do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees of the father. 218 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:07.269 John Thirty. I can do nothing of my own because I seek not 219 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:18.710 my own but the will of him who sent me. We can think about 220 00:20:18.710 --> 00:20:22.059 the gifts that Jesus has given. We've been thinking about his mission as a 221 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:27.819 whole thing, about some of the specific gifts eternal life. John Twenty Five. 222 00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:32.180 Truly, truly, I say to you, in our is coming and 223 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:36.289 is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the son of 224 00:20:36.369 --> 00:20:41.769 God, odd and those who here will live. For as the father has 225 00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:45.890 life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in 226 00:20:47.009 --> 00:20:53.400 himself. So the life that we receive is the life that is from the 227 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:59.839 son, from the father. This life is that, this is the life 228 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:03.200 that we receive and live him. He is, Jesus is, as he 229 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:07.710 says in John Six, the bread of life. John Thirty two, my 230 00:21:08.029 --> 00:21:14.150 father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is 231 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:18.460 he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So we 232 00:21:18.500 --> 00:21:22.740 can think about Jesus is a gift of eternal life in them was way. 233 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:26.180 We can also think about his gift as the of the Church itself. In 234 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:32.460 this way, the relationship between the father and son. Listen to Jesus's words 235 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:37.329 in John Ten, twenty eight through thirty. I give them eternal life and 236 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:41.049 they will never perish. Praise God, and no one will snatch them out 237 00:21:41.049 --> 00:21:45.130 of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is 238 00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:48.440 greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the 239 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:57.680 father's hand. I and the father are one razing or hear these comforting words 240 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.789 from John Thirty seven through thirty nine, all that the father gives me with 241 00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:08.950 I'll come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out, 242 00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:12.950 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, 243 00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:17.660 but the will of him who sent me, and this is the will of 244 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:22.539 who sent me, that I should not lose, that I should lose nothing 245 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:26.220 of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last 246 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:32.009 day. Over and over and over and over and over and over again. 247 00:22:32.009 --> 00:22:36.250 We've had this. And now we come to John Seventeen and he says in 248 00:22:36.410 --> 00:22:40.410 verse six, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, 249 00:22:40.809 --> 00:22:44.359 which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of 250 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:51.000 them has been lost. Jesus is praying to the father and he's saying this 251 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.319 mission, that you have given me, all of these gifts that you've told 252 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:57.950 me to give, all of this I have done. I have obeyed, 253 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:02.829 I have fall I have done what I what I have agreed to do, 254 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:08.390 what you have commanded me to do. And now in that obedience. Glorify 255 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:18.940 me? Adam failed in his obedience, and was he glorified? No, 256 00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:25.940 he was cursed. He was cast out of the presence of God. He 257 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:30.730 and his wife became people that started to battle his own son's one murdered the 258 00:23:30.809 --> 00:23:37.890 other. And after generation after generation after generation, mankind has tried to build 259 00:23:37.210 --> 00:23:45.720 towers and temples for their own glory, separating themselves from God. And of 260 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:51.720 course we know what happens when men do this. They themselves divide in their 261 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.509 sinfulness and in the curse. But Jesus has come to do what man has 262 00:23:56.549 --> 00:24:02.109 been unable to do, and he did it, and he does it. 263 00:24:04.349 --> 00:24:15.299 He builds the temple to the glory of God and draws us into that so 264 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:18.700 that we might receive a glory that is not our own, beloved, but 265 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:23.769 a glory that is from God, from the son of God, who has 266 00:24:23.809 --> 00:24:30.529 received all things, from the father. Jesus praise here in John Seventeen. 267 00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:34.049 Father, the hour has come glorify your son that the son May glorify you. 268 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:40.920 This all began at the beginning of John, when Jesus, when John 269 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.799 said, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have 270 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:51.400 seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father John Seventeen 271 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:55.109 twenty two, in the verse we read this morning, the glory that you 272 00:24:55.230 --> 00:25:00.950 have given me, I have given to them. So an of all and 273 00:25:02.029 --> 00:25:06.150 all of these things and all these passages I'm quoting, and we could quote 274 00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:11.579 more, Jesus gives us this very clear point about who he is. Who 275 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:17.779 is Jesus? What did he come to do? He tells us his mission. 276 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:21.970 He tells us the good news. He came on a mission from the 277 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:29.809 father to be the son that Adam failed to be and to do for the 278 00:25:29.890 --> 00:25:36.759 people what Adam failed to do, to achieve and to bring glory to humanity, 279 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:41.720 so that we might be united with one another in peace and harmony, 280 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:47.960 in love, and not a unity with one another that's separated from God, 281 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:53.549 our own sort of private little utopia established over and against God, but under 282 00:25:53.549 --> 00:25:59.589 him, living and dwelling, receiving from him of the bread of life. 283 00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:04.980 Jesus says in John for twenty four, my food is to do the will 284 00:26:06.059 --> 00:26:10.460 of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. That's what Jesus lives 285 00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:15.779 on in his in his role, and that's what he gives to us as 286 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:23.329 the bread of life. Jesus says in John Forty four, he cries out, 287 00:26:23.329 --> 00:26:29.009 whoever believes in me believes not in me but in Him who sent me. 288 00:26:30.930 --> 00:26:33.279 So, when we think about all of these things and we think about 289 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:37.319 our our union, and we go back to this question I asked the beginning, 290 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:41.640 why do we keep striving for this? Well, it's not because we're 291 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:47.789 on a fool's errand it's not because we want some vain thing. It's not 292 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:52.869 because we are trying to build our own tower of Babel or try to justify 293 00:26:52.029 --> 00:26:59.269 ourselves before God. Our crew prove ourselves in this world. We continue to 294 00:26:59.390 --> 00:27:03.740 desire unity with one another. We give ourselves sacrificially for one another. We 295 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:11.900 come and we worship together every Lord's Day because of the Lord, because of 296 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:21.369 our triune God from who, from all eternity, has promised to save a 297 00:27:21.410 --> 00:27:27.690 people for himself and has done exactly that. The Sun, as you know, 298 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:36.880 prayed this prayer and soon after went to the cross and there he died. 299 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.839 And in his death, his very inglorious death, is very wretched and 300 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:49.390 cursed death. He took on all the sinss of his people. He took 301 00:27:49.549 --> 00:27:56.109 on all of our sins that cause our disunity, that cause our wretchedness, 302 00:27:56.190 --> 00:28:00.339 that separate us from God and from one another. He took it on himself 303 00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:10.779 so that he might become a perfect sacrifice for that sin and save us from 304 00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:15.529 that sin. He took it on himself so that he could raise to new 305 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:21.170 life and raise us in him. And so, beloved. It's simply this. 306 00:28:21.369 --> 00:28:23.529 Jesus promises us that when we put our faith in, our trust in 307 00:28:23.650 --> 00:28:30.920 him, we can have the unity that we desire, because he himself has 308 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:37.759 accomplished it. So trust him for it and continue to strive in His grace 309 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:42.910 for it, whether it's on a massive international scale, as we work denominations 310 00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:48.670 and denomination to confess our faith and love and service together in the Lord, 311 00:28:49.589 --> 00:29:00.900 or whether it's as simple as being patient with someone, saying sorry, asking 312 00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:06.940 for forgiveness, giving ourselves in love one to another and in the very little 313 00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:11.609 things. When we do this, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, we 314 00:29:11.650 --> 00:29:15.970 can know that we are doing his will and, more importantly, his will 315 00:29:17.049 --> 00:29:21.730 is being done in us, to the glory of his name. Amen. 316 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:26.039 Let's pray together.