The chapter that we've been studying the last two weeks is traditionally called the high priestly prayer. It could be called the Lord's Prayer since it's the Lord Jesus who's praying. The Lord's Prayer, traditionally the one we prayed earlier in the worship service, could be called the disciples' prayer because Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray. And I asked him, Lord, teach us to pray, and he says, pray then like this, our Father who art in heaven. And he goes on to teach them what we call the Lord's Prayer. And even though it's called the Lord's Prayer, it is not a prayer that Jesus could pray because in the prayer we ask for forgiveness, and Jesus does not need forgiveness since he is sinless. We, as believers, need forgiveness, so the prayer is for us. But in this chapter we hear the prayer of Jesus and it's coming at a very poignant time in his life, just before he's to be arrested in chapter 18, just before he's to be tried, just before he's to suffer humiliation and torture, just before his crucifixion. Can you imagine hearing this prayer, being with Jesus, right after he's told you that he's leaving and the disciples are all sorrowful, but he's told them that their joy would be full. I mentioned last week that I loved hearing my friend Michael Ramsey pray, because it seemed like he is someone who knows the Lord. And to hear him pray was like being ushered into the presence of God. Of course, Michael is now with God, and he might be even embarrassed that I'm saying this. I don't know if you can be embarrassed in heaven or not, but the prayer in chapter 17 divides easily into three sections. The first section, verses 1 through 5, that we looked at last week, Jesus prays that the Father would be glorified in the Son, and the Father would glorify the Son. Verse 5 says, And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Now think about that. God the Son is eternal. God the Son has existed forever. It's even hard to talk about in terms of time. We've looked at this a couple of times in our men's Bible study, because God created time. He created time and space. And so when we talk about eternity past, there's really no such thing, because there was no future or past until God created time and space. Suffice to say, that it's probably beyond our understanding, so I won't belabor it. But what Jesus is saying is, as the Son of God, He has existed along with the Father and the Spirit as the triune God forever. In the next two sections, Jesus prays for His disciples in verse 6 through 19. And then He prays for us in verse 20 to 26. So what does He pray? Well, I want you to see how often Jesus uses the word give, or given, or gave. The Greek word is didimai, and it appears 17 times in these 26 verses. I won't read them all, but a couple of them begin in verse 2. You have given Him, Jesus, authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave Me to do. Later we see the Father gave Jesus the disciples, and Jesus has given them the Father's word, which He gave to Jesus. Verse 23, the glory that you have given Me I have given to them. We'll get to that later. That they may be one even as we are one. I and them and you and me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know you have sent Me and loved them even as you have loved Me. Father, I desire they also whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory you have given Me, because you loved Me before the foundation of the world. God the Father has given the Son people who will believe. God the Father has given the Son a bride, the church. God the Father has given people who will believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And the Son in turn will give them eternal life, that they may be one with the Father and the Son, and see the glory of the Son given to Him, by the Father because of the eternal love of the Father for the Son. That's one of the arguments that Christian theologians have had for why the Trinity makes so much sense. Other religions believe in one God. Judaism, for example, Islam, they believe there's one God. And so do we, but we believe that God exists in three persons. An argument goes something like this. If God is a single solitary being, then He had to create us in order to love. But if God has existed from all of eternity as three, three persons, one God, then He has loved the Son, has loved the Father, the Father has loved the Son, the Son and the Father have loved the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has loved the Father and the Son. So love is the primary motivation as opposed to power. I don't know if that helps you. The disciples, Jesus says, is made known to them the name of the Father. You can't really know somebody if you don't know their name. Jesus says, I have made known to the disciples my Father. And we see this in the very beginning of the Gospel. Back in John chapter one, talking about the word, the word here means God, the Son, says the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory. Glory is the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And then down in verse 18, it says, no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. Other versions say He has explained Him. So even though nobody has seen the Father, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the Son has made Him known to us. There are countless different religions in the history of humanity. Some ancient religions such as Greek and Roman have what's called a pantheon of gods. Most people, if they believe in a god, make it up for themselves. We were talking to a woman at Kent State University where Tracy and I used to live and minister on a college campus. And I was at a restaurant called Zephyr's and I was having pancakes. And I was reading a book, it was a Christian book, I think it was by Frances Schaeffer, and she asked me what I was reading and I told her. I asked her if she believed in God. And she said, these were her exact words, she said, I have my own God. I said, what do you mean? Well, I believe this about God and I don't remember exactly what she said, but she had three or four things she believed about God. But she didn't believe other things about God. See, and that's where a lot of people are. The problem with that is that we imagine God to be somebody who agrees with us. We imagine God to be somebody that wouldn't disagree with us. The problem with that is if you don't have a God who can disagree with you, then he's not really God. He's a figment of your imagination made in your image rather than you made in his. And the thing about that is it will be of no comfort to you in a crisis. If you have made up your own God, you know in your heart that you've done that, and it won't be any comfort to you if you're in a crisis. If a friend or a loved one is ill or if they've run afoul of someone else and they need prayer. Who are you going to pray? You're going to pray to a God that you've made up. You know that that will be of no comfort, that that God can't answer you. When it finally comes time to die, if you are fortunate enough to know ahead of time that it's your time, who are you going to call on? Are you going to call on a God that you've made up? It will be of no comfort. The Bible tells us there's only one true God that no one has ever seen God, but God the Son became a man and made us known to him, or made him known to us. The question is how is he making him known? In verse 7 of our passages it says, 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 the truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. So the way that God makes himself known, primarily, is through his word. Now we see in the Bible that sometimes God does miracles. Or we see, for example, with Joseph or Daniel, or Joseph, the husband of Mary, that God speaks to people in dreams. Sometimes, I would say rarely. Sometimes he gives visions. We see that recorded in Scripture. And while those things are still possible, it's not the usual way that God makes himself known to us. And if we have a dream, or if we believe we had a vision, and that dream or vision disagrees with something in the Bible, then we can know that that dream or vision wasn't from God, after all. So God makes himself known to us by the Holy Spirit enlightening us through God's written word. Verse 14, he says, I have given them your word. Verse 17, sanctify them in truth, your word is truth. Verse 19, and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. Sanctified means to be set apart for a holy purpose. It's the word from which we get the word saint, or some translations say holy ones. And the way they are set apart is by the truth of God's word. Paul talked about that in Ephesians chapter 5. Beginning in verse 25, he's talking about marriage, but he explains it through talking about the marriage of Christ and the church. Husbands love your wife just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Then it says that he might sanctify and cleanse it, the church, with the washing of water by the word. That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So the disciples are hearing Jesus pray that they should be set apart for a holy purpose in the truth of God's word. And they're hearing this directly from the Son of God, God in the flesh. And what are they being set apart for? For what purpose? Jesus says in verse 18, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. Just as Jesus has made the Father known to his disciples, now the disciples are to make God known to the rest of the world. Through his prayer, though, he warns them that it won't be easy. He says in verse 14, I've given them your word and the world hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. He's saying that the world does and will hate them just as they hated Jesus because they have the same message. He doesn't want them to be taken out of the world because if they're taken out of the world, the gospel is not preached. Now, part of our problem is that naturally we want people to like us, and there's nothing wrong with that. We want people to love us, and we don't want people to hate us. But if everyone loves you, there's probably something wrong. And if everyone hates you, there's probably something wrong. I've talked to people who say they're Christian who've taken pride in the fact that everybody hates them. They think that they're being true to God's word because everybody hates them, everybody disagrees with them. That's not the case. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved. It's the power of God. So if it's not foolishness to somebody, it's not powerful for anybody. And that's what Jesus is telling the disciples, that the message that they have, this message of Jesus Christ is God the Son, that He lived a perfect sinless life in our place. It's offensive because it's saying that we're sinners and that we deserve death and hell. But He lived a perfect sinless life in our place, the life that we should have lived. And then He died the death that we deserve to die. And then He rose again from the dead, demonstrating that He is indeed God the Son. That message is a message for which people will either love you or hate you. And they may start off hating you and then love you. I have at least five times, and maybe as many as ten, but at least five times gotten emails over the years from people who said, I remember you preaching, whether it was Indianapolis or Chicago, I remember you, or even Kent State University, I remember you preaching and I hated it. I hated what you said. I couldn't stand it. I didn't believe it. I want to thank you. Because now I believe it, now I understand, now I know. Thank you. And that happens sometimes. Of course it can go the other way too. But He does pray that the Father would keep them from the evil one. Now does that mean that they become sinless? No. It does mean that the evil one, that is the devil, will not prevail. That He won't ultimately win. That He won't stop them from proclaiming the message. And I know there are people like this, people who have claimed to be Christians most of their lives and then they have abandoned the faith. It's somewhat of an epidemic of young people in churches. We know from history that these disciples never wavered after the resurrection. They never wavered in their belief of the gospel and the proclamation of it. And we know that of the twelve, Judas, and replaced by another disciple in Saul the 13th, none of them ever denied the gospel. None of them ever denied Christ. None of them ever denied the resurrection. Even though almost all of them, except for the Apostle John, were martyred. Some in horrible ways. And all they had to do was say, it's not true. All they had to do was say, I was kind of making this up. But why would they go through all of that being ostracized from the temple? Why would they go through the torture and the ridicule that they received? Why would they go through all that they went through and eventually be martyred, horrible deaths, when all they had to do was deny Christ and they didn't? See, the disciples knew that they had been given a mission to proclaim the word. Romans 10 says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. And then he says, how will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? And that's who the disciples were. God's people are saved through the preaching of his word by the witness of believers. We are transformed by his word. Romans 12, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And the way our mind is renewed is by reading regularly, daily, by studying, by meditating on, by memorizing God's word. We are also to be witnesses. And I've heard people, we're ambassadors, 2 Corinthians 5 says. And I've heard, I so appreciated Reed's prayer that we would be bold, that we would be witnesses, that we would tell people about the gospel. And I've heard so many people say, well, you know, I would witness more if I knew how to do it. If I knew how to do it. Would you, when you were a little kid, did you say, I would ride a bike if I knew how to do it. How did you learn to ride a bike? You got on the bike. And you started pedaling. And you fell down. And you got up and you started pedaling and you fell down. And eventually you could ride it. Witnessing is the same way. When I first became a Christian, I was told I was supposed to witness. So I did. And I wasn't very good at it. I could say the words, but people have questions that I didn't have any answers. But because they had questions, it forced me to go back and figure out what the answers were. And you can never have all the answers before you get the questions. So don't hesitate to witness. You're not going to ruin anything. You're not going to make it worse. What's worse than an unbeliever dying without Christ? God is telling us that we are to be ambassadors, that we are to take up the mantle of the disciples and tell other people about Jesus. Finally, Jesus prays that we will be one with Him and the Father through the Spirit. Verse 21, that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. Think about that. That they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me the glory that you have 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 have sent me and loved them even as you love me. So Jesus is saying that the Father loved the Son perfectly and He's going to love us perfectly because we're in the Son. And the glory that the Son has with the Father is going to be given to us. Paul says as much in Ephesians 2, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. There's one more thing. I know I said finally. P.S. Glory. The glory you have given me I have given to them that they may be one as we are one. We use that word glory. To mean something. Incredible. We may I can remember being. Let's see how do I do this. This way Michigan. It's where I grew up. Right about here is a lake called Lake Higgins. My sister and her husband had a rental cabin on it and Tracy and I was used to go spend a few days there and there were no there were no lights around anywhere. And so at night you go sit on the dock. And you look up and the start you could see the Milky Way and the stars. It was glorious. It was glorious. This is greater than that. We use the word glory for things like. Soldiers and sailors and airmen and rightly so. I remember when my football team the Michigan Wolverines won the national championship a couple of years ago called my friend Tim and he and I were talking I said this is just glorious. But compared to this it was meaningless. Verse twenty two the glory you have given me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. And then there's a verse in Revelation chapter three that just. Is mind boggling. The one who conquers. Jesus talking to the church of Laodicea. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sit down with my father on his throne. That is as one as you can be. The father has a throne. The son is sitting with his father on the throne and he says that if we are believers if we have conquered. That we will sit with him on his throne even he has said on the. It's beyond comprehension. The glory. The glory of being a believer in Jesus Christ is beyond. Our understanding. That's why he says no mind. No eye can see no ear can hear no mind is conceived of all that God has prepared. For those. Who love him.