John 17 Jack D. Terry, Jr.

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for the audience's presence and their love for the Word of God. They then introduce the topic of the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ in the book of John. They share a quote about the power of prayer and discuss the importance of the Holy Spirit in prayer. They mention various prayers that Jesus prayed, including the prayers he spoke from the cross. They emphasize the continuous conversation Jesus had with God the Father and explain that through the Holy Spirit, believers can also have constant fellowship with God. They discuss the significance of prayers during the Passover feast and highlight the prayers Jesus prayed during that time. The speaker explains the symbolism of the grapevine and the beautiful gate in the Temple. They then detail the structure of the high priestly prayer, in which Jesus prays for himself, his disciples, and all believers to be one with the Father through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Hello. How are you all this morning? Good. Good to see all of you here. Thanks for coming. Thank you for loving the Word of God. Thank you for being here. Today we're going to look at the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, which is found in the 17th chapter of the book of John. So if you'll turn in your copy of the scripture to John 17, we will be looking at that chapter today, but examining the prayer life of Jesus along the way. And that's important as well. I have a quote that I keep on my desk all the time from a Church of Christ author by the name of Max Lucado, and many of you have read Max's work. He said this, Our prayers may be awkward, our attempts may be feeble, but since the power of prayer is not in the one who says it, but in the one who hears it, prayers do make a difference. And so that's what Max Lucado said. Since the power of it is not in the one who says it, but in the one who hears it, therefore prayers do make a difference. I remember a little thing that I learned years ago, and we were laughing about it when I was in college. It went something like this. Prayer is all in its delight. Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright, and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. Think about that. Think about it. Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright, and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. That's tragic, because Satan knows that we have inherited, on the day of redemption, in us the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we have the same opportunity that Jesus had when he was here, to have close fellowship with God the Father, himself, and the Holy Spirit. You see, that was a problem with people before the Holy Spirit came. They were praying, but the Holy Spirit was not in them at that point. In the Old Testament, we know that the Holy Spirit came and went, but most of the time the Holy Spirit came at a time when it was necessary for something to be done, and then would move away and would come back again, and there were ebbs and flows of the Holy Spirit. But on the day of Pentecost, when the time was fully come, the Holy Spirit came in full power, and on that day he entered into the Christian, never to leave again, and on the day of your redemption, he entered into you, never ever to leave again. Now I want to talk to you about something that's very important, and that is why the Holy Spirit in us is so important to our prayer life. On your paper, and I'll not go through all of them, I've tried to list some of the major prayers that Jesus prayed in the Gospels. Many, many times the Gospel would simply say, and he prayed, and would not record it. But on other occasions, and I gave you several occasions that we'll look at in just a moment, on other occasions the Gospel writers actually recorded the prayers of Jesus, and we have many of them, and all of them are listed on the bottom of page one into page two, and you see all of the prayers that Jesus prayed, and the reason for his praying them, and of course we know that Jesus prayed three times on the cross, and he spoke four times on the cross. So he spoke a total of seven times from the cross, and three of those seven times were prayers. The first was, Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. The second prayer was, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the third prayer was, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And those were the three prayers that Jesus prayed from the cross. Now the others were statements from the cross. He looked down at his mother, and he said, Mother behold your son, son behold your mother, when he was talking about giving his mother to John, his good friend. And then he also said on the cross, another statement, he said to a thief on his right or left, he said, this day you will be with me in paradise. On another occasion after the noonday when he prayed, why have you forsaken me? He said to the soldiers, I thirst. And they gave him vinegar mixed with gall, which was kind of a narcotic, and he refused it. And the last statement that he made from the cross was, lest I, finished. It is finished. And that was the last statement he made from the cross. So he had three prayers, he had four statements on the cross. Those are listed in your paper. So Jesus prayed a great deal every moment of every day. Jesus never said period. And in your paper, I have made a statement about all of us. We should never say period. In fact, amen does not mean period. Although we all put it at the ends of our prayers as if it were a period, it is not. Amen is a comma, which simply means, so let it be, or may it be such. Amen means, let it be what we just prayed. It's not a period. It's a comma saying, I'll be back. I'm coming back to talk with you. Now, this is what Jesus had that his apostles did not quite understand at the beginning, why he seemed to be constantly in conversation with the Father. And the problem was, the Holy Spirit had not come yet. So the disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit, for it is in the reception of the Holy Spirit that we too, just like Jesus, can become in conversation with him every moment of every day. There should never be a period. We should never stop praying. We should pray constantly. In fact, the Apostle Paul to the fellow citizens of the Icon Church said the following, pray without ceasing. Remember? And he said to them, in everything. He didn't say in some things. He said, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. So the Apostle Paul recognized what Jesus was doing. Jesus was praying in everything because he had the Spirit of God in him, and that Spirit relegated to God's Spirit and to the Holy Spirit's Spirit, and those spirits were constantly in fellowship with one another. Let me tell you a secret. On the day you were saved, you got that same Spirit. On the day you were saved, when you said, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I cannot save myself. Please, Father, save me from my sins and give me eternal life in your kingdom. I trust you as my Lord and my Savior. I claim you as my King. And Lord Jesus says, right there, you have the Holy Spirit. From that point on, you and I and all of the rest of the believers are just like Jesus. We have in us the power of the Holy Spirit, which reaches out to the power of the Holy Spirit of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and those spirits relegate one to another, and those spirits are constantly in communication with one another, and our prayers every day may be something like this. Dear God, take care of me. In fact, do you all realize that a prayer does not have to be eternal to be immortal? I want to say that again. Jesus said to his disciples, don't pray like the Pharisees, who think that their much speaking will get them heard by somebody. He said, but when you pray, and this was in the Magna Carta of chapter 6, the book of Matthew, 4, 5, and 6, where Jesus said to them, and when you pray, pray this way. And in that prayer, in that particular chapter, Jesus said to them, you pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, so let it be. Continuation prayer. See what I'm talking about? Please understand. This is what the disciples did not understand until the Holy Spirit came. They wondered, as they watched Jesus, and they watched him go away for a while, they watched him on several occasions. For instance, he prayed at his baptism. He prayed regularly when he withdrew from the crowds. Jesus prayed after healing people in the evening and on other occasions. He prayed before feeding the 5,000. He prayed before feeding the 4,000. He prayed before choosing the 12. He prayed and thanked God for the revelation that God had given him. He prayed before raising Lazarus. He prayed asking his Father to glorify his name. He prayed for Peter's confession. He prayed at the Transfiguration. He prayed before teaching the disciples the Lord's Prayer in chapter 6 and Luke 11. He prayed before he blessed the food at Passover. He prayed for Peter's faith to remain strong. He prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane, each of the times getting more intense, until he said, Father, not my will, but your will be done. And he resigned himself to the cross. He prayed three prayers on the cross, and we just shared those with you. Kind of an interesting thing about all of this is the blessings at the Passover. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the three who give us an account of the Passover, you remember John does not give us an account? And that's kind of the mystery of John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us how to do it. You get the cup and you get the bread. You break the bread, you use the cup, and you get to John, and John doesn't have any kind of relationship. He doesn't give you any kind of schedule how to do it. He just says, we did it. But when Jesus did it, when he prayed, he prayed in order that the Passover meal might relate to where it had come from. Now, from the time the children of Israel, under the leadership of God, after the death of the firstborn, and they were led from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and Moses led the children of Israel, about three million of them, out of Egypt into the Sinai Desert, heading toward Mount Sinai. When he led those people out of there, he led them under the leadership of prayer. He was praying with them, he was talking to the Father, he was moving them, and he led them out of Egypt. And the night before, when they had the bread, and they had the wine, they had a prayer. And that prayer, ladies and gentlemen, is still being prayed in 2023. In fact, if you all were here for the Seder meal, on that Wednesday evening, the gentleman who was doing the Seder meal prayed the prayers. Only he did them in Hebrew. I don't know whether you picked up on it, but there are three prayers, there are two prayers that go with the bread and the wine. And the prayer that goes with the bread is this, Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the universe, who bringeth forth bread from the ground. Who bringeth forth lechem, bread, from the ground. That prayer, ladies and gentlemen, has been being prayed since Egypt. And the second one is like unto it. The second one is for the wine. And the second prayer says this, Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the universe, who bringeth forth juice from the vine. Same prayers. Have you ever wondered why they never recorded those prayers that Jesus prayed? They didn't have to. The Gospels came to the Jews first. And the Jews had been praying those prayers since Egypt. Why would they need to be reminded? It's us poor old Gentiles that need to be reminded. And so we know what the prayer was. And it says, And he took the bread, and he blessed it. Okay? Watch. Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the universe, who bringeth forth bread from the ground. He took the cup. Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the universe, who bringeth forth wine from the vine. They had been praying that since Egypt. And they didn't record it. And on other occasions, Jesus prayed as well. And they didn't record it. Now we're coming to chapter 17. Dr. Draper did a magnificent job with 15 and 16. And he's helped us to understand the vine and the branches, and he's helped us to understand the coming of the Holy Spirit, all of which he did in a magnificent way. Amen? Amen. He did a great job. Now, let me help you understand something. The memorial feast was over at the end of chapter 14. And the disciples left the upper room. They left the upper room, which was up in the quarter, which was a quarter of Israel, which was a quarter of Jerusalem, where many, many people lived who were believers in faith in Christ. And that quarter was up on a hillside, up on a scarp. If you can recognize how Jerusalem is laid out, the Temple Mound sits here, and on the left side of the Temple Mound is the Valley of Enam. And on the right side of the Temple Mound is the Valley of Kindron. Kindron is over against the Mount of Olives. Enam is over against the western side. This scarp, or this high hill, is over to the left of the Valley of Enam. They didn't have taxis during the time of Jesus, and they didn't have buses to move the people. When they got ready to go from the far side of Jerusalem, up on the scarp, which was on that hill going down to the Valley of Enam, they couldn't call a taxi. They couldn't bring a bus. They had to walk. And if you look at Jerusalem, the best way to get to the Garden of Gethsemane is to come down that big scarp down into the Valley of Enam. And by the way, I use Dr. Drapers, by the way, by the way, if you get to go to Israel and you look at that scarp, you will see several staircases that come down from that hill down to the Valley of Enam. There are about 15 or 20 staircases that walk down from that hill to the Valley of Enam. Of course, that was the only way they could come to get to Gethsemane. They had to go that way. So they came down the scarp, they went across the Valley of Enam, then they went up the southern side of the temple into the temple. Now, pause for a moment. This is Passover. The city is full of people. There are thousands of people in Jerusalem. Well, you see, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were the three feasts that every Jewish male, no matter where he lived in the world, tried to come to Jerusalem. Do you remember when Paul was way over in Asia, my love? When he was over in Europe, when he was in what we call now Greece? He said, I've got to go back for Pentecost. You remember? And he had to go back to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Even Paul said, I've got to go back for Pentecost. Every year, every Jew who could get there would come for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, and Trumpets. Most of the time, when they came for Passover, they stayed until Pentecost. Because that's only 50 days more. So it was kind of a vacation for them. It was summertime, kind of Spring Hill. Good time to go visit folks, good time to visit friends. Let's just go and stay for about 40 days. Wouldn't you love to have somebody come and stay with you for about 40 days? I don't think so. But now what you have to remember is, many of these people came to Jerusalem for Passover who did not have homes there. In fact, historians tell us that on Passover, there were tents all over the city of Jerusalem where people were living, staying, spending the nights. They were all over the city. They admit that the temple was well-lighted every night beginning on Passover, going for eight days. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, of which the Crucifixion will be the first part. You remember? So there were thousands of people in the city of Jerusalem. They were all over the place. They were on top of the Temple Mount. They were inside the Temple. They were in the Women's Court. They were everywhere. The city was absolutely teeming with people. And the most important thing that was going to happen was on Friday of that week. And on that Friday that Jesus was crucified and died at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on that Friday, every Jewish male was supposed to be at the Temple with a lamb to sacrifice at 3 o'clock. Hello? Would you like to tell me about the Lamb of God and what happened to Him at 3 o'clock? I guess that's just a coincidence, right? I don't think so. God said if you're going to kill the lamb at 3 o'clock, My lamb is going to die at 3 o'clock too. Only your lamb is going to die for one year. My lamb is going to die forever. And I'm going to give life forever, not just for a year. They had to be there at 3 o'clock in order to sacrifice a little lamb. Every Hebrew male. And so, Jesus is there in the Temple. And going to the Garden of Gethsemane, the best way is to go down the Valley of Hinnom, up the southern steps, and walk into the Temple, go into the Temple, and go across the Temple, down into the Valley of Kindron, and over to the Garden of Gethsemane. That's the quickest way to get there. And Jesus and His crowd left the upper room, and that's where they headed, and they stopped in the Temple. Dr. Draper did a magnificent job with the vine and the branches. Can I tell you something about the Temple? Did you know that there was a huge gate in the women's court? It was 50 feet high. It was so big, the two pieces of it, each piece took 20 men to carry it. Do you know how big that door was? And it was called the Nicanor Gate. It was a gift to the Temple by an Alexandrian Jew whose name was Nicanor. He was from Alexandria, where a lot of the Jews went after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. And many Jews became Alexandrian Jews. This man, Nicanor, was a very wealthy Alexandrian Jew, and he gave this gate. The gate was made out of four beautiful, beaten pieces of Corinthian brass. If you can imagine, this huge gate, just covered in four colors of Corinthian brass. In fact, I read just last night, where some scholars say that that particular door, the Nicanor door, was more invaluable than any of the other doors in the Temple in Jerusalem that were covered with gold and silver. That gate was more valuable. And on that gate, they had beaten into the four colors of brass a great grape vine. It began on one side at the roots. It started up the left side of the door. As it came up, it filled out the leaves. And as it turned across the top, it started dropping little squiggles of grapes. And as it turned to come down on the other side, now all of this is on that brass, it would come down and big clusters of grapes would start forming. By the time it got to the ground, there were huge clusters of grapes on it. Ladies and gentlemen, the grape vine has always been a symbol of Israel. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the grape. Thank you, Dr. Draper. That's a beautiful passage, see? He's right there in front of the grape vine. And he's sharing this with his disciples. I am the vine, you are the branches. Take a look at it. It's right there. And on that gate, every morning, when the sun came up on the eastern side of Mount of Olives, and it was in the women's court that had no roof, and when that sun came over that Mount of Olives, and that sun struck that gate, it just went wha! And everybody said, Isn't that beautiful? So they nicknamed it the what gate? That's the beautiful gate. Okay? Now that's where Jesus is. And what's getting ready to happen, and the high priestly prayer, is going to happen in the temple on the night of Passover, when all the city is full of people, taming with evil, going every rich direction, camping out on the hillside, living there for the rest of the week. And Jesus is in that particular temple with his disciples, and he says to them, in verse 17, Jesus spoke these words, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, at this point, Jesus does three things. The first thing he does is, he prays for himself. And he prays for himself from verse 1 through verse 8. And then beginning with verse 9, he prays for his present disciples, for the men who are standing there in the temple with him. He prays for himself, and we'll go back and look at that prayer, because this is the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Then he prays for the men who are standing there in the temple with him, and then, he prays for you and for me. And he prays that you and I and they will be one with the Father. Now think just a minute with me. Let me have your mind for just a minute. You cannot be one with the Father until you are filled with the what? You got it. See? We cannot be one with the Father until we are filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, then we are full of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are full. We are full of the Spirit of God. Therefore, since at that time we are full of the Spirit of God, then our mind has the privilege of then doing what Jesus' mind had the privilege of doing before the coming of the Holy Spirit for His disciples. Have you ever given any thought to the fact that our minds are absolutely amazing? I know you have. But you know, I've watched students at seminary, Jim. I've watched them sitting in their chairs. They were no more with me than Carter has little liver pills. I don't know where they were. But they weren't in that room. And I'd look at their eyes and you could tell they were off on some galaxy somewhere. Or they were back home in Alabama somewhere. Or they were up in Nevada somewhere. Or they were over in Florida on the beaches somewhere. They were not with me in Fort Worth. You do the same thing. We can do the same thing. See, that's a gift that God gave us human beings. I can sit right here and if I choose, I can be on Mars. And I can rehearse everything that I know about Mars in my mind because I can be there in just a moment. It's the matter of just being there. Now, with the Holy Spirit coming, you've got a new investment. Not only do you have the wonderful investment of your mind with which you can go anywhere, but now you have the investment of the Holy Spirit with which you can go into the heart and mind of God. You see, that's what Jesus did every day. He was in constant conversation with the Father. He never put a period on His prayer. We too should learn to pray that way. Every moment of every day we should be in the presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen? You see, that's the gift that at this point these disciples did not have. And Jesus is going to make reference of that in His prayer, the first prayer for Himself. He's going to reference the fact that these disciples do not understand what you, Father, are getting ready to give them. You are going to give them what you and I and the Holy Spirit have always had. Eternal relation, conversation, and enjoyment of the Father. Now, when I lost both of my knees, I could no longer kneel. And the Father said, Jack, there are many times when you just need to stand up and pray. Just shut your mouth and pray. And it's easy just to pray. And we can pray anytime, anywhere, with the Father, any relationship. He is always there. He is never gone. Jesus said, I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. I will not leave you an orphan. Now you see, in human relationships, orphans can only talk to the parents when they are there. In spiritual relationships, He said, I'm not going to leave you an orphan in a spiritual relationship. You and I and the Holy Spirit and the Father can have conversation anytime. Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, you shall find. Knock, it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asketh, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Look at the promises of what God gave you on the day you and I were saved. It's a promise you can't get away from. You can't get away from the heart of God. You can't get away from the mind of the Savior. You can't get away from the power of the Holy Spirit. It's in our spiritual DNA. It's part of us. Just like it was where we could go to Mars when we were just human beings. Now, in the Spirit, we go right to God because He is in us. He is with us. He goes before us. He will fight for us. He will bring us into redemption to Himself. And so, Jesus is getting ready to pray. He says, Father, thy hour has come. Now, this is probably somewhere around 132 o'clock in the morning. Jesus has not yet been arrested. They have not yet gotten to the Garden of Gethsemane. They get over there in chapter 18. And Jesus knows that He's getting ready to be put on the cross. And He's telling His Father, My hour has come. My hour is just a few hours from now. By this time tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock, I'll be dead. And so He says, Father, my hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that Your Son may glorify You. Now, ladies and gentlemen, again, every time the word glorify comes along, it means the cross and death and resurrection. And Jesus is asking the Father to glorify Him in what He is going to face so that He says, As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Jesus is saying, when we get through with this tonight, Father, they will know who You are. And 50 days from now, they will truly know who You are. Because on that day, You're going to invest in them the Holy Spirit. So He says, I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. Jesus said, I've done everything You've asked Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was. Have you ever read this verse and understand that Jesus was homesick? Jesus was homesick. He said, Father, glorify Yourself together with Me with the glory which We had before the world. I miss You, Dad. I'd like to be there. I'm homesick. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours. You gave them to Me. And they have kept Your Word. Now, they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. Watch the next verse. All the things that You have given Me, He had everything. God was in Christ. It's the same as God the Father, the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. As Dr. Draper says, three in one. We don't understand it, but we believe it. Now look what he said. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You, for I have given to them the words which You have given Me, and they have received them and have known surely that I have come from You and that they believe that You sent Me. Jesus is thanking the Father for giving Him the disciples. Now, you've got to understand, at this point, there are just 11 of them standing with Him. There are other disciples out there, but this is the 11. Judas is gone. He's already betrayed. These are the 11 who are with Him in the temple. And He's telling them, what the Father has given Me, He is now going to give you. When's it going to come? Pentecost. That's when it's going to come. And He said they're not going to understand until the Holy Spirit comes in full power. And when the Holy Spirit comes in full power, then they will understand that I am in You and You are in Me and they are in You and You are in them. Have you figured it out yet? May I just say it's simple Louisiana talk? God is in you. He's not going away. On the day you trusted His Son, He filled you full of all you're ever going to get. He redeemed you of your sin and He filled you with the power of the Holy Spirit and now you have the same opportunity moment by moment, day by day to converse with Him because He wants to talk to you. And you need to talk to Him. And it's not a period. It is a so let it be. So let it be. Don't ever put a period on your prayers. Never. Now this is what Jesus said about Himself and the Father. He's telling these disciples who are listening to Him that the Father is going to do for you what He has done for me. And because you are mine and He gave me you out of the world and you have stayed with me and I have kept you because you have done that now He is going to give to you the same privilege that I brought with me. Folks, I'm trying hard to tell you and I may be doing a poor job but have you figured out you're as close to God as your right ear? Have you figured out that you can talk to God quicker than you can talk on your cell phone? Have you figured it out that He dwells in you by the power of the Holy Spirit and that He wants you to talk with Him because He needs to talk to you? And you don't have to say, well, dear Lord, let me talk to you. No. Just talk to Him. And call Him Abba, Father. Call Him Daddy. Sometimes sitting at my desk when I get kind of perturbed with me, Barbara knows, I'll say, Daddy, why are you doing this to me? I'm not talking to my Daddy. I'm talking to my Daddy. And He hears me because He says, everything you ask in my name He will hear you. Okay? So Jesus just got through telling them what He's going to do for them, for Himself. This is what He's done with Himself and with the Father. And here's what He's getting ready to do. Then He picks up with them. In verse 9 He says, I pray for them. Now Jesus is getting ready to pray for the disciples. He's prayed for Himself and His glorification with the Father and His relationship with the Father. And He's saying, you know, the same relationship I had, you're getting ready to have the same relationship. Now, I want to pray for you. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but I pray for those who You've given Me from the world. By the way, did you know that Jesus never prayed for the world? He said, I do not pray for the world. I pray for those that You have given Me out of the world. By the way, hello, you are those. God has given you, God has given you the Spirit of His Son because His Son took you out of the world and He gave you to His Father by redemption through His blood and by His redeeming sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. God gave you to Him and He's giving you to Him. Then He says, and all mine are yours and all yours are mine and I am glorified in them. What? Do you realize what Jesus just said to His disciples? Everything you watch Me do, everything you heard Me say, all of the miracles that you've watched being done by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was given those by the Father and now I give those to you. Were the disciples able to do some miracles? Yes. But, as a disciple, you and I have the privilege of doing the greatest miracle. And you and I can do a miracle every day. The greatest miracle in all of the world, ladies and gentlemen, is not raising a person from human dead. It's not healing a crooked leg. The greatest miracle in all the world is sharing Jesus Christ with a lost person and bringing that person into eternal life. That is the greatest miracle. Jesus said, I give that to you. Father, I'm going to give this to My disciples. I'm going to give them the power to bring people to You like You gave Me the power to bring people to You. So He's praying to them. All is mine and yours are mine and I am glorified in them. Verse 10. And number 11, He says, and now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world and I come to you. Watch these next two words. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me that they may be one as We are one. This is the only passage in the entire New Testament where the name Holy Father is used. Nowhere else in the New Testament it ever appears. And the only person who ever used it was Jesus Christ. And He had the privilege of calling His Daddy Holy Father. It's the only place in all the New Testament you'll see that. And so He goes on in verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be even filled. But now I come to You and these things I speak in the world that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I want them to be just like You and I. Did you get the picture? Jesus wants your relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit just like His relationship. It is not a day by day, nor a month by month. It is a moment by moment. There's a great old gospel song that says, Dying with Jesus, by death reckon mine. Living with Jesus, a new life divine. Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine, moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. Moment by moment, I'm kept in Your love. Watch it. Moment by moment, new life from above. Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine, moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. That's what Jesus had. And that's what He has given you and me. I don't know about you, but I just want to shout, Hallelujah! Amen? So let it be. Hallelujah. He goes on, and He says in verse 13, But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilling themselves. And I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. Now, what does this word sanctify mean? Jesus has just asked the Father to do something to the eleven. He has asked them, for the Father, to sanctify them. Do you know what the word sanctify means? It means to make totally prepared for a mission given by God. That's the word sanctify. Jesus said, I was sanctified by my Father. He gave me my mission. Jesus is saying, Father, You sanctify them and You give them their mission. Ladies and gentlemen, each of us have been sanctified. We are in the process of being sanctified. We were first justified. We then moved into preparation of what He's talking about here. Father, continue to give them the mission that I've given You. We are being sanctified. And one day, either by death or by rapture, we shall be glorified. Okay? The only interesting thing is Jesus is talking about glorification at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Okay? And so He says, Sanctify them. You and I have been sanctified. We have been set up in the Kingdom for a mission, and that mission is to bring men and women, boys and girls, into a miracle relationship with Jesus Christ by the miracle of new birth. That's your miracle. You can't move mountains maybe, but you can. Sometimes you've moved mountains that you didn't even know was a mountain. You said, oh God, help me get this mountain out of the way. You didn't know what He's doing. He's moving it. He has done some things in your life that you weren't even aware of because He works and we work and the Son works and the Spirit works and we all work together. So He goes on to say, I do not pray for these alone. You ready for you? Pray for verse 20. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. You know who that is? You. It's me. Jesus not only prayed for Himself, not only did He pray for His disciples on the spot, but He went down through all of earth's life. He saw you, He saw you, He saw you, He saw you, and He prayed for you. He prayed that you would come into His kingdom. He prayed that you would believe. He prayed that you would become a believer and sanctified. He prayed that you would be justified and sanctified and eventually, like Him, glorified. Jesus is praying for you here. And He says, So Father, I pray, not only for these, but for all that you will give Me through their word, that they all may be one as You, Father, and I 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, in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect and one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. Jesus says, The Father loves you and Me, just like He loved the Son. Let me ask you a question. You got more than one or two kids? Yeah? Do you love any one better? Do you love any of those little siblings any better than the other ones? Oh, I know, sometimes they break you hard, sometimes you'd like to kick them out the door, but do you love them? Do you love the bad ones and the good ones? Do you love the urchins and the friendly? Do you really love them? You see, folks, if in the human heart we can love our children with an undying love, what can we do when the Spirit of God fills us with Himself? So that Jesus could say, Love one another even as I have loved you. He comes down to me and He says, Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am. He's praying for your eternal existence. He said, I pray that all of these that You give Me will be where I am. I'm praying for them, Father, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation. Oh, righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known You that You sent Me. Verse 26, And I have declared to them Your name, and I will declare it, that the love which You love Me may be in them, and I in them. Ladies and gentlemen, you and I are just like, in spirit, Jesus Christ. He lives, He abides, He dwells, He talks, He fellowships, He loves your companionship. He loves for you to talk with Him and the Father. They enjoy your conversation. Don't ever put a period on it. Keep it going all the time. And while you're sitting musing, just say to Him, Dear Father, thank You for loving me. It is so great to be able to talk with You any time I need to talk with You. And Father, it is so wonderful that every time I talk to You, You hear me and You respond. Maybe not like I want it, but for my betterment and for my life. It's a great prayer. We could pray for ourselves this way that God would sanctify us. We could pray for those with whom we have led to Christ that God would sanctify them. And we could pray for all of our great-great-great-grandchildren whom we'll never know, that they too, 20, 30, 50, 40, even 100 years from now, will likewise be brought into the Kingdom of God. For ladies and gentlemen, the Kingdom of God will never be destroyed. It will always be here. It may be underground. It may be terribly persecuted. It may look like a desperate little group of folk, but God's in control and He will always win. Amen? So let's pray. Eternal Sovereign God, Ruler of the Universe, King of all creation, Father, we are so humble in heart to even sit here and think that You love us so very, very much that You sent Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. Father, help us to accept that redemptive death. Help us to understand what it cost. And help us to understand how precious that life was to You. And Father, may we ever be grateful for being saved. Thank You for redemption through Jesus Christ. Thank You that He loved us in order to give His life for us. And for that, we give You great praise. Bless each of these who sit here in whom the Spirit of Christ and You and the Holy Spirit dwell. And help us in our daily prayer. Ever how simple, ever how feeble, ever how terribly said, it's not the one who says it, it's the one You who hears it. And Father, since You hear it and You love us as You loved Your Son, You will work on our prayers in order that You might do Your good will. Father, for that we give You thanks. We glorify You. Thank You for sanctifying us through Your Word. And may we live in such a way that we honor, glorify, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world is our prayer. So let it be. See you.