A Prayer of Jesus

[0:00] Let's come back then to the passage that we read, the Gospel of John, chapter 17. And we can read again in verse 20.

[0:11] 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.

[0:32] Particularly the words in verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

[0:43] The chapter that we have here, chapter 17, if you're using the ESV version, you'll see that it's entitled, The High Priestly Prayer. And we'll come back to Luke at that a little bit later on, as to why that name is given to the chapter.

[1:02] It is, of course, a prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is one of the very few prayers that is recorded in the Gospels that our Lord actually prayed.

[1:17] It is recorded many times that he prayed, that he went up on a mountain alone or separate from the disciples, that he actually prayed. But the words that he actually prayed are only recorded for us here and in the garden in Gethsemane, which is a totally different kind of prayer altogether.

[1:39] This, in one sense, if I can use the term, is a normal prayer in inverted commas. There's nothing normal about it, if we could put it that way.

[1:53] But it is a prayer that is given in certain circumstances. And it is an incredibly interesting prayer. If you had the choice, if I had the choice of only having one portion of Scripture that I could hold on to in its printed form, either that or to memorize from one end to the other, then this would be the chapter that I would choose.

[2:20] And we'll see why, or at least I hope to scratch the surface of it in the course of the next half hour or so, because there is so much teaching, so much theology, so much in this chapter that even a series of sermons would not do the justice.

[2:40] There have been books written on this chapter. What is so special about it? Well, it is not just the fact that our Lord prays, but it is the content of the prayer.

[2:53] It is quite amazing that John was able, many, many years later, to record and to write down these words for us. They only appear in his Gospel.

[3:04] And you will remember, of course, that the purpose of John in his Gospel from the very beginning is to show forth the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. To show that the Lord Jesus Christ is God.

[3:19] And as we'll see as we open out some of the theology in this chapter, we will see that that teaches us so clearly that that is the case.

[3:29] Now, you may be wondering about what I've said about prayer. You may be thinking, well, did the Lord not teach us to pray? Isn't that what the disciples said when they came to him?

[3:41] And they said, teach us to pray. And so our Lord says, our Father which art in heaven. And so on. And I'm sure that if you look carefully at that prayer, you will see that it is not the Lord's prayer.

[3:58] It is the disciples' prayer. It is a prayer for you and I. It's a model of prayer. It's the kind of things that we should include in our prayers.

[4:10] I would argue that the Lord's prayer was never meant to be repeated in the way that we repeat it nowadays. Although there's nothing wrong with that. But it was meant originally as a model of prayer.

[4:23] But this is completely different. This is a totally different kind of prayer. There are two things that should strike us immediately as we went through the prayer.

[4:36] Perhaps the first and most obvious one is that you should have noticed that there is no request for forgiveness of sin. In the Lord's prayer there was, forgive us our trespasses.

[4:49] But there is no mention here of any request of forgiveness of sin. And of course, when you think about that logically, that's exactly as it should be.

[5:01] The one who is praying has no sin. And therefore has no need to request forgiveness of sin. And then the second thing that you notice in the prayer and the structure of the prayer is that the prayer is full of requests.

[5:20] It is not full of petitions. It's full of requests. You and I, when we pray, I wonder how much of our prayers are actually taken up of petitions.

[5:35] What's the difference between the two? Well, a petition is a request from an inferior to a superior. But a request is made among equal.

[5:47] And if you notice through the course of this prayer, everything that our Lord requests from the Father is made as equals.

[5:58] If you have any doubt about the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, then look carefully at the prayer. And you will find time and time again that our Lord speaks so clearly here of his union with the Father.

[6:14] Of his union with the Father, and his equality with the Father. You see that even at the very beginning. Father, the hour has come.

[6:25] Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. The Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ is stated right from the beginning.

[6:37] And he has given authority over all flesh. And the pre-existence of our Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned so clearly in verse 5.

[6:48] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. There are many, of course, who argue and who say that our Lord Jesus Christ was not divine.

[7:05] That he was a good man, that he was a prophet, a teacher sent from God, and so on. And that exactly was the problem as to why John was writing his Gospel. You will remember that John wrote his Gospel in Ephesus in his old age, long after the first three synoptic Gospels had been written.

[7:24] And the reason was that he was stating from the very beginning that the Gospel in the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh. The Word, the Logos. And his objective is to prove the deity, the divinity, of the Son from the very, very beginning.

[7:44] That is the purpose of John's Gospel. That's why it's not a synoptic Gospels. It goes, it sets out from the very beginning to prove that Jesus Christ is divine.

[7:57] And remember also that John is writing this Gospel after he has had his revelation in Patmos. After he has seen the visions that he has been allowed to see there, and after he has seen the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world.

[8:16] And so, we come to look at the prayer itself. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son. I wonder how many of us begin our prayers.

[8:29] Glorifying God. That should be the main object of our prayer. But so often, our prayers are simply a list of petitions, a list of things that we want.

[8:42] And yet, you notice that our Lord sets the example for us here. That even the first section of the prayer, down to the verse of Mark 5, is all about glorifying the Father.

[8:56] The hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. And in verse 5 again, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

[9:13] How do you and I understand glory? So often, we use the term, do we not, as a symbolism of heaven. He's gone to glory, we say, when someone we know has died.

[9:26] But there's much more to it than that. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. How do you glorify the Father and the Son in your prayer and your daily life?

[9:42] Can we, in fact, glorify our Lord? Well, to a certain extent, we can. Because every time that we show forth the divine attributes that have been implanted in us as the fruit of the Spirit, we are showing forth the glory of God.

[10:03] In your daily witness, in your conversation, in your walk with God, each and every aspect of our behaviour should be glorifying God.

[10:15] Well, it's easy to say that. It's another thing to do it. It's another thing to do it. And that is why our Lord prays later on in the course of the prayer in verse 15 when he says that you keep them from the evil one.

[10:31] Who is the evil one? Of course, it is Satan, the work of Satan. And sometimes Satan, even in our worship, is so subtle in the ways that they deal.

[10:43] Think of it this way. I assume that you came here this evening to worship. Maybe you didn't. Maybe you simply came here out of your weekly ritual.

[10:53] That's between you and God. That's your business. But we should have come here to worship. And yet, in the course of the 35 minutes or so since we've started worshiping God this evening, how many times has your mind drifted away to other things outside?

[11:13] Things that perhaps you had no intention of thinking about, but the thought just came into your head and you allowed your mind to drift away with Satan is so clever and so subtle at taking our minds away from the things of God.

[11:30] And yet, that is why we are here. We are here to worship God in prayer, in praise, and in the study and meditation upon his word.

[11:41] Glorify your son that the son may glorify you. And our main objective as believers should indeed be to glorify both the Father and the Son in our daily living.

[11:55] And then you notice that the Lord says the hour has come. Well, it hasn't actually come. It doesn't come until the next chapter in chapter 18. What does he mean by this?

[12:08] You see, he says in verse 4, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. He hasn't accomplished the work yet. The finished work of Calvary is still to be accomplished.

[12:23] But you notice that there are two things that stand out from these words. The hour has come that the plan of salvation which was laid down before the world existed has now come to fruition.

[12:39] God's plan was laid out from the very beginning before the existence of time and would come to its climax in this hour.

[12:51] How often did our Lord say in reading the Gospels when they seek to take him that his time had not yet come. But here it is, the hour has come.

[13:03] The hour that was fixed from all eternity for our Lord to suffer on the cross for the sins of his people has now come. You see, there are so many as there were in Jesus' own time who thought that the coming of Messiah predicted from the beginning of the Old Testament in Genesis 15 was simply something that was like an emergency plan B because of sin, because of the fall.

[13:36] There are many that think that way nowadays still. Oh yes, Jesus Christ was a good man, he was a good teacher, he was a prophet, etc. He was a moral example to follow.

[13:48] But, but they failed to see the greater divine plan behind it. And when you look at this prayer, you can see that from before the beginning of time, from all eternity, that the plan of salvation had been set out between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[14:11] The Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this particular chapter by name, but he is implicitly mentioned in the idea that the teaching of the truth.

[14:24] And if you see that this chapter, this prayer, is actually part of the larger discourse that took place in the upper room from chapters 14 onwards, you will remember that in chapter 14, our Lord explains to the disciples that he is going, and it is good for him to go, because then the Holy Spirit, I will pray the Father, and he will send you another comforter, even the Spirit of Truth.

[14:52] And the Holy Spirit is not fully given, of course, until the day of Pentecost. But you see here that the Trinity is brought in through the teaching that is in the prayer.

[15:04] this is a prayer that is full of theology, full of theology. You see the unity of the Father and the Son. Again and again he refers to it that they may be one even as we are one.

[15:21] How many times did the Jews question the unity of the Lord Jesus Christ with his Father? They called it blasphemy.

[15:31] And even so, nowadays, many people refuse to accept. It's amazing how nothing has changed in 2000 years. People refuse to accept that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.

[15:48] But there are other things, other doctrines that come through in this prayer as well. And I've often thought that as the disciples listen to this prayer, that they must have struggled, even as you and I struggle at times, to understand everything that is in this prayer.

[16:06] It's so difficult for us to understand what God's glory actually means. I don't think we'll fully understand God's glory until we are in eternity. And it is only then, in the space of eternity, that we will learn bit by bit what God's glory really means.

[16:26] And what the glory that the Son has with the Father really means. And verse 5 will be, I think, a verse that will come back to us again and again in heaven.

[16:39] Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Of course, the glory that he will have now, that the Son has now, is different.

[16:54] It is different from the glory that he had with the Father before the world existence. Why? Because of his incarnation. Because of his humanity.

[17:07] That the Lord Jesus Christ has experienced the humanity that you and I also share. And again, there are many other things tied to that.

[17:19] To go into a study of the divinity and the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ would take us another series of sermons. But these are things that you should meditate on.

[17:30] And I want you to notice something else from the beginning of the prayer, particularly in verses 2 and 3. Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give to eternal life to all whom you have given him.

[17:46] every believer has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Father. By the Father. And every believer is already experiencing eternal life from the moment that they believe.

[18:05] You see, you and I have a tendency to think, do we not, that eternal life is something that only happens once we're dead. That's not what we have here at all. Although verse 3 is not a definition of eternal life, it tells us clearly that they know this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

[18:31] That once you come to a knowledge of the Father and the Son, that you are already experiencing eternal life, along with the blessings that spring from that.

[18:43] And you notice something unusual in verse 3. this is the only time that I am aware of in Scripture that Jesus Christ refers to himself as Jesus Christ.

[18:56] Why is that? Because of course both words and both aspects of his mission are now to be accomplished.

[19:07] This is what he means, and the hour has come, I have finished the work that you have done. and you notice that this shows the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:19] Even although we see him struggling in Gethsemane in the next chapter, there is no doubt that he will finish the work that the Father has given him to finish.

[19:29] What is the significance of Jesus Christ? Well, you remember that the Jesus, the Yeshua, was the name that was given to him by the angel David, and it means Savior.

[19:44] But you see, it's not just enough to know our Lord as Savior. We must also know him as the Christ, the Christos, the Messiah, the Anointed One of the Old Testament.

[20:04] From the very beginning of the Old Testament, the coming of Messiah was predicted. You remember our first parents, when they fell in the garden, Adam and Eve.

[20:19] You remember God's words to the serpent, that one would come from the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent.

[20:32] it. Now, I wonder if you've ever meditated on that promise, the seed of the woman. It's not the woman that has the seed.

[20:49] It's the male of the species that implants the seed. And right from Genesis 3.15, you are given a prediction of the virgin birth of Christ.

[21:02] The seed of the woman that would come from the Holy Spirit. And the victory that was to be assured on the cross.

[21:15] Isn't this the pattern that you see all through the Old Testament? That our Lord's, or God's first act of mercy to Adam and Eve as they are ejected from the garden, is to clothe them in skins, animal skins.

[21:35] And in order to do so, blood had to be shed. It is through the shedding of blood that mercy is shown.

[21:47] And it is from then on the pattern right through the Old Testament. In everything that is revealed in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, until we come to the cross, that we sum it up in the words of the writer of the Hebrews, who says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

[22:15] That's what our Lord knows in this prayer that he is about to do. That is why he says in verse 19, for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

[22:38] Now what does consecration mean? Consecration meant something being set apart for the particular purpose of worshipping the Holy God.

[22:51] And where do we see it taking place? We see it taking place in the Old Testament through the appointment of the High Priest, who was to enter once a year with blood into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, and who was to sacrifice and sprinkle the blood on the altar and on the nursery seat.

[23:17] if you contemplate the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat, you will remember that the mercy seat sat above the rest of the Ark of the Covenant.

[23:36] Gold, a gold top on the box, and above the mercy seat are the cherubim, signifying the presence of God, looking down on the mercy seat, and underneath the mercy seat, in the Ark are the tables of the Law.

[23:57] You see, none of us can come through the keeping of the Law. It's impossible for us to keep the Law. No matter how hard we try, think even in terms of keeping just the first commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul.

[24:27] How often does your mind drift away from things of God, even in your prayer, even in your worship? That is why you and I feel discipline in our attempts to keep the Law.

[24:44] That is why the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, to make atonement for our sin. But yet, through the sacrifices of the Old Testament, this was a ritual which was carried out once a year, every year.

[25:03] And of course, the high priest was replaced as one died, another took in place. The Aaronic priesthood was simply a symbol of what was to come.

[25:15] And this is why our Lord consecrates himself. He sets himself aside to offer his blood once and for all, so that his people may find forgiveness for their sins.

[25:33] That's why the prayer is called the high priestly prayer. it is our Lord acting as mediator between his people and the Father.

[25:48] Why was a mediator necessary? Well, because of sin. Each and every sin deserves the full evil of God.

[26:03] Each and every sin. and we are told that just one sin invalidates the whole law, brings the whole penalty of the law upon us.

[26:18] And you see, a holy God cannot tolerate sin. He cannot look on sin. sin. So the plan of salvation set out before the foundation of the world puts into practice that perfect justice will demand perfect punishment from the perfect victim.

[26:52] That is why the one who you know sin is made sin for us. That is the message of the gospel. That you and I sin each day in thought, word, and deed.

[27:07] But yet, John says in his letter that we have an advocate with the Father. We have more than an advocate. We have one who is on the right hand of the Father interceding for us day by day.

[27:20] Isn't it a wonderful comfort as you struggle with your faith at times to know that the Son is interceding for you on the right hand of the Father.

[27:38] Isn't it a wonderful comfort to know that the Son prayed for you here in this particular chapter. As he says in verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

[27:57] Who are the these only? Well, some think it's the 11 disciples at the supper in the upper room. Judas has already left in chapter 13.

[28:09] He's gone to carry out the archery that he will carry out. And this is what our Lord refers to when he says that I have lost none except the son of destruction or the son of perdition as it's put in some versions.

[28:29] Maybe there were others in the upper room as well. Considering the circumstances of the Jewish Passover which our Lord is celebrating with his disciples and the way that it was normally celebrated as a family occasion, I would not be surprised if there were some of the women present as well in the upper room.

[28:55] Something that we don't often consider. We think that simply the disciples were there. But I would not be surprised at all if according to Jewish tradition, perhaps in a separate room on the side or perhaps even in the same room, that some of the women were actually there.

[29:16] Who were they of course would lead us into speculation. Possibly his mother, very probably his mother would have been there. Maybe Mary Magdalene as well.

[29:28] And perhaps some of the other women who are mentioned in scripture and the gospels. We don't know for sure, but I would be very surprised if they weren't there.

[29:40] I think I'm fully convinced that some of the women were there as well. And this is his prayer for you. He's not asking, as he says in verse 15, that you are taken out of the world, but that you are kept from the evil one.

[29:59] Because our Lord knows the temptations and the difficulties that you and I face every day. He faced them in exactly the same way. and yet without sin.

[30:14] Those who will believe in me through their word. It wasn't just the preaching of the word by the 11 disciples. It was, of course, the writing of the word as well, as we have here.

[30:27] It has come down to us in written form. And that is why you and I can spend time looking at this prayer and meditating on this prayer.

[30:39] you notice that there are things given to us in the course of this prayer as well. You notice that time and time in the first section of the prayer that our Lord refers to those whom the Father has given him.

[30:59] You see it in verse 6, 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.

[31:14] It's interesting, isn't it, when you look at the end of the verse, they have kept your word. When you think that in a few hours' time, Peter would deny him three times, and all the others, perhaps with the exception of John and the woman, would disappear.

[31:34] It's only John that we see at the root of the cross. All the other disciples disappeared. But yet he says, yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.

[31:54] Isn't it interesting that as you look at these particular ones, you see that every believer is given to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Father.

[32:10] Every one of us here this evening who is a believer has been elected by the Father, chosen in love since before the foundation of the world, to be given to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:28] Isn't that a comforting thought this evening? That you were loved before the foundation of the world. That you were chosen in love.

[32:42] Why were you chosen? To glory my God. There is no other reason. You are chosen because of anything you are or you will be.

[32:56] You weren't chosen because you were any better than anyone else. You weren't chosen because you deserved God's love any more than anyone else.

[33:08] Philip Yancey, the American writer, puts it like this. And he says, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more or to make God love you less.

[33:24] It's the same as the love that goes between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is what he says in verse 26, in the final word, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.

[33:45] Eternal love. The love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, never increasing, never decreasing.

[33:58] Reciprocal love, the theological term for it. It goes backwards and forwards between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, never increasing, never decreasing.

[34:11] And this is the same love with which you are loved and have been loved since before the foundation of the world.

[34:22] Isn't that so reassuring for you this evening as a believer? That you were chosen and loved before the foundation of the world.

[34:33] but you are also told, as the Lord tells us here in verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world.

[34:48] You are also told that you are not of the world and that you will be hated by the world. That persecution will overtake you in this world.

[35:04] You see, you and I are comfortable Christians. We do not suffer at this particular time the persecution that so many others suffer in so many countries.

[35:19] We are not called upon yet to be faithful unto death, as so many have been, including ten of the eleven disciples.

[35:32] The only disciple who was not martyred for his faith was John. John was the only one who survived to die to a pretty old age, somewhere in his late nineties, before he died in Elisabeth.

[35:48] But then you see, our Lord says that I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one, that we are kept from the wilds of Satan.

[36:03] That's why you are given the assurance of your faith in this chapter. That's why you are given the reassurance of your faith in so many other parts of Scripture. Look at Romans 8, where Paul speaks again and again of the fact that now there is no condemnation in those who are in Jesus Christ.

[36:24] And nothing can eliminate us from the love of God. That's what the prayer is all about. We've only really scratched the surface of the prayer, but I want you to notice also that the prayer has a warning in it.

[36:47] I do not, verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. But the warning has come in verse 9, I am praying for them, I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

[37:14] you see, there's also a message here. If you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this prayer is not for you.

[37:32] And that's a very solemn message that comes in the prayer. I am not praying for the world. Lord makes it quite clear, scripture makes it so clear from the beginning of scripture that God has selected a people.

[37:55] You see it in the choice of Abraham, you see it in the chosen people of Israel, you see it in the doctrine of election. And our prayer tells us so clearly that the Father gives those who are elect to the Son.

[38:18] It's so hard for us to deal with election. It's one of these doctrines that at times ties us in knots and perhaps many times puts us off the fact that you and I have nothing to do with our own salvation.

[38:38] salvation. You see we are so used to depending on our own efforts for everything. We are so used to thinking that we will gain salvation by our own efforts, by our godly behaviour, by this, that and the next thing.

[38:58] Scripture shows us so clearly that that is not the case. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 2, that we were dead in trespasses and sins, that it is by grace a work of grace.

[39:18] And here it is so clearly in the prayer. You see that the deeper you dig into the prayer, the more you come into the deep things of Scripture, the deep doctrines that are so difficult for us to understand.

[39:35] What does glory mean? We've already meditated on that. What does it mean to glorify the Son, to glorify the Father? Why is the doctrine of election so difficult for us to understand?

[39:53] Think of it this way. God didn't have to choose any. He could have destroyed the whole human race and sent everyone to eternal damnation once the fall takes place.

[40:13] But it is only out of his good pleasure, that's the only explanation that we're given, that some are elect. And if you struggle with election, then perhaps if I put it in these terms, I don't mean to be rude.

[40:33] I may have said this here before, but I think I did, but it's worth saying again. If you struggle with election, remember this, election is none of your business.

[40:50] It's God's business. It's none of your business. choice. Your responsibility is to make your calling and your election sure.

[41:03] You have a responsibility. You are told so clearly in scripture, and you can't take it as an excuse for saying, well, I'm not in the elect, you know, it's God's fault, not mine.

[41:15] That's not the way scripture says it at all. It says so clearly that seek and you will find. Ask and it will be opened unto you.

[41:26] And you are told so clearly in this prayer, in verse 30, now I am coming to you, our Lord is going to his own, and these things I speak in the world that day, that is you and I and the disciples, they have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

[41:47] You see, it's the joy of the Lord that should draw you to the cross. It's the joy of the Lord that each one of us should reflect from the cross.

[42:03] And it is in the joy of the Lord that we should glorify and worship. As you struggle perhaps with your faith, come back to the high priestly prayer.

[42:20] If you are ever in doubt of the assurance of your faith, come back to the high priestly prayer. See your Lord, your Saviour, your mediator, praying to his Father for you.

[42:38] See the Father having given you to the Son from all eternity. See the love with which you are encycled.

[42:50] Long before you were born, long before you came to faith, you weren't aware of it, but it was there in the eternal plan.

[43:05] You see, our Lord is praying here for his church triumphant. That is the church that will eventually be gathered together in one in eternity.

[43:20] But while we are here on earth in the church militant, those who are still walking the walk of faith on earth, we remember that our Lord is praying here for what we call the invisible church.

[43:42] You are here this evening as a member of the visible church. And as a member of the visible church, it simply means that you are in attendance on the means of grace.

[43:56] You may be a member of the visible church, but you may not be a member of the invisible church. The invisible church are those who come to faith, who will come to faith, and who have come to faith.

[44:14] You may well be here as a member of the visible church, and still not have come to faith. But this is a prayer of reassurance for you, that our Lord is praying for those who will come to faith.

[44:33] all from Adam right through to the last soul that will be brought to faith before he comes again.

[44:46] And you notice the motive from which it's all done is summed up in the final words. Oh righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.

[45:01] 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.

[45:19] There is your comforting thought this evening, to take away with you that the love of the Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Holy Spirit, the same love, is in you, and the Lord Jesus Christ is also in you as a believer, that we are united to Christ.

[45:48] John Owen put it this way, and he said, we are saints, he said, in the process of sanctification, but the process may be a difficult one, and it may be one that takes longer for some than for us, but each one of us will be fully sanctified at the end of our time, as we pass into glory, and as we look back, he says, we will see that we were always in union, but not always in communion, not always in communion, so that's the feeling that you and I have so often, that we are not in communion with the Lord as we would want to be, or we know that we are in Christ, that we are in union, but we are not so often in communion, there are times when we get a glimpse of the glory of the

[46:55] Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, times in our private meditations, in our prayers, in public worship, maybe even at the Lord's table at times, we get a glimpse into the things of glory, we are in union, but not always in in communion, and you notice that the best promise of all, perhaps, for the believer is in verse 24, Father I desire that they also who 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.

[47:43] That is our Lord's desire for you as a believer this evening, that you will be with him where he is, to see his glory that was given because of the love before the foundation of the world.

[48:03] you see, the prayer contains amazing theology, it contains amazing promises, and it is a prayer that you and I should return to time and time again, because each time we read it, each time we meditate upon it, we are not only reassured and have faith, but given glimpses into the glory of the things that are to come.

[48:32] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us, the same thing that is to you. Lord, we thank you for your work, we thank you for such wonderful things as we see in your spirit, and yet we know that we have only scratched the surface of the depth that is contained within it, oh, that you would make it precious to us, and you would give us the joy that comes from meditating upon your work.

[49:05] Grant, oh, Lord, that any who are wavering in their faith, or not yet come to faith, may see the need that they have to come to know you as their mediator and their saviour, and that you are interseeing for them.

[49:21] Be with us and bless us this evening as we conclude our worship through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Let us conclude then by singing some verses in Psalm 118, page 398.

[49:49] We shall sing from verse 15 down to verse 18, verses that are normally sung at the table. But notice how appropriate they are to the high priestly prayer.

[50:03] The high priestly prayer, of course, took place at the table. In dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of joy and hell, the Lord's right hand of heaven valiantly.

[50:15] The right hand of the mighty Lord exalted is on high, the right hand of the mighty Lord doth ever valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and shall the works of God discover.

[50:30] The Lord hath me chastised soar, but not to death. let us conclude that by singing these three verses to God's glory.

[50:41] Amen. And dwellings of the righteous Christ is turned the man to thee, O glory and bend the Lord's right hand doth heaven run and fear, the right hand of the mighty Lord that children shall cry, the right hand of the mighty

[51:41] Lord doth send the mighty king hear. I shall know I the dev and shall the words of God discover.

[52:09] The Lord might be chastised so but not to take him over.

[52:28] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all forever. Amen.