Jesus prays for us: us believers

[0:00] Well, we're looking at John chapter 17 and we've got as far as the last six verses, verses 20 to 26.! I think there is actually too much here to do in one sermon, so I'm thinking that there will be something left over for us to look at this evening.

[0:21] And so I do invite you to come back this evening and follow on with this theme. It's a warm invitation to do so. John chapter 17, verses 20 to 26. We've got to the bit in Jesus' prayer where he actually prays for us.

[0:41] You might be thinking, how will the Christian church ever spread, ever grow?

[0:53] You might even be thinking, how will the church ever survive? You might be thinking of yourself. How will I survive as a Christian, given the amount of stresses I face, given the temptations I'm under?

[1:12] You might think that that's, I don't know, depends on which bit of the Christian life you happen to be in at the moment. You might think that that's a very realistic question because that's exactly what you're asking.

[1:23] You might think it's an unnecessary question. You might be quite confident that you're in the hands of the Lord and it isn't an issue about whether you survive as a Christian because you know that he's promised that you will.

[1:35] So anyway, that's a question you might be asking. You might be asking, what is ahead for me as a believer? What is ahead for me as a believer? Well, one answer to that is, glory is ahead for every believer.

[1:51] And if that wasn't the case, the Christian life would be pretty pointless. So that's one definite answer. What's ahead? Glory is ahead.

[2:02] What's ahead for the church on earth? What's ahead for the church on earth? What can we look forward to as a church here in Brighton in the next 5, 10, 15 years?

[2:16] Well, we're assured that the church is a church of victory, of gospel victory.

[2:26] But what exactly that looks like is another question. What's ahead for the church on earth? And where is Jesus? What is he doing today? I don't know whether you've ever asked that question.

[2:38] A lot of people do. What I want to say is that the answer to all those questions is in the six verses that we're going to look at. Because Jesus prayed.

[2:51] Jesus prayed for us on those exact questions. On those exact points. So, I need to do a little bit of the story so far.

[3:09] Because it doesn't make much sense unless we do that. And in John's gospel, a clock has been ticking. A clock has been ticking right from chapter 3.

[3:22] No, chapter 2. Where Jesus said, the hour is not yet. The time has not yet come. He said it to his mother.

[3:33] Who said to him, they have no more wine. And Jesus said, dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come. And throughout John's gospel, you get this.

[3:45] It's not yet. And it's not yet. And it's not yet. And it's not yet. And then, when you get to chapter 12, Jesus says, the hour has come.

[3:57] The time has come. The alarm on the clock has just started ringing. Now is the time. And Jesus says, you may remember we looked at this. Jesus says in chapter 12, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

[4:13] And he talks about, he talks about his death. This is the moment of glory.

[4:25] The moment that he's been heading to. It's the cross. And in chapter 19, verse 23, we're told that Jesus was crucified.

[4:35] And that's what John's gospel has been heading to that moment. The clock has been ticking to this moment where Jesus dies on the cross.

[4:46] That's the moment of glory. And in between chapter 12 and chapter 19, Is the prayer that Jesus prays, Within this timetable that I've just described.

[5:01] And you may remember we looked at it in chapter 17, verses 1 to 5. Jesus prays. You notice how time specific it was.

[5:12] Chapter 17, Father, the time has come. And he prays to be glorified. And what I think he's praying, Is that he's praying that when he goes to the cross, There would be the most glory, The glory of God, Attached and at work, In this most horrific, And apparently humiliating, And tragic situation, Where Jesus dies, He says, That's going to be the moment of glory.

[5:48] That will be the most glorious thing, That has ever happened, In the world, In the world's history. That God himself comes down, To die, And to take the sins of his people upon himself.

[6:02] And then, of course, To be raised, And to be taken to the right hand of God. But I think that this particular thing, Is that the cross, Should be glorious. And then we had, In the next verses, Chapter 17, Verses 6 to 19, Jesus prays for the apostolic group.

[6:25] And I pointed out, That to our frustration, Jesus doesn't put us center stage. First of all, He talks about himself, And his own glory.

[6:38] Then he talks about this particular group of people, The first generation Christians, The apostolic group, Did he have in mind the 12? Very symbolic number, Like there are 12 tribes in Israel, A foundation group, Or 12 minus 1, Because of course, Judas wasn't included in that.

[6:58] Was he talking about the 120, In the upper room, Or the 500, Who saw Jesus raised? I'm not quite sure, And I don't think it matters too much. But it's that first generation group, That saw, And heard, And understood, And grasped, And were able to pass that on, To following generations.

[7:16] And Jesus says of this group, That they have, The message, I have revealed your name, It says in verse 6, To those you gave me, Out of the world, They were yours, You gave them to me, And they have obeyed, Your word.

[7:34] They have the word, And the prayer for them, Is that the Father should keep them, Verse 11, Verse 11, Holy Father, Protect them, By the power of your name, And there's also this prayer, That they may be one, Verse 11, Protect them in the power of your name, The name you gave me, That they may be one, As we, The original doesn't say, As we are one, It just says as we, That they may be one, Which is an interesting prayer, If there were just 12 of them, To pray for them to be one, Seems a rather strange sort of prayer to pray, But, Anyway, That's what Jesus prays, He asks that they should be set apart, For the person, And the purposes of God, Sanctify them, I think that's the meaning of sanctify, And that's what Jesus prayed, For that apostolic group, That's what Jesus prayed, For that apostolic group, The people who saw, And heard, And walked with Jesus,

[8:37] And, Spoke with him, What a privilege they had, What a privilege they had, Jesus prays, That they may have his joy, They have that apostolic, Confidence, And, Vitality, And that apostolic joy, And the amazing thing is, That, We get to share those blessings, We have fellowship with them, Their fellowship is with the Father, And the Son, And we come to share that too, Not because we saw Jesus, And not because, We had coffee with Jesus, Like they did, Or breakfast with Jesus, Like they did, But we have that blessing, Because we believe, Their word, Blessed are those, Who have not seen, But believe, And that's pretty remarkable, Isn't it, That's pretty remarkable, That we,

[9:40] Us, People like us, Should have the, Same, Blessing as the, Apostles, They're not closer to Christ, Than we are, That's pretty amazing, Anyway, Jesus prayed for that apostolic group, And then this is the bit, That we've, Been waiting for, I suppose that Jesus prays, For us, Jesus prays, For us, And here we are, In verse 20, And I would like to go through, These verses quite carefully, It says, Well Jesus says, My prayer, Is not for them, Not for the apostolic group, Not for the apostles, The first generation, Group, Is not for them alone, I pray also, For those who will believe in me, Through their message, I pray for those, Who will believe in me, Through their message,

[10:41] Now then, Jesus prayed, For, For, People like us, Although he does, He does define exactly, Who it is, He's praying for, People who believe, The word, The message, That the apostles, Recorded for us, Where did they record it?

[11:10] They recorded it in this book, That's the only place, You can find, Their word, It's the people, Who believe in me, Through this book, Through the new testament, Through what's written down here, So, Before we go any further, I want to ask you, Do you, Believe, Do you, Believe in Jesus, Via, The words, Of this book, It's a very important question, Do you believe, In Jesus, As recorded in scripture, Is it, The words, That are here, The testimony, The gospel, That the apostles passed on, Is that what you're hanging on to?

[11:57] Is that what you're saying, The only thing I'm trusting in, Is that it says it in the bible, That's where my faith lies, And if you took away, All the bits of scaffolding, That hold my life together, And you're just left, With the one basis, That everything rests on, Would it be, I believe in Jesus, Through the words, That I've got in the bible, I wouldn't want, I'm not wishing, To take anybody's life to pieces, Because we're fragile, And complicated people, But nevertheless, The question remains, If you had to say, What is the basis, Of my life, What is it at rock bottom, That I'm standing on, And depending on, And trusting in, Would it be, I'm trusting, In, The gospel, The good news of Jesus Christ, As recorded in scripture, And let me just say, Say what I don't mean, I don't mean, That you're trusting in your ethnicity, So if you were Greek,

[13:00] You might say, Well, Jesus prayed for me, Because I'm Greek, All Greeks are Greek Orthodox, That means, Jesus prayed for us, I'm very pleased, I'm not trying to be rude, To Greek people, But I'm trying to say, Jesus doesn't actually say that, He doesn't say, I'm praying for people, Who are Greek, He says, I'm praying for people, Who trust in me, Who believe in me, Through, The word, Of the apostles, And you might say, Well, Of course Jesus prayed for me, It's part of my culture, I filled in the 2011 census, And when it said religion, I didn't put Jedi, Like all my neighbours did, And I'm not a Buddhist, I think, Well, I'm C of E, I'll put a tick there, I'm going to say, I don't think that that's good enough, I don't think that that's good enough, I don't think Jesus is saying, I'm going to pray for people,

[14:01] Who weren't quite sure which box to put in, And they thought, Roughly speaking, That's C of E, Whatever C of E stands for, Church of England, Presumably, Well, I'm English, I belong to the Church of England, And, I don't think that's what Jesus is looking for, I think he's saying, Do you actually believe, In, Me, Through, The words of the Bible, I've got a Bible at home, Well, Have you ever read it?

[14:26] Have you ever made it, It's your business to read it, Have you ever thought about it? He's not talking about culture, He's not talking about tradition, Well, I guess this isn't really a problem in Brighton so much, Because there isn't a tradition of church going, Is it a question of personal inner light?

[14:45] I have my own personal religion, I don't want to discuss it with you, But I know what I believe, And I know what suits me, And that's as far as I'm going to go, Well, Okay, If that's as far as you're going to go, I'm going to say, I cannot at all be confident, That Jesus prayed for you, Because he didn't pray for people, Who had their own personal inner light, He said, I'm praying for people, Who've read this book, And who've understood what it says, About sin, And about the cross of Jesus Christ, And about faith, And about being born again, And about all those things, And repentance, And people who've put their trust in that, Those are the people I'm praying for, So, I make that point, You can only say, He prayed for me, If you fulfill that condition, And it may be that you're sitting thinking, Well, I'd like to fulfill that condition, And what I would say is,

[15:46] Well, Pursue that, If you, Jesus in one point said, Seek and you will find, Ask, And it will be given to you, Knock, And the door will be opened, And I want to say, If you're thinking, I'd like to be one of these people, That Jesus prayed for, I'm going to say, Well, If you, Seek that, And say to the Lord, I want to find that, I can't find it at the moment, I want to find that privilege, He says, Seek and you will find, And, If it's something that you, You don't have, He says, Ask, And you will receive, And keep asking, Don't, Don't let the Lord think, That it's, Gone to the bottom of your, To do list, Or it's gone on the back burner, Say to the Lord, This is important, I want to know, That I'm in this group, Ask, And seek, And knock, Now then, Let's move on, How does Jesus pray, For this people, He prays, And I don't think, That these, These are, Easy words,

[16:47] I think, It's like, As I said before, When you hear, Qualified, Clever, People of status, Talking to the, Talking to one another, You don't always expect, To understand, What they're talking about, And how much more, Is it true, When Jesus talks, To his heavenly father, What does he speak about, He talks about, In the language of, A oneness, That they may be one, And he talks about, The language of glory, I want them to see my glory, And he talks about, Knowing, Father the world, Does not know you, I know you, They know that you have sent me, And he also talks about, The language of love, That the love you have for me, May be in them, Oneness, And glory, And knowing, And love, That's the sort of way, He prays for us, Which, Well, I keep on saying, It's interesting, Because, He doesn't, Pray about our health, He doesn't pray,

[17:48] About our money, He prays for these things, So, Let's have a look, And see if we can understand, What he, Is praying for, He prays to the Father, For us, Let's look at these first few verses, My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those, Who will believe in me, Through their message, That, All of them, May be one, Father, Just as you are in me, And I am in you, That they also may be in us, So that the world may believe, That you have sent me, Well that's fairly straightforward, Isn't it?

[18:37] Actually, I don't think it's at all straightforward, I think the risk is, That we read those words, And we know what, Each of them knows, What each of them means individually, And we read them, And we say, Well, Yep, Good, I think those are really quite, Um, What's the word, Um, I think they're quite difficult, To get into, What Jesus is saying there, Uh, Well, At least I find it so, And I had to think, Quite a lot about, About this, And this is what I've come up with, Jesus prays, In terms of, Oneness, And, In, Ness, That's not an English word, Uh, I've just made that up, But, You see what I'm talking about, He talks about, Oneness, And,

[19:38] Inness, And we don't usually talk, In those terms at all, When, Well, We don't usually talk, In those terms at all, And actually, Jesus doesn't usually talk, In those terms at all, Uh, Very often either, When Jesus talks about, Oneness, It is quite unusual, And I'm thinking, That, When he talks to human beings, On a human level, It's not, Usually part of the vocabulary, But it's something, That he and his father, Know a great deal about, So we're sort of overhearing, Them speaking, Uh, Or the father and the son, Conversing together, In the sort of things, That they talk about, Do you see what I'm trying to say, If, When you were little, Did you ever hear mum and dad, Talking about things, And you thought, Mortgages, What's that, Uh, You know, Um, Problems with repayments, What are those, Uh, And you, You would hear them talking about, Things that preoccupied them, And they weren't necessarily, The sort of things, That you would talk about, And here Jesus is talking with his father,

[20:39] About oneness, And, In-ness, Let's see if we can overhear, What he's talking about, Now, Oneness, Is an unusual way of speaking, Jesus only uses it on a few other occasions, Chapter 10, Verse 16, He uses the word, This particular word, One, When he says there will be one shepherd, When he says there will be one flock, He uses a different word, Chapter 10, Verse 30, He says, I and the father are one, Now, That's the same thing, I and the father are one, I and the father are one, He says it in connection, With, People being snatched, From his hand, I'll read the, Verse 29, My father who has given them to me, No, I'll read the first, The verse before that, Verse 28, I give them eternal life, They shall never perish, No one can snatch them out of my hand, My father who has given them to me,

[21:40] Is greater than all, No one can snatch them out of my father's hand, I and my father are one, He's saying, These people are in my hand, These people are in my father's hand, You can't snatch them out of my hand, You can't snatch them out of my father's hand, I and my father are one, If they're in my hand, They might just as well be in the father's hand, If you think of, If they're in my hand, You could think of them as being in the father's hand, Because we're so together on this, To be in my hand is to be in the father's hand, We are one, In power, And purpose, And action, Power, And purpose, And action, Jesus uses it again in 1152, Where he says, To bring the scattered children of God together, And make them one, He uses it there, But he doesn't usually use that expression, Except in John 17, When he prayed for the apostolic group,

[22:42] He prayed for them to be one, And here, In chapter 17, Now we've got to chapter 17, He links it with, Being, Well, He links it with the Trinity, Just look what he says again, I pray, That all of them may be one father, Just as, You are in me, And I am in you, That's the relationship between the father and the son, In the Trinity, So, So, Oneness, And in-ness, Are very closely related, And he draws, We get a picture something like this, Where the father and the son, The father is in the son, And the son is in the father, Just as you are in me, And I am in you, And he is saying, If, If the father is in the son,

[23:44] And the son is in the father, Whatever that means, Then that is an expression of oneness, Two ways of saying the same thing, And I think we need to, Ponder this, Before we, Before we see how this is meant to relate, To us, Let's think for a little bit about this, Oneness, And in-ness, Between the father and the son, Look at, John 10, 38, Which uses the language of in-ness, But not the language of one-ness, But that's what he is talking about, And in this case, In 10, 38, And around there, He's talking about, Whether we credit, And believe Jesus, Is, Who he says he is,

[24:45] So in verse 37, He says, Do not believe me, Unless I do, What my father does, Okay, So I do something, Is my father doing it, I do something, It's an exact, Expression, Of what my father does, I, Do not believe me, Unless I do, What my father does, Verse 38, If I do it, Even though you do not believe me, Believe the works, That you may know, And understand, That the father is in me, And I, Am in the father, So the idea of, I do what the father does, Is linked to, The father being in me, And I being in the father, That's quite, I mean we understand the words, Don't we, We understand each of those words individually, But when you put them together, It's pretty mind boggling,

[25:47] What is, How is, Why does Jesus speak this way, What's he saying, I mean he's obviously saying something, He's actually saying something, Quite profound, I believe, Let's look at what he says, In chapter 14, Where he talks to his disciples, 14 verse 10, Don't you believe, That I am in the father, And the father is in me, That's what he's referring to, He's using a language of, Inness, I am in the father, The father is in me, And what, How does this show, Well, The words I say to you, Are not just my own, Rather it is the father, Living in me, Who is doing his work, Or verse 9, Don't you know father, No, Don't you know Philip, Even after I've been with you,

[26:48] Such a long time, Anyone who has seen me, Has seen the father, How can you say, Show us the father, I think he's, He's using, All these ideas combined together, If you see me, You see the father, Because the father is in me, And I am in the father, If you see me, You see the father, We get a little echo of that, In human experience, When you say, I can see, Your dad in you, Yeah, Or I can see your mum in you, We use the same language, But Jesus is, Is using it in a much, Deeper and richer way, To say, If you see me, You see the father, Not just a hint of the father, And a, A sort of reminder of the father, But the exactness of the father, If you see me, You see the father, And the words I say, Are the father's words, Isn't that what he says, The words I say, He says in verse 10, Are not just my own, Rather it is the father,

[27:49] Living in me, For the words you hear, Are the father's words, And Jesus links it with his work, It is the father, Living in me, Who is doing his work, So I've expanded that, Jesus says, If you see me, You see the father, If you hear me, You hear exactly, What the father says, If you watch me do stuff, You'll see exactly, What the father does, Nothing's added, Nothing's taken away, And I think, Jesus is referring to, In this, Sort of deceptively simple language, The very deep, Eternal, Unity, And harmony of being, Which is true, Still for Jesus, The incarnate son, He's describing to us, In these, Deceptively simple words, An eternal truth,

[28:51] About, How things have been, Before the world was, That God is one God, Father, Son, And Holy Spirit, And there is this relationship, Between the father, And the son, That, The son, Exactly, Exactly, The father, The father, The father, The father, The father, The father, The father, What the father, Does, The son, Does, So if, The father, Would make a world, He does it through the son, And the son, Expresses the father, Exactly, In the making of the world, If the father, If the father, Would speak, He speaks through his son, And the words that we hear, Are exactly the words of the father, And this is an expression of this deep, Eternal unity, And harmony of being, Which is true, Still, For Jesus, The word made flesh, If you see me, You see the father,

[29:56] You think, What more, Exalted, Marvellous, Amazing truth, Could be said about Jesus, Than that, If you look into his face, You see the face of God, And brothers and sisters, That will be our, Great reward, That one day, We shall see his face, And in seeing his face, We will see the glory of God, We will see his face, Without anything getting in the way, Without anything obscuring, Or distracting, We shall see the fullness, Of the glory of God, In the face of Jesus Christ, And there's a song that says, It were a well spent journey, Those seven deaths lay between, If we had to go through, The trials of life, Seven times, Before we saw his face, It would still be worth it,

[30:57] So we've been thinking about the oneness, Or we've been thinking quite briefly really, About the oneness, Between the father and the son, And that is the model, That Jesus has, When he prays for us, He says, Going back to John 17, I pray, That all of them, May be one, Father, Just as you are in me, And I am in you, May they also be in us, So let's try and, Bring that into our thinking, So we've seen, The father is in the son, And the son is in the father, This is a way of saying, They are one, In this way that the Trinity is, Not one, Two, In a way which, Removes, Any distinction, It's not a Buddhist sort of oneness, It's a Trinitarian oneness, In which distinctions are preserved, And yet a harmony, Is very beautifully established, And he, Jesus says,

[31:58] I've tried to put it in a diagram, That there should be, A oneness, Regarding us, As his people, And what he actually says, Is, That they may be one, May that they, Also, Be, In, Us, I have given them the glory, That you gave them, That they may be one, As we are one, I in them, And you in me, So I've tried to diagram that, Let's see whether I got it correct, So the son, Is in, The people, The son is in us, May they be, In, Us, I pray that they, Also be, In, Us, So there is a sense, That we are in, The father,

[32:59] And the son, Ah, That's what Jesus says, I understand the words, When you put them individually, But when you put them together like that, I find that quite a difficult thought to think, That Jesus should pray, That he would be in us, And that we would be, In the father, And in the son, That's what he prayed, Please notice, What he doesn't say, He doesn't say, That they should be, At union, Or, At one, In the sense that, Each believer, Should be in, The other believers, Now, I hope I'm not trying to make, Too subtle a point here, The unity between the father, And the son, Is that, Each one is in the other, The unity of the church, Is not, That each Christian, Should be in each other Christian, But that, The Christian should be in God, And that God, Should be in the Christians, Do you see what I mean?

[33:56] It's not quite an exact, Parallel, And I think that's worth noticing, Because he's not saying, I'm praying that all believers, Should, Be, Like clones, Or, So, Organised together, That, They are like the Trinity themselves, Separate from God, He's not saying that, He's saying, I pray that they might be one, In God, So that it would be true, That they have a unity together, I realise this is quite, Tricky thoughts to think, But I'm trying to, Do justice to what he says, Praying that they should be one, In the father, And in the son, So let's, Have a little think, About what this is saying, So, There is this, Unity, There is this oneness, There is this indwelling, By faith in Jesus Christ, That's all he said, About the qualifications, They believe the message,

[34:58] They believe the message, And it is, His gift, And by his prayer, So it's Jesus who's praying, That this should be the case, I've, I give them glory, He says, Verse 22, I've given them the glory, That you gave me, That they may be one, As we are one, I in them, And you in me, Jesus has given glory, Not quite sure what that means, And he's prayed, And that we, As a result, Are in the father, And the son, As a result of this, We are in the father, And the son, What does that mean?

[35:40] Well, I think it, It stretches, The ability, Of human explanation, To say what that means, I think we're thinking, About something here, Which is, Deeper, And, More amazing, Well, It's deep and amazing, Deep and amazing, And lots of other things, It's, It's saying, That our truest home, Is in God himself, We are in, The father and the son, What is our location?

[36:11] Where would you say, Where would you say, Is our base? Well, You might say, I'm in Brighton, I'm in Brighton, You might say, I'm sitting in this hall, In Vidoc road, That's where I am, That's where I'm at, But Jesus would say, Well actually, What I prayed for, Is that your location, And your base, And where you're at, Would be, In the father, And in the son, Takes a bit of thinking about, Doesn't it?

[36:41] But we did sing about it actually, My life is hid, With Christ in God, With Christ my saviour, And my God, We've already been singing about it, That's, Where we are, That's what, Christ has achieved for us, May not feel like it all the time, May not seem like it all the time, But, That's what I'm praying for these people, That their home would be, In the father and in the son, And that we, Therefore have access, And fellowship to the father and the son, We don't live a million miles, From the father and the son, We don't live, A million miles from the father and the son, We don't live, Down the road, From the father and the son, We live, In, The father and the son, It's pretty amazing, Isn't it?

[37:38] Now, If you're anything like me, When you get up in the morning, It takes you a while, To realise that you're even in Brighton, Just dawns on me slowly, After the second cup of tea, But I think it probably dawns on us, Even more slowly, Well, If you're anything like me, That, Where am I when I wake up, Where am I when I go to bed, I'm in the father and in the son, Don't have to get there, Don't have to do something to get there, I might have to, Work at it to remind myself of it, But the reality is, That's where, Where we live, Move and have our being, That's where our lives are, We're in the father, And in the son, And the son, Is in us, That's the counterpart of it, Isn't it?

[38:25] We're in the father, The son is in us, That's what Jesus said, Verse 23, I in them, And you in me, Father in the son, The son is in us, And thus the father is in us, And as Jesus explained in another place, This amazing, Fellowship, Contact, Indwelling, This is by the spirit, That's what he makes that clear in another place, And I, Invite us to think about that, In terms of, The life within us, The fruit, That comes out of our lives, If you like, The power within us, And that's why I quoted John 15 at the beginning, Where, Jesus puts it in another way, He says, I am the vine, You are the branches, If a man remains in me, And I in him,

[39:26] He will bear much fruit, If there is this, Indwelling, We live in God, God lives in us, We will bear fruit, We will live fruitful lives, It's describing, It's describing, Every ordinary, Christian, Warts and all, As someone, In whom, God himself, Lives, In whose life, Is a power, Which is the power of God, The Christian is somebody, Who has a power within them, Which will, Necessarily, Produce, Spiritual fruit, That's what it says, If someone remains in me, And I in him or her, He or she will bear much fruit, Apart from me, You can do nothing, God lives in us, Amazing, Isn't it?

[40:21] It's what Jesus prayed for, And, In the sheet before, We talked about, The deep, Eternal unity, And harmony, Of being, Within the Godhead, And here, We have, A deep, Salvation, Unity, By God's, Rescuing kindness, Which is true, For saved sinners, That's, That's the unity, We have here, We talked about, The unity of the, Trinity, Which is eternal, It doesn't change, Not in any substantial way, And here, We're talking about, A unity, Which hasn't always existed, At all, But which has been, Brought into being, Not because it ought, To be, Or had to be, But because, Chose, God chose to make it so, And he chose to make it so, Out of his, Redeeming grace, Out of the idea, Of taking, Rubbish sinners, And showering them,

[41:21] With blessings, That you couldn't imagine, And bringing them, Into privileges, That you couldn't, Possibly have, Have predicted, And he says, That's why, There is this unity, That's why, These people, Are in the son, And the father, And the son is in them, It's God's, Rescuing kindness, Or his redeeming grace, And it's true now, For saved sinners, It's true now, For saved sinners, Well I told you, We wouldn't have time, To go all through this, I just want to conclude, What have we said, We've said, That there is this, Oneness and inness, It's by faith, It's a gift of God, It means that, We are in the father, And the son, And the son is in us, The father is in us, By the spirit, And I want to, Just, Point,

[42:22] Mention, The effect of it, The consequence of it, And Jesus says, I pray that they, You may be, Sorry, Verse 21, Father, I pray that they all, May be one, Father, Just as you are in me, And I am in you, That they also may be in us, That the world may believe, That you have sent me, This indwelling, Is a witness to the world, Jesus says, That the world may believe, That you have sent me, In verse 23, He talks about a similar thing, And says, That the world may know, That you have sent me, And have loved them, Even as you have loved me, And I am just saying, That this indwelling, This inness and oneness, Is a witness to the world, And I'll make it, A couple of points, In verse 23,

[43:23] May they be brought, To complete oneness, May they be, Finished in one, This, Oneness and inness, Is capable, Of being completed, So I assume, He's saying, It isn't, Completed yet, We're not given it, As a completed package, It's something, Which goes on, Something, So, And I don't know, Does he mean, This is something, That progresses here, Or is it something, That is completed, In glory, Don't know the answer, To that question, This oneness, This oneness, And inness, Is for those, Who believe, The apostolic word, Receive the spirit, And live joined, To the saviour, That's what he's talking about, There is the thing, Called the ecumenical movement, Which is a human organisation, Jesus is not talking, About, People who are Christians,

[44:24] In name only, So, A human organisation, Which doesn't have, The apostolic word, As part of it, Is not really, What Jesus is talking about, However, When we think about, Human organisations, If you can find, Somebody who believes, The apostolic word, They are part of this, Oneness and inness, And that does, Cross all boundaries, So it crosses boundaries, Of being Baptists, Or Methodists, Or Presbyterians, I've got a lady, I know down the road, Who's a Roman Catholic, And I think she, Has understood the apostolic word, And is one, And in, In that sense, I'd be prepared to believe, Though a Greek author, Orthodox people, Who are that, Although I have to say, When we asked our relatives, They seem to not, Understand anything, About the apostolic gospel, Whatever an Episcopalian is, If they believe, The apostolic word, They're part of this,

[45:25] And whether they're, Calvinists are Arminians, If they believe, The apostolic word, Even if they get, The wrong end of the stick, Of some of it, They're included in this, It's an interesting thing, Isn't it? Jesus' prayer, For those who believe, In the apostolic message, That they may be one, As father and son are one, And that the son would be, In them, And they in the father, And the son, And Jesus says, That this, Community, In which God lives, And they live in God, And they live this sort of life, That's where they're at, This is the power at work, Within them, This is the witness, To people today, The community, Which is one with God, And God is alive, And at work, In them, And, I'll just stop with this point, Isn't that, A very reassuring thought, That,

[46:26] Jesus isn't saying, Well the thing that will witness, To the world, Is that elite group of Christians, Who are zealous, And outspoken, And aren't afraid, To go up to people in the street, Complete strangers, And say outrageous things to them, So that they become Christians, That's the people, Who will witness to the world, Jesus doesn't say that, He says, That group, Of just ordinary believers, Who've taken me at my word, And live the Christian life, They live in God, And God lives in them, That's, What will make the world believe, Rather amazing isn't it, I think it's reassuring, And it's humbling, And it's challenging, May they be, This way, That the world may believe, And we'll continue that, This evening, Let's sing together, Let's sing together, Thank you.