Jesus' prayer for the first generation

[0:00] And it is in three parts. The first bit is in verses 1-5. The last bit is in 20 to the end.

[0:11] And we're going to look at the middle bit, verses 6-19. And things have not gone well with the overhead projector this morning, so I'm going to try and use this thing.

[0:30] So I'll need to reorganise slightly. Yeah, probably best behind the glass. So, let's first of all say that Christians talk about knowing the heart of God.

[1:00] God wants us to know his heart, but the way he does that is to let us hear his words and to see his deeds.

[1:13] If we want to know God's heart, we've got to go to this book, which is the record of the things he said and did.

[1:24] And a particular way to know somebody's heart is to hear them pray. And here we have the privilege of hearing Jesus pray.

[1:37] And I'm not sure that I can think of any better way of knowing the heart of Jesus than to listen carefully to his prayer. He's not praying to us.

[1:53] He's praying to his heavenly father. He's speaking as an equal to his heavenly father. And we are allowed to overhear what he says.

[2:05] If we overhear two very wise and powerful and important people talking together, I would not be surprised if we found it difficult to understand what they said.

[2:25] I would not be surprised if we found they were talking about things that we don't normally think about. And this is certainly true of the prayer of Jesus.

[2:37] I suppose the thing that strikes us most of all, if we look carefully, is that it's not about us. When we read the Bible, we tend to ask the question pretty quickly, what does this say about me or what does this say to me?

[2:55] Now I have to say that when Jesus prayed this important prayer to his heavenly father, he didn't first and foremost talk about us.

[3:07] He first and foremost talks about himself and his father. He does talk about us, but only eventually. It's a little bit humbling for us, isn't it?

[3:18] Because we always think we're at the centre of everything. But Jesus says, no, actually, there are more central important matters in the universe than you. You do matter, but you're not the central thing.

[3:34] So in verses 1 to 5, which we looked at last week, Jesus talked about his own glory. And in verses 6 to 17, which we're looking at just now, he's still not talking about us.

[3:49] He's talking about a group of people, which we might call a foundation group. Or we might call them the nucleus group for the church.

[4:14] Steve, I'm coming slightly. Is that? No? Thank you. So that's what we're going to, we're going to overhear Jesus talking about some people that is not us, but is this particular group, and we're going to find out a little bit about them.

[4:32] You might ask, how many people is he talking about? He could be talking about the 12 apostles. Although, of course, he mentions one of them that is ruled out, which is the one that's ruled out?

[4:48] Judas. So that would bring it down to 11, wouldn't it? He could be talking about them. Then, in Acts 1, verse 15, after the day of Pentecost, the nucleus group that was around at that time met in the upper room.

[5:02] Does anybody know how many people were in the upper room? It was 120. Is that what you said? It says 120. That would be including the 12.

[5:16] I think there were 120 altogether. Maybe that's the group he's talking about. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul talks about the number of people who saw Jesus at one go when he was risen from the dead.

[5:30] Anybody know how many people that was? More than 500. And I'm not sure which group he has in mind, but it is definitely the people who saw him and talked to him and heard from him and believed in him.

[5:51] So, we could be talking about what we sometimes call disciples, or we could be talking about the 12 whom Jesus sent out and were called apostles apostles, because the word for send out is apostello, to send out the sent ones.

[6:15] Or we could try and, what I'm trying to do is to sort of lump this lot all together and say something like the apostolic group.

[6:30] So, I don't know exactly who Jesus is referring to, but I know the sort of people he's referring to. So, if I call them the apostolic group, I hope that will make sense as we go through.

[6:43] Now, I've got to say one other thing before we get into the text. To say that we need a timeline. A timeline is very important. And the timeline works something like this.

[6:58] We have, time is going to go this way. And, space is going to go this way as well.

[7:11] So, I'm dividing the diagram into two parts. There's heaven and earth. And at a certain time, Jesus came down from heaven to earth.

[7:28] So, let's put Jesus coming down from heaven to earth. So, he came and he met people and talked to them.

[7:40] He did miracles. They saw him do that. They listened to his teaching. And that's the group of people that listened and heard and believed. Which I'm going to say is the apostolic group or whatever we want to call it.

[7:55] At a certain time, Jesus died on the cross. And then, at a certain time, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven back to his heavenly father.

[8:13] And, Jesus had been on earth during that time but he was no longer on earth afterwards. And, after that time, we have this same group of people.

[8:23] the apostolic group. And, we have this that just as they heard Jesus and came to faith in him, so, people across the world would hear the apostles, hear what they were saying.

[8:48] and some of them would come to believe, some of them would have faith, and others would reject and say, no, we don't believe that, we think it's all rubbish.

[9:02] And, the apostles were sometimes rejected in a very strong way. So, this is the timeline. Jesus came from heaven to earth. He lived on earth, he died on the cross, he left earth and went back to heaven and after that, the apostles taught and people came to faith.

[9:22] And, where on the timeline are we? Where on the timeline are we? Over here.

[9:33] Yeah, we're over here somewhere. Okay, that's us here. Jesus is talking about those people there during that time. We're over here. Okay, that's the timeline. Is that okay so far?

[9:48] Yep. Now, we're going to look at the first ten verses of what Jesus is saying to his father.

[10:15] And, I have entitled this that Jesus reports back to his father in prayer. Jesus reports back to his father in prayer.

[10:27] If you look for the exact request that Jesus makes, it isn't until verse 11. He has a request which he repeats, but, he doesn't say the request first of all.

[10:41] He reports to his father, this is what I've done. So, let's see if we can look at that. So, I've drawn on the board here, two circles representing the son and the father.

[11:12] And, I've drawn a little group of people. I've only drawn four because I can't draw 500 very quickly or 120 or 12. I'll just do that four to represent this apostolic group.

[11:24] And, these people, as Jesus says, have come out of the world. So, I'll draw or put the label world there. There are people there in the world, but they don't belong to the world.

[11:37] Now then, let's see if we can work through the passage and see some of the connections between the son and the father and this group of people.

[11:48] So, verse 6, I have revealed you, or I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.

[12:00] They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Let's see if we can put some of that on the whiteboard. So, there's some giving going on.

[12:11] Could anybody tell us who or what is given by whom to whom? Thank you.

[12:26] The disciples were given to the son by the father. Do you see what it says in verse 6? I revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.

[12:40] So, these people, the father gave these people to the son out of the world. And, let's see if I can be inventive and use a red colour for this.

[12:52] So, here's a giving. The father gives these people to the son. Right. Thank you very much. Now, let's see if we can see any other things going on.

[13:04] First, beginning of verse 6, I have revealed your name to those you gave me. Does Jesus send, give, show anything to anybody in that first part of the verse?

[13:16] he shows God's name to these disciples. So, I'll put an arrow going this way and try and label it God's name.

[13:33] He shows God's name to those people. Thank you. So, that was the gift of people. The father gave people to the son and the son shows God's name to those people.

[13:54] They were yours, you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Let's come back to that in a moment. Or maybe we won't, let's just see. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you, for I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

[14:11] What about verse 8? I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. Who gives what to whom? The father gave the words to the son.

[14:24] The father gave the words to the son. And what did the son do with those words? He gave them to the disciples. So, there's a giving, take that arrow down there, God's words.

[14:49] That's good. That's good. Let's go a little bit further. So, that was verse 8. I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

[15:03] They knew with certainty that I came from you and believed that you sent me. We have to, let's put some labels about these people then. What did they do with the words and the name, the words that Jesus gave, the name that Jesus showed?

[15:19] What did they do with it? It says that in verse 8. Yeah. They accepted, accepted, they accepted or received what was given.

[15:33] Does it say accepted the words or accepted the name? Accepted them, yeah, which would be the words. Okay, they accepted the words.

[15:46] Does it say anything else that they did how they were when this was shown to them? Thank you. They knew with certainty.

[15:58] Does it say know with certainty? What does it just say? They knew with certainty. So they knew with certainty, yeah. And what they knew was that Jesus was from God, that he'd been sent from God, yeah.

[16:12] So they knew with certainty. And there's another verb there as well about what they did. They believed. they believed that you had sent me.

[16:27] So this is the rather complex but rather beautiful picture of what Jesus says happened to those people. The Father reveals things to the Son and the Son reveals them to these people and these people receive it.

[16:47] They accept the words. They know truly, they know with certainty and they believe. So it's faith.

[16:59] And it's not dodgy faith or wobbly faith, it's definite faith. They really have understood, says Jesus. It isn't like what happened with your GCSE maths, that you understood about 25% of it and you got 26.5% on the exam or something like that, you know, in which case Jesus would have had to say I showed them but they didn't really understand it.

[17:25] What he says is I've shown them, they've got the right end of the stick, they've understood it, they've accepted these words, they know with certainty and they believe the right thing, they believe about who I am and what I came to do.

[17:42] Good, right, now let's just see if we need to go any further, I think we've done very well on that. And it's interesting that Jesus says, glory has come to me through them, do you notice that at the end of verse 10, and glory has come to me through them.

[18:01] I find that interesting because if you read the Gospels, you find these people didn't get the idea straight away at all, and they're quite a bit like us actually, that they wobble and mistake and put their foot in it and so on, but Jesus says, well, yeah, they probably do, but as I'm reporting it back to my father, what I can say is they've accepted those words, they know with certainty and they have real faith, and I get glory from them.

[18:34] That's interesting, isn't it? Jesus says, there they are, sort of warts and all, but I have glory, was it glory has come to me through them, so I might as well put that in as an arrow, glory has come to me through them.

[18:50] So that is what we have in those first ten verses and I think we've put in most of the, no, we've missed something out, verse six, they have obeyed your word.

[19:04] It's actually kept as in to guard, but the idea of obeying is okay. But it just repeats that thing about the, this apostolic group, what's special about them?

[19:17] They've received the word, they've understood God's name, they've received it with obedience and with faith and they have in their hearts a certainty and that's, that's what marks that group out as special.

[19:32] Okay, that's, that's the first diagram. Right, now then we have to do, we have to look at the next bit, so I shall rub that one out.

[19:48] So now we come on to look at the prayer that Jesus prays. now as I said before, it's not surprising if some of the things are difficult for us and I think there are things in here that if, if I had been, if I had been talking to Chris at our elders meeting, I wouldn't have used this vocabulary but Jesus knows better than I do and Jesus has a way of saying things which sounds to me a little bit strange but Jesus and his father know what they're talking about and we'll find some of these expressions in a moment.

[20:28] So let's, do you remember the timeline that we did? There were things that had changed during the course of time and that's what Jesus is praying about. There's a sort of before and there's a sort of after and the before and after is divided by Jesus going away.

[20:51] So let's look at verse 11. I will remain in the world no longer but they are still in the world and I am coming to you. That's the big difference. Jesus was with them before but now he's coming to the father and he's leaving them on their own.

[21:07] That's the thing that Jesus is praying about. That's the important issue. So I want to try and do a little picture of before and a little picture of after.

[21:21] I'm trying to make it simpler. I hope I don't succeed in just making it more complicated. So here's the little group of people who have received the word.

[21:35] They used to belong to the world but they don't belong to the world anymore because they believed Jesus' word. Jesus looks back on how things were before his departure, what was happening then and he says verse 11 I remain in the world no longer but they are still in the world and I am coming to you.

[22:00] So one thing I'm going to put is that Jesus is coming to the father and that coming to the father is quite a special process.

[22:11] It isn't just that he's going to get on a bus or a sky rocket and go to the father. He's going to go to the cross. He's going to be raised from the dead. He's going to ascend to the father.

[22:22] So there's a lot going on when he says I am coming to the father. But that's what he is doing of course. And he asks the father for something. Let me come back to that in a moment.

[22:35] Verse 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.

[22:46] None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled. He says while I was with them, I did things for them. Well I was with them, so I'll put with, I was with them.

[23:01] And what else did Jesus do while he was with them? He kept them, yes he protected them and kept them safe. So he uses two words for that but protect will do and kept so they were safe.

[23:22] He looked after them. And if people were saying well hold on what about Judas? Jesus will say that wasn't outside the plan, that doesn't show that I am incompetent at keeping people, that was that the scripture would be fulfilled.

[23:36] All the ones that I was meant to keep, I did keep and I protected them in the name. I protected them in the name of the father. And I don't really understand why Jesus puts it that way.

[23:50] He knows better than I do. But he definitely says it's to do with the name of God. And I'm afraid I can't explain it any further than that because I don't think I really understand it any further than that.

[24:02] So Jesus kept them in the name of the father. So let's go back and see what he's asking for. He says verse 11, I am coming to you, holy father, protect them by the power of your name or protect them in your name, the name you gave me so that they may be one as we are.

[24:29] one as we are one. So let's add the afterwards. So in the afterwards Jesus has come to the father so I'm going to put those two circles for son and father very close together.

[24:45] The apostolic group, the first generation Christians haven't gone to the father, they're still in the world. I've suddenly done four of them by accident.

[24:56] they're still in the world. And Jesus is saying, now that I am absent, I'm going to ask you, father, to protect and keep them in your name.

[25:20] So protect, keep, in your name. the name of God is the character of God.

[25:32] The name of God is all that makes God, God. And I think that Jesus is saying, that's where they were when I kept them. And now that I've gone, I want you to keep them in that same place.

[25:47] I want you to keep them in the character of God, in relation to you yourself. in God, I want you to keep them as close and as strongly as that.

[26:02] Let's look at verse 13. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

[26:12] So I'm going to write a list of things that refer to these people after Jesus left them. So one of the things is, he says, I want them to have a fullness of joy.

[26:28] There is an apostolic joy. There is a confidence and a gladness and a sense of goodness and rightness that those apostles had that Jesus prayed for.

[26:41] That's what it says. I say these things so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. And I missed that, didn't I?

[26:52] So it's Jesus' joy that they're to have. I have given them your word, which repeats what we've said before, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

[27:09] So I shall write down another thing that they have not only fullness of joy, but hatred from the world. when the Bible uses the word hate, it does actually use it in a rather different sense to what we use it.

[27:31] It's not completely different, but I think it is more helpful to translate it reject, the rejection of the world. The emphasis isn't on the emotion so much as the rejection.

[27:46] and if you think of it this way, when you go to work or when you're in college or whatever you're doing, your colleagues probably don't hate you, but they certainly don't go to you and say you're the one who's got the key to eternal life, we want to hear what you're doing, we want to come along to church with you, we want to go to your Bible study because you've got that.

[28:14] No, they probably think you're a bit of a nutcase, don't they? Well, perhaps I should just speak for myself, but I think it's that rejection that Jesus is saying, the world doesn't think you're wonderful, the world at best thinks you're an oddity, and at worst thinks you're a fanatic, I suppose at even worse thinks that you're not fit to live, but that's what he says, that's what the apostles were hated or rejected by the world.

[28:45] Let's look at some other things that Jesus says. Verse 15, my prayer is not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should protect them from the evil.

[28:56] And again, I'm not sure quite of the translation, whether it's the world and the evil one, or the evil place, kingdom, but there's something there that Jesus is saying, they really, now that I'm leaving them, they're in a really difficult position actually, because they've been brought out of the world, they're different from the world, they have my word, and this makes them radically different people, and it puts them in a position of considerable vulnerability, and they need prayer.

[29:35] The world will hate them, and the evil will try and get at them, so I'm praying, Heavenly Father, that they should never be without your protection. And I think, when Jesus prays as definitely as this, we can assume that God answers.

[29:56] Do you agree with me? I think that when Jesus prays as definitely as this, we can assume that God answers. So, this apostolic group, has some fullness of joy, the rejection of the world, and I've forgotten how far I got.

[30:19] Did I say, verse 15, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. He doesn't say, take them out, he says, leave them in there, but protect them while they're there.

[30:33] That's very significant actually. They're not of the world even as I am not of it. Now, this, sanctify them by the truth.

[30:45] Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

[30:57] I think that's a little bit difficult for us to get our heads around. Obviously Jesus knew what he was saying, his father knew what he was saying. It's us who over here, who think, I'm not quite sure what that means.

[31:09] Let me try and explain it to you. Sanctify, usually in Christian talk, sanctify means getting more holy.

[31:23] It usually means becoming more like Jesus Christ. changing morally and ethically. And if you read the first bit, you think that's what Jesus is praying for, that they're going to change morally and ethically.

[31:39] But then when you read at the end, verse 19, Jesus says, I sanctify myself, you think, now that can't be right, because Jesus doesn't need to change morally and ethically, he's perfect already.

[31:51] So we go back to square one and say, what does sanctify actually mean? In its root, meaning, it is to set apart, so I'm writing down here, set apart for God's purposes and God's person.

[32:11] God's purposes and his person. Setting apart, in other words, for God himself and for God's service.

[32:25] That's at heart what sanctify means. And then it makes sense, doesn't it? He says, set them apart, verse 17, set them apart by the truth, your word is truth.

[32:42] The fact that they've got this word makes them different. and Jesus is praying on that subject and saying, make these people set apart for you, set apart for you personally, so that they know you, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, and they're set apart for your purposes, because you have a purpose for these people, and may they be fully engaged in that, may they be in that, may they be blessed in that, and Jesus says, because actually I set myself apart for you and for your purposes, verse 19, I sanctify myself that they might be sanctified, and I'd like to put that back into the diagram up here, where Jesus said that he was coming to the Father, you remember we talked about that, I talked about it, and you might have listened, Jesus coming to the Father involves the cross, and his resurrection, and I think we could label that same bit of the picture, with Jesus setting himself apart, for God's purposes, and God's person,

[34:00] I think that's what Jesus is meaning, and for him, to set himself apart, heart, for God's purpose, meant, I can see that I'm going to the cross, I set myself on that course, I can see that I am heading to take the sins of all my people, on myself, and bear the wrath of God, and I set myself to that course, and I understand for the joy that's set before me, if I go through this, I'll be raised again and brought to glory, and I set myself, Father, on that course, and I set myself apart for your service, so that they can be set apart for your service, in their turn.

[34:50] Does that make sense? I think it does. And let's put one other thing for this apostolic group, verse 18, you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

[35:05] So, they are sent into the world. So, I think we've put most of the things on that picture.

[35:24] And it's rather complex, but it's rather beautiful. here is the Son giving revelation, giving his word and revealing the Father's name to the apostolic group, who no longer belong to the world.

[35:39] And then Jesus is leaving and going to his Father, and he says, now in this future situation, Father, there they are, they're so vulnerable. Will you protect them in the power of your name?

[35:52] And not only so, will you keep them from the evil one? And not only so, will you give them joy, and as they experience rejection from the world, will you keep them and send them into the world so that the world that rejects them is where they're going?

[36:10] To save people, that's what they're going for, isn't it? So that these rejecting, ungrateful people can be brought to faith in Jesus Christ, and that's us, that's our contribution to this, isn't it?

[36:25] we're the ungrateful people who come to faith through their word. So let's look at one more picture.

[36:37] Shall I do it with a picture? No, let's leave that picture on there. So I want to summarise this in three points.

[36:59] And I want to say, this is not about us, is it? It's about these other people. And yet it matters to us, and I want to explain, or try to explain in three ways why this is absolutely vital for us.

[37:14] This group of people. Number one, they received the foundation testimony from Jesus. So they saw Jesus, they heard him, they received his word, they knew truthfully, certainty, that that's what Jesus said.

[37:38] They didn't get the wrong end of the stick, they didn't make mistakes on it, they received foundation testimony from Jesus.

[37:51] And that testimony, they passed on to other people by word of mouth, and they wrote down in the Bible. And what Jesus is praying for, is that we should have a reliable Bible.

[38:07] Sometimes people tell us that the Bible is full of mistakes. Well, then if you ask them to say, where are the mistakes, they hesitate because they don't actually know the Bible at all.

[38:22] They've just heard somebody else tell them the Bible is full of mistakes. But Jesus prayed for these people that they would be kept, excuse me, I realise I've missed out one other thing, because it says, Jesus prayed that they would be one, didn't he?

[38:42] And I haven't written that down. Which verse did he pray that they are one? He does pray for the subsequent people that they'll be one, that's true, but in verse 11 he prays that these people would be one.

[39:00] Yeah. And again, I don't think I would have chosen to put it that way, but Jesus did. And I think what he's saying is that you don't end up with two or three different gospels.

[39:14] I follow St. Paul, he puts it this way, I follow St. John, he puts it this way, they're different. He says, no, basically, they're all one, they share one experience, one gospel, one church, one faith.

[39:28] Sorry, I should have said that before, and now I've put myself off because I've forgotten where I got to. What I was saying was, number one, these people received the foundation testimony from Jesus.

[39:43] And their testimony is sufficient and complete. So like with the cake, it's that the cake has been handed over to one group of people, and if we want to find out what the gospel is, we go to that one place.

[40:04] the Buddhists can't tell us the gospel, the Muslims can't tell us the gospel, the people who say they're Christians but don't go to the Bible can't tell us the gospel, we have to go to what the Bible says, what this testimony is, that's the importance of scripture.

[40:23] And I emphasize it, or I'm trying to emphasize it, because I don't think Christians understand that so well these days. They think, oh, we can get the heart of God, we can get the gospel by what seems good to us.

[40:38] And I think that's a serious mistake, because Jesus went up to all the trouble of praying for this group, for their testimony, for their word, and these are the people that we have to go to, we have to be apostolic in going to what these people have said for us.

[41:00] Let me give you an example of it. Please turn to 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 to 4. 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 to 4.

[41:20] And here is John writing to a church church, and I think that he's just saying in slightly different words what we've already looked at this morning.

[41:38] He says, 1 John chapter 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the word of life.

[41:54] The life appeared, we have seen it, and testify to it. We proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

[42:05] we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

[42:17] We write this to make our joy full or complete. And I think he's saying exactly the same thing. He says, we're the people that have this privilege, and we're telling, we've seen it, we know it, it's true, and we're telling you, and your only way is to believe us.

[42:36] Is there any way you get it? You believe us, and then you come to share in our joy, and in our fellowship, but you can't do it unless you go through this apostolic group.

[42:50] That's the point I'm trying to make. So my first point was they received the foundation testimony from Jesus, and my second point is that this foundation group passes on the message to all the next generation nations, which is what in John 17 he's going on to speak about in verse 20.

[43:11] My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. And I want to point out that this is different to two other ways of looking at the apostolic, having the apostolic blessings, if you like.

[43:38] Number one, the idea that to be apostolic, you have to have had hands laid on you by somebody who had hands laid on them, by somebody who had hands laid on them, by somebody who had hands laid on them, da-da-da-da-da, back to Peter, or one of the apostles.

[43:57] having that apostolic blessing doesn't come from being touched by somebody who had been touched by somebody who had been touched by somebody apostolic. That is the, as I understand it, that's the way Roman Catholicism understands being apostolic.

[44:18] It's not that way, it is by going back to the apostolic word. We don't have to have been touched by anybody but what we do have to do is go back to this word and believe this word.

[44:32] Number two, it is subtly different from people who nowadays say they are apostles. Now whatever they mean by that, they can't mean what these people were because these people walked with Jesus, heard from Jesus' own lips and therefore were able to write the Bible.

[44:55] So in charismatic churches sometimes it is said so and such a person is an apostle. That must be mistaken. If they're an apostle they could write more Bible.

[45:07] If they're an apostle they must have seen Jesus. The only exception would be Paul who didn't walk around with Jesus but he's conscious that he's a very odd one out and he doesn't say there's going to be loads more like me.

[45:27] He says I've just scraped in before the doors closed. I'm a very exceptional apostle, the last of all really. So this does, it actually makes points about how churches are churches.

[45:43] That was number two. The foundation group passes on the message to the next generations. And number three, this group has the foundation blessing which sets the tone for all generations following.

[45:58] And this is what we need to look at more carefully next week. But as we've seen, hinted at, the apostles are not there for themselves.

[46:09] We are able to share in their blessings. And the notes that they set are the notes, musical notes that sound in the lives of believers ever since.

[46:23] Let me just ping some of those notes. God chose them. He gave them, he chose them and gave them to his son. Christians are chosen and given to the son.

[46:35] God protects them and God protects Christians ever since because we're in the world but not of it and we need protection. And Jesus actually goes on to pray specifically for us in the same way.

[46:49] These are set apart for God's purposes and God's person and Christians are set apart for God. We're set apart to serve the Lord in our way, in our time.

[47:02] These people were sent into the world to make Christ known. The church is sent into the world to make Christ known. These people were rejected by the world and the church ongoing is rejected by the world.

[47:16] These people brought glory to Jesus and we in our own idiosyncratic and stumbling way also apparently bring glory to Jesus.

[47:29] These people had a unity which Jesus prayed for which was a very deep and significant unity and all believers since then, all true believers, also have a unity which is very deep.

[47:42] these people had a joy which meant that even though on the top of their lives things might be bubbling and troubled but underneath at rock bottom all is well.

[47:54] I think that's one helpful way of thinking about this joy. That's the apostolic joy that Jesus gave, he gave them his joy. And Christians too have that same sort of, if you like to call it, I'm thinking it's like a peace really.

[48:13] It may not be very peaceful on the top, but deep down we know that all is well. It really, really is. So that's as far as I'd like to go today.

[48:25] Thank you very much for listening so carefully. And what this is telling us is that the way for us is simply this, to get hold of and obey and believe the testimony that the apostles give us, which is here in the Bible.