[0:00] Amen. As I prepare to preach this morning, I have to tell you that I have a full heart.
[0:40] And that's always a little dangerous for someone like Tim Knoyer because my emotion may complicate the beauty of the Scriptures. And I trust that you will pray.
[0:55] By the way, that is your job. You know that, right? You know that. Okay. You will pray because the Scriptures tell us that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the glory may be of God and not of us.
[1:20] And I have to tell you, the passage this morning is phenomenal. What are we going to do this morning? Do you know?
[1:40] We're going to take the Lord's table. We're going to take the Lord's table. And you who are informed by the Scriptures understand that taking that bread and taking that cup really doesn't make us saved or make any difference.
[2:04] I'll get this out of the way so I don't trip on it at some point. It doesn't make any difference in terms of getting extra points in heaven. Would you understand that? Would you agree with that?
[2:17] We take communion to remember Jesus. And when we say we take communion to remember Jesus, it's not like, oh, yeah, there is a Jesus.
[2:29] That's not the idea. The idea is that in the process of taking the bread and taking the cup, that it is a deliberate and a conscious, a careful thoughtfulness on our part that draws our affections and draws our mind to think carefully and more critically of Jesus.
[2:53] And when I say critically, I don't mean, yeah, right. I'm talking about thinking carefully. And as we turn in our Scriptures this morning, I'm going to ask that you go to John chapter 17.
[3:06] John 17. And as we come to the passage that I'm going to be opening to you this morning, I have to share with you that I have started doing some background study to what I trust should the Lord tarry eventually is where we go next.
[3:26] That would be the book of John. It's my second most favorite book right now because my favorite is, guess what?
[3:37] Ephesians. But doing a little bit of background study in the book of John and reading Martin Lloyd-Jones, I was struck by a statement he made at the introduction of the series of sermons that he preached on John.
[3:52] He said that really none of us have an adequate or an adequate grasp of the person and work of Christ. None of us have an adequate grasp of the person and work of Christ.
[4:08] And I, having read that and recognizing that Dr. Jones was not one to make kind of careless statements just for the sake of shock value, I began thinking a little more carefully about that subject and finding the Spirit of God convicting and challenging my thinking.
[4:25] And as I pondered what he had to say, I found myself in prayer going back to that passage in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10, where it says that I might know him, that I might know him.
[4:40] And adding to my prayer, the things that I have prayed for often are, first, Lord, I want to grow in understanding your love. I want to know more about the depth and the breadth and the height and the width of the love of Christ.
[4:57] But then also along with that is the Philippians chapter 3 passage in which Paul the apostle said, I count all things but lost, but my desire is that I might know him.
[5:08] And so I want to ask you this morning as we began here at the very start of really this question, how well, how well do you know Christ?
[5:23] How well do you know Christ? As I think about it, I have to tell you this.
[5:42] Indicators of how well you know Christ are, how happy you are. Do you follow that?
[5:56] How happy you are is a direct reflection of how well you know Christ. How moody you are.
[6:14] Can I say that again slowly? Because I have to tell you that in a previous life, I used to be a very moody person. How many of you know what moody is?
[6:26] I have a skunk in my neighborhood. That skunk lets me know when it's moody. How well you know Christ can be determined by your moodiness.
[6:48] How well you know Christ, are you listening? Can be determined by how sincere your affections are for others in the body of Christ.
[7:02] Stop just for a second. Do you have anybody right now that you wish God would change besides you? With whom you have a dispute and a misunderstanding or there's an attitude there and you feel a little uncomfortable around them.
[7:17] How well I know Christ determines how I relate to the body. Well, with that as a start, I want you to look with me at the text itself and we're going to be in John chapter 17, verse 10 and 11.
[7:43] Let me just read the passage to you. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them.
[7:53] And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one.
[8:09] And before we actually go to the text itself, I want to encourage you to remember that one of the characteristics of Bible truth is that those who really know it are changed by it.
[8:29] Does that make sense? Those who really know it are changed by it. And so, with the goal of growing to know Christ, we are looking at this passage in John chapter 17, which is commonly referred to as His high priestly prayer.
[8:52] Accurately, we could say that this is the Lord's Prayer. Now, when we think Lord's Prayer, some of you remember the Lord's Prayer to be that little recitation from Luke chapter 11 and also in Matthew, I believe it is, where Jesus taught His disciples to pray this way, our Father who art in heaven, etc.
[9:11] And that is the example prayer. This is the Lord's Prayer. And by the way, follow with me just as we think about this subject of prayer just for a moment.
[9:23] Jesus died for me. He rose again. He lived for me. These are all historical issues, and I'll not deal with all the theological aspects of it, which are rich beyond imagination.
[9:40] But here's another thing. He lives for me today, and what is He doing today for me? I love what it says in Hebrews.
[9:52] Do you know the passage? How many of you know the passage that I'm referencing in Hebrews? It ought to make your hair stand on end. He ever liveth to make intersection for the saints.
[10:04] It doesn't get better than that. And what we are looking at here in John chapter 17 is the high priestly prayer of Christ.
[10:17] This tells us what He's doing for me today. I like that. Well, setting is important, particularly when you kind of step into a passage.
[10:29] Everybody knows, right? Context is pretty important. So when pastor drops out of the sky onto John 17, we ought to be thinking, yeah, what's the context?
[10:41] Well, let's talk about the setting of Christ's prayer for us. John 17 is really His last prayer after His final sermon to His disciples.
[10:54] I'm going to give you a brief rendition of the text in broad terms. You'll go back in your minds to John chapter 13, and it says, And when the supper was ended, He took a towel and He wrapped it around Himself, and He washed the feet of His disciples.
[11:15] It was during the Last Supper again, again, again, that He made it clear to them that He was going to die for them. And we know from the Scriptures that their hearts were traumatized by the thought of this prospect because they had grown to love Jesus.
[11:32] They were persuaded that He indeed was the Messiah. And it is evident that Jesus here sensed their anxiety and the uncertainty of their hearts.
[11:45] And so He makes a very interesting statement at the very beginning of John chapter 14. Do you know what He says? He says this, Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in the Father.
[12:00] Believe in Me. And then what He does in John chapter 14, John chapter 15, John chapter 16, is He takes the time to give them a reason for not being troubled.
[12:14] Years ago, there was one of these dingbat songs called, Don't Worry, Be Happy. I mean, it was a one-hit wonder, you know?
[12:28] It was great. You know, a guy made it up, I think, sitting in the shower or singing in the shower. And anyway, when he sang, Don't Worry, Be Happy, it was just kind of, be that way.
[12:39] When Jesus says, Don't let your heart be troubled, He gives us a reason. Amen. And the reasons are laid out in these three chapters. Let me kind of summarize them for you.
[12:51] For one, He says, Hey, I'm going ahead to prepare a place for you. So that where I am, you can be also. I love what the apostle said, Absent in the body, what?
[13:07] Present with the Lord. Tim Kenoyer is not afraid of dying. I happen to like where I am. I happen to like the people I'm around. But let me tell you something. When I take my last breath, I will not take it with anxiety and uncertainty because I know that when I leave this place, I will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
[13:32] Second thing that He made clear to His disciples is that He would be also sending them the Holy Spirit to indwell them, and the presence of the Spirit would be to their advantage. One of the very interesting statements, and you'll have to stay around until we get to the book of John, and we'll be several years to get to John chapter 15.
[13:51] But Jesus, I meant that. Okay. Jesus said this. He says, It's to your advantage that I leave.
[14:05] And He says, Because if I don't go, you're not getting the Holy Spirit. I don't know. I don't know. If this morning, you have not already stopped and said, Lord, I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit.
[14:18] I am so thankful that He indwells me. This morning as I was praying about our time together and my ministry to you and praying for other people in our fellowship, one of the things that I was doing, man, Lord, I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit.
[14:33] And Holy Spirit, thank you for indwelling me. Now help me today. Jesus said, Number one, I'm going to make a place for you. Number two, you're going to get the Holy Spirit.
[14:44] And then the third thing He says is, I'm going home to pray for you. I'm going home to pray for you. And so I found myself kind of pondering, so how significant is it that Jesus is praying for me?
[14:59] Two different passages came to mind. And by the way, when we think about a question, the first thing we want to do, everybody smile with me because this is the way I think God wants you to develop your mind.
[15:11] When you think about something, you want a scriptural basis for the answer. I'm not talking about math, right? I'm talking about life.
[15:23] So, when we think about how important is prayer and how important is it that Jesus is praying for me, I want you to think with me just for a moment. You may want to turn to your Bible for a second over to Luke chapter 22.
[15:37] Luke chapter 22, verse 31 and 32. Just look at it with your own eyes. We're not going to delve into the text this morning. But remember, Jesus says to Peter, hey, Satan wants to trash your life.
[15:54] Now, when Jesus says something that significant, I bet you it gave Peter a little bit of a pause. and he says, relax, I've prayed for you.
[16:11] Nevertheless, I've prayed for you and after you're converted, strengthen your brethren. So, we find, in one instance, we find here's Satan trying to destroy the life of one of the disciples.
[16:22] Is Satan trying to destroy your life this morning? And what is the answer? Yes. Yes. Yes. He wants you to be a spiritual train wreck. And the scriptures tell me that he ever lives to make intercession before the Father for me.
[16:41] The passage that I just recited is actually there in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25, where we read this. It says, since he always lives to make intercession for them. I want to remind you that in the Old Testament, the high priest and all the priests were actually involved in the sober, the significant responsibility of praying for God's people.
[17:02] That's what they did. They offered sacrifice, but they also prayed. So, having brought these three chapters to a close, remember he said, don't be troubled, don't be worried.
[17:15] This is a good thing. He says, because I'm going to make a place for you. Number two, you're getting the Holy Spirit. Number three, I'm going to be praying for you. And he says, let me show you what that's going to be like.
[17:26] And that's kind of the background to John 17. This is what he is praying for. And I'm going to step into the middle of it, help you understand that earlier he explains what the believer is and what the believer is to be involved in.
[17:44] But then in verse 10 and 11, he explains what is the believer meant to do? What am I supposed to be doing? And we find here that the believer glorifies Christ.
[18:00] The believer glorifies Christ. I want you to put your finger just for a moment. Do it physically if you would. Put your finger on the last part of verse 10.
[18:12] And there it says, it's stated by Jesus himself. He says, I am glorified in them. And so, if you are sitting here this morning and you are in truth a disciple of the Lord Jesus, you're a believer by grace, you are someone who Jesus believes glorifies Him.
[18:33] Now, is he ever wrong? What's the answer? No. It is a little challenging when I stop and look at myself in the mirror and I think, you're glorified by me.
[18:48] Jesus said it. It's true. So, let's think just for a moment about how it is that we glorify Him. And I'm not going to cover the broad scope of things that are legitimately worthy of study.
[19:00] But let's recognize that for one, we glorify Him by knowing Him and believing in Him. Go back to verse 3 if you would just for a moment. And it says, this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
[19:16] Our knowing and believing Him glorifies Him. If you're sitting here this morning and you do not know Christ, the reason is you have chosen.
[19:28] You refuse to believe the truth of the Scriptures and the convicting power of the Spirit of God and you're sitting there thinking, well, he's an okay guy and maybe I can even believe that he came and was a good example, but do I believe he is the Savior of the world and do I believe that His blood is satisfaction for my sin?
[19:51] We glorify Him where we believe in Him. Secondly, we glorify Him by believing that there is salvation in no other. How many of you are around people on a regular basis that believe most everybody gets to heaven by doing their best?
[20:06] One of the very, very common things I hear when I, not when I'm doing a funeral, but when I go to hear other funerals done, I hear people say, well, they're in a better place. Now, that's not always true.
[20:18] How many of you realize that? The Bible makes it clear that there is salvation in no other name but Jesus.
[20:31] Over in Acts chapter 4, the disciples, even under pressure of persecution, they said, there is no other name whereby men may be saved. And so, we glorify Him, when we say, listen, Jesus is the only way that men and women, boys and girls, can come to faith and have their sins forgiven and have no reason to fear their eternity.
[21:00] And we come to a third thing. We glorify Him by modeling His transforming power and clearly pointing to Him as the reason that we are different.
[21:13] a recurring theme in all of John's Gospels is that each miracle confirmed the glory and the person of Christ.
[21:31] By extension, my Christian testimony and your Christian testimony should serve the same purpose of making the deity and the glory of Christ evident.
[21:49] Two illustrations. Remember Samson? What was the deal with Samson? He was pretty strong. And remember how they figured out that Samson's strength was not really something that was directly attributable to Samson's physique.
[22:10] He didn't look like Mr. Atlas or Universe or whatever. He was strong, but we get the idea artistically that he was this gargantuan hulk, you know, that just had a little extra long stringy hair.
[22:28] The reason people kept on wondering what is special about Samson is because he was completely off the Richter scale when it came to strength and nobody could figure it out.
[22:40] And remember how he kept on messing with them? Well, if you tie me with ropes that haven't been, it'll work. If you do this, it'll work. If you do that, and every time, what did he do? Bang! He snapped them like bang and he was up.
[22:51] And finally, Delilah got him to say, it's my hair. See, Samson's strength lay in his obeying the word of God which had said, don't ever cut your hair.
[23:11] Probably another illustration is over in the book of Acts, and I'll not have you turn to it, but you remember when they brought Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, and these were the guys who had their PhDs in Jewish theology.
[23:25] And they were asking him all these questions and giving them, just giving them what for about, and, you know, they couldn't figure out where did these rude, ill-informed, untaught fishermen come up with being so smart and understanding of the Scriptures.
[23:41] And here's what they said. I like this part. They'd been with Jesus. Do you act in such a fashion that the people who know you are trying to figure out why you're the way you are?
[23:58] I'm not talking about your background. I'm not talking about the fact that you grew up in the particular home you did. I'm not talking about the education you received.
[24:11] I'm talking about the fact that the glory and the supremacy of Christ is manifested in your life, and people are wondering, why is he so kind? Why is he so encouraging?
[24:24] Why is he so forbearing when everybody else is in a pout and in a frumpy mood? Why is he like he is? Well, it must be because he's been with, what?
[24:36] He's been with Jesus. It follows then that if we glorify him, that we are not people who are sulky.
[24:53] We are not people whose conversations are as rude and as crude as unbelievers.
[25:04] Isn't that right? It follows him that our posts on Facebook are not dishonorable and questionable. It follows him that our conversations and our affections belie the character of the one who has changed our lives.
[25:21] Now I come to exactly what Christ's request was. You look there and in verse 11, he says, listen, Father, I want you to keep them in your name.
[25:34] Keep them in your name. I will tell you ahead of time that I will come back to this, Lord willing, and should he tarry and allow me to preach on the passage.
[25:45] We'll deal with it in the future when we get to John eventually, but I want you to understand that Jesus is praying for his disciples. He says, I'm glorified in them. Now here's the deal. I want you to do something for me, Father.
[25:57] I want you to keep them in my name. Being kept involves his work of shepherding us through his word, through his spirit, through his people.
[26:11] Being kept involves his shepherding us through his word, through his spirit, through his people. But let's come to one more piece before we actually come to the table.
[26:25] And I want you to recognize the objective of Christ's prayer is unity. Verse 11, he says, keep them in your name which you have given me.
[26:40] Now here's what I want you to have the boldness of character to do. Underline the words that follow that they may be one even as we are one.
[26:59] Our thoughts on unity tend to be rather shallow, beloved. We're far too comfortable grousing about one another or nurturing an inner spirit of discontent.
[27:22] When Jesus prayed that his believers would be kept, the immediate following interest was that they would be one like we're one.
[27:35] And so I want you to understand Christ prays that our unity would be like the unity of the Godhead. That's amazing. Do you follow that? So how did Jesus and the Father get along?
[27:50] Huh? They tolerate each other because they were on a common mission? They had to share the same pew? No. He says I want them to be one like we are one.
[28:04] being polite in the lobby and churlish in the car may not give us away to everyone but can I tell you that your children pick up on it?
[28:24] Do you know something about children? There used to be a show in a previous time where who was the guy that said kids said the darndest things?
[28:36] Who was it? There you go. You knew it and I didn't. I didn't grow up at TV in America but I knew about it. So kids say the darndest things.
[28:46] Your kids tell other people what your real attitudes are. Hey! Hey, how are you doing?
[29:00] In the lobby. In the car. I'm hoping God changes that person. Back we go.
[29:11] Back we go. Here's Jesus praying that our unity would be like the unity of the Godhead. Ooh. So when we come to the Lord's table this morning, I want you to consider that Jesus today, this is the most exciting little piece of news I can give you.
[29:30] He's praying for you. I want you to understand that. Do you know how weak you are? No, I don't. But I know enough about me to understand I need somebody helping me, right?
[29:44] And guess what the scriptures tells me? It tells me that Jesus is praying for me. He's praying for me. He ever lives to make intercession for me.
[29:55] me. And as you come to this table, I want you to pray, honestly, where you are, I want you to pray, Lord, help me appreciate the fact you pray for me. Oh, by the way, and since I'm in this business of making you look good, glorify you, go ahead and put the smack down on me when I have the attitudes that just dishonor you.
[30:21] One of the things that I know has unnerved some of our dear fellowship is when I encourage people to pray this way, Lord, do whatever it takes to help me change.
[30:36] And I've had people say, I really don't want to pray that. In other words, you're really satisfied with being that spiritual jerk, right? Someone send me an email on that later.
[30:49] But, you know, here's the deal. I want to change. Bring it on. I want to have a heart for Christ. I want to have a heart for His people.
[31:01] I want to have a heart that glorifies Him. I want you to come to the table. We'll have our men come this morning as we gather. And as the men are coming, let me say a word of encouragement, that this table is open to all those who know the Lord Jesus Christ in truth.
[31:24] In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, it says that we are not to take the table carelessly. Now, what that means in essence is this, is that when we take the table, when we take the bread and we take the cup, what we are doing is we are going on public record to say, I have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[31:49] I believe He died for my sins. And I am willing to go on record to say, Jesus is the only one that I am trusting in, and I know Him as my Lord and Savior.
[32:08] In the early church, when they would take the bread and take the cup, the word in the Greek, show forth, that's the English translation, actually means to say publicly, I know Jesus as my Savior, I want everybody to know, you go ahead and know, I trust in Jesus, and God help me, my life is going to be different to make Him look good.
[32:31] All God's people were thinking, amen. But, you know, you're welcome to this table. We want to take a minute and pray quietly, and if you're here today and you have not come to faith in Christ right now, you can call upon His name.
[32:50] Father God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I need Christ as my Savior, and I'm done messing around and thinking that I can work this out by my own good. I am a sinner broken before you, and I ask Christ to be my Savior.
[33:08] There might be some of you here today that know Christ, but your life is filled with anger, with bitterness, with a matter of unrepentance in certain areas of your life, and I would plead with you this morning to quietly humble yourself as I pray, and ask Christ to give you a repentant spirit that renews your affection for Him and your desire to obey, that we can take these elements with a clear heart.
[33:39] Let's pray.