Jesus Prays for All Believers

We want to welcome Greg Gilbert back to Jefferson Park. He's no stranger here. He's been with us in November and was traveling through the snow in February, so we are thankful to have him back. A little background information on Greg. He is an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., where he also serves as the senior pastoral assistant there for church planting. Greg is the marriage of Moriah, his wife, and they have three children, Jack and Justin and Juliet. So, they are not able to be here with us, but we will want to lift them up in our prayers. Also, Greg has a forthcoming book coming that I would encourage us to look at. It's called, What is the Gospel? I think it will be used for God's glory. I pray that it will. I would encourage us to find the time to look at that if we get a chance. I also want to just publicly thank Greg. He came and performed Byron and Bree's wedding yesterday. It was a great service to our church, and we are very thankful for that. It was an uplifting time, so we do thank him for that. So Greg will be with us again tonight, preaching through the book of Jeremiah. So we welcome you gladly. Thanks for inviting me to be with you again. It was a real joy to be with the Morrison's and Glaspy's yesterday at the wedding to get Byron and Bree hitched up. It was also a joy to hang out with many of you, for example, to watch Steve Belcher eat the chocolate fondue with his fingers. I also heard a little bit, but I didn't see it, and I was very sad about this, but I heard rumors of a certain dance called the Full Bowman. I wasn't near the dance floor, though, so I don't know if the Full Bowman came out or not, but it was a really fun time to be with the Morrisons and the Glaspeys and many of you. So, we'll keep Byron and Bree in our prayers. Let me ask you a question. How many of you watched much of the Olympics that took place a month or so ago? Two months? Yeah, my family watched a lot of it. I have two boys, seven and three. The three-year-old didn't care much. But the seven-year-old loved it and just had a fantastic time. I wonder if you remember what the slogan was for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. They had it plastered all over the place at the Olympics, just on all the posters and the news coverage and everything. The slogan was called With Glowing Hearts. Now, I doubt if you pay much attention to Olympic slogans. I don't either. But I came across one back before Rio de Janeiro was given the Olympics for what, 2016? I was traveling through Chicago and Chicago was making its bid for the Olympic Games. And they had their proposed Olympic slogan plastered all over the airport because they're making this bid for it. And the slogan that they were going to use for 2016 was let friendship shine. Nice slogan apparently though they started out with a different slogan one that was called stir your soul but that translated unfortunately into several languages is mix up your insides and so they They had to go back and rethink that and came up with let friendships shine. It's not going to happen. Sadly, Rio de Janeiro wound up with the nod. But if you go back and look at some of these Olympic slogans, they're very interesting. And one thing that you'll notice that they strive for and long for with their slogans, these cities, is the theme of unity. They're all striving for unity. Olympic slogans started in 1988 as a sort of media thing. Seoul, South Korea chose harmony and peace. I wonder if you've ever noticed that, how the Olympic slogans and all of the Olympic symbolism and trappings, it all pushes forward toward this idea of unity and harmony and peace. So the colors of the rings and the parade of nations in the opening ceremonies and the Olympic flag and the flame, Everything about the Olympics pushes toward this ideal of unity. Some of the other slogans, 1992 in Barcelona, friends forever, 2000 Sydney, share the spirit, 2004 Athens, in the true spirit of the games. And one of my personal favorites, at least for this sermon introduction, 2008 Beijing, one world, one dream. It doesn't always work out like they want it to, does it? And you can have a slogan like one world, one dream in 2008 Beijing, and you can have all the nations of the world come together and compete in these games with harmony and peace, as Sol said. But what happens to it after the games are over? Well, the whole thing just the whole thing just falls apart. And those slogans of one world, one dream, harmony and peace, friends forever, all of those things are just shown to be ideals, pipe dreams. The Olympics aren't the only people who prize unity and who strive after it. Politicians run their campaigns on promises of unity. So you have, you know, I'm a I'm a uniter, not a divider. You have there aren't any red states and blue states. They're just the United States, you know, on and on. Both parties do it. Every politician runs on the ideal of unity. Even companies try to capitalize on the idea of unity. I'd like to buy the world a Coke and teach it harmony. You know, this is this is this is this is something in the human heart that that calls out we want to be unified. And yet unity is hugely elusive and we can't seem to find it. It's just it's just a symbol. In most of the world and not any kind of reality. Let me invite you to turn to John 17, because I want to show you this morning where true unity comes from, who it is that is unified. On what they are unified and what that unity is all about, what it's for, what it's driving after. And we're going to do that from the second part, really the third part of Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17, just before he goes to his death on the cross. John 17, and I'm going to begin reading really in the middle of this prayer. If you were here a couple of months ago, I preached to you from the first part of this prayer and I'm just kind of picking up two months later where we left off. So I'm going to begin reading in verse 20. 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. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I've given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one, I and them and you and me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you've given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Let me give you a main idea sentence, just the one sentence that I think captures the main idea of what this text is driving after and what Jesus was talking about when he prayed this prayer. Our unity with Jesus and our unity with each other in Jesus should give us great encouragement as we press on toward home. Our unity with Jesus and our unity with each other in Jesus should encourage us as we press on toward home. I want to make two points, really, from this text this morning. The first one is by far the longest, the second one much shorter. So don't get scared as I preach to the first point. First point, Jesus prays that his people would be one. And in the second point, Jesus prays that his people would be strengthened by hope. So point number one, Jesus prays that his people would be one. Just a quick overview of where this where this prayer has been up until now in the first part of the prayer versus one to five. Jesus really prays for himself. He prays that the father would glorify him. And the really amazing thing about that, the stunning thing about that prayer is that what Jesus means by glorify me is lift me up on the cross. In other words, I'm going to be glorified by my death. And that's the way God will be most glorified. It's the way Jesus would be most glorified in the second section. Then after he's prayed for himself, that would be verses six to 19. Jesus prays for his followers, he prays for those who believe in him, those who are his disciples, and he asks his father to protect and sustain them and to sanctify them for the mission he's giving them. Well, now in this third section, Jesus's prayer sort of widens and wraps up again. So so in verse 20 there, you see how he widens the prayer. My prayer is not for them alone. I'm I'm not praying just for these 12 or 11 people sitting around this table with me. I'm praying for all of those, he says there in verse 20, who will believe in me through their message. You see that? So that means that if you're sitting here today and you have believed in Jesus through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus, just before he dies, is praying for you. It's an incredible thing, isn't it? And just by the way, I mean, look, look carefully at that verse. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me. It's interesting, isn't it? Jesus doesn't seem to merely hope that people will believe in the gospel and come to faith. He seems to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's going to happen. I pray for those who will believe. Anyway, let's take a look at what Jesus prays for his people. First of all, he prays most obviously that his people would be one. So look at verse 21. I pray, he says, that all of them may be one. And then he asks that also in several other places through the next few verses. Now, we're going to think about what it means for Jesus's people to be one. And I'm going to I'm going to talk with you about what it means to have unity within the Church of Jesus Christ. But before we do that, I want to give you a sense of the structure of this first paragraph versus 20 to 23, because I think seeing the structure of it will help us to understand what it means. If you just approach this paragraph and you don't. You don't kind of have a handle on what the structure of it is. It can kind of just look like a grab bag of ideas, you know, just phrase after phrase thrown in there. And what I want to help you to do is to see exactly how this thing is structured. I think the best way to read this paragraph is really in two major parts. First, verses 20 and 21 and then in verses 22 and 23. So it breaks really right down the right down the middle. Twenty and twenty one and then twenty two and twenty three. And I think that Jesus is asking the very same thing in those two sections. It really those two sections kind of run along the same track. It starts with the who and then moves to the what and then moves to the why. So if you if you look at it, you can see that I pray for those who will believe in me. That's there in verse 20. And then he says in verse 22, again, who he's praying for, the ones that that he has given glory to. And back up to verse 21, you see what he prays for them. The what? That all of them may be one father. May they be in us. Then jump down to 22 again and you can see the what again there. I pray that they may be one as we are one, I and them and you and me. May they be brought to complete unity, then back up again to 21. And you see the why there at the end of verse 21, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Jump down to 23 again. To let the world know that you've sent me to see that structure in both of those sentences, you have the who you have, the what and then you have the why. So that's that's the structure of what Jesus is doing here. And he just prayed the same the same idea, really, in two different sentences in those two places. Well, I want to unpack those three things, the who, the what and the why now and talk about why that is. Let me just say, first of all, that we should just acknowledge that this is one of the most notoriously misused passages in all of Scripture. It is just misused all over the place because people will use it and they'll quote Jesus to advocate for unity of all kinds that Jesus really never meant. I mean, and almost always that unity that's being advocated for will be at the expense of truth. So people will say we all need to be unified in love. And what that means is that all of these theological things that you believe about the resurrection and about the divinity of Jesus and about what the cross means, all of those things that are so prickly in what you believe theologically need to be deep six in favor of unity because Jesus says we're to be unified. It's just misused all over the place. You know, we need to be unified in love, and that means you need to stop asking so many theological questions about what Jesus was saying and just realize that we're going to be unified in love and deep six, all of the other questions about theology. I was when I was writing this sermon, I was actually stuck in an airport with a friend who I had been working on this sermon sitting next to him, and I went off to the to the restroom and came back and then he went off to the restroom and I was writing the sermon. And I realized that all of a sudden, every time I typed in the word love, which I just said it a lot, you can imagine every time I would type in the word love into my computer, the word document would change it to a groovy kind of love. My friend had gotten a hold of the the automatic text thing, but I've just decided to appropriate it. I'm just using it now because it fits. That's the way the world thinks about love, isn't it? It's kind of a groovy kind of love. You know, we don't we don't worry about what the love is based on. It's we're just going to groove together, you know, and put down the put down the questions, put down the theology. That's not at all what Jesus is talking about here. And as Christians, as those who are members of Christ's church, we need to understand that's not what he's talking about. So let's go through the who, the what and the why and talk about how it is that Jesus is what kind of unity Jesus is talking about here. So question number one, this is kind of, you know, the sub point under the first the first point here. Question number one, who is to be unified? Well, that answer comes at the beginning of verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me. Jesus is praying for those whose faith is in him. We saw last time I was here, if you remember that that those whom Jesus prays for are those who know and accept and believe and know with certainty that Jesus is the son of God and who swear allegiance to him as their king and as their Lord and as their savior. So this is what Jesus is talking about. This is this is what he intends for his people to be unified on is the conviction that he is who he says he is. The same thing is meant there in verse 22 in the who section of that sentence. I have given them the glory that you gave me. Those are the people, them, the ones that Jesus is talking about, there are the ones who have received the glory that the Father gave him. Now, that's not the sort of heavenly glory that we're going to be glorified with in heaven. The word glory there is reaching back to the Old Testament idea of the character of God being shown. So when Moses, for instance, says, you know, God, I want you to show me your glory, what does what does God do? Well, he shows him the hem of his garment. But the glory that he shows him is his name. The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Glory is the character of God. And in this case, it's the character of God revealed most perfectly through Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is saying, I gave them this glory, I gave them the character of God, revealed it to them perfectly, and they're the ones who have received that in me. So, again, he's saying the ones I want to be unified are the ones who know and accept and believe that I am the son of God. The word of God who reveals God. So that's the who, that's the that's the that's the those are the people that Jesus wants to be unified in the basis of that unity is a conviction and a belief that Jesus is who he says he is. So you can see that any kind of any kind of squishiness in the world's understanding of what love is, is all of a sudden gone. Because if Jesus is who he says he is, and if we believe that we believe certain things about him. And our unity as your unity as a church is founded upon this shared conviction that Jesus is who he says he is. Well, what's the nature of this unity? I mean, the what? I mean, he prays that he prays there in both of these sentences, you know, that all of them may be one father, just as you were in me. I am in you. May they also be in us. And then in verse 22, that they may be one as we would this this idea of what this unity entails, what it is, this is where it begins to blow people's minds. And that's absolutely understandable. You have all these phrases, I and them, you and me, they and us. You know, it just if you can't get your head around it, it just sounds it just sounds strange. But here's the here's the point of all of this, the unity we are supposed to have as Christians, Jesus says, the nature of that unity, the what of that unity is the same kind of unity that he enjoys with his father within the Trinity. So look carefully at verse 21. He prays for them there that all of them may be one father, just as you are in me and I am in you. That's the unity of the Trinity. The same thing is true in verse 22 in the second sentence. He prays for his people that they may be one, even as we, father, are one. Now, throughout the book of John, Jesus revels in his unity with the father. He says in chapter five, whatever the father does, the son does also. And John chapter 14, he says, believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me. Same idea there. Chapter 14 again, he tells his disciples, if you really knew me, you would know my father as well. And then and then the most astonishing statement of all, where Jesus says, I and the father are one. So he revels in this unity that he has with his father within the Godhead. And then in this prayer, he prays that we as his followers would have that same unity. It's just mind blowing. So what does it mean? What do we say if we're going to find out the kind of unity that we are to have, that you are to have as a church? We have to talk about what this unity is in the Trinity and understand how it how the analogy works. And there are amazing things that we can learn from that. So what do we say about this oneness shared by the Father and the Son? Well, Christians have often talked about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being unified or one in purpose and action and identity. Purpose and action, those are very easy to understand, right? I mean, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one in purpose. They want to do the same things. They're one in action. You know what I what I whatever the Father does, the Son also does. That's oneness in action. It's the it's the oneness in identity, though, that gives us trouble and it sort of blows our finite human minds. And yet that's the that's the doctrine of the Trinity. It's what the Bible tells us about the nature of the Godhead. The Bible tells us and we believe because it tells us that Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though they are distinct persons, they are all equally God. And there is only one God. I'm not going to unpack that whole doctrine for you. You're all Christians and members of a Christian church, most of you. And so therefore, you believe that God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And that's getting it part of the identity of oneness or the oneness of identity that Jesus is talking about here. So what does it mean, then, if we take those three things, oneness of purpose and action and identity and analogize it to our own situation as your own situation as a church and mine at Capitol Hill Baptist Church? What does that mean for a church? Well, it means that the unity that exists, purpose and action and identity in the Godhead is supposed to exist, Jesus says, in the church as well. OK, so let's just run through those things again, purpose and action. That's pretty easy, easy to understand. It's not easy to do, you know, for a church to have a oneness of purpose. We all as a church, you all as a church should have one mind about where you want to go and what you want to do. That's unity of purpose, unity of action, easy to understand, too. Not always easy, not always easy to do, but easy to understand. You should all be moving and working and acting as one body, the body of Christ. But what about this? What about this oneness of identity? Because, you know, I mean, you know, Stephen Chipp are members of the same church. And they're supposed to be unified in purpose and unified in action and unified in identity somehow, but but Stephen Chipp aren't God, so they can't have the same identity that God, the father and God, the son. Do and God, the Holy Spirit. So what are we talking about? And we can't have that same kind of. Unity of identity. Well, I think, though, I know that's yes, it's a it's a question, but I but I think that we are right now at the white hot center of what Jesus did when he calls people together as a church. And I want to show you how that works. Look at verse 21. Look at verse 21. My prayer, he says, my prayer is that all of them may be one father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they that's Christians, his followers, may they also be in us, may they be in us. So keep that image in your mind. Now, look also at verse 22. I've given them the glory that you gave me. That they may be one as we are one, and then he explains it, I in them and you and me. So take those two things together and what do you get when you get Christians who are in Christ and Christ is in Christians, do you see that we in Jesus and Jesus in us? And that, I think, is the is the key to understanding what Jesus means when he says he wants us to be unified in him. Just as he is one with his father. It's not just it's not just our unity as a church. Your unity as a church is not just that you've covenanted together like a rotary club to become a group of people who meet together on Sunday mornings. Your unity as a church is not even merely the unity of purpose and action that we talked about a few minutes ago. No, your unity as a church is based on something much deeper than that. It's a it's a unity of identity. And that identity comes from the fact that each one of you as an individual is in Christ and Christ is in each one of you as an individual. Now, here's here's the way to here's the way to think about that. And here's the way it actually works out in your in your life as a Christian and especially in your life as a church. Whatever you are. You are, above all else, one of Jesus's people. I am all kinds of things in my life, I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, I'm a citizen of the United States, I am Greg Gilbert. But above all, I am Greg Gilbert, the saved and redeemed and forgiven by Jesus. And the same thing is true for you. That's where we find our shared identity, and especially you who have covenanted together as Jefferson Park Baptist Church. That's where you find your shared identity, because of all the things that you are student, father, husband, citizen of Charlottesville, citizen of Crozet, whatever it is, Your identity most fundamentally comes from the fact that you as an individual are in Jesus and that person sitting next to you on the pew or behind you in the pew is also in Jesus. So that the same Lord you put your faith in and your trust in the same Lord that you swear allegiance to. Is the Lord that that brother and sister and that brother and sister have also sworn allegiance to the same Lord that saved you is the Lord that saved them. Now, I want you to think about someone in this church. Think about someone in this church. With whom you have a broken relationship. Think about someone in this church with whom you don't particularly get along real well. Brother, sister, do you realize that that person that you have allowed your heart to hold a grudge against? Has been saved and loved by the very same Lord that you have. Do you realize that that person that you just you just haven't taken the time to get to know because you don't think you'll click very well? Do you realize that their faith and their trust is in the very same Lord that yours is? That's that's the rock bottom foundation of the unity Jesus is praying for for his people right here. He's praying that they would recognize that even as we are individuals, we are all united to Christ by faith. We in Christ and Christ in us. And therefore, we become united with one another because we recognize that that our shared identity in Jesus Christ, the fact that we worship the same Lord, the fact that one Lord loves each one of us. He's praying that that understanding would be deep enough and wide enough to sink all of your hurts and all of the offenses that have been had against you and that you will be able to love and forgive because you and that other person love the same Lord. That's the kind of unity we strive for in the church. We strive to recognize that each one of us is loved by Christ and has sworn allegiance and given our faith and our trust to him. And that ocean is big enough to sink every annoyance, it's big enough to sink every offense. In love and in a shared identity in Jesus Christ. I know that's a I know that's a deep thing. But it really just comes down to the fact that you put your faith in Christ and that brother across the sanctuary puts his faith in Christ and therefore that's a deep and abiding and permanent unity between the two of you. And you, therefore, should strive with all your might to make sure that nothing comes in and begins to crack that foundation of unity. I hope that realization will rise up in your heart as you think about people in this church that you may have broken relationships with or people you just haven't taken the time to get to know. I pray that realization will rise up and that the Lord will use that and will convict you. To go and love that person, forgive them, do whatever it takes to maintain that kind of unity. Well, one more question I want to ask of this first section. Why does Jesus want us to be one? What's the purpose of this unity that we're supposed to have? Two times Jesus says it. Verse 21. First, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And then verse 23, to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me. Brothers and sisters, your unity as a church, your shared identity in Jesus Christ as those who are the saved and forgiven people of the Lord Jesus, that unity is meant to be a brilliant witness to the world of what God has done in your life and in the life of this church. Paul talks about the same thing in Ephesians 3. Through the church, he says, the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the universe. So in Paul's time, it was through the coming together of Jews and Gentiles. In our own time, it's the breaking down of other walls and barriers. But when the world sees a community like this one where blacks and whites and Asians and Europeans and Latinos and Africans and North and South Americans and even a few Texans come together and are unified, not because they share some interests together, not because they like some sport, not because they like NASCAR or because they like politics or whatever is not because of some shared interest, but simply and only because of a shared identity in Jesus Christ. When the world sees that, it's brilliant. And they begin to say, what? What is that? I want it. That's what Jesus intended to happen so that the world may believe that you've sent me to let the world know that you sent me. That's what he wanted. There's one more thing that's just absolutely mind blowing that I want you to see in this look, look again carefully at verse 23. He says he prays this prayer. And he's praying for unity to let the world know that you sent me and to let the world know that you have loved them even as you have loved me. Now, there is a mind blowing statement. Do you see what Jesus is saying there? Jesus is saying that his followers share The same love from the father that he himself does. Now, if you're a Christian that ought to make your heart explode with worship, it ought to it ought to take you right to the white hot center of the gospel. Because when when I read that phrase and I understand what an absolutely extravagant statement that is, that God, the father should love me with the same love that he loves his son. It just blows my mind. I mean, here's Here's Jesus. The sinless, perfect Son of God. One with the Father in perfect fellowship who obeyed him perfectly. Here's Jesus, the spotless one. And then there's me. And I'm supposed to believe that the same love with which the Father loves Jesus. He also loves me. How is that? Well, friends, that's the gospel. The gospel is that because of what Jesus did in living the life you should have lived and what Jesus did in dying the death that you should have died if you're a Christian, if you've repented of sins and believed in him. What he did in dying that death and living that life is that the father now looks at you and me and all of my wretched sin. And he doesn't see that anymore. What he sees is his son's perfect record credited to me. And he loves me with the same love with which he loved his son. You see, God doesn't love me with that love because I deserve it. He's not looking at my record and loving me because of my record. He's loving me because He loves His Son. And because I put all my faith and all of my trust, all of my reliance, all of my plea on Him. God, look at Him. Don't look at me. Because if you look at me, I'm doomed. Look at Him. Love me because of Him. It's just the white hot center of the gospel. Well, that's the first point. Jesus prays for his people to be one. He prays that we would have a shared identity in Christ, that we would understand that we are in Christ. That Christ is in us and therefore that all of our divisions and all of our petty annoyances would be sunk in that great ocean of truth and love. Second, Jesus prays for his people to be strengthened by hope. Look with me at verse 24. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Do you see that phrase again? It's just it just is amazing to me. I want those you have given me to be with me. I want them to be with me. Do you think of Jesus often having that kind of affection for you? Christian, a desire to be with you, Or do you most often think of of Jesus as, you know, ruler of the universe, king of kings and lord of lords, as he's presented to us in Revelation? Yeah, I confess, I my mind goes to to that to that image of Jesus, which is absolutely true and absolutely important for us to understand. It's much harder and much more difficult for my mind to think of Jesus in this sense, where he says, I want him to be with me. It's an amazing thought, isn't it? You know, many of you know this. Maybe all of you know this, this sense of longing to be with your friends, just this when you're separated from your friends. There's this heart twisting, wrenching feeling in your heart that I want to be with that person. I want that. I want to be near them. I want to communicate with them and talk with them and fellowship with them. That's what Jesus is feeling in this prayer. I want those you have given me to be with me where I am. Christian, your Lord Jesus doesn't begrudge you coming to him. He doesn't begrudge you coming to his throne and speaking with him in prayer. He wants you to come. He wants to be with you where he is, ultimately in heaven, in the presence of his father. Look to it what being with Jesus will mean. I want them, he says, to see my glory, the glory you've given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. I want them to see my glory. And do you realize what another amazing statement it is that Jesus is praying this for you? I want them to be with me and I want them to see my glory. The whole story of the Old Testament is a story about you and me as sinful human beings being shut off from seeing God's glory. Adam and Eve, when they send what happens to them, they're kicked out of the Garden of Eden and flaming swords are crossed in front of the door and they are not allowed back in. When Moses goes on top of Mount Sinai to get the law from the Lord, what do they do? They put a cordon around the mountain and they say, anyone who crosses that cordon and puts a foot on this mountain where the glory of the Lord is falling will die. When the glory of the Lord comes into the temple after Solomon is built and he prays and the glory comes into the temple, where does it go? Does it go into the to the public courts where everyone can see it? No, it goes into the holy of holies. And there's a two foot curtain that separates the holy of holies and therefore the glory of God from you. You can't see it. But then, praise God, what happens when Jesus dies? Curtain rips into and the glory of the Lord is thrown wide open. I want them to see my glory. You know, that's your that's your hope and that's your destiny as a Christian. The book of Revelation says your destiny is to see him face to face, to see his glory, to know him in all of his all of his fullness, the fullness of his character. Now, that is a reason to persevere through the trials and the temptations and the difficulties of this world, because we know where we're going. And that gives us heart. I had a friend in Louisville when I was in Louisville for seminary who had a three-year-old son with a life-threatening cancer. And it was an unbelievably hard time for them. The little boy, praise God, has gone into remission and seems to be doing fine now. He's about five years old now. But in the darkest part of that struggle with this cancer, the doctors, They had a website where they would give updates about the treatments and all the rest. And the doctors at the hospital where they were apparently gave them a slogan that they would sign off each web entry with. And it was reach the day. What the doctors meant was reach the day when the disease is no longer there, when we get back a clear cancer scan. But over the months, over the months, I watched this family write these. Right, these these web entries and and as things got got progressively worse and it looked like it wasn't going to turn out right. I watched this Christian family take that slogan, reach the day. And turn it into something infinitely more beautiful. And as it got darker and darker, they began to sign off their web entries with with lines like reach the day when death dies. Or reach the day when the Lord Jesus returns and we see his face. See, even in their darkest moments. They were able to look forward to and put their hope and their trust in that day that Jesus was praying for when they would be with him and see his glory. That's what they looked forward to. I want you to see one more thing. In verses 25 and 26. Righteous father, the world doesn't know you, I know you and they know that you've sent me. I've made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them. Jesus has just been talking in verse twenty four about this glorious day when we'll be with him and see his glory and in verses twenty five and twenty six, he kind of he kind of comes down off the mountains of eternity again and into the stuff and the grit of of real life. Jesus is realistic, he understands that that life is hard and keeping your eyes on that day and on that that grand moment when you see his face is not going to be easy. He knows that. But he says there in verse twenty five, he gives he gives us the key to. To keeping our eyes there. When he says, righteous father, though the world doesn't know you, the world doesn't know you, the world doesn't know you, the things that your heart, Christian, runs after, they don't know God. I know you. You want to know what it takes to keep your eyes set on that day. When you'll see Jesus's face. It's keeping your eyes set on that Jesus right now, because he is the one who knows God and reveals God. But then look at verse 26. I have made you known to them and I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. It's an unbelievable thing at the end of this prayer where Jesus prays a prayer asking the father to do something and then he turns right around and says, you know what? I'm going to engage myself to answer my own prayer. I will continue to make you known. I'll do it. Even as I sit at the right hand of the throne of God, I will continue to make you known to my people. Incredible, isn't it? That Jesus, your Lord, now sits in heaven remembering this prayer that he prayed for you and is engaged in answering his own prayer in your life, making God known to you. To use an individual to you as a church. Christian, that's something to hang on to, the reason to worship your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's a reason to live together in unity until that day comes when you'll be with him and you'll see his face. Hang in there, Christian. Fight through the difficulty, fight through the temptation, fight through the grit of this life. Because the day is coming when you'll stand face to face with your Lord. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, it amazes us that In these moments, just before you went to the Garden of Gethsemane to be taken away to your death. You were praying for us. God, we thank you for for calling together this church, Jefferson Park Baptist, we we thank you that the members of this church share an identity because they are united to you. Oh, God, I pray that that understanding of that unity that they share in you. Would be deep enough to sink all the petty divisions that might exist among individuals in this church, I pray that that people would be convicted to forgive and to love because of that shared identity, that unity in you. Oh, Lord, I pray also that you would help this church. I pray for my own church, Capitol Hill Baptist, what I pray that our minds and our thoughts and our eyes would be filled up. With the hope of being with you in your father's house. Oh, God, help us help us to reach the day. When we see your face and we are with you for all eternity. We pray this in Jesus' name and to His glory. Amen.