 And the title of our sermon this morning is Forever His. Forever His. And we are in John chapter 17, working through this paragraph in verses 20 to 26. And as we've been working through this, this prayer I hope has come into focus more as we've worked through the text, one prayer beginning in John chapter 17, verse one, running down through verse 26. So many profound truths expressed here. So many things that are woven together. We'll see more of that this morning. So as we work through the text, I pray you're taking notes, right? You're engaging with the text, be engaged with the text of scripture. We need to be expository listeners as much as I would be an expository preacher, right? Thinking through clause by clause, word by word, putting all this together so that we can understand what the Lord is teaching, what the Lord intends for us to know from this text so that we can know how that applies to us, how it applies to our heart. And we need to pray that the spirit of God would change us as a result of it and by his grace. So John chapter 20, verses 20 through 26. Now in John chapter 17, beginning in verse six specifically, the Lord references his disciples. He says in verse six, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. As we come down to verse nine, the Lord prays for them. He says, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me. Now specifically in praying for them, he makes two requests of God the Father. First one in verse 11, holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me. In other words, protect them, preserve them, keep them from the evil one. The second comes in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Now those two requests, keep them, sanctify them are not only for those 11 men that are walking with the Lord. Verse 20 says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for all those who will believe in me through their word. In other words, keep them also, right? Sanctify them also. You and I are not an afterthought in the eternal plans and purposes of God. The church, the church of the living God is right here on the heart of our Lord as he prays. We're not the leftover lasagna, right? We're part of the eternal plans and purposes of God from the beginning. And so right now he is praying for us, praying for his church, his people. Now he's going to charge the church with one overarching mission, the Great Commission. He's going to leave them departing by means of the cross. He's going to leave them with the responsibility to preach the gospel and to call sinners to Christ. Now the Lord knows in praying for that that that work will bear fruit. He knows that. He has said he will build his church and he prays for the church now in verse 20. So the prayer, the prayer to keep them, the prayer to sanctify them is a prayer for the Lord's disciples here in John chapter 17. And according to verse 20, it's a prayer for all those after them who would turn from their sin, trust Christ alone through the word of God, which is the gospel that was preached to them. As we come to our texts now, why keep them? Why sanctify them? What is the aim of the keeping and the sanctifying? That becomes the Lord's concern in verses 20 through 26. There are two requests of the Lord in verses 20 to 26 that express that concern. In other words, keep them, sanctify them. So in verse 21, they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. The second request comes in verse 24. Father, I desire and that means I will. It's not a wish, it's a will. It's the will of the Lord Jesus Christ that they also whom you gave me, may be with me where I am. In those two requests that we see from verses 20 to 26, he is one dealing with both the reality and the implications of our union with Christ. And we look at that last week, right? Secondly though, he's dealing with the future reality and consummation of our eternal communion with Christ. Union with Christ and communion with Christ. So now if you think about it and you start putting these pieces together, the Lord's prayer in John chapter 17 sweeps across the entire landscape of all of redemptive history, of all the eternal plans and purposes of God to save a people to himself. From the eternal councils of the Godhead in eternity past, as God the Father chooses a special people out of the world to give God the Son as a love gift to him. Then he who was eternally God the Son, he made himself of no reputation. He took the form of a slave. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross in order to redeem them. He suffered there, propitiating the wrath of God by enduring the curse of hell in the place of those given to him by the Father out of the world. And now having been raised from the dead, he always lives to make intercession for them. He rules and he reigns as his body, the church, carries on his work of gathering in the elect through the preaching of the gospel. So the Lord's prayer then in John chapter 17 stretches from eternity past through the present and into eternity future now, as that elect people redeemed and righteous, verse 24, are with him where he is to enjoy communion with Christ forever and ever to the glory of God, amen. It's a glorious prayer. The blessed state, the blessed state of those, I do need the tissues. The blessed state of those who are in union with Christ is that we are forever his in the mind and in the heart of God, in eternity past, in the mind and heart of God, as the Lord prays here in John chapter 17, in our hearing through which we become encouraged, don't we? And in the mind and heart of God, in eternity future, we are forever his. It's a blessed salvation, is it not? We should take encouragement in that. That should fuel our hope, fuel our joy, fuel our faith, fuel our service. It's a glorious prayer. Many of us had the blessing this last week of seeing a precious couple in our church married. Wonder where they are today? Where are they today? As you listen to a wedding sermon, right? As you witness their joy, if you're married, you can't help but think about the joy and the blessing and the bliss of your own marriage, right? How much you love your wife, how much you love your husband. In marriage, one man, one woman, now one flesh for one lifetime. It communicates a permanence, right? The marriage ceremony. If you're in Christ, if you're in Christ, that blissful oneness that a godly marriage is supposed to portray, that blissful oneness in marriage is mere shadow compared to the reality that's in Christ. Amen? Psalm chapter 16 verse 11, in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore, forevermore. God says to Hosea in chapter two verse 19, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice in loving kindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me, permanence, permanence, right, we're forever his. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. So through trials and tribulations, through pain and through suffering, many of you are going through difficulties right now. It are unbearable apart from Christ. Through battles, through difficulties, through weakness, through this life, we are forever his. And we looked last week at how all of this, right? The whole grand sweeping scope, from beginning into eternity, how all of that is based first upon our union with him, our union with Christ. Remember in Ephesians, right? Ephesians chapter one verse four, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians chapter one verse seven, in him we have redemption through his blood. In Ephesians chapter one verse eight, that he might gather together in one all things in him. In Ephesians chapter one verse 11, in him also we have obtained an inheritance. In Ephesians chapter one verse 13, and all that guaranteed having been sealed with a Holy Spirit of promise in him. And so the Lord's prayer, really in all of John chapter 17, is founded in, rooted upon, grounded upon our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 20 through 26, deal directly with the implications of that union. Our union then, that union with Christ leads to those two requests that we see Jesus make in verses 20 through 26, that they may be one, that they may be with me where I am. We see a prayer then and its purpose in verses 20 through 23, that's what we're gonna look at today. And then we see a prayer and its purpose in verses 24 through 26, and we'll get to that next week. All right, so let's first, let's look at his prayer and that prayer's purpose beginning in verse 20. The Lord prays, he says I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. So now in verse 20, he prays for the church made up of all those, the church is made up of all those who place repentant faith in Christ alone through the word of the gospel, the word of the apostles that was preached to them, through the word passed down to us from the apostles. Now that prayer for the church is expressed in two parts in verse 21, two parts. The first part is this, that they all may be one, that they all may be one. The second part is this, that they also may be one in us, may be one in us. Now he's praying for unity. He's praying for oneness, one unity in the church, but also two unity with the triune God. That's what is meant by the word us there. In fact, this concern, this oneness, this concern for unity woven into the fabric of the entire prayer. He said that, stated it explicitly back in verse 11, the second half of verse 11 there, holy father he says, keep through your name those whom you have given me to what end, for what purpose, that they may be one as we are. So we're talking about unity. We're talking about unity specifically in a church, and we're talking about the unity of the body, the unity of believers with their God. Now what can we learn about unity from this text? What are we to take away from it? How are we to understand what the Lord is praying for here? Is he speaking of, in John chapter 17, in this paragraph, is he speaking about an institutional unity? Is he speaking about an organizational unity? We need to organize ourselves under one world church and all come together, come home to mother, is that what he's talking about? Is he talking about a physical unity? Are we to organize ourselves around denominations and associations? Is that the unity that he's speaking about? There are many who believe that we must organize ourselves around denominations or associations, and if we do not, then we violate the intent of the Lord's prayer here in John chapter 17, and we're in sin. But is that it? Is this unity external, or is it internal? Is it visible, or is it invisible? Is it spiritual? Is it physical? What is it? And one of the chief causes, one of the chief causes of disunity among the churches today, is a misunderstanding of unity. They don't know what unity is in Christ, and their misunderstanding of unity leads to schism, leads to division, leads to disunity. I wanna give you a few observations from the text, a few points from the text that describe what this unity is, all right? The first one is this. This is unity in the faith. This is unity in the faith. Look at verse 21. Who is the they in verse 21 referring to? That they all may be one, that they also may be one in us. The theys, those pronouns in verse 21, they refer back to verse 20, and all those who believe in him through the apostles' word. That's who the they is talking about there. That means that for one point, this unity is unity among genuine Christians, those who believe savingly in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is where unity among Christians begins. This is where unity among Christians begins. In other words, all those who are born again, all those who are born again of the spirit of God. That's why Paul in Ephesians chapter four refers to it as the unity of the spirit, right? Paul says, if you don't have the spirit of God, you're none of his. You are saved if you have the spirit of God in dwelling you. When you are born again by the spirit, the spirit of God indwells the believer. We are brought into unity with Christ, union with Christ, and union, unity with one another. This begins when your Christianity, so to speak, begins. Paul said in Ephesians chapter four, verse four, he said there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. This becomes then a unity of the spirit that we are to keep in the bond of peace. So it's a spiritual unity, right? It's a spiritual unity. Paul explains that by the spirit of God we are made members of his body. Now, think with me for a moment. Where is that unity expressed? Where do you see that unity expressed? If we are members of his body, we're brought into union with Christ, that union is with Christ and with one another. It is a spiritual unity based upon our one faith, one baptism, one spirit. Where is that unity expressed? Is expressed in the local church? Is expressed here among us, brothers and sisters? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We have one example of this. That unity not expressed in Rome, not expressed in denomination, not expressed even in association, that unity is expressed in a local church among genuine believers, brothers and sisters in Christ and dwelt by the same spirit. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and look down at verse 12. And look at how this is worded here. For as the body is one, we are one together in one body. As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. We're brought into spiritual union with Christ. We're brought into union with one another. We're one body though many members, whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many if the foot should say, because I'm a foot not a hand, am I not of the body? Is it therefore not of the body? If the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, just as he pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? See how our unity is expressed. Does this unity, we think about it in this way, does this unity that the Lord is talking about, does that unity mean uniformity? No, does oneness mean sameness? Now this is very important to think about with respect to unity. No, it doesn't mean sameness. Look back up at chapter 12, verse four. Paul says in verse four, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. Not uniformity, not sameness, but oneness. And you can see, can't you? First Corinthians 12, how all that is of the spirit. It's a spiritual unity, believers unified with one another, believers unified to their head, Christ, who is head of the body, this unity of the faith. The unity that's being expressed here, and in John chapter 17, is authored and sustained by the spirit of God. Authored and sustained by the spirit of God. And it's in our relationship by faith to our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our unity then is based upon the foundation of, rooted and grounded in our union with him. Being brought into union with him, we have unity with one another. Now let's apply that for a moment, how we think about that. If you are vitally connected to the head of the church by faith, then you're going to experience the spirit wrought unity that is described in the Bible. Spirit wrought growth, spirit wrought maturity, spirit wrought holiness, spirit wrought nourishment, spirit wrought fruitfulness. If you are vitally connected to the head of the church through the spirit of God, you're going to experience that. If you're not vitally connected to the head of the church by his spirit, if you're not in him or if you don't maintain, if you're a genuine Christian and you don't maintain an abiding union with Christ, then dry rot sets in. Death creeps in, you begin to wither and die. We've seen it before, haven't we? Those that have professed Christ and been among us that began to withdraw themselves from the body. As they withdraw themselves from the body, you see the withering effects of that. They become a withering and eventually dead, gangrenous, cancerous sucker branch on the body of Christ. They don't help the body, they don't edify the body. They just suck away vital nutrients from the body, right? That's because they're not vitally connected to their head. We saw that expressed in John chapter 15 verse five. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. They gather those branches, throw them into the fire and they are burned. Now think about this with respect to the church. The Lord is praying for unity in his body, unity in the church. When does disunity, discord or division often occur? When does unity begin to break down with someone? It occurs when someone begins to withdraw themselves from the body. It happens when someone begins to withdraw themselves from that vital connection to their head which is often expressed in the ministry of the local church. It begins in the heart, doesn't it? Begins at home in the heart. They're not reading their Bibles, they're not praying, they're distant from God. Their prayers are like hitting a brass ceiling, right? And then they begin to withdraw from brothers and sisters who love them, who hold them accountable. They begin to stand opposed to them. Shows up in their life, doesn't it? Shows up in their life. So one way that you can labor, as Paul tells us to do, labor to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace is you get involved, you get involved in the church. You remain vitally connected to your head through the means which he has appointed, reading the Bible, meditating on the Bible, worshiping God through the word of God, praying and praying fervently, asking God to help you to change your heart, right? You love the brothers, you're engaged with his church, you're engaged in his purposes, engaged in his work. You remain vitally connected to your head. You love your brothers, right? You serve your brothers. Now we've seen that time and time again, over and over again. That's a proverbial pattern that comes right out of the pages of scripture and we see it in our own experience. If you're in a godly church, when you become disconnected from your head and you begin to withdraw yourself, we see that death, we see that dry rot setting in and before too long, we've seen it time and time again, you're gone. So consider this with me. There's some of you here who are, you're on the edge of the flock, right? You're on the edge of the flock, you're lunch for wolves, you are there and there's a prowling lying, seeking whom he may devour. You need to be vitally connected. What should this teach us? If this is a spiritual unity, born by the spirit of God who uses means to cultivate it and to grow it and to mature it, then what should we do, brothers and sisters? We should cling to those means, cling to Christ by faith, availing ourselves of those means to be in vital union with him. And when you are connected to your head, you grow and you produce fruit. If you're concerned that you're not wetted to him that way that you should be, you're in danger. If you're concerned because you don't see the growth that you should see, you're not having victory in the battle with sin that you should have. If you're not engaged in loving your brothers, involved in the life and health of his church and you're not vitally connected to your head and dry rot is setting in, do something about that. Trust Christ, cry out to Christ for help, right? Put faith in him, but seek that unity. Unity is a unity in the faith. Secondly, the unity that he's speaking about in verses 20 to 26 is a unity in the truth. It's a unity in the truth. The Lord's prayer for unity, back in John chapter 17, in verse 21 is for those who believe in Christ through the word of the apostles. Now that word of the apostles there in verse 20 is the same word of truth mentioned in John chapter 17 verse 17 where he prays, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Now when Paul stresses in Ephesians chapter four, verse five, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, the one faith there refers to the substance or the content of the faith to which you and I have been delivered if you're in Christ. Jude calls it the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. It's the substance of our faith, the content of our faith. John Owen makes the point that in order to have unity in the truth, two things are required. Two things are required. One is a precise and express profession of the fundamental articles of Christian religion as he puts it. A precise and express profession of the fundamental articles of Christian religion. Those are important, right? Fundamental articles of Christian religion. We're talking about justification by faith, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, right? These fundamental articles. Now those articles for us are laid out in our statement of faith. We have a statement of faith of London Baptist Confession 1689, expressly lays out what we believe fundamentally the Bible teaches. Those things are important. How we practice those things laid out in our covenant, our church covenant. But both of those things very important. They need to be clearly and expressly stated and we need to unify around that truth, the truth of what the Bible teaches. Secondly though, you don't just need those articles of Christian religion. Owen says, in all other things and duties, every man must be fully persuaded in his own mind. Owen continues, he says, and walking according to what he hath attained, do follow peace and love with those who are otherwise persuaded than he is. In other words, we need to be persuaded in our own minds with those things that are not fundamental, with those things that are sometimes difficult, those things that are sometimes hard to understand. There needs to be love between brothers and we each need to be persuaded in our own minds according to our own consciences. If you think about that, right? Even the way the Bible is written in the wisdom of God and I wanna unpack this for you just a little bit. In the wisdom of God, how he even conveys truth to us allows for that kind of difficulty and allows for us to labor with it and that for our good. Now you consider the nature of man after the fall, which is sinful and depraved, right? By its nature, by man, by his nature is divisive, right? We're sinful and we're gonna sinfully air in our understanding of scripture. But even in the way that scripture is revealed to us, it allows us, allows for us to labor with the text of scripture and that for our good. Now God in his wisdom, let me unpack this for you a little bit. In his wisdom, oneness in the truth does not mean sameness. Again, in God's wisdom, unity does not mean uniformity. One day, all denominations, all breaches, will all be eviscerated and we will be one worshiping the Lord together in perfect unity. On this side of heaven, we're to labor with the text. Unity in the truth, according to the Bible, is something we must mature into. It's something that we must labor to keep and beyond those fundamental articles of Christianity, every man must be fully persuaded in his own mind. I wanna turn to two texts with respect to that. First is Romans chapter 14. Look at Romans chapter 14. We're to have unity around the truth. Romans chapter 14, and in the pages of God's word, we see this oneness when there's not sameness. There's an expectation there's not going to be sameness and we must in maturity, according to the spirit, love our brothers, love our sisters as we pursue oneness, even though there's not sameness. Look at Romans 14, he says in verse one, receive one who is weak in the faith but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let him, let not him who eats, despise him who does not eat. Let not him who does not eat, judge him who eats for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Now, what he's referring to here are not unity based on fundamental things, necessary requirements. You can't be a Christian and deny the Trinity. You can't be a Christian and deny the deity of Christ. You can't be a Christian and deny justification by faith alone, right? He's not speaking about those determined facts that in order to be a Christian you're believing Christ in those things, all right? He's talking about scruples here, things that are more doubtful, things that are not sure. He says we must be fully convinced in our own mind. Verse six, he who observes the day observes it to the Lord. He who does not observe the day to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord for he gives God thanks and he who does not eat to the Lord he does not eat and gives God thanks. None of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lords. To this end Christ died and rose and lived again that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Drop down and look at verse 19. And here I think is in God's wisdom, the point. Therefore, verse 19, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy as he who does not condemn himself and what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because he does not eat from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin. In other words, this is how we hold unity in the truth. There's no preconceived notion here that we're gonna have sameness. There is a command to oneness. Oneness but not sameness. Unity not uniformity, all right? In other words, you don't take your theological scruple and so discord with it. Paul says receive one who is weak in the faith but not to disputes over doubtful things. In our past here, we've seen a pattern of this. We've seen a pattern of young men becoming puffed up with knowledge. Old men too, we've had a couple of those as well. But their wicked pride will not allow them to hold their position. They become convinced in their own mind and their wicked pride will not allow them to hold that position in unity and in peace. And they are compelled by their pride to sow discord with it, to be divisive with it. They begin to stand opposed. After now standing opposed, they begin to persuade allies. Having persuaded allies to their case, they are and become more and more divisive. In Proverbs 6.19, the Lord hates the one who sows discord among brethren. So what's the point? We're to walk in love toward our brothers. We're to walk in love toward your church. You're to walk in love toward your elders. There is to be, there is to be spirit wrought peace and spirit wrought unity even when we disagree. It's often because of your scruple that you begin to despise your brothers, despise your church, despise your elders, and that precious peace, that precious unity is disrupted. Paul tells Titus, warn that wicked man once, warn him twice, and then get him out. He is warped and sinning being self-condemned. We have to learn, we have to learn and mature into being able to disagree without sinning against your brother, without sinning against your church, without sinning against the Lord. And this is all, this is all a result of pride. It's all a result of pride. It's staggering to me today, the lengths to which most professing churches, I use that word professing there for a reason, or most professing Christians, the lengths to which they will go to fabricate or counterfeit this kind of unity, this unity in the truth. They'll usually do it in one of three ways. First way that they do it, the way that they counterfeit this kind of unity is through their silence. They just don't say anything, right? They're not gonna say anything. They won't talk about it because they don't want to offend. And so they won't bring it up. They won't bring up anything that might cause a disagreement. They won't confront anyone with the truth because that sham counterfeit unity is more important to them than the truth, right? They believe that they can maintain peace or maintain unity through avoidance. We can't do that in the church. It is to be a unity that is founded upon, grounded in, rooted upon the truth of God's word. We can't be silent. You have to take a stand for the truth. And if that means that we have to part ways, then we part ways. Listen, if you are gonna come in here and be disruptive with your scruple, it won't be long before we part ways, you understand? We're not gonna have this unity. It's too precious. It's too sweet here. And we love the peace and unity that God has graced us with here. So we have to take a stand for the truth. They'll do it through silence. Secondly, they'll do it through ambiguity. We'll talk about it, but we won't talk clearly about it. We have to maintain vagueness about it in order to preserve what we think is Christian unity. We'll attract more people by being vague, right? Our statement of faith is gonna be three points instead of 23 points because we want more people included and not ex. Besides, you know what? It's loving when you include people. It's unloving to exclude people. Ambiguity, we're not gonna be clear. We're gonna be vague. Who should you be trying to love preeminently? Yeah, the author of the word of God, right? We should love him preeminently. God told Eli, didn't he, right? He told Eli, essentially, I'm gonna break off the arm. I'm gonna break off your arm and break off the arm of your father's house because you honor your sons more than me. God deserves our honor preeminently. Thirdly, they'll do it through compromise. So through silence, through ambiguity, thirdly through compromise. A sham unity is built on accepting or even affirming. It's not enough that you just accept their viewpoint. You have to affirm their viewpoint, right? Otherwise, you're out. A sham unity is built on accepting or even affirming fundamental differences. The catch phrase is, we just agree to disagree. We're gonna agree to disagree. There are many things, folks, on which we cannot agree to disagree. We cannot agree, they are wrong. It is unbiblical. We'd have to take a stand for the Lord. We cannot compromise. We cannot compromise. If true unity is built on a foundation of truth then we cannot compromise. All of this, right? Silence, ambiguity, compromise. This unity all justified today under a flag of love, under a flag of love. And if you take a stand for the truth, you are censured as unloving. If you attend church here regularly, you gotta get used to that. Gotta be used to that. Unity apart from conviction regarding the truth. Listen, unity apart from conviction regarding the truth shows a contempt for Christ and His authority over the church. If you show pretense of having a unity that is apart from the truth of God, then you show contempt for the head of the church and His authority. We must be clear, not vague. We must be uncompromising. We cannot compromise. And we must take a stand for the truth. And we need to do that loudly. We can't be silent. But when you do that, you come under fire. You come under fire. You know, it's amazing to me. It's amazing to me how wicked men will raise a standard of their own opinion, right? And then censure us by that standard as though we should be regulated by them. They hold the standard with sincerity. We hold the standard with sincerity. We need to learn how to disagree. But they judge us because we differ from them. A Christian is going to face that. If you go to church here, you gotta get used to that. Unity in the truth. Unity in the truth means that we must never accommodate our faith or our practice to the measures and standards of other men. Unity in the truth means that we must never accommodate our faith or our practice to the measures and standards of other men. Our standard is the truth of God. Our standard is the word of God. And that's the unity that's being prayed for here by the Lord in John chapter 17. It's a unity in the faith and it's a unity grounded in the truth. Thirdly, it's a unity reflective of the Trinity. Reflective of the Trinity. Reflective of the Trinity. Look at verse 21. Lord praise that they, that's the church again, all believers, that they all may be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. Look at verse 22, same prayer expressed, right? And the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. Verse 23, I in them and you in me, that they may be perfect, made perfect in one. So the Lord here in John chapter 17, if you start putting this together, the Lord prays for a horizontal unity, so to speak, between all believers, among genuine believers in the church, that they all may be one. That verb may be there for you Greek guys is subjunctive. It shows intention, right? That's gonna be important in a moment. That verb is subjunctive showing intention, that they all may be one, right? He prays for that horizontal unity among genuine believers. Then he bases that unity or he grounds that unity in the unity that we see within the Godhead. The unity that believers are to reflect is the unity that we see between the Father and the Son. I think with me. Then he gives it a vertical purpose in verse 21 as well. That they also may be one in us. So put it together. Horizontal unity, all believers in the church were to be unified with one another. Unified in the faith, unified on the truth, right? Spiritual unified, spiritually unified by the Spirit of God. That horizontal unity is to be reflective of the unity that we see between God the Father and God the Son. We'll talk about what that means. And that for the purpose that we may be one with them, right? It's where the us comes in. One with the Trinity. One with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Now our understanding of this unity hinges on the meaning of that little word as kathos. As you, Father, are in me and I in you. Now think about the unity of Father and Son together with me. Father and Son have perfect unity from all eternity. Perfect unity. But notice how the Lord words this. Father and Son, though perfectly unified, are distinct here. As you, Father, are opposed to the cults, right? Are opposed to oneness pentecostals or motorless. They are distinct. As you, Father, are in me and I in you. This is a relational or a reciprocal unity. You, Father, are in me and I am in you. It's a unity that's been witnessed by them. It's the witness, they've witnessed this unity. And they've witnessed it through the incarnation, through the Lord's earthly ministry. So what they've seen then, the unity that's being expressed here, is a unity of purpose. It's a unity of message. It's a unity of work. It's a unity of mission. Lord Jesus Christ said, I came to do my Father's will, right? I always do those things which are pleasing to Him. You see the Son obeying the Father. You see the Father responding to the Son. You see the works that are being done. You see Jesus Christ carrying out on earth the redemptive plans and purposes of God from before time began. You see that kind of unity between God the Father, God the Son. That's the kind of unity that's being expressed here in verse 21 with respect to the Trinity. Then He added to that us. We're added to that. The end of verse 21, that they also may be one in us. We're to be in unity with both Father and Son. Now think with me again, what is this referring to? It's not referring to ontological unity or unity of being. We're not gods. We're not little gods. We're nothing like God. We are a created being. He is internal. We change by the second He is immutable, right? That's what the cults teach. That's not what He's saying here. This is not saying that we relate to God as created beings. The way that Jesus relates to God as a created being. It's also cult teaching. That's not what's being communicated here. And although this unity is rooted in our union with Christ and the union that we are brought into at salvation, the use of the, if you follow the Greek guys, the use of the subjunctive and the fact that these represent, the subjunctive represents purpose clauses. These are purpose clauses. The unity, this unity, is the purpose for which He prays, keep them, sanctify them, right? Therefore, this unity called for is based upon God the Father and God the Son's unity of mind, unity of purpose, unity in the work of redemption, unity of love, unity in the heart of God toward lost sinners, right? Unity of purpose, one heart, one mind, one love, one purpose, one work. And that's reflected in the Lord's obedience to the Father. It's reflected in the Lord's words, Lord's actions, always being those actions that please the Father. It's reflected in the Lord's compassion for sinners. It's reflected in His continuous evangelism. Even when the Lord heals people, healing their physical body and healing their spiritual state, their soul. It's primarily here reflected in the Lord's mission for having come to the earth. And that's linked carefully with the purpose of all this, that the world may believe that God the Father sent Him. So it's reflected in the Lord's mission. Now an indication of that, it's further seen in verse 22. Look at verse 22. And again, this is a little more difficult to piece together. So please just think with me, right? Verse 22, the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. Now look up at verse five. Look up at verse five. This glory, the glory of verse 22 is not the glory in verse five, which he had with God the Father before the world was. He's praying in verse five for that glory to be restored to him. We're talking about two different kinds of glory here, okay? What's being referred to in verse 22 is his messianic glory. The glory which was given to him that he can then turn and give to those in his body is his messianic glory. The glory given to him as one sent into the world to save sinners. The glory referred to here is the same glory referred to in chapter one, verse 14. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The glory of his incarnation. The glory of his coming, the glory of him taking on flesh in order to save and redeem sinful man, that glory, right? Now that glory, he says in verse 22, is given to them. What glory is? Glory is a revelation of God. It's a manifestation of God's character, God's attributes, God's purposes, who he is, what he does. And in that sense, in verse 22, he gives it to them, fully revealing himself to them, his saving purposes, his redemptive mission, his sacrificial death, his substitutionary atonement, soon his resurrection from the dead. And now having that glory given to them, they may be one just as we are one. What is that talking about? To what end? Paul calls it the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ. We're to bear witness to that glory. That's what we've been given, folks. We've been given that glory, the glory of the Son, which we are to proclaim as the Father sent the Son, now the Son sends us. Peter says, first Peter chapter two, verse nine, he says, but you, speaking of the church here, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people, but now you are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained a mercy. Do you see how that fits together? See, everything merges together. This is the unity that he's talking about in John chapter 17. It's a unity of faith. It's a unity around the truth. It's a unity that reflects the trinity in as much as that unity. It's a unity of mind, a unity of purpose, a unity of heart, a unity of mission, a unity of evangelizing the lost, right? A unity of God and redeeming, seeking and saving that which was lost. That's the unity being referred to here. Unity, therefore, is to be a unity in the faith, a unity of genuine believers. It's to be grounded in the truth, faithfulness to the word of God. Unity is to be centered in or bounded by the heart, the mind, the purpose, the work, the mission of God. When we enter into that heart, when we enter into that work, when we enter into that mind, that mission, we're entering into unity with him. Incidentally, most professing Christians aren't in unity with him because they're not aligned with that mission, that work, that heart, that desire. It's a mark of conversion. It's a mark of God's work, a work of grace in your heart that you desire the salvation of lost people. That's a work of God in the heart in every Christian. All of this now terminates in an ultimate purpose, an ultimate purpose. And that purpose being the glory of God. That's point two on your notes. We are forever his in blessed union with him, so the Lord prays point one verses 20 and 21, keep them, sanctify them, that we may be one. That, for the purpose that, my glory might be revealed. That's point two verses 21 through 23. That they may proclaim my praises, in other words. That glory is manifested or revealed in this world. Verse 21. That the world may believe that you sent me. Drop down to verse 23. You see the same thing expressed. That the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. That glory is also manifested or revealed in heaven. Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me. We'll study that next week. So this unity is spiritual, but in as much as it is spiritual, it bears observable or evident fruit. The world sees the truth of the gospel on display through the unity of God's people, right? They see evidence in his people of his divine mission, his divine work. And though we have differences, this unity of heart, this unity of mine, love, truth is the foundation of our evangelism. Verse 23 adds the visible testimony of love to the revealed glory. Look at that verse. Verse 23. That the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Didn't the Lord say in John chapter 13 when we study that text, right? In verse 35. By this all will know that you are my disciples. How? If you have love for one another. That's right. If you have love for one another. All this to say. Descension, discord, division, gossip, strife, contention, backbiting, hypocrisy has no place in the Lord's church. You have it in small unity with your father the devil when you do that, then unity with Christ. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. That unity needs to be evident in the church, but that unity should also be evident in your marriage. Shouldn't it? That unity should be evident in your home. The spirit produces this unity. The spirit empowers believers to practice this unity. The spirit works through means to ensure this unity. It's a spiritual unity. And it's a spiritual unity among those who make up his body across all denominations, across all churches. Those who are genuinely a part of the body of Christ. It's a unity of purpose, a unity of heart, a unity of mission, a unity of message. And one day every distinction will disappear. No denominations in heaven, right? Perfect unity. I love this text. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. A glimpse of our unity. After these things, I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, all tribes, all peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and they worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you and worship you and thank you for this precious oneness that we have with our Savior. God, for this oneness that we have with you and the Trinity, for this precious communion that we've been brought into in Christ, we praise you Lord for what a joy and what a blessing that is, even magnified by the fact that we will enjoy a perfect communion with you for all eternity in heaven, worshiping and praising you, praising the Lamb who is slain or what a glorious thought that we are forever yours. I pray God that you would preserve us in that unity. You would protect us in that unity or that you would protect us from discord, division, dissension, gossip, slander, backbiting, strife. God, please, Spirit of God, cause us, enable us, empower us, supply the means necessary for us to labor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Help us to protect that which is so precious to us here. God, I pray that if you were to tarry, Lord, that you would just give us many more years of peace and unity and joy and love for one another. Knowing that that, Lord, that unity, one heart, one mind, one mission, one love, one faith, one baptism, one Lord, one spirit, all just joined together, Lord, to see you glorified in the evangelization of the lost, in the discipleship of the saints, Lord, that you may be worshiped and praised as is right. We love you and thank you for these glorious blessings. Thank you for this text. Thank you for my brothers and sisters. Thank you for your church. In Jesus' name, amen.