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(John 17:20-23)
I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning, we saw
Jesus prayed for us
That the Father would make us holy
That He would purify us from sin and selfishness
Because Jesus was sending us to the world
To tell others of His saving love in the Gospel.
If we were not purified from sin,
The world would be too tempting;
And if our selfishness was not broken,
We would not want to go
And so He prayed.
B. Preview.
This evening, we see He prayed this
Not only that we might have the strength
To move out of our comfort zones and evangelize,
And to do this without being stumbled by the world,
He also prayed because He was concerned
About the character of our witness
He wants us
To be living proof
That He was sent by His Father,
And that He has sent us to the world
Through our unity as the body of Christ.
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3. What Jesus has given us so that we all would be one.
4. Why Jesus prays that we might be one.
5. And then close with some ways we should promote this unity.
II. Sermon.
A. First, we see that Jesus prays for all believers: present and future.
He says in verse 20, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who
believe in Me through their word.
Theres no doubt He was praying for His disciples.
But He also prayed for those who had believed and will believe.
Even though the present tense is used here,
Jesus is referring to all who will ever believe.
In the original language,
Sometimes the writer or speaker
Will refer to something that is so certain to take place
That he represents it as something that is already taking place.
Jesus knew there were others the Father had given Him,
So He prays for them as well
This, as weve seen, includes us
If we believe in Him
And are following Him.
He wasnt praying
That we would become one in Being
With the Father, Son and Spirit
That we would become part of the Godhead
As the Worldwide Church of God believes.
The language may seem to suggest this,
But such a belief is not only blasphemous,
It would be impossible
Even God cant bring us into the Godhead.
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And that Jesus has for us.
Jesus prays
That we might have one heart towards one another
And one purpose.
C. Third, Jesus has given us His Spirit so that we will have this love and purpose.
He prays in verse 22, The glory which You have given Me I have given to them,
that they may be one, just as We are one.
Jesus earlier prayed that the Father
Would glorify Him with the glory
He had with Him before the world was:
That He would bestow something of His divine glory
On His human nature
Since He is the God-man.
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Even as He and the Father are one.
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And receives them into His family
As His sons and daughters.
But here is one more witness to the truth of all these things:
How the Gospel changes our lives.
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If He were in standing our place,
And then in patient love
Seeking to lead them into the truth.
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