The Prayers of Jesus | Pastor Jim Lusher

not been uh involved in your services

because thanks to what brother Troy does

back here with the uh videos and the um

YouTube uh postings,

um we quite often actually tune in to

listen to either uh Pastor Bill or

Brother Steve and his lessons. And uh we

enjoy uh being in worship with you folks

uh as we um tune in uh by way of the

internet. I uh am great grateful to see

a pretty good crowd here today for

Athens Bible Church. You know, um I'm

going to talk this morning about what we

call the Lord's Prayer. Now, when I was

a young man growing up, my father,

Pastor Charles Lusher, pastored at

Tabernacle Baptist Church in Chilikoth,

Ohio. And um

this seems hard to believe, but back

then the morning congregations, morning

service on Sundays were usually between

about four and 600 people.

And my dad had a habit, I think he

picked it up when he was a chaplain

during World War II, uh, leading large

groups of people in what we call the

Lord's Prayer. He'd have his Sunday

morning opening prayer and then he

would, uh, come to the end of his prayer

and he said, "And let us all pray

together even as our Lord taught us to

pray, our Father which are in heaven."

and he would go through what we refer to

as the Lord's prayer. And I I've thought

about that a lot since. You know, that

prayer starts

our father.

And unless a person

has been born again by faith in Jesus

Christ, we cannot say that God is our

father. People argue and they say,

"Well, it's in the sense that God is the

creator of all." And so, in that sense,

he's everybody's father. Well, not

spiritually speaking. Yes, he is the

creator of all. Jesus uh is the creator

of all, but Jesus said to the Pharisees

and his generation, "Ye are of your

father, the devil." So, not everybody is

a child of God. You have to come into

God's family by means of birth. Being

born again. How are you born again?

Well, I hope that all of you know, but

maybe someone out there on the internet

would like to know. How are you born

again? It tells me in John chapter one,

as many as received him, to them, no

more, no less, just them. To them gave

he power to become the children,

literally the techia in Greek, the born

ones of God. You have to receive him

into your heart as your savior.

Acknowledge that you're a sinner and

acknowledge your faith that he is God in

the flesh who died in your place upon

the cross to pay the debt of your sins.

And when you come and receive him in

that way, it tells me you can be born

again into God's family. So um we refer

to that prayer that's given in Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 as the Lord's prayer but in a

sense we maybe ought to call it the

disciples prayer

because it was when the disciples came

and they said to Jesus Lord teach us to

pray even as John also taught his

disciples to pray and so he taught them

to pray our pray after this manner not

necess necessarily these exact words,

but pray after this manner. Our Father,

which art in heaven, hallowed be be thy

name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. Give us

this day our daily bread, and forgive us

our debts or trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us. I know

that Pastor Hixon has told you this and

most of you know this, but the fact is

you can't really call that the Lord's

Prayer because Jesus would have never

prayed that prayer personally for

himself.

How would he ever pray forgive us our

debts as we forgive our debtors? He

never sinned. So he would have never

prayed that prayer for himself.

He prayed that prayer as a a a model

prayer for his followers. If you want to

talk about the Lord's prayer, the prayer

that he actually prayed,

then you have to come here to what we

call his high priestly prayer in John

17. You know, this amazes me. Um he

gathered with his uh disciples. If

you're in the Gospel of John, beginning

in chapter 13, we have what we call the

upper room discourse. And uh chapters 13

and 14 is what he talked with his

disciples about during that last supper.

And then he says at the end of chapter

14:31, arise, let us go from here. And

uh in chapters 15 and 16, he's teaching

them on their journey as they're walking

um he's teaching them

about uh the true vine. I I've often

wondered he went from over in Jerusalem

today. I I if my memory serves me

correctly, the Jaffa gate, the the gate

that goes out on the road that goes over

to the uh west toward the Mediterranean

in the city of Jaffa, the Jaffa gate is

close, I believe, to where the upper

room was. And so they would have gone

from that uh location of Jerusalem out

through the winding streets across

through the temple area down through

what they call the Tyropian Valley up

into the u temple mount courtyard and

they had a gate there doors on it which

had which had uh the depiction in gold I

believe gold or brass of of the vine and

the vine was to be a symbol

of the nation of Israel, the the vine of

Jehovah. And I think that maybe Jesus

stopped by that uh door while he was on

his way to Gethsemane

and uh he talked about I am the true

vine. Chapter 15 and verse one. And then

he talked about the struggles they would

have in the world. Marvel not if the

world hates you and hated me before it

hated you. And all those things he talks

about. He talks about the coming of the

Holy Spirit. All of that discussion was

on this walk from the upper room across

the temple probably out through the

eastern or the golden or the beautiful

gate. One gate with three different

names, eastern, golden or beautiful.

Probably went out through that gate down

through the Kiddan Valley and over to

the garden of Gethsemane where he

prayed. And I I think it's kind of

strange. He prayed

this prayer, John 17, on his way to

Gethsemane to pray. He prayed on his way

to pray. That's kind of an interesting

observation. I think uh I wonder how

much we pray. He prayed all the time.

You know, I don't know how long I'll

speak this morning. Aren't you thankful

that the scripture doesn't say preach

without ceasing?

But it does say pray without ceasing.

And it's just uh interesting to me that

Jesus prayed so much he prayed on his

way to pray. I wonder how much we pray.

But at any rate, this is really his

prayer. It's the high priestly prayer.

Aren't you glad that we have a great

high priest who can be touched with the

feeling of our infirmity and he knows

what our struggles are because he's gone

through them himself. And so he comes

here to this prayer. Uh many have said

this is holy ground. This is like

entering into the Holy of Holies and

listening to what Jesus, our great high

priest, uh uh request

on these hours before

he went to the cross. You have to

understand he goes to Gethsemane after

this prayer. He sees he's taken to the

house of Caiaphas. He's imprisoned. He's

beaten. The next morning early they take

him to the ptorium. He's he's beaten.

He's mocked. A crown of thorns is put on

him. He's taken out. He's put upon a

cross, nailed to a cross. He's hanging

there for 6 hours. Darkness from high

noon till 3:00 in the afternoon. Then he

cries out and he says, "It is finished."

uh within 24 hours basically of when

he's praying here less than that he's

dead

then praise the Lord he doesn't stay

dead he rises again but this is a prayer

that he prayed in the closing hours

before he goes to the cross and I just

think

what would you or I pray for in a moment

like this but here's what Jesus prayed

for I'm hoping that we've got this right

here. Here's what our Lord prayed for

there. There's many requests that you

could focus on, single out in this 17th

chapter of John, but I think there are

four that stand out to my way of

thinking and we can look at them

together here this morning. But let me

read uh this is about 640 words, takes

about three and a half minutes to read.

You stay with me while I read the 17th

chapter of John in its entirety.

Beginning in verse one.

These words spoke Jesus and lifted up

his eyes to heaven and said, "Father,

the hour is come. Glorify thy son that

thy son may also glorify thee, as thou

hast given him power over all flesh,

that he should give eternal life to as

many as thou hast given him." And this

is life eternal, that they may know

thee, the only true God, and Jesus

Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have

glorified thee on the earth. I have

finished the work which thou gavest me

to do. And now, oh father, glorify thou

me with thine own self, with the glory

which I had with thee before the world

was. I have manifested thy name unto the

men whom thou hast given me out of the

world. Thine they were, and thou gavest

them to me, and they have kept thy word.

Now they have known that all things

whatsoever thou hast given me are of

thee. For I have given unto them the

words which thou gavest me, and they

have received them, and have known

surely that I came out from thee, and

they have believed that thou did send

me. I pray for them. I pray not for the

world, but for them whom thou hast given

me, for they are thine, and all mine are

thine, and thine are mine, and I am

glorified in them.

And now I am no more in the world, but

these are in the world. And I come to

thee, Holy Father, keep through thine

own name those whom thou hast given me,

that they may be one as we are. While I

was with them in the world, I kept them

in thy name. Those whom thou hast given

me, I have kept, and none of them is

lost, but the son of predition, that the

scripture might be fulfilled.

And now come I to thee, and these things

I speak in the world, that they might

have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them my word, and the world

hath hated them, because they are not of

the world, even as I am not of the

world. I pray not that thou shouldest

take them out of the world, but that

thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am

not of the world. Sanctify them through

thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou

hast sent me into the world, even so

have I also sent them into the world.

And for their sake I sanctify myself,

that they also might be sanctified

through the truth. Neither pray I for

these alone, but for them also who shall

believe on me through their word, that

they all may be one as thou, Father, art

in me, and I in thee, that they also may

be one in us, that the world may believe

that thou hast sent me. And the glory

which thou gavest me, I have given them,

that they may be one, even as we are

one.

I in them and thou in me, that they may

be made perfect in one, and that the

world may know that thou hast sent me,

and hast loved them as thou hast loved

me. Father, I will that they also whom

thou hast given me, be with me where I

am, that they may behold my glory, which

thou hast given me. For thou lovest me

before the foundation of the world, oh

righteous father, the world hath not

known thee, but I have known thee, and

these have known that thou hast sent me.

And I have declared unto them thy name,

and will declare it, that the love with

which thou hast loved me may be in them,

and I in them.

What an astonishingly

wonderful prayer our savior prayed in

those moments. And as I said, there are

many things that we could focus on, but

I want to focus on four here this

morning that stand out, at least in my

mind, in what I have just read. The

first one of these uh requests that he

makes is he prays that God would be

glorified.

He prayed that God would be glorified.

You know the Westminster Shorter

Catechism says that the chief duty of

man is to glorify God and to enjoy him

forever. That's our highest duty, I

think, to glorify him. Um, that's what

the church's um primary objective is, is

to glorify God. Now, I want you to see

how this prayer starts out. In verse

one,

these words spoke Jesus and lifted up

his eyes to heaven and said, "Father,

the hour is come."

What hour is he talking about? The hour

for which he came into this world. You

know, back in John chapter 2 and verse

John 2 · chapter mention

4, Jesus is at the marriage at Canaa of

Galilee and his mother Mary says, you

know, they're uh running out of wine and

Jesus, you remember, he says, "My hour

is not yet come."

He came into this world for a specific

time, a specific hour, and uh Canaan of

Galilee wasn't the time. And then you

could read it. I'm not going to take you

to all these, but chapter 12 and verse

27, he says uh uh the hour was coming.

And then in 13 and verse one, he talks

about uh the hour was coming. But now he

says the hour is come. Chapter 13 and

verse one. Now, before the feast of

Passover, when Jesus knew that the hour

was come, uh, that he should depart out

of this world. That's what he's talking

about. This hour has come when he should

depart out of this world. And here's

what he wants to have happen in that

hour. Father, the hour has come. Glorify

thy son that thy son may also glorify

thee. How is God the Father going to be

glorified in this prophesied hour that

is upon our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ? He says, "Glorify thy son

Jesus

that thy son may also glorify thee." And

how is that going to happen? It happens

in a lot of ways. God glorifies himself

in many ways. You know, it says in

Psalm 19 and verse one, the heavens

declare the glory of God and the

firmament showeth forth his handiwork.

Well, God is glorified in creation, is

he not?

I I think about all these pictures I

love to browse through on the internet

of uh the web space telescope and the

Hubble Space Telescope and they show all

of these

regions and galaxies in our universe and

you're just your mind is just blown away

at the immensity

the grandeur of what God has created and

I think the heavens declare the glory of

God. And I look at those pictures and I

say, "Uh, nobody like him. Only God

could have done this, right?" And I I

see God's glory. He's glorified in his

word. Sometimes I'll be reading along in

the word and uh I'll just come across a

a line and I think, "Oh, glory to God."

Just think about this amazing

declaration. We God is glorified in a

lot of ways, but I want to say I I'm

persuaded that God was never glorified

in any greater way than through his son.

And I don't think I'm off in saying

this, that perhaps through his son, he

was glorified

more in this hour

than in any other time before we get to

eternity.

You know, I I can think about the glory

that's here, but I wonder about the

glory that's going to be revealed one of

these days.

I think about what Jesus uh says in

verse 24 of this chapter chapter. Father

I will that they also whom they hast

given me

be with me where I am that they may

behold

my glory

which thou hast given me for thou lovest

me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus says that twice by the way. The

end of verse 24 be that he had a

relationship with the father before the

foundation of the world. The end of

verse five the glory which I had with

thee before the world was.

People want to say well Jesus was just a

man. He was just a great teacher. I say

now wait a minute folks. It tells me

here in his word, he confessed it

himself that he was around with the

father in heaven before the world was

created.

Before there were galaxies or universes

or angels or principalities or powers or

humans or anything

in eternity past, he had glory with the

father before the world was.

And when he came into this life, he laid

aside

that glory

to take upon him human flesh

to become a man.

And I often think about this. He didn't

just take on the appearance of man. He

became a man

so that he could be our kinsman redeemer

to die in our place. And he walked all

the dusty roads of Galilee and Jerusalem

and all of that. And people saw him, but

they didn't really see his glory.

They didn't really see who he was. You

say, "Well, Peter, James, and John up on

the Mount of Transfiguration,

they saw his glory there." Well, they

saw some of his glory, but I'm persuaded

that the glory that was his in eternity

past and the glory which he will be uh

given again as he went back to heaven.

and that we will one day witness with

our own eyes as believers the glory uh

that thou hast given me before the

foundation of the world. That glory one

day we're going to see it. Amen.

But

during this hour,

he's wanting to glorify the father. And

how does he do that?

I' I've never seen God. Have you? No man

has seen God at any time. And in fact,

in this Gospel of John, chapter one, I

like the way this says it in chapter 1,

it says verse 18, "No man hath seen God

at any time. The only begotten son who

is in the bosom of the father, he hath

declared him."

Um, I I like the way it says that in the

Greek text. It says, "No man has seen

God in any time. The only begotten uh

son uh the only begotten God who is in

the bosom of the father, he hath

declared him." It declares Jesus is God

right there.

We we've not seen God, but we've seen

God's glory manifest through Jesus

Christ. Philip saith unto him, John 14:9

John 14:9

8, Philip saith unto him,"Lord, show us

the father, and it sufficeth us." And

Jesus said unto him, "Have I been such a

long time with you, and yet thou hast

not known me, Philillip? He that hath

seen me hath seen the father."

Uh, in Jesus Christ, we see God

perfectly represented

uh exactly as he is. Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

talks about um

that Jesus being the brightness of his

glory, the brightness of God's glory and

the express image of his person. You

want to see God the father, you look at

Jesus Christ and Jesus says during this

hour

I want to be glorified

so that I can glorify the father.

reflect his glory. Now I want you to

think about God manifests his glory in a

lot of ways

but I think when Jesus went to the cross

he manifest

the glory of God's holiness

the glory of God's righteousness

the glory of God's grace

the glory of God's mercy

the glory of God's love

in greater ways than it has ever been

displayed

in all of human history.

When has God's love been more powerfully

showcased

in this world than it was at the cross?

You know, we just quote that verse so

simply. For God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son that he

whosoever believeth on him would not

perish. But we we've known that and

we've quoted that and we have it so

ingrained that it's almost automatic. We

don't even think about it much. But

here's what it says. where God

so

loved

the magnitude of that love that was

displayed at the cross.

And

I think that when Jesus prays in here

that God would be glorified.

He said one time, "Not my will but thine

be done."

and he went to that cross

and he showcased

the love of God

in deeper and more profound and powerful

ways than I can ever

hope to

convey through my feeble words here this

morning. I think what it says in Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5,

for when we were yet without strength,

in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will

one die, yet perhaps for a good man some

would even dare to die. But God

commendeth

put on public display, that's what that

word commendeth mean. God commendeth his

love toward us in that while we were yet

sinners

Christ died for us. He died for us.

No words to express that I don't think

he he wants to bring glory to his father

through the sufferings that he would

undergo there at Calvary.

I don't want to go too long this

morning. The second one is he prayed

also in this prayer

that his own would be sanctified.

See what it says there in verses 14 and

following.

I have given them thy word and the world

hath hated them because they are not of

the world even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou should have take

them out of the world but that thou

shouldest keep them from the evil. They

are not of the world, even as I am not

of the world. Sanctify them through thy

truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast

sent me into the world, even so have I

sent them into the world. And he talks

about here in verse 19, "And for this

their sake I sanctify

myself

that they also might be sanctified

through the truth."

What does this word sanctified mean?

Uh sanctified means

to make holy.

Um

holiness uh and sanctification are

linked together.

And it does not mean that you take

something that is defiled and sinful

and you bring it into a state of

holiness where all the defilement and

sin is removed.

Some people kind of have that idea about

sanctification.

Uh but I have a problem with that

because of what Jesus says here in um

verse 19.

and for this sake I sanctify myself.

Now wait a minute. If to be sanctified

means to take something defiled or

sinful or corrupt and bring it into a

state of holiness

then this verse makes no sense because

Jesus had no sin. He was holy, harmless,

undefiled,

separate from sinners. Uh the whole idea

of holiness

is is really to take something and set

it apart for God's purposes.

Whether purpose of sacrifice

or a purpose of service to take

something

and set it apart for God.

And in a sense, what Jesus is saying

here is

I am taking my life, my body, my blood,

and I'm setting a apart for God the

Father's service in sacrifice

when I go to the cross.

And in other words, he's saying just

like I am set apart for God's work,

he wants us to be set apart for God's

work.

He's He's wanting these people,

his followers. Now, I want you to think

about it. Who are the ones spoken of

here? The men that thou hast given me

out of the world? The men who I've given

thy word to. I've kept them. He

says,"None of them is lost except the

son of predition down there in in verse

uh 12." Of course, that was Judas. Judas

was never saved, but uh these

men

were nothing special. Uh this is

completely off the course. I like to

throw in a little humor once in a while.

Forgive me. But uh the I'll show you

what I'm getting to on this point in

just a minute.

A first grade teacher

took her class and she was wanting to

know how well acquainted they were with

uh familiar phrases that are a part of

our culture. Uh so she gave them up on

the blackboard a bunch of uh familiar

phrases. the first part and they were

supposed to call out if they knew the uh

completion of the phrase. And so she put

him up there and you'll probably know

some of these two. First one was it's

always darkest before

the dawn. Yeah, the daylight. But the

one little boy says it's always darkest

before daylight savings time.

Don't bite the hand

that looks dirty. That's what one little

boy said.

You can't teach an old dog new

math.

New math. That's what the one little boy

said.

Um,

laugh and the world laughs with you. cry

and you cry alone. But one child said,

"Cry and you have to blow your nose."

And I could go on with these, but here's

the one I was getting to. The one phrase

was, "A penny saved

is a penny earned."

But the one little kid said, "A penny

saved is not much."

And I bring that up because when I talk

about these men whom thou hast given me

that he's talking about in this chapter,

who were they? They were kind of like

the penny uh penny saved is not much.

These men were not much. In fact, it

says in uh Acts chapter 4 when the

Acts 4 · chapter mention

disciples appeared before the council,

it says they took note of them that they

were unlearned and ignorant men,

but they had been with Jesus. Unlearned

and ignorant men.

Um these, you know, I tried to dress up

today to come to speak at Athens Bible

Church. I I try to look presentable, but

I'll bet you that if you saw any of

these disciples, none of them had these

fancy dudes, duds, I'm sorry, fancy

duds. They were fishermen.

They wore common clothes. They were just

ordinary men, right? And they had no

education to speak of. Um, they were

kind of nobodyies until Jesus called

them to himself.

But these

common people,

Jesus says, "I pray that they would that

thou would sanctify them.

Set these nobodies,

set them apart,

God's service,

even to sacrifice for God." All of them

except the Apostle John, I think, died

violent deaths. Their lives were set

apart for sacrifice as well as service.

Now

you say, "Well, that was the apostles.

Those were the disciples." But you know,

it tells me in 1 Thessalonians chapter

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

4, this is the will of God, even your

sanctification.

You and I

are to be sat set apart

for God's service, are we not?

even sacrifice for him. There's been an

awful lot of believers who have laid

down their lives. Voice of the Martyrs,

if you ever are acquainted with that

organization and find out all the people

that have died for their faith in

Christ, it happens daily around the

world.

And uh I think that we need to be

reminded that he wants us to be set

apart, sanctified

for his service. I don't know what your

task is, uh what my task is day by day.

We have to kind of allow the Holy Spirit

to guide us and lead us. Correct? But

every one of us has something we're

supposed to do. He says uh in verse 16,

uh I'll start in verse 15. I pray not

that thou should us take them out of the

world.

The Lord doesn't want us he

wants us to not be the friends of the

world, but he doesn't want us to be

removed from the world just yet. He

wants us to have an influence. He wants

us to be salt and light. He wants us to

make a difference. He wants us to be his

ambassadors, his messengers.

Um he doesn't want to have us taken out

of the world. You know, there was a big

movement back in the kind of middle ages

uh the monastic order or people who

became hermits.

They

remove themselves from society. They go

out and hide out in a cave and

supposedly spend all their time praying

and communing with God. And they thought

somehow they were making themselves holy

and uh or separating into a monastic

order where they wouldn't speak or they

wouldn't uh communicate with anybody

else. They would just live in isolation.

That's not what God wants.

He doesn't want a Christian subculture

that never interacts with other people.

He wants us to be in the world but not

of the world. And he wants us to be

light and he wants us to be salt to make

a difference. And so he says, "I pray

not that thou should us take them out of

the world," verse 15, "but thou should

keep keep them from the evil or the evil

one, literally Satan. Um, sanctify them

through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

How am I going to be set apart to God?

How is my life going to be purified and

uh made cleansed? Wherew with thou shall

a young man cleanse his way? By taking

heed unto the word of God. Sanctify them

through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

And so one of the things he prayed for

is that God would get glory even through

our lives.

And he prayed that our lives would be

set apart

for service to God in his will. There's

a third thing I'm trying to move along.

He prayed that we would be unified.

Now, I'll tell you, there's u a lot of

liberal theologians and uh you know,

church leaders that would really pounce

on this thought. Yes, he wants us to lay

aside all of our differences and all of

our theological disputes and he wants us

to just love one another. He wants us to

just be unified.

Well, I don't think that's exactly what

he meant. I I think it's kind of

interesting. There was an old uh

um

preacher by the name of Awtoer.

Um he said um the only way to be uh

unified, you have to think about

100 pianos.

And none of those

pianos would necessarily be in tune with

one another unless you had the piano

tuner come in and tune all 100 of them

using one tuning fork.

And when he got done tuning all 100 of

them to that one tuna, then they would

all be unified, right? Because they were

all um brought into alignment with one

thing.

And I think about the fact that in this

world um the only thing that can

ultimately unite us truly is the word of

God. And we get confused about that,

don't we? But the person of God, the

Lord Jesus Christ, he is the focal point

that brings about unity. This whole

ecumenical movement idea, CS Lewis one

time said, "No clever arrangement of

rotten eggs will ever make a good

omelette."

You can take all the rotten eggs and all

the church circles you want to and put

them together any way you want to. It's

still not going to make a good omelette.

Now, I have something here that I don't

know if any of you ever heard of Dr.

John Phillips.

Dr. John Phillips has written over a

hundred books and I would recommend

every one of them. They're wonderful. Uh

he was a friend of mine. and he's now

with the Lord. But John, Dr. John

Phillips and his wife Betty came and

stayed in our home one time. He spoke at

the church. Uh he wasn't driving. Then I

drove down to Winston Salem, North

Carolina, and picked him up and brought

him for that weekend. And then when when

he was done, I took him back and I went

to took them out to eat down in Winston

Salem. Then I went and spent the

afternoon at their house. And Dr. I've

got a picture of him. John Phillips, a

wonderful man of God. I asked him one

time, "How do you write all those

books?" And he said, "I've spoken all

over the world. I've spoken at Bible

conferences and revival and u services

all around the world. And every place I

go, they put me up in a hotel. And when

I get done in the evening and I'm

sitting back in that hotel room all by

myself, I get alone with God and I write

what he puts on my heart." And those

books, over a hundred of them, are the

product of those lonely nights in hotel

rooms. And I I really respected him for

that. So many of us would just sit and

watch TV and then go to bed. Um what a

disciplined man. Here's what he wrote in

his commentary on John 17.

Unsaved people look at the church and

see Baptists and Brethren and Methodists

and Mormons and Presbyterians and

Pentecostals and Catholics and

congregationalists and they are both

skeptical and confused. Many of the

churches started in times of revival uh

and but with the years they became dead

churches. Some uh were a protest against

liberalism or legalism or false doctrine

and they had forceful leaders and once

those uh figures passed off the scene

the churches declined. Um they spo

spalled sprawled over vital truth. Some

of them did they divided over particular

issues baptist eternal security and

baptism and eternal security. uh second

coming of Christ, uh spiritual gifts,

the sovereignty of God, you could go on

and on and on. How then can we be one?

What agreement can there be between the

amillennialist and the

dispensationalist?

Between the Armenian and the Calvinist,

between the fundamentalist and the

liberal, between those who hold infant

baptism and those who hold to the

baptism of believers. The answer of the

liberal is compromise. An ecumenical

church. But that's not what Christ had

in mind. Um, when we get down to it, we

have to understand he knew Jesus knew

that these divisions and many of them

were necessary divisions would be

developing over the centuries uh and

would produce what for one of a better

word can be called christendom. In what

way then can we understand the Lord's

prayer for unity? In the first place he

says he prayed for a mystical oneness

and that prayer has been answered in the

full. The mystical church of Christ is

one. Now what he means by the mystical

church is the invisible church. You have

the church of God which is the true

church which is the invisible church.

Only God sees that church. And then you

have the local church. Right?

I I used to talk to people when they

were coming into membership of at our

church and I'd say, "Is it possible for

a person to be a member of the church

but not a member of a church?"

You get what I'm saying there?

Is it possible to be a member of the

church and not be a member of a church?

Yeah. The minute you believe on Jesus

Christ by faith, you are by the spirit

of God baptized into one body, right?

And you are a part of the church,

but you may not at that point be a

member of a church, a local church. And

so he's talking about the mystical

church. It's the unique work of the Holy

Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And

throughout this present age, he is

baptizing individual believers into the

mystical body of Christ. Um there is no

schism in the magical uh mystical body.

He is the head. Christ is the head. We

are the members. Each member is washed

in the blood, energized by the Holy

Spirit, united to Christ, perfect and

complete in him. This is the church in

its universal aspect which is spoken of

in Ephesians. A glorious church without

spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

Untarnished, untouched by this uh the

time or the spread out through all time

and space, rooted in eternity and the

bride of Christ. That's the mystical

church. The second place is the Lord

prayed for the manifest oneness. Not

mystical oneness, manifest oneness. This

is not the universal church which no one

has yet seen. It reserves to the local

church be it a Baptist church or a

Presbyterian church whatever church uh

as long as they are truly believing any

local church of belie uh believers who

love the Lord Jesus and are saved by his

grace and are seeking to walk in the

light of God's word who are drawn

together for worship and fellowship the

Christian ser the Christian service

holding fast to the truth as it is in

Christ here the Lord is praying for

unity and peace within the local

congregation.

So now you and I have nothing to do with

the oneness of the universal church.

That's all in God's hand.

But we do have some influence over the

oneness, the unity within the local

church, do we not?

And Christ prayed for that, that there

would be unity and oneness within his

body. Oh, how I pray. If he prayed for

that, don't you think we ought to be

willing to do our best to endeavoring to

keep the unity of the spirit and the

bond of peace?

Don't you think we ought to be striving

to that end? You got some bitterness or

some grudge or some harbored anger

against some other brother or sister in

the congregation. I'm telling you, get

rid of it.

Go get alone with that person. Confess

your faults one to another. Settle it so

that you can have unity in this body.

You know Jesus said in John 13, I think,

"By this shall all men know that ye are

my disciples if you have love one to

another."

If you'll get the

problems out of the way, pray about it.

Ask God to show you how to reconcile.

Humble yourself. Go and talk to that

person. make things straight as God

enables you to do so

to restore unity and the bond of peace

within the local congregation. It will

help the witness of this congregation in

this community.

And God wants us to do that. I'm talking

too long. Here's the last one. He wants

us to be unified. He wants us to be uh

the world to be evangelized.

I think about the fact that in this

uh chapter verse 18,

as thou hast sent me into the world, why

did Jesus come into the world? He came

to seek and to save that which was lost.

Right? That's what he said.

Even as thou hast sent me into the

world, Jesus says to the father, even so

have I also sent them into the world.

He went back to heaven, but he left us

here to carry on his work.

We're supposed to be going into the

world. And I think about in verse 20, it

says, "Neither pray I for these alone,

his disciples that was there on that

night when he prayed, but for them also

who shall believe on me through their

word."

He prayed for us. He prayed for you. He

prayed for me. because we have believed

on him through their word, right? He

prayed for us and he wants us to be

going and reaching others with that same

word. I think about in verse 21 that

they all may be one as thou Father art

in me and I in thee that they also may

be one in us that the world may believe

that thou hast sent me. The Lord wants

us to be involved in reaching out with

the gospel. you know,

we kind of isolate ourselves. We run in

Christian circles. We we uh don't

interact in the world. He wants us to be

in the world, but not of the world. He

doesn't want us to compromise with the

sin of the world, but he wants us to be

in the world as a witness. You know,

instead of Jesus, he was holy, harmless,

undefiled, separate from sinners.

He didn't compromise in any way as he

walked the roads of this earth.

But I tell you what, he was said to be

the friend of publicans and sinners.

He was willing to go where the need was.

I read this story and I thought it was

kind of interesting.

This preacher said,

"Um,

one day a number of years ago, I called

home late one afternoon to see how

things were going around the house with

my wife. My wife talked. She said, "Oh,

by the way, we received a call from the

youth soccer association here in town.

They were wondering if you might be a

coach." I said, "Well, you told them no,

didn't you?" She said, "I just didn't

have the heart to say no. Uh, you'll

have to tell them yourself. I assured

you uh you'd get back to her." By the

time I got home, I had all my reasons

laid out. I h didn't have the time. I

didn't know anything about soccer. I did

not want to do it. I finally gripped the

phone and dialed. And as I talked to the

poor woman at the other end of the line,

I learned there would be no team if I

didn't coach. I remember my family

chuckling in the background as they

heard me say, "Well, yes, I can do it."

The only good thing was that I would get

to coach one of my own sons. Next thing

I know, I was up late reading soccer

books trying to understand what a center

halfback was, an outside rule, etc.

Suddenly I had a coach's whistle and I

was occupied three days a week from 4 to

6 and half half a day on Saturdays. The

season did not go very well at the

beginning. I have probably heard you've

probably heard the saying if the bugle

gives an uncertain sound who will

follow. That describes my coaching. I'm

afraid fortunately I had some good

players and the team came together as

the season went on. In fact, in one of

the last games of the season, we beat

the number one team in the last second

of the game and thus made the playoffs.

On the night before the playoffs, I

invited the team to my church for a

potluck dinner with their parents. Even

both sides of divorced parents came

toward the end of the evening. I said to

them, "If it's all right with you guys,

I'd like to share something from the

word of God." The parents agreed. Nobody

objected. And I told the boys the story

of David and Goliath with practical

applications. The next day we went into

the playoffs. Um we lost in the final

minutes one to zero. But that is not

where the story ends. Saturday Sunday

morning when I stepped into the pulpit.

I looked out on the congregation and

there were all my players wearing their

orange jerseys and their parents too.

Jews and Muslims and Mormons and several

others with varying backgrounds. That

began a ministry of several of those

famil family's lives. I did not want to

coach. I did not have time to do it. But

because I just did it, uh I didn't know

how to say no and it ended up coaching.

And that turned out to be one of the

greatest experiences of my life. Uh, God

wants us to evangelize

the world. And I'm afraid I'm not

preaching at you. I'm preaching to us

because I haven't done a very good job

of it myself.

But are there people out there that need

to hear the gospel?

Absolutely. And where are they going to

hear it from? On CNN? I don't think so.

I think they need need to hear it from

the ones who know him and trust him and

have been born into God's family. It's

been good to be with you here today to

talk about the prayer of our Lord and to

reflect upon the fact that he wants God

to be glorified as revealed in his

prayer. He wants his people to be

sanctified.

He wants believers as much as is

possible

to be unified.

And he wants the lost of this world

by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit

dwelling in his children to be

evangelized.

Oh, how hope I hope and pray that God

would use this in the hearts of the

folks here at Athens Bible to somehow

stir us to having a greater impact in

this world for the glory of our Lord. We

pray. Father, we thank you for the

opportunity to share this morning. I

feel like I've stumbled through this

message and uh failed to make the points

the way I should. But I pray that

somehow in spite of um my evil efforts

that you would use this message to

accomplish great things in the hearts of

your people both here and perhaps even

those who would be listening online.

Have your will and way in all of our

lives for the good, for the salvation of

the lost all around us, for the

edification of believers,

and father, for the glory of our savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ, and to you our

heavenly father through our lives in

whatever time we have less. Bless this

church. Use us all for your glory. In

Jesus name we pray. Amen.

>> Well, stand. Turn to page 90. Page 90.

>> As we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin, darkened

world. As we go from this place,