John 17. I don't know about y'all, but we miss a Sunday or even a Wednesday night. I feel like I've really missed something in my week, and I'm grateful that we're all back together again this morning. As you turn to John 17, we are in the concluding three verses of the Lord's High Priestly Prayer. We had a break here and there, but it's taking us a while to get to the end of it. longer than I expected, but it has been quite beneficial to me to spend this extra time in the high priestly prayer, and I hope it has been for you as well. It's given us such insight, kind of a front row seat to this interaction between God the Son and God the Father in their prayer, and to see the reality of the intercession that our Lord Jesus is doing for us right now, we got to see this picture of it that evening when he would be arrested. Just a quick recap to remind you since we are concluding it today, Lord willing, we do well to remember that Jesus began this prayer by verbalizing his desire to return to the glory in which he had in eternity past in the Godhead that was reserved for him in heaven from where he came from and where he would soon return. He transitioned in this prayer to pray for those 11 that were directly there with him that evening. Some of the key points in that or two of the main ones was for their protection. For their perseverance as he was about to leave and he knew the persecution that was about to come down upon them. Expanding on that, he spoke of praying for all that would come to faith in him for throughout all of history. So us sitting here today, our Lord prayed for in this prayer 2000 years ago. And all those yet. to be called to come to faith in Him prior to His return. This morning, we come to the conclusion of this prayer. And what a beautiful conclusion it is. When last we were looking at this prayer, I guess it's been two weeks ago now, we were speaking of the believer's unity within the believing community, but how that's not even possible without the unity that we have within Jesus Christ himself. Minus that unity, there's no true unity within the body. And now as he concludes, we come to something as sweet, as reassuring, as anything you're gonna find anywhere else in scripture. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've been saved by grace through faith in him, He not only promises you a home with him in heaven, he desires that you be there with him. And no desire of God is thwarted. John 17, verses 24 through 26. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so they may see my glory which you have given me, for you love me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, and I have made your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you love me may be in them, and I in them. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful that we make our plans, but you direct our steps. That I had thoughts in my heart of how we would get through this prayer, knowing and understanding how wonderful it is, but Lord, that you did slow us down. That perhaps we would drink more deeply from the words shared within the Godhead here. A glimpse of the relationship therein and a glimpse into the relationship that you have with us. God, I'm grateful that you brought us back to your house today, that we might enjoy this sweet time of fellowship together. that we might conclude this prayer knowing and understanding the love that you have for all those given to you by the Father, of which everyone here that knows you is part of that love gift. Father, if someone here today does not know you as Lord and Savior, has never bent the knee to the Lord Jesus, gotta pray that you would cause them to be born again this very day. Father, we love you and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. There is no more marvelous presence than the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. No more marvelous presence. To consider the fact that he also wants me to be with him where he is. He prayed here not just for those disciples, but for you and for me to be with him. I found a couple of quotes that I wanna share with you before we jump into the message. R.C. Sproul says this, the greatest benefit of Christianity is not the forgiveness of sins. That's simply a means to an end. The greatest benefit that we have is access to the presence of God and his son. A.W. Pink says this, once more the Redeemer says, Father, for he is suing for a child's portion for each of his people. It is not simply wages, such as a servant receives from his master, but an inheritance, such as children receive from their parents. The inheritance being the Father's house where the Savior now is. Here for the first time in this prayer, Christ says, I desire. I hope we all as a group grasp the immensity of this statement and how glorious this truth is. We spend a lot of time in our sermons and our study looking at the doctrinal theological impacts and implications, but that can never be divorced from the practical application and the reality of what is being said within the word and how it applies to us. But that's quite honestly the way it's supposed to be. Doctrine is not to be divorced from that. They are to be married. They are friends. You don't have to reconcile the two. Our Lord's passionate prayer to the Father is that he desires, that he wants, that he purposes that all that the Father has given him. All those whose pardon he was about to accomplish and secure on that cross. All those for whom their penalty and their punishment he was about to take on would be in his presence in heaven. Church, that is staggering to conceive of when you truly think about that. When you truly think about it. What a privilege we have. None of us are good enough. None of us are worthy enough. None of us are noble enough. None of us are deserving of that high honor. As Paul told the believers in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29, for consider your calling, brothers. There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen. the things that are not, so that he may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. Worse still, we were enemies. We were warring against God prior to his regenerative work within your heart. Romans 5, 11, 10, and 11. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. Through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. We were separated from Christ, Ephesians 2.12. Remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But the glorious truth of redemption isn't just that Christ has atoned for your sins, as glorious as that is. That your transgressions are no longer counted against you, as glorious as that is. You're pardoned for a purpose. To be the bride of Christ. To be a gift from the Father to the Son. There's no room for boasting in that, but there's all reason to glory in that. We're saved to live a life glorifying him. Remember he prayed in this very prayer, don't take them out of this world, just protect them. Watch over them. But that he desires that you dwell with him forever. This isn't a secondary reward. This is the ultimate in glorification in that you are brought in his presence and enjoy him forever. And he desires that for you. Ephesians 2, four through seven. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. And raised us up with him. And seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. so that in the ages to come he might show those surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. God saves, God forgives, God adopts us. Glorification being the ultimate goal in the plan of salvation, as we read the golden chain of salvation in Romans 8, 29 through 30. Because those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified. Guys, you can't stand in the presence of God without that. Without any of that. And that glorification is ultimately so we can stand in that presence, so we can stand in His presence, the presence of Him who saved us and who will bring us all the way to that reality. Here again is this language in verse 24 of given by the Father. Jesus' request is in perfect harmony with God's purpose in electing us to begin with and doing it before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. Jesus' prayer is in perfect accord with God's will. We said this so many times, there's no disunity within the Godhead. Even with us, our true prayer must always bend the knee to the desire and the will of God. Jesus himself exemplified that in the Lord's prayer, did he not? In verse 10 of Matthew 6, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This isn't just, God, I hope your will's done. No, this is us conforming our desires and our will and our prayers, no matter how earnest they might be, to bend the knee to the Lord and say, but your will be done, God. And as you're being conformed to that image, as we read in Romans 8, 29 and 30, as you're being conformed to that image, your prayer life should become more and more conformed to the desires of the will of God himself. Jesus' request in verse 24 isn't just a plea, but expresses a desire, a true desire for us to be with him where he's going. Now, it's easy for us to comprehend our desire to be there, isn't it? I mean, that's quite easy. If you're a born-again believer, Lord, I desire to be in heaven. I want to be in heaven. I want to shed the struggles and the strife and the sinfulness and the desires of my heart that go contrary to what I believe. It's easy for us to grasp that. I don't know about y'all, but to grasp the fact that Jesus wants me there, that's an altogether different thing, is it not? He desires that I be there with him. He desires that I be there with him. How glorious is that truth that our Lord earnestly wants us with him for eternity? And who stays the hand of God? no one. You want to look at a text to help defend your belief that no one will be lost, that God has called to himself. Defend the belief that we will all persevere to the end, that God has called to himself. Defend the belief that many of y'all probably know I'm not a big fan of this. I believe the context behind it though, once saved always saved. I believe that. I don't like the way it's stated because That makes it almost like it's too easy. We will persevere to the end because the Spirit is with us, but we will also persevere to the end because Jesus Christ desires that we be there with him. And nobody stays his hand. And this just isn't a visitation rites. This is to live there, to dwell there, to be there with him. I'm just telling you, church, this is almost too much to bear when you fully grasp it. When you fully grasp it, this is almost too much to bear. The love and the comfort, the security. How deep is his love for you, believer? How deep is his love? How much more should that make us desire to want to be with him? How much more should that make us desire to want to honor him in all that we do in our life? But it begs a question. Because we just read those verses talking about you're not many noble, not many, I mean, there's nothing about you, okay? There's nothing about me. Why are we so special to him? Why are we so special to him? Because the Father has given us to him. The Father has given us to him. How do you cast aside that, or be more humble about it, the reason is because you are a love gift. You are the bride given by the Father to the Son. That also makes me think about this. I've been thinking this week, we haven't preached a whole lot about heaven, but we just haven't come across texts that lead us in that direction a lot over the past couple years, but we have it right here in front of us, don't we? Now, I'm not gonna go through all the details and all the questions that pop in your mind about, well, what about this and what about that? I want us to get down to the most important thing. What makes heaven so glorious for us? Why is heaven so glorious for us? The gates of pearl, the streets of gold, the things we read about describing heaven? No. Seeing our loved ones who've gone on before us. The absence of sin, those are things that pop way high on our list, do they not? And they should, but that's not the ultimate glory of heaven. Those are great things, those are glorious things, but that is not the ultimate reason heaven should be so glorious for us. The glory of heaven is the presence of the Lamb. The glory of heaven is that Jesus Christ is there. That is the glory of heaven. The supreme joy for the believer is to dwell with him and in his presence forever. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of other benefits, right? But that's the ultimate glory of heaven. Psalm 23 six, we know this Psalm. Surely goodness and loving kindness will pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh the Lord forever. To view him in his glory too, in his full glory. To look upon his face as a reality that awaits the true believer. That the moment you close your eyes for the last time on this earth, you open them in his presence. Now, I need to make a sidebar comment. It is true that his glory was present in his incarnation, right? That's scripture. But it was veiled in flesh, was it not? John 1, 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth. But even then it was veiled in flesh because we couldn't look upon it had it not been. And he had to take on that flesh to accomplish the will of the father. Not only are we to view his glory, but to share in his glory. Now that was even harder for me to comprehend. To share in his glory. We're recipients of our inheritance as adopted children of God. Philippians 3, 20 and 21. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory. by his working through which he is able to even subject all things to himself. This truth also pulls from something he said in this high priestly prayer already. Just a couple of verse prior to this, he says this in verse 22 of John 17. The glory which you have given me I've given to them that they may be one just as we are one. And we talked about that when we talked about unity two weeks ago. the believer also receives glory as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The fact that God the Spirit lives within you, you receive that glory. But the glory Christ is speaking of here is not veiled anymore. This is the visible, unveiled manifestation of the fullness of his glory, of which You could not stand in that presence if not for the work of Christ Jesus on your behalf. You would melt in front of him. We know the story of Moses, right? He wanted to see God and he hid him away and he got a glimpse of the back. To see the fullness of his glory in heaven should be the foundational desire of all who believe in him. is your foundational desire that you want to be where Jesus is, that you want to be in his presence, that you want to be able to fall at his feet and thank him for all that he's done for you, for all that he's brought you through, for where he's brought you to, and that you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now let me do another little sidebar comment here. I guess it's not sidebars, it's connected. Not that we're to look forward to our physical death, okay? I talked about that before. I'm not looking forward to that. At least not in the sense in how that might happen. Yet the believer should have no fear of death whatsoever. None. But to be desirous of what that means for us. We're strangers here. We're sojourners. This is not our home. The things of this world, I mean, I'm reminded of what's about to happen tomorrow in this country, right? We're about to have an inauguration. And as grateful as I am for the way that this election turned out, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. God is in control. He is on his throne. and what happens is not gonna be done in a way in which upsets his will and his desire for what's coming. We may not be comfortable with things that come, but all these disciples, and we read the accounts of their lives and what they went through, even though we are blessed beyond measure in this country, we have a sort of cushy Christianity. I just kinda keyed that in you for hoping that was ever, you know, I might need to copyright that. A cushy Christianity often in this country. That's not my note, see, the Lord just gave me that one, so. But I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I'm not worried about somebody knocking down my door and taking my wife and my children away while I'm gone because of their stance for Christ. I'm grateful. But have you ever considered how much stronger things would be within that community? As we said, was it last week or the week before that, it was the week before, we're talking about unity. God grows his church in the midst of harsh persecution. More times than not, that's when the church grows. That was a sidebar to a sidebar. The hope for the believer, the hope that you should have, is that what awaits you in the life to come is so much better than anything you've ever experienced in this life. So much better, more beautiful than the birth of your children. More beautiful than anything you can comprehend. The greatest thing that's ever happened to you here is nothing compared to the glory that awaits being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to dismiss those things. God has blessed us and given us these things to enjoy and love and people to enjoy and love in our life. But we're here for a short time. Our life is a vapor. Whether the Lord give you 10 years or give you 110 years, our time here is short compared to the immensity of eternity. Do you have this hope about you? If you say you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you should have this hope about you. Psalm 117, for Yahweh is righteous. He loves righteousness, the upright will behold his face. Psalm 17, 15. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake. Matthew 5, 8, in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now this isn't us attaining to it. We talked about this five years ago. You're blessed. The pure in heart are only those who have been regenerated, those who have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. First John three, two. Beloved, now we are children of God and it is not being manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when he is manifested, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. What did he tell the thief on the cross? When the thief believed upon him, today you will be with me in paradise. That very day. in heaven, Revelation 22, three, four. And there will no longer be any curse. And the throne of God and the land will be in it and his slaves will serve him. And they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. His presence will be so overwhelming that the only proper response will be praise. Praise. I get frustrated. At funerals, we're in conversation with someone who talks about, well, daddy or granddaddy, they're up there, got the best fishing hole, and they've got this, and the best motors, like whatever their desires of their heart were here on this earth, they got the best of it in heaven. The glory of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of heaven is that we're there with him. The glory of heaven is that he desires for us to be there with him. We're not coming in the back door, he brings us there. We're gonna see in just a moment, a different place in Revelation that talks about what that scene looks like a little bit more. The closing verses of this prayer. Oh, righteous father. Although the world has not known you, yet I have known you and those have known that you sent me. And I've made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them. The closing verses of this prayer is bursting forth with this unity he just talked about and a few verses prior that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. The unity within the Godhead, the unity in which we are brought into, that we're connected to, the unity between father and son of one mind. That all leads to the fact that there is full confidence in the prayers of the son to the father, full confidence that all those requests will be fulfilled because there's no disunity within the Godhead. Everything you read about here has happened, has come true, and will come true. God is righteous in all that he does. God the Son appeals to that righteousness at the end of this. Psalm 145, 17, we read this, Yahweh the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. His judgments, his deeds, his statutes, his ordinances, his word are all righteous. Here also Jesus references back to what he said earlier in verse nine, does he not? These have known that you sent me. Verse nine of this high priestly prayer. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me for they are yours. The world outside, the promise is not his concern here. He's not praying for them. He's praying for those and all that the father gives to him. Outside of Christ, there's no propitiation for sin. It's not paid for. He doesn't intercede on behalf of those that aren't his. This prayer should show that to you. There's no intercession, if not for the blood. There's only eternal judgment awaiting those that are of this world. John 3, 18. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Later in John 3, John the Baptist says this, John 3, 36. He who abides in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Y'all catch the, I know we preached on this quite a while ago, but just for point of reference, there's a connection there. Believing in the sun does not obey the sun. We don't obey to gain salvation. We don't obey to gain extra rewards. We obey because we've believed. The closing of this prayer makes it clear for whom Jesus is praying. Those given to him, those for whom Jesus has revealed the Father to. Y'all catch that, Jesus says, I have revealed you to them. You've given them to me, I've revealed you to them. Matthew 11, 27. All things have been handed over to me by the Father, by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." There's no disunity in the Godhead. It's perfect in accordance. Jesus being God, being eternal, has forever enjoyed the unity within the Godhead. And then he says, I will send the spirit. And then the spirit will reveal what is the primary work of the spirit to reveal the sun to point to the sun. And that the father had seen him, john 1515. No longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends for all things that I've heard from my father I've made known to you. O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you and these have known that you sent me. And I've made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them. That all given by the Father to the Son would be saved, would be regenerated, would be justified, would be adopted, would be sanctified and being sanctified. None will be lost. No one can snatch you from the Father's hand. And God the Son desires you to be there with Him. And God the Spirit is working in you. All three members of the Trinity are bringing you to that eternal truth and hope. To know the Son and Father are one and eternally loved, but also that they love us. that we would experience that love, that love wrapped up in the Godhead, that we experience that love. It's manifested in us, indwelling us. Ephesians 3, beginning in verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father. from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would give you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. This love poured out within us at our salvation, Romans 5, 5. And hope does not put to shame because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And not poured out and then leaving us, poured out perfectly and indwelling with us and staying with us and bringing us through that sanctifying process. Indwelling us. Jesus closes this prayer giving us such glorious assurance, such glorious confidence, such glorious hope for our future. Come what may in this world, come what may the slings and arrows of this world, He has in fact gone and prepared a place for you like He has promised. And if He goes and prepares a place for you, He will come and get you and bring you there. The glory of heaven is the presence of Jesus Christ. I thought of something else, this analogy of being the bride, not just an analogy, it's scripture that we are the bride of Christ and that the Father gives. And in the first century Jewish context, that makes a lot more sense than it does to us today in the way that marriages were arranged and that kind of thing. But I'll say this, Christ will in no way desert his bride. divorce his bride, leave his bride, not protect his bride, not bring his bride to where he dwells. He is the perfect bridegroom and he will bring his entire bride to dwell with him forever. Our response should mimic the response we see in Revelation 5. This scene is how we will close this morning. I may make another comment or two on the backside, but from scripture, I want y'all to, this, to settle in your minds. We glimpse into the heavenly throne room. Revelation five, verse 11 through 14. Then I looked, this is the Apostle John. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. What a glorious scene. Church, his desire is that you be there in his presence. If you close your eyes for the last time on this earth before he comes back, you open them in his presence. You open them in his presence. Him that saved you, Him that created everything, Him that holds everything together. If He were to proverbially take His hands off the wheel for one second, the universe would fall apart. And He wants you where He's at. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that He does a work upon you to bring you to Himself. so that where he is, you will be too. Father, we thank you for this time you've given to us. We thank you for these blessed promises. We thank you for a glimpse into the desires of the heart of our God and our Savior and our Lord. The fact that we know, we know the hope that we have is because of the desire of our Savior. Lord, no one can take that from us. The bridegroom will surely abide with the bride. Father, someone here today, if this is a foreign concept to them, if they've not bent the knee, Lord, I pray that you would bend their knees for them, that you would bring them to the saving knowledge of who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he promises yet to do. And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.