If You Feel Far From God, Watch This | Book of John | Week 12

We're gonna take a really, really deep dive today. Like we're gonna do a Bible study, like really, really intense Bible study, and then we're gonna get really, really practical, and then we're gonna sing a song and go home. Watch basketball. Okay, that's what we're gonna do. That's the plan for today. Okay, so John 17, I was looking at some other pastors. I don't listen to a lot of other preachers or pastors. I don't even listen to me, so anyway. But how they unpack what we're gonna unpack today. And one of my favorite teachers, his name is Alistair Begg. He's a Scottish pastor, and I think he teaches in Cleveland, Ohio. But he posed this question that got me thinking, all right? He asked this, he said, if you could go back in time, so ask yourself this, if you could go back in time and experience one event in the Gospels, like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, okay? In the life of Jesus, if you could go back there. Maybe I wanna be this baptism, or the temptation in the desert. We look at this, the calling of the very first disciples, and the fish jumped in the net, and all that. I'd like to be there. Pick a miracle, the time he walked on water, calmed the storm, raised Lazarus from the dead, fed 5,000 people. Which one would you pick?

Like, which one you go, I wanna go back to that. I've always thought in my head, because I'm ADD, but I think about this all the time. I'm hoping in heaven, there's a video room. You know, wouldn't it be cool? And you go, hey, Lord, just roll tape on creation. And they go, poof, all right? Oh, well, now I understand, like how they get all those animals in an ark. Because I think it's kind of crazy, all right? But he did it, it's in the movie, anyway. But I don't know which one I would pick in the life of Jesus. But here's, I wonder if we could ask the disciples, those 12 disciples, the same question. Of all the things in those three years that you hung out with Jesus, all right, which one would you pick? What scene would you look at? And I wonder if it would be what we're gonna look at today in John 17, top five. And here's why I think that, okay? Over the past several weeks in here, and then leading up to Easter two weeks from now, we've been taking a deep dive into that final teaching time from Jesus. He's in an upper room, it's a Thursday night. After this meal, he's gonna go to a garden, he's gonna get arrested. But we've been looking at these four chapters

that all took place around this table where Jesus is explaining to these disciples what's about to happen and how it's gonna get really, really crazy. But eventually, even through the coming hard days and hours, at the end of it, God will keep his promise. He'll keep his promise right now. But also, if he keeps this promise, you can trust that he's gonna keep promises in the future. So think of it this way. For the past four chapters leading up to John 17, Jesus is bringing God to his disciples and saying, I want you to consider God. I want you to think about God, all right? Don't let your heart be troubled, okay? Why? Because you gotta trust in God, trust in me, all right? I promise, I've overcome the world. Okay, so he's bringing God and saying, do you understand? But in chapter 17, Jesus switches gears and instead of bringing or presenting God to the disciples for their consideration, in this chapter, Jesus is bringing his disciples and presenting them to God and saying, hey, God, will you think about them? Will you consider them? Will you remember them? Will you keep them? We're gonna look at that. Will you guard them?

Will you protect these disciples? I've been doing it, but I'm coming back to you, so I need you to take care of them. So chapter 17 is actually a prayer, all right? It's the longest prayer in the Bible recorded of Jesus, all right, and he prayed it out loud so that the disciples, or at least John, could hear him. All right, John wrote this. He's like over there, maybe in the corner, taking notes on the prayer. So today's kind of like eavesdropping on a conversation that was meant for somebody else. You've never done that, I'm sure, right? But if Jesus hadn't wanted them or us to hear it, he could have just bowed his head and prayed over in the corner. So even in this prayer today, Jesus is teaching, like I'm talking to my father, but I know everybody in the room is listening in. So in this prayer, the disciples are given access to the heart of the person they've been following. Like they're gonna be able to kind of lean into this prayer and go, oh, that's why he's been doing what he's been doing, and that's why he's about to do what he's about to do. So two things are going on, all right? I'm talking to my father, and I know my friends are listening, and you gotta think, because the disciples are like us, as Jesus is praying, they're like peeking in the prayer and going like, Andrew, he's talking about us.

He's praying for us, and it's more than a prayer, all right? It's like an intimate moment, right? Jesus is the first person. I've talked about this a couple of times. Jesus is the first person in the Bible to address God as Father. Like Paul, who wrote a big chunk of the Bible, hey, he describes God like this. He says, God, who alone is immortal, all right, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. Jesus addresses the same God, and then invites us to do the same, and he even says, I know he's kind of a big deal, but call him Father, my Father, sometimes our Father, all right? It's intimate, it's personal. Jesus makes the unapproachable God approachable, and then he welcomes us to do the same. He says, hey, when you pray, remember this famous saying? Hey, when you pray, pray like this, our Father. My Father in heaven. There are about 25 occurrences where the prayers of Jesus in the Gospels are recorded word for word. And in all of them, all the prayers but one, he refers to God as his Father. Nobody's done this before. The one time he doesn't, when he's talking to God, it's on the cross, when he says, my God, my God, why you've forsaken me?

But every other time, he says, that's my Father. So in John 17, all right, this is all set up, this is not some, we've all been to that church service where it's a rehearsed, written out, polished performance or manuscript, right? I'm not saying that what we're gonna get today is shallow or sentimental. I mean, the verses we're gonna look at today, we've been, the church over the last 2,000 years, it's kind of formed entire theologies about who God is and who we are to God and what Christ accomplished through his sacrifice. But as much as it's theologically deep and profound, this is a takeaway for me, it's heartfelt. Like in this chapter, as Jesus is praying, it has a sense of urgency or weight, like it's about, baseball's coming, all right, all right? It's bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes, final pitch, because right after he says amen, three verses later, Judas comes and kisses him on the cheek and here we go. The soldiers come, they arrest him, they haul him away, they beat him, they strip him, they mock him, and the next day, they crucify him. So let me just remind everybody, just keep in the back of your mind, the motivation for this prayer. At Jesus's darkest hour, in his greatest time of need, right before he's facing the pain, the sorrow, the darkness, in that moment,

Jesus is gonna pray for us, not himself. He's asking God to do things on our behalf, not his, and anything he does ask God to do in his direction, you keep on reading, it's for our ultimate joy and benefit. That's just what a priest does, by the way. All right, some of us grew up with priests in whatever we grew up in, all right? A priest, by definition, if you do a word study, means bridge builder. The job of a priest is to build a bridge between us and God, to be an advocate, all right? A connector, and Jesus is our high priest. Look at this, in Hebrews chapter four, so this is what Jesus is to us, all right? Since then, we have a great high priest who's passed through the heavens, like me, he's done everything necessary. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Let's hold on to our faith. For we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is, in every respect, has been tempted, as we are, yet without sin. Now, because of all that, let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, to God our Father, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Right in the middle of that, it's one of the hardest verses for me to believe. I'm gonna show you the other one here in a few minutes.

Jesus has been tempted in every way that you've been tempted. Really? Because I got some dark stuff. Anyway, that's just me. Anyway, so anyway, but just hang on to that. Like, he understands. He's not just this far off God. He's our high priest. He's the one who mediates and bridges the separation, the disqualifying space between God's perfect holy justice and in wrath, and our sin, we're cut off, and Jesus bridges that. That's what we're gonna talk about on Easter, right? The sin that should bring us condemnation before God, because the wage of sin is death, Jesus steps in and advocates for us. He pays and satisfies the wage. He removes the wrath of sin, death, by the gift of himself. This is why, this is the kind of God we have, right? God is both completely holy and just, and at the same time, completely loving, because he paid his own wage with the death of his son. Now, I'm about 10 minutes into this talk, and I haven't even opened up chapter 17. And there is no way I'm gonna try to cover all of 17. We could do a whole series just on this chapter, but if I rush through this, and I've said this several times in this series, I'm not gonna dishonor this sacred, intimate moment

that Jesus shares with his disciples and us, okay? Before literally all hell's about to break loose. So here's what I wanna do. I've spent the last couple weeks going, I just wanna pick out one or two truths or themes, and there's literally dozens of ways I could've gone. I could've picked out this one and this one. We could've done a whole thing on the doctrine of the Trinity. All right, all right? But your brains would explode. Why does Jesus pray to his Father? God speaks to God. I don't know, right? Or how about the preexistence of Jesus? Like, we're gonna look at Jesus existed before Bethlehem, before the foundation of the world. What was he doing? It's all in there. And then what's he doing now? You know, it's all in there. And we could do all that. I'm not gonna do that today, okay? So here's a couple truths to consider. I don't know why I told you what I'm not gonna talk about. Here's what I'm talking about, right? The first one is this, if you take notes, all right? I wanna look at this word know, as in knowing God. That's such a religious phrase to get, right? What does it even mean to know God, all right?

We're gonna talk about that. The second one is this word that's gonna get used a lot in this chapter, the word keep, right? The primary thing Jesus asked his Father to do in our direction, all right, is this. After Jesus completes his mission and returns to the Father, he's gonna say this, Father, keep them, keep them. We're gonna talk about that. So I'm gonna try to limit the thoughts to these two areas, then we're gonna sing an awesome song and go home. Here's what I wanna cover, all right? Us knowing God and God keeping us. That's the title, I guess, all right? Us knowing God and then God keeping us. So if you have your Bible, we're gonna go through this and I'm gonna go fast so we can land this and apply it to our life. So John chapter 17, here we go, it says this. When Jesus had spoken these things, what does that mean? The four chapters we just read, that's all that stuff that happened at dinner, okay? When Jesus had spoken these things, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and he said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all men, right? To give eternal life to all whom you have given him. So Jesus is basically saying, okay, let's get started.

Father, it is go time, right? So here's what I'm asking, Father, glorify your Son, glorify me, here's what that means, all right? Let the true nature of what I'm about to do when I leave this room, all right, be done in such a way that I can reveal to all of these people what kind of God you are. Like, watch me, all right? It means this, I wanna know what God's like, what kind of God do I have, what kind of Father do I have that makes it possible for me to have eternal life? Here's the answer. Watch what Jesus is gonna do in the next three chapters, right, and you'll get your answer because there's no one like him, there's no God like our God, there's no one that can do what he's done. Everything Jesus came to do is so that you can have eternal life. So Jesus just talked about eternal life. Just so we all grew up different, when Jesus says eternal life, I don't know what you think, I always grew up, I mean, after I die, I go somewhere. It doesn't mean that at all. Here's what Jesus defines eternal life. He says, so this is eternal life, at least the one Jesus is talking about, that they, what's the word? No, so this is a big word, okay? This is eternal life that they know you,

the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So no here is more than like, oh yeah, I know all about God. I grew up in church, I went to catechism, I did this, I passed the test, no, no, no. It's more than just knowledge or Bible verses. Billy Graham said this, he said, it's possible to have a head full of Bible verses and still have a heart full of sin, right? But when you truly know God, it's more like, no, no, I'd like know that I know. Like I know Robin, we've been married 42 years, all right? I mean, she's still a mystery and I get it wrong a lot. But anyway, I'm just saying, but like I know her. I don't know where I stop and she starts. It's like we're one, right? To fully know and then be known, it means that I've come to know them so much that I trust everything and I'm leaning my life because I just know her. Think about the times that you've been betrayed. I thought I knew you. Apparently I was wrong, right? I can trust God because Jesus says, just watch me. Jesus says, living that kind of life, knowing and trusting God, leaning your life against this God you can trust, that is the definition of eternal life. It doesn't happen after you die. It starts right here and Jesus says, that's why I've come. That's why I've come, that's what I have done.

And here's how I did it. Here's how I brought eternal life to us, all right? I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And I glorified you, in a minute he's gonna say, I put on, I manifested your name. I've accomplished the work you gave me to do. And again, what was the work that Jesus was given to do when he left the Father and came here? Here it is, make God known. Make unapproachable God approachable and known because to know God is eternal life and then you can call him Father. And in other words, the way that we come to know God and trust him is we look at Jesus and Jesus is God on display, manifested. Write this down, what you see in Jesus is what you're gonna get from God. Does that make sense? Jesus is the visible, like I can see with my eyes, image of the invisible God. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Mission accomplished. Father, I have done the work you told me to do. And now, look at this. Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed. In other words, hey, my work here is finished, all right? And I'm coming back to the same position I left that I had for all of eternity before I came here.

So I'm coming back to you. Now, let's dig into this next verse because this is what it really means to know God. You can even ask yourself, do I know God? We're gonna find out here. I have manifested, and we're gonna come back to the word, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. And we spend a lot of time over the last several weeks in here around this concept of a name, especially in the Bible with God. The name of the Lord, it's not just God. Like, Orthodox Jews can't even say that word. They can't even have the word on their lips. And so they would come up with other names that was like, well, he's like this, or this is his characteristic, right? Depending upon what was happening in that time. Throughout the Bible, the same God is called many, many names. It's not a different God. Manifestations of this part of his character. I'll give an example. So Abraham, way back in Genesis chapter 12, 13, right? He's really old, and his wife's really, really old, and the angel says, you're gonna have a baby. That doesn't happen in the nursing home. It just doesn't, okay? She's like 80 years older, right? And then God says, yeah, but you don't know who I am. My name is El Shaddai.

I'm the all-sufficient one. All right, El Elyon, I'm almighty God. Yahweh, I am. Bernie Bush, I am. I am who I said I am. Jireh, I am more than enough. Adonai, I'm Lord and King. Jesus is praying to his Father. I've put all of that on, I've manifested all of that to them and the people that you gave me. Yours they were, keep going. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know, there it is, they know everything that you have given me is actually from you. Jesus has put God on display. These three years he walked around, and for the next several days, he's put God on display, and now these disciples now know for themselves that what Jesus has given them is actually, this is from God, and here's how that process went back then for them, and this is how it goes today. All this is gonna hit in just a minute. This is deep theology stuff. You just gotta hang with me, and we'll get to application. This is Jesus, he said, I have given them the words. Where did Jesus get the words? That you gave me. He didn't make stuff up.

All right, I've given them the words that you gave me, and they received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. So the question is, how does a person come to know God? It's right there, through the words that God gave to Jesus. That's how, all right, I wanna know about God. Well, listen to Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the only way that a person can know Jesus. That's what Jesus said. So I wanna know God. Then listen to Jesus. Study Jesus. Where? Right here. Get to know Jesus. What was he like? What did he say? Jesus will reveal to you who your father, God, is. If you wanna know God, Jesus will show him to you. You just gotta listen to him. Here's the second thing. You have to make a choice. I've got all these words coming at me. Now, I choose to receive what Jesus says is right and true, or I reject it. It's up to you. Earlier, we studied in the series, Jesus said no one comes to the father,

believes in the father, unless the father draws that person to themself. Actually, the Holy Spirit, Jesse talked about this last week, the Holy Spirit is the one who does that, draws you, convicts you. Here's what the Holy Spirit's doing in some of our hearts right now. You should listen to this. This is making sense, right? This is true. You can trust this. Receive it, like for yourself. So that's the Holy Spirit drawing you right now. You're gonna make a choice here about what you're gonna do with this, all right. But we also have this thing, because we're created in the image of God, we have this thing called free will. We have the ability to respond to the teachings of Jesus and the drawing of the Holy Spirit. We can look back at the entire Trinity and go like, no, thank you. No, I don't believe. Not because I can't believe. I just don't want to. And even if I believe a little bit, the truth is I believe there's something else I want more. Judas would be an example of this. Jesus said, I didn't.

We're gonna look at this in a minute. I didn't lose any that you gave to me, Father, except the one, the son of destruction. That's a great name badge, right? Which means this. Judas said, no, I don't want that. Which means for us is this. All parts of the Trinity could get involved in your life. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Get involved and bring you to know the truth and experience God. But God will not overrule your ability to reject what's being offered to you. Like, he's made enough known for you. It means this, all right? Read Romans chapter one. No one will ever be able to stand before God and truthfully say, yeah, I didn't get a chance. I didn't know. That's not fair. I wasn't raised like that. Not true. Romans one says, God has made himself available to every human being in all of time to the point that no one will ever have an excuse I didn't know. And every example that you come up, because here's what you're doing right now. Oh yeah, what about that person on the island in the middle of the ocean?

And what about this person over here? And what about this person over there? Okay, good questions. Two things, all right? You're leaving out things that God was doing in that person's life that you know nothing about. Because it wasn't about you. And if God is a loving, gracious God, that's between the two of them. That cannot be your excuse. Most likely, it's an attempt for excusing yourself why you've been hesitant to fully embrace your faith. So you hear the word of Jesus. You receive or reject the word of Jesus. And if you receive him, here's the third step. You know in truth Jesus is who he says. I just know. It's like God has taught me and said confirmed that Jesus is. is who he says he is and he will keep every promise he's made. That's faith. I have confidence. I am persuaded, I am putting my trust in, I believe that God has sent Jesus to me so that I can know God and experience eternal life. Nobody's gonna become a Christian because you heard a good sermon from Jim. I'm not that good. Thanks for not saying amen.

You're really not, Jim. All right, right, shut up, all right, anyway. Or how about this? And I know people that's like, the reason I became a Christian is the clouds rearranged themselves in the form of an angel or something like, and I, no. Or you survived a near-death experience and that's why, or God, if you'll answer this prayer this way, then I'll believe, no, no, no, no. The only way that you come to know God through Jesus is through his words. And then you've been convicted by his Holy Spirit. It's true, and then you believe. Other things may happen that help you believe. Maybe the clouds arranged it or your dog spoke to you. I don't know, right? And other stuff happens in our life. It's like, I have a hard time believing because of what happened. You're gonna have to work through that. But the only way to know God is through knowing Jesus, who he is and what he said and what he did for you. That's knowing God, right? Now, Jesus kind of moves from, okay, that was the mission and my boys, 11 out of 12 of them, we're good, they're in a good place right now, even though he knows it's gonna get rough. Jesus knows, and this is why he's gonna pray this next part of this prayer, right?

Hey, you guys, you're gonna start well and you're gonna fall on your face several times. In chapter 16, if you go back, Jesus has told them, hey, I'm just telling you, fellas, a time is coming, you're gonna desert me, you're gonna get scattered, you're gonna run for the hills. In Luke, he tells Peter, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. That's encouraging. I got a word from the Lord. Satan's after you, right? And then Jesus says, you're gonna be okay because I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna advocate for you to the Father. So Jesus does that now before they leave the room and the panic and the scattering and the desertion and the pain and the confusion. He's gonna ask his Father to keep them. Look at verse nine. He says this, I'm praying. Remember, he's talking to God. The other guys are just listening to him. I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world. So he's not, this isn't about world peace and I wish all mankind would be nicer. No, no, I'm praying for them specifically, but for those who you have given me, for they are yours.

All mine are yours and yours are mine and I'm glorified in them. He's talking about the men in the room. We'll get back to that, all right? And I am no longer in the world, meaning like before you leave on vacation or something like that, I'm already in Florida. Right, I'm already in Hawaii, right? So that's what he's saying. I'm already out of here. Just a few more days, all right? But they're in the world. I'm coming to you. Now just in case that you're thinking that Jesus is just praying for those 11 guys and nobody else, skip down to verse 20 and we find out that Jesus actually expanded that prayer to include some other people. Look at verse 20. I do not ask for these 11 only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Does that make sense? See, the way that a person comes to believe is through the words of Jesus. The way that you and I even know the words of Jesus is because the 11 guys sitting in that room wrote it down. That's what we're studying right now. John wrote it down, taught it to other people, died for it, passed it on to us.

So by extension, if you believe in Jesus, Jesus is including you specifically in his request for his Father to keep you, right? Jesus is praying for you, not mankind, you and her and her. It's like he's thinking about you. Jesus is saying, listen, I have kept them, Father. I guarded them for the last three years. I've protected them. I've taught them. And now I'm asking you, Holy Father, keep them in your name. Everything, all your characteristics, it's gonna take, all right, to keep them safe. But those, not just these, those who someday, you look ahead, there's this weird church in Colorado. They're gonna need you. And they're gonna believe. And Father, I need you to keep them based on what these 11 men are gonna pass on to them. Now here's where it gets really interesting. I think it's all interesting, but this is where it's gonna be, I don't know, this is gonna get weird, right? I miss this a lot of times. And every time I go back to the Bible, it's like I miss, I got something new out of this. All right, here's what I got this time. If, do math with me real quick. If God kept them back then as believers,

and if God keeps us, all right, guards us, protects us now as believers, then that means this, all right, you're gonna take a breath, because this is gonna make, here we go, ready? God has been keeping you since before you believed or knew or cared or acknowledged there was even a God. Or God was keeping you, protecting you, guarding you before you even knew there was a God. It means that Jesus has been, think about this, has been in the past 2,000 years, and in this moment right now, and already maybe into tomorrow, It's interceding for you with God on your behalf before you even ask Him to do it. The same author is sitting there in the Bible, or outside the table, who writes this down. In 1 John, he writes this. You wanna know why you love God? We love because He first loved us. He loved you before you even knew His name. Jesus has been on your side before you even knew there were sides. And looking back, this is where it's gonna get real, right? Look back at your life, honestly. In the rear view mirror, you can now see there's no other explanation why you're still alive or not in jail. Some of you, well, I should be, I know, but you're not, here you are, right?

Let alone sit in this chair at this moment, hearing these words about what God has been doing all of your life leading up to this moment. Think about this, all right? I sit in my kitchen and think about this. This is what I do, all right? What all had to happen in the entire universe and in your life journey so that you end up sitting here in this chair at this moment to hear, Jesus has been loving you and advocating for you and keeping you and drawing you long before you came to this chair. He's been in your life your entire life. You just didn't see Him. He's been in your life even in your worst moments. He was right there, which immediately makes me think, then why didn't He keep the worst moments away? If He's supposed to protect me, why didn't He keep me from experiencing the pain and the sadness and the abuse and the rejection and the heartbreak and the betrayal? Why didn't He keep me from that? And that's a great question that I cannot answer, at least on any level that would satisfy me. Someday, I've got a list. I'm gonna ask Him, hey, why? Anybody got a list? But keep in mind, maybe this will make a difference. Right after this prayer ends with amen, Jesus, the one praying for you, walks out the door.

He gets betrayed. He gets beaten. He gets executed. He gets cut off. My God, my Father, why have you forsaken me? Which brings a whole new meaning, level of meaning, to we don't have a high priest who doesn't understand. Oh, no, no, no, no, He understands. He has been there. You've been held down? Jesus got held down. You've been beaten, punched? Jesus got punched, beaten. You ever been lied to, abandoned, shamed, embarrassed? Jesus will never minimize what you've been through or what's been done to you. It's quite the opposite. He looks at you right now and goes, it's so horrific, what happened in your life, that He says this, let not your heart be troubled, because what only God can do, what only God can keep and guard and heal in your life, when you put your trust in God through Jesus, that will be the only thing that keeps this horrible thing in your life from destroying you on your own. You're just toast. See, He knows. He knows. It's how He's about to get through the next hours and days.

He's gonna hang on to a promise that will be the only thing that will sustain Him, and He's gonna point to the same promise and say the same thing to you. If you have any hope of experiencing a true, eternal life, trust in the only one true God who's able to bless you and keep you, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He'll walk with you. All right, He's with you. You gotta trust Him. Now, this is a lie. So I had a friend, I have friends. They don't go to this church, believe it or not. But I had a friend come to church last night for the first time ever, never been to church. And I asked him, like, well, what stuck out to you? He said, that. God's been in my most painful moments with me. I gotta think about that, Jim. I know. That God's holding on to me and He's keeping me, and I wasn't even paying attention. I gotta think about that. I know. When the Israelites, when they were leaving Egypt and making their way towards the Promised Land, and they were just facing sheer defeat by their enemies, they held onto this prayer, and we're gonna sing it here in a minute, all right?

It comes out in Numbers chapter six, a guy named Aaron praises it over the people. He says this, the Lord bless you and keep you. Now, we're in a desert, we're about to get slaughtered. No, no, no, the Lord bless you, He'll keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift His countenance, His face upon you, and give you peace. Jesus is praying, I'm returning to you, Father, and I'm leaving them in a really bad world. And this world is gonna hate them in the same way it hates me. So I'm asking you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you've given to me, that they may be one, even as you and I are one. And while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you've given to me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except Judas, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now, I'm coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have their joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them. Do you ever feel like the world hates you? Yeah, it does. Because they're not of the world. You're not of this world. Just as Jesus says, I'm not of this world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world,

but that you keep them from the evil one. They're not of the world, just as I'm not. So, here's where I'm gonna leave off, all right? Then we're gonna apply this, see what we're gonna do with it, all right? Jesus knows the most effective way for you to be kept and guarded and protected by God, living in a world that hates the truth that we're leaning our lives against. He says this, this is their only hope. Hey, Father, sanctify them in your truth, in your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I'm gonna send them into the world. The way that we are to be sanctified, sanctified, religious word, religious word, technically means made holy, or how about this, able to live the life, the kind of life that we live in Jesus, all right? The only way we're gonna be able to be kept from giving up and giving in and becoming just like the world around us is knowing the truth. And Jesus says this, I know where you'll find the truth. Your word is truth. Because the words I spoke to you came from God. God's word is Jesus. And Jesus shows us his heart, his motivation, like why he even cares, he's wrapping up this prayer right before he goes out that door. And for their sake, those 11 and then looking at you,

I consecrate myself, everything I'm about to do, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I'm praying for them and you right after this amen of this prayer, I'm gonna go out that door and I'm gonna do what I'm about to do for them, for you. Why would he do that for me? So you can experience the same kind of life that Jesus had with the father before the creation of the world. He wants you to have the same life. Skip to the very end, I'm not gonna read it to you. It's the other verse that I, high priest, Jesus has been tempted every way. Hard to believe that. I believe it because it's in the Bible, but hard to get my arms around. The last verse of this chapter, read it on your own, it says this, here's what I hope for them and for you, that you would come to the realization that the love the father has for Jesus and the love the father has for you are the same. I mean, I understand loving Jesus, he's Jesus. I'm a little far down, right? And I'm just like, why? I've actually met people who say this grace thing, it's just too good to be true, like I'm not gonna believe it. Because really, why would he do this for us? So I was finishing up this talk and I was raised old school,

my mom was a church organist and choir director and we didn't have drums, well, because we were Christians. And so, but I was just like doing some research and I came across this old hymn from the 1600s, right? Most people weren't even born then. It was written by a guy named Charles Wesley, I think he wrote about 4,000 songs. He wrote Heart the Herald Angels Sing. But I guess before he became a Christian, he was a mess. And the reality of what Jesus had done in his life on his behalf to rescue him, to save him and to keep him, as that kind of sunk in, he pins these lyrics, I'm not singing it, amen, all right? But just let this sink in. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me, me who caused his pain, for me who him to death pursued? Look at this, amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine I defused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. Amazing love, how can it be that you, my God, would die for me? No condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine.

Alive in him, my living head, in clothing righteousness divine. Bold, I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. Amazing love, how can that be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Just let it sink in, how? And then that made me think of an old hymn that I was raised on, not from the 1600s, a little later, it goes like this. And when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die, I scarce can take it in that on that cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sins and sings my soul, my savior God, to thee. How great thou art. And when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart? Then I shall bow in humble adoration and then proclaim, my God, how great thou art. All those, all those, all those lyrics are trying to describe what Jesus is asking, praying to the father for, for you and me so we can experience a joy that fills our hearts and our result is just my God, how. How great you are the same great God that invites me to call him father amazing love how can it be? What do you what do you what do you do with all this even if you I got about five percent of that Jim The rest of it. I don't know right. What do you do with the five percent? I don't know you heard the words from Jesus that came from God to you the prayer You heard the heart of Jesus the heart of the father who gave Jesus so you can know him

How do you respond? Receive him Nobody can do that for you or pray that into you. That's a conversation. I I don't have us all figured out God I'd like to call you father instead of scary being in the universe somewhere I'd like to like come up beside you like like like Paul says like like daddy Can you imagine he has such an intimate relationship with God? They just like come over here boy. Come here girl Receive him I want you in my life I Want your truth in my life? I want to move from wherever I am to where Jesus has been drawing me I want to know by faith receiving Jesus as he's my he's not just Savior of the world. He's my Savior. He's my God He's my father Do that today Or remind yourself, oh I forgot He doesn't hate me he's not mad at me. He's not disappointed in me. He actually loves me calls me his daughter Amazing love how can that be? My god how great thou art I want you to pray about something and then we're gonna sing a song and Two weeks from now is Easter and it's baptism weekend and God's not like I need to know if you believe be baptized God knows your heart Baptism doesn't save anybody right, but God knows that we need markers in our life and baptism has so many like It's like it's like a parable in action like like I've been crucified with Christ The old person is dead and gone and buried and then a new person gets a new life from above Oh, Jesus is like being born again Like some of you parents remember when you held that little thing anyway that first breath I Always like to watch people as they come up out of the water new life Be baptized Not because you prove something to God you can make a statement to the universe. I'm no longer with the world I'm now with Jesus my Savior

Why would you do that? I don't know amazing love and there's nothing like it. How can it be I? Don't know spirits told me it's true. All right, I'm done You never thought you'd hear me do old hymns did you Let's stand up at all our campuses and I'm gonna pray I'm gonna pray I'm gonna pray the same prayer that we're about the same Okay, the Lord bless you Keep you Lord be gracious unto you the Lord make his face shine upon you and give you peace God. We're asking for that Would you just look at us face to face Tell us and remind us that you love us that you do everything necessary To have us back in your life so we can experience that wonderful eternal life God save us and then keep us keep us close put your arms around us We won't make it on our on our own and you promise we never have to that. You'll always be our father And our response my God how great you are And we see that in Jesus in his name. I pray amen. Amen. All right, let's sing