131
John 17:22-26  JESUS PRAYING FOR GLORY FOR HIS
DISCIPLES

Introduction:

	In verses 6 through 19 Jesus prayed for those disciples
who had been with Him during His earthly ministry.  These
were the people who made up the membership of the church
that He had organized and whom he would soon leave behind.
He would leave them with instructions to carry the gospel
message to the whole world.  Jesus prayed two things for
them.  He prayed that God the Father would keep them and
sanctify them.  He wanted them to be set apart from the
world and to be dedicated to the worship and work of God.

I.  A look back at our text last Sunday

	Last Sunday we studied verses 19 and 20, in which Jesus
began to pray for future disciples.  That is, He prayed for
those who would be saved in future years including our
present day.
	In particular, we noted that Jesus prayed for unity
among His disciples.  This must be understood in the light
of the world wide mission program of the church that He
would leave at Jerusalem.  Church congregations would spring
up in other parts of the world and would continue to do so
until they would be found in all nations of the world.
Jesus was not asking that these local congregations of
churches throughout the world all be united into one great
big church.  Neither was He asking that all who believe the
gospel and get saved be united into a universal church.
There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that people are
born into a church.  People join churches.  But when they
are born again they are born into the spiritual family of
God.
	All who would get saved would be born into the family of
God and united together in that family.  All who are in the
family of God have a special love for one another as a
result of this special unity.  They have a special love for
one another as a result of being in the same spiritual
family.
	I also pointed out to you last Sunday that each person
who gets saved, ought to become a member of a local church
within his area where he can worship and serve the Lord.
	I mentioned also that the membership of each local
church should be united in doctrine.  Each local church
should believe the things which Jesus had taught the church
which Jesus left behind in Jerusalem.  If all churches would
believe and teach the same things which Jesus taugh His
churches, then all churches throughout the world would
believe the same thing.  They would be united in doctrine.
However, they have not all done so.
	Yet it is still the responsibility of each church today
to study and believe and preach and teach the Scriptures
whether others do so or not.  For instance, it the
responsibility of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church to
read and study and preach and teach the things which are
true to New Testament teachings whether any other church
does so or not.  We are responsible to God for what we
preach and teach and we will give account to God for what we
teach.  Therefore, we should remain true to the word of God.

II.  What Jesus emphasizes in our text today

	But what Jesus emphasizes in our text today is the glory
that He asks God the Father to bestow upon His people.  He
desired this glory to come not only upon those disciples of
that day, but also upon all of His disciples down through
the years of time.  You will note that He still asks God the
Father to promote unity among them, but the emphasis now
shifts to the glory that He desires them to have.  Jesus not
only desires for His churches and His disciples to bear the
burden of responsibility of working for Him, but He wants
them to share with Him in the glory that God the Father has
in store for Him.
	V. 22, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given
them..."  The glory that the Father had given to Jesus was
to be received chiefly in the future.  It is true that He
had already been glorified in some measure, but right at
that time He was receiving much more trials and tribulation
than glory.  Right at that time He was on His way to the
cross where He would suffer untold agony.
	But shortly He would receive glory in His resurrection.
His body would lie in the grave for three days and three
nights and He would come out of the grave.  It is true that
the general public would not see Him after His resurrection.
Only His disciples would see Him.  They would see the hole
left in His side by the spear of a Roman soldier.  They
would be invited to thrust their hands into that hole so
that there would be no doubt that it was for real.  They
would rejoice exceedingly.  Although it was not they who had
risen from the grave, yet by seeing Him they would share in
the glory of His resurrection.
	But in keeping with the request of Jesus, they would
share in that glory far beyond merely seeing Him after His
resurrection.  In due time they would experience a similar
resurrection themselves.  The Scriptures teach that the
trump of God will sound and that the bodies of all who have
been saved will arise from the grave and go up to meet the
Lord in the air.
	(22), "...that they may be one, even as we are one."
The fact that they all will be caught up together to meetthe
Lord in the air is but one of the many things that binds
their hearts together in Christian love.  But there is more
than having the same hope of the resurrection that binds
them together.  V. 23, "I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one..."  Deep down in the inner
spirit of each saved person there dwells the Spirit of God
that was implanted there when they were born again.  Through
the Holy Spirit of God Jesus dwells in them within their
spirit and God the Father who dwells in Jesus also dwells
there.  The flesh nature of the born again person is still
depraved and sinful, but within his inner spirit nature
there dwells the Spirit of God.  The very presence of Deity
God is there in the born again nature of the child of God
just like the nature of the parents is in the nature of a
child.  The very glory of God dwells within each child of
God.
	It is this inward presence of the nature of Jesus and
God the Father dwelling in the born again believer through
the Holy Spirit of God that enables the Christian to live a
godly life.  In turn, it is this godly life that the
Christian lives that convinces unsaved people who observe
his live to know that his Christianity is real and genuine.
(V. 23), "...and that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."  People can
look at the life of a godly Christian man, woman, boy or
girl and -- in effect -- they see Jesus living in that
person.  Through his or her life the unsaved is convinced
that God did send Jesus into the world and that Jesus has
had a great influence in the life of the Christian.  It when
the unsaved can see Christ in the lives of Christians that
they begin to see their own need of turning to Jesus and
getting saved.
	Then Jesus continues to pray for glory for His
disciples.  V. 24, "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 lovedst me
before the foundation of the world."  Jesus does not have to
wait long for His disciples to be with Him.  When a
Christian dies , his spirit goes right then to be weith teh
Lord in Paradise.  Within just a few short hours after Jesus
prayed this prayer He told a new disciples (the thief on the
cross) that before the day was over they would be together
in Paradise.  When a child of God dies, his body goes back
to the dust, but his spirit goes to be with Jesus in
Paradise.
	When Jesus would leave His disciples behind to return to
heaven He would leave them in a wicked and sinful world.  He
would leave them in a world where they would suffer.
Everybody suffers in this world even the very best of
Christians.  But Jesus had something better than this world
in mind for His disciples.  He prayed for His disciples to be
with Him in glory some day.
	I have already mentioned that the trump of God would
sound and that the saved would all be caught up to meet the
Lord in the air.  That is, in their resurrected glorified
bodies they will go up to meet the Lord in the air.  The
Scripture says that from that time forward they will ever be
with the Lord.  It does not say they will ever be in the air
with the Lord.  It just says they will ever be with theLord.
Whether in the air or on the earth in the millenniel reign
or whether in the new earth after this earth melts with
fervent His disciples will be with Him.
	Please keep in mind that we are talking here about
people who were not there to see Jesus as He lived upon the
earth during His earthly ministry.  We are talking about
people, many of whom have trusted in Jesus and loved Jesus
and served Jesus for many many years, but who have never
seen Jesus.  When they die, they will instantly go up into
the Paradise of God and for their first time ever, they will
see Jesus.  All of Paradise will be glorious.  That is why
it is called "Paradise" in Scripture.  It will be a place of
many wonders filled with glory.  But to the Christian
nothing will be more glorious than seeing Jesus.  The
Christian will be overjoyed to see Jesus and Jesus will be
just as happy to see him.  Jesus said, "Father, I want my
people to be with me where I am."
	In verses 25 and 26 Jesus goes back to the glories which
the Christian receives in this life without having to wait
until the resurrection or even until death when he will
enter Paradise.  He speaks of the glory of having a personal
acquaintance and a personal knowledge of God.
	V. 25, "O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee..."  The world most certainly knew about God the
Father.  At least, they knew about His existence.  The
Jewish leaders who were already on their way to the Garden
of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus thought of themselves as being
experts concerning the knowledge of God.  But Jesus said
that they did not even know God.  The same thing is true
about the world in modern times.  The world is full of many
religions, but the world as a whole does not know God.
	(V. 25), "...but I have known thee..."  Jesus, being one
of the Holy Trinity in the Godhead is Deity God Himself.  He
has existed in all eternity past right along with God the
Father.  There is nothing to be known about God the Father
that Jesus does not know.
	(V. 25), "...and these have known that thou hast sent
me."  V. 26, "And I have declared unto them thy name, and
will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me
may be in them, and I in them."  Instead of going into
detail to explain this verse, let me give it to you in a
nutshell.  Jesus said:  The world with its worldly knowledge
does not know God the Father.  But I, who am the Son of God,
I know God the Father.  And these who have believed in me
for the salvation of their soul, they know that I know the
Father.  And because they know that I know the Father, they
believe what I tell them about God the Father.  Therefore,
through me, they, too, know God the Father.
	They know Him as their own spiritual Heavenly Father.
He is not just "the Father."  He is "their Father."  He is
their "Heavenly Father."  They love me and because they love
me they love the Father.  They listen to the Father through
the things I have taught them.  They talk to the Father as
they pray in my name."
	Listen, I am so very glad that the children of God do
not have to wait until they get to heaven for God the Father
to start doing good things for them.  They have God right
now as a very present help in time of trouble.  They have
Him right now as a very constant source of comfort and joy
in this troublesome world.  Right now they have the peace of
God that passes all understanding.  They have faith in Jesus
and they have faith in God.  Therefore, they can face the
trials of life with assurance that no matter how bad things
get here in this world, there are better times ahead for
them.

III.  The key thought

	But it all hinges on one's personal trusting faith in
Jesus.  Listen, the key to having a better world ahead in
the hereafter is one's faith in Jesus Christ.  John 3:18
says, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he
that believeth not is condemned already."
	The key to a happy life in this world is one's faith and
trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  There is no greater
joy to be found even in this life than the joy that one
finds in Jesus.  There is no greater work in this world than
the work that one does for Jesus.  There is no greater
strength that one can find in this world than the strength
that one finds in Jesus.  There is no greater people that
one can keep company with in this world than the people who
know Jesus Christ as Savior.  There is no greater book to
study in this world than the book that the Holy Spirit of
God has inspired to write about Jesus.  There is no greater
home than the home that has made Jesus the Lord and Master
of that home.
	Do you want to go to heaven when you die?  Then place
your faith in Jesus to save your soul.  Do you want to know
the greatest peace and contentment that is possible for one
to have in this present world?  Then let the Lord have His
way with your life.

Conclusion:

	Who will come and let Jesus have His way?