The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus - Jesus Prays for all New Testament Believers

Well take your Bible, turn with me to John 17. John 17, like I said earlier, we will cover verses 20 to 23. Just a few verses this morning, John chapter 17. Of course we're still in our study through the Gospel of John, verse by verse. Sometimes a smaller portion, sometimes a greater portion. It just depends on how these verses break down and how the messages flesh out. Now if you have kept count of our messages in chapter 17, this high priestly prayer, you know that we've had five messages so far. Our first message came from one verse. That was verse 1. We had an introductory message.

I believe it set us up with the chapter and all that we're looking at. And then next we covered verses 1 through 5 in one message. We looked at how Jesus prayed for Himself, prayed for glory. Then we covered verses 6 through 19 in three messages. This was this intercession by Jesus for His disciples, these chosen men of God. And then it looks like we're going to have at least two messages with the remaining verses, possibly three. We have verses 20 to 26 that are before us. Now all throughout these messages I have repeated certain things. Now I do that on purpose. There are certain truths and observations that we need to remember.

And I have repeated over and over how great and how unique this high priestly prayer truly is. Now this prayer is great for many reasons. The greatest of that is that Christ is going directly to the very throne of God. These disciples were looking through a window into a completely different world when they were watching Jesus pray. These disciples were listening to a private conversation between God the Son and God the Father. By watching and listening, they were escorted to the heart and the throne of God. So this prayer is great. Also, it is unique. It's unique in many, many ways.

The most unique aspect of this prayer is how Jesus prays for His people. He intercedes for those that the Father has given Him. First, these chosen 11 disciples, they were given to Him by the Father. We learned that already. And then second, all that would believe in Christ through their word and their ministry. By listening, they heard Jesus pray for them and all believers in the New Testament church age. Now I have likened this prayer to ascending to a high mountain peak. I have made application of this illustration in several ways. In our introductory message, I feel like we elevated this prayer to its proper place.

This highest mountain peak of prayer. Many Bible scholars say that this is the greatest of all prayers found in God's word. Its only rival would be possibly the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane right before the cross. In our approach to Chapter 15, I feel like we have climbed this high mountain peak of prayer. And for five sermons or five weeks, we have jumped head first, verse by verse, into this prayer. Now notice how this illustration applies directly to the prayer. This illustration of the high mountain peak. First, Jesus ascends higher and higher to the highest mountain peaks of glory.

He immediately starts with the glory of the cross. In verse one, he says, "The hour has come." All along in his earthly ministry, he's been saying, "My hour has not yet come." But now it is the hour of the cross. He then prays for glory for himself and for his Father. Then he prays for glory that he once had with the Father prior to leaving heaven. Jesus is looking higher up into the clouds of glory in these first five verses. Then second, Jesus ascends higher and higher to the mountain peaks of intercession. This is an in-house prayer, in my opinion. This is focused on this little band of chosen disciples, the 11.

Jesus is looking up at his Father but praying down about his disciples. And this morning, we will see Jesus ascend the highest mountain peaks, not to pray for this small group of disciples, but to pray out over the horizon. Starting in verse 20, Jesus prays over the hills and valleys of time, over the rivers and streams of the coming age, over the nations, the peoples, and the cultures throughout the time of the apostles and beyond. He begins to pray for all believers in the New Testament church age. So let's go back to our verses. I know we read them earlier in our scripture reading, but let's start with verse 20.

Jesus prays, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent Me. The glory that you have given Me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one." And then verse 23, "I in them and you in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent Me and love them even as you love Me." Now the title of the message is very similar to what we've looked at for so many weeks.

Again, this is the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, but there's a shift in the title. Jesus prays for all believers. Jesus prays for all believers. Maybe as you take notes and you write that title down, you underline that word "all." You circle that word "all." It needs an emphasis. We need an emphasis there. Now you see how we will break these verses down before you. Jesus prays for the church is our first major truth. Jesus prays for their unity. And then halfway through the message, we will transition to two more truths. Jesus gives them glory, and Jesus and His disciples receive validation. Now as always, we encourage you to take notes.

It's part of our habit here. We are good students of the Word. We go home. We study on our own time. We pray over what we have learned so that the Word of God will be formed in our minds and in our hearts, and we can be faithful doers of the Word. So let's look at our first major truth in our outline. Number one, Jesus prays for the church. Jesus, He prays for the church. Of course, He is in this high priestly prayer. Verse 20, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their Word." Now for 14 verses, Jesus has been praying solely or only for the 11.

He was on this high mountain top of intercession, looking up to the Father while looking down on these men that He was so concerned for. Don't we see His concern? We've seen His concern all through these farewell discourses. But now we see a transition. Jesus moves beyond praying only for the 11 to praying for many, many, many more. Now there are two observations I want to make here. Now I will spend a little more time with the second observation. Notice number one, Jesus is still praying for the disciples. Go back to the first part of verse 20, "And I do not ask for these only." It's not that He's leaving the apostles behind.

He is including many, many more. The King James reads, "Neither pray I for these alone." Here it is obvious that Jesus does not leave the disciples out of this prayer. They are still a part of this prayer and this work. They are simply not alone in this prayer. So it's important for us to see this. Jesus is including many more, but He is not leaving the apostles, these disciples, out of this prayer. Then our second observation, notice, Jesus is praying for others. I think that's obvious to see. Jesus is praying for others.

Verse 20, "But also for those who will believe in Me through their word." Here Jesus prays, and you see the verse, "For those who will believe in Me through their word." Now there are two observations out of this that I want us to see, out of this second part of the verse. Notice, these are ones who believe. Go back to the verse, "But also for those who will believe." No matter what translation we study, that word "believe" is in the text. These are the ones who exercise their responsibility and believe on Christ through the disciples and their ministry.

After the giving of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, these disciples begin their ministries of taking the gospel around the world. We learned earlier, they are sent into the world by Christ. Isn't that what verse 17 says? Jesus says, "Father, you sent Me and I am sending them." And many believe in Christ as they preach. Go back to the text. "But also for those who will believe in Me through their word." So these are those who believe in Christ. But then also notice, these disciples preach their word. You might not have noticed that earlier. Go back to the text again.

"But also for those who will believe in Me through their word." Now that might seem strange to you, but all of the translations read the same. Now, three times the word has been referred to as the Father's word. Back in verse 6 of chapter 17, verse 14, and in verse 17. But now Jesus refers to the word as their word, the apostles' word. These disciples and their ministry associates were the human authors of the New Testament. So all who would come to Christ through their ministries would come through their word. Now there are two ways we see this happening all throughout the New Testament in church history.

First, some would hear the word directly from these men from their own preaching. If we study the book of Acts, we see how these men went to the highways and byways. They went around the world preaching the word, and there are some that come to faith in Christ directly from their ministry. But then second, most would hear this apostolic message through the Spirit-inspired writings and those who would later proclaim their word. Now who is that? That is you and I. That is us. We proclaim the word of the apostles, and we're doing that even today. So what do we see here in verse 20?

Jesus begins to pray for these men and all those who would come to salvation through their ministry, through their word. But we see great success. Go back to the verse. But also for those who will. They will believe in me through their word. This is not a hope so, but it will be so in this prayer. Jesus' prayer ensures, He ensures that their apostolic ministries would be successful. But we also see the scope of this prayer. It is very, very far-reaching. This includes the apostles, all who would believe through them, and all who would believe after them because of their word and their ministries. And this is still going on.

This is going on today. And I said earlier that Jesus is praying right here over the nations, peoples, and cultures throughout the time of the apostles and beyond, and it is still going on today. Now I want to make application of this verse. I want us to apply what we've seen here to our own lives. I want us to see that this prayer, verse 20, this prayer was for the first century church who suffered so much under the persecution of Rome. I don't know if you are a student of church history. You should be. We all should be. But that first century church was persecuted in a horrible way because of Rome's hatred of Christianity and Christ.

But we see that this prayer was for that first century, that fragile church. This prayer was also for those in the 20th century. I think about those Romanian Christians who suffered so much. After World War II and all of Eastern Europe fell to communism, Romania itself fell to communism, first under Soviet rule, and then later they were an independent communist nation. History tells us that the church and Christians were persecuted terribly.

One of the most famous Romanian Christians from that period is a Christian named Richard Wombren, a Lutheran pastor who was used greatly of God and he would meet in secret and ultimately he was betrayed by a friend and arrested and spent years in prison enduring horrible torture for his faith in Christ. But this prayer was intended for them. This February I met a church planner from the country of Vienna, Austria. He was a unique individual because he was not Austrian. He was Greek. As a matter of fact, I heard him say, "I'm the man from Macedonia." In other words, he is truly by birth a Greek. He goes to Vienna, Austria to make money.

Lo and behold, he is witness to by Christians. He is converted and through the work of God in his life, he felt called to the ministry and he is pastoring a church there today, a wonderful sweet man named Steve Misios and I enjoyed getting to know him. This prayer is for Steve Misios and his church. This prayer is also for us here at Noah Babish Church. This prayer is for us in our day and in our time. But I want us to see not only who this affects, because this prayer affects all true believers. But I want us to see the success of this prayer. This is not a hope-so prayer.

This is a definite thing that will happen, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. And this prayer is for us. And this guarantees us success. Success in taking the gospel around the world and to our neighbors and down our streets. This guarantees us success that we can be a true church, a Bible church, where God works in us and works through us. This is not a hope-so. This is a guarantee. I like how John MacArthur speaks of this success out of this verse. And I'm quoting all of the church's evangelistic success as a result of the Lord's request in verse 20.

"For those who would believe in the future, this request guaranteed the successful establishment of the church and the success of its evangelistic ministry from the apostolic times to the present." And he's quoting Matthew 28 here. "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." You see this church? This is not a hope-so. Jesus is interceding and praying for the church. Let's move on. Let's notice our second major truth and our outline. Jesus prays for their unity. Jesus prays for their unity. Now you'll have to excuse me. We're going to pull from several verses here. It's just the way it works out.

Notice at the beginning of verse 1, "That they may be one." Then at the end of verse 22, he repeats himself, "That they may be one, even as we are one." Again, he's talking to the Father. And then at the beginning of verse 23, "I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one." Here we see in these verses that Jesus makes a specific prayer for these 11 and all who would believe through them. This is the New Testament church. Now we have seen that this request is in three verses repeated by Christ because this is dear to his heart and the heart of the Father. Now I want to help us see this unity in two ways or two observations.

We're going to look at a description and then a model, a description of this unity and a model for this unity. So first notice a description of this unity. Now in each of these verses we see the same language. Go back, "That they may all be one." Verse 22, "That they may be one even as we are one." And then verse 23, "That they may be perfectly one." Now in all of these disciples, we do see some level of unity. There was a unity and a common salvation. There was a unity and a common Lord who was Jesus. There was unity and a common sanctification. Although they are all at different places, they are in this journey of sanctification together.

But the fulfillment of this unity would not come until after the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost because when the Spirit comes, they undergo a great and wonderful change. Now I study many different resources during the week and from time to time there might be a commentator that really gives us some good information. So I'm going to refer to some information that John MacArthur gives us here. He gives us a great description of their ultimate unity. I like this. I call it a description. John MacArthur calls this "Seven Features of the Holy Spirit-Centered Unity." This comes out of Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 6.

Now I'm taking what MacArthur gives and changing it a little. I want to give credit where credit is due. But notice first there is one body. One body, the body of Christ, which is comprised of all believers since the inception of the church. Then there is one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, apart from whom no one can believe savingly in Christ. Then there is one hope. One hope in the promised eternal inheritance guaranteed to every believer by the Holy Spirit of God. Then there is one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sole head of the body. Then there is one faith, the faith by which for all handed down to the saints.

Then there is one baptism. This refers to water baptism, believers' baptism, this public confession of faith in Christ, which is found throughout the New Testament. And then there is one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. So here we see this unity. I call it a description of unity from all over the New Testament. MacArthur calls this seven features of this Holy Spirit centered unity. And this is a oneness that these disciples do enjoy and would enjoy as the work progresses in their life. This was a supernatural work of God. And this was only possible with the indwelling work of the Spirit in Him.

So if we faithfully study the lives of the disciples, all that is seen here will be a part of their life. So we have a description of this unity. And then the model for this unity. Verses 21 and 23, we see Christ being in the Father or their oneness. Go back just to verse 21, that they may be one just as you, Father, are in Me and I in you. So we see this oneness between Christ and the Father. Now this is not the first time Jesus had spoken of their unity. Jesus spoke of unity with the Father all throughout the Gospel of John. John 5, 18. John 8, verses 58 to 59. And then in John 10, verse 31 to 33.

And then later on in John, in John 19.7, Jesus speaks of being one with the Father. And if you have a great memory, every time Jesus spoke like this, the Jews picked up stones to kill Him because they thought that was blasphemy. But this is a model. This is the model for unity and a unity which these men will enjoy perfectly after Pentecost. Now again, I'm giving us a model, this model of unity from John MacArthur. Again, I'm changing some of his information so it's his and mine. And he lists five features of this unity that the church imitates. First, the Father and the Son are united in motive.

They are equally committed to the glory of God. And the church is committed to this glory as well. The church is also united in a common commitment to the glory of God. And the Father and the Son are united in mission. They share a common goal of redeeming lost sinners and granting them eternal life. The church itself lives for this purpose. One goal of evangelizing the lost is clear, and it is clear from God's Word. We see this in John 18. What does He say? "As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." Why? To evangelize the lost. And then the Father and the Son, they are united in truth. They are united in truth.

Jesus said, "The words which you gave Me, I have given to them." Earlier in verse 8. The church is also united in this commitment. This sole commitment of proclaiming the singular truth of God's Word. The Father and the Son are united in holiness. In verse 11, Jesus addressed the Father as "holy Father." And in verse 25, He addresses the Father as "righteous Father." And if the church tolerates sin, it not only obscures the glory of Christ, it is called to radiate, but also faces the discipline of the Lord over the church. We see that in Revelation, as He disciplines five of those seven churches.

And then the Father and the Son are united in love. Similarly, love is the glue that binds these believers together in unity, and it is the love for one another that is the church's ultimate apologetic to the lost world. So what do we see here in all of these verses, verse 21, 22, and 23? Jesus prays for a unity or a oneness that they will attain. This is not a hope so, this is a definite so. After the feeling of the Holy Spirit, a supernatural change will take place in these men, which will enable them and this work to take place.

They will be one with the Father and one with the Son, and proof of this unity will be modeling this unity and God's character to the world. Now in application, what can we learn from these verses? First of all, I want us to see that unity is abused so much in the church today. Now in your own study, you might come across this term, ecumenical movement or an ecumenical work between different churches. Now what this means is, it's when churches get along and work together with other churches. But that can be a problem. We cannot be unified with any people. There must be certain things, truths that we unify on. Now this is an incomplete list.

I really wrestled over this this weekend and this week. I'll show you some things that we can unify on. First of all, the Word of God. God has taught us that this is the Word of God. This is non-negotiable. These are the truths of God from Old Testament to New, and we know that they are authoritative over our lives and over the church. But the sad thing is, there are churches today who move away from the authority of God's Word. We cannot be one with those individuals. Also the Godhead. We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are three, but yet they are one. We cannot explain that.

And if any people tamper with the Trinity or the Godhead, then we cannot unify with them at all. There are so many people who want to tamper with Christ. We accept what the Word says. He's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three and one. Then there are those who move away from what the Scriptures teach on salvation. See, when we boil it all down, the Word of God teaches that we are justified by grace through faith. Any man, any young person, yesterday, today, or tomorrow, can only be right with God by grace through faith. Salvation is a grace gift, and we exercise that faith. It is called regeneration.

But, oh, there are so many today, they fall prey to decisionism, cheap gimmicks. Pray this prayer. We can't be unified with those people. That is what the reformers fought and bled and died for. It was justification by faith. Another work of the Word that we can unify with is church and church government and how the church is fleshed out. The Lord has taught us that we do church according to the book. We can't do church any old way. And there are a lot of people, they have church their own way, and they're unbiblical in so many ways, we can't be unified with people like that. And then, ultimately, the purpose of the church.

You know, the purpose of the church isn't to entertain you or me. The purpose of the church isn't to have an organization that fits your needs and my needs. The purpose of the church is to grow the saints and reach the lost and ultimately to worship. Now, what am I showing you? These are non-negotiables, and we cannot be unified with someone if they do not believe these things. If someone comes in the life of this church and they do not believe in justification by faith, we can never be one with them.

Now, I'll be honest with you, you will hear me more, you'll hear me teach more on this unity because there's so much water in this well that we need to take to the surface. Let's continue on. I want us to see our third major truth, our third major truth in our outline. That is, Jesus gives them glory. Jesus gives them glory. We see this at the beginning of verse 22, "The glory that you have given me, I have given them." Now, I'll call this portion of verse 22 the key. You might call it the secret, but this is the key. This is the secret to this unity. And if you don't have the key, you cannot unlock the lock.

So this is the key, this glory that Jesus gives. Now, this is the glory which the Father gave him. And to me, without this glory, this unity is impossible. And I think you'll agree with me when we get through this text. Now, two examinations or observations I want to make here, and I want to make them in the form of a question. First question is, "What was Christ's glory?" Go back to the verse, "The glory that you have given me, I have given them." Now, what was this glory? What we see here is Christ received glory from his Father. How? By obeying the Father's will and word completely.

Christ came to earth as a suffering servant, and his service culminated in going to the cross. In verse 1, Jesus prayed of the cross. He said, "The hour has come, and we know chronologically that the cross is hours away." And all throughout John's Gospel, we have seen that the cross was true glory for Christ. So Christ received glory from the Father through perfect obedience, and that was going all the way to the cross. Now, second, what is this glory given to the disciples? For these disciples, the way to glory was following Christ as a true servant of the cross as well.

By dying to self and taking up their cross, they were able to receive this glory from Christ. Notice what Jesus says in Luke 19.23. He tells his disciples and those listening, "If anyone would come after me..." Now, this is basic discipleship Christianity 101. "Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me." And that is exactly what took place in these men. They had believed in Christ in true salvation, and they had followed him as Lord. They were taking up their cross as designated apostles to take the Gospel to the world. So they received glory much like Christ received glory. They were obedient in taking up their cross.

Listen again to Luke 19.23. "Let him deny himself and take up his cross, not the cross." And so they were taking up their cross. And so they received glory much like Christ. They were obedient in taking up their cross and following Christ, and therefore glory was given to them. So what do we see? Just in verse 22. Jesus gives them glory. This is only possible because of Christ's obedience and their obedience. Christ's obedience was the cross of Calvary, while their obedience was their cross, which was assigned to them to be apostles. Now, I want us to see how this applies in two ways. First of all, as individuals.

When we are born again, then we are assigned a cross. What do we see again in verse 19 of Luke 20.23? "If anyone would come after me, that includes you and me. Let him deny himself and take up his cross." Christianity requires a cross. It's not health, wealth, and prosperity. It's not a better life now. It is taking up our cross and following Christ in salvation and discipleship. I really like how one theologian describes this. It's one that I refer to from time to time. His name is William Barclay. He's very famous in dealing with the original language. But notice what he says here of this cross.

And I quote, "We must never think of our cross as our penalty. We must think of it as our glory. The harder the task we give a student, or a craftsman, or a surgeon, the more we honor him." And he goes on to say, "So when it is hard to be a Christian, we must regard it as our glory, as our honor given to us by God." And we receive glory in our lives when we are shouldering our cross. It is the cross that God has assigned you, and your cross is different than mine. Oh, my cross is not your cross. And God providentially determines the cross He will give you and me. But also I want to think about applying this to our church.

Now how do we as a church receive glory? It is when we are corporately, as a church, bearing the cross that God has assigned us. And I do believe there is a corporate application. Now, question, again, an application. How do we describe the possession of this glory in one's life? I mean, think about that. Pastor, what does that look like? What does it look like if I have this glory? I'm shouldering my cross in life, and I'm supposed to receive glory as these disciples. This prayer is for me, just like it was for them. Now, what does this glory look like? I'll be honest with you, I can't describe it.

But I'll tell you what, I can tell you when someone has it. And I can tell you when someone doesn't. You ever known someone that just had a godliness about them, a humility about them? They're walking with the Lord in victory in circumstances. And listen, their sanctification in their circumstances is affecting other people. See, that's glory. God's glory being manifested in that life. And look, I might not can describe it very well, but I know when someone has it, and I know when someone doesn't have it. But think about that in relation to a church. I can tell you when a church doesn't have it.

But I can tell you when a church does have this glory. Let's move on, let's notice our fourth major truth in our outline. And this one's a little shorter than the last. Number four, Jesus and his disciples receive validation. They receive validation. The end of verse 21, "So that the world may believe that you have sent me." The end of verse 23, "So that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me." Now I'll call these verses validation. Validation of the father, validation of the son, and validation of true believers.

Here we see that when the world sees the unity, this unity in the lives of the believers, and as the church, it authenticates the work. The lost world sees that it is real. Now this is not a saving faith. Go back to verse 21, "So that the world may believe." Now this is not a saving faith that you have sent me. This is seeing the reality of this unity and acknowledging it as real. Now three quick observations here. This authentication. Out of these verses we see that when this takes place, Christ is authenticated. Christ, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, is authenticated as the true Messiah by the world.

Then also the Father is authenticated. In other words, the lost world realizes that Jesus is from God. So therefore the Father is authenticated. But also believers, we are authenticated. The lost world sees that we are of God and our Savior is of God. Therefore the Father is authenticated. This is all tied together. So what do we see in these verses? The church and her validity are authenticated through this unity. The lost world sees this great supernatural work and acknowledges God the Father, God the Son, and true Christians. Now an application I want you to see.

That carnality, division, power struggles, fights, and backbiting, and mistreating people in the life of the church destroys the witness of the church and her hope for evangelism. I'm going to repeat that. Carnality, divisions, fighting, backbiting, power struggles, mistreating individuals, it destroys the witness of the church and her hope for evangelism. Many of you know that I was a part of a church that went through all of the above. Carnality, divisions, fighting, power struggles, and backbiting. As a matter of fact, I was dismissed because I stood up for truth. But I'll share with you how I saw this fleshed out.

When I left full-time ministry, I worked in the real world. I say that tongue-in-cheek because as preachers, sometimes we don't live in the real world. But I had a full-time secular job. I remember being with individuals, lost men who did not profess to know Christ, and they could describe in detail all of the things that went on in the life of that church, all of the fighting, all of the power struggles, all of the division, all of the carnality, and they could name names. And I remember times when I thought, "Were you in those deacons meetings?" I was. I didn't see you there.

But they knew all of what was taking place, and they said it with a smirk. Why? Because they were scorning God's church. They were scorning those people. It was a flashing neon sign to those. I remember how this was vividly brought to my attention again. I remember meeting an individual, a lost man, did not profess to know Christ, and I shook his hand, and I introduced myself, and he looked at me and he said, "Now, who are you?" And I told him, and he said, "Oh, I know who you are. You're the one that went through all that mess at that church." What am I showing you? Carnality, divisions, fighting, power struggles, mistreating people.

It destroys the witness of the church in her hope for evangelism. Why in the world would lost people want to be a part of that? Nobody wants to be a part of a bunch of hypocrites like that. I don't. And listen, people, if you have time, I can sit down and name for you people in that church who left the church and left the things of God, and they would not give you a nickel for the things of God today. Why? Because they saw the carnality, the divisions, the fighting, the backbiting, all of it, and they ran. But close to home.

Nola, I want you to see our future is in the balance, because if we do not have this work in us, we will embark on a slow, arduous, painful death. We will not have the glory of God, and we will exist. We might come and sing and look at our Bibles and have sermons, but it will be a slow death. And look, our future is in the balance. Our success is in the balance. If we're going to reach people around the world, if we're going to grow saints, this work of unity must take place. But I'll hit a little closer to home. Our effectiveness with our own children is in the balance, because our children are watching us closely.

They know what goes on in the life of this church, and if this unity and this oneness is not going on, they will not see this church as valid. There might be some of you, your own children, have been affected by some of these things that they have seen. Jesus and His disciples received validation. Now, as I move to the conclusion, we see that Jesus prays for His church. That's us people. We come into the picture right here in verse 20. Jesus prays for unity, this oneness for His church. But the key, the secret to the whole thing is glory, to have God's glory individually and corporately.

And then that validation enables us to witness to the world. Now, as I close, I want you to see, church, that this is real church, right here in these verses. This is real church, people. This isn't fake church. We've all seen fake church. And look, we need to get over it. Sometimes there's a building that has the right architectural design, and there's a steeple on top, but they're not a church. They're a fake church. This in front of us is real church. And let me tell you something.

God has convinced me that if we have real church, we can reach people down our streets, in our neighborhoods, in our town, in our community, and around the world. People will come because God has His people out there. Real church reaches His people, and it's for His people that He is determined to say forever ago. But I'm going to be a little more personal. If what you want is fake church, I don't want it. I've had enough of that. If what you want is fake church, I'm leaving. I don't want that. So what do we see this morning? This is prayer. So much more. Lord, there's so much here that applies to us.