Good Friday Service

Good evening and welcome to our very good Friday service. It's actually a very good day. It's a very good day for us. And the Lord's grace outpoured for us. And this evening we'll be taking kind of a different approach from what you might typically think. We'll be looking at John chapter 17.

It'll be our Lord's praying just hours before he was crucified. And think about this for a minute. If somebody told you, hey, you're going to die in just a matter of hours, and you're pretty certain about the time and the actuality of the event, wouldn't you be inclined to focus on what's really important? What's really important? And if you think about it, John 17, where our Lord is praying, He has but hours before He'll be crucified.

And very interestingly, he's going to be separated from the Father for that moment in time. And so what does he want to do? He wants to do something very important, and he wants to talk to the Father. And we get to listen in on that. We get to take a look at that and see what the Lord considered most extremely important at that very critical time. Let's take a minute to pray and just commit our time to the Lord, okay?

Lord, we thank you as we begin to look at this chapter, as we begin to look at the things that you've had especially written there for us. We thank you for the richness that is there. We thank you for the intimacy. We thank you for the love that is shown.

And Lord, we just pray as we begin our time tonight, we just pray that you would cause our hearts and minds to be focused on the things that you have revealed for us, because you love us and care for us. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't you stand? We'll sing What a Wonderful Savior, four verses, OK? Has a thin atonement made What a wonderful Savior! Redeemed, the price is paid. What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus!

What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord! I praise Him for the cleansing blood, What a wonderful Savior! Reconciled my soul to God, What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord! He walks beside me in the way, What a wonderful Savior!

And keeps me faithful day by day, What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord! He gives me overcoming power. What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord! Jesus spoke these things and lifted up his eyes to heaven.

He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom have sent him. I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. So we're going to do, my job is to do the first twelve verses or so. And a couple of interesting things about this prayer. Number one, a prayer like, it's always between two people. And who are the two here? It's the Father and the Son. And the other thing that just blows me away about this, we as believers, our name as believers, we're people who live by faith, we get to look over the shoulder and listen to what the Lord Jesus has to say.

Did it ever dawn on you that maybe the Father wouldn't respond? Maybe Jesus would ask the Father to do something that he wouldn't do? Because sometimes we read the scriptures and we wonder if God really intends to do or really did what he said he was going to do. I think in this case every word that the Lord Jesus speaks is an absolute certainty. So as we go through the verses we want to make sure in our minds that there's nothing here that is for chance or that maybe they'll think it over. This is absolute certainty.

So when Jesus says, glorify thy son, thy son may also glorify me, tells us something about the Lord Jesus as a man and as God. As a man, in Philippians 2, 6 through 8, it says, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." So he's asking the Father to be glorified as a man now. Not as the second person of the Trinity, but now as a man.

Glory can be described is basically described as a sum total of God's intrinsic attributes, or you could say it a different way, His built-in characteristics, His holiness, His omnipotence, His righteousness, His omnipresence. So when the Lord Jesus requests that the Father glorify Him, it's a totally unselfish request. because it amounted to a request for the reversal of the conditions that's talked about in Philippians 2. So he's asking to be glorified now as a man. So he asked the Father to glorify him for what reason?

So that he could in turn glorify the Father, which he was about to do on the cross. And then the verse says, the hour has come. And the hour is the time appointed by God and the Lord Jesus Christ in which the triumph over sin and the flesh and the devil was about to take place. The cross of Christ is the event in time when God will be totally glorified in regards to his person and his attributes. And the only way this could happen is that Jesus was to endure the cross. It's the only way God could be glorified in this event. Thus, this petition is a testimony of Jesus' commitment to the Father's will, even to the point of dying on that cross.

All of this was ultimately for the glory of the Father, and it would magnify the Father's wisdom, it would magnify His power and His love. And then it says that the Father had given Jesus the power over all flesh. What does that mean? As a man, power over all flesh so that he could do what? that he might be able to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him. And that includes you and me. The purpose was that eternal life could be given to those who believed. So, let's talk a little bit about verse 3.

What is eternal life? Well, the Lord speaks of life as given in himself by faith now, and this is eternal life that you might know thee, the only true God and Him whom He has sent. So, is there a difference between eternal life and endless existence?

There has to be. Eternal life is essentially knowing God experientially through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus described it in terms of a relationship rather than in terms of duration. Everyone will live forever somewhere. However, the term eternal life, as used by Jesus here, means much more than just having a long life. There's no possessing of eternal life without an intimate fellowship with the one who is eternal life, who is the Lord Jesus himself.

In 1 John 5.11, John says, And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

So what is the primary reason then that the Lord Jesus goes to the cross? It's to glorify the Father. It's in completing his side of the eternal covenant, Jesus did everything that he did in obedience to the Father. God's character or his glory could not exist where sin was not satisfied. So the satisfaction could not be accomplished by anyone less than God himself because he was the offended party. Jesus being God and man was uniquely qualified to accomplish this purpose and when accomplished he glorifies the Father and the Father in turn glorifies him.

So why does he make this request to be glorified? It's because the glory of the Father by accomplishing the work and to thereby be glorified by the Father fulfills a primary purpose that God does everything that he does. He does everything to glorify himself. He does it because he recognizes who he is in his essence.

I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you. For the words which you gave me I have given to them and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you and They believe that you sent me I ask on your behalf I don't ask on behalf of the world but of those whom you have given me for they are yours and all things that mine are yours and yours are mine. I have been glorified in them.

So now there's a change. The Lord Jesus stops praying for himself and he begins to pray for the men that are with him and these are the apostles. He's going to go away and he starts thinking about those that are going to be left behind on the earth and he looks to heaven and expresses his desire for those So he says, these were the elect out of the elect Jewish nation, and as men given out of the world, they're viewed on divine ground as chosen, they're called, and they're foreknown.

So how did the disciples keep the Father's word? They did it by faith. Faith in what Jesus had revealed to them about the Father. Because the words that you have given Which thou gave me, I have given them, and they received them. They believed them. Now granted, they were limited, I think, in their understanding, but they did believe that the Lord Jesus was sent from the Father, and I think they believed that He was the Son of God. So by giving them the words of the Father and responding to that, what did they get? In John 6, 63, Jesus imparted to them these words. He said, It is the spirit that quickens and the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, their spirit and their life.

So the word of the father by Jesus revealed the father himself in him whom the father had sent and put him who received them into the place of love, which was Christ's place to know the father and the son was eternal life. So these men, because they believe, they're put in the same position with the Father that the Lord Jesus enjoyed. And so the Father now looks at them as His possessions, and they're going to be the Lord Jesus' possession.

So why doesn't Jesus pray for the world? You would think, gee, He would include the world in this prayer. Well, the first and basic reason was because they rejected Him. He's concerned of His disciples, and so He makes a request He doesn't pray for Israel, He doesn't pray for the nations, nor for the land, nor for the earth at large, but He only is concerned about whom the Father had given Him. He prays for them, distinguishes them completely from the world. Those being out of the world whom the Father had given Him, for they were the fathers, for all that the Father is, is essentially opposite to what the world is.

1 John 2.16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

So how is Jesus glorified in those He gave Him? The Lord presents to the Father two motives for His request. The first motive is that they were the Father's so that the father in his own glory and because of his own affection for those who belong to him should keep them. And the second reason was Jesus was glorified in them so that if Jesus was the object of the father's affection so that the reason also the father could keep them.

So the interest of the father and the son can't be separated. They have to be the same. If they were the fathers they were in fact also the sons. And it was but an example of that universal truth. All that was the son's was the father's, and all that was the father's was the son. What struck me about this was what a place for us to be the objects of this mutual affection, of these common and inseparable interests of the father and the son. That's how they both look at us. inseparably, we're part of the love they have for one another and we're included in that.

We're the gift. I am no longer in the world and yet they themselves are in the world and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given them, me, and they may be one even as we are. I was with them I was keeping them in your name which you have given me and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition so that the scripture would be fulfilled.

So it's interesting here that the language indicates the Lord talks as though all of these events are past tense. How come? It was the hour that had been decided upon in eternity past. This hour had been determined a long time ago by the Father and the Son in eternity. And when God determines something, it's already done from His viewpoint. So there's never a doubt.

So He speaks as though it's already over. In verse 11 and 12, there are two words used in regards to the safety of these disciples and can be extrapolated to us. The first word is KEEP and the second word is GUARDED. Interesting words because KEEP means to protect by restraint, to hold them close. The second word is GUARDED which means to protect from external peril.

So the Father and the Son taken together, these words give a picture of a complete deliverance from all perils from within and from without. The last thing I want to talk about, and I'm sure Roger and Vern will talk more about this because it's repeated, is the oneness. What does the Lord Jesus mean by that they may be one? What is this oneness about? I came up with this oneness is of life, it's of mind, it's one counsel, it's one aim. The Father and the Son were to be their only object. The Holy Spirit, God himself, was to unite them in thought and purpose so that the mind, the aim, and the life, and the whole moral existence were consequently one with the Father.

And now, Jacqueline is going to play for us. a a a a a you you you But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, even 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 sent Me.

Well, I get to do the part in the middle. So this is a tremendous passage. And actually, when Vern proposed it, I said, Vern, John 17 in one hour? It's pretty incredible. You know, I have nine verses. And I think in those nine verses, we're going to see a transition between Mike started to talk about the fact that that the Lord was talking about the disciples, them and they. He uses those pronouns. He's going to switch. He's going to switch toward the end there in 20 and 21. He's going to start talking about us, or all believers. So it's really interesting that he's going to include every single one of us in this room in his prayer, even though he prayed it 2,000 years ago, which is pretty neat stuff.

So starting in verse 13. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they, the disciples, and ultimately we can make this applicable to us, may have my joy made full in themselves. So as Mike mentioned, the Lord starts off, but now I come to you. And then earlier he said, Father, the hour has come. In another passage he says, I go to him who sent me. So the Lord Jesus, think about this.

If you had a wonderful relationship and you had that relationship had been severed and you're going to be reunited, wouldn't you on your cell phone or texting or some way, you'd say, we're going to be together again. This is going to be neat. The Lord was looking forward to being reunited with his father. Even though the cross was before him, he saw he was going to be united with the father. And that's why he starts out that first section.

Then he says, these things I speak in the world. So the Lord Jesus did speak in the world. Mike talked about that. He didn't pray for the world, but he spoke in the world and men were saved. He did that. And he spoke in the world for a purpose. And one thing, let's kind of go back. What did he speak? He said, I speak only what the Father has. I don't speak anything else.

It wasn't like God the Father had one thing to say, God the Son had another thing to say, and well, we've got to kind of decide who's who. They both said exactly the same thing, and he said that multiple times. I never counted it, but just multiple times he said, I say exactly what the Father says. So he was giving us the Father's Word, which ultimately we have in Scripture.

And the second part of that, or toward the end of that verse 13, it says, so that, there's a purpose in that, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. And boy, you know, I looked at that and I said, Christ, He has a joy that He wants to share with us.

He wants to share His joy. And that's just monumental. You think, wow, Christ has a joy He wants to share with us. And what's that joy all about? You know, I'm not sure I've totally got my arms around it, but you know what? It really totally involves us. He wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to have intimacy with us. fellowship with us.

And that's why he was so joyful. Because when he went to the cross, that would make it a reality that we could have fellowship. And that was the culmination. And so that was the joy that I think was there. And part of it is, some of the aspects are that we would be one with him. We'd have this union with him. Maybe secondly, that everything that would be true of him would be true of us. So then there would be this wonderful joy we could have together. So that was just outstanding.

And so then we transition to verse 14, and it says, I have given them your word. So this is interesting. I've given them your word. And there was rejoicing in the streets, and people just couldn't believe it. No. And the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. This just got to knock my socks off. God's Word goes out, and we can see it. We see that so clearly when we talk to people that don't know the Savior. Do they say, oh, that's so wonderful. Tell me more. How many times have you had that happen? I'm not sure I've ever had that happen. They don't. The world doesn't want Him.

And He says, okay, I've given the disciples primarily here, but I've given them Your Word, and the world hates them. And it says, and the reason is that they hated me. And there's a parallel verse that I found in John 15, 18. And it kind of expands on this.

If the world hated you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you, love its own. But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. So you know, what's interesting is Our goal is not to be liked by the world.

That may be kind of hard. And it's kind of hard for me. I don't like not to be liked. I like to be liked. But he says, when we have the right message, when we're walking the life of the Lord Jesus, it's not going to be easy. And we see that. We see that in our lives. It's very clear. We see that in our lives. And the approach is not to get on the world side and try to, according to scripture, Snuggle up to them, you know, we're buddy buddies, you know, we present the truth of what God has said and it's marvelous. And so we're heavenly citizens. We're different. We're God's children. We're heavenly citizens. We're aliens and strangers, it says.

Okay, then he continues on. He says, I do not ask to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. You might think if the world's going to hate people that love the Lord Jesus, why don't we just take them out of there? That's not his plan. His plan was not to take us out. Even though it's not comfortable with the world, in a sense, he doesn't want to take us out. He does pray here that he wants to keep us from the evil one. And that's kind of interesting. All these things, like Mike mentioned, all these things were absolutely fulfilled at the cross. So there's no question about that he's praying these things. They're a done deal.

So he's going to keep us from the evil one. You might ask, well, how did that happen? Remind me of the scriptures. Well, it says in Hebrews 11 that by Christ's death, he rendered powerless or took off line the evil one in relation to the believer. So the evil one has been disconnected. He can make a lot of noise, but he can't touch us because we're in the Lord Jesus. And so in our Christian walk, we're to basically stand where God has placed us, in our Savior, in the Lord Jesus. So that's kind of 15. Then we go to 16. 16 kind of repeats what he's kind of talked about before. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And then we go on to 17. And a little bit different topic here.

Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Sanctify, to set apart. This is kind of really neat. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And basically, if you take God's word and the truth, there's an equal sign between them. You have an equal sign, God's word, the truth, they're equal. So he says, sanctify the disciples and believers in the truth.

And that was accomplished because we are in him. Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the singular truth. There's no one else that's truth. And then conditionally, the scriptures tell us that we're to walk in the light as he is in the light, walk in light of who we are and what he's done for us. Then we move on to 18.

He says, as you sent me into the world, I've sent them into the world. This is kind of interesting. That idea of sent, sent into the world. It's the idea that we were sent on a mission. Christ was sent on a mission. And we're going to celebrate his mission, the culmination of his mission, this weekend with the Resurrection Sunday. But we have a mission too. And we're going to see that mission as we go down the rest of the verses here. So we have a mission in this.

We have a mission in the world. Even though the world hates us, we still have a mission. I was kind of thinking, If you were in the military and you went to Afghanistan, you're not of Afghanistan. You're an American, but you have a mission in Afghanistan. We have a mission in this world that doesn't want to hear our message. I thought that's pretty cool.

Then to 19, for their sake, I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth. So this somewhat repeats what was said before about being sanctified. So everything that was true about the Savior will now be true of us. And that's why we can have that wonderful fellowship. So just kind of a brief summary of what Christ prayed here in this few little sections.

He wanted to share his glory with us. He gave us his word, but the world hates us. He asked not to take the disciples out of the world or the apostles out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. He set them apart in the truth. He sent them into the world on a mission. So now we come to verse 20 and 21. And here's the change. And Burn's going to get to do the neat part at the end. But it changes right here.

He says, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, the apostles or the disciples, but for those who believe in me, Christ, through their word. So this is really cool. The disciples give out the word that Christ gave them, And people believe. Ultimately, scripture is written, and we believe. So we're right in this. This is us. We believed from the disciples' word. Because the disciples, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and others, wrote scripture. So we believe on them, on Him, through their word.

But then there's a purpose in that. And this is this purpose that Mike kind of alluded to. This is this intimacy that God desires with us. We go to 21, and it says, that they, speaking of us, all believers, may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me." So here's this wonderful thing.

He wants us to all be one. I know there's a sense in which, you know, you read in scripture where there is one body. You know, we have a local body here and there might be a local body in the parts of Denver and all over the entire world, but there's just one body, the one true body.

But I think it's much deeper than that. I think this is speaking of the intimacy, the intimacy he desires with us. And the reason I think that is because the rest of the verse talks about his relation with the Father. He says, his example is of this intimacy. You, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.

So it's just incredible. Think about where to have the same relationship as God the Father and God the Son have with all the two of them and the Holy Spirit. I mean, it just defies imagination. How can I have that? How can I? I'm not God. I've come to believe in Him, but it says that's the relationship. that when we're born again, when we have Christ in us, that we will have that same intimate relationship. And that's just, and that's his prayer. And that's why he's so excited. And that's my joy, I believe. And I was thinking, it's not, and I'm getting ahead of myself here. So the last part. So here's the purpose.

Here's the mission statement. You guys in the mission statements, you know, if you're, if you're building new companies, you've got to have a mission statement. You just can't exist without a mission statement. Well, here's the mission statement. This is the entire mission statement.

The last part of that verse is, so that the world may believe that you, the Father, sent the Son. God, the Father, sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. That's what they're going to see when we truly are in union with our Savior, when we truly walk with Him. They're going to see that.

You say, boy, I don't see how they can. I don't look too good sometimes. And we don't. But that's not our worry. He desires we do that. And that's our mission statement. It's not so much about doing something. It's about being something. We're to be who we are in Christ. And that's what's so cool about this. And Vernon gets to really do the extra cool part that's coming. But I have a question for you.

And I don't think maybe there's not a person in this room that doesn't know the Savior. But you know, has there anyone in this room not heard the disciples' words? It says, back in 20, it says, This is written that they have heard the disciples' word. Have you truly heard the disciples' word in scripture? And if you have not heard that word and come to faith in the Savior, then what I've been talking about hasn't been for you. But God desires it to be for you. You know, he says if you're not in Christ, you're dead in trespasses and sins. You're all under sin, all have come short of the glory of God, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But in this beautiful passage in 1 Corinthians 15, it tells us what this good news that can take you from that state of unbelief to belief. And it says in 1 Corinthians 15, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. I always like that because Paul says, hey, this isn't my message.

I'm just telling you what was told to me. And that's what we're doing. We're just telling people what we read in Scripture, what somebody told us. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. And that's the good news that you need to know and believe to become a child of God, to know Him.

And that's what He desires. So now it's time for some special music. so so The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them. Even as you have loved me, Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world, O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these have known you 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. Thank you, Joe.

This passage is about glory. It's a theme begun in the verses that Mike addressed here. This continues on that theme. This was the glory that was first shared between Christ and His Father. Now, glory is the radiant essence of who God is. All of God's attributes expressed in radiance. It's personal to God. It's not just a thing. It's not a commodity. And God is the source of all glory. That glory was shared between God the Son and His Father. And as Christ prays here, He speaks of sharing that glory with you and with me. Amazing thing, isn't that?

And this passage is also about love. There was a love that was shared between the Father and the Son in eternity past. It was a love untainted. It was a love unrestrained. It was a love of infinite. quality and character. Before God said, let there be light and created everything that we see and don't, before that happened, there was this love, infinite love, between the Father and the Son.

Within hours, the Son, the one praying these words here, would know for a brief period of time, He who had before known no time, He would know for a brief period of time of separation between the Father, which He had not known in all eternity past up to that point. Never had He known that. Christ, however, prays for the time in eternity beyond that brief period of time.

You realize that's what He's praying for? As He's praying these things, it's amazing He's not focused on, boy, those nails are going to hurt. He's not saying, wow, those guys are going to be really cruel to me, and what they're going to do is completely unfair. He's not focused on that at all. He is praying beyond those moments when fellowship with the Father would be broken.

For the time that we're living now, and the time beyond now, and the time on into eternity. He prays for the disciples and he prays for us. Christ prays that the disciples may be perfected in unity. Now, many who call themselves Christians feel somehow compelled to make a unity. Hey, let's make a unity. Let's take our Bibles and throw them out and just hug each other, right? So a lot of people feel compelled to do that. They want to construct a unity. Let's just make sure that we construct a unity no matter what it costs.

But Christ isn't praying that we would seek a unity or create a unity. That's not what he's about here. He prays to the Father. He's not talking to us. He prays to the Father here. And as he's praying, He prays for him to bring about a once-for-all unity.

That's that word, perfected. Bring about, Heavenly Father, a once-for-all unity. It's not a unity we make, it's something that the Father does and it's a done deal. It never has to be redone again. We don't have to make it up or do it or keep doing it. We're the recipient of the unity, is the way that word is put.

We receive the unity that the Father has brought about. That's what Christ prays for. He's praying to the Father to do something, not us. God pulls off a unity here by Christ's request to the Father. It's His work. It's His unity. The unity that we have is based on the unity of the Father and the Son that always was and always will be and it's based on the fellowship between the Father and the Son and the infinite trust relationship that they have with each other.

Now, twice Christ brings up the world in these verses, and in fact, Christ has brought up the world before. Roger spoke of, you know, the world doesn't know us. Twice he brought that up. So, if you think about it, what's the world? The world consists of those who don't know Christ. They don't know the Father. So why pray for people who don't know?

In ours, Christ would die for the sins of the whole world. The whole world. Every single one. In ours, Christ would die for the sins of the whole world because God so loved the world. He prayed for the world because he so loved the world. Christ would do that and Christ would pray these words so that the world, what?

May know. The world may know. And that says, up until then, they didn't. That the world may know. Now you probably noticed, as Joe read here, the I and them phrase in Jesus' words. As a matter of fact, twice. I and them and you and me. So that the love which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.

So there's identification in these words, specifically Christ in us. There's also intimacy in these words. Do you see any separation? No, you don't see it in these words. There's intimacy. It's not just hypothetical identification. It's not just academic identification. There is close, intimate identification.

Nothing separated the Father and the Son in eternity past. Nothing. There wasn't anything to separate, right? Nothing existed. Nothing separated the Father and the Son in eternity past. And apart from a few hours on the cross, hours just ahead of this time, nothing will separate the Father and the Son in eternity future either. We will share that intimacy with the Father and with the Son in eternity future. And that's the time he's praying about. Christ himself prayed for it.

For you and for me. It's an identity. It's an intimacy. Eternally infused with the boundless, the boundless love of God. When Christ would be on the cross in just a few hours, rather than struggling and claiming his innocence, he acted like, let's do this. Let's do this.

Here is love, vast as the ocean. Loving-kindness as the flood, When the Prince of life our ransom, Shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember, Who can cease to sing His praise, He can never be forgotten, throughout heaven's eternal days. On the mount of crucifixion, fountains open deep and wide, Through the floodgates of God's mercy Flowed a vast and gracious tide, Grace and love like mighty rivers, Poured incessant from above, And heaven's peace and perfect justice Kissed a guilty world in love, And heaven's peace and perfect justice, Kissed a guilty world in love.

We're now going to celebrate the Lord's table, because without the Lord going to the cross, none of what we've just talked about would be possible. And He asked us to remember Him, and so we will. So let's give thanks for the bread. For I received from the Lord that which he also delivered to me, to you, on the night the Lord Jesus, in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's stand and sing together the Holy Heart and then this has a song tagged onto the end of it, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain twice through, okay? A holy heart was broken, sent from the Father who sighed. The Son of God forsaken, the Holy Sacrifice. For me He was forsaken, for me He died for all. I shall forever take That I be His own. Holy Lamb, whose pure care, Offended and abhorred, Before the cross was raptured, He put me first, His own. And I know it's true. And I know it's true. And I know it's true. And I know it's true. I'm sorry.

Thank you Lord that as you were Thinking of us in the hours before you're being slain You were thinking of us before you were slain. You were thinking of us while You were being slain and You thought about those things for sake of all eternity and fellowship with us and that we would be one in You as you are one with the Father What a wonderful and amazing thing. We thank you for that. We pray that the depth of that may be something we continue to learn about until the day we see you face to face. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.