The Greatest Future Ever Promised

Reading the Word of God from John chapter 17, beginning at verse 20 and concluding with verse 26, as our Lord finishes his high priestly prayer, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. 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 lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Our Lord's concern is that we be one, and this is why he prays. When our Lord Jesus comes to the end of his prayer in John chapter 17, he prays for you and me. Now in one sense he has been praying for us because the blessings named in the first 19 verses we share, but actually in verses 1 through 5 he's been praying for himself, and the emphasis there has been on the gift of eternal life.

In verses 6 through 19 he's been praying for his disciples, and the emphasis there is on the gift of his word which gives sanctification in this world. But in verse 20 we get into the picture. When our Lord prays, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word.

We are here today as believers in Jesus Christ because somebody was faithful to share the word. Now the emphasis in this prayer in verses 20 through 26 is on the unity of the people of God. At least six times in this prayer our Lord has been concerned about the oneness of God's children.

If you are a father or a mother you know that it's a sad fact, but true that children in the same family sometimes don't get along with each other. If you're a grandmother or grandfather who has ever done babysitting, you know that sometime even your darling grandchildren don't get along with each other. If you've ever done any babysitting as a single young adult, you know that sometimes the children fight.

And our Lord Jesus is concerned about the oneness, the unity of the people of God. He prayed about it back in verse 11, that they may be one as we are one. He asked his Father to keep us in this oneness of spiritual unity.

In verse 21, that they all may be one, that they also may be one in us. Verse 22, that they may be one even as we are one. Verse 23, that they may be made perfect in one.

His great concern is for the unity and the harmony of the children of God. Now obviously he's not talking about uniformity. He's not saying that every church has to belong to the same organization, use the same hymn book.

He's not saying that there has to be an organizational or even a denominational uniformity. Uniformity is the result of pressure from the outside. Unity is the result of life on the inside.

And our Lord is praying about unity, about the spiritual oneness of the children of God. Is this a problem? Yes. It was a problem to Abraham.

He and Lot weren't getting along. It was a problem to Moses. He had to set up judges to keep the people of Israel from fighting with each other.

It was even a problem when our Lord Jesus was here on earth. His disciples sometimes were fighting with each other over who was going to be the greatest. And when you read the church letters that Paul wrote, you discover that some of those churches had problems of unity.

At Philippi, two women were disagreeing with each other. In Corinth, people were suing each other. The unity of the children of God.

Our Lord Jesus prays that you and I might have and extend and strengthen the unity of the people of God. Now, how can we do this? What must you and I do if we're going to be a part of the answer and not a part of the problem? Well, our Lord points out in these verses that there are five spiritual bonds that tie us together. No matter what we may disagree on in terms of other things, here are five spiritual bonds on which we agree.

And if you and I will focus on these five spiritual bonds that tie us together, then we will be wearing the shoes of peace. We'll be peacemakers, not troublemakers. Then, as members of the body, we will be contributing to the strength and the unity of the body, not the weakness and the division.

As soldiers in the army, we'll be contributing to a oneness of heart. As stones in the temple, we'll be filling our place and we'll not be stumbling blocks to somebody else. As sheep in the flock, we will not be wandering off some way or leading other people astray, but we will have that spiritual oneness of the children of God.

Now, what are these five spiritual bonds? Verses 20 and 21 of John 17, we trust the same Savior. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. Now, wherever you find a true Christian, he is a Christian because he's trusted Jesus Christ, not because he has been baptized, not because he has been confirmed, not because he has signed a membership card for a church organization, not because he is wearing the badge of any organization.

Wherever you find a child of God, you find one who is a child of God because he has trusted the same Savior that Peter trusted. Our Lord is not talking here about apostolic succession. He's not saying you're saved because somebody put his hands on you and years ago someone put hands on him who put hands on him who received hands from Peter.

Our Lord is not talking in verse 20 about apostolic succession. He's talking about apostolic success. There's a difference.

Our Lord is not saying that there is a oneness to the church because each of us has received something from the Apostles. What he's saying is there's a oneness to the church because we believe in the same Savior in whom the Apostles believed. We trust the same Savior.

Now the only way a person can get into the family of God is to believe on Christ. To believe on Christ means to receive Christ. How do you know you can receive Christ? Because of the word.

They shall believe on me through their word. And so we stand today here at the Moody Church with the word of God. I am holding in my hand something that the Apostles did not hold in their hands.

They were writing it. We have the word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit who was here on earth when the Apostles were here is still here.

The only person on earth today who was here when Jesus was here is the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God takes the word of God and he reveals the Son of God and you believe on him and you experience everlasting life. I don't have to remind this congregation that this cost the Lord Jesus his life.

He had prayed in verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And so our Lord came and died.

He arose again and went back to heaven. That's the gospel. He died for our sins.

He arose again and now anyone who will trust him is born again. Born into the family of God. Now dear friends, if you've trusted the Lord Jesus, we belong to each other.

No matter what color our skins may be, no matter what may be our sex or our economic status or our educational status, no matter what may be our experience in this world, if we have trusted Christ as our Savior, we belong to the same family. We are members of the same body. We trust the same Savior.

That is the first spiritual bond that ties us together as Christians. This is why when you meet another person and you discover that that person's born again, instantly your spirit and his spirit come together. You may belong to different Christian communions.

If you wanted to argue certain subjects, you could argue. He may believe you should sprinkle babies. You may believe we should immerse believers.

He may believe that there should be deacons and you may believe there should be elders. He may want to worship in a great cathedral. You may prefer to worship in a little whitewashed congregational church, very simple and plain, but those are externals.

We're talking about internals. When you meet another believer, instantly your heart is bound to him because you trust the same Savior. Would it not be a wonderful thing if when we meet the people of God, we discover how much we have in common instead of how much we differ with each other? The second spiritual bond is given to us in verses 22 through 24.

Not only do we trust the same Savior, but we share the same glory. Twice he mentions glory. Verse 22, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.

Why? That they may be one even as we are one. Verse 24, Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. Now here's a twofold glory.

There is the glory he has given to us. We already have that. And there's the glory he's going to show to us.

We haven't seen that yet. The greatest future planned for anyone is the future that God has prepared for his church, all who have trusted Christ. Let's talk about this glory now.

Back in verses four and five of this prayer, the Lord Jesus uses the word glory three times. I have glorified thee on the earth. This is his work on the cross.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. In other words, for God to be able to give me his glory, Jesus Christ had to give up his glory. If you want to read the details of that, read Philippians chapter two.

It tells us how the Lord Jesus thought it not something selfishly to be grasped, to be equal with God, but he willingly laid aside his glory, emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant, and came down here and washed people's feet and touched people's leprosy and bore people's sins on his body. He gave up his glory. Now he says, Father, I finished the work you gave me to do.

Give me back the glory. Why? So I can give it to them. If I am glorified and they are in me, then they are glorified.

Verse 22 tells me that we already have the glory. Romans chapter 8 says the same thing. Whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Now we don't look like it. If there were some creature from outer space who came in and sat down and looked at this group and he would hear us sing and hear me preach and he would look around he'd say, well what's so special about this group? Oh, we have the glory of God down inside. Is that right? I don't see it.

He might say I've seen the glory of a million suns. He might say in all of my travels out in space I have seen tremendous glory. I don't see any glory in you people.

Why? Some of you don't look very glorious at all. That doesn't make any difference. We believe the Word of God.

When you got saved, God made your body his temple and the glory was put down inside. So that would you get this please? You and I as Christians must treat each other as people in whom God lives and people for whom Christ died. We don't look at the externals.

James talks about that. James went to church one day and he was watching the ushers at work. I thank God for the ushers here at Moody Church.

They help us to do things decently and in order. But two men came into church and James was watching. One man was shabbily dressed.

He was poor. The other man was wearing gold rings and he was dressed in a magnificent, magnificent costume. And the usher took the man who was dressed magnificently and gave him the special seat.

And he said to the fellow who was dressed poorly, stand over there. Better yet, get under the seat, would you? And James got his little book and his pen out and he wrote, Brethren, don't you do things like that. Don't practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ by making distinctions because grace makes the poor man rich and grace makes the rich man poor.

And you don't look at externals. You don't look at the color of the skin or the length of the hair. You don't look at the kind of garment.

You don't look at the label in the back of the coat. If a person's born again, you say, you know what? We've got something in common. You've got the glory and I've got the glory.

And you throw your arms around each other and you say, glory! We share the same glory. The glory begins when you get saved. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.

The glory increases as you walk with the Lord. You go from glory to glory. Stephen stood there preaching and while they were picking up the stones to kill him, Stephen's face shines with glory.

How many times have our faces clouded over with hatred? No, we have the glory. We share the same glory. And Jesus tells us that one of these days we're going to see the same glory.

Now would you notice why he gave us this glory? Verse 22, the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. The glory helps to unite us. How? Look at verse 10.

I am glorified in them. You see, if every one of us is just living to glorify God, we'll get along with each other. But if we're living to promote ourselves or promote some scheme that's man-made, then there's gonna be trouble.

And so the first bond that hangs us all together, binds us all together, we trust the same Savior. The second bond, we share the same glory. One of these days we're going to see this glory up in heaven.

You know what verse 24 says to me? Verse 24 says this to me. We're going to be together in heaven, whether we like it or not. Let's start getting along with each other down here.

Did you know that John Wesley and George Whitefield had a fight? Whitefield was more Calvinistic in his theology and Wesley was a little more Arminian in his theology, which means Whitefield believed that once you trusted Christ, you could not be lost. Wesley thought you could. They both were great evangelists.

They both preached to magnificent, huge crowds of people and had tremendous results. But they got into a public fight and the newspapers loved it. Somebody came to Whitefield one day and said, do you expect to see John Wesley in heaven? Whitefield said no.

They said how come? He said John Wesley will be so close to the throne of God, I'll probably never see him. Dear friends, it's appalling to pick up magazines, Christian periodicals, and see people fighting each other. We're going to be in heaven together.

It's tragic. It's a good thing this building has as many doors as it does. That way you can avoid people if you want to, but you can't avoid them in heaven.

The next time we think of declaring war on one of God's saints, let's think twice. We're going to be in glory together. You say, well, that's all right.

They're going to be changed. Yes, so are you. So are you.

Let's start getting changed now from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. Well, we trust the same Savior and we share the same glory. Thirdly, in verses 25 and 26, we believe the same doctrine.

O righteous Father, the world has not known thee. That's a tragedy. The world does not know God.

The world by wisdom knew not God, and so God by the foolishness of preaching saved them that believe. All the philosophers were groping after God. I sat down the other day and was reading some philosophy.

It's so wonderful to put away the philosophy book and pick up my Bible where somebody knows something. Harry Rimmer used to say a philosopher was a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that wasn't there. The world doesn't know you, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and I will declare it.

I've taught them about God. We believe the same doctrine. You say, but we don't.

We say in one of our great hymns, we are not divided, all one body we. Well, there are organizational divisions. Certain people like to run their church house a certain way, and that's their privilege, as long as they don't make me try to do it.

He's not talking here about one big organization under one hierarchy. What he's saying is all true believers, because they trust the same Savior and because they share the same glory, believe the same basic doctrine. Wherever you find a Christian, you'll find someone who says, oh yes, I believe in God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Now there are those who tell us that Jesus Christ is not God. Well, they're not Christians then. I don't care what church or group they belong to.

If they deny that Jesus is God, they aren't in the family. There's no oneness there. There are those who say the Holy Spirit is not God.

I'm sorry if they say that. They aren't Christians, because Jesus said he was God. He called him the Spirit of Truth.

He said he's going to be the other comforter, just like me. And so all true Christians believe that there's God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We may worship God in different forms, but it's the same God that we worship.

All true Christians believe that Jesus died for our sins and arose again, went back to heaven. If you get into the fine points of what theory of the atonement you may have some, but basically we agree that Christ died for our sins. I have preached in interdenominational and non-denominational meetings across this country and overseas, and I have yet to declare war, because we believe the same truth.

All true believers believe in the inspiration of the Word of God. You can trust your Bible. They believe that Jesus is coming back again.

We wouldn't maybe draw the same timetable, but we believe he's coming back again. And when you take the great verities of the Christian faith, we trust and believe the same doctrine. That's what he's saying here.

We've come to know God, and Jesus has revealed God to us. He's going to keep on revealing God to us. I have declared thy name unto them.

He's the great I am, and I'm going to keep on declaring. There's still more truth to come from God's Word. I saw an advertisement.

Oh, it goes way back to before World War I. A certain automobile was being advertised, and the picture said, take a good look at this picture, because we have reached the epitome, the apex. There will never be a greater automobile than this one. I looked at it and laughed.

Some church says, we have all the truth. All you do in the Bible, but there's still much to be revealed from God's Word. But we believe the same doctrine, because we've trusted Christ as our Savior.

And as true believers in Jesus Christ, we aren't going to fuss over how many trustees you have, or what kind of a constitution you write, or we have instrumental music in the church. We're not going to fuss over those things. The Holy Spirit leads each family to work out its own salvation with fear and trembling.

We're going to build on the great foundation stones. We believe the same doctrine. A fourth bond ties us together, and it's written all through this section.

We bear the same witness. Why does Jesus Christ want us to be one? Look at verse 21, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. Why does the Lord Jesus want us to be one? Look at verse 23, that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.

Verse 26, I have declared thy name unto them. He didn't declare it to the world. Verse 5, the world hath not known thee.

You see, my friend, the church is here to bear witness to the world. We talked about that in our last message. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one.

As the Father has sent me, so send I you. And so he has sent us into the world. Do you know what the one thing is that keeps the world from really believing? The fact that Christians can't get along with each other.

Ever tried witnessing to unsafe people? One of the first things they say is, wait just a minute. Wait, in my block there are six different churches, and they all say they're preaching the same thing. Maybe they are.

They criticize each other and fight each other. You mean to tell me you want me to be saved and be a part of that? One of the greatest stumbling blocks to the evangelization of the world is the disunity of the church. Now, I do not believe that the ecumenical movement has the answer.

I don't think that by all of us abandoning our distinctives, reaching the least common denominator, diluting our faith and getting together will make a bit of difference. He's talking here about true believers. I don't expect the unsaved world, I don't even expect the unsaved religious world to agree with me.

My Bible says the world hates me. But oh what a marvelous thing it would be if all of God's people who really believe could quit criticizing each other, shooting each other down, lying about each other. That's what keeps people from being saved.

The sweet oneness of the people of God is a bridge that invites the unsaved to come and trust Christ. The meanness and unkindness of the children of God is a wall that stands in the way, and they can't get to the Savior. We bear the same witness.

Now what is this witness? Verse 21, that the world may believe that thou has sent me. Not a witness to D.L. Moody, a witness to Christ. Not a witness to a church, a witness to Christ.

When you go out to witness, I trust you don't preach Moody Church, I trust you share Christ. That the world may believe that you sent me. Verse 23, that the world may know that you've sent me.

They go from just believing to knowing, assurance. We bear the same witness. It's a bond that ties us together.

Now we may not wear the same labels here at the Moody Church. We have many different denominations who make up our people from different denominations who make up our church family, and thank God we never we never fuss over these things. When I meet a brother out in the lobby of the church, I don't say, well are you a Lutheran or a Presbyterian? I'm not against denominational distinctives.

Nothing wrong with saying this is what I believe, but just don't let it take the place of Jesus Christ. We're all one in Jesus Christ, that in everything he might have the preeminence. And God never called me to build a denomination.

He called me to help build the church. We bear the same witness. By the way, the next time you're tempted to declare war on a believer, ask yourself, how will this affect the unsaved? There's a fifth bond that ties us together in verse 26.

We share the same love, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. All the way through this this prayer, our Lord has mentioned the love that the Father has for him and for them. Look at verse 23, that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me.

They're an amazing statement. Do you know how much God the Father loves you? As much as he loves his Son. It's unbelievable.

Notice it says in verse 24, thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Do you know that God the Father loved you before you were born? God the Father loved you before your parents were born, before Adam was created. God the Father set his love upon you and he loves you as much as he loves his Son.

That's a marvelous love. It always amazes me that some Christians can say how much they love the Lord and yet they show how much they hate God's people. Those who love the Father ought to love the children, says 1 John chapter 5. We share the same love.

God the Father loves his Son and yet he gave him on the cross. God the Father loves us and now we love one another. What does he say here? That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.

This is what the theologians call the reciprocal indwelling of the children of God. We are in Christ. Christ is in us.

It is a spiritual union and communion that transcends everything physical. There is no human illustration of this. What he's saying is that when you're saved you are in him and he is in you and you are surrounded by love and filled with love.

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit which is given unto us. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and said I don't have to tell you about loving one another. You're taught of God to love one another.

God the Father taught you to love one another because he gave his Son and God the Son taught you to love one another when he said a new commandment I give unto you and God the Holy Spirit taught you to love one another because he's in your heart and sheds that love of God abroad. It was said of the early church behold how they love one another and love isn't a word and love isn't a feeling. Love is action.

Loving one another means treating each other the way God treats us. God forgives us. We forgive each other.

God blesses us. We bless each other. God encourages us.

We encourage each other. That's Christian love. You see dear friends we are living today in a very broken world.

Homes are broken up. Cities are broken up. People are shooting each other.

Life is not whole. They're just smashed fragments of life all over the place. You heard about the little girl who went past a rain puddle and there was some oil there and so there was a rainbow in the puddle.

You've seen that. The oil makes the rainbow in the puddle. She came back a little while later and somebody had gone walking through the puddle probably some little boy and she said to her mother oh mother look somebody smashed up the rainbow.

That's Chicago. Somebody smashed the rainbow. That's the world.

Fragments of existence instead of wholeness of life. The one place in this world where God expects to find unity is his church. You see it's a defiled world but in the church you ought to have sanctity.

That's what he prayed for. It's a dead world but in the church you have life. It is a deluded world but in the church you've got reality that they might know thee the only true God.

It's a splintered fragmented divided not only divided but fighting world and the one place you expect to find unity and harmony is the church because we trust the same Savior and because we share the same glory and because we believe the same truth and because we bear the same witness and because we share the same love or do we. For this reason we're anticipating the greatest future God has ever planned for anybody. One day we're gonna be in glory.

The glory is in us but we are not yet in glory. One day we shall be in glory. I don't know how that strikes you.

I don't know if you have ever gone to bed and while you're lying there think of eternity. Think of glory. When John inspired by the Spirit began to picture the great glory on the other side he had to summon to his aid every image, every illustration he could get.

He talked about streets of gold. He talked about crystal. He talked about gorgeous beautiful magnificent jewels.

He talked about a city that had a river of life flowing through it and a garden on either side and John as it were pictures for us in syllables of ABCs God's glory. It's far greater than any description. Far greater than any imagination for eye has not seen and ear has not heard.

Neither has it entered into the heart of men the things that God has prepared for them that love him. What is your future? Well you say I'm a Christian then your future is glory. Start living in the future tense.

Make your present glory. You've got the glory. Let's let it out.

Let's glorify God in our bodies whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God that Christ may be magnified by my body whether it be by life or by death. We've got the glory. We've got the opportunity.

Let's cultivate the unity and the harmony and work together and walk together and worship together and witness together and one day we're gonna go to glory together and we shall see him and we shall be like him and God's gonna wipe away all tears and God's gonna wash away all disagreements and God's gonna bring harmony where there was discord and God's gonna heal up the wounds and people who are at odds with each other are going to love each other but let's not wait till heaven. Let's start now. Mr. Spurgeon used to say little faith will take you to heaven great faith will bring heaven to you.

Let's start living there now to the glory of God. Some of you aren't going to heaven. Some of you have no hope no future because you're without God and without Christ.

You ought to come and give your heart to Christ and start to share in the wonder of the family of God a family that one day is going to go to heaven. Thank you Heavenly Father for the bright glorious certain future that we have in Christ. Thank you that one day we shall be in glory.

Help us to walk together. Help us to pray together. Help us to love one another.

Help us to add to each other's blessings and take away from each other's burdens. Oh Lord may this family of God here experience a new baptism of unity and harmony and love as never before and may the world be able to say behold they love one another and may the world take witness that we've been with Jesus and may the world believe. Oh help us Father help some to come right now we pray in Jesus name. Amen.