In this sermon, Jeffrey D. Johnson explores the concept of fellowship in the glory of God, focusing on John 17. He emphasizes the importance of relationships and how they relate to glory, particularly the perfect relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Johnson explains the inner Trinitarian glory as the perfect unity and oneness shared by the three persons of the Trinity. He discusses Jesus' prayer for his followers in John 17, where Jesus asks the Father to allow believers to enter into this perfect union with God. Johnson also explores the idea of glorifying God through our relationships with Him and others, and how our understanding of God's love impacts our love for Him.

If you have your Bibles, turn to John 17. What's set before me is something is too big for me to do. I never want to preach something that I don't believe. I don't ever want to preach anything that I don't experience. Experience.

You want this thing to be real in your heart. More than just knowledge and more than just, yeah, I know that to be true. You want to feel it. You want to believe it to the point that it's transformational. I want the very thing that I'm about to preach to you more than anything.

And I want you to want it. I want you to have it. It's the greatest, the most glorious, the most blessed thing you could ever have. We would never ask for it. John seventeen is the lord asking for it for us.

But we would never have asked for it. I'm certain of that. If you had a wish, if god himself came to you and say, now, you can ask anything you want and I'll do it. I promise you that you would have not gone this big. You have gone short of this.

There's nothing greater that Lord Jesus could have asked the father to give you. Than what he asked and it's so amazing and glorious. That it seems impossible. Audacious. Don't ask that.

I mean, could you imagine having a very wealthy friend that says, listen, I'm going to help you out. Just ask, what do you need? I'll do it. I mean, would you go, hey, just give me everything you have. I mean, you wouldn't go that far, would you?

You know, pay off my mortgage maybe or help me with this debt or, you know, you'd ask for something big, but would you go, hey, just go ahead and give me everything. You wouldn't do that. And I don't think you would gone to God and prayed this prayer. For yourself. But Jesus did.

And it's the greatest of all things that he could have asked for and it's really glory. It's glory. It's heaven itself and heaven is not simply a place. I believe it is a location because we're physical beings But it's not a place God is not in a place God doesn't need a location. He doesn't need beautiful mountains surrounding him to be happy He doesn't have a place a location where the Triune God dwells.

He dwells in all places, but it's not the place that he dwells that makes him glorious. The glory of God. Is his Trinitarian self. It's the relationship that he has within himself. The Father is glorified in the Son, and the Son is glorified in the Father, and the Spirit has entered into that glory, and they're a mutual glory because of their perfect inter-trinitarian relationship.

The greatest of all things is relationships. The moral law doesn't exist outside of relationships. The purpose of salvation is not getting us to heaven and out of hell is to get us into a relationship with God. Reconciliation, bringing us into communion and fellowship with the Almighty. Hell is the opposite of relationships.

It's not just a location, and of course, hell is a location. It's not simply physical torment. Hell is isolation. The number one cause of depression in this world is loneliness. Loneliness and that loneliness makes you feel like you have no purpose and meaning.

You're overlooked. You feel like no one cares about you or notices you and you feel unloved isolation will make you go mad put yourself in a hole with nothing You would end up looking for a rat to be a friend with you look for something. To associate with and love and hope maybe that rat loves you back. And if the rats not there, you'd simply go mad. You'd go insane.

You understand that you're made for relationships And without it There's nothing but misery Torture Meaninglessness Sadness depression insanity Torture. Meaninglessness. Sadness. Depression. Insanity.

Your happiest moments is not when you've got a physical toy or new car. It's when your child was born. When you got married. Went on the honeymoon. Went on an anniversary trip.

The joy of life is when you feel loved and you do love and that love is mutual reciprocal That's glory that's life Outside of relationship. There's no life And you see God is a perfect being He's one God, but He's three persons. Makes Him beautiful and glorious. And you think about the glory of God, it's not simply that He's just all powerful. He's this isolated one person who has all power and might, but He lives an eternity past by Himself, isolated with no one to Fellowship with or love or to be loved No, God is a Trinitarian being where the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are constantly loving one another fellowshiping with one another and evaluating each other's glory and praise and honoring one another it's not a self-focused love look at me it's the love of the Father being poured out upon the Sun because of the beauty and the glory that he sees in the sun and the sun is receiving that love and returning that back to the father the Holy Spirit is involved in this inner Trinitarian love and fellowship and communion and that's what makes them glorious and perfect You're talking about the sweetest relationship ever imaginable.

You know, all of our relationships are tainted. The best marriages is among us. Still have a little issues to work out. Selfishness creeping in here and there, misunderstandings, hurt feelings here and there. I'm sorry, honey, is a common theme that I don't know about wives, but husbands have to say Some relationships are better than others The more glorious the relationship the more perfect the relationship the more glory there is and the more happiness and the more joy that's life don't think of life as materialism don't think of life as just a place on heaven as just a place And I believe in a new heaven and a new earth.

And I believe everything about the location of heaven is going to be all together glorious and majestic, reflective of the majesty and the creativity and the power of our God. Yes, yes, yes. But that's not why we long for heaven and that's not why we long to be sinless it's sin you know as I don't want to sin I don't want to sin but the reason we hate sin is not just because hey it makes my name look bad and it ruins my reputation is sin is sin is not the problem sin just because it what it does to self is not the problem per se sin hurts relationships it hurts God and I want to be Sinless so there's nothing between me and God there's nothing that hinders my communion enough now God now that we are justified God loves us perfectly and there's nothing that when he looks at us that hinders his love and his Fellowship to come upon us But our sin hinders our affections to Him. Now that we're saved. And if you're not saved, God's still angry with you.

The reason you're miserable, As James 4 says, the reason you fight and feud is because you're full of sin. It leads to broken relationships, broken marriages, broken fellowship, and that's the problem of sin. You see, it's not just Sin is bad because it's just bad. You think about the law. The law requires relationship.

You can't steal if there's no one to steal from. You can't cheat unless there's someone to cheat from. You can't kill unless there's someone to kill. You can't have morality without fellowship and relationship. And sin destroys the very thing that were made for.

And you can't understand glory and majesty and love and can't understand any of these things outside of relationships. And God is the perfect Example of a perfect glorified relationship between the three persons of the Trinity. They think alike. They feel the same. They work together.

They have the same mind. The Bible tells us in John 14, 10 that they co-indwell each other. I mean, that's hard to imagine. Because he's not a physical being, the spirit dwells in the son, and the son dwells in the spirit, and the spirit dwells in the father, and the father dwells in the spirit. They call in dwell each other.

They're so united and so one you know and the marriage relationship similar to that we become one flesh there's intimacy where you become physically one but that spiritual union where you two become one flesh It's almost we're mirroring to some degree this relationship of dwelling together and dwelling within one another It's a beautiful thing, but nothing comes close to that relationship between the father of the son and the Holy Spirit They never work independent of one another their father works to the son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, I could do nothing by myself unless I see the Father. Whatever the Father tells me to do with that, I do. I work because He works. And this relationship, this co-indwelling each other, this perfect unity and oneness between the three persons.

Yes, there one and essence. There's one God, three persons, but in the three persons are cold and dwelling. And that produces the perfect love, perfect joy and glory. Could you imagine that relationship? We can't.

We've never experienced it in full. But it sounds good. I want you to think that's heaven. That's glory. I want that.

This is common among the ladies. Men feel this way too but but women have you ever gone to church and felt like you just Was it a bit of an outsider to the other ladies? I'd imagine if I asked you women, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, I'd imagine half of you would say that. That even among God's people you felt a little On the edges of that communion You didn't feel perfectly brought into it, and it's a hurtful feeling We want to be on the inside. I think we don't like clicks because we feel like we're not in the click.

If ever if we were in the click, we'd be okay. That's okay. But we only say things are clickish when we're feeling we're not in. We're not, we don't belong. Well, Jesus is gonna pray in John 17 and we're gonna work our way through this prayer and I don't think it's, he could have prayed for anything greater, more majestic.

I wouldn't have ever prayed this prayer and I want you to personalize it to yourself that he prayed this for you. In fact, we know he prayed it for his sheep and not just the sheep that were there at that time, but all the sheep that would come to believe in him. So he prayed this for you. And he prayed something I wouldn't have prayed for. Think of the inner-transparent relationship.

It's a tight knit circle. It's full of glory, love, joy. You would think that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they would say, I'm gonna bring many sons to glory. I'm gonna bring my children to heaven, and I'm gonna dwell with them, they're gonna dwell with me, but I'm gonna reserve that the glory that I've had with the Father and with the Son Jesus is saying that what I've had with that is mine and we're going to keep that inner Trinitarian that to ourself now you're going to get close to it Maybe you can come near and look into it and see what we have and I'll let you look at it, but I don't want you in it. That might ruin what we have.

That's special. And it's so special that the people of God Can't get into that With mothers you have your little little kid your first child your first one all of them is the same really. Pick up your child, hold them, or her for the first time. You know that instant glory, you feel Joy, love. You want your mother-in-law to feel that?

You know, I'm not talking about your loving mother-in-law, that crazy one. And do you want her to come into that? No, that's between me and my baby. No, no, that's special. Or are you newlyweds?

You got this special law between you and your bride. It's like that's special and it's meant to be special. So this illustration somewhat breaks down, but you understand that what I'm trying to say is that that special. Would you want the bomb across the street to enter into that? Like no, no, this is, this is I'm not taking him out on a date with my wife.

No, this is my relationship. Now you think the father and the son of the Spirit would go, No, no, this is ours. We're going to protect us. This is, this is no, they can come to glory and I'll give them both place in heaven and they can relate with one another. But no, they're not going to enter into what I've had from all eternity.

That is too precious. That's too glorious. But that is the very thing that Jesus Christ prays that you enter into in full. Not that you become divine or God, but you enter into the perfect union and oneness and joy and love that the father has with his son. Now, can you imagine that you can't you can't fathom that because your mind's not strong enough and your heart's not large enough You can't fathom this.

That's why Paul says you have to be strengthened with might so they may be able to comprehend The breath of the death and the width and all these dimensions of the love of God. We can't comprehend it. Can you imagine the love that God has for His Son? Can you imagine the death of that love? Can you?

No, you can't. It's too large. It's too big. It's too great. It's too majestic.

That same love He says I love you with. It can't be true. It can't be true. Don't pray that Jesus. Give a second, the second best thing.

Give us watered down love a little bit. Keep that to yourself. Don't love us that much. We're talking about glorifying God. Do you realize he's going to glorify you?

You're going to be glorified And it's not just getting a wonderful body without sin. Yes, it's that. You say, I hope I can see God when I see Jesus when I get to heaven. I'm just afraid George Whitfield will be there, but I'll be on the outer edge. No, you won't be on the outer edge You'll be right in the middle of the Trinity You're gonna be so close So he's praying Jesus is praying I'm glad they don't have that clock up there today.

I either want to stop right now, I just want to preach forever. I don't know yet. Jesus is praying in this chapter That we enter into the fellowship between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Let's work our way through this. The first 10 verses, he's praying to the father that were brought into the inner Trinitarian glory.

What I mean by inner Trinitarian is that I don't believe there would be glory if there wasn't three persons. And because there are three persons, there's glory and he wants us to enter into that. Now you have to understand what glory is. You know, what's the chief in a man? Where to glorify God.

But what is glory? What is glory? The Hebrew word for glory in the Old Testament is the word for weight or weightiness or heaviness. You got to understand in the old times that currency was valued by the weight of the material that the currency was made out of if it's gold heavier the more value the more glory or the more worth. Something's light, it doesn't have much worth or value.

So, the word for vanity in the Hebrew is the word for lightness or emptiness. You know, you think about the vanity of vanity, nothing. It's just nothing there. It's just a puffer cloud. It has no eternal lasting value.

So the word weight or the word for glory is something that has substance and something that is eternal that has lasting value that has glory something that comes in a short-lived and as a puff of air a vapor is a vanity it's nothing nothing there and the world is empty even physical gold the Bible says is empty it has no value because it doesn't last So glory is something that's heavy and it has value. But to have value, you have to have an opinion. You have to have, you know, so you got the two concepts married together. You have something that has inherent value because of the weightiness or the substance of it, but there's also has to have an opinion, an evaluation that that is indeed glorious, that is indeed worth something. Only reason our currency has any value today is because we all value it.

But there's nothing inherently valuable about it. But we bring value because we both all of us still assign value to it. But God has inherent value and substance, but also there's that inner Trinitarian assessment. The father is assessing the son and the inherent worth of the son. And thus the father sees the son as glorious, valuable, honorable, worthy.

And the son is constantly evaluating the Father and they're evaluating the Holy Spirit and they see inherent value in one another it's not so much that God is saying look at me the Father look at me the Father saying look at the Son And the Holy Spirit is never jealous of the Son. The Holy Spirit's not going, hey, I'm getting not as much as attention as Jesus. No, the Spirit finds His glory in putting the spotlight on the Son. And they find glory in the value they find in each other. It is a perfect glory.

It's true glory. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit truly value one another from all eternity And love each other because of the worth, the value they see in each other. So there's mutual glory shared between the Father and the Son. And we could add the Holy Spirit. And we see that we see this in verse 1 and Jesus spoke these words lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that your son also may glorify you Now glorify me and I will glorify you.

And I can't glorify you or won't glorify. It's like when you glorify me, that gives me the value to glorify you and vice versa. Now we'll skip verse two and three for the moment and come back to that in a second. We see in verse four that the son glorifies the father. I have glorified you on earth.

I have finished the work which you have given me to do. All that you've told me to do I've done And I've done it for your glory, not for the praise of man, but for your honor and for your glory. I've lived for your glory. The Father also glorifies the Son. Look at verse five.

And now, oh Father, glorify me. And in fact, that happened. He put them on the highest seat. And you see that this glory in verse 5 is circular. Together with yourself with the glory which I had with you.

Glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world begun. And you see this glory is eternal. Before the world was. Glorify me now with the glory I had with you. Now this is glory.

This is true glory. This is, this is majesty. Thus the Lord is asking the Father to glorify himself by bringing us, his people into participation of the glory, which he shares with his father. The son glorifies his father by revealing or sharing the father's glory with us. That is, we'll see this in verse 6 through 8, that how does God, how does the son glorify the father?

By revealing the father to us, by showing us the glory of the father. Look at my father now. I love my father I have one of the best fathers in the world. He's the most impactful man in my life. He's the godliest man I know he's a man of prayer.

I'd fight you if you said one negative word against him He is a man of integrity and honor. I I Fact I'm glorifying him now, right? I'm honoring him now before you I like to tell you about my father But that's the way the son came he says now I have the best father He is glorious and all he did in his life. He lived for his glory. Don't look at me.

Don't I'm not here for myself. I'm here to do the will of the Father. I'm here to show his glory, his majesty, and that's how the son glorified the father on earth. The son glorified God all of his days. I believe he glorified and enjoyed the Father in his life.

Let me see this verse six. I have manifested your name to 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 known that all the things which you have given me are from you for I have given to them the words which you have given me and they have received them and I know surely and have known surely that I've come forth from you and they have believed that you have sent me You see I've come and I have revealed your glory to you the people you gave to me and day see it the world doesn't see it but his people We through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the power of Christ we see it and this is how the Son glorified the Father we see in verse 2 which in verse 3 which we skip for this Says as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life as a meaning as you have given him. And this is eternal life.

That they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. You see, this is heaven. This is eternal life. Not that we just live forever in isolation, not that we just live forever. That's hell.

This is life. That you are brought into the knowledge of God, that You see the glory of God. You're brought into a relationship with the Father and the Son. We see in verse nine through 10, in return, the Son is glorified in us. Now it's like, wait a minute, This is too glorious.

We get to be brought into this? I pray for them. Verse 9. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me. For they are yours, and all are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

You do bring God glory. You do bring Jesus Christ glory. How do you bring him glory? Because you see the glory of the Father. You've seen the father through seeing Christ.

Christ is revealed the father to you and by you observing and appreciating it, loving the glory of the father, you're brought glory to Jesus Christ. In this sense, we are brought into the circular and mutual glory of God. The father is glorified by the son, revealing God's glory to us. And the son is glorified by the father, glorifying the son in us. And this is our glory.

You have glory even now. Our glory is that we know and participate in the glory of God. What can be more glorious than to know that the Lord to know the Lord and to be in relationship where we share in the experience and the glory that the father and the son have shared with one another from eternity past. What can be more glorious to know God, the father and the son and the holy spirit? What could be more You see, the world is blind to the glory of God.

They do not see it, they do not appreciate it, they do not enjoy it, but we've tasted it. We've been brought into it in two ways. One, we see it. Just a little bit of it. We see it.

And two, we prescribe it. And I believe we can't glorify God until we see God. But when we do see God, you can't help but go, whoa, amazing. You can't help but see the love of God. And then in return, love them.

You've got to experience his love before you can love him. You have to be loved first before you love and return. But if you can comprehend the love of God for you How do you not how can you how can you hold back love you can't I? Was talking to a friend we wrote up together with the other night and it's hard to like perfect people. I mean, I don't like Alabama football for a reason.

It's like they always win. You know, it's like you can't like Nick Saban, he's too good. You know, the reason why it's like, is because you just know that they're arrogant you just know that someone like that knows they're good right you know you know I'm talking about the God is always charming he's the best-looking guy in the room and every girl wants to talk to him and you're like, and he's making straight A's like, no, I don't like that guy. I can't like that guy. You know, I can identify with that.

No, he's arrogant. Well, You perceive that he's arrogant and that's enough to not like him How how can we don't feel that way about Jesus Christ How do you not go I just can't like this guy. He's perfect. I mean, he never said even as a kid, I mean, I can identify with that. That we would feel that I would feel that way about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And to I contemplate that he's the most humble and meek person who's ever lived and the fact that he died on the cross for me who hated him and that he loved me with a perfect love and he's so humble and he's so meek and he's so lowly and he and I'm the prideful one in my imperfection and he's the humble one in his perfection and when you see that love and the love that he has for you perfectly you Go wait a minute. There's nothing not to love about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's truly perfect He's truly worthy of all the honor all the glory and when you see the perfection of Jesus Christ you just want to get out of the way and say just look at him look at him don't look at me he's the one who's the hero he's the one who conquered he's the one who went into glory and made a way for us sinners to enter into that relationship with God he is the one worthy of honor and praise and glory you see we have glory in that we see the glory of Jesus Christ and we can live God glory and praise God for his glory And that is our glory and we don't do it yet.

Perfect. We're trying to worship God I'm trying to preach for the glory of God right now But I know that I have all these motives in my head that I can't sort out I know I'm not yet perfected But I know One day I'm going to be in heaven and one day all together with you in perfect harmony and love without said We're going to really be throwing our crowns on to Jesus and say to you and you alone be the glory the majesty the power the order and I go are you are worthy and we get to do that that's our glory where's the black people is gonna say more Amen's than that Zach where you get Zach, where are you at? Don't you want that? Don't you want that? Don't you long for heaven?

We're going to enter into that. And we already have now, we already participate that in now in part, but the prayer is that we do it in full. Secondly, we participate in the inner Trinitarian joy. The son asked the father that we would be made one with him. Look at verse 11.

May be one as we are. While I was with him in the world, I kept him in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost except the Son of Perdition that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. See, he's praying that we might be one with him, that we might enter into that unity. We could go through Ephesians and see that this is the heart of the book Ephesians, that we all things and walls have been broken down, and we've been brought back into reconciliation and union with God, the Father through the Holy Spirit's power by the blood of Jesus.

But one of the purpose of being made one with Christ. And thus one with the Father is that we may experience the joy that the Father and the Son and the Holy spirit have had from all eternity past look at verse 13, but now I come to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. See he this is why it's too glorious. We can't understand this you imagine the Sun saying I want you to give them I Want them to be full of capacity of joy? Make them no sorrow no sadness no tears they're happy perfectly happy that would be a glorious prayer and often that's what we think oh that's great but could you think of the joy that Jesus Christ has had it does have the joy you know in the fullness of God there's in the presence of God there's fullness of joy what kind of joy does that Jesus Christ have it's perfect I mean you can't imagine it he says I'm gonna give you I'm praying that you would give them my joy my joy That they have my joy Not a 99% watered down, you know, like it's good joy, but it's a little weaker version of it Give them mine Little me enter into my joy Let that be fulfilled in Them You don't understand that the joy is waiting you.

I mean you already have some of it. There's a joy, a fullness of glory already. There is a joy unspeakable and it's unimaginable that we can be rooted and grounded and we don't have to be depressed and sad because if we could see that God loves us and but know this we've only tasted the joy that is yet to come and it's not some second-rate joy it's the joy of the Lord we're told in John 15 these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you. And that your joy may be full. Romans 14, 17 for the kingdom of God is not in eating or drinking and righteousness, but in righteousness and peace and joy.

The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy. I mean, we're to be the most joyful and happy people on this planet. It's the world and the wickedness and sin that makes people miserable. But we, we don't need to complain. We don't need to be moping around.

We don't need to be sad, not when we have the joy of the Lord at our fingertips. So he's praying that we enter into the joy of the Lord. And thirdly, crisis praying that we enter into God's in a Trinitarian mission. I mean, one of the things we want and you want, we want to know that our last counts that we have purpose, we have meaning. In fact, that's where we get glories.

Like what do you do? Well, I do this. Well, that's lousy. You know, that's empty. You know, you're giving your life to video games okay no wonder you're miserable it has no value you're wasting your life And so many people feel like their life is being wasted.

It's only when we glorify God and enjoy him that our life becomes purposeful meaningful and So we we are given a mission and we enter into the very mission of God the very purpose of God the very thing that God sent His Son to do, now the Son is sending us to do. Look at verse 14. "...I have given them Your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that they should be kept from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I'm not of the world.

And so as Christ was sent into the world, but was not of the world. Now Christ has called us out of the world. And he, as he goes to heaven, He doesn't take us at this time with him, but he sends us into the world. As Christ was hated by the world, he says, you will be hated by the world. So we're mirroring, we're entering into the very activity that Christ did in his mission.

No, we're not little messiahs. We're not deities, but we also are representatives of Christ and we have the same mission, the same purpose statement that Jesus Christ had. And just as we are called to his mission, he entered into our mission. We see this in verse 17 and 18. Sanctify them by your truth.

Your word is truth. You've sent me into the world. I was also, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I sanctify myself that they may also be sanctified by the truth. Now, Jesus didn't need to be sanctified in the sense that he was a sinner, but he did in his humanity have to learn obedience.

And he suffered. And in his suffering in his learning obedience, This was meaningful that to earn a righteousness as a human. So that he can present that earned righteousness as a human to the father. So it can be imputed to us. So he sanctified himself.

He entered into our mission. He came as a human representative and he did what we couldn't do. He sanctified himself in order that we too may be sanctified. So just as the sun was sent to glorify the father, we too are sent to glorify the son. John fourteen verse twelve says truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I have that I do and greater works than these will he do because I'm going to the father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that the father may glorify be glorified in his son So by us carrying out our mission Glorifying God and enjoying in him and are making disciples of the nations and going out representing Christ in a dark world as sheep in the midst of wolves. As we live our lives in this fallen world hated by the world, we are going to glorify Jesus as Jesus glorified the Father. For the prayed that we enter into God's in a Trinitarian relationship. And it includes this mission statement and this oneness. And it's kind of verses 20 through 23.

He's kind of recapping everything he's already said. First and verse 20, we were continuing on in this mutual mission I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word I have kept everybody all these disciples and now I send you into the world. I'm going to the father. You're going to carry on my mission. I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit to help you and I'm going to be with you to the end of age, but you're going to go out and then there's going to be people who believe in the me and then see the glory of the Father through your word, through your testimony, and you're going to carry out my work in this world, even though I leave.

Isn't that amazing? Does that give missions an importance that you get to carry out the work of evangelism and witnessing to your children, carrying out being a witness and a light in this fallen world. And you're going to bring glory to the son and that will bring glory to the father because we are called to this great mission. We see this mutual mission and we see this mutual oneness in verse 21 that They all may be one as your as you father are in me and I and you that they also may be one in us That the world may believe that you sent me I tell you what that verse is to glorious for me to understand it. There's oneness between the three persons.

He says, I want they to enter into that. We see in verse 22, there's this mutual glory. And the glory which you gave me, I've given them that they may be one just as we are one. You know, the glory which you have given me, I give them. I'm going to share that with them.

It's like no son, no Christ. You see, verse 23, there's a mutual love. I in them, you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent Me and have loved them as you have loved Me." You don't view yourself that loved. I don't. I don't.

But how could God love us more than sending his own son to die for us How could Christ love us any more than laying down his life for us? This is the greatest love It's the love of the Father that he has for the Son. And he says, come, I'm not watering that love down for you. I'm giving it to you in full. In fact, we see that fifth participating in the inner Trinitarian love of God.

Look at verse 23 through 26. This is the Lord returning to his main prayer request. He's interceding on our behalf. He's praying for us. He's being audacious to the Father and he's asking for the world.

He's asking for everything on our behalf. He says, keep them safe in the world that you may in the end bring them to me in heaven. I send them into the world. You know, they're going to be like sheeps in the midst of wolves, but I'm going to pray that you keep them. I've kept the ones you gave me.

I'm sending them out, and there's going to be those who believe based upon their testimony. I'm praying for them. He's praying for us. Keep them safe. Keep them.

I don't care what you're going through, what you're experiencing. Christ already prayed to preserve you. Keep you. Why does he want to keep you safe in this fallen world? That you may see and behold his glory one day.

We only see it in part. Look at verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. I want you to see it. You know, well, what will that day be when Christ comes back?

It's going to be glorious. I want to see Christ. I want to see Christ more than he think how longing for that day but Lord says I I'm praying I'm praying for you I'm praying That you'll be kept safe so that you could see my glory. What kind of glory does he want us to see? Okay, you hit a hole.

We play golf and you hit a hole in one but no one is there to see it it's like that guy no one's gonna believe me it kind of ruins it I needed one person at least identify it right you know you know That's why you want to if you're a kid shooting basketball and winning the in your mind daydreaming about hitting the last-second shot There's a crowd to go. Whoa wow wow look at that yay Carrying you off on the shoulders and oh man. That's glory. That's what you want What Jesus Christ? Has been honored not by man He's been honored by a father And he says I want you to see the honor the glory the majesty that my Father has given me.

I want you to see that. For you have loved me before the foundation of the world oh righteous father verse 25 the world has not known you but I have known you and these have known that you've sent me And I have declared to them your name and will declare it That The reason for this is that we may enter into the love that the father and the son half of one another look at verse 26 that the love which you have loved me may be in them and I in them." Jesus says in John 59, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. But this also means that the love will be in us to love God and others. Now, we don't have love in ourselves, so Christ had to love us. And the love that he loves us with We can reflect that back on the Father and back on the Son.

I have glorified them so that they can glorify me you see we enter into that but we're not the source of it the Father Son Holy Spirit is the source of glory we don't become gods but we enter into it because God gives it to us so that we can properly throw it back to where it belongs and it's our glory that we get to give him glory That's our joy that we get to see and experience His joy. But this also means that the love will be in us to love God and one another. And it's not that we just enter into this union with God the following in the Holy Spirit, that we're one with each other. That the love which you love me may be in them and I in them. I mean, this is the thing about Christianity.

It doesn't just bring you into an isolated personal relationship with God. It brings you into Christ and a union with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And it brings you in union and fellowship with all the body of Christ where we love one another with the love that God loves us with. In conclusion, Hell is the opposite of this. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't see this.

You don't experience this. You're not going to know Love, joy, glory, presence of God. You're going to be cast away from His presence. And you're going to be isolated. Yes, tortured.

You're going to be, you say I'm just going to go to hell and be with all my friends. No, everybody hates one another in hell. There's no love in hell. There's no relationships in hell. But if you want glory, If you want heaven, if you're lonely, if you need to be loved, come to Christ.

There's fullness of joy. There's glory. There's majesty. There's happiness. There's blessedness.

But it's in God, not outside of Him. It's in Him. And this is why I believe as we think about heaven and we think about the glory to come Don't take that heaven and glory out away from God himself. Paul says, as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God had prepared for them that love him. Though we are not yet in glory, I pray that we can at least experience a taste of that today.

To feel a bit of that love in our hearts today. May God be glorified through his Son for what he's done, for his glory, and for our joy. Amen.