In the sermon titled 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man,' Scott Brown explores John 17:20-23, focusing on Jesus's high priestly prayer for unity among believers. Brown emphasizes the significance of the phrase 'that they all may be one,' highlighting how God's life within believers leads to unity, which is essential for effective evangelism. The sermon discusses the historical context of Jesus's prayer and references Henry Scougal's work to underscore the idea that true conversion is the union of the soul with God, evidenced by the outflow of divine attributes such as faith, love, purity, and humility. Brown notes that this unity is not organizational but spiritual, rooted in truth and the shared life of God. He also covers the importance of the Word of God in bringing about belief and how the unity among believers and their love for one another serve as a testimony to the world, manifesting God's glory and love.

Please open your Bibles to John 17 and find verse 20. I'll be reading verses 20 to 23. As I read these verses, please pay special attention to the word that, which identifies the purposes of the prayer that word occurs many times John 17 verse 20 I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent Me. And the glory which you gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me." Let's pray.

Oh, Lord, we thank you for this marvelous encouragement this disclosure of the truth About all those who love you and are called by your name for your mercy that you would come and dwell within mankind. What an amazing thing. Lord, we thank you. Where would we be if you had not done this? And So we pray that you would open our eyes, that we would see wondrous things from your law today.

Amen. Please be seated. Well, it really is thrilling to come to this passage of Scripture. Today we'll cover these three verses and then next week finish up this series on John 17, the high priestly prayer. Jesus continues to express the works and the desires of His Father, and these desires will be fulfilled in all of His true disciples.

He's speaking of specific outcomes. He's speaking of things that happen to you when you know Him. And the disciples, of course, are overhearing a prayer. They are bystanders of this prayer, and they're learning quite a bit about their own lives, about God's intentions for them, and their future. So it must have been stunning for them to hear these things.

Jesus is praying here just before His arrest, maybe minutes before His arrest. The people with the clubs and the lanterns are going to come. And they will depart, I believe, the upper room after this prayer and move to the Garden of Gethsemane where all these dramatic things will be happening. And the disciples are hearing the implications of the life of God as it finds residence in the soul of man. And he's explaining the impact of Jesus dwelling within you.

And it takes me back to a book that was written in 1677 by Henry Scougal. He wrote a private letter to a friend and somebody published it under the title, The Life of God and the Soul of Man. And Susanna Wesley gave it to her sons, Charles and John, and they gave the book to George Whitefield and George Whitefield read the book and he said, I must be born again. I do not have the life of God in my soul. And Schuylkill said in this book that true conversion isn't primarily found in theological knowledge or morality or emotions, but it is found in the union of the soul of man with God.

Here's how he explained it. A real participation in the divine nature, The very image of God drawn upon the soul or in the Apostles phrase It is Christ formed in us and so Schuylkill talked about this as as the divine life that flows into your soul and then out of your soul as well to others. And he said that what flows out of the soul is faith and love and purity and humility. And the Lord Jesus here is praying about really what is the essence of the life of a true church. It's marked by life, it's true life, it's manifesting the love of God that is in Christ Jesus And it's manifesting that love after having received it to one another and into the world as well, as you'll see in this passage of Scripture.

But This section of this prayer is so much about what it means to have the life of God in your soul. Praise God for His life. Where would you be without it? Can you imagine if you've been saved, where would you be without the life of God in your soul today. I think most of us would think we'd be in prison or dead, or our lives would be so ripped apart by our own foolish and sinful behavior, that our lives today wouldn't even be recognizable if we had not had that life.

But also let's just recognize that the whole Christian life is about God's Word filling your heart, changing your life, and becoming really the driving focus of your life. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I think we should recognize this is the absolute polar opposite from what the world offers and what our own hearts really speak to us about. The Christian life in many ways has lived totally upside down from the ways of the world. It's completely different.

It's not about finding yourself. It's not about self-expression. It's about the expression of the character of God after receiving that character in you. In Christianity, you don't find your own voice. You don't find your value.

You don't discover your true self. Your whole life isn't about gaining self-confidence or, you know, to thine own self be true. Christianity is totally opposite of that. You know, The world will tell you, you know, to find yourself. You need to break free from all the external pressures and influences in your life.

Live your own life. And, you know, don't accept, don't be bound by things outside of your own heart and you can only be happy when you throw off all those expectations get in touch with yourself Well Christianity is totally different than that Christianity is really a call to lose yourself to lose your life and to have His life in you and to begin a whole journey of Jesus Christ manifesting His glory in you, not your own glory. Christians aren't concerned about their own glory. They're concerned about the glory of Jesus Christ, manifesting the love of God the Father. And I think that's really what the essence of this whole section is.

But recognize, this is, The world's messages to us are opposite to Christianity because Christianity is about a flow of life from God that replaces your own life, and we're becoming more like Him. Now, I want us to see the purpose of the prayer in these verses. The results of the prayer that Jesus is praying about is really found after the word that, in order that, and it occurs many, many times. This is a purpose clause, and There are results that Jesus is praying for there are things that he desires for your life And he prays those things right here, and he's he's praying for I think two things spiritual realities and relational realities between one another, between all Christians, because the life of God is meant to be seen in the world, and it's manifested in love, and it causes the world to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and it happens through the Word of God. So you can see you have an outline in front of you where I'm going with this.

The first verse that we focus on is verse 20, and it really is kind of an introduction to the section. It's a preamble, it's a prologue to the section introducing particularly who is being prayed for here, and it's a prayer for all who will believe, who will in the future believe. Now notice that he's praying for those who will become his children. He has been in previous verses praying for those who are present with him and and I think by implication he's praying for all of us as well, but But specifically he begins to pray for all those who will believe in the future verse 20 He says I do not pray for these alone But also for those who will believe in me Through their word so he's talking about who who will believe now. There are two things.

I want us to notice here in this one verse. First of all, who he is praying for and then how will they believe? So first, who is he praying for? Well, he's praying for those who have not believed. And he's praying, and I don't want us to miss this.

He's praying for those that haven't been born yet. He's speaking of the spread of the gospel and people being born again. He's speaking about us. He's speaking about those in this room who've turned to Jesus Christ. He in that upper room was praying for you, who would be born.

And it's such an encouraging reality to know that there has been a great legacy of prayer for us before we were ever born. You know, we were chosen before the foundation of the world, And when the Bible says that He foreknew you, it also means that He foreloved you before the foundation of the world. And so He prayed for you. There was room in His heart for you before you were born, and because of that we can sing that hymn, Oh come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There's room in my heart for thee." But it began with room in his heart for sinners. And Jesus laid up a storehouse of prayer for us before we were ever born.

Just stop and think about that for a minute. I hope that encourages you. He's been praying for you from way before you were born and he's praying for you now and he doesn't stop and he's gonna take you to be with him. We'll talk about that next week. But so children, so you little children, okay, are you listening to me?

Because I want to talk to you just for a second. Did you know that your parents were praying for you before you were born. And it probably happened lots of times where your daddy would walk up to your mommy and put his hand on her rising belly and pray for you. How about that? That's what your dad did.

Your mom probably did it many, many times as well. It's really amazing, and this is exactly what's happened to those who've been born again by the Spirit of God. And I just think it's such a helpful thing to just pause and meditate on the fact of God's intentionality for your life. He knows you. He knew you from before the foundation of the world.

He's choreographed your life by His prayers. All of Jesus' prayers are always answered, by the way. He always prays in the name of his father always and That prayer that he prayed before you were born is being answered right now. So be encouraged You know, you're in the right place in many ways But he's praying for those who were born. Now John has spoken about this before already in John 10-16.

He said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must also bring and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd." That's what he's talking about. He's gathering in a flock, but he's already prayed for that flock and he knows who they are. He knows them by name. And this is the great ingathering of sinners from every tongue and tribe and nation whose names have been written in the book of life before they were born and God foresaw before he redeemed and he prayed now you know you might be one of those people who says, I'm not a Christian yet, but you need to recognize that there may be that day when you finally follow Jesus. And that day was determined at this time, in eternity past, because he prayed for you.

And maybe some of you have a real sense that you've been prayed for and God is drawing you and you're softening toward him and you're going to become the answer to the prayer And you're going to come to Him. Come to Him today. There's no better day than today. But recognize this, if you are coming to Him, know that He prayed for you and He knew that this would be the day. Isn't that amazing?

Well then, the second thing here is how they will believe, you know, how will they believe, how will they be born again? And the question is answered right here in this verse, by the Word, by their Word. This union with God was brought about by their word. Whose word? The word of the apostles.

The word of the apostles would convince sinners to repent. And the Apostle Paul talked about this when he said that faith comes by hearing the Word of God and and embracing it and He's talking about how that happens. It's the Word of God that is the most powerful Convincer And that's why that's what should be full of our thoughts and our speech when we talk to people who don't know the Lord. You know, I was talking to Paul Carrington a couple days ago in Turkey. And I don't know if you remember how Paul Carrington was converted.

You've probably heard his testimony. But what happened to Paul is he's living in Toronto, he's living a crazy life. And his girlfriend that he met at a bar gets converted. And so she's asking him to read the Bible. And he is reading the Bible, but he's not reading it to know God.

He's reading the Bible so that he can refute her. He's trying to flip his wife, or his future wife, his girlfriend at that time. He wanted to flip her back to the state in which he found her. And so doing that, he's got his hip hop music blaring in his apartment in Toronto, and he started, he was reading the Sermon on the Mount. And finally he just hit him like a ton of bricks.

I want to know him. And so he took all of his cassette, all his hip-hop cassettes, he walked across the street to the basketball court and threw those cassettes in the public trash can, and Jesus saved his soul. How about that? But it was the Word of God that did it. He was saved by the Word of Truth.

Exactly what it says here. You know, we want to make a theme, you know, of this year, Romans 1.17, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation. The word of the gospel is the power of God and and that's what he speaks. Jesus is praying about this kind of thing that happens and you know, what does the Word of God do? The Word of God causes belief in John 5 24 Jesus says most assuredly I say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has Everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life The Word of God causes the new birth in 1 Peter 1, 23.

Peter says, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. And our hearing, our very hearing of the Word of God is actually a work of the divine will it's God who caused us to hear. And that's why James says in James 1, 18, of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So the Apostles preached salvation by grace alone through faith and it's that message which was the message from the beginning. Abraham was justified by faith.

Everyone is only justified by faith in the Old Testament and the New Testament and the word of the Apostles sums up that message of justification by faith. Paul speaks of it like this in Ephesians 2 19 now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets that's the word he's talking about Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple to the Lord and he talks about being built into a dwelling place for God, the life of God in the soul of man. So he's I think speaking of the authority of the New Testament written by eyewitnesses and spread throughout the whole world. And so we need the Word of God to save our souls. The Word of God shows us our sin, it shows us the beauty of Jesus Christ and what He has done.

So is this you? Have you believed the Word? Jesus is praying this prayer for those who will believe because of the Word. That's the preamble. That's the beginning of this prayer.

So then we go to what he is praying for and there are a number of things listed. I have listed five things. I realize you probably could consolidate some of these, but I made them five because they're so beautiful. The first is It's a prayer for God's likeness to be revealed in us. God's likeness to be revealed in us.

That's the first phrase in verse 21. That they all may be one as you Father are in me and I in you." So this is speaking of the unity of God with His people and His people being one with one another. So in what sense is the church united? In what sense should the church be united? Because you look around and you think, boy, I don't know if the church is united that much at all.

It seems like it's really divided. I think the primary thing he's speaking of is for his likeness and that their relationships would be like the relationships between the father and the son and It is a relationship of of intimacy and love and honor and It's it's astonishing that God the Creator and Jesus Christ His Son first of all would take us into Himself. This is what we don't want to miss. Don't get too distracted about the divisions in the church. Get focused on this one fact is that what Jesus has done is He has made us one with His Father and we with Him.

And we are transported into a totally different kind of love than what we have. And He makes us members of one another. And I'm going to give you three words. There are many more that could be given, but I'm going to give you three words that describe this membership. First of all, the word fullness.

In Ephesians 1, 22, we learn that because of God's act of authority in saving sinners, of making us one with Him, that we become full of Him. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. It's the fullness of Him. It's the life of God and the soul of man. It's this ever-increasing fullness of God through this work of progressive sanctification.

And the next word is dwelling. He dwells in us. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." He's talking about dwelling. It's the fact that the life of God is actually dwelling in the soul of man. And then the next word would be love.

In 1st John 4 16 we're told that this union creates transformed relationships, completely different relationships of love. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, And he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. So it's an abiding of the love of God. That's what this oneness is about and that's the implication for our relationships together.

That the chief manifestation of the life of God in your soul is that you have the love of God for one another. Now we all know that it takes quite a bit of time to replace our kind of love, our kind of love, with his kind of love. It takes time. He's very patient with us. But what you find here is that God channels His love from His throne to His people.

It's like one of the commentaries I read spoke of it as a pipe of blessing, a pipe of blessing from the throne of God into the soul of man that spreads out into others. So it's this whole truth that the life of God can be seen in the world through his people. We know how imperfectly that is, but it is growing and It is real. And if you're a real Christian, you know you can't do without it, and you only want more of His life in you. And you shudder to think that you didn't have that spark of life that has been growing in heat over time.

You would hate not to have it. You only want more. Now, what kind of union is this? I, You know, this verse has been misapplied by what is called the ecumenical movement to mean that all Christian groups should melt into one organization. So you know, is this union universal agreement in thought on every doctrine.

Is it that? Is he talking about that? Or is he talking about uniformity in practice so that there is the exact same practice uniformly in every single church? Is he talking about that? Well, that's the position of the Roman Catholic Church.

It insists on that this unity is uniformity. It's bureaucratic unity. It's institutional unity and you're gonna, you know, you're gonna read the same things everywhere in the world, no matter what Lord's Day it is. Is it union organizationally, like all the Baptists and the Presbyterians, and all have this one organizational affiliation under one umbrella. Is it easy talking about that?

I would just suggest, no, it's not denominational unity, it's not uniformity, and it's not the same thing as, you know, Catholics and evangelicals together. The Bible makes, because the Bible makes it clear that there really are Doctrines that are worth fighting about and that's what Paul said to the Galatians if anyone preaches a different Another gospel to you than what you have received. Let him be accursed so we're not talking about setting aside the gospel for the sake of some kind of organizational institutional or unity or uniformity And I was just reading last week the example of Charles Spurgeon when he resigned from the Baptist Union It's called the downgrade controversy. It happened at the end of his life But he resigned from the Baptist Union because so many churches in the Baptist Union had really abandoned the gospel and they really didn't believe the Bible was the Word of God anymore. So it's not the kind of unity that dismisses truth.

This unity is bound together by truth. It's bound together by the truth of the Word of God. And setting aside truth for the sake of unity is not the kind of unity Jesus is referring to here. But I think what he is making it very clear is that unified…Christians who are unified are unified in this they accept the Bible is the Word of God They believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and they have it in their hearts not to add or subtract from the Word of God It's a It's a unity that's based on truth. And there are many ways that this is explained in Scripture.

We are one body. We have One Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one mediator, one purpose saved by one gospel. We have one great commission and we have one single source of truth. It's the Word of God alone. Now Christians can be different.

I think that should be obvious enough. So what about this? Let's say we got Augustine and Calvin and Whitefield and D.L. Moody in all one room. Do you think there might be any theological differences?

Yes, there would be, but I have a suspicion that they would be so happy to be together. They would be just like you when you meet a real Christian and your heart, your hearts just somehow are one. And they don't even have to be from your church or from your denomination or your theological persuasion. In some ways it's kind of like you know a Christian when you see it and you can feel it. And they might not have exactly the same views that you do on every particular point of doctrine.

But every Christian is in process, and every Christian sees through a glass darkly. That's just a reality that we have to find ourselves in the midst of all the time. But John, John the Apostle later in 1 John he says but our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. It's that kind of unity and fellowship. And so in the church, you know, our relationships aren't based on our love for hunting or for food or football or It's not a demographic unity.

It's not like the gym or the Rotary Club at all. It's not like the Nature Club, but it's like where God sets the tone, where the life of God is in the soul of man and that's the kind of life that they have together and so the the unity of the Godhead expresses itself in the unity of the saints and that's the basis for the unity of all believers. Now, let me say two things about this. First of all, this prayer has been answered because true Christians will act like true Christians with one another. Most of the time they might have to repent of their sin.

But Jesus Christ has bound his children together spiritually. This is a spiritual union primarily. It does work itself out in relational matters, but it's primarily a spiritual union. Because we are all connected to Christ, and as a result we're connected with one another, We should never despise another Christian. We're looking into the eyes of someone made in the image of God who's been joined to Jesus Christ and has the life of God in their soul.

The Baptist confession speaks of this, this spiritual unity in chapter 27 of our confession in the communion of the saints. I'll quote, even all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus. This is the unity. All those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus. That's our confession.

So this prayer, this prayer here is helping the disciples to think like God about themselves and about their relationship with Him. So then in the next phrase in verse 21, the disciples overhear the purpose of this divine unity because it has a purpose. And here he's praying for belief in the world that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." So the life of God and the soul of man has a purpose and that is that the world is going to see a different kind of community. And, you know, our unity spiritually and our love for one another is necessary for effective evangelism. That's why Thomas Manton said, divisions in the church breed atheism in the world.

Now there are different ways that divisions happen in the church, and I've stolen categories from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I'll tell you what they are. First, there are legitimate divisions over heresy. When you hear another gospel, these are legitimate divisions that are actually necessary.

The Apostle Paul said that some division is appropriate. 1st Corinthians 11 19, for there also must be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you. So there will be and there actually must be certain kinds of factions. We don't want to be immature in our view of all this. But Lloyd-Jones spoke about other kinds of ungodly divisions, divisions over personalities.

In 1st Corinthians 10 or 1 10, there was a personality cult going on in Corinth and some were saying, I am of Paul and I am of Cephas and I am of Christ, you know? There's a little bit of pride rolling in the room. Paul at the end of it says, I'm glad I didn't baptize any of you because I don't want my personality wrapped up in your faith. But there's division over personalities, and then there are divisions over offenses and disappointments. He cites Paul in Barnabas.

There's division over envy in Philippians 1. Some are preaching Christ out of envy. They say what they say out of envy and strife, not goodwill. Some do it for selfish ambition. He talks about division over the desire for preeminence, and in 3 John he talks about diatrophies, who wanted to be first.

Interestingly enough, he also talked about James and John's mother who went to Jesus and said, could we, could our boy, could my boy sit at your right hand? Divisions over preeminence, you know, who's going to be the big shot in the room? He talks about divisions over power struggles between women in the church. Eudy and Syntiki in Philippians chapter 4 verse 2, Paul says, I implore you, you know, have the same mind in the Lord. In other words, start thinking like the Lord.

Stop jockeying for your own whatever, you know? And then there are divisions over social status in 1 Corinthians 11. At the Lord's table, the rich were prioritizing themselves and depriving the poor of the supper. They were gobbling up all the food. The poor didn't have anything to eat.

The rich were acting like pigs, frankly, and Paul confronts them. He says, you're coming together not for better but for worse when you do that. So in the early church there were different kinds of divisions. Divisions over spiritual gifts, divisions over knowledge. You know, you have matters of the weaker brother, one brother thinking he's superior than another, Romans 14.1, Romans 15.1 speak to that.

So there are different kinds of ungodly divisions that take place. I think you can probably sum up ungodly divisions by violations of 1st Corinthians 13 and the fruit of the Spirit. You know, when you don't see love or joy or peace or patience or kindness or gentleness or faithfulness or self-control in the church, you know what you got. You got yourself an ungodly division going. You know, Almost every conflict in every church can be solved by just thinking the best of one another.

But anyway, there are ungodly divisions that take place in churches. Okay, third, Jesus, he prays for belief in the world and He's saying that the world will believe because they see the life of God manifested. They see that you have a unity with God, not just yourself, not just with your culture, and You love in a way that is very different, and you bring the Word of God, the Word of love to them, and they believe. So you have this different kind of community that's created with believers who are one with God. It's always a struggle though, isn't it?

I mean, none of us can claim that we have this just completely right. And that's why God has sent His Spirit and His Word, and He's given us a lifelong experience together to learn how to love. You learn that in a church, especially in a church. You know some people in the church they're they're they act like goofballs sometimes. Sometimes they're not very patient, they're not very kind, They're really selfish, you know, and guess what they're part of your family You know every family has nutcases in it Maybe not your family Well, Jesus prayed for this belief in the world and it's a result of the glory of God, you know, being manifested.

But then he turns and speaks more distinctly about glory. He's praying for a shared glory. I think what Jesus is doing in this prayer is He's just mounting up various illustrations of what this looks like to be one with Him. And so in verse 22 He says, and the glory which you gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. He repeats that whole matter of oneness again.

He does it many times in this prayer. What's the glory? The glory which you have given me, I gave to them. And them. And what that does is it forges us together in one.

What is the glory? Glory is the stamp, Glory is the stamp, the mark, the common shape of the Christian. It's the life of God in the soul of man. It's the glory of God in a person. D.I.

Carson explains it like this, glory commonly refers to the manifestation of God's character or person. God manifests His glory through His people. And I think it really begins with the joy and the freedom that you find when you know your sins have been forgiven. And the curse of the law is no longer your curse because Jesus took the curse for you. That's really the beginning of all the freedom.

I think he's talking about the freedom from condemnation of sin and the curses of the law that we've broken and all the blessings that come from that. Where God becomes the source of your glory. Remember, this life isn't about you Finding your glory and expressing it. It's about his glory. That's I think that's why David said you're my glory and you're the lifter of my head There's no one that can lift your head like God you are my glory and the lifter of my head." So the unity is just an outworking of God's glory in their lives, and It's manifested in our lives together, the glory of God in one another.

You know, I used to sing a song to my children at night. I love the song. I can see in you the glory of my King." Now I think we should recognize something that's here very clearly and that is that Jesus is repeating this comparison of his unity with his son or with his father and our unity with one another. He continues to repeat it. It's a little bit of a broken record.

In 21, at the, in the first part of 21, he says that they may be one as you, Father, are in me and I knew, as you. He's making the comparison. In the very next verse, verse 22 at the very end, that they may be one just as we are one. He's making a connection. He's appealing to heaven, the glory of heaven.

In verse 23, he does it again, I in them and you and me, that they may be perfect in one. So he's making this comparison that there is the unity of the Father and the Son is the paradigm, it's the prototype for our unity with one another. You know, understanding the unity and the love and the delight between the Father and the Son is critical for our understanding of our life together. You know, the Father delights in the Son and the Son loves to do the will of His Father. They are one in that sense, but it's a union of delight and love and honor toward one another.

And that's our kind of life together. So he's drawing this analogy of between, you know, the mutuality in the Trinity with ours. Now, we cannot be exactly like God in our unity. You know, there are the communicable attributes of God and the incommunicable. I think he's talking about communicable attributes of God.

Now I want to describe this unity. In Galatians 4 19, he's speaking of conformity to Christ. That's the essence of the unity. My little children, whom I labor in birth again until Christ is Formed in you again. It's this life the life of Jesus Christ being manifested in your in your life He also uses the word death in Philippians 3 10, and we're told that it's a unity of death That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death dying to yourself and being raised with him to everlasting life.

He uses the word life in Colossians 3 and 4, that their unity is a unity of life. He says, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Now, he speaks of it in terms of transformation and freedom and joining together. And I'll just Close this section with second Peter 1 3.

It's a unity that gives us divine power for everything in our lives as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and by virtue." So, he's praying for those who would follow Christ as being those whose whole soul there are united with Him, and that's the life of God and the soul of man. And then after praying about the shared glory he prays for their being Perfected in God's attributes in verse 23 I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one this is the process of sanctification of being made perfect by the way it says here we don't make ourselves We are made perfect. You see that in the verse. We are made perfect. God does it and We are one with Him and we become reflections, manifestations of His communicable attributes, not His incommunicable attributes.

Communicable attributes of God are those attributes that He rubs off on you. Incommunicable attributes are those that only God has. You know, incommunicable attributes are those like omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence and sovereignty. Those aren't ours. Those are His alone.

But His communicable attributes, of course, are love and justice and goodness and knowledge and truthfulness and mercy and wisdom. Those are the things that we have for one another. But we get them from God. We don't get them out of our own hearts. We get them from Him.

This is the life of God that's manifested in the world, that you might be made perfect. You know, the true Christian shudders at his imperfection and is sorrowed by it often. But recognize that God, through Jesus Christ, is answering this prayer of perfecting you he's answering it and it's so slow and it's so long you often can't even feel it but one day at a time God continues to move in your life and he brings you lots of different things in your life. And the way it works out is Sometimes he waits before he brings certain things to you so that he can begin to glorify himself through you in a different way, usually through some hardship. And I think the Lord Jesus Christ sings that song I used to sing to my children, I can see in you the glory of my King.

I can sing that song in this church. I can see in you the glory of my King. And I'm so thankful. I can. I see it every time we get together.

And then finally, fifthly, prayer for the manifestation of the love of God. Verse 23, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. The world is going to see that you're loved. The world is going to see that there's something about you. There's a consolation.

There's a peace. Knowing that you know that you're loved, that you're being cared for your whole life long, that He loves you. The Christian knows that God loves him, and It's so good to know that. And the world will see that you think you're being loved. And you are.

And you believe it. And you believe it in the hardest times. In fact, the hardest times usually show you that you, he loves you more than ever. Figure that one out. But that's how it is, isn't it?

Notice the emphasis of the world in this verse. You know, what does God want the world to see from Christians? He wants them to see that they're loved, that He helps them, that He teaches them, that He changes them, that He carries them. He makes them a wise and understanding people. Jesus is praying that his people would know and feel that they are loved by God with an everlasting love.

The love that flows from God the Father to the Son to His children. It's a fountain of love. It's like a river of compassion. It's like a wave of love. Love.

So God loved his son so that his son's love would reach us and it's an everlasting love And it's unbreakable because it began with God Almighty, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. It's an unbreakable love because it has come from God. So the ultimate purpose of this divine unity is so that the world would see manifestations of God's love. And they would believe because they observed it. This is the life of God in the soul of man.

And that's, I think that's the primary focus of this, of these verses here, is that the unity of the Father and the Son manifests itself in the unity of the church, which manifests itself in the world believing the gospel. And all these are gifts of God. And isn't it amazing, you know, that the life of God can be seen in the world? It can be. And I know you've seen it.

What a blessing it is. All of these things flow from the throne of God. Like John said, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. The kingdom of heaven is primarily a kingdom of love that results in everlasting joy and that's what it means to be a Christian and it doesn't And it doesn't happen by finding yourself or getting your own voice, you know, or powering up and becoming the real you. No, it comes by losing who you are and gaining Him and following Him and loving him and knowing him and knowing that you are loved by God forever.

Would you pray with me? Lord, we're so grateful for wisdom from heaven to set us right in our thinking about our own lives and about the whole world. You've taken us from our own innermost beings to the heart of the Trinity and out to the whole world here in this passage. You've given us a complete picture of of the world and everything in it and and what's important. We're so thankful for that and Lord it's thrilling to to hear this prayer and to overhear it and know what you're all about and what you're doing and to know that we're part of it Lord if there's no if there's if there's somebody here isn't part of it I pray Lord that they would hear this prayer and believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved and be just another answer to this beautiful prayer.

Amen.