In the sermon 'A Prayer for Believers’ Oneness' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Jesus' prayer for unity among believers as recorded in John 17:20-23. The sermon emphasizes that this oneness is essential for the world to believe in the message of the gospel. Believers are to be unified in truth, glory, and love, reflecting the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The sermon outlines non-negotiable truths that form the foundation of this unity, including the inerrancy of Scripture, the gospel, the return of Christ, and the existence of heaven and hell. The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in this unity by transforming believers and enabling them to demonstrate God's glory and love. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to be intentional in their unity for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission.

Alright, the sermon text for this morning will be John chapter 17 verses 20 through 23. For context, I will be starting in verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the Son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

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 you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may also be sanctified by the truth. 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 and one, and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you for your Word. Read as Christ is praying for those who will come to know you after he's gone as the disciples preach father and even us today your work continues to go forth and has saved us all of us from many places and goes out into the entire world father we thank you father for for saving us for bringing us together to hear this sermon text today. We lift up Mr. Lundquist, we pray that you would give him wisdom as he preaches, help our ears to hear.

For those of us that are saved Father, I pray that you would apply this word to our hearts. Help us to be more conformed to the image of your Son today. And for those that aren't saved, Lord God, may this be the day that they say that they repented and believed. They turned from their sins and they turned and trusted you, the one true living God. And to your sons, we pray, Amen.

True living God. This is the seventh of eight sermons out of this one prayer. We have divided it up so we can study it, and we divided it up to make it easier for us to study it, to know these truths. And we know in preaching that context and reading and understanding the Word of God, context is everything. This is more than just context.

This is one prayer that, I don't know how fast he prayed it, but it only took a few moments, a few minutes, and so it's more of a flow. Instead of thinking about context, it's more of the flow of the prayer and studying it, looking at it, and it does matter here. This is one holy, perfect prayer. And so looking at last week, how it flowed into this week is a big flow. And one of the points that was made last week is that our foundation stone, the Bible, is truth.

We are people of the truth as defined by God in His Word, the Bible. So the title I have here is Prayer for Believers, not apostrophe yes, but believers because it's all of us, apostrophe for our oneness. And the purpose of our oneness, what we'll get at the end, the last point is that the world may believe. There's a grand purpose for our oneness that God has and he's written twice in here. And that's that the world would know the truth and believe.

That's the purpose, the grand purpose of this prayer for us. It's a great commission purpose. This oneness theme, I'm going to say a lot about oneness. I'll use one. I'll be unified.

Unity. It's all this oneness. But we're only one because God has saved us individually. We are saved individually. Our salvation is individual.

Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life individually, but then we are made corporate as one. I will talk about one body, one temple, one bride. We go through as well. We are individuals, daughters, and sons of God. But God also sees us as one.

Jesus prayed for us to be one as God is one. Let's look at verse 20. First point, I have this divided up and we'll look at verse 20 and then the next two points, the rest of the verses really thematically. But verse 20, let's look at this. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

I Do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." This is a prayer for all believers. Prayer for all believers. There's a shift in this prayer. We've seen him pray for himself and for his glory and for the disciples. And this is a shift in the prayer to all who will believe in me.

This is all future believers, all who will, all future believers, all people that will repent and believe the gospel. This is who he's praying for. And listen to this, you were on his mind that night when he's praying this. You were on his mind, not generally, but specifically by name. You were on his mind all who would be saved.

If you have been saved, and I don't know, and none of us know who will be saved, but all who will be saved, all that were saved, You were on his mind specifically by name that night. He knew each person he was going to die for. He knew each one of your sins that he was taking the wrath of God for. I get this from one, we believe he's sovereign, But look at Revelation 13 and 17. Our names are written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

Jesus, God, wrote your names. None have been added. None have been subtracted. That is one holy book of who would be saved and Jesus knows those names because he put those names there, God put those names there, gave them to Jesus and He's praying for them. He knows that list.

And that's who he's praying for. We don't know everybody he's praying for. He does. Take heart. Be encouraged by that.

Don't be sidetracked by the doctrine of sovereignty and election that I just alluded to there. Don't be sidetracked by that. Just be encouraged that this prayer is evidence of God's grace and love for you from exactly at minimum 2, 000 years ago, no matter what you believe about the sovereignty of God in election. It's at least here 2, 000 years ago. But for those of us who believe in the doctrines of grace and election, which is what we teach and preach here, We know it's from eternity past, but take encouragement that Christ is praying for you specifically.

We see it right here, 2, 000 years ago. God's grace is actually towards you from eternity past, but We only knew about it once we were saved. Before we were saved, we didn't know about His grace, we didn't know about His sweetness, we didn't know anything about these prayers. You may have learned about it, but you didn't see this as sweet as it is now, if we're studying this now. But He has been ordering the world, moving you along, your life, the preaching, the teaching, however that's done, whoever God brought in your life to save you, to save all those that he has prayed for.

He has ordered everything to save everyone he's prayed for that is written in that Lamb's book of life. He was praying for you then, and now we learn in Hebrews 7 that he's ever living to make intercession for you. He has cared for you from all of eternity and He will care for you from here on out. So he's praying for all who will believe through their word or message. Who's their word?

That's the disciples. It starts with the disciples. Yes, we have the prophets, but specifically he's talking about the disciples here. So all those who believe through their word. Jesus is actually stating, as we've talked about, that these 11 men who we know and have been told are about to scatter and desert.

And Peter, the leader of the bunch, is going to deny him. And God is saying, these men are going to lead this great salvific, this great commission effort by preaching the Word, the Word that they have received and believed as we saw earlier in this chapter. And they are going to lead this preaching and this teaching and sending forth. They are going to turn the world upside down. They are going to spread that Word.

And all these believers are going to come from there. Jesus is caring for these disciples by having them hear that. If you were a disciple and you heard all this scattering, and the world is going to hate me, and we're going to die, and I'm going to deny you, and then you hear these words, I've said it before, Jason's probably said it before. You hear these words of comfort, of peace, and not just comfort and peace, but I'm going to use you. God's going to use you.

Christ's going to use you. The Holy Spirit's going to use you to turn the world upside down. It's incredible. So what do we believe through their word? So he's praying for all who will believe through their word.

What is it that we are believing through their word? For us at Scripture, for many there, they've got to hear the teaching. They've got to hear the preaching directly from them. But what is it? We're going back to verse 17 and 19.

It's the truth. Verse 17, God's Word is truth. That is what we are believing in, the truth. And We know the gospel, the big part of it, but it's the truth of God's Word. God's Word is truth.

John 14, 6, Jesus said to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. We believe the truth. The entirety of God's Word is truth. Back to Psalm 119, quoted last week and this morning in the call to worship.

So Having already stated early in the chapter that the disciples have kept and believed the word given to them, Jesus is now stating that these disciples are going to preach this truth. Faithfully preach this truth And more will believe. Listen, just soak in this chain of disciples making disciples to where it gets to us and future. This gospel connection, It starts with just these 11. It starts with these 11.

Then there's 120. And then they add Mathias. And then you have Pentecost. There's 3, 000. So you have these 132.

And then there's 3, 000. And Then God adds another apostle in Paul and we see missionaries and other writers of scripture come about. We have Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Timothy, Luke, James, Jude, Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila, husband and wife. The writer of Hebrews. And what happens?

The Gospel spreads. To all the known world. That is not a hyperbole either. To all the world. You read the history of where these disciples went.

Where these missionaries went. And you see they got spread through all the world. The gospel was spread. Thousands, millions or more are added through the ages, and here we are. And then there's more to come.

I completely believe that the reason why Christ has not returned yet is there are more that are written in that Lamb's Book of Life, still to come, that He has prayed for, still to save, and so we still send out. It's still a great commission effort of ours. So this is a prayer for all believers. Prayer for all believers. Point number two, where we will spend really the bulk of the time that's left here, is a prayer for oneness.

A prayer for oneness. Let me read verses 21 through 23 with an emphasis and a focus on where the prayer for oneness is here. 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. In 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 and 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." So isn't this the first time we've seen this? We saw this in verse 11 of this prayer.

Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are." So this is repeated four times. Jesus is God. This is not repeated because he needs to appeal to God four times to make this application, to make this real, to make sure God really heard it and that he really understands his concern. Jesus didn't even need to pray it. God did not need to literally say, let there be light for there to be light.

He's God. So why does he do this? Why does he repeat this concern for us four times, have this emphasis? Well, one is for emphasis, one another is for these hearers, and for us, we need to hear this. Apparently, he said it four times Because our tendency is probably not to be one.

I can be very selfish. I can be very, very selfish. So we need this help. In this sermon, I'm not going down a path where I'm going to talk about all the ways we need to be better at being one. That is not my focus.

You'll hear very little bit of that. The focus really here is to encourage us how God has already made us one with God. That's going to be the focus of what you're going to hear in the rest of this. But this is very important. And this is an amazing prayer.

An amazing emphasis of God that as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ with so many backgrounds, So much diversity, so much culture, likes, dislikes. How are we to be one as God is one? I think about that. It's amazing, but it's here. Jesus praised it.

Therefore, it's true. It is happening. So let's start then, how God is one. That's where we need to start. To know how we are to be one, is God is one?

We need to start with, how is God one? Well, He just declares it. One, He declares it. Deuteronomy 6, 4, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Jesus also quotes that in his teaching in Mark.

He teaches that just before he goes through and marks the two greatest commandments. He starts with the Lord our God. The Lord is one. We get the trinity. We know the trinity.

We teach the trinity. There is one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But one God. They are one.

And we're studying the attributes of God on Sunday afternoons. And we're studying the attributes of God. Those are the attributes of God. Not just of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These are attributes of God.

How is God one? God is one in holiness. That's what we've called the master attribute, attributes of attributes of holiness, which describes all of his other attributes. He's one in holiness, one in power, one in will, one in purpose, one in righteousness, One in truth, glory, and love. These last three are areas that we are really going to focus on.

The oneness in truth, glory, and love that are laid out here in this section. So then before we get to talking about truth, glory, and love, how are we one? How are we one generally before we get to these three specific areas? Remember this prayer is for us to be one as the Father and the Son are one. So then we know this can't be about denominations.

We know this can't be about non-denominations. We know this isn't about government, how our churches are governed, what we call church polity. We know it's not about that. It's not about buildings. It's not that those things aren't important.

Those things are important. And God does have truth. And God does know what is the exact way for us to order everything. But it can't be about that. Because God is one, existed from all eternity without buildings, without denominations, without any of that.

So we know that's not what it's about. Ryle says there may be uniformity without unity. So we know it's not about uniformity. It's not about us all looking the same. Our buildings have to look the same.

We have to dress the same, do the exact same language. There are cults. And then there's the Catholic Church as well that has tried that. Hey, we have everything the same. There are denominations out there, or other denominations out there, that every church around the globe is preaching the exact same thing on the exact same text that week.

We know you can have all that. We can see it in sports teams. You can all dress the same, look the same, all work together for the same goal, but after the game some are Christians, and others are off to debauchery. So uniformity isn't unity. And we know we can't literally be one like the Trinity.

We know that. God's not saying that. Christ isn't saying that. We can't literally be one like the Trinity. They are one from all of eternity.

One. We can't be one. All of our backgrounds, our ages, our genders, diversity, right? That's not it either. But we must imitate and be one as Christ prayed for us to be one.

So it must happen. So what kind of oneness happens to all believers? This is a unity for all who will believe. So how can I have unity with the apostles, with the martyrs, with the reformers, with the Puritans, with the brethren in India, the brethren in Asia, all around the globe that I will never meet, and the ones to come after I die? How am I to be one with all of them?

Let's look at these three areas of focus for oneness in this prayer. One in truth, glory, and love. Let's start with one in truth. The immediate context, the immediate flow leading into this section is oneness in truth in verses 17 and 19. Sanctify them by your truth.

Your word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth the truth the truth the truth right we have once again we divided this prayer but this flow is important and leads right into this section. So we're to be united to God in oneness, in oneness in truth, so God is one in truth. Let's look how God is one in truth first before how we can be one in truth like he is. So God is one in truth.

Deuteronomy 32, 4 in the song of Moses says, God is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways are justice, a God of truth, and without injustice, righteous and upright is he." He's a God of truth, perfect, justice, righteous, upright. That's a God of truth. John 14, 6, I've already been quoted. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. So the truth is that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. He is the only way to the Father, the only way to salvation. And let's round out the Trinity. John 15, 26.

But When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me." So the Trinity is one in truth. They are one in truth. And truth is defined by the Bible. These are the words of God. His word is truth.

All of his ways are truth. He sanctifies by his truth. And as God is one in truth, Jesus is praying for us to be one in truth. How do we know about this God of truth? Through His Word.

God of truth, He's revealed to us the truth He needs us to know. And it's all through His Bible, His revealed word. I've already quoted Psalm 1, 1960, the entirety of your word is truth. If we're going to be one in truth, then we must be believers that the entirety of the word is truth, and this is our foundation. And that makes us one as a Father and a Son are one.

Psalm 86, 11, teach me your way, O Lord, I will walk in your truth. What truth are we going to walk in? The entirety of your Word is truth. What truth are we going to walk in? The entirety of the Word of God.

That's the truth that we walk in. And we need this unchangeable truth. Because we're changeable. We are changeable. We have bad days, we have good days, I have likes and dislikes that today is a dislike, tomorrow may be a like.

We are changeable, we are mutable, and we let other things affect us other than the truth of God's Word. God is immutable. God is always the same. It is the truth of God. It is the truth of God that will lead us, that will direct us in righteousness, that will correct us and instruct us in righteousness.

Now the truth of God and how we teach the truth of God and what we believe about the truth of God, we use a word called doctrine. And doctrine is just a set of beliefs, a set of beliefs that we teach that are based on truth. And there are some non-negotiables for us to be one with Christians of all different varieties, all different cultures, all kinds of likes and dislikes around the world from the apostles to whoever long till Christ returns. There are non-negotiables in the truth of the Word of God. There are non-negotiables for us to be one.

And we have to be absolutely clear in order to be one and be unified on what these non-negotiables, these necessities for oneness are. One of them is, as I've talked about, the entirety of your word is truth. That's be one on it. We can disagree, I'll talk about that a little bit on maybe what some of this says, But we have to start there that the Bible is inerrant and completely true from the gain it in. And this is the revealed Word of God, the revealed truth of Himself to us.

Nothing to be added, nothing to be subtracted. We don't understand it. We may not like it. And we don't like how it instructs us sometimes. What that means, what it means to repent of something sometimes.

We don't like it when other people come to us and maybe reveal something that we haven't seen. But we must start. The non-negotiable is the entirety of your word is truth. From that non-negotiable is the gospel. Which always starts off with who God is.

God is holy, God is perfect, He is just, He is righteous, and God's truth says you are to be holy as He is holy, you are to be perfect as He is perfect, and we are not. So we have a problem because we are sinners and God says because of your sin you deserve the wrath of God, you deserve payment, your wages for sin is death. The wrath of God for all of eternity. So We have God, we have man, we have an issue there. So that's where he sends Christ.

And it wasn't an afterthought, that's the plan from eternity past that he would send Christ, that Christ would come. And Christ would come and live in our place that perfect life, a substitutionary life, live perfectly holy and righteous and die the death that sinners deserve, taking on the wrath of God for sin, dying the death we deserve, and then conquering death, victory over the grave, rising from the dead. And for all who believe and trust in him alone for salvation will be saved because of his work. A non-negotiable, the inerrancy of scripture, the gospel. Another non-negotiable is that Jesus will return.

That's a non-negotiable. We can disagree with when that is and what that looks like, but Jesus will return. Another non-negotiable is there is a literal heaven and hell. We will all live for eternity, either in the kingdom or underneath the wrath of God. And there is a Trinity.

There is one God. Those are non-negotiables. There may be others you can think of. Those are non-negotiables. And I didn't mention a thing about the doctrines of grace.

I didn't mention a thing about Reformed theology. I didn't mention a thing about family integration. I didn't mention a thing about family integration. They didn't mention a thing about family worship. They didn't mention a thing about how we order our churches, and those are all important.

But those are the non-negotiables of the truth of God's Word. I didn't mention a thing about translations. Translations, I'm thankful for translations, but that is limited. But if you're outside of four or five translations, let's have a discussion. New King James, King James, NASB, NIV, ESV.

If it's outside that, let's have a conversation. It's not about, right, the non-negotiable is not the language that your Bible is in. None of us are reading Greek here this morning, I don't think, or Hebrew. We want Turkish Bibles only. Right, so it's not, Non-negotiable is not the language, it's not about eschatology.

There are people within the reformed circles that have varied eschatology. It's not about that. And there are some things worthy of separating over. There are some things, believing in doctrines of grace or not, those are worthy of being separated over of how you're going to teach the Bible, whether the modes of baptism. Not all of us are going to be right.

It's not that those aren't important. God knows the truth in those things, but for this gospel, great commission, purpose of oneness, those don't matter. They really don't. We may be wrong, they may be wrong, we may both be wrong. Maybe the real truth is we can be both ways.

I don't think so, but it's not that these don't matter to God. They absolutely do because he is truthful and righteous, but the necessities, the necessities to be one in the truth, I'll start with the word of God, the inerrancy, and that's our foundation. And as we read this, and we say, here are the non-negotiables. Here are the non-negotiables. One commentator said, unity is based on truth and never to be sought at the expense of truth.

But it's not about just getting along. It's not what unity and oneness means that we're just getting along. The Godhead is not just getting along. They're not. They're not tolerating each other.

They are one in will, one in righteousness, one in glory, one in truth, one in love, one in holiness. This isn't about just getting along. I'll talk in a little bit. There is definitely a lot of room for grace in how we get along. There better be.

But we don't understand the grace of God towards us. But it's not just about getting along. The truth matters. We are one with God by only believing His truth as provided in the Bible alone. Nothing more, nothing less.

The truth given to us by God written in the Bible is absolute, non-negotiable, oneness, unity, ground. We are one in truth. We are also one in glory. We are also one in glory. Look at verse 22.

And the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. There's a oneness in glory. What is God's glory? When you think of something being glorious, something being one in glory, How do you define that? I had trouble defining it.

It's like trying to define beauty. It can be subjective. It can be very subjective. This is what God says in Isaiah 6, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.

Now Mr. Piper has helped me with this. He says when you read that verse, you don't expect that any. What you expect from hearing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. You expect to hear the whole earth is full of His holiness.

But it says the whole earth is full of His glory. So Mr. Piper defines glory as this. Glory is the manifestation of God's holiness. Glory is the manifestation of God's holiness.

Glory is the manifestation of God's holiness. A declaration of how holy he is and all of his, that's the master attribute, right? His holy love, his holy grace, his holy sovereignty, his holy immutability. He is holy and it's glorious when we see, when God gives us eyes to see how holy it is and how that is dispensed on the world. And it is.

The whole world is full of His glory. Jesus is God. And as God, He has perfectly manifested and declared God's holiness in thoughts, word, and deed. They are one in glory. We saw this at the beginning of the prayer in verses 1-5.

It's a prayer about the glory of God. And their oneness in that glory. God glorifies His Son. The Son glorifies the Father. The Son's looking back, is looking forward to being full and full arrayed glory again with the Father.

After He has come and humbled Himself to be our substitute to save people. Every single one that is written in the Lamb's Book of Life that he is praying for. So that's the glory of God. So how do we have glory as the Father has glory? Well, the primary glory given to us by Jesus is the Holy Spirit that fills each of us to glorify God and declare His holiness.

1 Peter 4, 14, The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of unity. What more can make us one with God than that? There's nothing that makes us one with God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us and the manifestation of His holiness then, through being saved and having the Holy Spirit in us, is the transforming power of the Gospel that we see in us and that others see in us. And that we see in each other as one in unity, in glory.

This transforming power of the gospel, taking the unholy and making them holy. Taking the dead and giving them life. Taking hopeless people and giving them hope, slaves to sin and giving them freedom to obey the glorious acts of God, the glorious commands of God, To worship Him in truth and in spirit, that comes because we have been made one with God in His glory through the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We are one in glory. The Spirit of glory that indwells us, leads us in paths of righteousness, conforms us to Christ, grows us, and completes us.

We are one in truth, we are one in glory, and we are one in love. One in love, verse 23. I in them, 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." We are loved by God as God has loved Christ. We have that same love of the Father. We have that same love of the Godhead amongst themselves, of the one God, the perfect holy love.

We have that same love and are to be unified to be one in that same love. Let's help us define what that love looks like. What that is. 1 John 4, you're welcome to turn there, but 1 John 4, 7-11. Beloved, let us love one another.

For love is of God, and everyone who knows love is born of God and knows God. So our love starts with God. Love is of God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. God is love and He manifested it to us. He manifested His glory to us. His holiness to us through giving us Christ.

That we would know love. That we would be one in love. Go back to John. If you're in John 17, just flip over a couple chapters to John 14. How were we one in the love of God?

John 14, verses 19-24. A little while longer, and the world will see me no more. But you will see me because I live. You will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you." There's a oneness, there's a unity.

He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

He who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." John also says in 1 John 5, 2, by this we know that we love the children of God, that we love one another when we love God and keep his commandments. The oneness of God was demonstrated through Christ obeying the commands, obeying all the law, obeying the mission given to Him, obeyed everything perfectly, was perfectly holy in our place that demonstrate the oneness of God. It says here, this is the same way that we demonstrate our oneness and our oneness as the God. By this we know that we love the children of God, all believers, and we love God and keep His commandments. When I love God and keep His commandments, It's not just showing that I love you, but it shows I love all the Christians before me and I love all the Christians coming after me.

We are brethren. I love those in Asia I've never met. I love those in Geneva lakes I've never met. I love those all over that I've never met. And it shows they love us as well.

It's a unity of love. Turn to Romans 12. Romans 12 is all full of practical application. Practical application in Romans 12. So read it all.

There's a lot there. But how does this look and practice this love? Right now it takes intentionality. Let's just look at verses 9 9 through 13. Let love be without hypocrisy.

Let love be genuine. Abort what is evil. Claim to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality." This is how God describes that our love for one another glorifies, manifests His holiness, declares to the world that we are His disciples.

But it's genuine. We abhor what is evil based on the word of God, the truth of God. We hate what is evil. We don't call evil good and good evil. We hate what is evil.

We don't call evil good and good evil. We hate what is evil. We know what is evil by the word of God. And we cling to what is good as defined by the word of God. We are kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.

We honor giving preference to one another. We are fervent. We serve the Lord. We rejoice with one another. We weep with those who weep.

Right as well. We're fervent. We're patient with one another. Continuing steadfastly in prayer. We distribute to the needs and we're hospitable.

Unity does not mean that we become the same personality, does not mean that we have to have the same likes and dislikes. What we are, what we need to be concerned about most of all is are our differences gospel defining differences that matter or not? Are they or not? That's the key thing that should overshadow any of our differences, not that we have different personalities, different gifts, different likes, different dislikes. And we are to be very gracious where they're not.

Where our differences are gospel-differing differences, Let's be very gracious to one another how we draw that out. And how we work with one another on those if we're concerned about that. And there are different levels of influence on that. Like A parent to a child, you're going to hear a lot about what is good and what is evil. You're going to hear a lot of that as a child.

A lot more. Because you need it. You need the teaching of your parents to help you that. And the teaching of your parents. Children, I'm looking at each one of you.

I know your parents. I was able to say this again last time. We have visitors. We have some visitors today. And I know your parents.

Your parents are teaching you what is good, what is right, what is holy, based on the Word of God. Trust them. You're going to hear a lot of that. The next level up is husbands and wives. We'll help one another a little bit more.

It's a little bit less pressure than we give to our children. It's less pressure. We're being gracious to one another. We're seeing how God, we have history. I have 29 and a half years of marriage with Rebecca, and so I've seen how God has guided and directed her and her towards me as well, and so we can be gracious on some of those things.

God, you will continue to lead, and I'll just pray for that lead, and teach me. Maybe I'm the one that's wrong. And then you have the church, right, at a different level, where we're being one and graciously overlooking things and being humble because I might be the one that's wrong on this as well and not have the whole story. Be very gracious if you believe that there are gospel-defining differences. And there are times to be pinpoint right into something.

I'm not saying there aren't. There are times for that. But read Romans 12 and look at what this unity in love is for one another. Think the best of one another. So that's one in truth, in glory, and love.

And just real quick, I'm going to give you three ways that God describes us as one. First it says one body. He describes us as one body. And this is about the invisible church, not the visible church. So when God describes us as one body in 1 Corinthians, you're welcome to go to 1 Corinthians, I'm going to just glance at that here in a little bit.

But when he describes us as one body, he's not talking about us here, the physical church. Because we have here People that have not professed, people that have professed. And other people that professed, there may be people here that aren't Christians. We've seen that happen before. Most churches see that happen before.

Right? We've heard it this week of people that preached at one point, preached at big churches, did a lot of things, and now says he is not a Christian. So this is about the invisible church. All those that God has written in the Lamb's Book of Life that he knows are Christians. But look at 1 Corinthians 12.

Look at 1 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 12 at how God describes our body. Just a few verses here. I can read the whole section. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. God described this as one body.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. There's many of us. We're saved individually into one body of Christ. That unifies us across all ages and around the world with all believers.

Just look at verse 18 though. I really want you to see verse 18. And how you're thinking of yourself as a member of the body of Christ. But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. No matter what you think of yourself, if you're a Christian, it pleased God to make you a Christian.

It pleased God to put you in the body of Christ. It pleased God to make you one with Him. It pleased God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. It pleased Him. He delights in it.

He loves you with the love he has for the Son. Know that. Know that. Believe that. That is truth.

Right here, given to us. You, it is pleasing. Christ never for one moment ever regrets one sin that He took on the wrath of God for you. Not one. Lots of different backgrounds.

Lots of different things that have happened this week. I don't know the vast majority of Christians around the world, but I can say this with confidence, every single one that pleases the Father, pleases God to save them and make them the body. Then verse 22, no, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. So if you're sitting here thinking that I'm just a weak member, God says you're necessary. And if you think you're just a strong member of the body, maybe you need to humble yourself a little bit and think of yourself a little weaker.

Maybe. But God says no matter what you think of yourself, you are necessary. You are necessary to the body. As you read the rest of this section where he talks about eyes and ears and arms and feet, He sees that this is needed for the body. You are necessary.

You are necessary. You are necessary. And I'm talking to Christians. That's who Christ is praying for, who is God. You are necessary.

We also hear all the places where we are described as one body, we are described as one temple in Ephesians 2 where Christ is the cornerstone and the foundation is made up of the prophets and the apostles and we are built into one temple. We are described as one bride in Ephesians 5. Where it says, she, her, church. In Ephesians 5. And then in Revelation 19, we have The marriage of the Lamb and His wife were described as one body, one temple, one bride.

In Ephesians 4, the great summary were one body, one hope, one faith, one baptism, one spirit, one Lord, one Father. We are one. We are unified. We are one in truth, glory, and love. The last point is the objective of this oneness.

The objective of this oneness. You read verses 21 and 23. That they all may be one as you, Father, and me, and I in you. That they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." There's the objective. We see it again in verse 23.

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. The objective of this oneness is not just to be one for ourselves, although that is great encouragement, but The objective of this oneness is not just to be one for ourselves, although that is great encouragement, but the objective of this oneness is a great commission objective. That the world may believe that the world would know who Jesus is. That they would know that Jesus is God. That they would know the gospel.

That Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life. There's no other way for eternal life, but through Christ and His work and His work alone. That's the purpose of our unity. It's a great purpose. It's a great commission purpose.

And it is a very high calling. And going back to 1 Corinthians, you are necessary for this calling. You are necessary for this objective. Because you are one with God. God has made you one with Him through Christ.

One in truth. One in truth. Learn the truth. You want to be great commission on oneness? You want to do well in this objective.

One in truth. Learn the truth. Treasure the truth. Don't waver from the truth. Proclaim the only way truth in life is Christ to the world.

And no one comes to the Father except through Him. John 20, 31, we are going to be there in a couple of months. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." The truth is written for that. And we are one in the truth for proclaiming this truth. We are one in glory for this great commission.

We have been born again. We have been transformed by the power of the gospel. We have been filled with the Holy Spirit to walk in newness of life and show this hopeless world the power of God, the greatness of God, the care of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God. We are one in love, John 1335, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Our unity in love is important that the world will know that we are God's disciples and that God's power does transform that the world may believe as we see here.

Jesus prayed for the spread of the gospel and also commands it but he prayed for it and He commanded just before sending to heaven, so those he prayed for, you and me, would be saved by him. He prayed for it, he gave the means for it, by giving us his truth, he makes us one, and then he's the one that makes it happen. He ultimately doesn't need us, but how glorious that he would use us. Treat us so sweetly as we have seen here today that we are necessary. He says we are necessary for this work.

We know On one level we are not, but he says we are because we are part of his will and his purpose to accomplish this task that he makes happen. We've seen that the world is broken. It's hurting. It's groaning. It's dark.

It's scared of death. It's ungodly. They have no hope so they just fill their lives with checking off their bucket list. Get the most of this life that they can. And God's purpose for our oneness and our unity is so that this broken world, we're all here.

We have broken people in this congregation today. And you need to hear. Watch. Watch and learn from the body of Christ. See the transforming power of the Gospel.

If you're here without hope, because you are not saved, have a look and believe. There is hope to be found, there is glory to be found. You can be made necessary no matter who you are. No matter what your ailments may be, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter how alone you may feel, God has a glorious gospel for you. A glorious, glorious gospel for you.

Where oneness and truth and glory and the love as a father and a son are one is demonstrated, especially be used by God to draw more believers that He will save to himself. Who are those people? We don't know. I don't know, you don't know. So we go.

So we go. We go to our children, we go to our friends, we go to our relatives, We go to Turkey, we go to Wake Forest, we go to Raleigh, we go. We go. We demonstrate the oneness and teach, preach truth, glory, and love of the Gospel. Three applications.

One. Pray for one another as Jesus prayed for us and ever lives to make intercession for us. Pray for our unity, for our oneness as God is one in truth, in glory, in love. One body, one temple, one bride. For the spreading of this great commission truth, this great commission glorious gospel, this purpose, this oneness, this purpose of building the Kingdom of God.

God's going to save every one of them. There's no doubt. Jesus isn't returning until every single one that are written in the Book of Life are saved. But this is not just a glorious truth, it's a glorious privilege. You're missing out if you're not taking advantage of this glorious privilege.

You're missing out if you're not preaching, teaching the truth of the Word of God to your children. You're missing out on seeing some glorious things happen. You're missing out if we're not straining to be one with one another for the sake that the world would know that we are His disciples. Number two, which leads us to number two, have Romans 12 intentionality. Have Romans 12 intentionality.

God has made us one. But we need kept, right? Jesus is prophet. We need kept, and we need help. And part of that help of Jesus keeping us is through one another.

It is through one another. And it doesn't happen by talking about it. Yes, I've preached a message of it, we're almost done. You might talk about it later, might not. But that's still talk.

And it's necessary. And it's necessary to read about it. But you have to have the intentionality of the Word of God to think about it and observe and think. And as I've talked before, be willing to take observation of yourself as well, but be very gracious to one another with intentionality, because this is a gospel issue. Gospel declaring great commission issue this oneness of ours.

And that's our concern. And oneness, my concern, is do you see the necessity of you in the body? That Christ says that about you, no matter how weak or strong you think you are. God says you are necessary. He's made you one with Him.

As the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, He's made us one like that. If you're having trouble seeing that glorious truth, Children talk to your parents. Husbands and wives talk to one another, preach that truth to one another. Members, Christians, preach together, teach together. But be intentional of this.

Yes, Sunday mornings are important. Wednesday nights are important. Very important. Those should be the highest days of the week as far as our times together as a church. And we should move everything that we're intentional about being completely participatory in those.

But are times in our homes together important? Learning about the differences. Praising God for different personalities, likes and dislikes. Rejoicing with one another. Weeping with one another.

Really? One another. Really? Yesterday, if you were privileged to go to the memorial service. The things that were said, the things that were said, were about a man that did life with one another.

And his desire, his desire along with his wife and family's desire, was to demonstrate the gospel, generosity, hospitality. Tremendous. Tremendous. And one of the things I've always said, I thought I knew hospitality, I thought I knew generosity until I moved here. And there are many of you here that were part of when I came here and saw that, and you were part of that.

And others have come and are part of that as well. But how we are intentional and do life with one another was on display yesterday. Be So intentional and gracious of how we help one another grow in oneness. My last point. My last point.

I've been talking a lot about Jesus praying for Christians. If you know me, if you know this pulpit, you know Jason, you know Michael, other people will be up here, you know what's coming. Was Jesus praying for you? I don't know. I know some.

There are many here, maybe half here, I don't know. I don't know if Jesus was praying for you. If you will be a Christian down the road. I gave a talk recently on Susanna Spurgeon. Here's a quote from her talking of her early pastor before she was saved.

It says, often I had seen him administer the ordinance of baptism, wondering, with a tearful longing, whether I should ever be thus able to confess my faith in the Lord Jesus. She was weeping about it that she wasn't professing. And guess what? Those tears didn't save her. That tenderness of heart that might have been set in didn't save her.

Her general obedience, and she read the Word of God every day of her life. Read through the whole Bible every year of her life. She was in family worship, family worship and household worship two to four times a day, hearing at least two sermons a week. She saw the effects of Christ and still wondering, will I ever be able to do that? If that's you, You have not professed Christ.

By God's grace and mercy and gifting you with faith, you can be one that Christ prayed for. I don't know if you are. You don't know if you are. But you will if you repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation. You'll fill you with His Spirit.

And there are no silent Christians. No individual Christians. You may say, well, Mr. Lundquist, James, I have professed, I haven't told anybody. That's not demonstrating the glory of God, the holiness of God.

You're filled with the Holy Spirit, you will manifest His glory. You will obey His commandments. You will demonstrate a love for others by obeying His commands. A love for God by obeying His commands and be baptized and tell the world it's a gospel activity to obey and baptism. To tell people what God has done in the power of His Gospel.

Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for the encouragement on us seeing you pray for us, hearing it.

Thank you for being one. Thank you that you would be so gracious, so merciful. You would use your power to make us one as you are one. Help us as a church to be one. What a glorious privilege.

Help us, oh Christ, to demonstrate our great love for you, you who loved us first. To demonstrate that we love your truth. Help us to know and love and let it be a non-negotiable your truth. Help us to be so gracious to one another though as you have been so gracious to us. Please help us and we thank you.

In Jesus name, amen.