In Peter Allison's sermon titled 'Praying for Kingdom Growth', he delves into Jesus' high priestly prayer from John 17, emphasizing the importance of praying for the advancement of God's kingdom. The sermon outlines the need for believers to pray for Christ's glory and the church's role in manifesting His kingdom on earth. It highlights the significance of unity among believers, as their unity reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son. Additionally, the sermon discusses the necessity of believers being sanctified through truth, remaining protected from the evil one, and being active in the world as examples of Christ's teachings. The speaker stresses the harmony between prayer and action, urging listeners to work towards the kingdom's growth while praying for its fulfillment.

Please turn in your scriptures to the Gospel of John, Chapter 17. I'd like to read this prayer of Jesus in its entirety this morning. John 17. Jesus has just finished his discourse in the upper room, his sermon. And then we read, 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 as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you has given him as you had given him and This is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world They were yours you gave them to me and they have kept your word now They have known that all 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 have known surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to you, holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are.

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 also may 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 in one and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me and I have declared to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. May these testimonies be our meditation giving us more understanding than all of our teachers. Heavenly Father, Seal your words to our hearts this morning.

May the hearing of them be mixed with faith and obedience. May we be encouraged and strengthened and built up in the most holy faith. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that from a vessel of clay, the riches of your grace may be proclaimed this morning. In Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.

Jesus Christ, we ask. Point. Well, last week's message concerned the beauty and the glory of Christ's church as Isaiah described it in the beginning and the ending of that first prophecy, a prophecy that spanned the chapters two, three and four. But before we moved to a chapter five and another prophecy began another prophecy regarding the sins and the failure of the church, I thought it would be helpful to consider our personal responsibilities in the progressive fulfillment of those promises about the triumph and the glory of Christ's Messianic Kingdom that we had looked at. What's our part in that?

Are we just to sit around waiting for these promises to come to pass? For this, the fullness of this beauty and the glory that he described to be a reality. Well, obviously, I think you know we are called to pray for the fulfillment of those promises. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray for the advancement of His kingdom in that second petition, which goes that we are to pray for his kingdom to come, his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And the larger catechism explains what we are praying for in those words, thy kingdom, your kingdom come.

We are asking that the kingdom of sin and Satan would be destroyed. We're asking that the gospel would be propagated throughout the world, that the Jews would be called the fullness of the Gentiles, that us would be brought into his kingdom, that the church would be equipped and furnished with all those officers and ordinances that God has ordained for her, for those teachers and pastors, for the equipping of the saints. We're praying so that the ordinances of Christ, His sacraments would be dispensed and His word would be proclaimed and made effectual in the conversion of those that are yet in their sins, yet to be saved, and also that it would be effectual in confirming and comforting and building up the saints in the most holy faith. We're praying that Christ would rule in our hearts here and now, And that he would hasten his second coming and are reigning with him forever. We're praying that he would be pleased to exercise his kingdom, the power of his kingdom in all the world so that these ends, these goals are best reached.

And one of I think the fullest and lengthiest examples in scripture of a kingdom prayer is right here in John 17. Now this prayer in John 17 is typically called Jesus High Priestly Prayer. It's prayed in the presence of the disciples after his final message, his final sermon, if he was, final teaching to them in the upper room just before they left for the Mount of Olives, where he would be betrayed, tried, and crucified. And this prayer that we just read is filled with many deep and very precious doctrines, far more than we could ever hope to cover this morning. Thomas Manton preached 45 sermons just on on this prayer, but our goal this morning is to view this prayer from 35000 feet.

You know, the height where you can see an entire state in in one view. And I think that you'll see from that vantage point, I think you'll see. Woven through this prayer for the church. Is with it. Tied with that a prayer for the growth and advancement of Christ's kingdom.

For after all isn't the church that visible body of Christ's saints, isn't that the visible manifestation of his kingdom? And it's through the salvation of men And women that God is glorified. It's through the salvation of sinners that the excellencies of his him who he is and of his grace are manifest and demonstrated to the world. And so Jesus prays and in this prayer, he prays for his glory. He prays for his glory in the salvation of his people.

He prays for the apostles as the means, the foundation on which the church will be built. And finally, He prays for the comfort of all believers as the fruit of his labors, the comfort of all believers. So first, Jesus' first petition and in the first verse there is given in the third person. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Then he prays again in verse five in the first person.

And now, oh, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had before the world began. That's a Jesus is praying that he might be glorified. The cornerstone of this kingdom, Christ's kingdom is the king. He's the chief cornerstone And the growth of his kingdom consists first and foremost in the glorification of the king. And so this prayer for the church opens with this foundational petition that the Father glorify the Son through the cross so that the Son would glorify the Father and be glorified in His Church as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

See the glory, if we think about praying for the advancement of his kingdom, the glory of God must be the foundation for our prayers for the growth of his kingdom, because his glory is the purpose for everything. It's the purpose for creation. It's his purpose in electing a people from before the foundation of the world to redeem his glory. It's his purpose in ordaining the fall and in giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given him. The purpose in all of that is his glory.

Peter says it in his first epistle, chapter 2, verse 9, but you are a chosen people, chosen before the foundation of the world, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, why? So that we might proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. A purpose is that we may praise him. And I think we're most liable and prone to error when we lose sight of this purpose in our day-to-day pilgrimage and in our prayers. We're most prone to error when we lose sight of this purpose in our day-to-day pilgrimage and in our prayers.

We're most prone to error when we lose sight of this fundamental purpose in our day-to-day walk and in our prayers. Remember, a hiker gets lost when they lose sight of the forest and where they are in that forest and focus and only know about the tree that's in front of them. And it's so easy to lose sight of this foundational purpose, you know, whether we're raising a family or praying for our children's families or praying for the specific needs of the church or laboring even to advance justice and truth in the civil realm. The glory of the king, the glory of Jesus Christ Should be behind everything, should be the motive, the purpose for everything that we seek in the throne of grace. The glory of the Father was the purpose of Christ in his time on earth.

He said, I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work that you gave me to do. And his immediate prayer. Now is that the father glorify him. So that he could glorify the Father in accomplishing the salvation of the elect.

Father, glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you by giving eternal life to as many as you have given him. And Jesus said that this is eternal life, that we know the father, the only true God, and that we know Jesus Christ, whom the father has sent. So knowing God is the means of obtaining eternal life. It's the only means. It's the only way.

But it's also what life consists of. Life itself consists of knowing God. And to be cut off from fellowship with God is what death is. That's why it said the Bible says that in the day that Adam sinned, he died. He was cut off from fellowship with God.

So the convert, when we think about the growth of the kingdom and God's kingdom being advanced, the conversion of the elect and they're being brought into this mediatorial kingdom and into communion with Christ and into fellowship with his people. That's probably the first concept that comes to mind when we think of this growth of his kingdom. See, Christ's kingdom extends everywhere he rules in the hearts of his people, of people. As God and as creator, he's the sovereign ruler over all men and over all creation. But for those that aren't In Christ, this sovereign rule is not willingly received.

It's not even acknowledged. These are those, the Bible says, that resist his rule. And they rage with a foaming-up-the-mouth rage over his rule and his laws. You see those that are conquered in his grace are made willing. His people are made willing.

His people delight in his rule. His commands are not burdensome to his people. Rather, those over whom he rules in his messianic kingdom, they seek his presence. They desire his fellowship. They yearn for deeper communion with Christ.

And so this willing submission to Christ's role, It's the defining characteristic of someone who knows the Lord. And Jesus said, this is eternal life that we know the Lord. John says in his first letter, chapter two, now by this, we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. So Jesus' prayer that the elect may know him and the Father is a prayer that his commandments would be willingly obeyed, willingly obeyed.

So this this full sense of knowing the Lord includes a number of things all at the same time. It consists in knowing His character through our experience, not just knowing about Him, not just knowing facts about his excellencies and his attributes, but to know the Lord is to experience him. It's to know him relationally. Psalm 34 says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him.

Taste and see, that's to experience his goodness. That's to know him experientially, to know him relationally. To know the Lord is to rely on his promises, is to delight in his presence. It's to be more and more conformed to his image. See, we take on the character of people with whom we closely associate, don't we?

You know, as they say, you're the same person, you'll be the same person five years from now except for what the people you meet and the books you read we we take on the characteristics of those with whom we closely associate. We become what we worship, like what we worship. Those who worship idols become like them, duff and dumb and stupid. And so to know the Lord then is to have this intimate relationship with him. This word know is the same word that's used to describe the marriage relationship.

Adam knew his wife and there were sons born. It refers to relational knowledge, not just factual knowledge, factual information. And so knowing God then includes understanding his truth and entering into communion and fellowship with him. Christ is glorified in his church. That is his purpose in redemption, that he might be glorified in his people knowing him.

And Ephesians 3, Paul says that this is really the fundamental purpose in God's purpose, his eternal purpose. He said, To me grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ to the intent, to the intent. Here's the intent. Here's the reason behind that that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The eternal purpose was that the wisdom of God might be manifested by his church to the spiritual world, the principalities and powers in heavenly places.

And Paul sums up this knowing God and God being glorified in our knowing him. And in his conclusion to this doctrinal treatise in Ephesians 3. And this is what he says. This is what concludes all the glorious doctrine that he's given in the first three chapters. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, 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 to know the love of God which surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled with the fullness of God. That's the knowing Christ. And then comes Christ's glory. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, amen. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus Christ is glorified in his church and in the salvation of sinners.

The advancement, praying though for the advancement of Christ's kingdom includes that the elect may be gathered and converted. But it also means the defeat of Satan's kingdom. Because every soul that is regenerated by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God is a soul that has been snatched from, plucked from Satan's kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of light and made a son and daughter of the kingdom. And so praying for the advancement of Christ's kingdom is to pray also for the defeat of Satan's kingdom. And so our prayer then for the preaching of the word, which is the means that God uses of gathering and perfecting his saints, ought to include prayer for the prevention of the evil one from stopping the preaching, or corrupting the word or stealing the word as it is sown before it has a chance to sprout and bring fruit.

So we should be praying for the Lord's blessing on the preaching of the word and that he would bind the evil one that he may not be able to blind the eyes or stop the ears of those to whom the word comes. So Jesus prays first for the glory, for His own glory. He prays for His own glory through the cross and through the conversion and the saving of his people. But he also prays secondly for the peace and unity in the church. He prays for the apostles that they may be one as the father and the son are one.

And he prays the same prayer in verses 20 and 21 where he clarifies that he isn't just praying these things for the disciples that are in the room hearing them. But he's praying for all believers in all ages, all those who. Will will believe in him through the word and through the testimony. Keep through your name those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are. He prays that for both the disciples in verse 11 and he prays in verse 20 and I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they 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 so our prayer for Christ's kingdom to come should include prayers for the peace of the church, for God's people to be one, even as the Father and the Son are one. There is perfect peace and harmony between the Father and the Son. They work in harmony. The Son redeems all that the Father elects. There's no, there's no disharmony there.

There is nobody that the Father has given the Son that the Son does not redeem. There is nobody that the son dies for that the father has not given, elected. And the spirit draws all those for whom the son has died. Of course, that's not what we see today, is it? The church is highly fractured.

There are many competing voices, many different views. One of the more tragic examples of this need that we as God's people would be one, even as he is one. Is regarding our witness to the world with abortion. Some of the, tragically, some of the strongest and most damaging voices, opposing laws regarding the murder of the unborn come from the people who profess to know Christ and who profess to promote life as the sixth commandment requires it. They go by that name, pro-life.

But they are the strongest voices testifying against laws that would uphold and promote life to the unborn as well as the born. The church is one. Body with one lord, one face, one baptism, one fellowship. And we need to pray. For the unity of purpose within the church, that we would be one.

Just as a Father and Son, and that we would be able to speak with one voice and give one testimony to the world, one witness to the world, to the truth. We can also pray for that relationships might be transformed. Not only peace at large, in general, but this is a peace specifically, relationally among God's people, that Those who see his church might see people who have been in our being transformed. They might see the people whose marriages are different, whose relationships with their children are different, whose relationships in the workplace with their peers and colleagues and managers are different. Because they leave an absence of conflict in their wake because they are peacemakers.

This is God's prayer for Christ prayer for his church that they might be one as a father and son are one and closely connected to this unity. Jesus prays also that his disciples may have his joy fulfilled in themselves. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Jesus prays for his disciples to have joy, his joy fulfilled in them. When Paul summarized for the church in Rome, what the kingdom was.

What it consisted of, it wasn't in in church buildings or monuments or any of these external things, He said, what it consists of is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It's not these things. It's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so our prayer for kingdom growth should include a prayer that we are able to count every trial as a joy, every trial that we encounter to reckon in a joy.

See when we do that more consistently, That's kingdom growth that's acceptable to God and approved by men. When we count as a joy, an attack that first might first look like a setback, a trial that might first look like a defeat, then that setback becomes an occasion in which the kingdom advances, as his joy is made perfect in us. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue these things which make for peace and things by which one may edify another.

So Jesus, in this high priestly prayer, in praying for the unity and for joy, he's praying for the advancement of his kingdom, for his kingdom to be perfected in us. He also prays that the church would be preserved and protected from her enemies. These are in the world, He says, keep through your name those whom you have given me. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. So Jesus says that we should pray for God's people to be present in the world, not invisible, not absent from the city gates, not isolated in in a ghetto.

He says, I Do not pray that you should take them out of the world. Just keep them from the evil one. Pray for God's people to be an influence in the world, to be an example wherever they are. You know, it's easy to fall into the dead end, thinking that our work to support ourselves and our families, it's easy to think of that work as something other than kingdom labors. Or it's easy to see our labor in the home is important, but maybe not a kingdom labor.

But see, these things are kingdom labors when they are done in Christ. We also want to pray that God's people are not assimilated into and compromised by the world, and therefore rendered powerless because they are double-minded or trying to serve two masters, which you can't do. Pray that we are not assimilated, that our worship is not syncretized. As we present our bodies as living sacrifices, that we are not assimilated into the world's ways of thinking and the world's ways of living. Jesus then in verse 17 prays this amazing petition, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.

Jesus prays for his people to be sanctified by his word. He's praying that in all the ways that we ingest his word by reading it, hearing it, studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it and so forth, that we would be set apart, set apart from the world as pure vessels that are made holy, filled with the Holy Spirit and able to be an influence and an example to everyone around them, to everyone who sees us, that we would be a light in the darkness around us. As I think about all that's necessary for this, I think There are two areas that we can focus our prayer on. Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. To be sanctified is to be cleansed, first of all.

To be cleansed, to be set apart. And so the first way that we can pray is that the church would be purged of corruption and preserved from stumbling, particularly her leaders, her pastors, her teachers, and overseers and deacons. You know, we've seen recently a seemingly continual stream of fallen pastors. But we need to remember this, our day is not necessarily exceptional. It's sad and maybe there's a seeming increase in it, but it's not exceptional.

This has been the need of the church in all ages that we be preserved from stumbling particularly the shepherds. In Calvin's Geneva, 22 of the 135 ministers were deposed for moral failures ranging from adultery and fornication to lying, rebellion and financial misdeeds. And your pastors and leaders today are no better. But for the preserving grace of God. And so when you think about prayer for church growth, prayer for the advancement of the kingdom, pray for the perseverance of the saints, for the preservation of the saints.

Pray for the church, and particularly her officers, to be preserved from stumbling. And the other area of focus for prayer is for the church to be preserved from stumbling. And the other area of focus for prayer is for the church to be furnished with the shepherds and teachers whose mission is to, whose calling is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. This is, these are the ones who bring God's word, and this is the word by which we are sanctified. Christ is made known through the preaching of his word and in the breaking of bread.

And so when we think about praying for the advancement of his kingdom, we should pray for his blessing on the preaching of the word and on his blessing on raising up and gifting and equipping men whom he's called to bring that word to us. Pray that the church will be furnished with gospel officers and that our ordinances and sacraments would be preserved. This I think is one important area for prayer for the kingdom of God to come. So in in. Jesus closing, he says he's praying all these things that he prayed for the apostles.

He's praying for us as well today. And so I think three applications from this prayer. One, Jesus began this prayer, lifting his eyes up to heaven, having been speaking at length. You've been speaking at length through the disciples in that upper room. After the meal, It's his last sermon that were before his crucifixion.

And he moves seamlessly from talking to them to praying to the Father. The Lord is part of every conversation that we have. The Lord says in Psalm 82 that he sits among the council of the rulers observing their administration of justice. And that Psalm goes on to talk about him holding them accountable to administer his justice properly. But the Lord sits among our conversations as well in an entirely analogous way.

He hears what we say, and it's most appropriate to speak to him, to acknowledge his presence and seek his blessing, his wisdom, his guidance. And so this is what Jesus does very seamlessly. After speaking to his disciples, he then transitions and continues speaking to the Father in heaven. Our prayer should be a part of our conversation. Do we move as seamlessly in speaking with one another?

Do we move seamlessly into praying to the Father? Who is a part of that conversation? Who's present there? If we think about that, it should be. Secondly, Jesus has preached the word to them.

He's brought the word to them. And then he's prayed for the continued application of it. Now, we do pray before the preaching. We have a time of silent prayer before the service, specifically to pray for His blessing, His presence as we come into worship. Maybe we should also have a time of silence afterwards to pray for the application of that word.

Essentially that's what Jesus does here. Having given the word, having given his message, he prays for its application. And thirdly, the third thing I would bring in by way of application is that our prayers and our labor should be in harmony. We should pray for that for which we work and work for that for which we pray. This is the principle that we have in a prayer for our daily bread, isn't it?

We're taught to pray that the Lord would provide our food to thank him for it. And then but then we go and work for it. And it would be most insincere for an able-bodied man to pray for the Lord to provide food and be unwilling to work for it. Of course, it would be the height of ingratitude to go work for it and not thank the Lord for providing it and pray for him to do it. See, these two, these two go together.

And they ought to, these two ought to go together. As we think about our prayers for the advancement of his kingdom. We need to pray for it. But consistent commensurate with our prayer, we should also work so that we pray for what we work and we work for what we pray. May God enable us to do so.

Our Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this example of prayer. Prayer for the advancement of your kingdom. Prayer for your glory. Prayer that you might be glorified in us, in your people, in the church. Prayer that your church may glorify you by being a witness, a light to those in darkness, an example of love and good deeds, that the world might know that we are Yours, that we are Your disciples, by our testimony, by our love for one another, by the peace that is among us.

We ask, Lord, that this might be ever increasingly so of us. We ask, Lord, that we might be in this world, present in it, that our deeds might be done before the world, that they may see our deeds and glorify you in heaven. That we may fulfill the purpose for which you have saved us and called us and redeemed us, that you might be glorified through us. Yes, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.