Ron Dunn Podcast - Prayer Of All Prayers (Part 5)

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

Ron Dunn concludes his series Prayer Of All Prayers

All right, let's open our Bibles tonight to the Gospel of John chapter 17. We're going to finish this tonight. Man, we didn't even get our thunderstorm this afternoon. Yesterday we got a little thunderstorm, but didn't even have that today. Well, anyway. Well, John chapter 17, and we're going to look at the last three verses. Verse 24, 25, and 26. Gospel of John, chapter 17. The Lord brings to an end this high priestly prayer. Remember what I've said about it. It is a preview of what Jesus is doing now. It is a teaching prayer. And it is a circular prayer. And he is once again going to come back to some things he's already said, but it has a

wider scope each time. And so in verse 24, he said, Father, I desire that those also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my my glory, which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved us, love me, may be in them, and I in them. Now, I want you to notice a phrase he uses in verse 25. The world does not know you, but I know you. And there is the great contrast.

And in a sense, you can say that that sums up the message of the gospel. The world does not know God. And that explains it all right there. The world does not know God. And that explains it all right there. The world does not know God. And the idea is they have no personal relationship, personal knowledge of God. He's not speaking here about intellectual knowledge, but he's speaking about that personal knowledge that we have. I know you, and you know me.

Some better than others, but I know you. I know Harold, and Harold knows me. And it's not just an intellectual knowledge, but it is a personal relationship that we have. And I've known Harold long enough to pretty much anticipate how he feels about things. And when an issue comes out, I don't necessarily have to call Harold and find out which side of the issues he's on. I pretty much know, because I know The world does not know God. Now, folks, we're going to have to sear that into our minds and come to accept it. We would like to think that the world sort of knew God,

but the world does not know God. I don't care how many comedians or politicians in their routines or their speeches with God bless you or God keep you. That doesn't impress me at all. They don't know God. And that's what makes the world the world, you see, is the fact that they do not know God. But Jesus knows them, and we know that He was sent by God, so therefore we know God. And there is the great distinction. There is a great distinction between us and the world.

They don't know God. They don't have the slightest clue about what God is or what He's about. But we know Him, therefore that makes us different. It's an impossible, impossible distinction there. The world does not know God, but we know God. And this not knowing God is not an accident. Let me read some verses in Romans chapter 1, verse 18. He says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. I told you the other night that the world doesn't like the truth.

That's why the world hates believers is because they have the truth. Now, the world suppresses the truth. Now, the idea of the Word is it chokes the truth. It suffocates the truth. And how does it do it the Word is it chokes the truth. It suffocates the truth. And how does it do it? It does it by its wickedness. You know, you just lay layer after layer of layer upon truth, and after a while, you smothered the truth. You choked the life out of the truth so that it no longer exists. It's not that these people are neutral to the truth. Don't ever, don't ever believe that the world is neutral to the truth. They are against the truth, and they choke it, and they try to cover

it up and smother it by laying on it layer after layer after layer after layer of wickedness. And after a while, you know, they can say, what is truth? There is no truth. Well, right there it is. I can't see it. It's so covered up by my wickedness. I cannot see it. And so he says in verse 19,

for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Isn't that amazing? He's talking about the pagans. Ever since the creation of the world, His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen

through the things He has made so that they are without excuse. What a terrible indictment. No man will ever be able to stand before God and say, Well, I have an excuse, Lord. I didn't know you existed. He said, All you had to do is take a look around you at the things that I've made.

And if you had wanted to know the truth, you would have obviously seen it. So there's no excuse. There's no excuse. And it is so important for us to understand that these people, these pagans, these heathens from the very beginning, they had the opportunity to know God. It wasn't that God hid himself from them, but he said, what may be known of me has from the creation been, has been shown to them in the things that he has made. If they'd really wanted to know me, they would have wanted to know me, but they didn't want to know God.

And so he says in verse 31, for though they knew God. Now, boy, this is an amazing statement. For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

Now, he said they knew God. How did they know God? Well, they didn't know him as we know him, but they knew him through the created things. And if they had lived up to that light and had acknowledged that, then they could have come to know him in a personal way. And so they knew God, but they chose not.

Now listen, this is a deliberate choice. They chose not to honor Him as God or glorify Him as God. And instead of worshiping the Creator, they decided they would worship images. They would worship idols. Now folks, listen to me. Heathen do not worship idols because they're ignorant. They worship idols because they are wicked and rebellious. We say, well, if we would just enlighten them or educate them. Oh, no, you can't tell them any more than God has already told them. They're not ignorant.

That's not their problem. And that's not the problem with the world today, is not their ignorance. Their problem is they're not ignorant. They're wicked. They don't want to know God. They may get a glimpse of God, but they don't want to know Him. Why? Well, because if they acknowledge God and come to know Him, that affects their lifestyle. They've got to change their life because you can't know God and stay the same. And so they choose, and I love this, claiming to be wise. Oh, my.

All these people who sit in the higher places of learning and the higher seats of government, they claim to be so wise. They're fools. They're fools. Why? Because they don't know God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom you don't know God you're a fool what he said I just not what I said it's what the Bible says and it's not because they are ignorant it's because they are wicked and they don't want to know God

that's why God must always take the initiative, folks. That's why I believe in sovereign grace is because God must always take the initiative and put into their hearts the desire to know the Lord. Paul says, no man seeketh the Lord. But you say, but they do. You know, people do seek the Lord. Oh, no, they don't. It looks like they're seeking the Lord, but what they're doing is simply responding to the desire that God has already put in their hearts. Why? Because they are wicked, and they do not want to know God.

They don't want to know God. They don't want to know the truth. They do not know God. Therefore, it is of the extreme foolishness if we try to win the world with the world's knowledge. I forget which book it was. I'm sure you've read it, Harold. Most pastors have one of these books on church growth. And in this one book, the author lauds and applauds one pastor up north. He was going to start a church, but before he did,

they took a poll of all the people in that community, asked them one question, why do you not like to go to church and they got the expected answers well I don't like to go to church because oh I don't I don't preachers too long don't like to go to church because they ask for money don't like to go to church because they ask for money. Don't like to go to church because of this and this and this. You know all the excuses. And you know what this pastor did? He organized his church around their answers. Now that is trying to reach the world through the world's knowledge.

That is letting the world set the agenda for your church. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of in my life. You say, why don't you come to church? Well, they're always asking for money. No, the reason you don't come to church is because you're sleeping with your secretary. You'll reprobate, and you're afraid God will confront you with it when you come here. I mean, you don't complain when you go to the football game or somewhere else or go out to eat at a fancy restaurant, and they charge you 50, 40, 40 or 50 dollars for your family to come and eat. You don't fuss about that. You don't say, well, I'm

staying home because the last time I went to the movie, they asked for money. That's a lie. And if we are so foolish as to believe what liars, men who do not know God. Now, these are people who don't know God. And we're saying saying you tell us how to worship God and that's something we go to people who do not know God and we say all right we're gonna let you set the Duran perimeters of our church and I settled the direction of our worship Oh, goodness. Folks, the world does not know God. But Jesus said, I do. And these do too. And so I'm praying for them. I want to talk to you tonight on the believer's assurance.

The believer's assurance. And the Lord asks for five things for us here. There's really only one petition. And the others grow out of this one petition. What is the believer's hope? What is the believer's assurance? First of all, notice verse 24. He says, Father, I desire.

Now, that would better read, I will. This is not will. This is the will of purpose and the will of action. Don't translate this desire. That's not a good translation, or request, or I ask. No, he's not saying that. He said, it is my will, Father. It is my will, Father, it is my will that these you have given me should be with me. Now, you know, that's interesting. In the Garden of Gethsemane, a little while later, he prays and he says, Father, not my will, but thine be done. When he prays for himself, he doesn't pray for his own will. But when he prays for us, he exercises his will. He's not saying now, Father,

not my will, but your be done, but I sure would like to have these with me. He's saying, not no, not that. He's saying, I will. This is what I will. I will that those, and most translations read, whom you have given me, and that's not the best translation. It's a neuter verb there, neuter word there, which really is those which you have given me are those what you have given me. You say, well, what's the difference? Well, other times he's used the masculine plural word and which indicates, you know, sort of the individual person. But now when he comes to pray that we all may be with him, he prays and he uses a neuter word which indicates the whole collective bunch of us, you see.

I mean, he wants everybody. He wants everybody. And the emphasis there is on the whole body as a single person. Not one should be left out. And what is it he's praying for? First of all, the believer's assurance is that we may be where he is. He says, Father, I will that those which you have given me, they may be with me where I am. He's leaving them.

He's going away. But he says already in John 14, he said, Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,

that where I am, there you may be also. For a while, you and I are physically separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't understand these people who say, I saw Jesus. Well, how do you know it was Him? I've never seen a picture of Him. I mean, I've never seen a picture of him. I mean, I've never seen a photograph of him. I've seen artists rendering of him, but nobody knows what Jesus is like. Do you know why the Bible gives us hardly any kind of details about Jesus' physical nature? It doesn't tell

us how tall he was. It doesn't tell us, you know, if he had, you know, broad shoulders. Why? Because, folks, we're not to worship the physical Jesus. That's not it. The Jesus that we worship is a Jesus that we have never seen, you see. And Peter says, blessed are those who, when we talk about himself, we saw him and we believe. But blessed are those who, not having seen, yet have believed, you see. We've never seen him.

I've never laid eyes on him. One of these days I will. I will. Now, here is an example of his love for us. Now, Jesus has already said, Father, I want you to give me the glory that I had with you before the world began now Jesus died on the cross

descended into Hades led the captives free ascended up into heaven must have been a mighty welcome from the angels. And he has sat down on the right hand of the Father. And now he lives in brilliant radiance. Glory. That ought to be enough to satisfy anybody.

But not Jesus. Jesus is saying, Father, my being present with you and my living in this brilliant, radiant light of glory and my having the adoration of the angels is not enough. It'll be incomplete if they aren't here with me. Isn't that amazing? Or astounding?

It's both. Jesus is saying heaven is not enough for him unless he has us with him. I found a little poem by Francis Havergill. I tried to memorize it, but I had a senior moment. Listen to it. Our fairest dream can never outshine that holy light. Our noblest thought can never soar beyond that word of might. Our whole anticipation, our master's blessed reward, our crown of bliss is summed up in this forever with the Lord. Jesus prays and he says, Father, I'm not asking. I'm not making a request.

He said, I will that all those you have given me, every single one may be with me where I am. Folks, for us, heaven would be not heaven if Jesus were not there. I've said that many times, haven't you, Harold? I've preached that, and I've said heaven is where Jesus is. And the gold streets and pearly gates and all of that, that wouldn't be heaven if Jesus wasn't there. But now I'm hearing Jesus say,

it won't be heaven if you're not there. Amen. Oh, how he loves us. How he loves us. But another thing he says, not only is our assurance is that we're going to be in his presence, but he says also we're going to share in his glory. He says in that 22nd, in that 24th verse,

I desire that those also which you have given me may be with me. Why? To see my glory. The word actually has the idea of to share in my glory. To share in my glory. Oh, I don't know if I can even touch this. I don't know what to say, actually. How can you, what words can you use? Jesus going to heaven glorified. I mean glorified, folks. Surrounded by the brilliant light of the Father's presence, that radiant glory that belongs to the Lord of lords and king of kings.

And he says, I want these, I want these who have, the Lord of lords and king of kings. And he says, I want these. I want these who have believed in me and entrusted in me. I want them with me, but I want more than just for them to be with me. I don't want them to be there just sort of, you know, as guests or staying, you know, in the basement room. I want them to share in my glory, to share in my glory. All the glory that is going to be mine because of those that I've redeemed. All the glory that is going to be

mine because I've done the Father's will. All the glory that is mine because of the adoration of the angels. I don't want them sitting over here in the spectator session or in the bleachers looking on. I want them right there with me, and I want them sharing in all of that. Sharing in all of that. But there's a third thing. Our assurance is that there will be growth in the knowledge of His name. He says in verse 25, Righteous Father. Now, that's the only time He ever uses that phrase,

Righteous Father. And there's a reason why He uses it. Notice He says, Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. Now, what Jesus is saying is,

He's saying, God is righteous. He'll do the right thing. And He says, I'm appealing to you, Father, as a righteous, just, who will always do the right thing. And the right thing is to honor these because they're not part of the world. And the right thing, the righteous thing, is to judge the world because they do not part of the world. And the right thing, the righteous thing is to judge

the world because they do not know you, but to honor these who have believed that you have sent me. Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known unto them, and I will make it known. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known. Now, first of all, let's think about the name, the name, the name. You know, in the Hebrew mind, the name meant something more than this does for us. When the Hebrews would name their children, they would give them a name that signified something special. Either as Hosea's children, their name signified, reflected the state of affairs in the world in which they were born. In other cases, a child would be born, and they would be given a name that expressed some hope that the parents had for them.

I mean, the name had significance, you see. The name had deep significance. Now, we don't normally do that. You know, we name our kids after ourselves or after Aunt Susie or after, you know, Grandma Beulah. I used to go with a girl in high school whose name was Bebe. And I often wondered why she called herself Bebe until I found out she had been named after a grandmother, Beulah Beatrice. I don't blame her for going with Bebe. But I apologize to those who have names of Beulah and Beatrice. I don't blame her for going with Bebe. But I apologize to those who

have names of Beulah and Beatrice. But anyway, you know, but our daughter is named Kimberly. Now, I got that name off the TV show, Peyton Place. Some of you old enough to remember the TV show, Peyton Place. Well,

while Kay was giving birth, I was watching Peyton Place. See, Harold, I was born, and I mean, my children were born before this communist plot came in that insisted the fathers be right there in the birth room. So I was with her in the labor room, but I didn't go in that birth room. Don't you love it when people want to show you videos of their latest child being born? And there was this little girl. Name was Kimberly. And I thought, that's such a pretty name. So I said to Kay, let's name her Kimberly.

We did. I don't know what that means, if it means anything. It's just a pretty sounding name. But you see, that's not the way the Hebrews operated. And so when Jesus says, I have made known your name, the name represents all that God is, his character, his nature, his attributes. And he says, I have made thy name known. You see, you don't know a person in the biblical sense until you know their name.

Not so you can call them by that name, but know their character. Know their nature. And he says, I have made thy name known. Know their character. Know their nature. And he says, I have made thy name known. And will make it known. In other words, as I have already said, the Christian life and our knowledge of God is not static, but it's dynamic. In the Christian life, you're always moving, either forwards or backwards, but you're always moving.

You're never static. And Jesus said, gives us the assurance that even though our knowledge of God may be, we think today, so incomplete and we thirst for more, He says, a promise is that I will continue to make your name known. And I think that involves three things. I believe on the cross, I believe He was referring to the

cross in one sense, that on the cross He fully and totally revealed the name of the Father, the character of the Father, who loved the world so much that he was willing to give his only son so that you and I as ungodly sinners could be saved from hell. But I also think he's referring to the coming Holy Spirit who will indwell us because Jesus had said, Jesus had said, when the Holy Spirit has come, he shall testify of me. And, you know, I was reading as I was studying for the gospel for this series, there were a couple of, once in a while you run across some guy who doesn't really believe this prayer is genuine.

I know there are just some people that are out to prove, for no reason other than just for doing it, that something is not genuine. And one of the reasons this guy gave was because that prayer was too long for John to remember and to record just as it was. I had a liberal professor one seminary, one semester in seminary, and then they got rid of him,

who cast doubt upon the authenticity of the book of Job in that conversation between Job and between the devil and the Lord because he said, who was there to record it? Now, I learned in seminary never to be a smart-off. I never would contradict the professor. Boy, they'll wrap you around the tree. So I didn't say anything. What I wanted to say is, hey, have you ever heard of the Holy Spirit? You know, He's the one that inspired the Word. You say, how could John remember that? Well, Jesus said the Holy Spirit will come and bring to remembrance all things that I have said to you. See? And so Christ is going to continually make the Father's

name known. Our appreciation and comprehension of what God is and what God is like is going to grow and grow and grow because the Holy Spirit is indwelling us to enlighten us, you see, and to teach us in all those things. And then I think there's a third thing by which our knowledge of God grows, and that's through the Word and the teaching and preaching of the Word. I believe, you know, He says, I pray not for these only, but also for all of those who shall believe on me, what? Through their Word. And I believe that when you gather like this, whether for a Bible conference or on Sunday to hear your pastor or any preacher to preach the Word, and he is preaching the Word, expounding the Word, I believe God is going to use that to increase your growth in the knowledge of God,

in the name of God. And you come to appreciate Him so much. You come to comprehend Him so much. So we have that promise, promise of growth in the knowledge of God. Number four, we have the assurance that we're going to be filled with His love. He said in verse 26, I made your name known to them, and I will make it known. Now, that's not an end in itself. It's just not so we can sit around here and say, I know God better than you know God. He said, so that the purpose, that's a purpose clause there.

So that the love with which you have loved me may be in them. So that the love with which you have loved me may be in them. You see, as we come to know the Father more and more, and we come to understand His name and all that it signifies, all that it characterizes, you know what's going to happen? Well, love is going to be shed abroad in our hearts. Romans says, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. The love of God, God's love, that agape love, shed abroad in our hearts.

And listen, it is to reach its climax. I doubt if it will reach its climax in this life. I don't know. It may in some. But that there may be in me the same kind of love that the Father showed to His Son, to Jesus. Harold, I believe you love me.

And I love you. But I don't think you love me as much as you love your daughters. And I love you. But I don't love you as much as I love my son. But you know what Jesus is saying? He is saying, here is the divine miracle that I want to work in you

so that you might have the same love as the Father has for His own Son. Isn't that something? And it means not only that we may come to love God with that perfect love that Jesus had for him, but also that that love may be among each other, that we may love each other that way. Shame on you, Harold, for not loving me as much as you love your daughter.

Shame on you. But that love, can you imagine the revolution take place in the love of God. And it was in us as rich and among us as much as the Father's love for His own Son. That's the goal, folks. I mean, that's the goal. If you're not there yet, don't sit back and say, I've arrived. And like I said, I'm not sure any of us are going to see that perfected in

this lifetime but don't tell yourself that act like it can be act like you can and reach for it and go for it not in your own strength but the fact that Christ is dwelling in you. And He's revealing Himself to you through the Holy Spirit. And then there's one final word. We have the assurance of His indwelling. Notice He says, I made your name known to them, and I will make it known,

so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now, you remember how I said this was a circular letter, circular prayer? And he comes back again and again to the same thing. We saw last night, I think it was, that the reason he was praying for the Father to protect us is because he wasn't going to be with us. He was leaving us. And he didn't want to leave us, as John says in 14, as helpless orphans. So he said, Father, I am leaving this world, but they're going to be behind us in this world.

So I want you to protect them. And if you just stop there, you'd say, well, we're alone in this world. But Jesus ends this prayer with this assurance that I may be in them. You say, well, I don't understand that I don't either but I certainly do believe it there is a certain sense in which the Lord and I are separated physically I've never seen him I can't reach out and touch him. But you know what? He's in me. He dwells in me. He dwells in me through his Holy Spirit. He dwells in me. You know why Jesus went away? So he could be with us.

That's what he said to his disciples. He said said it is expedient that I go away or else the comforter cannot come another just like me why are you going away so I can be with you but this has a wider scope remember we're saying the same thing we're turning to the same issue but has a wider scope remember we're saying the same thing returning to the

same issue but has a wider scope you see while I was with you physically I was limited by time and space Mary and Martha said Lord if you had been here well you can't be in two places at once people say oh I wish I'd lived back in the days of Jesus well I don't know why I used to say that but you see back in the days of Jesus he was because he was a man human being he was limited by geography and limited by space now if we had that kind of physical Jesus today if he was with you in Austin he couldn't be with me in Irving frankly I think I need him more in Irving and you need him in Austin. But you see, he says, if I go away, if I go away, I will come again and be in you. So he's in me in Irving.

He's in you in Dallas. He's in you in Austin. Isn't that amazing? I have just as much access to him as Simon Peter had, as any of the disciples had. You know, sometimes we talk about God being in us and Christ being in us. We think about like spreading butter on a piece of bread. Some of us have more butter on us than others. You know, have you ever evenly spread butter on a piece of bread?

I mean, you know, it's always kind of skippy around the edges, isn't it? And always a little fatter in the middle. And a lot of times people think, well, that's the way it is with Jesus and us, you know. Some have more, some have less. It's not like spreading butter on a piece of bread. I go home tonight

and I turn on my television set and I watch, let's say i watched dave letterman from new york isn't that amazing i know it's too bad i can't get the whole program because you see there's so many stations that that has to go out through. And so for one minute, I get it in Dallas. And another minute, you get it in Austin. And another minute, they get it over there in Washington, D.C. And they just get one minute over here in Omaha. And they just get one minute of it in Tulsa.

You see, because, well, you can't have the whole thing. Because it's got to be distributed among everybody. And that's not the way it is, is it? I can sit here in Austin and get the whole thing. And people can sit in Des Moines, Iowa and they can get the whole thing. And they can sit in London, England, and get the whole thing.

You see, it's not that I have a little bit of Jesus parceled out in me, and you have a little bit parceled out in you, and a little bit parceled out in you. And you know, if we try real hard, and if we work hard to please him, we'll get more. No. Friend, I have all of Jesus there is to have

living in me right now. And when I've been in heaven 10,000 years, I'll have no more of Jesus then than I have right now. Just be under different circumstances. That's why my body is a temple. That's why my body is a temple that's why my body is a temple because you know I'm sort of like a portable worship service that's right I worship him everywhere why because he's in me now this doesn't mean that we're not to come

together for corporate worship, but that's true, but I can worship him you know, while I'm driving to work. Worship him while I'm mowing the lawn. Why? Because my body, do you call this an auditorium or a sanctuary?

Yeah. Well, that's really technically correct. I mean, I wouldn't fuss with you to call it a sanctuary. Yeah, a worship center, that kind of gets around it. But, you know, a lot of times we call these things sanctuaries. That's not true. Sanctuary is a place where God dwells. This building isn't a sanctuary of God.

I am the sanctuary of God you believe God's here tonight you know why he's here because you're here and when you're gone he'll be gone in that sense because God doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands

here I am sense because God doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands. Here I am. Never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me or forsake me. Never to leave me alone. Can I have an amen? Can I have a better one amen God bless you written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search

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