"That They All May Be One" - Study Hour - Lesson 3 - Pastor Doug Batchelor

[Music] the churches jesus christ [Music] is every day [Music] he was [Music] with everything [Music] and [Music] forever [Music] thank you so much for singing along with us like you do every week at this time pastor ross will have our opening prayer dear father in heaven once again we are so grateful for the opportunity to gather together and open up your word and study this very important theme we find the theme for today's study the words of jesus found in john chapter 17 so lord we do pray that your holy spirit would come and guide our hearts and our minds and allow your unity to live within us and through us as a church family before we ask this in jesus name amen our lesson today is going to be brought to us by pastor doug our study today is lesson number three as pastor ross mentioned on the study uh oneness in christ and it's called that they all may be one and we have a memory verse the memory verse in the study is from john chapter 17 verse 20 and 21 and i'll invite you to go ahead and say that with me are you ready john 17 20 and 21 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 jesus tells us that one of the most important evidences that we have been sent of god or that he was sent of god was the oneness of the unity of what the lord does in the hearts of his people ever since the cain and abel and ever since sin there's been division in humanity and christ came to bring reconciliation he does it in countries he does it in families and he does it mostly between ourselves and god himself so we're going to be talking we have several verses we'll consider we'll talk about the theme of unity but our principle study today who knows what chapter it's john chapter 17. how many of you know who john knox is the great scottish reformer he said that when you read john 17 you are entering the holy of holies in the new testament and a matter of fact when he was dying he asked his wife to read it to him and she read it several times he said to her this passage there was this is where i cast my first anchor of faith when she when he had heard john 17 it's what caused him to believe and she continued reading the chapter to him until he died he said it was the holy of holies it is the longest prayer of jesus it is the longest prayer in the new testament it is really the lord's prayer now you probably heard the story about these two bricklayers and they were arguing about you know which of them knew religion better they were working on a church and one said to his friend you have no right to work on this church you don't know nothing about church and the bible he says i do too so he says i bet you don't even know the lord's prayer said i'll bet you a dollar i do he said you're wrong he said now i lay me down to sleep i pray the lord my soul to keep and if i die before i wake i pray the lord my soul to take his friend said i didn't think you knew it he gave him a dollar that of course is not the lord's prayer when we say the lord's prayer we're thinking of our father which art in heaven but is that the lord's prayer did jesus ever that's the disciples prayer correct pastor luke jesus did jesus have to pray forgive me my sins as i forgive others that sin against me no so that's not really a prayer of the lord the lord's prayer technically would be john 17. now there are other places we'll look at in the new testament where jesus prayed but this is is one of the most important things now when does the lord pray the lord's prayer take place um you remember when you read in the bible that after they sung a hymn in john chapter 14 it says jesus said let us arise and go so after the lord's supper after judas has left they're going from the upper room to the garden of gethsemane and they're going slowly as they leave now there's a lot of pilgrims that are in jerusalem so there may have been others that were going around the city during that night and on the way jesus is teaching them you can read in the book desire of ages 685 in company with his disciples the savior slowly made his way to the garden of gethsemane and along the way that's where you read that great chapter 15 in john where he says i am the vine you are the branches well there were vineyards all around jerusalem and you could look up and see the temple from the route they took out of the the golden gate to the garden of gethsemane you could see the great temple doors and on the doors they had grape vines engraved according to josephus and so maybe one of those things inspired jesus to give that beautiful discourse on the vine and the branches and and but then it says when he had spoken these words after john 17. you get to john 18. it says when he had spoken these words he went out with his disciples over the brook kidron where there was a garden so they had not crossed the kidron which is at the base of uh the hill of jerusalem and starts up the mount of olives so somewhere between the upper room in the kidron is when this happens as i mentioned longest prayer in the new testament 632 words it's offered on the most solemn occasion that has ever occurred the occasion of the crucifixion and the sacrifice of jesus and it is the best specimen of an intercessory prayer there are three things that happen in john chapter 17. he prays for himself he prays for his disciples and he prays for himself verses one through five he prays for his disciples verses 6-19 finally he prays for those who would believe through the disciples what jesus is doing here is identical to what the high priest used to do the high priest usually on the day of atonement he would first wash his clothes wash himself jesus did that before the passover matter of fact he says when he's washing the disciples feet that they had washed he said but now you need your feet washed that you might thoroughly be clean and so there was a physical wash and a changing of the garments jesus took off his robe when he washed his disciples feet he put it back on again then the high priest would pray for himself he would pray for the sons of aaron and then he would pray for the people so jesus is acting the part of a high priest in this prayer he's following the same exact pattern now before we delve into this study because i'm almost sure i'm not going to get all the way through the lesson but i don't want to do the the indignity of not at least reading the passage it's 26 verses so will you bear with me if i just read through it and then we will back up and we'll we'll study it as we go so john 17 verse 1 you know i went to i went to southwestern adventist university and there i took a class called life and teachings of jesus luke you probably had to take that too i think all people training for ministry take a lot of people not just ministers take the class life and teachings of jesus and i remember my teacher there he said first test you've got to memorize john chapter 17 verses one through three i didn't have to memorize the whole thing just verses one through three and i thought what cinder why does he want me to memorize that you know and as the years have gone by i thought wow there's a good reason for that well let me read now gonna read john 17 1-26 jesus spoke these words meaning john 15 and 16 and he lifted up his eyes to heaven and he said father the hour is come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh that you should give eternal life to as many as you have given him and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true god and jesus christ who you have sent i have glorified you on the earth i have finished the work which you have given me to do and now oh 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 that you have given me are from you for i have given them i have given to them the words which you have given me and they receive 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 who 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 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 who you gave me i have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scriptures 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 have also sent them into the world and for their 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 may all be one as you father are in me and i in you that they also may be one in us that the world might 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 and me that they may be made perfect in one that the world might know that you have sent me and you've loved them as you have loved me father i desire that they also who you have given me may be with me where i am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you love 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 declared to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and i in them amen all right that's john 17. so i feel better i wanted to at least uh have you read that passage so now let's back up and let's look at the different sections it talks about the prayer of jesus for himself and he mentioned some specific things in here first of all he says father the hour has come what hour is jesus talking about now someone here is going to read a verse for me in just a moment dan do you have that first one okay what go there and i'll get you i want to read john 2 4 when jesus was turning the water to wine his mother you know was prodding him to do that he said woman what does your concern have to do with me mine hour has not yet come you read in john 7 verse 8 he said to his brothers you go up to this feast i'm not going up to this feast for my not for my time has not yet fully come jesus said there was a specific time an hour go ahead please read for us your verse john 7 30 therefore they sought to take him but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come let me give you a couple more john 8 20 these words jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come what hour is he talking about the principal hour was the time of his suffering that when it says hours doesn't mean 60 minutes an hour meant an event a time the principal time in his life that he came for was the sacrifice look at john chapter 13 verse 1 now before the feast of the passover when jesus knew that his hour had come that he should depart from this world to the father having loved his own who are in the world he loved them to the end in the garden of gethsemane when he's betrayed he then came to his disciples and he said to them are you still sleeping and resting behold the hour is at hand mark 14 41 then he came the third time and he said to them are you still sleeping and resting it is enough the hour has come you see it's pretty clear jesus had a time that he was to suffer now the reason i spent a lot of time talking about that is people often get confused because they read the comment of jesus in matthew chapter 12 verse 40 where jesus said as jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and everybody goes how does that work three days and three nights so you know he he dies friday you get friday night and then saturday night he rises sunday morning well you got part of three days and two nights how do you get he specifically says three nights three days and three nights he'll be in the heart of the earth and everybody always assumes heart of the earth means he'll be in the tomb where in the bible do you find another place where the tomb is called the heart of the earth nowhere so what is he talking about when his hour had come and he began suffering for the sins of the world did that start at the crucifixion friday at nine o'clock or did it start thursday evening when he was when he said the third time not my will thy will be done and he surrendered then the mob came and arrested him you know every other time when they tried to arrest him or stone him or throw him off a cliff the bible says the hour hadn't come but now the hour had come god withdrew his protection from him see jesus was innocent god protected him there are angels guarding him christ even said don't you know that i can speak to my father and he'll send a legion of angels but thursday he began to suffer for the sins of the world the father withdrew his protection jesus said now is the hour of darkness he began to be in the heart of the earth meaning he was a captive to the devil's domain jesus said the prince of this world comes and for three days and three nights he suffered for the penalty of sin the penalty for sin is not just the time in the tomb i mean most people if you told them the penalty of your sin is you're going to be in a tomb they say hey i'm going to sing like crazy. it's not just that it's suffering and death jesus didn't just die yes the wages for sin is death but it's not just death it's suffering and death and if jesus does not cover your sins you'll not just die for your sins you will suffer every man according to what he deserves isn't that right so the suffering of jesus began thursday night thursday night friday night saturday three days three nights he was in the heart of the earth the tomb is part of that but it's not just the tomb it's the whole time he's captive to the devil and they took him from one trial to the next kind of like jonah went wherever the whale took him okay so he says father the hour has come now see why we're not making very good progress look how long it took to get through that first verse there glorify your son that your son may also glorify you now where was jesus glorified the most when he comes surrounded by angels or was jesus glorified when he was laid on the wood and he said father forgive them when jesus prayed for his tormentors you know god was glorified in the sufferings of christ glorify your son that your son may glorify you as you've given him authority over all flesh and you know one thing i think is interesting he said he lifted his eyes and he prayed when we pray i don't back it up a little bit i just there's so much here when jesus prayed he lifted his eyes how many of you have heard someone say shall we all fold our hands and bow our heads to pray and close your eyes where in the bible does it ever say fold your hands and close your eyes isn't it it's kind of a universal custom what's that your mother told you that which is almost scripture but not quite now the you know this grows out of mothers teaching their children to pray and they're they're fidgeting why they're praying or they're distracted when they're praying to avoid the distraction we say close your eyes fold your hands so you're not you know bothering your siblings and and it kind of grows out of that but we never outgrew it but in the bible often they lifted their heads i'll lift up my eyes and so i think there's even a place in the spirit of prophecy she says when you pray you should slightly lift your face sometimes you bow your body as a sign of humility so it's not wrong to bow your head i'm just telling you notice in jesus prayer he lifted his eyes to heaven and he goes on it says this is eternal life that they might know you now what does it mean to know god you better know what it means to know because it says eternal life is to know him what will jesus declare to the lost not everyone that says lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he that does the will of my father many will say to me in that day lord lord we've prophesied in your name we've cast out devils wonderful works in your name i'll declare to them i never knew you so this is a knowledge that is crucial to salvation jeremiah 33 i'm sorry jeremiah 31 33 but this is the covenant i will make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i'll put my law in their minds write it on their hearts i will be their god they will be my people no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man is brother saying know the lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest how do they know i'll put my law in their minds and in their hearts how many of you think it's important to know the lord to be saved how many of you want to know him how do we do it i will put my law in their minds and in our heart how do we get it in there jesus said except you eat my flesh and drink my blood as we take the word in here jesus said in this chapter sanctify them through thy truth and as we are taking in the truth there is a sanctifying process that takes place and we come to know him through his word how many of you have heard of people who got married they got to know each other through correspondence i have some friends you might even know their names but i won't mention their names that um they dated the old-fashioned online method by writing letters uh one day one of them was in the mission field and they met and they wrote lots of letters and pretty soon the letters got warmer and warmer pretty soon they went from get getting to know your letters into love letters and finally when they did get in the same continent together it wasn't long before they got married but they got to know each other through reading so can we fall in love with someone through reading yeah matter of fact letters are important because sometimes you have to think about what you're saying except just kind of regurgitating every thought that comes you you put it down it's more deliberate so we got to know him why are the wicked lost hosea 4 6 my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you've rejected knowledge i'll reject you so it's some people are destroyed because they don't know and many are destroyed because they choose not to know you're not only responsible for what you do know you're responsible for what you could know and people say well i don't want to know because then i'm responsible you you're responsible for rejecting knowledge if people say i don't want to go to church then i'll feel guilty well it's you're choosing to reject acknowledge you're guilty if you do that yeah so uh this is what it means to know the lord and it means um having a born-again experience where he is in you and you become a new creature and you are sanctified by the truth and when someone says do you know jesus you don't have to hesitate so i know him he speaks to me and i talk to him every day yes we know each other how did i used to always wonder when god said abraham take your son and go sacrifice him well isn't that like against one of the ten commandments if you're going to do that you really not want to know that you didn't get a wrong number so that someone wasn't making a pocket call and you just you know go off and do the wrong thing so how did abraham know that that was god because he had spent so much time talking to god he knew his voice you'd have to really know if someone says take your son and offer them so we need to have a relationship where we're in communication with god this is what jesus is appealing to in the beginning a matter of fact he says this is life eternal that they know you so we can't be nebulous about what that means and just you know i don't take it too far but in the beginning because adam knew his wife and they had kids it was the most intimate of relationships it was very personal and god wants to have a loving personal relationship with us all right so he prays for himself because if jesus is not consistent and successful on the cross then would any other part of the prayer make any difference his prayer for the apostles his prayer for those who are saved through the apostles his prayer for their oneness would all be fruitless if jesus fails in his mission on the cross is that right so first you must pray for yourself you know when you're flying and they give you i've heard of them probably ten thousand times these pre-flight announcements when you're on a plane says and in the event that we lose cabin pressure an oxygen mask will drop down first put on your mask before you put on anyone else's mask because if you're all stumbling around trying to get the oxygen mask on your kid and you pass out you don't have very long you know once you lose pressure um well that's kind of the way it is jesus said if you're going to help your brother get the log out of their eye first take the speck out of your own eye and jesus said lord if i'm going to pray in the intercede and do all the sort of disciples first i'm praying that i might glorify you and be victorious in my mission so that's the first prayer then he goes to the next prayer and he prays for the disciples now this is not just the 12. i think it does it is it is more focused on the 12 but i think it's all disciples the apostles were the 12. disciples mary magdalene was a disciple in the upper room they're filled with the holy spirit there's 120 they're all disciples i think jesus is pain praying for all of those who had embraced his message during his years of ministry and now he prays for four things if you're taking notes this isn't in your lesson there's four things that he asks for the disciples by the way we do post my notes for whatever they're worth at the website the sabbath school website that we have amazing facts one he prays that they might be kept two he prays that they might be sanctified that's john 17 17. three he prays that they might be united and for he prays they might be glorified so there's several places where jesus prays for the disciples um look in luke 6 verse 12 came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray now one of you can have a verse for me in a minute okay it says he went out in the mountain to pray and he prayed all night and when it was day he called his disciples and from them he chose twelve he also named apostles what was the lord praying for all night long the apostles he spent a whole night in prayer for them so it's not just the john 17 prayer jesus prayed for them many many times god please read for us your verse matthew 11 25 at that time jesus answered and said i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes so jesus says again this is a prayer he's thanking his father that he is helping the disciples to understand and we when some of the priests and the religious leaders and the scribes and lawyers did not understand he was thanking god that he'd revealed it to babes those who are maybe uneducated so let's look real quick john 17 9 i'll read some of this again that we read about his prayer he said i pray for them i do not pray for the world but for those that you have given me for they are yours all mine are yours and yours are mine and i'm glorified in them that's why you always said if you've seen me you've seen the father christ and the father was the reflection of the father and i am glorified in them now is that just true of the apostles or does jesus want to be glorified in your life whatever you eat whatever you drink do all to the glory of god god wants us to live lives that will make him look good i always think of the story of job or job says the devil have you considered my servant job a perfect and upright man i am glorified in job because he believes in me so jesus is praying that the world might that god might be glorified in them and he said i come to you holy father keep through your name those who you have given me um you know i was studying this a little more last night and this morning when he says i keep through your name how we kept through his name you know that really translates better that we are kept through the knowledge of him it's through acknowledging him that we are kept keep through your name those who have acknowledged you that you have given me that they may be as we are while i was with them in the world i kept them in your name those that you have given me i have kept and none of them how did jesus keep them through his teaching to his admonitions through his shepherding them it's like a shepherd keeps sheep and so god jesus is praying the father will keep us in the same way and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that was was judas lost because jesus you know when he picked out the twelve apostles he said you know i need one of them to be the fall guy and you know jesus is a nice guy and everything but sorry judas someone's got to be the betrayer we need we need a heavy for this story and so you're it or was it by judas choice and the scriptures knew what judas would choose but god did not predetermine that it would be judas uh and just say you know i need someone to be the bad guy it was judah's choice it you know god says i've loved jacob and i hated esau why did he love jacob and hate esau well they love jacob because jacob wanted the spiritual blessing esau wanted the beings jacob was spiritually minded esau was carnally minded it was by their choices that's why god loved one and blessed him and not the other and so jacob wrestled with god said i won't let you go unless you blessed me he wanted the spiritual blessing and so judas he wanted the silver until it started burning a hole in his pocket and then he repented from guilt because the holy spirit had been withdrawn at that point you know it says that when he went out of the upper room it says satan entered him at that point i think he had committed the unpardonable sin i think that when jesus was washing judah's feet was his last opportunity to repent if he had confessed he could have been saved and you might be saying well then what would happen how would the final things have transpired no don't worry that's hypothetical we don't know i just know judas had a chance and he lost that through neglect and he said except the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled but now i come to you and these things i speak in the world that they may have my joy in themselves isn't that nice that in the lord's intercessory prayer what's he praying about that we might have abundant life that we might have that peace and that joy and he wants us to have that that that joy might be fulfilled i've given them your word don't miss the two there's sometimes a connection between the word and joy the world's hated them you can still have joy even though the world hates you because they're not of the world if the world likes you too much you're doing something wrong jesus said woe unto you when all men speak well of you for so they did of the false prophets right all right so next he says the pray for those who will believe in me through their world well now i want to i want to just finish up one more thing in john chapter 17 verse 16 they are not of the world just as i am not of the world sanctify them by your truth your word is truth now the word sanctify means two things here in this passage it means to set aside they're they're separate from the world and he just talked about that it also means to purify and so it is the truth that sets us apart and it's the truth that purifies us and says for their sakes i sanctify myself that they may be sanctified in the truth all right now this is a very important point this verse 19 john 17 for their sakes i sanctify myself that they may be sanctified in the truth did jesus succeed in sanctifying himself then can we be sanctified in the truth all right now let's go to the section for those who believe in me now this was very special to me because this is a place in the bible where you can read jesus praying for you have you ever wanted did jesus pray for me yes he does right here he says in john 17 verse 20 i do not pray for these alone but also for those who believe in me through their word all right right now we are reading the gospel of john written by who one of the apostles that jesus just prayed for and jesus said i am praying for those who will read their words don't do anything for you it does something for me jesus praying for me right here i'm reading his word he said i'm praying for you because you're reading their word so this is now where he prays for the people that they believe in the word that they all may be one as you father are in me and i in you that they may be one in us now that's a pretty tall order that you and i should be one as the father and the son how is that possible in the spirit i might add it's through the holy spirit that we are able to be one as the father and the son are one because if you no longer live but it's christ in you then you have that oneness with the father does that make sense and the glory that 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 perfect in one now this is also very important because a lot of discussion on the trinity today and people say you can't believe the trinity because it's very clearly that you've got three not one the bible says hero israel the lord our god is one there's only one god but the bible says that a man leaves his father and mother cleaves to his wife and they become what one flesh and now jesus just said father i pray these twelve apostles might be one so it's really clear in the hebrew mind one is not always numerical quantity one is often talking about one in purpose one in unity um we are in our pledge of allegiance we are one one nation composed of many different people and several political parties but we're still supposed to be one nation right indivisible a little divisible lately um all right in mark 16. and jesus says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature so jesus clearly in his life and ministry he's not just thinking about the 12 he's thinking about going everywhere luke 13 verse 29 they will come from the east and the west from the north and the south and sit down in the kingdom of god with abraham isaac and jacob so christ always knew that it wasn't just going to be saving the 12 apostles it's not just going to be saving 120 in the upper room it's not just the salvation for the children of israel but his message was to be a global message and that there would be people high and low from everywhere that would come to believe all right and this next section that we're going to talk about is unity among christians and someone in just a minute you're going to read another verse for me from john i want to read acts 15 6 now the apostles and elders came together to consider the matter when there was division in the church and in acts chapter 15 there's a story of a big division on how they're supposed to react to circumcision and should they impose that on the gentile believers and what about eating food that had been offered to idols and or did they still have to keep the health laws or did they have to drain the blood out before they ate things and there's a bunch of discussion and and they said look we need to come together as one group and resolve these things that we can remain united you read in mark 9 38 john answered him saying teacher we saw somebody who doesn't follow us casting out devils in your name and we forbade him because he doesn't follow us but jesus said do not forbid him for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me for he who is not against us is on our side for whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to christ assuredly i say to you he will by no means lose his reward and so jesus is letting them know you know there may be some who are going to be part of this one group that you think are on the outside right now and go and read your verse john 13 35 by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another do you think the devil tape recorded what jesus said now if you're satan and you hear jesus say this is going to be the secret by which everyone is going to know that you're my disciples by your love for one another and jesus don't get those two mixed up satan he thinks to himself all right if jesus is saying by their love they're going to know that he's the one then by creating division people will not know so the devil has been in overdrive to try to prevent people from knowing and so he sought to break and fraction christianity i remember once when i was in new york city um someone had broken uh a telephone booth that's back in the days when they had telephone booths and it had that tempered glass and i don't know somebody shot it or what happened but it broke into a thousand little pieces and we looked at it all on the ground i don't know i must have been 10 years old and we said well it's like diamonds so we picked some of it up and we went and told some other classmates look diamonds and i thought to myself you know it would be really easy to hide a real diamond in that pile of broken glass and this is what the devil has done is he has hidden the true christianity he surrounded it with so much broken glass of professed christianity that a lot of people give up because they get cut on the phony and they never find the real thing and you've got to separate now there are tests where you can find out what's a diamond and what's glass for one thing the diamond will not be crushed it won't melt the same way glass will and so the devil has tried to do that crete division jesus said other sheep i have that are not of this fold them also i must bring and they will hear my voice and there will be how many one fold and one shepherd now i'm a seventh the adventist christian i believe this is the remnant church i say that because i don't believe that everybody who's a member of the church is going to heaven i don't think you get your books written in the book of life when you join i think it's important to join and have your name written on the earthly books but that's not the only criteria i think there are people that are on their way to heaven that are not members of my church and um in fact there one reason i joined the adventist church is because i got tired of other churches telling me that you have to be a member of our church because everyone else is lost and i knew that wasn't true and i remember reading in the book great controversy where ellen white said the greatest part that's the majority of christ's true followers are in the fellowship of these other communions they love the lord they're spirit-filled they love his word they're his true followers they maybe haven't heard the truth the way we know it i expect to see martin luther in heaven and he drank beer i expect to see john newton in heaven and he smoked cigars as did spurgeon i expect to see wesley in heaven and he ate pork uh so you know these people were people of god they maybe didn't know some of the things that have come to light returning to the word i think we've got to be very careful about judging the christianity of people who may not be members of our church karen and i like i said we just were with a religious group we were the only adventists in the group they're meeting with christians and other leaders media leaders in congress and white house and and i was struck with the sincere christian experience of several of those people and it was really um it was really inspiring now if they ever give me a chance i'll give them a bible study on some of these things but he says i've got other sheep in desire of ages page 680 you can read in this last meeting with his disciples the great desire that christ expressed for them was that they might love one another as he had loved them again and again he spoke of this these things i command you he said repeatedly that you love one another his very first injunction when alone in the upper room chamber was a new commandment i give you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another what was one of the great priorities in the heart of jesus during that time that we have a sincere love for one another can you say amen now having said that and talking about the importance of unity and i'll try and finish with these thoughts i got a minute when people start saying unity it doesn't mean at the expense of truth you are to never sacrifice a principle of truth to obtain unity that's something you're going to hear a lot of people say look all these christians are divided we ought to just forget all our doctrinal differences and come together for the sake of love and unity first comes truth it is a unity that comes as a fruit of the truth and so we we must be united in truth notice he said sanctify sanctify them by your truth your word is truth then he talks about the unity in verses 22 and 23. that is an interesting quote from historical sketches 197 we cannot purchase peace and unity by sacrificing the truth the conflict might be long and painful but at any cost we must hold fast to the word of god and i think that in the the days to come we're going to even see where in our church people are going to be tempted to say look let's make compromises of the truth to obtain unity and they say well how terrible will it be if we divide if we make this one concession of the truth we'll all get along and that is the the devil's argument so don't ever fall for that anyway god does want us to be one but he wants us to be one in spirit one in love one in christ but all based upon his word uh out of time want to tell our friends who are watching remind you about our free offer and they're going to put it up oh here it is the free offer oh it's a sermon by me it's called changing your mind it's a good message ask for offer number 859 and you can call this number eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six that's eight six six study more and you can even get it as a free digital download you can download it right now if you're watching this live here's a here's what you do text the code sh112 text it to 40544 you can download that message of changing your mind for free god bless you friends we'll look forward to studying his word together next week

Channel: Aaron

Views: 25,461

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Id: 47oMJd-TbZg

Length: 46min 15sec (2775 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 10 2018