1. The Subjects (verse 20)
2. The Requests (verses 21-26)

One of the great heroes of the Reformation is John Knox from the land of Scotland. We don't know exactly the year he was born, but it was 1514, give or take a year. If you place that in the context of history, you see that he was born three or four years after Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door at Wittenberg, kicking off the Protestant Reformation. He was on the ground floor of seeing the gospel come and flourish in Scotland.

Like many theologians of his day, he was ordained into the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. He was twenty-two when ordained, but some five to seven years later, he was converted, embracing the Christian gospel, believing that one is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He said, "It pleased God to call me from the puddle of Papestry."^[1]

Soon after his conversion, he became a close disciple of another Scottish preacher, George Wishart. As Wishart's ministry gained visibility, threats came upon his life, and he was soon burned at the stake. Such was the religious temperature of the day. The Roman Catholic Church was strong in those days, and they didn't want the Protestant faith proclaimed.

The mantle of leadership of the Scottish church was transferred to Knox. In 1546, he began preaching at the Holy Trinity Parish Church in St. Andrews, Scotland. His preaching thundered through Scotland. Knox himself said, "I love to blow my Master's trumpet,"^[2] taking the illustration from Jericho, where the walls came down not with swords, but with the blast of trumpets. Knox's preaching was simple and powerful and fearless.

Through his leadership, the church in St. Andrews renounced Roman Catholicism and pledged the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. This all made Knox a marked man. He was captured by the French and forced to be a galley slave in the hull of a French battleship for nearly two years (nineteen months), being chained to the oars and forced to row the boat. Eventually, he was released as part of a prisoner swap, negotiated by King Edward VI in 1549.

For a handful of years, he flourished in Scotland and England. But in 1553, when Queen Mary I took the throne in England and began slaughtering key leaders in the church, such as John Rogers, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer. Knox made the difficult decision to leave the British island and flee to Europe, where he would be safe from the vengeance of "Bloody Mary," as she was called.

For a dozen years, Knox bounced between Europe and Scotland, continuing his labor for the gospel, fleeing the wrath of Bloody Mary. In 1559, he returned to Scotland to live out the last decade of his life in ministry, where he was tirelessly preaching Christ. He said, "The trumpet is sounding all over Scotland." He said, "We do nothing but go about Jericho blowing with trumpets as God gives strength, hoping victory by his power alone."^[3] Only eternity will tell of the great impact John Knox had for the gospel in Scotland.

So, why do I tell you all of that about John Knox? Because of his dying days. Knox was a man who proclaimed the gospel in Scotland, and God used him in mighty ways. On his deathbed, in the last few hours of his life, on November 24, 1572, he was surrounded by his wife, Margaret, and a longtime friend, Richard Bannatyne. They were reading the Scripture to John Knox. Then Knox said to his wife, "Margaret, go where I cast my first anchor."^[4] She knew what he was talking about. She turned to John 17 and began reading the chapter.

So I invite you now to open your Bibles to John 17. I want to read the entire chapter for you, and as I read, I want you to consider John Knox, a faithful laborer for the gospel, having this chapter read to him. He called it his "first anchor." Apparently, this chapter had played a key role in his conversion or early days of ministry, anchoring him in the glory of Christ and in the love of Christ for his people. We don't know how this passage first became an "anchor" to him. We have nothing from his written works to tell us why this is the case. This story is lost to history. But we know that these words were read to John Knox on his deathbed.

John 17:1-26
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

"I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

When Margaret had finished these words, John Knox turned to her and said, "What a comfort that chapter is."^[5] This is my hope and goal. As I have preached on these wonderful words for the past few weeks, my hope is that this chapter has provided comfort for your soul as well.

I think that there is no greater comfort for us than what comes in the last section of this prayer, for this is where Jesus is praying for us! In fact, this is the title of my message this morning: "Jesus Prays for Us!"

Now, if you remember, this prayer has three parts. The first part comes in the first five verses, where Jesus prays for himself. He prays that he might be restored to the glory that he had with the Father before the world came to be. The second part of this prayer comes in verses 6-19, where Jesus prays for his apostles, the very ones standing there and listening to his prayer. In verse 9, he makes the subject of his prayer clear. Jesus says, "I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." Jesus prays for their endurance, that God would keep them in his name (verse 11). Jesus prays for their joy, that the joy that Jesus had would be their joy (verse 13). Jesus prays for protection, that God would keep them from the evil one (verse 15). Jesus prays for their sanctification, that they would be sanctified in the truth (verse 17).

Now, for today, we come to verse 20, in which Jesus prays for us. The outline of my message this morning is the same as last week. First, we will look at the subjects for whom Jesus is praying. Then, we will look at the actual prayer requests that Jesus makes.

1. The Subjects (verse 20)

The subject of Jesus' prayer is clear in verse 20:

John 17:20
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

That is, "I'm not praying for my eleven disciples, who are hearing my prayer right now. I have prayed for them. I prayed for their endurance, their joy, their protection, and their sanctification. But now, I'm changing my focus, not to pray for them, but to pray for all those who will believe in me through their word."

In other words, Jesus is praying for his church that he will build in the future. This takes me back almost twenty-eight years ago, before some of you were even born. Yvonne and I were at Kishwaukee Bible Church in DeKalb, Illinois, which we had helped plant and establish. In one year, four families began attending the church in DeKalb, and they told us, "We need a church like this in Rockford." Mind you, this was in the days before Redeemer Church was here. This was in the days before Morning Star Church was here. This was in the days before Redemption City Church was here.

We began praying. We prayed long and hard for the Lord to bring people to our church, so that we could see a church established in Rockford. In fact, I pulled out of my files this week an old brochure that I printed up, that all of us who were there could distribute to any who were interested. Now, when I say "all of us," I really mean five families, us and the four families that were traveling to DeKalb to attend church there. That's ten adults and some children. Tim happened to be one of those children, having just graduated from high school at the time.

On the front of this brochure was our heart: "The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few. Rock Valley Bible Church working in the harvest." On the back of the brochure, we had some contact information about where we were meeting. We rented out a church on Sunday evenings, Valley Baptist Church. On the inside flap was a spread that explained our mission: "Rock Valley Bible Church is a church plant of Kishwaukee Bible Church, DeKalb, IL. It is our desire to see God plant a local church in Rockford to carry on the mission of the church as described in this brochure." When you opened up the brochure entirely, you would see a summary statement about what we teach, ways in which we are aiming to be a body of disciples, and ways in which we are aiming to do the work of making disciples.

Now, on the inside, I put forth two verses of Scripture. The first is from Matthew 28:19, where Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all the nations." This is what God called the disciples to do. This is what God calls us to do today: to make disciples. The second Scripture is from Matthew 16:18, where Jesus said, "I will build My church." That was a promise that we stood on in the early days. I remember praying often, "Lord, you have promised to build your church. In your grace, would you build Rock Valley Bible Church." I knew that the promise of Jesus was sure in building his church. We had no direct promise that he would build our church.

We lived so dependent upon the Lord in those days, praying often, praying much. In those days, I was praying for you! I was praying for those who would believe through the ministry of Rock Valley Bible Church. You all were nameless. You all were faceless. But you were prayed for. I am thankful for his answers to prayer in your presence here this morning and your involvement at Rock Valley Bible Church. May the Lord continue his building work.

In those days, I remember two specific prayer requests that I would often make. These are the two prayer requests that often came off the tip of my tongue when people heard about our church beginning and asked how they might pray. I said, "Pray for the Lord to prosper us and protect us." I remember telling this to a pastor in town, "Pray for the Lord to prosper us and protect us." Later he told me that when he heard me say this, he thought we were a health, wealth, and prosperity church. That's not it at all. We were looking for survival!

Back in those days, I knew that most church plants fail. I knew that for us to survive, we needed people to come. So I was praying for survival. I prayed for the Lord to prosper us with people. I prayed for the Lord to protect us from divisive people. As a small group of people, we were very vulnerable, and we needed the Lord to protect us.

Looking back now this week about the prayer of Jesus, I see how much of my prayers aligned with the prayers of Jesus. I prayed for our protection. This is what Jesus prayed for the apostles. Verse 11 reads, "Holy Father, keep them in your name." Verse 15 reads, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." I knew the danger we were in as a young, early church. We needed God's protecting hand.

I'm not saying at all that I'm like Jesus in my prayers. I'm not. I'm saying that in this great prayer of John 17, Jesus is showing forth his pastoral heart in praying this way. Further, I prayed for our prosperity, that God would bring people. This is what Jesus prayed: "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." Jesus was praying for those who would make up his church in the future.

Again, I'm not saying at all that I'm like Jesus in my prayers. I'm not. I'm saying that in this great prayer of John 17, Jesus is praying for a church that has not yet been established. Now, Jesus is far different than any church planting pastor could be. In my early prayers, I was just pleading that God would work among us. But in these prayers of Jesus, he was praying for what he would accomplish. Jesus said, "I will build My church." And he did.

Through these apostles, many believed. On the day of Pentecost alone, some three thousand people repented and believed. Soon after that, the size of the church numbered about five thousand. Within a few years, the church scattered from Jerusalem and began making disciples in Judea and Samaria, neighboring regions. Eventually, the teaching of the apostles spread to all the nations of the earth, even to Loves Park, Illinois.

Have you ever thought about this? How did we all come to believe in Jesus? It's because of the apostles. We have come to believe in Jesus through their word, which is contained in the Bible. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ, hearing of Jesus of Nazareth, who came and lived a perfect life among us, that by dying for our sins, he became our perfect sacrifice. We simply need to believe in Jesus, and his sacrifice is applied to our sins!

If you believe that, it's because of the teaching of these apostles, which has come to you two thousand years after they lived. If you believe in Jesus, you are one of the subjects of his prayer. This ought to blow your mind, that Jesus was praying for us! There's a reason why I put an exclamation point at the end of my message title this morning: "Jesus Prays for Us!" That we would grasp just how mind-blowing this is! That Jesus prays for us!

If you think that's mind-blowing, let's look to see what Jesus actually prayed for us.

2. The Requests (verses 21-26)

In these verses, I have pulled out three prayer requests that Jesus has for his Holy Father.

Jesus prays for unity (verses 21-23).

John 17:20-23
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

I trust that you see the heart of Jesus here for the unity of the church. Three times in these three verses we see Jesus praying for unity.
    - Verse 21: "that they may all be one."
    - Verse 22: "that they may be one."
    - Verse 23: "that they may become perfectly one."

There are many who simply take this as external, organizational unity. The Roman Catholic Church, for instance, leans heavily upon these verses, believing in themselves that they are the one, true, apostolic church. For them, they lament that everyone isn't Roman Catholic. There are many, particularly liberals, who decry the number of denominations that exist in the world. There's Anglican and Lutheran and Methodist and Presbyterian and Baptist and Brethren and Assemblies of God and Church of Christ. These liberals want everyone to be together in organizational unity. Conservatives point out how there are real differences in all of the denominations, holding that it's acceptable to have such external divisions.

Because Jesus is far more concerned about the internal divisions of the church than the external. I think that Jesus is fine with Presbyterians and Baptists, if they both are walking in the Spirit with the Lord and have fellowship with each other. I say this because of the standard of this unity that Jesus prays for. It's Trinitarian unity. Verse 21: "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us." Jesus is praying that we all would be as unified as the Trinity!

What a prayer! The unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is so strong that we are called to believe in one God! Indeed, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all work together in perfect harmony and unity to be one in mind and purpose. This can only happen when we experience union with God. That is, this can only happen when we are in union with the Godhead.

Look again at the last phrase in verse 21, "that they also may be in us." The only way for us to experience Trinitarian unity is to be a part of that unity. I'm not talking about us being God. I'm talking about us being united with God. I'm talking about us being "in God."

This is just picking up familiar verbiage that Jesus spoke to his disciples. Jesus said, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:16-17). Here Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will come and be in them. Jesus also said, "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). Here Jesus says that he is in the Father, and we are in Jesus, and he is in us. Jesus also said, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). Here Jesus is talking about the Father and the Son coming to make their home in us! All of this is consistent with his famous words, "Abide in me, and I in you" (John 15:4).

If you are blown away by such statements, that we are in union with God, and that he is in union with us, join the club. J. C. Ryle, in his expository thoughts, commented about this prayer of Jesus. He said,

It is needless to say that the chapter before us contains many deep things. It could hardly be otherwise. He that reads the words spoken by one Person of the blessed Trinity to another Person, by the Son to the Father, must surely be prepared to find much that he cannot fully understand, much that he has no line to fathom. There are sentences, words, and expressions, in the twenty-six verses of this chapter, which no one probably has ever unfolded completely. We have not the minds to do it, or to understand the matters it contains, if we could. But there are great truths in the chapter which stand out clearly and plainly on its face, and to these truths we shall do well to direct our best attention.^[5]

So whatever this Trinitarian unity means, the clear truth is that Jesus is praying for our unity. We need not worry about the numerous denominations that exist. We should worry about our unity at Rock Valley Bible Church and make every effort possible to preserve the unity in the bond of peace. Jesus said, "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" (Mark 3:25). The same is true of a church: "If a church is divided against itself, that church will not be able to stand."

Church history is littered with church splits, because there was disunity in the church! Any disunity that comes surely comes because we don't abide in Christ with Trinitarian unity. The early church faced division. You read the book of Acts, and you see the church divided in caring for the widows (Acts 6). You read the book of Acts, and you see Paul and Barnabas divided regarding the wisdom of bringing John Mark with them on another missionary journey after he had deserted them on the first journey (Acts 15). In Corinth, the church was divided over who was the best preacher to follow (1 Corinthians 1. In Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche, two women in the church, were in conflict with each other.

To this very church in Philippi, Paul says, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" (Philippians 2:1-2). Philippi was a great church. In fact, the only church that entered into partnership with Paul in the gospel, supporting his efforts financially. Here he says, "Nothing makes me happier than you all being unified together."

As a pastor of a church, I echo a similar sentiment: "Nothing makes me happier than when Rock Valley Bible Church is unified together, all pulling in the same direction." "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" (Psalm 133:1). How it pains my soul when there is disunity in the church. It pains my soul when there is disunity in your marriages. It pains my soul when there is disunity in your families. But the place where disunity ought not to be is in the church, where God dwells in us, and we in God. There is every reason for us to be unified. Oh, how we need that unity at Rock Valley Bible Church!

Our unity isn't merely for ourselves. It's also for the effectiveness of our mission as a church. Look at what Jesus says in verse 21, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Look at verse 23, "I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." Two times Jesus connects the unity of the church with its effectiveness in making Christ known. The world won't understand our spiritual unity unless they see our outward unity and love.

Jesus prays for this because he knows that the growth of the church, which he will soon build, comes through the unity of the church. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

Well, let's move on to the second request that Jesus makes.

Jesus prays for seeing glory (verse 24).

John 17:24
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

This takes us back to the first part of the prayer, when Jesus prays for his own glory. "When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you'" (verse 1). "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" (verse 5).

Here in verse 24, we see that Jesus didn't merely want the glory for himself. He wanted others to join with him in seeing his glory. If Jesus wants for us to see his glory, then it must be good for us to see his glory.

I trust that you know something of this. This morning we sang, "Our sins, they are many; his mercy is more." When you grasp the depth of you sin and the even deeper mercy of Christ, joy must stir in your heart! This is what Christ wants us to see of his glory. He wants us to see his mercy.

You can see fresh glimpses of his glory when you read the Bible. This week for me, it was Jeremiah 31:37:

Jeremiah 31:37
Thus says the LORD:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,
declares the LORD.”

This week, I was looking at the stars on a cold night (when it's too cold for the clouds). The stars were shining forth in all of their glory. I reflected upon how vast the universe is and how we really cannot even grasp how big it is (much less measure it). How far away is the sun? How far away is the next solar system? We have sent Voyager 1 going at 50,000 miles an hour. It's taken fifty years, and just now it's barely out of our solar system. It's got another 40,000 years before it would reach the nearest star. And this is one star of our local cluster of stars in our Milky Way, which is just one galaxy of the hundreds of billions of galaxies out there. We cannot measure the heavens above.

Then, Jeremiah 31:37 says, "if ... the foundations of the earth below can be explored." We've taken men to the moon, but regarding digging into the earth, do you realize that the deepest we've ever gone is about nine miles? Then the molten core is so hot that it begins to melt the drill bits. The rock is too hard and we don't yet have the technology to go down further. If the earth were an apple, we're not even through the skin. We cannot explore the foundations of the earth.

Consider again how precises the verbs are in this verse:

Jeremiah 31:37
Thus says the LORD:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,
declares the LORD.”

There's the love of God for us. His love is secure. For me this week, that was a verse where I got a glimpse of the glory of Christ through the Scriptures.

Or maybe you're in the wilderness, and something catches your eye. You see the creation, and joy fills your heart. The creation is meant to echo the glories of Christ. What Jesus wants for us is to see his glory, because those things are so good for our souls as we contemplate the skies and the way the animals scurry about.

Whatever we see now, we see in a mirror dimly. But there will be a day when we see Christ in all the fullness of his glory. What a day of joy that will be! Jesus prayed for us about that day.

John 17:24
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus is praying for that day when we will get to see him. What does he look like now? He's the crucified Lamb who's worthy to open the seal.

Revelation 5:1-10
Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

Revelation 5 continues on. "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" Forever! Jesus, the slain Lamb. His crucifixion will be remembered throughout all eternity. This everlasting covenant that he made with us extends beyond that one sacrifice for sins for all time, and we look to him. Jesus says, "I want you to look to me. I sacrificed myself for your sins. You remember that for all time." Our sins are many, but his mercy is more. It's seen there at the cross. That's seeing glory. That's what he's praying for.

Let's get to our final prayer request of Jesus:

Jesus prays for love (verses 25-26).

John 17:25-26
O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

In verses 21- 23, we saw Trinitarian unity. Here we see Trinitarian love. Verse 26: "the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." Jesus is praying that the love of God would be in our hearts, that is, the love of the Father for the Son.

I'm not sure that you think about this too much when thinking about the Trinity. But it's not merely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing together. There is a love-relationship between the members of the Trinity, which fundamentally makes God different than Allah! A single God can't know love. But a Triune God, with three persons, can express love within the Trinity.

We know that the Father loves the Son. Twice in the ministry of Jesus, at his baptism and at the transfiguration, the Father's voice boomed from heaven, declaring, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." That's a public affirmation of the Father's love for the Son.

We know that the Son loves the Father. John 14:31: "but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." The obedience of Jesus marked his love for the Father.

This love is vast:

If we truly understand the infinity of God and the depth of love that he has, it would drive us to say, "I want to be with God." This is what Jesus prays! "I want that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." Jesus praying for us to know, experience, and have the love of Christ. My hope for us is that the love of Christ would be in all of you, in all of us, and that we would experience it, that we would overflow with love.

It's also interesting to note the path to that love. It's knowledge. Through the knowledge of God.

John 17:26
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, ...

Jesus has made known his name to us. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to us, which continues to make him known. And as we know about God, then God will fill us with his love.

John 17:26
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

That's why the Bible is so important in our lives. It teaches us about God. As we read it, it helps us to know God, that we might comprehend him, that we might embrace him, that his love would be in us. So, are you reading your Bible? Let's know God. Let's be fascinated by God, that his love then would be in us.

Well, there's John 17. What made it an anchor for John Knox? His "first anchor," he called it. This was probably a reference to around the time when he was converted. As I told you before, he was a Roman Catholic priest, coming out of Roman Catholicism. Perhaps John 17 was the passage that showed him of the grace that Jesus has for us. He is kind and compassionate toward us. He's not hard and demanding. He's gracious. He prays for us. We wants us to come to him, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

For whatever reason, that this prayer of Jesus was an anchor for John Knox in his first days. What made it a great comfort to him in his last days? On his last physical day upon earth, why did he request that this passage be read to him?

Well, are these words not comforting? Knowing that we have a Savior who even prayed for us two thousand years ago? Is it not comforting for us to know that his heart is for us and the he's continuing to pray these sorts of things for us? He's praying that we would be unified in God and in Christ, that we would see his glory, that we would know his love. Such things were a great comfort to John Knox. Are they to you?

Is John 17, the prayer of Jesus, your anchor? Do you find comfort in these words?

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on January 25, 2026 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.

[1] The Works of John Knox, ed. David Laing, Vol. 3 (Edinburgh: The Bannatyne Club, 1865), 439. In the Old English of the original, it reads, "It hath pleased God to call me frome the puddle of Papistrie." You can read the context of the quote here: https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnknox0004knox/page/438/mode/2up.

[2] This is a well-known phrase of Knox. See https://themasterstrumpet.org/magazine/.
 
[3] The Works of John Knox, ed. David Laing, Vol. 6 (Edinburgh: The Bannatyne Club, 1864), 78. In the Old English of the original, it reads, "We doe nothing but goe about Jericho, blowing with trumpets, as God givith strength, hopint victorie by his power alone." He wrote this in a letter to a Mrs. Anna Lock. You can read the context of the quote here: https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnknox0006knox/page/78/mode/2up.

[4] See https://learn.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/my-first-anchor.

[5] See https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/expository_web.html#johnc17.

[6] Frederick M. Lehman, "The Love of God" (see https://hymnary.org/text/the_love_of_god_is_greater_far).