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Well, I've enjoyed the spice of variety this evening, especially with the offertory.

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And I will know we have arrived when I hear during an offertory a mandolin and a guitar

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and a fiddle playing.

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We get some bluegrass, Christian bluegrass, yes?

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Please, we don't want all that positive response right away.

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I rode down to the Minneapolis luncheon this way with Joe Brandenburg back there and he

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has a tape cassette in his car and put in some Christian bluegrass on the way.

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I didn't think, I thought I was going to go straight to heaven before we got to Minneapolis.

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It was a wonderful evening, or afternoon rather I should say.

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Maybe you don't know what a mandolin is, you think it's some kind of Chinese food.

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But I can assure you it wouldn't taste very well.

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Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 17 and look tonight at our theme, the good gifts

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of John 17.

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Usually we like to give gifts which our friends and our family are going to use more than

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once.

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I suppose that food is not such an item, although frankly I've never discouraged such gifts.

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But especially to those that we love, we look for gifts that they might use many times and

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perhaps even keep for a lifetime.

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These might become heirlooms that are then passed on from generation to generation.

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But imagine a gift if you will that lasts longer than a lifetime.

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What kind of gift could that be?

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Well that's the kind of gift we're going to look at tonight in our study as we conclude

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this series about the good gifts of John 17.

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This gift that we're going to talk about tonight is so awesome to consider that frankly

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I think our minds will tire before we begin to comprehend its magnificence.

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Look with me in your Bible at Jesus' words.

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We'll begin in verse 20.

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He says, I do not ask in behalf of these alone, that is those immediate disciples for whom

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he was praying, but for those also who believe in me through their word.

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Ladies and gentlemen, you and I are included in that verse.

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That they may all be one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may

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be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me.

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The glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as

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we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world

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may know that thou didst send me, and didst love them, even as thou didst love me.

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Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, in order

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that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou didst love me before

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the foundation of the world.

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We've been looking at those occasions in John 17 when gifts are said to be given by

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the Father to the Son, by the Son to those who are His.

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Tonight, we notice that the Scripture says that God has given to the Son eternal glory,

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and likewise, the Son has given to His own eternal glory.

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Let's think first about the Father's gift to the Son, which is specifically mentioned

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in verse 22, and then again in verse 24.

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The Son's glory was that the Father had manifested Himself in the Son.

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In other words, all of His attributes were made visible in the humanity of His Son.

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That was the Son's glory.

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He is the radiance of the glory of God, the outshining of all of the glorious attributes

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that are the Father's.

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That is the Son's glory.

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That during His time on the earth, He was the vessel, He was the channel by which God

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radiated the glory of Himself for mankind to behold.

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But there is a future sense in which we need to think about the glory of the Son, because

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earlier in this chapter, Jesus prays that the Father would again glorify Him.

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There the Lord seems to be thinking of the restoration of His visible glory as deity.

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Remember that when He came to earth, that glory was veiled in His humanity.

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The glory of God's attributes shined through Him in His deeds, in His words.

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But the essence of the glory itself, the shekinah, was veiled in His humanity, except on that

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occasion that we call the transfiguration.

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When Jesus allowed that inner glory, the shekinah, to come through the very skin of His physical

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body, so that He shone like the light of the sun.

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And now Jesus in this chapter prays that that visible glory that He had before He partook

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of our humanity might be restored to Him.

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His glory is the sum of all that He is, all of His attributes.

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I think that this idea of the Father glorifying Him should also include in our thinking the

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fact that the Father has given to the Son the highest position of authority in all of

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the universe.

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Philippians chapter 2, remember that?

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Because of His humbling of Himself even to the point of death on the cross, God therefore

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has highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name.

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And what is that name?

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L-O-R-D.

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Lord, He is above all.

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He is the supreme authority in the universe.

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That too is His glory, the Father's gift to the Son.

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It was that during His earthly ministry, He had the privilege and the joy of representing

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all that God is to us.

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After His resurrection from the dead and His ascension back to heaven, He resumed that

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glory that was His before the incarnation, still in a human body, a glorified human body.

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He nonetheless is in a place of having resumed that glory.

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It is so magnificent that when John, who was the closest to Him in His earthly ministry,

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saw Him in Revelation 1, He fell at His feet as a dead man.

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He was overcome by the glory of the risen Christ.

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That glory involves too the title that is His, that name Lord which is above every name,

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and to which every knee in heaven and earth and hell below will bow one day.

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Now let's think regarding the Son's gift to His own.

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It seems to me that Jesus here talks about two aspects of that glory that He gives to

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those who believe on Him.

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We might just sum them all up in two words.

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One is union, the other is heaven.

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The Son's gift to His own is eternal glory.

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In other words, union with Himself and heaven.

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Our glory that Christ has given to us is this, that Jesus Christ is in us and we are in Him.

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That's union.

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Furthermore, the glory that He gives us is that Christ will one day be with us and we

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will be with Him.

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That's heaven.

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Now let's think about those two aspects of this gift of glory that He has given to His

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own.

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Our glory is our permanent and present union with Himself, Jesus Christ, by His personal

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indwelling of each one of us.

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That union with Him results in two important things.

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It also results in our oneness with the Father, Jesus says that here, and it results in our

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oneness with one another.

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Our union with Jesus Christ means that we are one with God the Father as well and that

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we are one with each other in the body of Christ.

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The concepts.

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We possess within us the person of Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God.

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We possess within us the attributes of God as they are found in Christ.

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That statement has to sink down a little bit into our minds, but it's true.

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We have the very life essence of Christ indwelling us.

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In Colossians chapter 1, the apostle Paul puts it this way, verse 27, he speaks about

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the saints to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery

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among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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At this very moment, dear Christian, Jesus Christ Himself dwells in you.

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That is your assurance, your certain expectation of glory.

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In chapter 3 and verse 4, the apostle puts it more briefly when he says, when Christ,

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who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory.

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But notice that right now, Christ is our life.

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Isn't that what he says in Galatians 2.20?

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I have been crucified with Christ.

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Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me.

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You and I possess within us every moment the attributes of God as they are found in Jesus

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Christ who lives in us.

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Just as God manifested Himself in the Son, so now the Son manifests Himself in us.

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Just as the Father is in the Son, so the Son is in us.

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John 1.12, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the power, the exucia, the authority

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to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name.

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Down in verse 16 it says, and of His Christ's fullness have we all received.

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The fullness that is in Christ, we have received of that.

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As it says in the handwriting of Peter, we have become partakers of the divine nature.

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2 Peter 1.4.

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That's not that we become God, but that God is in us.

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That's the point.

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Paul says to the Colossians again in the second chapter, that the fullness of deity dwells

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in the Son.

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And he says, and you are fullness, you are complete in Him.

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Let me quote to you Dr. William Henrickson, the glory which Jesus gives to believers means

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that they have become one plant.

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There he's going to the idea perhaps of the vineyard.

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The glory which Jesus gives to believers means that they have become one plant with Him.

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That is, that He cannot be conceived of apart from them.

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That He is the source of all the blessings which they will ever receive, and that they

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in turn earnestly desire and strive to do everything to please Him.

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You and I share the glory that is Jesus Christ's.

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He's given it to us by His union with us.

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This shared glory that we have with Him is the basis for our mutual oneness.

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Because we share, we Christians share the same indwelling Christ.

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That is the basis, that's the heart of our oneness.

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Now for that oneness, that unity to be experienced in the fellowship of our church for example,

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or in any local church, for that oneness to be manifested, we must choose to live in the

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power of that union and to renounce the independence of self.

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It seems to me that there are two qualities that must be manifested, they are essential,

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if practical oneness is going to exist in the fellowship of the church.

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Those two qualities are holiness and love.

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Holiness is separation from sinful conduct unto God.

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The negative is separation from sin, the positive is living righteously.

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Where there is a lack of holiness, there will be a lack of unity, a lack of oneness in fellowship

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between God's people.

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Now we are one positionally because Christ dwells in us.

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But if there is sin in my life and or sin in your life, that is going to prohibit us

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from experiencing that oneness, that's the point.

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And along with holiness comes love.

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Love is kind acts, sacrificial deeds for the welfare of others.

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Holiness and love, separation from sin unto God in my conduct, in my choices, in my lifestyle,

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in my words, in my attitudes.

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And love, choosing to do what is best, yielding to what is best for others, putting myself

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second.

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Those qualities, to the extent that they are found in you and in me, will enable us to

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experience the oneness that truly is there because the Holy Spirit indwells us.

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Lack of oneness in the body violates God's design in our union.

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And it violates Jesus' prayer likewise for our oneness.

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He prayed that they may be one.

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Now as I said last week, that oneness was accomplished positionally when the Holy Spirit

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came to Pentecost because we have the same Spirit of Christ indwelling us.

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Jesus is praying for more than that, he is praying that we might experience practical

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oneness.

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Every day, every week oneness.

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In the way that we treat each other, in the decisions that we make together, oneness and

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unity.

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And that oneness is the practical goal that all of us must grow toward.

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Look over to Ephesians chapter 4 for just a minute, verse 1.

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Paul says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord entreat you to walk in a manner worthy

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of the calling with which you have been called.

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He says, get with it.

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He says, walk in a manner that is consistent with who you are in Jesus Christ.

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What does that mean?

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Verse 2, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.

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Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

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That's what practical oneness is all about.

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And we grow toward that as he says later on here in the chapter, and I'm not going to

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take time now to deal with that.

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The result of our oneness, not just our positional oneness, but that practical manifested oneness,

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the result of that is that the world has a testimony of who Jesus Christ is.

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That's what he says in John 17 23.

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You see the world does not discern the truth by the doctrine that it hears preached.

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But the world discerns the truth by the oneness of believers with each other.

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That's how it discerns the truth.

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We cannot accuse the world of not listening to our sermons if we are not living out oneness

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in our conduct.

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And not just within this body of believers.

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That's where it starts.

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But our attitudes toward other believers in other churches.

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It is a terrible thing when Christians begin to fight with one another.

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It's terrible because it destroys the testimony of Jesus Christ before a world that judges

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truth by that oneness or dismisses the truth because of its lack among Christians.

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Our gift of glory therefore involves oneness that we now have with Jesus Christ and with

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the Father and which God wants to be evidenced in the body with other believers.

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Jesus said, I have given to them that glory.

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So glory is number one union but secondly it's heaven.

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The gift of glory which God the Son gives to us also embraces the thought of our presence

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with Him in heaven one day.

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He prays that we might be with Him.

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That we might behold the glory that God has given Him.

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Does that not align perfectly with what He said in chapter 14 verse 3?

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When He said that He would come back and receive us to Himself, that where I am there you may

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be also He says.

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Notice that Jesus here in this verse that we've alluded to, verse 24 says, Father,

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I desire.

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That is a very deep word.

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Jesus says here, my deepest delight.

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Father, my greatest pleasure.

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The thing that I yearn for above all other things is this, that those that you've given

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me may be with me.

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Now that certainly is our desire isn't it?

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We desire to be with Christ one day.

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Do you realize that Christ's desire for you to be there surpasses your desire to be there?

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The Son has given to His own glory which involves one day being with Him in heaven.

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Now of course spiritually now He is with us.

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Matthew 28 20, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

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Hebrews 13 and verse 5, I will never leave you or forsake you, He says.

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But just as that is true spiritually now, one day it will be true physically.

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Because all of the redeemed will be privileged to gaze upon the unveiled glory of Christ

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and to live in that glory forever.

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Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man those things

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that God has prepared for those that love Him.

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I cannot explain to you tonight what it will mean for us to gaze upon the unveiled glory

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of Christ.

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But that is His gift to you.

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That is His gift.

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Hendrickson says, and I quote again, the Son desires that all believers shall gaze forever

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on Him.

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That is, on the radiance of His divine attributes as these are reflected in His exalted human

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nature.

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He desires, He yearns for you to be there with Him in heaven.

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Now we know that that is the believer's experience at death.

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The apostle Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, doesn't

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he?

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And he himself was in a quandary as he wrote to the Philippians.

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He said, I don't know which to choose, as though he really had the choice.

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He says, I need to stay here with you.

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But he says, I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is very far better.

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So how would he know that?

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Because I believe that what he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 is autobiographical.

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At some point, perhaps at the point when he was executed in his missionary journey, stoned,

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and then came back to life, perhaps at that point it was that he was caught up to the

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very presence of God and he saw things that he is not permitted to express.

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A few people have had experiences something like that.

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I related to you several weeks ago the story, something of the story of Vanya, the Russian

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soldier, young man 22 years of age who ultimately was tortured to death by the KGB about 15

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years ago now for his faith in Christ.

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One of the things that Vanya shared, very intimate personal things with his family just

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a few weeks before he was killed, were things that he could not go into detail about.

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He simply was not permitted to express some of the experiences that he had had during

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those times when he was in persecution.

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The apostle Paul said, I cannot tell you while I saw what was said to me.

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We know that when a believer dies, he goes into that presence immediately.

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There is no soul sleep, as some talk about, as though the soul sleeps in the body waiting

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for the call upward.

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The soul, that person himself, herself, immediately goes into the presence of Jesus Christ.

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I've never had a near death experience so I can't tell you a personal experience about

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that, but there are those who have.

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Merrill Womack is a friend of mine and some of you have heard Merrill sing.

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The time that he had his airplane accident, Thanksgiving, 25 years ago I guess now, and

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as he was lying there in the hospital room between life and death for several days, on

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one occasion he had what we call an out of the body experience.

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And he left his body and he said in a testimony that I heard that he saw a beautiful green

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pasture with a stream.

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And up on the other side of the stream, like what was a hill, there was a building.

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And from that emanated a bright light toward which he felt drawn and that at the stream

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there was a boat prepared to take him across the stream so that he could walk up to that

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building.

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And he felt himself being drawn that direction.

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He knew that if he, in his experience, were to walk toward that river and cross it that

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he would not come back.

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And yet even as he was drawn toward what he was seeing, he heard his voice being called

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the other way and came back from that and lived in his born testimony in a powerful

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way to Jesus Christ.

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Well there was a near death experience.

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He saw only just a glimpse of what perhaps was the entrance into glory for him.

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How Jesus comes, what that is like when death really occurs, none of us can say.

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We haven't been through that.

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But the fact is that whatever the experience seems like, it takes us to the presence of

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the Lord so that we behold his glory.

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But the consummation of course waits until the rapture.

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For it's then that you and I will receive new bodies.

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He says, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior,

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the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state, that's now,

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into the conformity with the body of his glory.

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Paul says here in Philippians 3, 20 and 21 that these humble earthly bodies that we live

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in now will be transformed, changed, to be conformed to the body that Jesus has.

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As he says in 1 John 3 and verse 2, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

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I don't understand all that that means.

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I don't think we can at this point.

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But I think that we can say that in some way those new bodies that we will have in our

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glorification will be like prisms, capable of receiving and then reflecting the glory

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of Jesus Christ.

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So that the radiance of his glory will be broadcast, magnified, through us, the redeemed.

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And our presence with him in that glorified condition will continue on into the coming

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kingdom.

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As he said there in Colossians that we read a few moments ago, when Christ who is our

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life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.

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When is Christ going to appear when he comes again to the earth to establish his kingdom?

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Jesus spoke of this to his disciples as they gathered around the table at the last supper.

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And he says, I will not eat of this or drink of this until that day that we drink and eat

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it new in the kingdom of God.

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The kingdom that will come to the earth.

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We will be with him in our glorified bodies to reign with him for that thousand years,

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but that's not all.

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That glory that he gives to us will continue on and on and on into eternity as we participate

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in the eternal kingdom of Christ.

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It's not just a thousand years.

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That will fulfill the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, but his kingdom will

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go on unendingly, turn into the book of Revelation chapter 21 and look at these amazing words

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by John as he begins now to bring to a culmination this great revelation of Jesus Christ.

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He sees a new heaven, a new earth.

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And then he says in verse 3, Revelation 21, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

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behold, the tabernacle of God is among men.

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I ask you, who is the tabernacle of God?

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In whom does the fullness of his glory tabernacle and dwell?

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In Jesus Christ.

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And he shall dwell among them and they will be his people and God himself shall be among

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them.

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That is the glorious state in which we will live throughout all of eternity in his presence.

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And we will live in this place that is called the New Jerusalem and which is described in

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such sweeping statements as found in this chapter and in chapter 22.

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Look in chapter 22 and verse 3.

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It says, there shall no longer be any curse and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall

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be in it.

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That's the city.

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And his bond servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall

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be on their foreheads and there shall no longer be any night.

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And they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun because

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the Lord God shall illumine them and they shall reign forever and ever.

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Somehow that gift of glory that God gives to the Son and which the Son then gives to

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his own will radiate in our very beings throughout all of eternity.

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The gift of glory for Christ's own involves their presence, our presence with him in a

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glorified state forever.

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We can only begin to probe these thoughts.

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It's like a bottomless pit where there is no bottom to it.

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You just go down as deep as you can and still there are depths that are left.

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The wonderful gifts of John 17 involve glory given by the Father to the Son and by the

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Son to his own.

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What can we say to these things?

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What should our response be?

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Well, surely it ought to be living the kinds of lives that will see his purpose in us fulfilled.

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Separating ourselves from sin, being done with it, not allowing the flesh to dominate

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us but presenting our bodies and our potentials and our abilities to him as instruments of

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righteousness.

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Is there anything that he can ask of us, things that we possess that is so important to us

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that we would not make it available to him for the use, the work of his kingdom?

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The one who has given us eternal glory, can he ask anything of you that is too great for

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you to give to him?

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He deserves our everything, our all.

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I don't know what better application to make of this than just that.

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Tonight as we think about all that Jesus Christ has given and will give to us yet, let that

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liberate us and free us forever from thoughts of selfishness and covetousness and grasping

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and let us desire to serve him with everything, everything we are, everything we have because

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he is worthy.

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I'd like us to sing in closing hymn number 480.