John 17:20 My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who
will believe in me through their message.

 It was just a coincidence but this past week as the 5th and 6th grade
confirmands and I met we were on the lesson: The Exaltation of Jesus.
Lets just review for ourselves what that lesson was about, because that
lesson contains those teachings of God's Word that are the heart and core
of our faith.
 Do you remember what the exaltation is?  It is the fact that Jesus now
takes up the full use of his heavenly power and glory.  Isn't that an
astounding thing to say?  Only now does Jesus use his full heavenly power
and glory.  Up to this point in his life Jesus has only been using a
small fraction of his power and yet that power did thousands of awesome
and inspiring miracles!  Now Jesus has the full use of his power.  How is
it used?
 First it was used when he descended into hell.  There Jesus clearly
showed that he had defeated Satan and all the evil angels.  Right into
the midst of hell Jesus went, not to suffer but rather to show the
inhabitants there that He is and will continue to be the Son of God who
has won the battle against Satan and Satan's greatest weapons: sin and
death.
 Then for our sake Jesus rose from the dead.  I always emphasize the
three lessons of the resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus shows: he
is God's Son, he is our redeemer, and he will raise us from the dead.
Without the resurrection we have no Savior.  Without the resurrection we
have no promise of heaven or even a prayer of getting to the realm of
God.  Without the resurrection our faith is worthless and totally
useless.  The importance of the resurrection just can't be overlooked.
As I said to the kids, "If you don't believe in the physical and real
resurrection of Jesus then you are not a Christian, not a believer in
God's grace and mercy.  The resurrection of Jesus is the heart and core
of our faith.  For that matter, it is only because of the resurrection
that we can look at a text like we have today and realize that it speaks
to us!
 Next in the exaltation of Jesus is his ascension.  Tonight (Thursday) is
the day that we celebrate this great event.  I realize it doesn't seem
like something to celebrate, considering it is the day that Jesus left to
go to heaven.  But Jesus left to sit at the right hand of God.  That
means that Jesus left to become the judge and ruler of the world from the
throne of God.  Everything that goes on Jesus knows about and oversees
for the good of his church.  Everything that goes on is for the purpose
of the salvation of souls.  Jesus guarantees that when he ascended to
heaven as a conquering hero, He is the total victor over our greatest and
deadliest enemies.  Jesus also guarantees our salvation because He and
the Father have now sent the Holy Spirit to guide and help us in the
faith.  You cannot believe the truth of Jesus without the Spirit of God.
Jesus is foolishness and the truth of God is idiocy without the Spirit of
God working to change your heart and minds to his way of thinking.  We
could not continue as a church without the Spirit of God directed by
Jesus.
 So here we are at the very pinnacle of our faith.  We are still
rejoicing in the resurrection.  Thursday is (was) Ascension Day.  In
another 10 days we will then begin the season and marvel of Pentecost.
In other words, this is the season that is the heart and core of what we
believe.  What we believe!  What are we to believe?  What is our faith
about?  Let's explore and answer that question as we consider the words
of our text.  Our theme will be: A PRAYER FOR BELIEVERS.  1st. A Prayer
for the disciples.  2nd. A Prayer for You and I.  3rd. A Prayer for the
Gospel.
 Please note that the prayer before us is the High Priestly prayer of
Jesus with his disciples on the Night of Maundy Thursday.  While Jesus
and his disciples were still in the upper room, Jesus lead them in
prayer, a prayer that showed his concern and care for what was to be.
What was foremost on his heart was his disciples.
 I say that because although not a part of our text verses 6-18 of John
17 contains the words of Jesus' prayer on behalf of the disciples.
Clearly Jesus is concerned for them.  Clearly Jesus is most concerned for
their souls and that they keep the true faith.  Listen to some of the
words that Jesus spoke on their behalf.  "For I gave them the words you
gave me and they accepted them.  They knew with certainty that I came
from you, and they believed that you sent me...Holy Father, protect them
by the power of your name-the name you gave me-so that they may be one as
we are one...I have given them your word and the world has hated
them...My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one...Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is
truth."
 Aren't those awesome words?  You can clearly hear the concern of Jesus
for the souls of his disciples.  Who can blame him?  He, as God, would
know of the persecution, the hardships, the difficult times they would
face as his disciples.  He knew how the world would attack them, harass
them, and even kill them.  He knew the temptations they would face to
soft pedal the Word, to back away from the truth of that Word or to
compromise so that we might all get along.  Realize that Jesus wants them
to be one with Him and the Father.  That is done only when the Word that
Jesus gives is kept true and pure.  It is the Word that sanctifies, that
is, the word that gives faith, keeps us in the faith and thus gives us
the gifts of God found in the Holy Spirit.
 Note that Jesus also prays for us.  Our text highlighted the shift of
emphasis and also gives the heart of that prayer on our behalf.   "I pray
also for those who will believe in me through their message," Those words
are the words of Jesus directed at all future believers of the world.
Note a few important things.
 First Jesus prays for "those who will believe in me."  His concern is
not the world and what it is doing because Jesus knows that He will be
sitting at the right hand of God and that the world would be directed and
overseen by Him for the sake of his Church.  The world isn't calling the
shots, Jesus is.  He knows this world will be hostile to his believers
and that Satan will stop at nothing to destroy faith.  So he prays for
his future children, for those who will believe in him.
 Here is something important to understand.  To believe in Jesus means
that we too know that Jesus came from the Father and that Jesus perfectly
obeyed the Father.  It means that we understand that Jesus went to the
cross as our atoning sacrifice, to pay for our sins and thus win eternal
life and salvation for us.  It means that we believe that Jesus is God!
Not just a nice guy, great example leader, but the Son of God who lives
and reigns eternally over us.  We are going to answer to him because he
is now the judge of the believer and the unbeliever.  The measure of our
judging will be whether we have believed in him or not.
 How do we know what to believe?  What does he say in this prayer?
First, "for those who will believe in me THROUGH THEIR MESSAGE!"  It is
the Word of God that is prayed for here.  The Disciples, through the Holy
Spirit were lead in all truth, lead to record everything necessary for
our eternal salvation and life.  Read the Bible and see what it says.  Do
you need some passages to tell you what the message of the Disciples is?
2 Thess. 2:13-14 "From the beginning God chose you to be saved through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He
called you to this through our gospel."  Romans 10:17 "Faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of
Christ."  2 Tim 3:15 "From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus."  2 Cor 5:19-20 "God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting men's sins against them.  And he has committed to us
the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's
behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  1 Co 1:23
"But we preach Christ crucified."  Jesus is the central message of the
disciples.  Jesus and how he has won eternal life and salvation for
mankind.  Jesus and how through the grace of God we can have the gift of
faith and also eternal life through faith in Jesus.
 The prayer of Jesus is for us.  No wonder.  As the Son of God Jesus knew
the difficulties we would face.  He knew the world's hatred for him and
thus for us too.  He knows how his word is undermined and belittled.  He
knows about the false Christ's and false religions that want you to base
your salvation on works and obedience.  His prayer is that the message of
the disciples, the message about him does it's work and brings us to
faith.
 That message of course is the gospel of Jesus.  That's why I also say
that this prayer is about the gospel.  Listen to the other things Jesus
said in this part of his prayer.  "I pray for those who will believe in
me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as
you are in me and I am in you...I have given them the glory that you have
given me, that they may be one as we are one...I have made you known to
them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have
for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
 It is because of these words that I say Jesus was also praying for the
gospel.  The gospel is the "good news" that we have a Savior.  The gospel
is the message that the disciples were given to share with us to bring us
to faith and eternal life.  The gospel unites us to God.  Unites us to
Jesus and to the Father.  The Gospel is how we know God and God becomes a
part of us.  It all goes back to Jesus.  When we believe that Jesus is
the Son of God and the Savior of the world, when we believe that Jesus
has revealed the Father and that we can't know the Father without Jesus
then we understand the importance of these words.  This gospel is how
Jesus has made the Father known and how he continues to make the Father
known.  This gospel is how the love of God is known and how the love of
God becomes ours.  This gospel is the thing that makes God's Word
complete and understandable: how the Law and its message of falling short
is reconciled.  How our weaknesses in Jesus becomes strength.  How Jesus
is our everything for eternal life and salvation.
 What a wonderful prayer before us.  The loving prayer of our Savior
concerned for those who are his.  Concerned for the disciples then,
concerned for us, his disciples now.  May we then continue as His
children through the power and wonder of the Gospel, the message of Jesus
the Savior.  Amen.