THE LAST PRAYER OF JESUS
WITNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 17:15-16
MAY 31, 2009
The Khoikhoi people lived in South Africa. They lived there for centuries. Now, they were unique. They were yellow skinned. They had short, tight curly hair. They had unusual eyes. They had an inner eye fold that caused the eye to look more oval, more slanted. They had a unique language. The Khoikhoi had a language that was unique in all the Earth and it involved a clicking sound that is not part of any other African language. Now the Khoikhoi are no more. Most anthropologists believe that they no longer exist on the Earth: all 18 tribes of the Khoikhoi are gone. There are some who believe that is some measure one of the tribes has people that are of mixed blood and partly related to them. But it appears that the Khoikhoi are no longer in our world.
People call them the Hottentots. That became a term of derision, a term that meant savage or barbarian, but they called themselves the Khoikhoi, which means men of men, and they were a scary people. In South Africa they were feared. In Cape Town they were feared. They were ruled, at one time, by a man named Afrikaner. Afrikaner was a great leader of men, but a violent man and greatly feared. And though the Khoikhoi are no longer on the Earth, you will get to see some of them when you get to Heaven. You’ll see some of them when you get to Heaven because of a man named Robert Moffat.
Robert Moffat was a great missionary. He was a great missiologist. He was a giant in the field. He studied and taught missions and was himself an expert in missions, and it was Robert Moffat who in the early 19th century in the early 1800’s went to Africa and he ministered to the Khoikhoi. Moffat lead many of them to Christ by the grace and power of Christ. And he even led Africaner to Christ. It’s an amazing thing that Africaner came to Jesus Christ, and as Robert Moffat ministered to him, Africaner completely changed and he literally developed the character of Christ. When Robert Moffat brought Africaner to Cape Town, the people were so stunned when they saw the change that they called it the 8th wonder of the world. But in a sense, the real wonder was Robert Moffat. He was poorly educated, but brilliant. It was Robert Moffat who translated the Old Testament into African language. It was Robert Moffat who translated the New Testament into various African languages. It was Robert Moffat who translated some of the classics of literature including Pilgrim’s Progress. Robert Moffat who translated many of the great hymns of the Christian faith into African dialects so that the people of Africa could enjoy these things. He was a man who lived to share Jesus Christ.
Now in the year 1838, Robert Moffat met another great missiologist. Robert Moffat met another man who was one of the greatest Christians ever to live and that man was David Livingstone. The year 1838 they met in a little church in Scotland. Moffat was on furlough and David Livingstone came to hear him in that little church in Scotland. Moffat was 43 years of age at the time. Livingstone was 25. David Livingstone had graduated from Glasgow University. He was educated in many languages: a master of Greek. Trained in theology, and yes, a medical doctor. Twenty-five years old, he shows up to hear Robert Moffat and Robert Moffat cast a vision of Africa. Robert Moffat tells his audience that Africa is literally this incredibly dark continent and yet beautiful and wonderful and that the people are so great and precious to God. He tells his audience that Africa is like a mission field where the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He said that he could climb a hill in Africa and look out and see the smoke of a thousand villages, none of which had ever been visited by a Christian and he challenged his audience to come and join him.
None of them did, except David Livingstone. He was there, he heard the message, the Holy Spirit touched his heart, and he resolved that day that he would join Robert Moffat in Africa. A few years later, incredibly, David Livingstone married Robert Moffat’s daughter and they took off together to Africa, Of course David Livingstone was an evangelist and he led countless people to Christ. He was a pastor, a medical doctor for the people, and in so many ways he served the people. He was also an explorer and he traveled the African interior in search of the source of the Nile. One of the great men of God.
When David Livingstone died, they found him in his tent kneeling by his cot and he was in prayer when he died. The people loved him so much; they carried him 1,500 miles to the sea where he was brought back to England and buried at Westminster Abbey. They found his diary, and the final entry in his diary, David Livingstone had written these words, “My Jesus, my King, my life, my all, I rededicate my whole self to thee.”
What was David Livingstone dedicated to? What was Robert Moffat dedicated to? They were dedicated to Christ, but they were also dedicated to witness for Christ. That was their consecration. That was their dedication: that they would be a witness to Jesus Christ on this Earth. And that’s our subject this morning, and there’s a sense in which Jesus Christ in his prayer prays for us: that we would all do, in a sense, what David Livingstone and Robert Moffat did, that we would witness to Christ not just in Africa but right here in the United States of America. In our workplaces, in our neighborhoods wherever we are that we would be a witness to Jesus Christ. That’s his prayer for us.
This morning I want us to look at two subjects relating to witness, and the first subject is power. Jesus mentions his power in this High Priestly Prayer in conjunction with this call to witness. Now Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that the Son may glorify Thee. Since thou has given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou has given him, power to give eternal life to all whom thou has given him. Power.” So, as we witness, Jesus wants us to understand he has power to give eternal life. I want you to understand the power he’s talking about. In the Bible, in the New Testament there are two words for power, two Greek words, and it is so important to understand their meanings. The first is the word “dunamis.” This is a word used again and again in the New Testament for power: the word dunamis.
In the ancient world, in the time of Christ, they knew all about the power of volcanic eruption, and it was called dunamis, power. We still understand that power today. We understand the power of volcanic eruption, that is why President Obama in his stimulus package has designated $140 million to the United States Geological Survey. Many millions will go to monitoring America’s volcanoes so that we are forewarned regarding eruption. A lot of people in America do not understand, do not realize that we have more volcanoes than almost any nation in the world. Only Indonesia and Japan have more volcanoes than the United States of America. Most of our volcanoes are in Alaska, or Hawaii, or in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest. We have 169 active volcanoes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 18 of those volcanoes are category five, category five being the most dangerous category, and 36 are category 4.
In 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted and it erupted with the force of 1,600 Hiroshimas, and it just blew the top off the mountain. Dozens of people died, though it was vacated and in a remote area. Forests were just blown down: $2.7 billion was the cost, and yet Mt. St. Helens was nothing as volcanoes go.
Krakatoa, in the year 1883, exploded in the East Indies with the force of 13,000 Hiroshimas. The top of the mountain was blown 17 miles above the earth, and the sound was heard 3,000 miles away. Many scientists and geologists believe that it might have been the loudest sound the human race has ever heard on this Earth. And yet that explosion was nothing compared to a volcanic eruption that took place long ago here in the United States of America: the explosion of Yellowstone.
Now maybe you’re like me, maybe you didn’t even know that Yellowstone was a volcano. We all know that Yellowstone is a geological hotspot, but many are not aware that Yellowstone is a giant caldera. A giant caldera is a class of volcano and Yellowstone is category 5, and it is so dangerous. Yellowstone, when it erupted long ago, sent magma 100 miles in every direction. It covered the earth with magma. And volcanic ash covered the earth from central Canada down to Louisiana and a canopy of volcanic ash enveloped the Earth for years creating a perpetual winter, stopping the process of photosynthesis, killing plants the world over and therefore killing herbivores and therefore killing carnivores in this domino chain reaction. It was devastating to the Earth. Fortunately, Yellowstone, we are told, only erupts once every 600,000 years, so we have that going for us. Except for the fact that it’s been, we are told, 640,000 years since it last erupted, so geologists feel it’s overdue and recently, over the last couple years there has been lots of tremors, and there’s great concern about what Yellowstone is doing and what Yellowstone might do.
But it’s dunamis. It’s power, and in some sense, you understand, it reflects the power of God because God is the creator. He is El-Shaddai. He is God the Almighty. He formed the Earth in the beginning and the Heavens are the work of his hands. And he is omnipotent. So, this word dunamis is sometimes used to communicate the very power of God and of Jesus Christ. Of course, Jesus Christ, Son of God, co-eternal with the Father, shares in that omnipotence. Here on earth as he, who was fully God, became fully man, we don’t know how his power was impacted. We know in Philippians 2 we’re told that he humbled himself, became obedient unto death and took on the form of man, being born in the form of man, and that he emptied himself, it says. The Greek word is “kenosis.” He emptied himself taking on the form of a man, taking on human form, and kenosis means to empty. We don’t know what he emptied himself of; perhaps some of his divine prerogative, perhaps some of his power, and yet, even on Earth Jesus did demonstrate power. The dead lived. The lame walked. The deaf heard. The blind saw, by his power. And it was all dunamis. It was all dunamis.
Now understand, there’s another word for power, and in a sense this other word for power is more important. It’s the word “exousia.” In the New Testament exousia does not refer to raw, physical power such as volcanic eruption. Exousia refers to sovereignty. It refers to authority. You see exousia in Matthew 28 when Jesus says, “All power in heaven and all power on Earth have been given to me.” Exousia. And it’s a reference to authority. “All authority in Heaven, all authority on Earth, has been given to me.” Exousia, and that’s the word that is used in the prayer of Jesus. His last prayer for the church, his High Priestly Prayer, exousia. “Father, the hour has come. Glorify the Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou has given him POWER over all flesh. Authority over all flesh. Power to give eternal life. Authority to give eternal life. Exousia.
So, dunamis has to do with the omnipotence of God and exousia has to do with the sovereignty of God. This is what we see in Jesus in the prayer—the sovereignty and his authority. He’s been given sovereignty over all flesh and sovereignty, authority to give eternal life. This claim is incredible and he’s saying it’s been given to him alone, this power to grant eternal life. This is not PC. This is not politically correct. We’re supposed to say that all religions can grant eternal life, but the Bible says, Jesus himself says, he alone has been given that exousia, that power. He died for the world. He died for the sin of the world in substitutionary atonement. He has power to save whoever he wants to. We don’t judge anybody. But we know this: when we come to him and receive him as Savior and Lord, his power is released. Through the Gospel, when we respond and we come to him as Savior and Lord, his power is released in granting eternal life and salvation. We know that.
So, we are his witnesses. We are his witnesses and we take his Gospel to the nations. We take his Gospel to the world knowing his power is with us. Dunamis and exousia in every sense, his power accompanies the Gospel. Every time I stand up here, or every time I talk to somebody at Starbucks about Jesus, when I stand up here and talk about Jesus, or when I talk about Jesus anywhere else, I know his power is with me. Dunamis, exousia, I know his power is with me. And you can know the same thing when you witness. His power is with you. He wants you to understand that. It’s part of his last prayer for the church. That’s why he in Matthew 28 when he said “all power in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me,” he then said, “Go therefore into all the world and make disciples,” you see, because of his power. I know that in myself I have no power. But you see, when I witness, his power is with me.
Now I want to tell a little story some of you know. Years ago, I was at the Department of Motor Vehicles and I was not in a good mood. In fact, I can say whenever I’m at the Department of Motor Vehicles, I’m not in a good mood. And there were long lines and they told me I would have to wait. They had a bunch of folding chairs set up in rows and I looked for an area where there’s nobody sitting, and I just went over there to be by myself. Sat there and occasionally I’d look around and see people come in, told they had a long wait. One guy came in and he was told he had a long wait and I saw him looking around for where to sit and I saw him look at me. He didn’t know me, I didn’t know him, he had no clue who I was but he obviously likes to sit next to somebody. So, he came and sat down right next to me.
I felt like my space was being invaded. He sat in the folding chair right next to me. A whole row of empty folding chairs, but he came and sat right next me, and I did not say a word to him. I was rude. I just was in a really bad mood. I didn’t say a word to him, but he began to talk to me and he told me his name and so, I gave him my name. Then he began to tell me what he did, what kind of work he was involved in. I didn’t offer that information, but he turned to me and said, “What do you do?” I said, “Well, I’m a pastor.” He said, “A pastor?” I said, “Well, I’m a Christian minister.” And he said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He might have meant that because I’m such a rude guy, but he said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m at this crossroads in my life and I’m wanting to know about Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ. I’d love to hear more about it. I feel like I’m searching and I need to talk to somebody. Would you talk to me?” And so, I did. But I’ll tell you as I witnessed, what I felt was power. Not my power. I have no power. His power. He’d set the whole thing up. God had set the whole thing up! As he began to talk to me and then I began to talk to him, you could just see his heart, you could just sense his heart move, and he gave his heart to Jesus that day. Right in the Department of Motor Vehicles, he gave his heart to Jesus. It’s power, it’s dunamis and exousia.
There is a second teaching this morning, and it concerns predestination. As we witness, we need to understand power. We also need to understand, at least try to understand predestination. Now in John 17:2, in this prayer, Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify the Son that the Son may glorify thee. Since thou has given him power over all flesh, power to grant eternal life to all whom thou has given him.” Then verse 6, “I’ve manifested thy name to those whom thou has given me out of the world. Thine they were and thou has given them to me.” So, there’s these concepts that sound a lot like predestination as you go through the Last Prayer of Jesus Christ for the Church. And you have this idea that Jesus Christ has power to grant eternal life, but he grants it to people who have been chosen out of the world and given to him. That’s the concept you kind of see through this High Priestly Prayer, and that’s called predestination.
Now what I would like to do for a few moments is try to understand in the Christian world how predestination is viewed. Not everyone views it the same. There are the Arminians. The Arminians are those who follow the teachings of Jacobus Arminius, the Dutch theologian who was born in 1560. Jacobus Arminius had a particular view of predestination and he was concerned primarily with theodicy. Theodicy had to do with defending the justice of God and Jacobus, Arminius did not believe that predestination as it is normally viewed. He was concerned with theodicy, defending the justice of God—from “theos,” meaning God, and “dikeos,” which means just. How can God be just if there is evil in the world? How can God judge people if they didn’t have freedom of choice? So, this is the world of theodicy.
So, Jacobus Arminius came up with this solution, that predestination is based on foreknowledge. So, Romans 8:29 says, “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined.” “Those whom he foreknew he then predestined.” Romans 8:29. That’s capable of many different interpretations. But “proorizo” means to predetermine and “proginosko” means to foreknow and Arminius took these two and joined them and he said, “God foreknows the future.” So, God looks through the portals of time. God looks over the future of world history, and he sees, and doesn’t cause, but he sees, those who are freely going to accept him. On the basis of that foreknowledge, he predestines that they will be given eternal life. Okay? He looks through the portals through time. He sees the future. He sees those who will believe in his Son, who will come freely to his Son, and then he predestines that they will get eternal life. So, his predestination is based on foreknowledge. Arminianism. Theodicy. Defending the justice of God, because Arminius said, “Unless we have free choice, how can we be culpable? Unless we have moral volition, free moral volition, how can we be held responsible. How can we be judged when we did not have a choice?” So, this is Arminianism and that’s the Arminian view of predestination.
The second view is Calvinism, and Calvinism is very huge in the Christian world. John Calvin was born in 1509 and died in 1564, just four years after Arminius was born. John Calvin was brilliant, one of the greatest scholars and one of the greatest theologians this world has ever known. If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, I would recommend Calvin’s Institutes, a vast volume on systematic theology. In any event, Calvin developed his view of predestination, and he said it has nothing to do with foreknowledge, it has to do with the sovereignty of God.
Calvin’s views are summarized in the acronym TULIP. It’s an acronym. In Calvinism the ‘T’ stands for total depravity. The whole world is lost in sin and the whole world is depraved: total depravity. The fall of man came by his own free choice, so that we’ve all fallen into sin and we all deserve judgment. The whole world is lost in sin: total depravity. No one deserves heaven because there’s none righteous: no not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We cannot save ourselves. So, total depravity, the world lost in sin: the ‘T’ of TULIP.
Then ‘U’ is unconditional election. God looks down on this world lost in sin. Unconditionally, God elects certain people for salvation. He decides to rescue some of the lost. And it’s not based on anything meritorious in them. From our perspective, it just appears to be arbitrary and capricious, but from God’s perspective it’s all grace. He looks down on a lost world that freely fell into sin and he in grace decides to rescue some. Unconditional election: he elects some, plucks them out of the lost world.
Then the ‘L’ in TULIP: limited atonement. Jesus Christ died for the elect. He didn’t die for the sin of the whole world, but he died for the elect. His sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the sin of the whole word, but effective only for the elect, for those who he had plucked out of this lost world. Those are the ones Jesus died for: limited atonement.
The ‘I’ in TULIP: irresistible grace. The Gospel goes forth to the world and the elect, those who are elect of God, cannot resist it: irresistible grace. The elect cannot resist it, and they cannot resist it because they have been given a special grace.
And then the ‘P’ of the TULIP, perseverance of the Saints, says that the elect, those whom God has rescued out of this world, are given salvation and they can never lose it: the perseverance of the Saints. Once saved, always saved.
Calvinism. That’s his view of predestination. And you can find many Bible passages that would lead you to a Calvinistic perspective. There are some that don’t easily confirm Calvinism, but many do. So, that’s the second view of predestination.
A third view is Barthianism. You’ve heard of Karl Barth, the famous German theologian. Barth brought to predestination the concept of monism. Not philosophical monism, which kind of leads to pantheism, but monism in the sense of “monos,” meaning “one.” Karl Barth said there’s only one who was predestined. There’s only one who is chosen. There’s only one who is elect, and that one is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was predestined and chosen before the foundation of the world. He is the one. Luke 23 says Jesus is called the chosen one. In 1 Peter 2 Jesus is called the chosen one. He is the chosen one, he is the elect one, he is the predestined one, so he alone, in Barthian thought, is predestined.
Now, everyone else in the world who believes in him is called elect or chosen or predestined because they are now in Christ, the chosen one. They are now in Christ, the predestined one, so that everyone who comes to Christ, in this world in any generation, they are called chosen and predestined and elect because they are in Christ who is the elect one. This is an effort to circumvent the arguments between Arminianism and Calvinism, and it’s just another theory. Barthian thinkers take many different individual perspectives.
I think in the final analysis there is a whole bunch of people out there for whom this whole subject of predestination is mystery. “Mysterion:” a very good biblical word, mystery. I think we should come humbly to the Bible. I think we should come humbly to Christian doctrine and Christine theology, and acknowledge what is said in 1 Corinthians 13, that now we see in a mirror dimly; one day we’ll see face to face. Now we know in part, one day we’ll know fully, even as we have been fully known. There is a mystery to predestination. Many have said when you get to Heaven and you see the gates of Heaven, if indeed Heaven has gates (certainly the New Jerusalem does), you’ll see these words: “Whosoever will may come.” And that fits a lot of passages in the Bible. The Bible says God is not willing or wishing that any should perish. The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So, whosoever will may come. But then the idea is you walk through the gates, you turn around and look back, and you see these words, “I chose you from before the foundation of the world.” And there are many passages in the Bible that would support that statement. So, the mystery is a cognitive dissonance where in humility you just accept by faith, this is a complex issue.
Here is what I would say. I lean towards Calvinism, but I would never sign on the dotted line. I think there’s a lot of Bible passages that support TULIP, but I also believe there are some Bible passages that for Calvinism are problematical. And so, I think there is a mystery to the whole deal. But let me say this, I want to leave you with two thoughts. First of all: triage. Triage is so important. You know what triage is? It comes from a French word meaning “to sort”. You go to a hospital to the emergency room, somebody is in charge of triage. How do you sort it out? What comes first? What’s prioritized. Somebody is there with a pencil through the eye, somebody else is there with a bullet in the shoulder.
What comes first? Triage. How do you sort that out? That’s what we need in the church. That’s what we need in the biblical world and the Christian world: we need triage. Now some of you believe that predestination is more important than any other doctrine, and I think you are desperately in need of triage. You see, there are biblically doctrines that are core in terms of orthodoxy. The Cross and the atonement of Christ, the Tomb and the resurrection and Lordship of Christ: these are core doctrines. If you’re Christian you hold to these. There are other doctrines less core that Christians might disagree, and predestination is one of those, so let’s not fight. Let’s love each other. Let’s get along. It’s just tragic that you look at the High Priestly Prayer of Christ and he’s praying for oneness, unity amongst those who love him and believe in him and yet the body of Christ is so split all over the world because of arguments over doctrinal issues that sometimes amount to little more than minutia. Let’s have triage.
A final thought is that however you view predestination, there’s a sense in which it’s very encouraging. When I witness, and when you witness, when you tell the story of Jesus, when you talk to somebody about Jesus, there’s not just the confidence that comes from his power attending the Gospel, but the confidence that comes from, “Hey, the sovereignty of God is involved here!” The sovereignty of God is involved here and there is a promise given that out of this whole world, people will believe. All over the world there are people chosen. Why do we have more than two billion people on the earth right now who at least nominally confess faith in Christ? God must be electing and choosing a lot! Or people from the other perspective must be choosing Christ a lot. You see, there’s a mystery to it all, but in the midst of it all this promise, many are chosen! Many are called. Few are chosen in terms of the global population, but when you get to Heaven, you’ll see many are chosen and there’s a certain joy that that brings to witnessing and it’s pretty exciting.
You know the parable of the sower? You’ve all read Matthew’s Gospel 13, and you know how Jesus told the parable of the sower and the sower goes out to sow and it’s about sowing the seed of the Gospel, and Jesus says, “As you sow the seed of the Gospel, as you witness, some seed will fall on hard ground and the seed won’t be able to penetrate and the Devil will come and snatch the seed away.” And there are some people like that. Their hearts are like that, their hearts are hard ground and, you’ll witness, you’ll sow the seed of the Gospel, but their hearts are so hard they won’t receive them and the Devil will snatch it away. And then Jesus said, “As you witness, and as you sow the seed of the Gospel, you’ll find shallow ground too. You’ll find people who have a layer of soft soil on the top of rocky ground and the seed will penetrate, but it won’t get root because there is just a shallow layer of soil.” And so, the seed will penetrate but it won’t get root. These people, when life gets tough, they’ll just chuck the Gospel. When the going gets tough because they have no root, and there’s going to be people like that, Jesus says.
Then there’s people out there who have thorny soil, he said. And this is soil that is thorn-infested and the cares and desires of life trump everything. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life. The Gospel just can’t take root. It’s thorny soil. But he gave his promise that there will also be good soil. Good soil, he said, that will bring forth fruit many fold, a hundred-fold. And so, you have this great promise in the parable of the sower that as you witness, you are going to find hard soil, shallow soil, thorny soil, but there will be good soil and it will bear fruit sometimes 100-fold. I don’t know how you feel, but that’s encouraging. That’s exciting and I don’t have to examine why do some people have hard soil in their hearts, why do some people have shallow soil, why are some people thorn infested, I don’t have to debate all the theological implications of that. I can just say, there’s good soil and it’s promised and it will bear fruit many fold. So, you have this prayer that we’ll be faithful to witness on the Earth. It’s the prayer of Jesus.
I want to conclude with one story. It’s about Benjamin Harrison. Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States, and he served our country as president from 1889-1893, and during his presidency many incredible things, wonderful things, happened. While Benjamin Harrison was president of the United States, Yosemite National Park was established, and that’s wonderful. While he was president of the United States, James Naismith invented the sport of basketball, and that’s wonderful. While Benjamin Harrison was president of the United States we had the Oklahoma Land Rush, and that was wonderful, incredible. While he was president of the United States, the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Europe. Incredible things happened all over the world, and of course when you look at the span of Benjamin Harrison’s life, many incredible things happened on the earth.
Benjamin Harrison left the White House 1893; he only lived 8 more years. He died in 1901. As soon as he left the White House he went back home to Indianapolis, Indiana. He went back home and he rejoined his church and he became an elder at that church because he loved Christ, and at the end of his life he said there was one night that was more important and greater than any other in his life. It was a night that he was called. Serving as an elder at that church in Indianapolis he received a summons, a message, that there was a student at Butler University (Butler is a university in Indianapolis) who was struggling with the meaning of life and just had countless problems in his life and needed to talk to somebody. They had called Benjamin Harrison’s church and the pastor couldn’t come, and so Benjamin Harrison, as an elder, was asked to go.
Can you imagine the student? He’s asked for help and he needs to talk about his problems, and the Ex-President of the United States shows up in your dorm room. In any event, there he is. And they talk. They talk for hours, and this student just starts talking about all of his problems and Benjamin Harrison just tries to love on him. And the student talks about his questions in life, and what is life all about, and Benjamin Harrison takes him to Scripture and help him understand the purposes of God and the love of Christ.
It gets to be 1 a.m., and Benjamin Harrison said to this student, “Aren’t you ready? Aren’t you ready to ask Jesus into your heart? Aren’t you ready now to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” And the student said, “I’m ready.” And that night at 1 a.m., he gave his heart to Jesus. Benjamin Harrison said, “In my whole life, that night was my greatest night. My greatest night.”
Can you understand that? It doesn’t matter whether you’re President of the United States or whether you collect garbage, a garbage collector, or whether you’re out of work, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you do, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, he has called upon you to witness. He has promised his power—dunamis, exousia—and he is sovereign on the Earth, so let’s be faithful. We look at the prayer of Christ for us, and he prayed that we would be united, that we would be one, we who love him. And he prayed for our souls, that our souls would be always protected and that our souls would also be sanctified. And he prayed for our joy, and as we examine the prayer, we see clearly that that joy is tied to who we glorify and praise in life, and only one is worthy. And then he prayed that we would witness and that others would believe through our message, through our word. Let’s be faithful. Let’s close with a word of prayer.