Do you think we can ever have enough truth?

Famous last words.

You've heard that saying haven't you? People say it literally, meaning Soandso had some last words that have become famous. They say it jokingly, as in, 'Any famous last words?' Something you might want to say to someone going into a tough situation to try and ease the tension. Or maybe seriously, as someone truly heads into danger and they're offered a chance to have a few famous last words, words people will remember, most likely loved ones who cling to every last word of those they love.

There have been death bed confessions and they hold up in court under the pretext that on a death bed a person is trying to square things up with God so they will go to heaven. Those confessions are treasured, or if you will, famous last words.

Jesus' last words were possibly-

Luke {23:46} 'And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.'

Or maybe--

John {19:30} 'When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost'

Possibly--

Mark {15:37} 'And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.'

However, sometimes it's not just the very last words that become famous. How about a famous last known prayer? What was Jesus' famous last known prayer? Do you think it's important? He knew He was going to be crucified. He knew that He'd been sent into the world to die so that He could offer salvation to all of mankind and here He is, the time is drawing near --

John
{17:1} These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee

Can any of us of our own selves be glorified in any way? Not even Jesus could be glorified of His own self. Time and time again He told those around Him that He was doing the will of His Father. Some might argue that their wills were one and the same, but truthfully that only was because Jesus was willing to be submissive unto the Father's will and they matched so completely as Father and Son.

Jesus goes on...

John
{17:2} As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

**
God gave Jesus the power over all flesh, the power to give them eternal life to as many as God wills.

John
{17:3} And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

**
What is life eternal? Knowing the one and only true God and His Son, Jesus Christ whom God sent to them.

John
{17:4} I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

**
Jesus glorified God on earth, Jesus came to reveal God as a reality to people, to strip away all the outer shell that covered their idea of God, layer by layer He peeled back the misconceptions and reveal God's love to mankind. Jesus had a job to do, a mission, and he completed it. His Father was glorified on earth.

John
{17:5} And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

**
Jesus longs for the glory He had with the Father before the world was. It was before the world was even made that the way to salvation was planned. If things didn't turn out like they hoped the plan would be put into action. Well, things didn't turn out like they hoped and so the plan of salvation went into action. Before the world was, before salvation was necessary, or even the idea of salvation was necessary, Jesus wanted to return to the glory with God, His Father. Who can blame Him.

John
{17:6} 'I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.'

**
God from whom all blessings flow gave Jesus those who would keep His word. Jesus did not come to save mankind only to find that none wished to be saved. Since the beginning there were always those among the evil that were good by the grace of God. Those of God's were never wiped out completely. When Jesus took on humanity and came to earth to reveal God's love to mankind, there were those who were ready to receive Him, but more that weren't.

John
{17:7} Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

**
Those following and believing in Jesus know that all things, that all that Jesus was, that He did was of the Father. Jesus never glorified Himself, but always pointed to the Father.

John
{17:8} For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them,] and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

**
Yes, to know the Son is to know the Father, to know the Father is to know the Son. God, the great I AM, the One and Only True God sent His Son to the world to reveal the love that He is so perfectly. You cannot truly love the Son without loving the Father they are one and the same in the principles they stand for. They are so completely one and the same there isn't a single instance where they disagree. Have you ever met someone who said, 'Oh wait till you meet Soandso's mother, they're just the same. You'll see.' Or heard, 'He's just like his father, you'll see.' We understand what is meant by that don't we? That they'll share mannerisms, they'll have traits in common both might be super loving and sweet, or they both might have the same temper, whatever it is there are similarities involved and it's understood what is meant. God and Jesus, Father and Son, truly if you know one you know the other. So those who would like to do away with God and just keep Jesus, for those who want to do away with the Father and just keep the Son, for people who build their religions based on the NEW love of Jesus and not the OLD love of God, I say it's impossible! Impossible! There is no such thing, no way to do such a thing. If you know Jesus, you know God there is no other way around it, none. We have to believe that our Loving Father sent His Son to us, not to do away with Him, the Father, but to manifest to us Him, the Father.

Jesus is praying for those who realize this, for those who believe this--

John
{17:9} I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

**
Jesus wasn't praying for the world. He says so right there. 'I pray not for the world', He's praying for those that God has given him- those that believe that God sent Him to the world and He came and revealed the Father to them. Does this make Him unloving? No! He's given the way, the truth and the life to those who believe on Him and the mission to reveal it to all the world, knowing that they would be reviled, ridiculed, beaten, tortured, killed. He was praying for those who would do the will of God, as He came to the world and did the will of God.

John
{17:10} And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

**
Do you see it?! Do you?! One and the same, glory be to God the Father through the mercy and grace of the Son we can honor Him and glorified Him. We are God's, we are Jesus', there is no separation. You cannot be God's without being Jesus' and you cannot be Jesus' without being God's, it's impossible.

John
{17:11} And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we [are.]

**
Jesus was leaving them and here He was praying to God to keep them, that all would be one. So amazing, so beautiful, so incredible beyond comprehension such love.

John
{17:12} While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

**
All that God gave to Jesus, all who opened their hearts to hear and believe in Jesus, Son of God, Jesus kept, all but Judas Iscariot and that was prophesized. And truly Judas Iscariot never gave himself fully to Jesus believing Him to truly be the Son of God, if he had, he never could have betrayed him. He doubted and eventually acted upon that doubt.

John
{17:13} And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. {17:14} I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

**
They are not of this world.
Do you ever feel like you're not of this world? No, not like you're an alien monster from outerspace, but as if things are just too wrong here, that things weren't supposed to be this way, that this world isn't quite right? You'd be right in feeling that way. 'The world HATED them, because they are NOT of the world... EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD.' We can live in the world without being OF the world, just like Jesus and we know if we live that way we will be hated. You might think that you wouldn't be hated today in the civilized culture we exist in but you'd be surprised at all the persecution that goes on with those who claim Christ as the Son of God and believe in God the Father through Him. Even in so called civilized society there is a certain protocol and if you step beyond it you are called a 'Jesus Freak'. You become known as the ODD one out. Jesus knew that the world would hate those of His whom God gave Him, just as they hated Him, and He prayed for them.

John
{17:15} I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

**Big truth here!!!! Listen up everyone! Jesus wasn't praying for us to be taken out of the world. He wasn't asking His Father to take us all away from the world filled with sin that we are born into. He was asking His Father to KEEP US FROM EVIL. Not to take us out, but to keep us from the evil that would make us one with the world and not one with Him. For us to be in the world, but not of the world. Praise God, Praise Jesus, keep us from evil.

John
{17:16} They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

**
See? To be God's, to be Jesus' we can't be OF this world. This isn't our world. This isn't the world that was meant to be. Anyone that can see the ravages of sin knows this to be true, instead of blaming God for it...see who truly is to blame, Satan. God never intended it to be this way, never. But to keep free will in play and not have a world of robotic people controlled as puppets, every move dictated without a thought of their own, He could not prevent man from falling to Satan's wiles. Satan would have us blame God for all the wrong, to take our eyes off the truth, that it was him who caused all the pain and suffering, his arrogance, his plan to reveal God as nothing more than a cruel dictator. God is not a cruel dictator, He allows free will and this is the end result of free will when the choice to sin is chosen over the choice to obey God, to know that He is love and His way is all that is good and right.

No, we can't be of this world corrupt in sin. We can't.

Jesus asks God to sanctify us, those of us that believe in Jesus and that God sent Him, His Only Son to die for us, to bring grace and mercy to us. Sanctify means to make holy, and here Jesus is asking God to make us holy...

John
{17:17} Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

**
How are we made holy through God? Through HIS TRUTH! What is truth? GOD'S WORD IS TRUTH. Jesus in the truth. In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. And the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Jesus is the WORD.

John
{17:18} As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

**
Jesus was sent to glorify God, so to are all who believe in Him, we are sent into the world to glorify God.

John
{17:19} And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

**
Jesus is holy, the WORD is holy, the TRUTH is holy, we are made holy, we are sanctified through Jesus.

John
{17:20} Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

**
Jesus prayed for you and me. He did. Praise God. Jesus prayed for us!

John
{17:21} That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

**
Yes, Lord Jesus, Son of the Father, the One and Only True God.

John
{17:22} And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: {17:23} I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. {17:24} Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

**
What prayer! What request! Jesus would have us in a place spiritual that He is at. He wants us to behold His glory! The glory God gave to Him before the world was ever made. Glory to God! Glory to Jesus Son of God! Perfect in God, in Jesus, One in Him.

John
{17:25} O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. {17:26} And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it:] that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

**
The love of God in us. The love God loves His Only Son with, in us. Jesus' love, God's love in us. Yes! Please let us know this, let us know you Most Holy Father God, and Son. Glory to God!

And that was Jesus' last known prayer for us...for us. For me. For you. For all who would believe in Him and that the Father sent Him, we believe...we BELIEVE!

This is what happened after the prayer--

John
{18:1} When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. {18:2} And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. {18:3} Judas then, having received a band [of men] and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. {18:4} Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? {18:5} They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am [he.]


**
And He was taken away barely tried, whipped horribly, and crucified all for us.


Do you think we can ever have enough truth? No, never. Jesus is the Truth!

Jesus is the Truth.

Amen.