If you're turning your Bibles to John 17, I'd like to spend a few weeks or so considering the Lord's farewell prayer, John 17. Tonight we'll be looking at verses one through five. Lord, help us now as we consider this wonderful portion of scripture. It's amazing to us that we even have this prayer recorded for us in sacred scripture, but you have blessed us through inspiration of the Holy Spirit to possess this intimate prayer of your son to his and our father just before he departed this world through the door of death. So Lord, help us now to enter in and to draw near to Jesus. In his name we pray, amen. John 14 through 16 is Christ's farewell discourse with his disciples. And John 17 is his farewell prayer to his father. What we call a discourse is like a talk or a speech. Speech doesn't sound like the right word. Conversation isn't the best word because it's more Jesus speaking to either his disciples in the upper room or to a group of people like the Jewish people. The discourse is not quite a sermon. We have the sermons of Jesus, like the Sermon on the Mount. So I settled on the word talk. He's talking to his disciples in the upper room to encourage them. The upper room discourse is Christ's farewell to those men whom he appointed as apostles. He spoke to them in the upper room of a large house. And at some point, you remember, they went outside. According to John 14.31, he said, let us be going from here. They most likely went into a vineyard nearby where he discoursed about the vine and the branches, as we have it in the beginning of John 15. When he was finished speaking to them, he prayed, John 17 and verse 1. Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, now they heard the prayer. The Holy Spirit preserved this prayer in their memories. The Holy Spirit enabled them to remember the prayer, just as Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do in John 14, 26, when he promised his disciples that the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. We know that Jesus often went into the mountains to pray. You read about this in Matthew 14, 23, Mark 6, 46. In Luke 6 and verse 12, in referring to his, him going up to the mountains to pray, in Luke 6, 12 says he prayed there the whole night. Once he took Peter and John and James up on the mountain to pray, Luke 9, 28. His prayer life was so rich and so full and so inspiring that the disciples once requested of him, you remember, Lord, teach us to pray. It happened that while Jesus was praying, Luke 11 verse one, in a certain place after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. This was a good development in the lives of the disciples who sometimes learned things very slowly. But this is a feature or an aspect of Christ's relationship to the Father that they really desired to learn. His most intense praying was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed the same agonizing prayer three times. And it was this. My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. And then the resolution, yet not as I will, but as you will. He had instructed his disciples there at that time to sit here until I have prayed, Mark 14, 32. He had hoped that they would be praying with him and for him. that perhaps they'd even be praying for themselves in this situation. But lacking an understanding of the real gravity of the situation and succumbing to natural weakness, they were sleeping. He said, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch, Mark 14.34. But instead, verse 37, they were overcome with sleep. While the prayers in Gethsemane were the most intense prayer of our Lord, the most intense He ever prayed in His whole life, this prayer is the most intimate with God, John 17, at least that we have recorded for us. We learn about how He intercedes for us from our Lord's praying, and we learn how to be intimate with God from our Lord's praying. The intercession, which is what he's doing here, at least in parts of this prayer, interceding for his own disciples, where they are the subjects. This intercession of Christ is a prominent ministry of our Lord, and it's referred to in two major passages in the New Testament, and you're familiar with these. I'll just quote them. Romans 8.34, quote Jesus, Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised. who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. And then also in Hebrews 7 verse 25 we read, therefore he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. His intercession, praying on our behalf, praying for those who either cannot pray for themselves don't know how to pray for themselves and need the prayers of an intercessor, in this case, like our Lord. But he prayed intimately to his father. And we have the privilege in John 17 of listening in to this prayer. It's more than an ancient text. It is that, and we rejoice in the fact that we have an ancient text that has been preserved faithfully through the preserving work of the Holy Spirit for us to guide us, a light, a sure light to which we are to turn, a full and complete revelation, completely trustworthy, infallible, inerrant, will never lead us astray. We have that. But it's more than just an ancient text. It's a living book. Remember Hebrews 4.12, which you read this morning, that the word of God is living and active. And Jesus said, the words that I speak to you are spirit and life. And the words of this prayer are also spirit and life. It's the transcript of the living relationship between father and son in the Holy Spirit. Now, granted, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in John 17, and yet, It's important to make the statement that I just made, that although the Spirit is not mentioned here, it's just Father and Son. Jesus has been speaking of the Spirit in the upper room discourse, but more importantly, turn to Luke 10 and verse 21 for a moment. Luke 10 and verse 21. I'm going to say that Luke 10 and verse 21 is the governing statement about Jesus praying in the spirit. When Jesus prayed to his father, he always prayed in the spirit. At that very time, he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you, O father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. So Jesus is speaking to his father in John 17 and he's praying in the spirit. So let's look at the first part versus one through five. Follow as I, as I read it, Jesus spoke these things and lifting up his eyes to heaven. He said, father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the sun may glorify you. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. So I don't have points in this message tonight, but just going to take it verse by verse, subject by subject, if you will. So the first thing we wanna talk about here is how Jesus was looking up into heaven. Lifting up his eyes to heaven. We usually bow our heads and close our eyes when we pray. Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. When we look up into the heavens, we see the expanse, and it thrills us. We don't look up enough. In the night, we see the stars with the aid of a telescope. With telescopes, we can see perhaps the galaxies. Years ago, I gave my wife a book as a gift called Night Sky. And she recently took it out. She took it with her to Florida and was reading it there and has been reading it. And so she's been telling me lately all about the night sky and what you see and what it means. But when we look out, we feel the weight of the world out there that is the weight in the sense of glory. We see the glory out there. And if we stop long enough, we're reminded of the smallness of the world down here. You remember the psalmist had this experience when he said in Psalm 8 verses 3 and 4, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him and the son of man that you care for him. But consider what Jesus saw when he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Have you ever thought about that? What did he see? Did he see only what we see? Now, we know that God is not far from us. We know that His Spirit fills the expanse of space. With regard to the Holy Spirit's relationship to the space, the immensity of the universe, I refer to it as His spatial sovereignty. He is sovereign over space, the Holy Spirit is, because He moves through all of space. Psalm 139 speaks about this, the movements of the Spirit in space. The Spirit is and moves throughout the created universe, yet we look up and cannot see Him because we are finite. But Jesus, when He looked up, I believe He saw God. He saw His Father. He spoke to the Father in a way that we cannot now speak to God in heaven. He spoke seeing Him. If we say that heaven is in the fourth dimension, which is a viable explanation, a realm that does exist, but in a dimension that is not available to us as creatures, then we can say that he had access to that dimension, to that realm. He could see it. He could interact with it while yet being as we are in a three dimensional world. But however we describe the relationship to God's omnipresence, which we know to be true, whether it is another dimension or something else, the point remains that Jesus could see it, even though his humanity kept him outside of it. So he was looking up to heaven, father and son. Let's consider father and son. This is the intimacy of the farewell prayer. of the father and son relationship. Father and son relationship is a created or a creation relationship. Father and son or mother and son or parents and son, all the same. These are creation relationships. This is one of the main ones. Another one is marriage. The relationship that makes two into one. But there are other relationships, like brother and sister relationship. which is also a creation or adoption relationship. Friendships are yet another relationship that binds people together. But the intimacy of father and son, Jesus and his father is a Trinitarian relationship, so it's different. Unlike our created relationships, father and son in the spirit, it's a great mystery. And our purpose tonight is not to try to delve into that mystery, but to understand the prayer. of the son to the father at this time, just prior to his death. Then you have the cross. You may be thinking, well, the cross isn't mentioned here in the passage that you read, but it is mentioned in verse one, when he said, father, the hour has come, glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. This is a reference to the cross. Although the word is not used, Jesus is praying, glorify your son on the cross, that I may glorify you through the cross. Turn back to John 13, you see the truth of this. John 13, 31 and 32. John 13. All of this, of course, is the upper room, John 13 through 17. John 13, 31, Therefore, when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him immediately. Skip down to verse 36. Simon Peter said, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later. Peter said, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you? Lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times. Where was Jesus going? He was talking about the cross. That's why he said to Peter, you can't go with me there. You cannot lay down your life. Peter foolishly said, I will lay down my life for you, meaning that I will protect you. I will guard you from your enemy. But he was completely missing the entire point. Where Jesus was going was the cross. He did say, you will follow me later. And tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down in his later life, near the end of his life. That's how he left this world. And so Jesus spoke about this. You will follow me later. But the cross is Christ's sole work. That is, only Christ can go to the cross. Peter would die an apostolic death by crucifixion, but Peter's death was not an atoning death. Christ died as a sacrificial substitute and brought glory to God. So we come then to the next thought in this introduction, the beginning of this prayer, which is the granting eternal life. Verse two, you gave him authority over all flesh that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. To all whom you have given him, me, the son, he, the son may give eternal life. Salvation is all of God. He chooses, He assigns sinners to the Savior. Each one is the Savior's assignment, and it's His assignment to save each one that the Father has chosen and assigned to the Savior. Salvation here, is seen as the father giving sinners to the son and the son giving authority to the sinners based on the authority that has been given to him. We, usually in evangelism, indicate that people have to make a choice for Jesus. They have to decide. I even asked this morning, do you want to go to heaven? Just to stir up people to think about where they're going to think about the gospel offer that is given to them, but really, going to heaven is not a choice that we make. It is an invitation that we accept. It is an invitation that we have been granted. It is granted on authority possessed by Jesus Christ, and that's the meaning of his words in verse two, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life." This is the same truth that John, the gospel writer, stated in the introduction. You remember John 1, verses 12 and 13, where he was talking about those who rejected him, his own people did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The next subject that we see here is in the prayer is knowing father and son. Verse three, verse two, Verse three, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and, I might add then, and know Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Again, back to some basic questions here. What is eternal life? Are we to think of it as a home that never ends? Yes, in a sense, it is a home. It is our heavenly home. But that's not what he says here, you notice, in verse two. He gives it a different definition, a different description. He's not denying that it is a home, because he said in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you. So it is a place, but it's more than a place. You must understand it first as a relationship, knowing. God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. You remember how the Apostle John in his first letter said this in 1 John 5 20. He said, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true and his son Jesus Christ. He says now this is the true God and eternal life. This is eternal life. The proper answer to the question, what is eternal life? Is this. At least this is the start to know God and to know his son, Jesus Christ. And then you have the subject of finishing the work. Verse four, I glorified you on the earth, having finished the work which you have given me to do here. It's not only the union of the divine Trinitarian persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in essence, but also Trinitarian purpose, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work as one to save sinners. It takes the whole Trinity to save a sinner, one and said. But notice in these words, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. That this was a difficult assignment for Jesus to finish. We shouldn't get the idea that, well, Jesus is God, and he can do anything. He's omnipotent. He can just breeze through this. Now, this was a difficult assignment, and it's good to reflect on the difficulty from time to time. Why would it be difficult for Jesus if Jesus is God? And if anything is nothing is too difficult for God. Well, I'll tell you some of the reasons why it was difficult. It was difficult because he needed to leave the dwelling of eternity. And even as he speaks here on the earth in this prayer, he's looking up into heaven. He's speaking about coming into the earth and now going back to his father. This is his home. So this was difficult. He needed to leave the dwelling of eternity. It was also difficult because he needed to pass through the stages of human conception, birth, and development. We can hardly imagine this part of the incarnation, that he was truly an infant, with the mind of an infant. And he had to pass through all the stages of development, just like any other child, because he was truly a man. It was also difficult because he needed to face rejection by those whom he created, by the nation that he chose, and give up the body through an agonizing physical ordeal of death by crucifixion. These are some of the other reasons why this was a difficult assignment. It was also difficult because he needed to experience human sin and temptation and personally interact with demonic forces who were opposed to him. and even testing him and tempting him. So it was not just a matter of Jesus being God, breezing through this assignment without any pressure, pain, perplexity, sorrow, grief. He experienced all of these things. And he says, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Finally, you see the subject of eternal glory in verse five. Now, Father, That is, I finished the work, now Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I believe he's thinking of something different here than he was talking about in verse one. When he said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. He's referring there to an act that is the act, the one act of righteousness, which Paul calls it in Romans 5. He's referring in verse one to the act, to the cross. It's different in verse five. He's referring to the glory which he had before the world was with his father. And he's going to talk more about that as the prayer goes on. In his prayer, he indicates that this is the first part of the reward for his faithfulness. the return to the glory which he had with the Father in the Spirit, not before the incarnation notice, but before the world was. Father, we stand in awe of our Lord Jesus speaking to you in heaven in this magnificent prayer. And Father, help us today, the week ahead and in the weeks ahead contemplate the significance that this prayer has for us in our intimacy with you and even our intercession for others. Just as our Savior intercedes for us, we, Lord, want to intercede for others. So thank you, Lord, for coming to us tonight Thank you for warming our hearts with this intimate prayer. We praise you through Christ our Lord. Amen.