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Well, greetings to each one of
you in the worthy name of our God. To invite you to turn in your
copy of God's revelation to the gospel according to John and
in chapter 17. Today, as we look at this passage,
it is probably one of the most unique portions of Scripture
in all of the Bible. This morning, Brother Sam read
Hannah's prayer. What a blessing. You know, we
have the prayers of Elizabeth and Simon and Mary recorded in
the Gospels. But today, we have the Lord's
Prayer. And this indeed is really and
truly the Lord's Prayer. The passage where we normally call the Lord's
Prayer in Matthew 6, is actually an outline. It is a pattern that should be
our heart when we pray. He says there, in this manner,
therefore pray. To make the point that it was
a teaching on how to pray. Well, today, though, in our passage,
we literally have the Lord's Prayer. It's an amazing prayer. It's 26 verses. And I was just
struck about how we should look at John 17. Just think about the fact that
it is instructive, but there is no explicit instruction
given to us in John 17. As it is, if you go from John
13, 14, 15, 16, you have all these kind of the last will and almost like His last words
to His disciples in the upper room discourse. But today, I
want to just read all of John 17. Our text then will be verses
1 through 5, but let's read just so we get the context of John
17. John 17, beginning in verse 1, Jesus spoke these words, lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
your son, that your son also may glorify you. As you have
given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life,
that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth.
I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory
which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested
your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world.
They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your
word. Now they have known that all
things which you have given me are from you. For I have given
to them the words which you have given me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came forth from you, and they
have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray
for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they
are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am
glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep
through your name those whom you have given me, that they
may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have
kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these
things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should
take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from
the evil one. They are not of the world, just
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth,
Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world,
I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I
sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe
in me through their word, that they all may be one as you, Father,
are in me, and I in you. that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory
which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just
as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be made
perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me
and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that
they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory which you have given me. For you loved
me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father,
the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these
have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your
name and will declare it, that the love with which you loved
me may be in them and I in them. You know, who am I to speak,
you know, to take this apart and to look at it? But truly,
as you think of this passage of Scripture, it is the parting
prayer that Jesus prayed before going to the cross, and it is
just a beautiful testament of his care for them and of his
desire for them, of his heart for them. You know from chapter
13 where he washed their feet and demonstrated his own humility
and his care for them by physically washing their feet. all the way
through chapter 14, 15, and 16 as he taught them about the coming
Holy Spirit in his ministry and how a comfort that's going to
be to them. What a comforter he will be in
the absence of the Lord. And he would, in a sense, still
be with them through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And now these
words of comfort, as we think of 13 through 17, are culminated
in this prayer. And we must say that this passage,
all of these four chapters would represent maybe some of the most
comforting scripture in all of the Bible. And in this prayer,
have you ever wondered, you know, I mean, would we not, if we wouldn't
have it recorded here, would we not have wanted it to be recorded? We think about, you know, we
have very little explicit content of the Lord's prayers throughout.
And this was, this was, and we know that He was very much engaged
in prayer many times all night. where He went to a place by Himself
and communed with His Heavenly Father. And those are not recorded
for us. But this passage is recorded
for us. And we might ask, well, why is
it recorded for us? Why is it here? This, it is recorded for our
benefit and instruction, but think about it. It is not really
addressed to us. I think we need to try to see
this prayer from outside looking in. Just think about it. It's not addressed to you and
I. It's not addressed to the children
of God. It's addressed to His heavenly Father. It is addressed
to, as He says, Right there in the beginning, he says, Father. And then later in verse 11, he
says, Holy Father. And then in verse 25, he says,
Oh, righteous Father. And you see this, just this,
the passion that is there in the heart of Christ as he's communing
there with his heavenly Father. And we see that from the content
of his of his prayer here is how much that the well-being
of his children is on his heart, isn't it? the well-being and
what he wants for his children is he's interceding. And this
is actually a transitional passage where in the ministry of Christ,
which by the way, Christ still has a ministry, is he is now
moving from an earthly ministry to a heavenly ministry. And chapter
17 is kind of this transitional passage where He moves from his
earthly ministry to what he is currently doing, seated at the
right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, even yet
today. And so here we have, as it were,
this passage of transition. So we come to this prayer from
the outside looking in, as it were, eavesdropping. As we listen in, we could say
on a very private communication, where we hear our Savior's heart
and His requests that He has for us. We do know here that
in this first section, verses 1 through 5, It is marked in my Bible as Jesus
prays for Himself. And we do see that it is largely
He is in focus in verses 1 through 5. That the relationship and
the things that are to happen, that the Father would cause them
to happen. And then verses 6 through 19,
Jesus prays for His disciples. And that may simply mean his
apostles, as they will soon be. They will be his apostles after his departure. And then in verse 20 and following,
we have his prayer for all of those believers who would come
to him. And that would include us here
today, that all I don't pray for these alone, but also for
all those who will believe in me through their word, that there
is a blessing even here for us today that Christ prayed for
us. Christ Jesus prayed for us. He prayed for you and I today. In 2025, this prayer reaches
down through the ages because He is eternal. He inhabited eternity. He's currently in eternity. And His prayer in time, He transcends
time. And so this prayer is for us
today. What a beautiful picture of the
care that we see here. Notice there is nothing here
of, there's nothing here of their weakness. There's nothing here
of their need, necessarily. There's just this heart of, Father,
would you provide for them? Would you be with them? Would
you keep them? Notice that there's a keeping
here. There's a desire for them to
be sanctified. Set them apart, verse 17. Sanctify them by your truth.
Father, I desire, verse 24, that they be with me where I am. So He has literally prayed that
you and I should, that the Father would grant that we would be
with Him in eternity. We would be next to Him, that
we would be beholding His glory. And this is something that that
is of interest, I think, as we look through this, that we'll
come to, and maybe even address some this morning, is this idea
of glory. Because there's a future, Christ
prayed this as if it were already past. He says, I have finished
the work, in verse four. And we know that he was not yet
to the cross, but he prayed in the sense it was as if it were
an accomplished fact. And it was his desire that his
disciples would truly be able to see the glory wherewith he
was going to be glorified. That in the future, they would
be where he is, beholding the glory that is his. Because when
he was here, yes, there were glimpses, weren't there, of his
glory. But he was largely veiled in
flesh. His glory was largely hidden
in the covering of his flesh, even though there were grand
miracles accomplished by his ministry. But his person was
largely not glorified as it would have been in glory, in eternity. As he prays here in verse 5,
glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with
you before the world was. So the flesh, I believe, his
incarnation was largely hiding his deity, his glory. But there would be a time coming
when that would not be true, and that he would truly be seen
as who He is. So we see here, as we think about
listening in to this private conversation, this private communication, we see a view here of the Godhead. Do we not? Do we not see the
priority of our God, of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what
our God planned, and how he is bringing it to pass. We have
a view here of our God. This prayer is the son's communication
with the father, and man's perspective is missing. You know, it's not
couched in terms of how man would perceive this, is it? It's not
prayed from a perspective of man's need, which is such a mark
of who we are. encompassed with our need that
when we find a passage like this, it is not even, you know, yes,
it marks all the things that we receive from him, but it's
not, he doesn't give any, he doesn't give any, he doesn't
give any complaint to his Heavenly Father about the condition of
the disciples, does he? their waywardness, the fact that
they would flee from him in just a few minutes and leave him all
by himself. None of that is here. Chapter 17, I believe, is the
gospel from the divine viewpoint. Here we see how God's perspective
is in relation to the plan of salvation and the sacrifice of
Christ, the glory that he would receive from this work, and how
that these things are applied to us and given to us. And it is the gospel from the
divine viewpoint. And one commentator pointed out
that they believe that this chapter 17 encompasses all of the gospel
of John, that the great truths that we've looked at are kind
of laid out here. And there are so many things
that we could look at specifically. And as scripture, of course,
it is instructive, but its truths are conveyed in such a way as
to leave us in awe of all of our benefits. So you see, not anywhere here
is it asking you to do anything. Do we grab a hold of that fact?
John 17 is not asking you to do anything. It is just laying
out this litany of blessings and benefits that come to us
through the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. That come to us
through His authority, through His power, and through the plan
that God instigated, and the glory that was in the deity,
in the divine, before the world ever was, before we were ever
created. It's far away and greater and
more grand than our conception and our understanding. Our small
minds are almost not able to grab a hold of the great truths
that are here from eternity past and that are ours in Christ. And so John 17 is just full of
the beauty of God's salvation and the benefits that man gets
from them. We see God doing and man receiving,
don't we? Not man doing and God blessing
it, even though we know that the gospel, that salvation is
calling us to that. to a labor, to a work, to a fruitfulness
that God will bless. But here, we're talking about,
in this passage, we are not talking about man's labor. Not at all. Except we do see one man's labor.
We do see the son of man doing, and the sons of man being blessed. The son of man doing. and the
sons of men benefiting." And so we have this prayer, and He
comes to us, and He couches this prayer, and it's addressed to
His Father. And He says, Father, glorify
Your Son. And so there's this beautiful
relationship that we see here between father and son and the
relationship comes out in the accomplishment. We see the relationship
couched in the activities of the two, the father and the son. So in verses one through five,
and this will be our, kind of our area that we hone in on today, is the son himself is in focus
here. Jesus spoke these words, lifted
up his eyes, and, you know, not many times do we see, have we
seen here in John the posture of his prayer. But he lifted
up his eyes to heaven, it says. And he says, Father, the hour
has come. And so this hour, I think we're fairly familiar about this
hour. It is the hour of His suffering.
It is the hour of His sacrifice. It's the hour of His labor. It's the hour of His giving,
I believe, Himself for the sins of humanity. But if you flip
back in John 12 from verse 27, he says, Now my soul is troubled,
and what shall I say, Father? Save me from this hour? That's
the question. Should I say or should I pray,
Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to
this hour, he says. Father, glorify your name. And then in 13.1, as we think
about this hour that the Lord is referring to, the hour has
come. In John 13.1, now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart
from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were
in the world, he loved them to the end. or He loved them to
the uttermost, which is what we see from John 13 all the way
through the end of John 17, is that He loved them to the uttermost. He poured out Himself to the
uttermost for their benefit. He loved them to the end. And
so this hour is more specifically going to be identified in John
18, where He comes to the cross and he's sacrificed and he takes
our sin upon himself through the cross, his cross work. The
hour has come. And so he says, glorify your
son that your son also may glorify you. And this word glorify simply
means to render or to honor as glorious, to esteem glorious. Father, render or esteem glorious
your son, that your son also may glorify you. And so we see
immediately that his prayer was for, yes, it was for himself,
but it was also for the motive was to in turn glorify his heavenly
father. This should be an example of
our prayers. Father, we ask these things of
you that you would enable us to in turn glorify you. And so
the need for Christ was praying that God would glorify him so
that in the end, the Father himself would be glorified by the ministry
and the work of the Son. And that we know. Brothers and
sisters, think about it. How many times when we come together,
every Lord's Day morning, we remember Christ. And when we
do that, it is actually a glorification to the Father and the Father's
plan and provision that He gave for us. And so we see that even
in 2,000 years after this, we see that the Father is still
being glorified through the work of the Son. And so he says, glorify
or render or esteem glorious your son, that your son also
may esteem or render you glorious. And so we have these passages
that we could turn to. And I think of in Matthew 28,
18, he says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and
on earth, therefore go. You know, that's what we call
the Great Commission. Therefore go, because all authority
has been given. That is part of the glorification
of the Son that he is praying for. Jesus said and spoke to
them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and
on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, et cetera. And we have in Hebrews 2, Verses
9 and 10, he says this way, But we see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. that following the suffering
of death he was crowned or coronated with glory and honor that he,
by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was
fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings." We see Jesus crowned
with glory and honor. We have the same principle in
Philippians 2 where we have God exalting him. Therefore God also,
Philippians 2.9, therefore God also has highly exalted him and
given him the name which is above every name. This is following
how he humbled himself as no man ever humbled himself, gave
himself up and was found as a slave, humbled himself and became obedient
to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore
God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of
those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, what? None other than to the glory
of God the Father. And then you have it also in
Psalm 2, where he invites us to come to the Son, to kiss the
Son, to bow down and give obedience to the Son, because he will give
him a rod of iron to rule the nations, in Psalm 2, and it's
a familiar passage. We also have Colossians 1.27, where he says this way, to them
God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. The teaching here of how the
Lord Jesus would be the hope of glory for any and all to come
to God. He is our only hope for glory.
And so, this request for honor was so that the Son would also
glorify the Father. Now, if we keep going here in
verse 2 of John 17, We see that verse two is part
of this glory that the Father has bestowed on the Son. As you have given him authority
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as you have given him. Now, in Matthew 11 and 27, he
says, and that's a familiar passage where he says, come to me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden. Just before that, just before
that verse, he says this. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank you. This is Matthew 11, 25. I thank
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these
things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. And here
is verse 27. All things have been delivered
to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father,
nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to
whom the Son wills to reveal Him." And so, God has decided,
He has given all this authority to the Son. And this is part
of the glorification of the Son, is to have received all this
glory, and He has determined that eternal life must come through
the Son. Notice what he says, all authority
has been given to me over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as you have given him. You know in Isaiah I think it's
in chapter 9 of Isaiah. It says that the government is
on His shoulders. And here we have it practically
working out is that the authority to give eternal life is given
to the Son. The authority to give eternal
life to as many as you have given him, that is given over to the
Son. That the subjects of the Lord's
kingdom are citizens by the authority of the Son. They are citizens
of the kingdom through the work, through the ministry, and by
the authority of what He accomplished. Eternal life is conveyed by the
Son. Here in John 17, 2, we see that
all authority is given in this way. Eternal life is conveyed
by the Son, but it could also mean eternal life is given by
merit of the Son's work, and we know that to be true. That
eternal life is given by merit of Christ, by His work. Notice
how he goes on here, and this is eternal life that you may
know him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the
work which you have given me to do. This is the work. this work of Christ that he's
about to accomplish, and has accomplished even in his practical
righteousness, and then as he goes to the cross and bears our
sins, that is the work that he is finishing. I have finished,
he says, the work. And it is just a few chapters
back, I believe it's chapter 19, where he says, it is finished. It is here that he has accomplished
and finished this great work of buying our salvation, of purchasing
that which was planned in eternity past and given for the sons of
men to be saved. Now I want to back up to verse
two. If we think about this phrase,
there's a phrase here that is a very interesting phrase. I
want to read it again. As you have given Him authority
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as you have given Him. To as many as you have given
Him. That's an interesting phrase.
How do we understand this phrase? The Lord should give eternal
life to the ones whom God would give to him. That is the straightforward
reading of this passage, that the Lord would give eternal life
to those whom God would give to him. Now, it's interesting
that this phrase, to as many as you have given him, It's that phrase or its equivalent
is used six, is used seven times in this prayer. to as many as
you have given him. Seven times we find that in this
Lord's Prayer through John 17. You see it in verse two where
we just read, to as many as you've given him. You see it in verse
six twice. Let me read that for you. I've
manifested your name to the men whom you've given me out of the
world. They were yours, you gave them
to me, and they have kept your word. You see, you've given me
them from out of the world, they were yours, you gave them to
me. Verse nine, I pray for them, I do not pray for the world,
but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Verse 11, We have it again, where
he says, Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name
those whom you have given me, that they may be as one, may
be one as we are. Also in verse 12, we have it
here, While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in your name, those whom you gave me, I have
kept. And none of them is lost except
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And then in verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom
you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which you have given me, for you love me before the foundation
of the world. Now, It is quite obvious that
this is an important phrase in this prayer. Father, these that
you have given me, they are the ones that I will give eternal
life to. That phrase specifically, those
whom you've given him, is a descriptor of those who will come to eternal
life. Those who are his people, they
were given to the Son, and the Son granted them eternal life. That he shall give eternal life
to as many as you have given him. What do we do with this
passage? This is not the first time that
this truth of election has come out in John, in the Gospel of
John, not at all. This is, I believe, the teaching
though of that is that this isn't, this is that those whom who will
come to faith are given to Christ and Christ gives them eternal
life. Now, I want you to drop back
to John 6. I want to read here a portion
just to remind you of something that we've covered before. John
6 in verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me,
I will by no means cast out, or I will certainly not cast
out. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. For I have come down from heaven,
not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This
is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given
Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day." Now, these obviously are people that the Father has given
to the Son, and if He has given them to the Son, the Lord would
raise them up in the last day. This is the will of the Father
who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up in the last day. And this is the will
of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes
in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day. You have it in verse 44 also. No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him
up at the last day. And then in 65 here also of John
six, you have this truth. And he said, therefore, I have
said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted
to him by my father. Interesting truths that indicate,
and this comes back to what was shared this morning. in the worship
time, specifically in regards to the sovereignty of God and
salvation in relation to, if you go in Deuteronomy, later
in speaking about the children of Israel and the Exodus, he
says there, I have brought you out that I might bring you in.
It is an indication that God in His sovereign grace is applying
these truths to His people. And it shows us once again that
we are not, there's no room for man to boast here. There's no
room for man to take credit for his salvation because God is
working this out. Now that doesn't mean that it's
not, that there's not a faith factor here. You know, it's clear
that when He gives them to the Son, that they believe in the
Son. but it is not of their own doing. And we notice also that
if you keep going through this prayer, he says that we are to,
he says, sanctify them, or set them apart, or separate them
from the world. They are not of the world. And
even though, he says, Coming back to this concept of
those whom you have given me, they were yours, you've given
them to me. As if they were His before they
were Christ's and that's the truth. The biblical truth that
they were brought to Christ and Christ
gave them salvation. In Acts 18, we have a practical
outworking of this truth that I think would help us as we work
our way through this doctrine. And if we remember, Paul came, the Apostle Paul in
Acts 18 came to Corinth and he began to preach and teach. And
when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia in verse five,
Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that
Jesus is the Christ. Verse six, but when they opposed
him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them,
your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will
go to the Gentiles. And he departed from there and
entered the house of a certain man named Justice, who worshiped
God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus,
the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
Now, so there was opposition. In verse six, the Jews opposed
and blasphemed against him. He turned and ministered to others
who were more receptive. And in verse nine, it says, now
the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. He says, do
not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I am
with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many
people in this city. Now how was it that there were
many people of God in this city or God's people in this city
when they had not yet heard? And in verse 11, and he continued
there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. You have a similar passage in
1348 where he says this way, Now when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed. And then one of the clearest
passages that teach this truth, because it marries the preaching
of the gospel, the election of God and the belief of, and the
faith of men. It marries them all together.
And I want to turn, I want to show you that passage in 2 Thessalonians
chapter two. As we consider this idea or this
concept, this doctrine, this truth, that there is a truth of election. Brothers and sisters, I do not
pretend to fully understand this truth, but the reality is that
if someone comes to faith, there has been something going on behind
the scenes. It is not, first of all, your
doing. There is a drawing, there is
a calling, there is a bringing in. Notice what it says in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. I really want to show you this
passage. Here is where Paul is teaching,
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren,
beloved by the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose
you for salvation. Now it doesn't stop there. It
says that He chose them to salvation through sanctification by the
Spirit and belief in the truth. You see, there's no election
if those other things are not happening. There's no election
of God's people without the sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth. Notice in verse 14, continuing
here, to which he called you by my gospel. And so you might
ask, well, why preach the gospel if there's such a thing as God
choosing for salvation? Because that is how someone comes
to faith, by the preaching of the gospel. You see, that is
how we're called to the gospel, to salvation, and that's the
mechanism that God uses to bring us to faith. But when we get
there, and we look back and we begin to understand what was
going on in our lives, that it was God in His sovereign grace
calling us to Himself, bringing us to this place of hearing the
gospel, And that's why we preach the gospel. We call you to repent. We invite you to the gospel.
And it's through the preaching of the gospel that the Holy Spirit
takes that word and applies and sanctifies and sets your heart
apart to be His people. And if it were any other way
of coming to salvation, then man could glory. But because
it is sovereign grace, man cannot glory, you see. And so we see,
to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word
or our epistle. You see, all of these things
are, you see all of these truths of persevering, that we're to
hold, we're to stand fast and hold the traditions. You know,
if somebody is not continuing, then there's no proof of election.
You see that? This passage is a beautiful passage
of marrying all of these different doctrines together in a concise
portion of scripture that helps us understand these truths of
how when Jesus said, all that you've given me will come to
me. And of those that you've given
me, I am going to give them eternal life." And we see that in our
passage in John 17. And do I fully understand how
that all works out? It is in God's plan, and it is
in God's election. But we have it here in this prayer. Over and over and over and over
and over again that those whom you've given me That he would
receive them and he would take them out of the world But they
were called he the fathers they were the fathers, but you gave
them to me And so we see here that this
is the work, this is the plan, this is the communication that
Son and Father had together here in this prayer. And this is eternal
life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God,
is knowing Him. As Colossians 3 says, 3.10 says,
that we are renewed in knowledge according to the image of him
who created him. That there's a comprehension
of God. And as one commentator pointed
out, you know, think about this. When God made Adam, he had eternal life, didn't he?
He did. This eternal life was marked
in his fellowship with him, with God. What did he come? In the
cool of the day, God came and walked with them, communed with
them. He enjoyed eternal life with
God because he had it. There was no sin. He knew God. Now, when we come to eternal
life, the Father has deemed that we must also know the Son. Because
that, notice what he says, and this is eternal life, that they
may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, and Him whom
you have sent. You see, there is no going back. to the garden and rectifying
the problem of sin by ourselves. You must know Jesus Christ. You
must come under His authority to come back to this knowledge,
to this eternal life. And this life is a state, it
is not just a state of being or not just a length of life,
but it is a quality of life. that it is an unending eternal
existence, but it is an existence that is marked by knowing and
intimacy. It is marked by fellowship and
interaction and blessing. It is what we call knowing Him.
And so it is, Jesus says, the only true God. He identifies
His Father as, as we well know, the only true God. and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent." Notice too that Jesus refers
himself here as Jesus Christ. It is one of the few times, that
term for Christ is used very much in the epistles, but rarely
in the gospels. And so his dual name, saving
his people from their sins, and the Messiah, the sent one, That
is his full name, and rarely does Jesus refer to himself in
his full name. The apostles did it over and
over, but we don't see it much in the Gospels. And so we have
him saying, I have glorified you on the earth, in verse four,
I have finished the work which you've given me to do, and now,
O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory
which I had with you before the world was. And so, as I mentioned
earlier, the Father, I mean, the Son had an eternal glory
in the past that was veiled currently when He was praying here. But
it's not veiled now. He is exalted in eternity, and
He will forever be exalted, and He will be glorified. And as
one writer pointed out, that if we are here, if we have done
the work that we are sent to do, we can pray as Jesus prayed
here, glorify You know, we have the right to ask for the inheritance
that is ours if we have done the work that He has given us
to do. And that's what we see here. I have finished the work
that you have sent me to do. Now glorify me. Glorify me together
with yourself. And so, we have this prayer of
Christ here in verses 1 through 5. drawing these great truths
together, and we get to listen in. I wanted to just quickly
point out some of these things that, when we read this prayer,
how so much is pointed out as God giving them. In verse two,
he is given the Son, authority or power, that the son should
then give eternal life. And then in verse four, you have
given him a work. And in verse seven, he says,
now they have known that all things which you have given me,
and in verse eight, the words which you have given me, for
I've given them, to them the words which you first gave to
me, And you have in verse 11, the Lord's prayer for the Father's
keeping, keep through your name, or secure them, keep them, preserve
them. It is the keeping power of God.
In verse 12, it is the Lord's keeping, I've kept them. Those
whom you gave me, I've kept them through your name. And then in
verse 13, that they may have my joy fulfilled in them. And
then in verse 17, sanctification through your truth, that word
sanctify simply means to set apart or to separate, to distinguish. It is to have them set apart
by your truth, These are all things that are given to us.
Notice in verse 22, in the glory which you gave me, I've given
them. And then, of course, the love that you have loved me with,
you have also loved them with. This is, it wouldn't be right
to say if it were not written here. But notice what he says
in the end of 23, and have loved them as you have loved me. And then in verse 24, he defines
how he loved him. For you loved me before the foundation
of the world. And when you start seeing this
amazing plan, you start seeing this communication, What part do you play in this? Where do you find yourself here? Don't we just put our hand on
our mouth and we ascribe all glory to God? And we bow our hearts in humble
adoration to what He is doing and how He has amazingly wrought
our salvation. And so I am humbled by this passage. We want to pick up in verse 6
next time, as we begin to look at His prayer in relation to
His disciples or those whom the Lord has given to Him. Let's
pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we marvel here at the words of this prayer. Father, we are amazed
at this communication and the truths that are conveyed to us
and revealed to us in this great salvation that has been accomplished
through your plan and through the Lord's purchase. And so,
Father, we want to thank you, and we want to praise you, and
we want to submit ourselves to this passage, to this truth that
we see here. May we glorify you and never
take glory for ourselves. Father, we commit each one here
to you. We pray that you would, in your sovereign grace, give
us the grace that we need. For your scripture says that
my grace is sufficient for you. So Father, we ask that you would
just make your grace abundant to your children here through
this coming week, that we might in turn glorify you. And then
Father, we pray that you would also apply your grace in a way
that only you can to those who do not know you. And Father,
we commit each one here today to you through Christ, we do
pray, amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Series John's Gospel of Jesus Christ
| Sermon ID | 21625187442122 |
| Duration | 1:00:05 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | John 17:1-5 |
| Language | English |
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