open up to John chapter 17. John, the chapter that we're
in this morning is 17. We'll be here for some time.
We're looking at the high priestly prayer of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. And in John chapter 17, So this is really a part two
of what we began last week of the high priestly prayer of Jesus.
John chapter 17, I'm gonna read to you verses one through five.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the
Son may glorify you. Since you have given him authority
over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given
him. And this is eternal life, that
they know you, the only true Christ whom you have sent. I
glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you
gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in
your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the
world existed. Father, thank you for this prayer
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the depth of
this prayer, the transparency of this prayer, the requests
that we see in this prayer. I pray that we would be encouraged
today, that we would be challenged today, that we would be lifted
up today as we consider the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to his
Father. Open our eyes so that we may
see your truth and open our hearts that we would want to apply some
of the principles that we'll discuss today in our own hearts.
And we pray this to the glory of the Father in Jesus' name.
Amen. Well, the high priestly prayer
of Jesus here in John 17 is the most if not one of the most,
amaze the Bible. J.C. Ryle said about John 17,
the chapter we have now begun was the most remarkable one in
the entire Bible. It stands alone. There is nothing
like it. Martin Luther said about it,
quote, this is truly beyond measure, a warm and hearty prayer. Jesus
opens the depths of his heart, both in reference to us and to
his father. He pours it all out. It sounds
so honest, so simple. It is so deep, so rich, and so
wide. No one can fathom it. The truth
is, this is not Jesus's first prayer in the Bible. Vocal prayer
from Jesus to His Father was something that Jesus did on a
regular basis. The problem is, is that none
of these prayers that are contained in the Bible are as full in volume
and in depth as this prayer that we're looking at this morning.
For example, we're told in a lot of places that Jesus prayed,
like in Mark 135, and rising very early in the morning while
it was still dark. He departed and went out to a
desolate place and there he prayed. In Luke chapter 6 verse 12, in
these days, he went out to the mountain to pray and all night
he continued in prayer to God. Oh, we know Jesus was a man of
prayer. But we don't know what he prayed in those two accounts.
And when we are told what he prayed, it's typically just one
or two verses, like in John 11, 41, when he lifted his eyes to
heaven and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And
then he raised Lazarus from the dead. Or in Luke 23, verse 34,
while he's on the cross, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. So sometimes we're just told
Jesus prayed, we don't know what he prayed for. prayed all night
for certain things. Maybe he's praying for you all
night. Maybe you got his attention for what you would be going through
in your life, but we know he prayed a lot, and then when we
do hear his prayers, it's just a sentence here, a sentence there,
till we get to John 17. And here in John 17, we have
26 verses that unpack for us the son's heart as he prays to
his father. This prayer is overflowing with
passionate, heartfelt, doctrinally sound, and earnest content from
our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're going to examine
this high priestly prayer of Jesus in three parts. Part 1,
verses 1 through 5, Jesus prays for himself. Part 2 will be verses
6 through 19, Jesus prays for the apostles. And then part 3
will be verses 20 to 26, Jesus prays for Today we'll wrap up part one,
how Jesus prays for himself. And I'll take this part one,
verses one through five, and I'm gonna break that down for
you. We started last week, I'll give you just a real quick recap
of last week, and then we'll dive into two other headings
that we'll look at together this morning. But I would say this
as we dive into John 17. You can tell a lot about a person
by the way that person prays. And as we see and listen to the
heart of Jesus, we see his holiness and his humility like never before. John chapter 17, verse one, the
first part here is the priority of Jesus's prayer and notice
he's addressing God as Father. Verse 17, excuse me, chapter
17, verse one, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted
up his eyes to heaven and he said, Father. We talked last
week about what a beautiful way for the son to address his own
father. He calls him who he is. He's
his father. What a beautiful thing. Jesus
was God's son. It was appropriate for God as
father. And not only was it appropriate for Jesus to address his father
as father, We also have that same privilege of praying to
God as Father, and Jesus taught us that in the disciples' prayer
of Matthew 6, verse 9, when he says, We were reminded last week,
you have a Father who created you. You have a father who loves you.
Some of us didn't have a great father on this world. In this
world, your earthly father, maybe your father died early, maybe
he was a mean dad. I don't know what your situation
is, but if you're here today and you're in Christ, you have
a heavenly father who loves you, who wants to commune with you,
and who listens attentively to your every prayer. What a joy
that we can reach out to God as our father. Not only does
Jesus address God as Father, but acknowledging that his hour
has come. And right there in the middle
of verse one, Jesus says, Father, and then he says, the hour has
come. And we talked about how throughout
the Gospel of John, he's like, my time has not come yet, my
time has not come yet, my time has not come yet. And then all
of a sudden, he's like, all right, it's here. My time has now come. This would be Jesus' greatest
trial, but it would also be our Lord's greatest triumph. Trials
always come. in God's perfect timing, and
the trials that you're experiencing in your life right now are not
by accident, and they're not too early, and they never show
up late. They show up exactly when God wants to bring them.
We never think trials are at the right time, do we, in our
own life? The car breaks down, something happens with this or
that, and you're like, oh, not this week. Like I've got jury
duty this week. Are you kidding me? Like who
in the world wants to go to jury duty? I want to see your hands.
If you want to go to jury, you can take my place right there,
sir. You can take my place this week. Hopefully I'll have to
call in tonight and I won't have to go. But I guess it's not that
big of a trial, right? I should be a citizen who wants
to serve our country and pray for a godly opportunity. But
all I got to do is be like, I'm a pastor. I believe in the Bible. And they're going to be like,
Max, get this guy out of here, right? We'll see what happens.
But you know, I'm just saying that the trials that we have
in life, they always come at the exact right time. The cross came at the right time.
Your crisis is coming at the right time. Never a good time,
maybe, from a human point of view, but it's always the right
time when you're trusting in God. This trial, obviously, is
the beauty of redemption. The fact that Jesus would give
up his life for you. Aren't you grateful that Jesus
knew and recognized that his time had finally come? And then
last week, we looked at how at the end of verse 1, Jesus was
asking to be glorified in order to glorify the Father. At the
very end of verse 1, he says, Now, last week after church,
I was driving and I asked my kids, hey, what did you learn
today in the sermon about Jesus's high priestly prayer? And someone
in the car told me, dad, I learned that I need to pray to myself. And I'm like, who taught you
that? You did. And I'm like, I didn't say to
pray to yourself. I said, it's okay to pray for
yourself. So I just want to clarify with
you this morning, because we thought that was kind of funny.
We started laughing in the car, like, oh yeah, we're going to
pray to myself. That's what the pastor taught about this morning. So
Jesus isn't praying to himself. He's praying to God for himself,
and at the end of verse 1, again, we see he's praying for what?
That God would glorify the Son. In fact, another family member
at that time piped up and said, didn't you also say that we should
pray for God to glorify us? And I'm like, no, I was actually
saying that we're not to pray that God would glorify us. We
can't actually pray that. We're supposed to be praying
that this prayer is, God forgive me and my trespasses as I forgive
those who trespass against me. So we're to be praying the disciples
prayer of Matthew chapter six. Jesus alone is able to pray this
high priestly prayer of John 17, and yet we can learn some
similarities, like we can call out to God as Father, and we
can also just say, God, help me to realize that today is the
day you've ordained for me, and whatever trial I face, I want
to face it trusting in you. And I would also say, if you
did want to say, is there any application to verse one, I would
just say, maybe you could say something like, Father, be glorified
in me so that I might glorify you. And so maybe that's something
that we could take away from this. God, just would you be
glorified in my life? All of my pluses and all of my minuses
and all of my good days and all of my bad days and whatever's
happening. God, I just want you to be glorified in my life because
my life is all about giving you glory. I wanna receive from your
hand everything that you have because I wanna be so focused
on the glory of God. And so if there is a takeaway,
it's sometimes our prayers are too earthly focused. God, I need
this. God, I want that. God, how about
this? How about that? Instead of just saying, God,
I just want you to be glorified. Whatever you choose to give and
whatever you take away, I will sing, blessed be the name of
the Lord. You are a good God. I just think
there's too many times in our prayers we kind of dumb it down.
We get back into just those earthly needs. I'm not saying don't pray
for those things. Absolutely pray for those things.
Just connect it with, but God, I just want what you want. And
in my trial today, I want you to be glorified. And with this
request, a deeper, greater request would be that you would receive
glory for whatever happens. Well, how exactly does the son
glorify the father as he's praying this at the end of verse one?
How does he glorify the father? I would say Jesus glorifies the
father by his perfect obedience. The father is glorified by Jesus's
crucifixion, his resurrection, because all of this shows that
the plan of the father was perfect. This all shows that the power
of the father was unstoppable. The provision of the father was
sufficient. The purpose of the father was
completed. All of this points to how when the Son is glorified,
the Father will also be glorified. And so when Jesus prayed, glorify
me, he was not only thinking about the hour of his death,
but I believe he was thinking about the entire consummation
of his entire existence, his ministry on earth, and going
back up to be with the Father. I think he was thinking about
the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the coronation
of himself in the throne room of heaven. I think all of that
was going on when he says, now my time has come to be glorified. So he's praying clearly, glorify
me. In fact, I would say that you
can't really experience the glory that God wants to display in
your life, experiencing the suffering that he brings in your life.
So oftentimes in the Bible, suffering is connected with glory. We're
humbled through our suffering so that God may be glorified
in our trial. And that's how Jesus prayed,
or how he mentions part of this prayer in John 12. I told you
he didn't pray long, but he prayed very powerfully. In John chapter
12, 27 to 28, Jesus said, now my soul is troubled, And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this
hour. Father, glorify your name. Well, there's the example right
there. He's saying, hey God, I want you to be glorified. I'm not
just asking that that would be removed from the trial. I'm asking
that you would be glorified in my trial. We understand that
when Jesus prayed in John 17 that the Son might glorify you,
he means that the hour of crisis is here, and Jesus was not asking
that God would deliver him from the pain. He's asking that God
would be glorified in the pain. It was for the joy set before
him that he was willing to endure the cross. Jesus was never truly
seeking to avoid the cross. He just wants to pray that God
would be glorified in the cross. Jesus knows that the glorification
of the Son, through all that he is about to experience, will
lead to the Father being glorified as well. Now, I wonder when you
are entering into a trial and you're starting to realize whether
it's a sickness or a financial crisis or a relationship that's
in shambles, and you realize this is going to be a trial,
I wonder if in that very moment your first thought is like, just
get me out. Or in that very moment, you're like, all right, Lord,
this is going to be tough. I can't do it without you. And
I'm praying that you would be glorified through this whole
map. God, we're asking that you would be glorified. Teach me
what you want me to learn. Help me to respond as Christ-like
as I can. I believe that's part of what's
going on here is that Jesus is just like, I just want God to
be glorified. I mean, in the cross, we see
the culmination and the climax of the entire work of redemption. In the cross, we see Jesus manifest
his perfect obedience, his infinite love for sinners, and his power
over the prince of this world. This obedience, love, and power
reflects glory on himself, and on his father. You can't really
have one without the other. With no cross, you really wouldn't
have Jesus being glorified to the degree that he was glorified.
So in your life, just realize when you're going through that
trial, you're praying, God, be glorified in me. You're not saying
glorify me. And you're not praying to yourself,
just to clarify, you're praying to God that He would be glorified
through your life, and that whatever is going on, that He would receive
all the glory. That's really the priority of
Jesus's prayer, that we would see from the very first verse
of all 26 verses, He just wants God to be glorified, and that
ought to be the priority. of our prayers as well. Well,
now that we've seen clearly the priority of Jesus's prayer, let's
look at our second heading in verses 2 through 3, and let's
look at the promise of Jesus's prayer. Your first blank there,
if you are taking notes, just says this, Jesus has received
all authority from the Father. Verse 2, Jesus in prayer says,
So here we see Jesus has received, first of all, all authority from
the Father. Jesus doesn't hide the fact that he's been given all authority. In fact, that is exactly in the
Great Commission of Matthew 28, verse 18, and Jesus came and
said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Please note, Jesus didn't say
partial. authority. He didn't say that
I have some authority now and I'm going to get some authority
later. Jesus has all authority over the devil. Jesus has all
authority over heaven and earth. Jesus has authority over all
flesh. Jesus has authority over all
mankind. And let me just show you quickly,
if I can, eight ways that Jesus manifested the divine authority
that was given to him by his Father. You see, I'm listed for
you there. Number one is this, Jesus has divine authority in
his teachings, in his teachings. Just listen, Matthew 7, 29, as
one who had authority, not as one of their scribes. So Jesus
has divine authority in his teachings, number two, and his healings.
Luke 4, verse 39, and he stood over her and rebuked the fever,
and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Number three. He has divine authority
in his exorcisms. Luke chapter four, verse 36,
and they were all amazed and said to one another, what is
this word? For with authority and power,
he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. Number four,
he has authority over traditional Jewish customs. traditional Jewish
customs. Matthew 15 verses 1 through 3,
then the Pharisees and the scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem
and said, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders
for they do not wash their hands when they eat? And why do you
break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? So Jesus has all authority over
the customs of the Jewish people. Number five, he has authority
in the cleansing of the temple. John chapter 2 verses 14 through
16, in the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep
and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip
of cords. He drove them all out of the
temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the coins
of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those
who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's
house a house of trade. You know how sometimes it's fun
to act out Bible stories at home. You're reading the Bible and
it's apparent you're trying to get kids involved. It's a pretty
good one to do right here. Put some stuff on the table,
get some coins out there, have somebody be appointed to take
that whip and drive. Your kids will love it forever.
That'll be like their best Bible study they've ever heard. But
you remember, it's not just a fun time. It's authority. I mean,
Jesus is cleaning house at the temple in another place. He said,
my father's house will be called a house of what? of prayer, he
needed to clean it up, he has authority over the temple. Number six, what else does he
have authority over? He has authority in the forgiveness of sins. Mark
chapter two, verse five, and when Jesus saw their faith, remember
this is when the paralytic was coming, had his four friends
that couldn't get to Jesus, it's so packed out, they climbed up
on the roof, they dug out some timber, they dug out away some
tiles, they lower this man down, and as soon as he gets lowered
down in front of Jesus, the first thing that he says to him is
he says, sons, your sins, forgiven. Son, your sins are forgiven.
It always amazes me. You got to think the whole reason
they're there is to get the guy healed. This is a healing service
at the first century. Let's get that brother in there
and get this guy healed. And Jesus is a powerful reminder
that Jesus has that authority to forgive sins. Number seven,
your next blank, he has authority in judging the world. He has
authority in judging the world, John 5, 27, and He has given
Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. Clear reference to the Father
giving the Son the authority to execute judgment over the
world. And then number eight says that
in his death and in his resurrection, he certainly has authority over
that. As he clearly said, Jesus did in John 10, 17 and 18, for
this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life
for him. that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down,
and I have it up again, this charge I have received from my
Father." Now, there's just eight quick ways that manifest the
authority that Jesus had in relating to all flesh, to all humankind,
on all things. And so not only do we see that
Jesus has authority over all flesh, let me be a little bit
more specific with this next blank. We also see that Jesus
exercises that authority by saving those given to him. Jesus exercises that authority
by saving those that are given to Him. The middle of verse 2,
He says, has authority over all flesh to do what? To give eternal
life to all whom you have given Him. Not only does Jesus have
authority over all flesh, but He has authority to give eternal
life. to whom He chooses." Eternal
thing that you earn. It's something that you are given.
Eternal life is not something that you deserve. It is a free
gift of God through Jesus Christ, and He gives it to whomever He
wants. And whom He wants are all those
that the Father has given to Him. And that's why Jesus says
that He is the one who has the authority to give eternal life,
and He does so to all those that the Father has entrusted to the
Son. Jesus was the Lamb of God. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. Jesus is our atonement. Jesus is our substitute. Jesus paid our sin debt. Jesus
accomplished what no other man would ever be able to accomplish
by fulfilling God's law perfectly, and he paid for our sins completely. John says it this way, Hebrews
10, four, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats
to take away sins. You understand that no sacrifice
of any animal ever cleansed you of your sins. It's a foreshadowing
of Jesus Christ who, as the Lamb of God, His blood that was shed
does cleanse you of your sins. And only His blood, because only
He was perfect. Hebrews 10, 12, in that same
motif, says, but when Christ had offered for all time a single
sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Father.
Hebrews 10 verse 14, for by a single offering, he has perfected for
all time those who are being sanctified. So here's how this
works. The father has given all authority
to Jesus, and the father has given all those whom he has chosen
from eternity past, and he gives them, the son has now been given
authority to save all that the father has given to him. And Jesus says it this way in
John 10, 27. Maybe you want to flip back to
that familiar passage with us if you want. John 10, 27 through
29, Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they
follow me. I give them eternal life and
they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my
hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all
and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's So again,
we see again throughout John, Jesus is saying, hey, the Father
has given all the sheep to me that he wants me to save, and
I'm the good shepherd, and I'm the door, and I'm the way, the
truth, and the life, and I'm gonna save all of those that
the Father has given to me. He's given me now authority to
save them. And if you're here today, and
you are a Christian, you are in God's flock, and you are one
of his own, and Jesus says that you are one of his sheep, And
His sheep know His voice, just like a baby knows the voice of
its mother, and a child can recognize the voice of his father. Every
born-again Christian knows the voice of the Good Shepherd. And
the Father has given the Son authority to save all those that
He calls to Himself. It's Jesus. It's His decision.
You say, well, I thought it was the Father's decision. Well,
it is the Father's decision, but it's also Jesus' decision
because they never make decisions apart from the divine counsel
of God from eternity past. And we're just seeing different
nuances of how you're elected before the foundation of the
world that God did that. But at the same time, God, the
Son, Jesus, is saying, hey, I've been given all authority. to
now go and to execute that redemptive plan that would eternally pass,
and here's His promise, 1 John 2.25, and this is the promise
that He made to us, eternal life. That's what Jesus wants to give
to us, right? Jesus Christ promises to save every person who confesses
their sin and looks to Him by faith. No one will perish. Not one will be snatched out
of his hand. Not one will be lost. all who call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. And yet somehow we understand
that this happened in eternity past. And now the son is executing
this authority by saving all those that the father has given
to him. And we'll see Jesus teach this
truth time and time again. In fact, here in John 17, skip
down to verse six, John 17, verse six, Jesus says, I have manifested
your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Verse 9, I am not praying for
the world. Please note here, he didn't say
I'm praying for every single person in the world. Not in this
prayer. He says, I'm praying for them.
I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given
me, for they are yours. Verse 24, Father, I desire that
they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am. Earlier in John 6, 37, Jesus
prayed it this way, all that the Father gives me will come
to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. John 6,
39, and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose
nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last
day. Now, all of these verses teach
us that eternal life is a gift. The Father gave Jesus authority
to give this gift of eternal life. And if you are here today
and you are a Christian, then this is an amazing truth that
we cannot deny. I mean, you cannot say, well,
I chose to give myself to God. Sometimes that's the lingo that
we use, and it always just causes me to pause for just a minute.
What do you mean you gave yourself to God? Jesus says he gave himself
to you. Now, I understand what they might
mean, like I'm giving up my life, and my life now belongs to God.
So in one sense, it's still okay to say that, but I'm just trying
to clarify, you did not give yourself to God in the same way
that he gave himself to you. I had nothing to offer him except
filthy rags. I did not give my life to God,
he gave eternal life to me. I was dead in my trespasses and
my sins, but God, being rich in mercy, made me alive together
with Christ. That's what he did. And it doesn't
ultimately depend on human will. I mean, Romans is clear. So then
it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has
mercy. So God determined before the
foundation of the world that in love he would predestine you
If you're in Christ today, he would adopt you as his son and
as his daughter, and he would do it according to the purpose
of his will. You can take no credit for your
salvation. In your own power, you had no
claim on eternal life. You and I were enemies of God.
We were following the course of this world and following the
prince of the power of the air. We were by nature, Ephesians
2 says, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God
changed all of that. And He changed that by loving
us anyway. And He determined to give us
eternal life. And He sent His Son to accomplish
redemption. And He gave us His Son. and he
gave his life so that he could save us from our own sin. And Jesus breathed life into
our spiritually dead souls, and he removed our heart of stone,
and he gave us a heart of flesh, and our hearts were awakened
to the love of God. J.C. Ryle says about this, he
says, the keys of heaven are in the hands of Christ. The salvation
of every human soul is at his disposal. Well, Jesus had authority
to do this, and so He did. He gave eternal life to all of
those whom were given to Him. And what is this promise again
of Jesus' prayer? Jesus has received all authority
from the Father. Jesus exercises that authority
by saving those that were given to Him. And then one last thing
here. Jesus explains, your next blank, he explains the meaning
of eternal life. There in verse three, and this
is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. Millions and millions of people
who don't understand this clear message of the gospel. And the
reason that we are a mission-minded, mission-sending church is because
of this truth of eternal life. The theme verse of this gospel
that we're studying, the gospel of John, is John 20, 31, that
these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name. The whole point and purpose for
John writing this gospel was so that you may believe in Jesus. And when you believe in Jesus
as the Messiah, that He did die on the cross for your sins, that
He was raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father,
then you will have life in His name. And not just any life,
but He says here, eternal life. We're not talking about physical
life here, which would be the word bios, like what's used in
the word biology, but we're talking about spiritual life, which is
an eternal life, which is the same life that Jesus talked about
in John 10, 10, when he said, the thief comes to kill, steal,
and destroy, but I have come that you may have life, and have
it to the full, or have it abundantly. Satan comes to steal your life
away, but God gives eternal life to all who put their trust in
Him, and this kind of life that we're talking about here is the
word zoet life. Zoet life. It's the idea of eternal
life. It means that you live forever.
Not only do you live forever, but you live life abundantly. In other words, this life that
he gives is not only the quantity of life, but it's the quality
of life. And it begins today. He's not
talking about, oh, I'm going to give you, when you die and
go to heaven or when Christ comes back, I'm going to give you this
awesome kind of life that you can have in heaven. I mean, that's
true, and it's going to happen with glorification. But he's
actually saying, hey, I'm offering this to you today, like right
here today. But he wants to give you life.
And that life that he gives is this Zoe life. And it's a life
like none other. It's a life that this world cannot
offer. You know the actor Ben Affleck,
well-known actor who starred in the movie Pearl Harbor, recently
he was interviewed by the New York Times, and he said that
the biggest regret of his life was his divorce from his wife
at the time, Jennifer Garner. Affleck said that his drinking
contributed to the split, which in turn led to more alcohol abuse,
which he describes as a vicious cycle. And then he said this,
people with compulsive behavior, and I am one, have this kind
of basic discomfort all the time that they're trying to make it
go away. So they have this discomfort
all the time in life, and you're just trying to make it go away.
He tells the New York Times, he continues, you're trying to
make yourself feel better. drinking, sex, gambling, or shopping. Had to put something in there
for the ladies, just in case you ladies weren't struggling with
those other things. All right, ladies, you're all right, you're
good. But he says that people are trying to feel better with
eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever. But what ends up making your
life worse is that you do it more and more to make the discomfort
go away. Then the real pain starts. It
becomes a vicious cycle that you can't break. That's at least
what happened to me." I'd say Ben Affleck knows a whole lot
about the vicious cycle. He knows a whole lot about the
problem. I'm just not sure if he knows the cure. And the cure
to the problem is not necessarily just getting therapy. or being
on a medication, the cure to that kind of problem that he's
describing right there, something's gnawing at you, and it's in your
soul, and you want something. And I'm telling you this morning
that you're created to want God in a certain way. You're dead
in one sense, in your trespasses and sins, but at the same time,
there's a God consciousness about the fact that you're aware from
creation, according to Romans 1, and the conscience God gave
you, because you are created in his image, that there's something
about you that wants more, and this world doesn't have it. It
can only be found in God, and it can only be found in this
kind of life, this abundant life, this life that Jesus gives, where
you'll live forever, that's quantity, but that you'll also have a better
quality life. You know what I'm tired of? I'm
tired of a bunch of Christians saying, oh, I can't do this and
I can't do that because I'm a Christian. I'm like, well, please, it sounds
like you can't do anything fine. Like, why don't you live your
life to the fullest for God? And as you live your life to
the fullest for God, you won't even want to do these things
that you can't do because Jesus is so much better. Having a clear
conscience and a credible contentment in God is better than anything
this world could ever offer you. So I'm encouraging you this morning,
come to this life that he gives as a gift freely to all who will
come. He tells us here in this same
verse, this is eternal life, that they know you. This is the
prayer of Jesus is praying for you at this moment. I just want
them to know you. This word know is the word gnosko. It's in the
present tense, which is indicating a dynamic and continuous relationship. This word indicates an intimacy
like no other. This isn't just like, oh yeah,
I know God. No, no, this is like, I know God, and I'm communing
with God, and I have the life that Christ has given me, and
it affects me every day. Like every day, my whole life
is oriented around the fact of my identity, which is I belong
to him. He saved my soul. I deserve his
judgment and his wrath, but he gave me life for him. I get to
be free. You know what it's like to be
free? It's the most amazing experience that you could ever ask for,
that you don't have to do those things that your flesh has been
enslaved to for your whole life, and you think you can't stop.
And I'm here to tell you, you can stop, and you can be renewed,
and you can be made different. Stop believing the lie. You can
be a brand new person today. I don't care what you're struggling
with. Jesus is bigger, and he's better, and he gives you eternal
life. Do you want it today? I got some
people right here who want it. I don't know about the rest of y'all.
But this is the kind of life that God gives, and He gives
it through His Son. It's an incredible quality, but
it is also, I'm not trying to deny the quantity, it's there.
It's forever and forever. Do you know how long eternal
life is? It's forever. Can you imagine with me, if you
will, just for a moment, a small bird, like let's say a sparrow,
and if a sparrow were to fly that great big beach here in
Los Angeles and pick up one grain of sand from Santa Monica Beach,
and let's just say, hypothetically, that that little sparrow was
able to fly with that one grain of sand, and it were able to
fly through the atmosphere all the way to the sun. You know
how long that would take for a little sparrow with one grain
of sand to fly all the way to the sun, and let's say that that
little bird didn't burn up, feathers and all, but was able to place
that one grain of sand down at the sun and return back to earth,
fly all the way back to Santa Monica Beach, pick up a second
grain of sand, heading back all the way to the sun, to lay that
second grain of sand down at the sun. returned back to Santa
Monica Beach looking for that third grain of sand, up a third
grain of sand and turns around and flies all the way back to
the sun. Did you know that by the time
that little sparrow has picked up every grain of sand from Santa
Monica Beach and every beach in this world and has flown to
the sun and back Eternity has just begun. It's just getting
started, y'all. You gotta get ready for forever
and forever and forever, and you worry what you're gonna do
this afternoon. Well, if you got Jesus, you're gonna live
forever and forever and forever, and it never stops! And it's
wonderful, and it starts right here! Right now, he gives life
to all of those each life. What an amazing truth that we're
seeing this morning. Let's look at our third heading
if we can, the point of Jesus's prayer. We saw the whole priority
of his prayer, the glory of the Father, the promise of the prayer
to give eternal life. And now we see the kind of the
point of his prayer in some ways. Verses four and five, your next
blank says, Jesus has now finished his work on earth. Verse four,
he says, I glorified you on earth "'having accomplished the work
that you gave me to do.'" Jesus came on a mission. Jesus humbled
himself and became incarnated in human flesh. Jesus emptied
himself by taking on the form of a servant. Jesus was obedient
to all that God called him to do, including this last act of
obedience, which would include his voluntary death on a cross. Listen to me. Jesus did not come
to solve homelessness. though he did make a home in
heaven that you're welcome to come and be a part of. Jesus
did not come to feed the poor, though he did feed the poor many
times and we should offer what he does. Jesus did not come to
unite the world in its policies and its procedures or in its
politics. Jesus did not come to earth to
encourage a new green deal. Jesus did not come to do away
with fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. I know
you think I'm a Republican right now, all right? I'm a Christian. But I'm just telling you, Jesus
didn't come for any of these issues. Jesus did not come to
educate us in mathematics, to entertain us with music, or to
engulf us in military tactics. Jesus did not come to save the
whales, to save the sea turtles or to save the giant panda. Jesus came to save souls. He shed his blood for human beings
like you and like me. And so when he says here in verse
4, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you've
called me to do. That's the work we're talking
about, the work of redemption. The work of perfect obedience
to His Father so that you and I can have new life in Him. Everything
that Jesus wanted to do was all about fulfilling His job, His
mission, God's will for Him. In fact, He says that in John
4, 34, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him
who sent Me and to accomplish His work. That's what Jesus wanted
to do. All day, every day, all Jesus
really cared about was fulfilling the work that he had been called
to do, and now he's ready to go back home. Verse five, last
blank, Jesus is now ready to resume his existence in heaven. We read, and now Father, glory
in presence with the glory that I had with you before the world
existed. In some way, he's continuing
the thought of verse two, and he's saying, hey, I am ready
to be glorified so that I might glorify you. And it's like he's
saying, Father, I'm ready to come back home. You know what
it's like when you've been gone on a business trip or a vacation. It's nice to be gone a few days,
maybe a week, two weeks is a little long. And all of a sudden you
start to get that itch. I got to get back. How do you
think Jesus felt? 33 years, he's incarnated. He emptied himself, Philippians
2. He's walking around with a bunch of people like you. And me, we're
a bunch of morons, right? A bunch of disciples who didn't
get it. A lot of food that maybe wasn't that good. And he's just
like, I'm ready to get back to heaven. I can't wait to get back
to where I was. This is a reminder of John 1,
1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and
the word was God. So in the very beginning of the
universe, we're understanding that Jesus, as the word, was
not created. He is not a created being, He
always has been. In fact, John 1,2 says, He was
with Him in the beginning. The grammar of that verse is
so clear, proston, theon, literally Jesus and God were face to face
in perfect fellowship. They were in perfect agreement.
They were in perfect unity. And then Jesus came down to earth
and it didn't really split up his relationship with God, but
it's clear from this verse, he's ready to get back to be with
the Father. He's ready, verse five again,
to be glorified in God's presence. That part isn't talking about
the crucifixion or the resurrection, it's talking about the ascension
and the coronation in heaven with Jesus at the session when
he's at the right hand of the Father in his very presence praying
for you. praying for me. That's what this
prayer is all about. Jesus prays for himself, verses
1 through 5. Then we're going to see how he
prays for the last part of John 17. We're going to see how he
prays for you. He can't wait to get back to
the Father, and part of that includes that he wants to be
an intercessor praying for you. Father, thank you for this morning.
Thank you for the opportunity to see some of the depth of Jesus's
heart and his prayer here in these first five verses. I pray
that we would learn what you want us to learn about the beauty
of calling you Father, about the beauty of being a recipient
of eternal life, both in quantity and in quality. I pray God that
we would be just mesmerized by how Jesus had all the glory of
the Father from eternity past and how he was praying that he
would be able to head back and be with the Father for all eternity
future. And that's where our home will
be, Lord, with you. In our Father's house, where
there will be many rooms, that Jesus has gone ahead of us to
prepare a place for us. If it were told us it's there,
and it awaits us, And so God, here, while we're here in this
world, I pray that we would be mindful of the next world. I
pray that we wouldn't be tied down so much to earthly things,
that we wouldn't have heavenly, transcendent thoughts that would
captivate our souls and would stir up our hearts to worship
you, our great God and our great King. Thank you for giving us
the privilege of examining. the high priestly prayer of Jesus.
And as we continue to make our way through John 17, I pray that
his prayer would change us forever. And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.