When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your sons that the sun 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 God, and Jesus 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 presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world, yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now, they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil ones. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. This is God's word.
It is a sacred word. What we mean by that is that the Bible is a book concerning the things of God. Concerning the things of God and how God's people might know him and how God's people might know the great things that God has done. And as such, because it is a sacred text, the Bible contains many sacred moments,
moments of particular heightened sense of God's glory and His transcended holiness. You see that in Genesis, chapter 1, in verse 31. What the Bible reminds us that after God had created all things, He looked and He saw that all things that He had made was very good.
Just imagine for a moment and at that moment in the history of the world was the greatest peace that this world has ever known.
Sacred moments, Exodus, chapter 3, in verse 5. When God called Moses up onto the mountain and there Moses beholds a bush that is on fire, but it is not burning. And God says to Moses out of the bush, Moses, take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. Sacred moments, when Isaiah, chapter 6, when the prophet Isaiah gets a vision of the Lord of glory, seated on his throne. And the Bible says in 6th and verse 3 that he saw the Lord and the angels gathered around singing in an antifinal praise, holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord God Almighty, the Lord, the earth is full of His glory. Transcendent moments, Luke, chapter 1, verse 30 and 31, when a young girl named Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel and there he announces to this young maiden Mary. Do not be afraid for you have found favor with God and behold you shall conceive. And in your womb, the verison, and you shall call His name,
transcendent, holy, sacred moments.
These are indeed some of the more sacred moments in this sacred text. But we know as the Bible, the might I say to you this morning, beloved, that there is no text of scripture any more sacred than the one that is before us this morning.
John, chapter 17, has been called many things. It has been called the high water mark of Jesus' earthly ministry with His disciples. It has been commonly known throughout the centuries as Jesus' high priestly prayer. It has been called the theme and the summation of His plans and purposes upon the earth. It has been called the greatest prayer offered after the greatest sermon ever preached. But whatever we may call it this morning, the one thing that we cannot call it is ordinary. These are not ordinary words. This is not an ordinary occasion. It is most extraordinary. It is the prime example in the scriptures, beloved,
when the one to whom we pray prays for us. At the most important and crucial moment of our Lord's final hours with His disciples, the Bible records the fact that our Lord prays. At the pinnacle point, of our Lord's time with His disciples, as chaos and confusion and treason were settling in upon them, the Bible says that our Lord prayed. He had just spoken to the disciples about His Father and now in chapter 17, He was going to speak to His Father concerning His disciples. This is most important, beloved, should remind us that the most important thing was not what Jesus said to them. And we know He said some important things. The most important thing was not what Jesus did with them. And we already saw that He had washed their feet. But the most important thing was the fact that He prayed. He prayed for them. And this is most important for us to understand because it was His prayer that empowered everything that He said. It was prayer that empowered everything that He did. Empowers what we say. Empowers what we do. And beloved them, the life of Jesus, therefore, is just as instructive for us as it was for His first disciples. And don't miss what reminds us that like Jesus, as He reminded His disciples that our mission is threefold. Jesus mission was threefold. His disciples missions was threefold. Our mission is threefold. Our mission to the world and our mission to each other is threefold. It is preaching. It is practicing and it is praying. That's what we do. We preach. That means we teach. We teach. We practice. That means we serve. We serve one another. We serve the world. And we preach. We preach. We practice. And we pray. That's what the ministry of Jesus in a nutshell. It's the ministry of Jesus in a nutshell. And in the final hours of His time with His disciples, this is what Jesus did with them. This is what Jesus did to them. And this is what Jesus did for them. He preached. He practiced what He preached. And He prayed. He served them. He taught them. And He was going to pray for them. That's what we do. We serve. We teach. And we pray. That's the ministry in a nutshell. These are the ministry of the church. This is the ministry of every Christian towards one another. This is what we do. We serve one another. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 15, you my brothers and sisters, we're called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge a flesh rather serve one another. Humbly in love. Because that's what we do. That's our mission. We are to serve one another. But we don't just serve one another. We also teach one another. We teach Galatians chapter 3, verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching, and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing, stomp, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thanks, get thankfulness in your hearts to God. We serve one another. We teach one another. We pray for one another. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18, praying all time in the spirit, the Bible says, with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication, food, all the saints. We do this because this is what Jesus did. This is what Jesus did. In the previous chapter, we looked at what Jesus taught them. In the chapters before that, we saw how Jesus served them. We come to John chapter 17 and we listen and we learn how he prayed for them. Jesus prayed. Did you hear what I said? Jesus prayed. Now, we take it for granted because it is far more significant than we tend to realize. Jesus prayed. Someone might ask the question this morning, what would God pray if God would pray? Well, beloved, here we have a sacred place. In the sacred text, we have God praying. What is prayer like when God prays? And by praying, what our Lord is doing there for is setting the priority on prayer. Teaching is important. Yes, serving is important. Yes, prayer is the priority. Prayer is the priority. And we know that. We know that, don't we? We know that instinctively. We know that prayer is the priority, even when we don't do it. We know that we are supposed to be doing it because we know it is the priority. Washing the saints' feet is great. Learning the doctrines and principles of scripture is important as we have seen over the last month and yet we understand that it is not what we know or how we serve that makes the ultimate difference. The ultimate difference is not how many hours you put in service. The ultimate difference is not your theological acumen. The ultimate difference is how and what we pray. But it is prayer which grants us power. And this is what Jesus showed his disciples. His last moments with them, he showed them that prayer's ultimate. He showed them in several ways. He showed them that prayer's ultimate by when he prayed. Just after teaching his disciples on the coming of the Holy Spirit and just after explaining to his disciples the trials and difficulties that they were going to face in this world, the Bible says Jesus prayed. Notice how chapter 16 ends. Verse 33, Jesus says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Now notice how chapter 17 begins. Jesus said these things. He looked toward heaven and praying. After he had preached, after he had taught his lesson, he looked at his disciples and said, now let's pray. You ever wonder why passagefield does that? After every sermon? Because he knows it is not his eloquence. It is not your attention. I'm going to have to do something today. I'm not hearing me. Jesus says to his disciples, you ain't hearing me. Let's pray. Now know my father was in me and then you will. He showed them the priority of prayer by when he prayed. But he also showed them by prayer by how he prayed. Jesus prayed out loud. He prayed so his disciples would hear. Here was a conversation that God, where God the Son was going to call upon God the Father, demonstrating the posture and the confidence with which all God's children would one day and can't now call upon God their heavenly father. He said this, the Bible says, chapter 17 and verse 1, he looked toward heaven and pray. Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. He showed them the priority by when he prayed. He showed them the priority of prayer by how he prayed. But he also showed them the priority of prayer by what he prayed. When he prayed and how he prayed, only surpassed by what he prayed. And what Jesus said in this prayer, at this sacred time, this will be the rest of our attention this morning. This will be the rest of our meditation this morning, looking, looking ever so briefly but intentionally upon this prayer of Jesus. What did our Lord pray? And what difference did it then and does it make now for his disciples? What did he pray? Where prayer could be breaking down into four elemental elements, four descriptions of our Lord's prayer. He prayed for glory, he prayed for separation, he prayed for preservation and he prayed for sanctification. This is the summation of his prayer this morning, at least the part we're going to look at today. It was a prayer for glory when John chapter 17 and verse 1, here Jesus gave the reason for the prayer. It is the reason for all things, the glory of God and the good of God's people. This is the goal of prayer, this is not only the goal of prayer, this is the goal of ministry, this is not just the goal of ministry, this is the goal of Christ, this is the goal of Christ in his living, this is the goal of Christ in his brain, the glory of God in exalting the sun, Christ prays that the sun would be glorified so that the sun would glory and exalt the form. That which brings glory to Jesus brings glory to God. And therefore everything the sun did was ultimately for the glory of the Father. Christ came into the world but glory to God. Christ living all his days upon the earth brought glory to God. Christ dying would bring glory to God. Christ's resurrection would bring glory to God. Everything that Christ did, He did for the glory of God, whether it was living, breathing, praying, dying, it was all for the glory of God. How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9, it says therefore, because living, dying, and being raised, He did it all for the glory of God. Therefore the Bible says God now has highly exalted Him and was stoned upon Him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every need should bow and heaven on earth and under the earth so that at the name of Jesus every need shall bow to the glory. That's how we pray. The glory of God in the exaltation of the sun. Somebody had looked at this and said that Jesus was praying for himself. He was praying for himself only in so much that he would bring glory to God and that which brings glory to God is good for God's people. It's good for God's people and this is what Jesus prayed because the good of God's people is eternal life in the sun. And Jesus prayed that the Father would get glory through the sun and then He prayed that His disciples would have eternal life and that eternal life is through Jesus Christ's sun. And this is eternal life. He says in verse 3 that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have. Why was Jesus sent? Jesus came into the world to give eternal life. Why did Jesus live his life and obedience to God the Father? He lived his life and obedience to God the Father to give eternal life. Why did Jesus die upon the cross? He died upon the cross to give eternal life. Why was Jesus rose from the dead? Christ rose from the dead to give eternal life and this is his prayer. His prayer is that the disciples would know eternal life. In other words beloved Jesus prayed that others might know Jesus that they might know God and in knowing God that they would know Him and have eternal life. This is the prayer. This is the prayer that brings glory to God. Christ praying for the salvation of His disciples. That's the prayer that brings glory to God. There is no more glorious prayer than that beloved that you and I were afraid for the salvation of others that we would pray that others would know God and know the one who God had sent that they might have eternal life. Christ praying that others might know Christ and in doing so instructed us how we might pray for the glory of God. How do you pray for the glory of God? You pray that others might know Him. You pray that others might know Jesus in knowing Him. How do you turn away? Not a way we pray for the salvation of others. It was a prayer of glorification but it was also a prayer separation. Our Lord's prayer is a discriminating prayer and when Jesus prayed he prayed for his disciples in distinction from the world. You see that in verse 9. He says I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Our Lord, praise for those whom the Father gave him. Here again beloved is the sacredness of this sacred text that our Lord reminds us over and over again that there are those in verse 2 and verse 6 and verse 9 that there are those whom the Father has given to the Son. And this idea of gifting, this idea of gifting to the Son is not new. Jesus had already said this in John chapter 6 and verse 37 he says all those the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. There is this gifting, Christ comes into the world and it coming into the world, God the Father gifts to God the Son. Who are these? That the Father had given to the Son. When a Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 they say they are his people and John chapter 10 and verse 11 they say they are his sheep and John chapter 15 and verse 13 they are his friends and Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25 they are his bride they are the church. God had given to Jesus a people. God had given to Jesus some sheep. God had given to Jesus some friends. God has given to Jesus a bride the Father beloved don't miss this. The Father beloved loves the world. John 3 16 makes that clear. God loves the world and yet the Bible reminds us that Jesus prays not for the world but he prays for those who have been called out from the world. Those have been given to the son those who believe and receive Christ as their Savior. Listen beloved there is a discriminating love in Jesus. Jesus loves the world. He loves his disciples more. There is the love that God has for the world and then there is the love that he has for his own for his disciples and what is the difference? The difference is this beloved. God so loved the world that he sent Jesus into the world
but God so loved you and me that he gave you and me to Jesus. Now beloved don't miss that. He loved the world and it is a great love because he sent his son into the world that the world might through Jesus know him but he did want even better when he took some out of the world and he gave them to Jesus. Love the world that he sent Jesus and the Bible says that the world rejected him but then God chose out of the world those that he would give to Jesus. He knows the Bible says that Jesus cannot, that Jesus would not, that Jesus will not reject one of them. This is his prayer. It is a prayer separation and this is why we see also that it is a prayer for for for preservation. Jesus prayed for God to keep those whom he had been given. Do you see why now Jesus is not praying for the world? Jesus not praying for the world because God hadn't given him. He's praying for those whom he had given and he doesn't pray just that they would come and pray that they would be kept, kept. He prayed that his disciples would be kept and preserved beyond his physical presence with them.
You see that in verse 15, the love is. And as we have already seen, we have already seen in John chapter 6 and verse 37 we may reference to it that the ones given to Jesus are the ones kept by Jesus and Jesus now having kept them, Jesus now was leaving them and so in leaving them he prayed now I am leaving them father now if you would please keep them. I have kept them in your name now as I leave them keep them in your name. Verse 11, I am no longer in the world but they are in the world. I am coming to you holy father. Keep them in your name. Keep them in your name because the name of the Lord is our help. The name of the Lord is our help. In Psalm 124 verse 8 the Bible says our help is where in the name of the Lord. You made heaven in there. Keep them in your name because your name is help. Keep them in your name because your name is victory. Psalm 20 and verse 7 some trust in chariots and some trust in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Why because in his name is our help and his name is our victory and his name is our safety. That's where we are safe. We are safe in his name in Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 10 the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and our what? Safe. Safe. Safe. Safe in the name. Safe in the name. What is the name? The name is Jehovah. Yes. But now the name has fully been revealed. What is the name? The name? It's in Beloved. You know what? It's it's it's common these days for us to feel and when we greet people or when we leave people want to think we say is be safe. Be safe. There's there's a coronavirus out there. Be safe. There's a pandemic going on. Be safe. But listen Beloved we understand that but I'm here to tell you this morning that the only real last and safety is in Christ. That is the only guarantee of safety is in Jesus. Christ prayed for the salvation of his disciples and then he prayed that they would be safe. Now they would be secure. Beloved I grew up some strong women
in my life. There's some strong men too but they were strong in the wrong direction. They were headstrong and a lot of other things. I grew up with some praying women. My mama prayed. My grandmama prayed.
And I am a testimony to the reality that my mama prayed and my grandmama praying. But thank God this morning that Jesus prayed. Thank God that Jesus prayed. Thank God that Jesus is still praying. Why? Because Beloved I still need it. You do understand my grandmama is long gone. He's not praying for me anymore. My mother is in a position now where she can't pray as she used to.
But thank God Jesus praying. Jesus is praying. Why? Because we need it. Beloved and notice what he says in verse 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world because we need it. He prayed because he knows that we need it because we are in this world. The Lord does not take his disciples out of this world. We are not spared the trials and tribulations of this present age. Listen Beloved Jesus did not leave this world until God's will was accomplished through him. And you and I will not leave this world until the same is true for us and contrary to what some believe. The promise is not to take no matter how the tribulation has the promise we are saved because we belong to Jesus. We are saved we are saved because we belong to Jesus and because we belong to Jesus we are sanctified. This beloved is our Lord's prayer for his disciples that they would be saved and then be in safe that they would be sanctified. We see therefore the prayer sanctification and Jesus prayed that his disciples would be set apart for the service of God just as he had been set apart for the service of God. John 16 and John 17 and 16 through 19 he says they are not of the world just as I am not of the world sanctify them in the truth. Your word is true as you sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth. First God sent Christ into the world and set him apart from it. Now Christ prayed that as he sent his disciples into the world that God would also set them apart from it. Jesus sends us into the world that's where we go that's our mission that's where we are we live in the world we live in the world I don't know about you but my house is not in a Christian commune I live on Stone View Terrace right there in each point and there's nothing particularly Christian about Stone View Terrace. We live in the world work in the world most Christians don't work at Christian schools or organizations and those who do often find that they're not very Christian after all you work in the world you work with people who are not a friend of God they are not friends of Christ they're not helping you on the glory you've been sent there by Jesus in the world we work in the world we play in the world you know that right brother Gausson I don't play on Christian golf courses I don't know you might but I don't play on Christian golf courses when you go home this afternoon and you turn on the NFL not a Christian League oh and watch high school football games beloved Murf know what I'm saying even the Christians won aren't all that Christian we play in the world I don't mean to bust anyone's bubble this morning all the songs on my playlist I'm not Christian now I'm not going to ask you to pull up yours beloved we live in the world we work in the world we play in the world but we don't hope in the world we do not place our hope in the world I don't expect the world to be anything but the world I place my hope in God we hope in God we hope in God's Word why because beloved as those who are trusting and following Christ we know no matter because we know the truth defied by the truth and what is the truth the truth is found in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 17 that tells us that this world is passing away those who believe those who trust and those who obey God will abide whoever we are in the world because that's what Christ didn't but we are not people of the world we are people of the world we are people of the word and it is the word that makes the difference is the word of God that sets us apart it is the word of God that makes us different it is the word of God that makes us different contrary to what some people think Christians are not inherently better than other people
we are not smarter we are not faster we are not stronger we are not richer but what we are is washed we are washed we are washed because we are sanctified we are sanctified because we are people of the word that's what makes us different we are those who have been washed and sanctified by the word of God we are those who are saved we are those who are saved we are those who are secure because Christ prayed for us or better yet because the Lord our God is praying for us right now that's the only difference the only difference between me and my unsafe neighbor is that Christ prayed for me that he is praying for me right now difference between Peter and Judas is that Jesus prayed for one pray that the Father would keep them safe pray that he would be restored pray that the enemy wouldn't have him beloved one of the greatest comforts and convictions that we experience is that even when we fail to pray for ourselves or fail to pray for each other Christ to pray for us
I am often reminded of it 11 and times when I want to give up on those times I'm more often than you think I remember before the throne of God I have a strong and perfect plea a great high priest whose name is love whoever yes is praying for you to this month wherever you are wherever's going on ever difficult it might be at the moment Jesus is praying let's pray