17:1-5
What Jesus Wanted
John is still recording the events that occurred on Wednesday evening
before His arrest and His crucifixion which will take place on
Thursday, Passover. John indicates that Jesus and the disciples left
the upper room at the end of chapter 14.
John 14:31 …Arise, let us go hence.
They will not arrive on the Mount of Olives until \\#John 18:1\\, but
I suspect that they find some place along their walk where Jesus can
pray with intensity. Why? Because this is an intense prayer. It
is not a prayer that one would pray just wandering around.
Jesus is praying for the believers, particularly for the disciples.
But when prays, what is he asking for? Things he wants. Jesus is
asking for the things that He wants for His disciples. This is His
heart. Let’s see what Jesus wanted.
I. \\#John 17:1\\ Jesus wanted to glorify the Father.
A. This was a big theme in the prayer that Jesus prayed for He
mentioned "glory" in one form or another 8 times in this
prayer.
1. Jesus did want the Father to glorify Him, but the reason
was so that Jesus could glorify the Father all the more!
2. So Jesus wanted the Father "expose the greatness of the
Son" so that the Son could "expose the greatness of the
Father."
B. \\#John 17:4\\ Jesus glorified the Father by finishing the
work God gave Him to do.
1. Jesus obeyed the Father. He something difficult (actually
impossible for us) and doing that exposed the greatness
of the Father.
a. There is a lesson in that!
b. When we obey the Father, we expose His greatness.
2. Jesus’ work can be divided into two parts.
a. His revealing ministry
b. His redeeming ministry
3. The revealing aspect of Jesus’ ministry was done.
a. \\#John 17:6\\ "I have manifested thy name unto the
men which thou gavest me…."
b. \\#John 17:8\\ "…they have known surely…."
4. Why does Jesus say His work is finished when we know He
must still die to redeem mankind?
a. I’m not for certain.
b. Perhaps it was because that dying was not as much His
work as much His work as the Father’s and that of
evil men.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
(1) Jesus’ death was more about what would be done to
Jesus
(2) The details of Jesus’ death had already been
outlined in great particulars.
(a) It would be up to God the Father to see to
it that all the details were accomplished.
(b) It would be up to evil men to actually do
all of the evil things.
(c) On Jesus part, His work lay in ALLOWING
the evil men to do them.
(d) Sadly, they would be done.
5. Yet in allowing all of those things to happen to Him,
Jesus certainly exposed the greatness of the Father.
II. \\#John 17:2-3\\ Jesus wanted to give eternal life.
A. This is Jesus’ prayer for the saved not a prayer for the lost,
so this is about all that Jesus mentioned relating to
salvation.
B. However, He did say some things:
1. \\#2\\ The Father had given the Son power over all flesh.
a. The uniqueness of the Trinity is as difficult to
understand as is the Oneness.
b. It would seem that the Son had the authority when
dealing with the human race. That is not to imply
that the Father does not for They are one.
c. Yet, that phrase makes me think that it was the Son’s
choice who should receive eternal life and who should
not. (That makes sense since it was Jesus that was
to die.)
d. Thus, it was the Son who decided what the
qualifications of salvation would be. (Here is where
the Son could have limited salvation to a nation like
the Jews or to dark haired people born on Thursdays.)
e. What would the qualification be?
2. \\#3\\ They would have to know the only true God and Jesus
Christ, the One the Father sent.
a. That phrase is just another way of saying to repent
of your sin and trust Jesus as your Savior.
b. It means to know Them in a relationship, a
relationship that can only be had by accepting Jesus
as the Sacrifice for our sins and the Father has the
Maker and Authority.
C. And while Jesus does not directly mention His desire in this
matter, I notice that this thought comes JUST BEFORE
His desire to glorify, "expose the greatness of God."
1. As Jesus exposed the Father, He introduced more people to
Himself and the Father, giving them the opportunity to be
saved.
2. It is a cycle.
a. The more God is exposed, the more opportunity people
have to get to know Him.
b. The more people have an opportunity to get to know God,
the more people will be saved.
c. The more people get saved, the more God will be
exposed.
3. So there is a direct correlation in glorifying God and
seeing the lost come to salvation and a direct
correlation in the lost being saved and God being
glorified?
a. Doing the one also accomplishes the other!
b. Only God could create a salvation that helps fallen
man and glorifies Him at the same time.
4. The best thing we can do to get the lost saved is to
glorify God!
a. Sadly, our world is going in the opposite direction.
b. By diminishing God’s glory before the people, they
diminish the opportunities for men to be saved.
III. \\#John 17:11-12, 15\\ Jesus wanted those who were His to be
kept.
A. One almost has to remind oneself that it is Jesus who about to
be arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified for He certainly
was not focusing on it.
1. He was thinking of how He wanted to glorify God while He
died.
2. He was thinking of how He wanted the disciples and us to
be kept securely not only while He was being killed but
in the ages to come.
3. These things were and are the heart of God.
B. I do not know why God made salvation eternal.
1. It could have been Jesus’ decision.
2. It could have been His great mercy.
3. It could have been His unconditional love.
4. It could have been all of these and many more.
5. But He did and that has been a reoccurring theme in John’s
gospel.
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent
me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life:
and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 10:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
IV. \\#John 17:17-19\\ Jesus wanted them to be sanctified.
A. Up to this point, you and I could not have helped to answer
the prayer of Jesus; but the last things that Jesus wanted,
we can.
B. Sanctification is a two-part work.
1. It means to be set apart from sin to righteousness.
2. Both parts have to be done in order for sanctification to
take place.
C. But it is also a two-sponsor work.
1. God must do His part.
a. A person must first be saved. No one can be sanctified
until they are first born again.
b. And God must put the desire into a person’s heart.
That was what Jesus was praying that God would do.
2. However, we must be willing to let God put that desire in
us.
D. There is a great anti-sanctification spirit in the church.
1. Any move to encourage Christians to forsake sin and to
come out of the world and be different is viewed as
legalistic.
2. That is NOT what the Bible teaches.
2Cor 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath he that believeth with an
infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols? for ye are the temple of the living
God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you,
3. The rational that the carnal want to give to the godly is
that any rules you make for yourself is legalism.
a. That is a lie.
b. You deciding to not partake of the worldly things and
discipline yourself accordingly is sanctification.
c. There are hobbies, entertainments, pleasures, lusts,
habits, and time consuming demands that we must
resist or else we will be pulled back into the world.
d. It is sanctification.
4. Here is where we can help answer Jesus’ prayer. You and I
get to decide how far out of this world we will come.
V. \\#John 17:20-23\\ Jesus wanted them to be one.
A. Jesus was very concerned that His not only be able to get
along together but that we have the same oneness that the
Trinity has.
B. \\#22\\ In fact, Jesus mentioned that world "glory" in context
with our oneness.
1. He has given to us the glory of God that we might be one
like they are one.
2. That means that Jesus gave us the ability to expose the
greatness of God as we display oneness.
3. Some may not think so but the fact that we have built the
building, so far a $360,000 project, without any discord
is a greater accomplishment than the fact that we built
the building!
C. God has given the church the power (the ability) to have the
mind of Christ within it, but we must choose to use it.
1. That doesn’t mean we will always agree.
2. It means that we will choose to act like Christ even we
don’t.
D. How are we to react?
1. We must deal with the sin within the church.
2. We must practice love and forgive.
So Jesus wanted some things and asked God to make them happen. I
believe God has done His part. The question remains, "Have we done
ours?"
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