Latest / Mount Eaton Church / Jesus' Prayer part 2 - John 17

Transcript

Jesus' Prayer part 2 - John 17 · Mount Eaton Church

0:00
I'm thinking about today and I'm like wanting to kind of get through the whole prayer.
0:20
I can't I actually can't rush through it.
0:24
We will be dealing with the second half of the prayer.
0:35
So a couple things I want us to remember as we have been doing every week.
0:41
Kind of going through some very important points that I want you to carry with you as
0:44
you're dealing with prayer.
0:45
But let's pray father I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness.
0:49
Lord I pray that you are high and lifted up that your word is clearly taught.
0:56
That the full counsel of your word is proclaimed the goodness of our God and Savior and that
1:02
truth Lord would continue to prevail.
1:07
That Holy Spirit you would guide us in all truth help us to see clearly what your word
1:12
teaches us concerning prayer and how Jesus prayed his last prayer for his people.
1:25
Lord I want to praise you and thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness and thank
1:29
you that your word is living and active and Lord that it digs deep into the life of and
1:36
into the hearts of your people.
1:38
I pray that if anyone does not know you that they would walk away today with a deep conviction
1:44
in their heart that they would come before you as you draw them and as you plant the
1:51
gift of faith in their lives that you would bring about the salvation of your people.
1:57
Lord we praise you and thank you in Jesus name.
1:59
Amen.
2:00
The doctrine of prayer.
2:03
The doctrine of prayer is a means of grace offered according to the will of God expressed
2:09
in accordance with his word.
2:12
Prayer is the language of the soul and opening of our hearts before God John Calvin.
2:19
Prayer does a couple things here.
2:21
Make sure you're writing these down.
2:23
Prayer reveals our heart.
2:26
Prayer reveals our heart.
2:28
I can know and others can know where your heart is based on how you pray.
2:34
If you're praying for others with the hopes that you're imparting wisdom to them in your
2:41
prayer as if you can give them direction on how they should live through your prayer you're
2:46
not praying.
2:50
Prayer is about aligning ourselves with God's will.
2:54
Matthew 26 36 Jesus says not my father not my will father be done but your will.
3:02
Pros ukami is the word here the word to pray.
3:06
Pros ukami is two words pros meaning to come before or near ukami meaning to pray or to
3:13
will.
3:14
And the question is are we praying as we come near to God for his will and that our will
3:20
would be in line with his will.
3:22
That's what prayer is.
3:23
Prayer is more than just a conversation.
3:26
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson says it this way praying is not an isolated spiritual experience as
3:33
if we pray and we live in two different components.
3:37
The truth of the matter is we live is we live as we pray and we pray as we live.
3:45
We live as we pray and we pray as we live.
3:49
Prayer is so much more than just a conversation with God.
3:55
It's an act of worship the purest act of worship.
4:01
So in John chapter John chapter 17 there are three particular focuses that Jesus has in
4:09
his prayer.
4:10
Many would call this the high priestly prayer.
4:13
Others would actually say this is the Lord's Prayer.
4:16
Amazing enough when you read the Lord's Prayer it's not a prayer that Jesus would actually
4:20
pray for himself.
4:21
You're like what are you talking about?
4:26
Jesus did pray the Lord.
4:27
No Jesus told you how to pray.
4:31
Jesus doesn't need to pray for forgiveness.
4:34
Father forgive me and help me to forgive others as they have sinned against me.
4:40
Jesus doesn't do that.
4:42
He doesn't need to ask for forgiveness for sin.
4:44
He is perfect.
4:46
He is the all powerful one.
4:49
So the Lord's Prayer is a model specifically given to his people so that you know how to
4:55
align your will with his.
4:59
Now that being said John 17 1 through 5 Jesus prays for his glory and the glory of the Father.
5:09
These first five verses are about the dox adzo to make renown or render illustrious to
5:18
cause the dignity or worth of someone or thing to become manifest or acknowledged.
5:24
Jesus is saying as he prays these five things concerning his glory in the same way that
5:31
I have made you renowned and rendered you illustrious and caused dignity and worth to
5:38
be brought to you Father do the same for me.
5:44
In John 17 6 through 19 Jesus prayed for the disciples who were given the task to continue
5:51
the ministry of reconciliation that they would continue to make renown.
5:57
He prays that they will dox adzo him which in turn glorifies the Father that they will
6:05
make him renowned that they will continue in the word and deed as you would see in verse
6:13
8.
6:15
Verse 8 says for I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them
6:23
and have come to know in truth that I came from you that they have believed that you
6:31
sent me.
6:32
In verse 14 through 19 I have given them your word and the world has hated them because
6:40
they are not of the world just as I am not of the world.
6:43
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil
6:52
one.
6:53
We'll talk about that in a minute.
6:57
I will shock you.
6:59
They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.
7:04
Sanctify them in the truth your word is truth as you have sent me into the world so I sent
7:11
them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in
7:19
truth.
7:22
So you can see why Jesus is praying for the glory of his disciples.
7:29
It's for the proclamation of the gospel.
7:33
Everything that Jesus does is for the gospel's sake.
7:38
Lastly in verses 20 through 26 of John 17 Jesus prays for the believers to come after
7:46
the disciples which we are among them.
7:51
Yes, before Jesus is going to the cross before his arrest that very evening he prays for
7:59
each and every one of his family members.
8:04
That includes you today.
8:07
Even Jesus has not forgotten you as he has said in his word.
8:14
The same promises given to those who walk with him are also ours.
8:21
The same doxadzo that Christ prays for himself, the father, the disciples and all those after
8:29
him for all of you and remember even for those who are still to come.
8:38
So that being said let's dive in to verse 9.
8:43
Principle number one, the father determines those who are his and who are not.
8:49
The father determines those who are his and who are not.
8:54
You do not determine to whom you belong nor do you determine your destiny.
9:00
God alone determines this truth.
9:06
Jesus prays for his own because they were always his.
9:11
Let's read verse 9.
9:12
I am praying for them the disciples.
9:16
I am not praying for the world those who are not disciples but for those whom you have
9:23
given me.
9:26
For they are yours.
9:28
Shocking.
9:29
Shocking statement.
9:30
Kind of wrecks everyone's, wreck my theology.
9:36
I know that when I started my little journey and walked with Jesus.
9:41
I mean really I don't have any determination of that.
9:46
No.
9:47
Well why not?
9:48
Because I am God and you are not.
9:52
Help me figure that out.
9:54
It's called grace.
9:56
It's called a love of God and a peace of God which transcends all understanding.
10:01
It's a grace.
10:05
All mine, Jesus says, are yours.
10:09
And yours are mine.
10:11
And I am glorified in them.
10:14
I am no longer in the world but they are in the world and I am coming to you, Holy Father
10:22
keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one.
10:32
I talked a little bit about this last week.
10:34
Sort of like this little introduction to this truth.
10:38
Many churches today gather around going oh we are all one.
10:40
It's all about oneness.
10:42
The problem is they want oneness according to their own will and desires.
10:47
God wants oneness according to his will and truth.
10:51
We are going to see that and how he continues his prayer for the disciples to be in truth.
10:58
Truth is the determining factor of what oneness is.
11:02
As a church we have a responsibility to walk in love and truth.
11:08
To walk in, to worship God in spirit and in truth.
11:12
There's not an option here.
11:15
Especially in our world today.
11:16
It's not my truth is my truth and your truth is your truth.
11:20
God doesn't care about your truth.
11:21
You are like that's a very harsh statement to say but it's true.
11:26
You think God is moved in his throne going oh Joe has a new truth.
11:34
I wish I knew that.
11:37
He's not.
11:39
But in his love as a father does with his children he guides them in truth.
11:46
And as fathers I think we get that.
11:50
That being said Jesus prays for the preservation of those who are his.
11:57
Jesus prays for the preservation of those who are his.
12:01
Jesus doesn't leave us shepardless but prays for shepherding and that the father will take
12:09
care of and be watchful over the sheep.
12:16
In John 17 12-15 it says while I was with them I kept guarded them in your name.
12:24
I want you to get that.
12:26
We are protected guarded according to his name.
12:34
Which you have given me.
12:37
I have guarded or watched over them and not one of them has been lost except the son of
12:47
destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled.
12:52
What?
12:53
Yes.
12:54
Judas was born for such a time as that.
12:59
But that's unfair.
13:03
Why would God allow a man to become the betrayer of himself of the Lord.
13:10
Sorry.
13:11
Why would God bring about the reality that he would allow a man to be born with the sole
13:17
purpose to betray the son of the living God.
13:23
So that scripture is fulfilled.
13:26
That shows it's not it's not our will it's God's will.
13:30
It's a hard truth huh.
13:34
Now look verse 13 but now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that
13:42
they may have joy fulfilled in themselves.
13:48
I have given them your word and the world has hated.
13:55
This word hated means to pursue with hatred or detest.
14:01
The world hates believers in Jesus because they are in complete contrary to which the
14:10
world shows you themselves.
14:15
Totally different totally opposite.
14:19
Like a thorn in the flesh.
14:23
That's what Christians are to the world.
14:27
So they hate us.
14:29
The world hates us.
14:32
Look what it says.
14:34
World says that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14:39
I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the
14:45
world.
14:47
That world that word there means we do not belong to them.
14:53
We do not belong to them.
14:55
Erkoumai taken from one place to another.
14:58
We are no longer part of this old family or part of the new family.
15:03
No longer of the old way part of a new way.
15:05
No longer the old life but the new life.
15:09
Erkoumai.
15:12
Interesting.
15:16
Just as I am not of the world.
15:19
If Jesus is not of this world then we are not of this world.
15:23
Then don't hold on to it.
15:26
Let it go.
15:29
The story of Joseph is a perfect example of that in the Old Testament.
15:34
When he names his kids he gives them Jewish names in the middle of an Egyptian life.
15:43
The reason why he says that is because he basically says I let that stuff go as Vodi
15:48
Bakum states.
15:54
I do not.
15:56
This word do not.
15:57
I want you to hear this.
15:59
Do not is an absolute negative.
16:03
So I want you to hear this.
16:04
This is a very hard thing to hear.
16:06
I do not ask that you take them or to remove them or carry them off out of the world.
16:19
Has nothing to do with the rapture y'all.
16:21
At least not yet.
16:24
What Jesus is saying is let them persevere in a world who hates them.
16:32
Do not take them out.
16:36
But look what Jesus says.
16:37
He says to the father, but that you keep.
16:42
But that you keep them from.
16:46
In all the translations it says evil one.
16:49
I'm going to give you the word.
16:54
This is one of those moments when you do word studies and you go I need to teach this word.
16:58
I do a lot of that.
17:00
But you're going to understand why in a minute based on the context of this prayer.
17:04
He says that you keep them.
17:06
This word keep means to tend carefully or to guard them from.
17:12
Paneras.
17:14
Paneras.
17:19
So many translations would say evil one.
17:24
I've done a deep study on this word.
17:27
It is not evil one.
17:30
Which makes a lot of sense when you understand what paneras means.
17:36
He's not praying that God would keep us from Satan's work against you personally.
17:46
What he's praying for is that God would keep us from hardships, harassment, trouble, perils
17:56
of the faith as a distraction from the gospel.
18:02
That's what he's talking about here.
18:03
If I have given them your word and the truth and I'm not of the world and they're not of
18:08
the world.
18:10
Father, keep them, tend to them, guard them from hardship, harassment, trouble, and perils
18:18
of the faith that it may not take away from the impact of the gospel.
18:24
That's what he's talking about here.
18:27
It's of so much more value because if all we're worried about is running from Satan
18:33
and being kept from Satan, you've lost the battle already.
18:38
You got to stay in the battle.
18:42
That's the point.
18:46
So when you read this and you see the prayer and you see how Christ is calling the Father,
18:51
asking the Father, calling upon the Father, asking the Father to keep us from the hardships
18:56
and harassment, that we may be affected for the sake of the gospel.
19:01
But if we have to lose our life and be persecuted for the gospel, as long as the gospel is proclaimed,
19:07
that's the most important thing.
19:10
Why?
19:13
Why have we missed this important truth?
19:19
Because we've been fed that your battle has always been with Satan.
19:28
He's an adversary.
19:30
He's a liar.
19:31
He is all those things.
19:34
But guess what?
19:35
I wake up every single day and I am fighting against my flesh and my sinful desires.
19:41
Why do I do the things I do not want to do?
19:43
But the things I want to do, I cannot do.
19:45
But the things I hate, those I keep on doing.
19:48
Every day I'm at war within myself.
19:50
Every day I have to deal with people who hate Christ and are persecuted for faith.
19:56
Every day I'm dealing with the hardships and the harassment and the troubles and the perils
20:00
of the faith.
20:01
But all we could ever believe is that Jesus prayed that the evil one, because we don't
20:08
want to deal with him.
20:12
And we wonder why we walk around in a defeated Christian life.
20:16
Because we're so focused on the individual and not focused on the struggle and how I
20:22
can exemplify Christ in the midst of my harassment and troubles and hardships and all those things.
20:29
There's a moment when I retranslate something, Lord, how could they miss that?
20:41
Tradition.
20:44
Whole counsel of the word of God.
20:47
The complete truth of the word of God.
20:50
Knowing this, aren't you willing to go out and go into the struggle?
20:57
Aren't you willing to be like a fireman who runs into the fire?
21:07
Why does Jesus pray this?
21:09
Why this so important truth?
21:11
Why Paneras?
21:15
Because the world hates us.
21:17
We are not of this world.
21:20
And the world will throw everything it has at us.
21:26
It wants to eliminate us from the earth and keep us from proclaiming the truth, i.e. especially
21:31
the gospel.
21:34
Jesus prays this so that his people will continue in truth.
21:42
We are living in the days of the great apostasy.
21:46
You know that little scripture talks about in the last days, many will turn away from
21:51
the faith.
21:53
Welcome to the days.
21:58
You're living it.
22:00
I am so glad Jesus prayed for the disciples concerning this truth because the same promise
22:10
Jesus prayed for his disciples is mine.
22:14
Father, keep me from the hardship and the harassment and the troubles and the perils
22:22
of faith if it distracts and takes away from the impact of the gospel.
22:31
Lastly, in this little bit of the prayer concerning his disciples, Jesus prays that his people
22:40
will be set apart in truth.
22:42
Interesting.
22:43
When you see the context of everything that Jesus is praying from the very beginning of
22:47
his proclamation concerning his disciples that we belong to him and we were always his,
22:55
that he would preserve us and keep us, he also prays that his people will be set apart
23:02
in the truth because the only thing that will get you through is the truth.
23:10
Unlike several preachers I have talked about in the past who say truth doesn't matter and
23:17
if you want to be, you want to get fat on theology, go to another church.
23:23
Thank God I don't.
23:25
Watch that guy.
23:29
Truth absolutely matters.
23:32
This prayer is all about the word.
23:36
Doctrine absolutely matters.
23:38
Theology absolutely matters.
23:40
Why?
23:41
Because Jesus prayed that his people would be set apart in the truth, in the doctrine
23:48
of his word, in the theology and that we would take the truth to a dying world because the
23:58
word is truth.
24:02
The world does not determine truth.
24:05
God determined truth and his name is Jesus.
24:09
I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me.
24:16
There is no other way.
24:18
There's no sacraments you can do.
24:20
There's no begging you can do.
24:22
There is no other way but to go through the son.
24:27
He says I am the door.
24:35
John 17, 16 through 19, he reiterates this.
24:39
Notice he links this idea of not being part of the world to sanctification.
24:45
I want you to see this.
24:47
They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.
24:52
This is now three times Jesus says this issue.
24:56
You as believers are not of this world.
24:59
This is not your home.
25:00
You are journeying.
25:01
You are passing through.
25:03
Be a shining example of a kingdom kid because when you get to the kingdom you're going to
25:09
be very happy you're not here.
25:15
Look what it says.
25:18
Sanctify them in the truth.
25:21
Your word is truth.
25:23
If they're not of the world, if they are different, the way that you show that you're different
25:28
is that you are in the truth because his word is truth.
25:37
And if there is a church that you might attend or that you're involved in that's not teaching
25:41
you the truth, run forest, run.
25:50
Notice what it says here.
25:52
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
25:58
And for their sake I consecrate myself.
26:01
I sanctify myself.
26:03
I set myself apart as a sacrifice for them.
26:09
Why?
26:10
That they also may be sanctified in the truth.
26:17
This is what he's saying, you can't go into the world and preach the gospel without the
26:23
truth.
26:27
This is so prevalent in today's society because if you ask the quote unquote average American
26:35
Christian what the gospel is, the vast majority do not know.
26:43
The one truth that matters, the one commission, the one mission that he's given us as his
26:49
people, people don't know the gospel.
26:53
I have asked questions when I was a youth pastor.
27:00
You guys know, youth pastors always went to church with a t-shirt and wrinkled jeans.
27:07
That's why I got sneakers on.
27:13
You can tell a youth pastor from a senior pastor, hopefully I stay somewhere like me.
27:20
But I'm telling you, those were fun days, sometimes.
27:27
One of the things I want us to remember is that when you're looking at the reality of
27:33
the gospel and you ask the average Christian what the gospel is, you know what the answers
27:38
are?
27:39
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the good news.
27:50
Well what's the gospel?
27:51
Well if it's not Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it's not the good news and it's not
27:56
the word of God, I don't know.
27:59
But I'm a believer.
28:02
What?
28:05
How could you not know?
28:06
So I'm going to give you the gospel like I did in the beginning.
28:10
This is the gospel.
28:14
First Corinthians chapter 15.
28:20
Pretty simple.
28:28
Listen.
28:32
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I've preached to you, which you received,
28:41
in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached
28:51
to you unless you believed in vain.
28:55
For I delivered as of first importance.
29:02
What's that mean?
29:03
The most important thing.
29:06
There is nothing more important.
29:08
Now when you read Jesus' prayer, you get why he prays this for his disciples, that they
29:14
would be glorified in the same way that Christ is glorified and the Father is glorified.
29:21
That they will proclaim and make renown the gospel, the reality of Christ.
29:26
Look what it says, which what I also received that, here's the gospel, Christ died for
29:35
our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised
29:41
on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas and then to
29:45
twelve and then appeared to five hundred other brothers.
29:49
What's the gospel?
29:50
Christ died, was buried, rose again on the third day.
29:54
Gospel.
29:55
What's the gospel?
29:56
Christ died, was buried, rose again on the third day.
29:59
That is the gospel.
30:02
It's a simple story.
30:05
We're sinners.
30:07
He wasn't.
30:08
He died.
30:10
He was buried.
30:11
He rose on the third day to give us life, to take away our sin and to give us victory
30:16
over death, sin in the grave.
30:17
Pretty simple.
30:19
Important.
30:22
So when he's praying, he already has this in mind.
30:27
And the reason why he has it in mind is because he's reminding his he's reminding his disciples
30:31
as he's praying to the father for them, they're sitting there watching him pray this to the
30:36
father.
30:37
They're listening and watching.
30:39
And he says, keep them in the truth because your word is truth.
30:45
And what's the first thing we do as churches, stop preaching the gospel.
30:54
And you wonder why as a country we are in a situation we're in.
31:05
Be ready in season, out of season to proclaim the hope that you have in Christ.
31:15
Christ prayed for his disciples that they would glorify, that they would be glorified
31:20
as the son is glorified and the father is glorified.
31:24
And next week we will, well after Christmas, I really want to do it next week, after Christmas
31:34
Eve, we will finish this prayer in verses 20 through 26 when Jesus prays for you.
31:48
Father I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness.
31:50
You are amazing.
31:53
That in your wisdom and goodness, because we are not of the world as you are not of
32:01
the world, you have prayed that the father would keep us from evil.
32:10
Keep us from Paneras.
32:15
That we would walk in the victory of Christ willing to give our lives to run into a burning
32:21
home, to bring the gospel, to bring hope to the dying.
32:28
Keep us, Lord, to continue to stand fast on your word, to walk in the truth.
32:33
We give you praise on the ring.