The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus - Jesus Prays for Himself (Glory)

I'll take your Bible this morning, turn to John chapter 17. We know our place by now in our study through John, John chapter 17. Of course, we're in our study through the Gospel of John. We've titled this series Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. We're on this journey verse by verse, sometimes word by word through the wonderful Gospel of John. Now last week we started chapter 17 and we started this chapter primarily with an introductory message. With last week's message, I feel that we elevated this prayer to its proper place. This involved a brief examination of great prayers in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

And we came to see the two greatest prayers in the Lord Jesus' life and in His ministry here on earth. Now these two greatest prayers are no doubt the prayer that was prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane right before His arrest and this high priestly prayer which is in John 17. Now there is debate among Bible scholars as to which is the greatest. I find it hard to determine which one is the greatest. So I take the neutral position and I just say they're both the greatest. I don't think that that is wrong in and of itself. Now concerning this prayer, I shared many characteristics which make this prayer great. Let's look at them again.

This prayer in John 17, we saw that this is very, very personal in nature. Jesus is talking with His Father and His disciples are listening, very personal. This prayer is Christ-centric. Jesus prays for glory for Himself in this prayer. This prayer is God-centered. Last week I said it was holistic. Jesus prays for glory for the Father. This prayer is intercessory. This prayer is intercessory. Jesus intercedes for His disciples starting in verse 6 and then He intercedes for the church itself. He prays for their protection. He prays for their sanctification and then towards the end He prays for a wonderful unity. This prayer is high.

This prayer is holy and this prayer is majestic. Jesus escorts His disciples to the very throne room of God. He allows them to hear the very things which are on the heart of God because if these things are on the heart of Jesus, then they are on the heart of God. And it is very important for us to see that as we study John, we see that Jesus escorts us into the throne room of God. We are able to hear these things which are on God's heart as well. So I feel like that we have ascended to a high mountain peak so as to look over into this prayer.

I feel like we've ascended onto this high mountain peak so as to dive head first into this prayer and then with God's help we will get all that the Lord wants us to get out of our study of these verses. So let's make this our prayer this morning and in the mornings to come. That the Lord would help us get into this high priestly prayer and get all that the Lord wants us to get. Now a few more introductory observations. I think this will help us. Now many Bible scholars say that the beginning of chapter 17 marks the end of these farewell discourses. Of course we know that the farewell discourses are this body of teaching.

They start at the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper in chapter 13. Now personally I have included chapter 17 as a part of the farewell discourses and I will share with you my reason for that very shortly. Now it is important for us to see what these farewell discourses are. They are intimate communications from Jesus to his men, these chosen disciples. Many Bible scholars believe that all of this took place in the upper room just after Jesus washed their feet. I believe that that most likely was the setting. They're in the upper room, a very intimate time, Jesus and his disciples.

Now the question, why do I put chapter 17 within the farewell discourses? I see this prayer as the other side of the coin to this teaching from chapter 13 to chapter 16. The teaching was very personal and the teaching was very preparatory. This prayer is just as personal and just as necessary in their preparation. Just as you have both sides of a coin that make up a currency, here you have both the teaching and the prayer which make up the work Jesus was doing in the disciples. That is why I include chapter 17 in the farewell discourses. So let's look at our verses this morning. We'll cover verses 1 through 5.

We are familiar with verse 1 because we did divide a portion of verse 1 last week. But let's look at these verses together. Chapter 17 verse 1. And when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and he said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you." Verse 2, "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 may know you, the only true God and Christ Jesus 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. Now that leads us to the title of the message. Again, this is the high priestly prayer of Jesus. So I have added to that for our title, the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Jesus prays for himself. Jesus prays for himself. You see how we'll divide the verses? Very easy for us to follow. These are what I call the major truths that we'll divide. First Jesus prays in verse 1 of the first portion of verse 1. Then Jesus prays for his glory. Now that starts at the end of verse 1. It goes all the way through verse 3.

And then Jesus prays for future glory, the last two verses, verses 1 through 5. We always encourage you to take notes. It is because we want to develop the habit of learning and receiving and obeying what the Lord gives us. It's our habit here to go back and study in our own times, personal times, just so that we can get all the Lord wants to give us. So let's look at our first major truth, Jesus prays. Beginning of verse 1, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come." Now last week we did examine how Jesus was looking up in prayer. We saw how this was Jesus' habit.

This was no surprise to the disciples. He prayed publicly at the beginning of his ministry. They would have seen this. Seemingly at every major event, we see that he prayed and they would have seen this. Then before going to the cross, he prays right here in chapter 17 and then in the garden of Gethsemane. He prays on the cross and so this was Jesus' habit. These disciples knew this. They had observed it. His prayer life even moved them to the point where they asked to be taught how to pray. We even looked at that many, many times in Luke 11.

Now some of what we're going to look at here will be a little review, but I do have some additional information. So I want us to see four observations out of this small portion of verse 1. "These things Jesus spoke." These things Jesus spoke. Now in studying the language, it seems that Jesus had completing speaking and was turning to something new. That is the prayer. He is leaving the teaching from chapter 13 to chapter 16. So here there is a purposeful transition and this is a transition that the disciples are a part of. In the second observation, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven.

Now this was an accepted manner or posture in prayer, but this was more than a gesture. This was more than an example or a teaching example for the disciples. Jesus was truly praying and this was a normal manner of prayer and this again was normal for the disciples to see. Then the third observation, Jesus said, "Father," you look back, what does it say? "Father, the hour has come." Now this was a very personal and intimate manner to approach God. Now to the Jews, this would have been seen as blasphemous and scandalous. We saw this back in John 5, verse 8. What does the verse say?

"This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father." So this was scandalous for him to say, "Father." This indicated a close connection between Jesus and the Father. One commentator I read said that this is a relationship of a child to a parent. So Jesus said, "Father." Then fourth, Jesus said, "My hour has come." What does he say? Jesus said, "My hour has come." This is the time in which the entirety of Jesus' ministry has led up to. All that he has done and all that he has said has led up to this time.

This was the close of his earthly ministry. This was the grand finale of his work. John MacArthur says, "Plans that were made in eternity past were finding their culmination in time." The hour has come. Now in my study, I ran across a list. A list was given by John MacArthur and this is things that Christ would accomplish. Now this list highlights, it emphasizes what this phrase, "The hour has come" means. It is so much. So I'm going to read this quotation and I think you'll see that it emphasizes this phrase. And I'm quoting.

"The hour has come when the sinless one would be made sin for believers that they might become the righteousness of God in him. The hour had come when Christ would cancel the certificate of death consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us taking it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." This was the hour when the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah's death would be fulfilled, when the serpent's head would be bruised, when the suffering servant, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, would be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and have that chastening for our well-being upon him.

By his scourging, we are healed. It was the hour when the shadows of the Old Testament sacrifices would give way to the glorious reality of the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God. It was the hour of Christ's triumph over the prince and the power of this world and the kingdom of darkness. It was the climactic hour when God, through Christ's sacrifice, would defeat sin, death and Satan and redeem a people for himself. So what do we see here just in this one portion of verse 1? "Jesus completed his teaching, Jesus lifted up his eyes to the Father, and he declared that his hour had come.

His hour for supreme sacrifice and supreme victory on the cross was at hand." And we really need to see that this is how Jesus starts off this high priestly prayer. In saying the hour has come, he starts this prayer at the highest of mountain peaks, which is the substitutionary death. Then continuing in the prayer, he soars even higher. So when I say Jesus prays, this is no ordinary prayer. So let's look at our second major truth. Truth number two, Jesus prays for glory. Jesus prays for glory. We see that immediately in verse 1.

"Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you." Now earlier I said that Jesus started this prayer at the highest of mountain peaks. Now we will see that he soars even higher. And I mean that Jesus never touches the ground in prayer. He just soars to new heights, to greater and greater matters of prayer and glory. Now I want to make three observations here. I don't want to confuse you in how I'm progressing through the text, but after our second observation, I will make some more observations. So follow me if you can, if you have trouble. We always make our sermon notes available. There's a lot of truth here in these verses.

So our first observation, notice Jesus prays for personal glory. What does he say? "Glorify your son." We need to see that Jesus prays this prayer with the cross in view. The cross was just a matter of hours away. That is the context. Now to men, the cross was humiliation. The cross was shame. But to Christ, the cross meant glory. This glory came from being the perfect sacrifice for the sin of man. God's provided propitiation. All throughout Jesus' ministry, he was receiving glory. At his birth, he received glory. What did the angels say? Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased. Luke 2.14.

During his teaching ministry, Jesus received glory. At his death and his resurrection, Jesus received glory. Jesus speaks of this back in John chapter 12. That verse reads, "And Jesus answered them, 'The hour has come,' speaking of the cross, 'for the Son of Man to be glorified.'" So this hour spoken of here in John 12 is the hour spoken of here in John 17. This is the cross. Christ would receive personal glory from the Father in being that substitutionary death on the cross. Now, I want to give you a warning here. We must not see that this is a self-centered prayer. What does he say? Glorify your Son. That is not a self-centered prayer.

This glory comes from the Father because of Christ's selfless sacrifice on the cross. So Jesus prays for personal glory. Second observation, Jesus prays for the glory of the Father. Go back to the verse. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. Here we see that the Father receives glory from the Son through His perfect obedience. That is obedience to death on the cross. Now here we see just how closely the Father and the Son are connected. As the Son is glorified, so the Father is glorified. Their glory cannot be separated. Just as they cannot be separated, their glory cannot be separated. They are one.

Now here's where I want to pause with those two observations. Now in verses 2 through 3, we are going to see the manner by which this glory is given. The manner by which this glory is given, this glory spoken of at the end of verse 1. So let's go to verses 2 through 3. "Since you have given Him authority over all flesh..." Now who is the Him? That's Jesus. This prayer is in the third person. "Since you have given Him Jesus authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him." And this is eternal life. "That they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Now notice this phrase as is.

The English Standard reads "since you." This phrase connects these verses to verse 1. They go together. Now let's see the manner by which glory is given to the Son and given to the Father that we see here in verse 1. First God gave the Son authority over man. Go back to verse 2. "Since you," this is the Father, "have given Him," that's Jesus, "authority over all flesh." Now this authority is not an earthly authority such as kings and governments possess. This authority is for the purpose of giving eternal life or salvation to men. Go back to the verse.

"Since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life." The Father gives this particular authority to the Son because of His death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin. And this came through the Son's perfect obedience. But then also notice second. "God gave some to the Son." Go back to the verse. "Since you," the Father, "have given Him Jesus authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you," that's the Father, "have given Him," that's the Son. Now notice who receives this eternal life from the Son. Go back to the verse.

"To all whom you have given Him." Those are the ones that the Father gives the Son. The Son does not give out eternal life indiscriminately or universally. He gives eternal life only to those that the Father gives Him. Go back to the verse. "Since you," the Father, "have given Him Jesus authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given Him." So what do we see? "God gave the Son authority to give out eternal life but only to those whom the Father gives to the Son." So let's go back to our third observation. Jesus declares what eternal life is.

Go back to verse 3, and this is eternal life, that they may know the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Here we have what the Bible commentator, Leon Morris, calls a definition of eternal life. I like that. Within this definition, we see that eternal life means knowing both God the Father and God the Son. Now this word "know" in the original, it strongly implies more than an intellectual knowledge. It means an intimate, deep love relationship.

Leon Morris goes on to say it is life, and I'm quoting, "To know Him transforms a man and introduces him to a different quality of life." But I want to add to that by saying yes, because knowing God personally and intimately brings about not just a different quality of life, but complete new life. Look at Corinthians 5, 17. So what do we see here? Verse 1, the end of verse 1, all the way down to verse 3, what do we see here? Right away Jesus prays for glory for Himself and for the Father. And this glory comes through His atoning work on the cross. But that is only part of it. This atoning work is not in the abstract.

It is not without specifics. This atoning work is connected with those the Father gives the Son for that salvation work. Those that the Father give the Son come to know both the Father and the Son deeply and intimately. When this work is complete, when this work comes full circle, then both the Son and the Father receive glory. Let me say it another way. When Christ dies, that perfect atoning sacrifice, then eternal life is dispensed to particular men by the Son. But this act only comes by work of the Father. And this act brings glory to both God the Son and God the Father. Let's continue. I want us to see our third major truth.

The third major truth, Jesus prays for future glory. Verses 4 and 5. There's a transition here we can see. "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." Whereas in verse 1 and 3, we have been seeing a glory on earth or a glory through Christ's redemptive work. Now we're looking at a future glory. Again, we will see that Jesus never touches the ground in this prayer. He is soaring higher and higher, even the greater peaks of glory. Now two observations, more simple than I want to see here.

First, Christ glorified the Father through His completed work. And that what He says in verse 4, "I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." Here Jesus speaks of His work as a completed work. This phrase, "I glorified you," speaks of a completed work. This is seen more when He says, "Having accomplished this work." Here Jesus is saying that He has brought all this work, all His ministry, to its proper end. Here Jesus is anticipating the work, but He is speaking of the work in its certainty. In His heart and in His mind, this work of redemption, it was complete. And this brought glory to the Father.

In the second observation, Christ asks for glory, which He left in the incarnation. Go back to verse 5, "And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed." Here we see Jesus seek a glory with the Father, a glory that He had before He left heaven. This is important to see here. This is clear teaching of the eternality of Christ. We saw this at the very beginning of the Gospel of John. John 1, 1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So here it is obvious to see that Jesus was not created. He was and is the Eternal One.

John MacArthur describes Jesus' heart here, and I like it, and I quote, "Jesus looked beyond the humiliation and suffering and obedience, His death on the cross, to the glory that awaited Him upon His return to heaven." So what do we see here in verses 4 and 5? Jesus is yearning. He is hungering to be back with the Father. He is looking ahead over and past the suffering and shame of the cross. He is looking ahead to the glory He had before He came to earth in the flesh, a glory that He had in eternity past, even before creation. Now as I move away from the body of the message, now what I mean by body, I mean dividing the verses.

I want to do two important things. First I want us to make some observations. I want to give some insight as to what we have learned. These things need to be brought to our attention. And then second, I want to make application. We need to see how these verses and what is taught here, how it should affect our life and especially our church life. So first, we need to see what this encompasses. We need to see what these verses encompass. We need to see what this hour that Jesus speaks of fully consists. This hour was the cross, yes. This hour was the redemption or the purchase of man, yes. But we have seen so much more in the verses.

Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, God gave Him authority to dispense salvation to man. Go back to the verse. Since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to whom all you have given Him. So we see that God gave Him authority to dispense salvation to man, but not all men. This would be universalism. But not to just any man. This would be random and purposeless. Go back to the verse. Since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give to dispense eternal life to all whom the Father gives Him. God gave Christ authority to dispense salvation only to those whom the Father has given Him.

Now some of you might know this, some of you might not, but you need to know. This is what is called the doctrine of election. Now the doctrine of election is found all throughout the scriptures. It is everywhere, both Old Testament and new. I'll give you two examples. One of the greatest examples, Old Testament, is the story of Abraham, Genesis chapter 12. If you go back and study the life of Abraham, you'll see that Abraham was a pure pagan. Did you know he worshiped many gods? He came from a polytheistic society. He was not a worshipper of the one true God, a pagan in every way. But what did God do?

God came, God chose, God called, and God called Abraham out of his pagan lifestyle. Was it because of anything that Abraham had done? No. It was purely the choice of God. And that is the doctrine of election. We see a great New Testament example. As a matter of fact, we saw it in chapter 15. And this applies to these disciples that are right before us. In the teaching of the vine and the vine dresser, chapter 15, verse 16, what does Jesus say to the disciples? You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you. Two words that tell us of this election.

I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. Now, those are two examples of this doctrine of election. Now, you and I need to see that this applies to us far more than you know. This is not just Bible knowledge for us to put on the shelf in our minds and hearts. If you were born again, we learned about that in John 3. Born from above, born of the Spirit. If you're a new creation in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if you know God, John, chapter 17, verse 3, you know the Son and you know the Father. Listen, you did not choose Christ, but God chose you in Christ. Go back to the verse.

Verse 2, since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him, and we need to see that we did not choose Christ, but God chose us in Christ. Now, some of you might say, "Well, Pastor, I accepted Jesus. I mean, I repented of my sin and by faith I put my trust in Christ. That happened only because He chose you first." Second, we need to see how this applies to our church's message. We need to see how these verses apply to the message of the church. We must preach Christ, but that's not enough. We must preach Christ crucified. Oh, but that's not enough. We must preach Christ crucified for men.

He died to ransom men whom the Father would give Him, and that is what we preach. I'm sad to say there are churches who have moved away from this message. They just preach people's needs. They look around at the plethora of people that God has brought into the life of the church, or they've brought into the life of the church, and all they do is preach on needs and needs and needs. Many churches, they just preach entertainments. They might not say it from the pulpit, but when you look at what dominates the life of the church, it's all about entertainments and entertainments and entertainments. Many churches preach agendas.

They can be political, they can be social, but they are agendas. Many people, many churches, they preach causes. Did you know that some churches can preach causes out of the Bible? We can't make the primary cause of the church missions. Sometimes it's good and it has its place, but that can't be the primary message of the church. We've all seen this. Many churches preach decisions. You've heard me call it "decisionism," and that's the primary focus of evangelism in most churches. But we need to see that as a church, we must dig our heels in the ground. We must be immovable on the message. We must preach Christ crucified as a ransom for men.

He was the perfect propitiation for sin, and not just any men, but men that God is bringing to Christ for their salvation. Don't you see how this applies? We do not have to coerce people to make decisions. We don't have to try to get people saved. That's God's job. God decided that forever ago. We live in time. We are seeing these things unfolded, but all of these things were decided forever ago. We need to be careful because when we try to look at the work of God through the lens of time, it can confuse us every time. We see a certainty here that God is going to do His work. He's going to do His work while for His glory.

God directs you to the title of the message. You see it on the screen before you. High priestly prayer of Jesus, Jesus prays for Himself. Now to be honest with you, all day yesterday and end of the night, I was in great consternation because I really wanted to change that title. You could change the title of this message to Jesus Prayer for Glory. All the Bible commentators that I read say this is the prayer for Himself, but in the middle of it all, it is a prayer for glory. For He and the Father receive glory, not just through the cross, but as people are brought to the Son by the Father, they receive glory. They receive glory.

That's how God the Father and Son get glory on this earth. Now listen to your pastor here because this really doesn't work in me. This is why I believe God wants to save people. Oh, this is why I believe God wants to save people, don't you see? Because He gets glory from the cross, but He gets greater glory through saving men and women. Oh, if you are here, I believe God wants to save you. I believe God wants to save you if you're lost and without Christ to the very day I say, because He will get glory out of your life. Some of you have people in your family we've been praying for for a long time.

I hope and pray that God enables you by the power and the work of the Spirit to witness again. But I believe that God wants to save your family and your lost neighbors. Why? Because He can get glory out of their life. I believe God wants to raise up a church that will go into communities that will even go around the world because I believe God wants to bring lost sinners to the Son to receive salvation because that's how He gets glory. That's why I pray on Wednesday night that God would raise up an Old Baptist church to even go around the world and to send our sons and daughters. Don't you see?

It's when lost men and women are brought by the Father to Jesus to get eternal life, they receive glory. So this sermon is more than this high priestly prayer. It's more about discovering the doctrine of election right here in this verses. This is about the glory of God, the glory of the Son and the glory of the redemptive work that He decided forever ago to unfold to us. But what do we see? The high priestly prayer. He never touches ground, higher and higher, more and more glory. Jesus prays for Himself, Jesus prays for glory. May the Lord help us to participate in bringing people to Christ for true salvation in His wonderful Son.

Let's pray. [Praying in the Spirit]