The Great Intercessory Prayer
John 17:1 - 5 (NKJV) 1Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
The Glory of the Cross
One of the great facts of history is that in death great ones find their glory.
Abraham Lincoln
“Now he belongs to the ages”
Stanton who took no pains to conceal his contempt said, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen”
Joan of Arc
Would that my soul were where the soul of that woman is!”
We all are lost because we have burned a saint”
Jesus
“Truly this was the Son of God!”
It is the completion of work
“I have finished the work you gave me to do”
ILL: A painting from World War II shows an army code man who had just finished repairing a message line when the bullet struck him. The painting is called “Through!”
It is final obedience – obedience always brings glory
The cross was not the end
When men nailed Jesus to the cross they were saying to God, “That is what we think of your son.” In the resurrection God said, “This is what I think of my Son!”
Eternal life
Amos 5:4 (NKJV) 4For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live;
Genesis 4:1 (NKJV) 1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”
ILL: Jesus died so that we could know God, not know about God – but have an intimate relationship with Him
The prayer of Jesus for the eleven
John 17:6 - 19 (NKJV) 6“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14I 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. 15I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
He does not pray for those who reject him
He only prays for those who keep the word
He prays for unity among believers
ILL: Calvin, Fox, Wesley, Knox, Augustine were all good men – Christian men. It was not their aim to divide the Body of Christ or their followers. Denominations and churches attacking one another in order to get followers has been the blight upon the Kingdom of God. Enough is enough! We all have the same Father, same Lord Jesus, same Holy Spirit, same Baptism and the same Heaven and we all have the same enemy!
He does not pray that life will be easy or that His disciples would be taken out of the world but that they would live in the world and overcome both it and the evil one
He prays that they would be sanctified - that is consecrated and dedicated as offerings that could not be taken back
Jesus’ prayer for you and for me
John 17:20 - 26 (NKJV) 20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Again – ‘that Christians would be one’ – Why? So the world will believe!
ILL: Divisions in the Church are the greatest hindrances to world evangelism! The cause of world evangelism has been harmed because men love their ecclesiastical organizations, their own creeds, their own ritual, more than they love one another. Men will probably never organize their churches the same way, believe exactly the same things, or worship the same way but they can love each other the same way! No man, who is Christ’s disciple, should ever be excluded from any church fellowship!
And, that we may know His Glory
O how great is the Christian’s glory!
Colossians 1:24 - 28 (NKJV) 24I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
