Gospels (69) - John 17:1-17

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

• Jesus has done everything He could in teaching His disciples.
• Now, all He can do is pray for them.
  
  

JESUS PRAYS FOR HIMSELF
John 17
1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
 - So Jesus could glorify the Father.
2 since you gave him authority over all flesh (people),

• God gave Jesus the ability to do miracles and continually escape the Pharisees in order for people to see that He truly is the Messiah.

so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.

• Jesus gave us eternal life but it originated through the Father.

3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.

•  The essence of eternal life is the ability to know intimately the heart of God the Father and God the Son.

4 I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

• He glorified the Father by allowing the Father to work through Him.
• Every word that Jesus spoke was the Father’s word.
• Jesus knows even the hours to come are going to happen that He refers to them in past tense.
• The crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are included in these works.

5 Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.

• Colossians 1:15 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.[1]
• Philippians 2:6-7 - who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
• Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, [2]
• Jesus Christ possessed the Glory of God from eternity past.
• This Glory that Jesus has always had was witnessed at the Mount of Transfiguration and will be witnessed again at the resurrection.
• Otherwise, the rest of Jesus’ earthly presence, the Glory that is His has been veiled.

JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS DISCIPLES
6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

• Jesus has revealed Himself to the disciples.
• Jesus defends the disciples even though the chapter before he tells them they are going to scatter when Jesus is arrested.
• Jesus sees what they are going to do through the Spirit before it happens.

7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

• It’s like when a pastor just preaches a message and then closes the message by repeating the message and pleading with the audience to do as he taught them.
• Even though the disciples didn’t know (at that time), Jesus knew that they were going to know once the Spirit came.
• So pray as if you know what is to come.

9 “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours.

• This verse destroys any universalist theology.
• When were they given to Jesus?
• The moment they believed they became “in Christ”.
• Once you are “in Christ” you are there from eternity past to eternity future.

10 Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I am glorified in them.

• Everything that belongs to the Father belong to the Son.
• Psalm 24:1-2 - The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;
• 2 for he laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.[3]
• “Them” – the disciples
• “glorified” – past tense… it already happened… even though they were going to scatter and didn’t understand what He was truly saying.
• Jesus saw their future and spoke about them because of their future.
• This totally opposite of our society, you make one mistake or even say the wrong word then you are cast aside.

11 I am no longer in the world (The crucifixion, resurrection & ascension is so for sure that Jesus speaks about it in past tense), but they are in the world (unredeemed world that is controlled by Satan), and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me (they are equal in character – same name), so that they may be one as we are one.

• How did Jesus keep the disciples in the Father’s name?
• Because He taught them about the Father.
• He didn’t give them 3 points and illustrations.
• He didn’t give them “responsibility”
• He didn’t give them Law.
• He taught them about His Father.
• If they know the Father’s Name… they would take on the Father’s character.
• If they take on the Father’s character then they become united.
• We try to create unity for the sake of unity rather than just knowing the Father.
• My friend Dale from Camp Zion drove 8 hours to hang out with our group for 3 hours because he saw something different in our group of people.

12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

• Jesus was not surprised by Judas leaving the 12.
• He called it back in John 13

13 Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them.

• Jesus taught them things they could not understand.
• But He knew that one day it would be revealed to them.
• This gives me, as a teacher, much hope.

14 I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

• If the Holy Spirit reveals these things to you, you will not respond as the world responds.
• You will not set people aside.
• You will be considered “weird”, “a harborer of sinners”, “a sloppy thinker”, “a teacher/follower of a twisted Gospel.” (irony in that).

15 I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

• All these disciples were martyred.
• He is asking that they never falter in what they believe or teach.
• Suffering will occur… but keep them faithful.

16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

• Separated from the world – sanctified – holy – set apart.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

• Who sanctifies you? The Father.
• What does the Father use to sanctify you? Truth
• My person (soul/spirit) is sanctified.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Col 1:15). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Php 2:6–7). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ps 24:1–2). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.