Gospels (71) - John 17:17-26

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Keith Tyner

Rusty's Notes

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

• Believers deal with sin differently – we are separated from non-believers.
• 1) “Sanctified” – God sanctifies our person (spirit & soul)
• 2) “Sanctifying” – God has given us the ability to overcome the power of sin.
• 3) “will be sanctified” – In the future, we won’t even have to deal with sin. Total sanctification in our behavior.
• Who does the sanctifying? God or the Truth?
• God sanctifies us with the tool of the Truth.
• Psalm 119:9-11 - 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.
• I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands.
• I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.[1]
• It is God who changes us… not the Truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

• He came to model living His life by another… and wanted the disciples to do the same for the world.
• Surrendering your will to His.
• Believing that Jesus is going to do this in me.
• You consciously know that He is going to do it through you.
• It is not a “feeling”
• What does it mean living life by another?
• When you get to the point of saying “I can’t do this anymore.”… you are in a great place.
• Pressure is off.

19 I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

• He didn’t sanctify Himself for his own purpose
• He yielded to the Father’s life because the disciple would see it.
• John Bisagno as seminary student wrote 60 names of peers in ministry in the back of his Bible when he graduated from seminary.
• As his peers burned out, failed or simply walked away from full-time ministry he would mark their name out of the back of his Bible.
• When he retired in his 60’s… he had 6 names in the back of his Bible… 1 out of 10.
• If you show up on Sundays, hang out with me or be my friend… you need me to live my life by another…
• I love you… I am learning everyday what this means.

 
JESUS PRAYS FOR ALL BELIEVERS
20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

• He is praying for ALL of us!

21 May they all be one,

• Religion will never accomplish unity.
• Our country is becoming more divisive by the minute… or tweet.
• Unity finds its origin in God the Father…
• They are the source of love… God is love.

as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

• You have a Spirit, and you have a Spirit, and you have a Spirit… how many Spirits do you think are in this room? ONE

22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

• You can have all the bells and whistles of a huge organization but it will not prevail unless there is unity through the body of Christ.
• If love is absent… it will fail
• What is the glory of God?
• The awesomeness of the character of God which is the expression of the presence of God and which only draws attention to the person of God.
• Colossians 1:27 – 27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.[2]
• If that glory lives in me… I have access to that person. Just as you do.

23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

• Jesus lives in me… and the Father in Jesus…
• God loves me just as much as He does the Son.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.
 - Two places at once… My citizenship is in heaven.
 - 2 Corinthians 3:18 - 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.[3]
 - 2 Corinthians 3:14 - 14 but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.[4]
 - What is being transformed? Our behavior
 - Making us into more spiritually mature humans.
 - Are we more holy? No… just in our behavior.
25 Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me.
 - The whole world knew the Father sent the Son because of the unity in the Church that is displayed.
26 I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”[5]

• They know some now but not as much as they will after Acts 2 – the Spirit coming.
• How confusing would this be for them?
• Jesus would be in them.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ps 119:9–11). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Col 1:27). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (2 Co 3:18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (2 Co 3:14). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 17:1–26). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.