127 John 17:1-5 JESUS PRAYING FOR HIMSELF Introduction: This chapter of John records "The Lord's Prayer." In V. 1-5 He prays for Himself. In the remainder of the chapter He prays for His disciples and for those who would later become His disciples. As Jesus and His disciples traveled toward Gethsemane, He stopped His teaching and started praying. This message will focus only upon those verses in which He prays for Himself. I. Jesus looking toward heaven to pray V. 1, "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven..." The expression "These words spake Jesus" refers not to the prayer which is to follow, but to the words which He had already spoken prior to the prayer. They must have stopped walking during the time of the prayer although John says nothing about it. If Jesus kneeled John does not mention that either. He does say that Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven and so we know that He did not close His eyes for the prayer as most of the time we do. Rather He looked up toward the place from which He had come and toward the place to which He would soon return. We can be reasonably sure that even though His human physical eyes could not see into heaven itself, yet His mind's eye could envision God the Father seated in heaven on His throne and the angels round about the throne. When He spoke, He spoke to God the Father. Actually, all prayer should look toward heaven. One may or may not be looking in that direction with his physical eyes, but at least with his heart he should be looking toward heaven. II. The request of Jesus for glorification (V. 1), "...and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son..." Jesus at this point prayed for Himself. Yet He did not ask God the Father to spare Him from the cross. Later in the Garden of Gethsemane He would ask God that if there was any other way possible for man to be saved to spare Him from the cross, but at this point He is actually asking the Father to proceed with His plans and send Him to the cross. He said, "Glorify thy Son" and the particular thing that He was talking about was to glorify Him by sending Him to the cross to die for the souls of men. Jesus would be highly exalted down through the years because of His sacrificial death on Calvary's cross. It is true that His crucifixion would put the Son of God through tremendous suffering, but Jesus looked beyond the suffering to the glory that His death would bring later. Yet He was asking for more than that God should just send Him to the cross. He was also asking God the Father to glorify Him by raising Him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave would glorify Him tremendously. In fact the resurrection of Jesus from the grave was absolutely essential in order for Him to be successful in saving the souls of men. A dead Christ could save nobody. It takes a living Savior to save the souls of men. Still yet, He was asking for God the Father to return Him back to heaven and to the glory that He would receive there when He would return there. It would be on the throne that Jesus would do His mediatorial work for mankind. III. The reason Jesus wanted to be glorified (V. 1), "...that thy Son also may glorify thee." The thing that motivated Jesus to ask the Father to glorify Him was in order that He, in turn, may glorify the Father. The sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross not only brings glory to Jesus Christ, but it also brings great glory to God the Father who sent Him to die for men. For instance, one reason John 3:16 is so well loved is because it points to the great love that God the Father has for men and His willingness to send His own Son to the cross in order for men to be saved. Furthermore both the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus would not only glorify Jesus, but they would glorify God the Father. The hearts and minds of those who are saved would praise God the Father immensely for bringing Jesus forth from the grave and for returning Him back to the throne to make intercession for them. IV. The authority which Jesus had been given over all flesh V. 2, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh..." Note the word, power. In the original Greek language of the New Testament there were several words which have been translated "power" in the English versions, but there are two Greek words which primarily were used. One of those words means "power" in the sense of "might, strength." It is the word from which we get our English word "dynamite." This kind of power Jesus had throughout all eternity. He was and is Almighty. He always has been Almighty and always will be. The other primary Greek word which is translated "power" means "right, privilege, authority." This is the word which is used in this verse. What this verse says is that God the Father has given Jesus Christ, His Son, "authority" over all flesh. According to what Jesus would later say when He would give the Great Commission to His church, the Father has given Him all authority both in heaven and in earth. It is also said in Scripture that God the Father will judge no man, but that He has given all judgment into the hands of His Son. Even so our text here speaks about God the Father granting Jesus authority to give eternal life to man. In this verse Jesus said that He has authority to give eternal life to those whom the Father had given to Him. those whom the Father has given to Him to be saved. (V. 2), "...that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." This statement poses a problem in the religious world today. There are those who say that this means that God the Father has picked out certain ones to be saved and that He has given Jesus the authority to save only certain people. The problem with that is that they say that God picked out those certain people without regard to whether or not they would repent and trust in Jesus for salvation. They say that the reason that these certain ones do repent and trust Jesus for salvation is because they were picked to be saved and they had no other choice but to repent and trust in Jesus. Let me tell you that this is most certainly not what the Scriptures teach. Let me cite you to Romans 8:29. This Scripture says, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..." The ones whom God gave to Jesus were those whom God the Father foreknew would repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. God did not pick out certain ones to receive eternal life without regard to their repentance and faith, but He picked them out because He foreknew that they would repent and trust Jesus. Let me put it this way, God gave Jesus authority to give eternal life to all who would repent of their sin and trust Jesus for salvation. V. One objective in giving eternal life to men V. 3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." God's gift of eternal life is designed to bring those who receive it to a knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. A lost sinner can know about God, but only a saved sinner can know God. There is a difference in knowing about God and actually knowing God. Almost all men know about God, but only those who have been born again and have eternal life within actually know God. It is true that our knowledge of God at this present time is rather limited, but God has designed that our knowledge of Him will come to a fuller maturity in the hereafter. Thus, having eternal life brings a change in one's eternal destiny. Those who do not have eternal life will be separated from God in eternity and will spend eternity the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. But those who have eternal life will spend eternity with God in glory. Also, having eternal life brings a change in one's conduct in this life. Even though the born again person has only a limited knowledge about God the Father, yet he does know God and his knowledge of God increases as he comes to better understand God's word. As He better understands God's word, his life changes to be more and more conformed to the will of God. The change starts in this life and will be brought to fuller maturity in the next life. VI. The glory that Jesus had brought on earth to God the Father V. 4, "I have glorified thee on the earth..." The chief goal of Jesus here on earth was to glorify God the heavenly Father. He had glorified God the Father here on earth by living a sinless life in human flesh. He is the only person to do so. He had glorified the Father here on earth by teaching the great truths of God in a world what had turned almost completely away from God's truths. He had glorified God the Father here on earth by demonstrating the power of God in the miracles He had performed. He had glorified God the Father here on earth by establishing the New Testament church system of worship to replace the Old Testament law system of worship. He had glorified God the Father here on earth by willingly submitting Himself to go to the cross and to die for the salvation of men. He would soon glorify God the Father on earth by being crucified that lost sinners might be saved and by coming forth from the grave. VII. The end of His ministry (V. 4), "...I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." That is, it was virtually finished. The finish mark was not only in view, but He has almost crossed the finish line. The completion of His work is so certain that He would now say that it is done. V. 5, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." What Jesus was asking here for Himself was the privilege of being back in heaven on the throne in the very presence of God the Father. There was nothing which would glorify Jesus more than being in the presence with God the Father once again. This was the kind of glory that He had enjoyed before the world was ever created. This was the kind of glory that He must have longed for during the past thirty-three and a half years that He had been on earth. This was the kind of glory that He had longed for ever since He has lived in a fleshly human body. He longs to be in the very presence of God the Father and this is His prayer at this time. Yet keep in mind that He is not asking God to return Him to the throne in heaven until He has first been to the cross. This was what He had come into the world to accomplish and this was what He wanted to do before He would return to heaven. This prayer was apparently prayed aloud and in the presence of His disciples. Their ears must have hung on to every word. Their minds must have been indelibly stamped with the earnestness with which Jesus had prayed. They must have been amazed at how little He had asked for Himself. He asked glory for Himself only in order to be better able to glorify God the Father. VIII. The impression of His prayer made on His disciples and should make on us I think the prayer of Jesus must have impressed His disciples concerning the importance of prayer in their own lives. If it was important for the very Son of God to pray, how much more important it was for them to pray. Their minds must have been greatly impressed with the importance of eternal life and the salvation of the soul. If it was so important that God the Heavenly Father would send His only begotten Son to the cross, then it must be extremely important. Their minds must have been impressed with the urgency of the preaching of the gospel. Later they would remember every word that Jesus had prayed and they would be spurred on to carry the gospel to a lost and dying world. I trust that we will see the importance of these same things. Let us see that it is important for us to pray in our own lives. Let us follow the example of Jesus and let us pour out our hearts to God in prayer. Let us also see the importance of eternal life. It is important for each and every person in the world to have eternal life. It is important for every person present here in this service this morning to be born again. Let us see that it is important for us to repent of our sin and trust in Jesus fir salvation so that we will be born again. Those of us who have already been saved should thank God. We should give God the praise and the glory for the salvation of our souls. We should be so grateful to God that we would willingly yield our lives to worship Him and to serve Him to the best of our ability. . Conclusion: If there is anyone present in this service who does not have the assurance in his heart that he has been born again, then he needs to come this morning and get this matter settle with God. If there is some Christian who needs to make some move to bring his life into the will of god, then let him come forward at this time.