Well, I do invite you, if you have your Bibles this morning, to turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17, as we begin working through the gospel of John, the high priestly prayer. And it's so wonderful, we'll only make it through the first five verses today. John 17, 1 through 5. Somebody has described this as it must have been like when the disciples were there that day, it must have been like Moses in front of the burning bush on holy, hallowed ground to sit and listen and stand there and listen to Jesus pray to his Father. What a text this is and how difficult it is actually to preach because you're always concerned as a pastor that you will detract or take away from the glory of what is actually said here. It's so beautiful. It's so profound. The words are so meaningful and deep. Today, we will just scratch the surface, but John 17, 1 through 5 is our text this morning as Jesus here prays to his Father. This is the word of the Lord. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you, 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 know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 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 presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. And there we'll end the reading of God's Word. Well, for the past weeks going through the Gospel of John, we have really been considering the wonderful teachings of Jesus, so unique in the Gospel of John that are, I think, some of the most wonderful things that could be said to us as we walk through this life and head home in our wilderness journey and are anticipating the glory to come and all of the struggles of this life. Think of all the beautiful things that Jesus has said to us in these chapters from 13 all the way now as we come to chapter 17, what wonderful things have been said. I have come to give you joy. I say all these things to you that your joy may be complete. I have come to give you peace. I want you to have peace. understanding your relationship with the Lord. He even told us last time how much the Father loves us. What a great section that was in telling us to be of good cheer. The last words before he ended his teaching and discourses here before the high priestly prayer, the last statement of his teaching in the gospel of John to his disciples is be of good cheer. In the world, you're going to have a lot of tribulation, but I've overcome it for you. I've overcome it. Does it get any better than this? This is the Savior. This is God telling us this. And so we've been studying all of these things, and we have now this great moment in the life of Christ where he stops, and right before his disciples, He breaks into prayer, beautiful prayer. Often in the Gospels, we read that Jesus went off and he would pray. This was constant in his life, in his ministry, in the state of his humiliation. When he was here on this earth, he would depart and he would head off to mountaintops alone to pray. This was something that Jesus did, and it teaches us a lot of how wonderful it is, the access to God. And Jesus here is praying in Mark chapter one. Now in the morning, having risen long before it was daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place. And there he prayed. What an encouragement. What I always wanted to know is, what is Jesus saying? This is the Son of God. What are his prayers like? What is that communion like with God? If I am to be Christ-like, what is that communion like? And what is prayer like? And what did the eternal Son of God in his time on this earth, what did he do with so much time in prayer? What was he saying to the Father? What did he care about? What was on his heart? What was on his mind? What did the agonizing prayer in his state of humiliation, in his time of suffering, what did that prayer sound like from his incarnate lips? It's just a really wonderful thought to think about that we would have access to that. And we get that in John 17. We have that provided in John 17. In fact, it shows here that Jesus believed strongly that all of the teaching that he did, All of the teaching, all of the words of instruction, all of the sermons, all of the illustrations, all that he was doing would have little consequence apart from prayer. Jesus himself knew that, and Jesus himself went to his Father. Most of the time, we simply make Jesus an example in prayer, taking it right back to us that we would do the same thing, and of course, we should, and prayer should be a great priority in our lives. Prayer should be something that we give ourselves to, and all of us know it's a discipline, and it's difficult, and to get up early and do that is a challenge. But the questions that we don't get to when we talk about Jesus praying is what about his prayers? What was he actually accomplishing in prayer? And it helps us today is to understand what mattered to him, what was on his mind, and especially as we come to the table this morning, it's one of the most comforting sections in all of John to land on in God's providence as we come and commune and partake of the true body and blood of Christ. You'll notice here in John chapter 17 that there are no conditional statements in the prayer. Jesus is not praying saying, Father, if they do this, then this will happen. What Jesus does in this prayer, how Jesus prays, is completely remarkable because he prays as if it was as good as done before it happened, which is a remarkable point. I want you to enjoy the glory of what the disciples heard that day. That's the purpose of this sermon, to enjoy the glory of what the disciples heard that day. Being able to stand there we're able to stand there with them as we come to John chapter 17 and listen to the prayer imagine standing there and listen to the father especially as Hebrews tells us in the days of his pilgrimage he offered vehement prayers and cries and tears to his father what did that sound like this was a passionate prayer it was an important prayer his eyes are lifted up sometimes I think we're so programmed in prayer a certain way, that we're like this, and then we're asleep. You see, you laugh because you know that's true. Jesus lifted up his eyes and prayed to his father. Those are eyes just like your eyes. And I think we need to think about this a little more, even the posture of prayer. But that's for another time. There are three parts to this prayer. The first, and the shortest is Jesus here referencing himself in the first five verses. That's all we're focusing on this morning. Then Jesus prays for his disciples in verses 6 through 19, and then Jesus prays for you in verses 20 through 26. So this morning we're going to begin with that prayer for himself and referencing himself in the first five verses of John 17. After all these hours of teaching, after all of these beautiful things that he has said, all of a sudden Jesus stops and in verse 1 it tells us that he lifted up his eyes to heaven and he prayed. We listen here to the prayer about himself to his father. We're struck with one great theme that permeates these first words of Jesus's prayer and it is this theme, it is this word glory. Glory is used numerous times in this, in these first five verses of this prayer of Jesus. And if you were to break down this prayer in these few verses here, Jesus prays about the way of glory, the consequence of glory, and then this great goal of glory that he's praying about. So we're going to look at this here. Verse 1, Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. You'll remember back in chapter 2 when he was at the wedding and they pressed him to do something about the wedding and the first thing he said to his mother was, this my hour has not yet come. The hour of my feast, the hour of me going and gathering with my bride has not come yet, and you're pressing me before the time. And now Jesus says in John's gospel right here at the beginning of his prayer, he begins by saying, the hour has come. This has been on his mind the whole time of his ministry. In chapter 12, we were told that we had approached this hour when he said, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now my soul is troubled, And what should I say? Father, save me from this hour. But this is the purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. That was the burden on Jesus' heart the whole time he lived. He had one great passion in life, one great drive in life. It was to fulfill the will of his Father. he lived for it he found joy in it and that will is here captured for us in the giving of him to this great hour to die Christ had um really been telling his disciples about this the whole time in his ministry hadn't he when he said things like I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am until it's accomplished. We all have things we anticipate in life. We all have things we look forward to. I think looking forward to things keeps us going in many ways, doesn't it? When we have positive things and events and things that help us and exciting things, even a vacation, whatever, it gives us something to get up sometimes for and to live for. Imagine this. Imagine that your life is looking forward to being crucified for the sins of the world and living that. One thing you never anticipate, you've been told has been taken from you, that you've been able to live now in peace and in comfort with is the fact that you are not going to have to stand and face the judgment of God. He lived with it the whole time. He was going to have to stand in your place and face the judgment that should have fallen on you. I can't imagine living with the stress of that. You know? You think you have stress? I can't imagine living with the stress of that. That this night, you're going to die. This is where we are in the Gospels. You're going to die and you are going to face in your body. And by the way, all the external things that we study that happened to him was nothing compared to what happened in his soul. The judgment would fall on your soul that would have been worth an eternity of judgment forever upon us. Back in chapter 12, he had said, my soul is thrown into intense agitation. So the whole time of his incarnation, he has bore this awful anticipation of the suffering that he would have to bear to face the extreme wrath of God for our sins. Your sins. Those sins that you do every week. Those sins that you think. Those sins with your eyes. Those sins with your heart. All of them he had to carry. All of them he had to bear. The human soul of Jesus is shocked to its very depths. And what is the concern of his heart right now? This is what makes this prayer so marvelous. Father, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. Glorify me that I may glorify you. How? How? The hour has come. And what now is left? Well, he's already fulfilled a righteousness for you. He's already kept the law. He's already passed that test. We call this the act of obedience of Jesus. There's one great event left. Now in the passion, he has to become the curse for you. He has to become the curse. In the next scene, chapter 18, he's going to be arrested. And he is going to go and fulfill what was planned from the foundation of the world between the father and the son to give his life to fulfill this. And, and he would be declared in the resurrection, the son of God with power, with power. But why does Jesus want them to hear this? This is why I want to, I want you to think about a little bit with me for a minute. Why is Jesus giving this to us? What is about to happen with the disciples we've been studying, they don't even see it coming, is one of the worst failures of their lives. They're going to deny him. They're going to fail him in the heart of his afflictions. They are going to fall hard, and they are going to be scattered. And I've said, I wouldn't want to live with the pain of that. And then you start to think, well, what about every sin that we've done, and the guilt and the shame that it brings? They abandoned the Lord in the moment of his cross when he just asked them to pray with him and they couldn't even do it for an hour. They couldn't even do it for an hour. They fell asleep. And this is such a big moment that if you have any sensitivity to sin today and you know what you're capable of, sin always takes a step and sin always goes further until it hardens the heart, until you're living in and doing what you wanted. If you know what you're capable of or if you've done it and are ashamed of it, if you see it, you know how dangerous sin is. And really, the guilt of it can be so burdensome it's hard to even carry. I know many of you are going to face hard things in life. Many of you are going to be shocked to the core when you're tested. And all of a sudden, our pride goes away. And we realize how cast we are on the mercies of the Lord. Now, if that's coming for the disciples, if this fall is coming for the disciples, what happens if you have a wrong understanding of grace? Well, then you're going to fall back on yourselves. And this is not what this prayer is intending to do for them. The disciples don't even understand this yet, and now think about what they're hearing. They've just been told in the previous section, The Father loves them. They have no idea of what is about to happen. They are all going to leave him and go home. Imagine this from Jesus' perspective. He knows their failure that's coming. He knows everything they're about to do. Now what does he say? Father, the hour has come. We planned this. I'm doing your will. Glorify me so that I may glorify you. And then he rehearses what he did to show that glory. What is this glory? I've always been amazed about the high priestly prayer is that Jesus speaks as if it's as good as done to his father. Here's the marvel of the first words of the prayer. To glorify someone, of course, is to give them all the honor and the reverence and the splendor and the glory and everything you could possibly give of devotion and reverence, give them all of what they deserve is due to them for who they are. This is God the Father in communion with God the Son. And they're asking that they, think about this, glorify me so that I may glorify you. Here's the marvel. Jesus had been saying the whole time, I have to finish the work the Father has given me to do. That work is the glory of the cross. And I want you to let that set in just for a minute. I'm not sure there's anything in Christianity that has ever been taught that is more mind-blowing or even confusing or shocking than this truth. What Jesus just asked for, so important, is that he would glorify his father in willingly giving himself up to die for you. The cruel death of the cross and that the father who loves his son would glorify his son in his willingness to give up his son for you. Let that set in. Let that set in because it just doesn't set in. It's a really important point to this whole thing that I'm saying. It's probably the heart of this whole sermon. Jesus just asked, I'll say it again, that the Father would glorify his Son in the Son's willingness to give up his life for you because the Father loves us and that the Father would be willing to give up his Son in death for you. that's the glory they're talking about. How do you explain that? It's utterly shocking. I can't even begin to comprehend it, that the glory that Jesus is first and foremost talking about is the glory that would be revealed when he fulfilled his Father's will and gave himself up to die. And that his willing obedience for you giving himself to the obedience of his father he's obedient to do that for you giving himself to the obedience of his father would bring him glory and that the father who loved him beyond what we could ever fathom would deliver him up for us so that the great purpose would be shown as you have given him authority over all flesh that he, now listen to this, should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Do you love your sons, fathers? How much do you love your children? I mean, that's a hard question, isn't it? How much do you love your children? How do you fathom this? This is what Christianity is. that the glory of his death would be to you the free gift of righteousness and life. Now, there's a growing marvel to all this because he doesn't pray as, and this is why I think we've lost the effectiveness of the death of Christ by the way that we sort of modern evangelicals view the death of Christ. He doesn't pray like we pray, does he? That, Father, would you just please let the world accept me so that my death would then become powerful for people? That's not how he prays. We're so programmed to think that Jesus died to make salvation possible, and I don't find that ever to be good news. That Jesus just died to make salvation possible for you based upon your sovereign choice to accept him. That's not how he's praying, is it? Not even close to how he's praying. Jesus did not die to make salvation possible where then his blood only becomes effectual upon your acceptance of him. That's not how he's praying. And I think that's what makes this prayer so unique and powerful. Jesus prayed that through the glory of being lifted up on the cross when he was lifted up to die that he and his father would be glorified. How so? In this, he would give eternal life to every last one whom the Father gave him. That is definite, that is certain, and that is saying that it was complete in the death of Christ. And Jesus was saying this everywhere. I lay down my life for my sheep. My sheep know my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. You know, if we got up every day and lived with that truth, think of the confidence and the joy and the peace in the gospel you would have. I'm in the Father's hand. I was given to the Son, and the Son didn't die to make this possible. Well, the son accomplished it. Remember Isaiah 53? When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. The way of the glory of the Father here is set before us. And Jesus is saying, it's time. It's come. It's time for me to glorify you and you, me, in bringing, as we sing, many sons to glory. You see, this is the confidence that before their failure, he wanted them to have. It's not that Jesus waited and said, let me see how they turn out. It's not that Jesus waited to see what kind of sins are you going to do in your life? He knew them all. And he knew the most perverse of sins you were going to do. And he knew everything you've done in secret. And he's saying this in AD 30. You see that? It's the marvel of it. He's loved you that much. See how objective it is. It's this confidence that he wants you to have. That ultimately, in AD 30, when he said it's finished, it was finished. He died for you. And he paid for your sins. And he atoned for you. and he covered you and he loved you then before you were even born. That's the consequence of the glory, isn't it? Look at verse three. And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Now that's the great consequence that comes to you now. The blessedness of Christ's work is that he brings you a communion and a knowledge of God. You see what he just prayed? I've done the work. I've finished the work. I'm finishing the work that has been given to me. They know you. I've challenged this before, but I think this is such an important point here of how persistent the Lord is to bring you a knowledge of his Father and him. You know, through all the foolish choices that we've made in life and the ignorance right down to our rebellions in life. You're here today, aren't you? You know, think about that truth. You're here today and all the dumb things you've done. Most of you grew up in the church. With all of its faults, even in the church, you're still here. The Lord worked through a lot of, you know, Reverend Camming used to say about pastors, we're broken sticks, crooked sticks, trying to bring a straight blow. That's what I am. He chose a crooked stick to do this. He's put all these sinners in your lives whom he's worked in and put the Holy Spirit in to teach you and train you. Think about this truth. Think of all the specific Sunday school teachers. Think of all the training. Think of parents who've loved us and who plead for us and who pray for us. Think about this. And think of all these places in your life where the Lord has come to bring you a knowledge of the Father and the Son. That you would know him. That you would see him. That you would enjoy him. And we fought him on this. How do we fight him? Well, I think one of our challenges, if I may be direct here, we run the risk a lot of being like the Jews. Jesus has been saying the whole time, they don't know me or the Father. And look at the legalism. And look at the emptiness and look at what he said about their worship. You got all these people who really don't want to be there and their hearts are far from him. Is that a danger for us? They would have been in all the soup suppers, all the events, the school events, everything that's in the community for the culture of it. But it never got in the heart. It never got in the heart. The culture. I think there's a culture that can be developed, which can be a good culture. A culture of just, it's part of our culture to go to church without a knowledge of the Father and the Son. And Jesus is saying, that's not my kind of stuff. The greatest danger for us is simply doing what we do because it's embedded in the culture and then our hearts are far from him. We don't know him. What did the Lord say? His work is to make you to enjoy a knowledge of him. To enjoy it. Remember Jeremiah, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts, boasts in this, that he understands and knows me and that I am the Lord who practices. Now listen, what do you know about the Lord? I practice steadfast love. Justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord, that they know me in this. The consequence of the cross, beloved, is an opening of our minds to know the Lord and that he, this precious gift that has been given to us, how could the Father love me this way? And he does because of his son. Think of what you heard last week. What kind of knowledge? In that day you're going to ask of my name. And I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself, what? Loves you. Because you've loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. And now I'm leaving the world to go to the Father. Jesus was anticipating the day that you would come to know how deep the Father's love is for you through the work of the Son and that you would enjoy him and commune with him and pray to him. That's what he's doing in your life. And the evidence is what I just said. Look at how patient he's been to instruct you in this your whole lives. Finally, Jesus asks for a return to what he enjoyed before his incarnation. Verse four, I have glorified you on earth. I've finished the work you've given me to do and now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. He had glory with his Father before the world was. He's eternal. The whole prayer, as I said, is given today as we come to the table with this great truth that it's finished. Notice what he said there. I have finished the work you gave me to do. Every last one of your sins on the cross was atoned for. Every last one, past, present, and future. By that completion now, he is saying, when that is fully complete, as I now lift it up, and he will say on the cross, it's finished. He says, glorify me. I want the glory we had together before this world was. Well, how do you preach that? here the promise that the people given to him by his father that they would be saved seven times jesus says in this prayer he speaks of those given to him by his father what he's saying here is when i have finished this i want my reward and you know what that reward is for his labor you it's just a marvel to think about that we are going to he's in this prayer he's going to pray that we're going to be able to be one together as they are one with this in the presence of the glory before the face of Jesus I've done it I want what I enjoyed with you in eternity outside of now this state of humiliation in which I have been subjected. I want that radiant glory again. Before the world was, now that the work is complete. What a prayer that this prayer is that he prayed before his disciples. Christ went to his hour of which we are about to study and as he was raised and seated in the heavens, there were a few words that they never forgot and the heart of it was, beloved, it's finished. That's what he wants you to live in light of. Not running around doubting his work, not running around wondering, but believing and trusting it's finished for you. It was the prayer of their high priest standing at the gate of heaven, praying with uplifted eyes, ensuring that all the sons of God and daughters of God would be brought to glory. That's what this prayer is. And he wants you to live in light of it. He wants you to know it. He wants you to enjoy this. As I said at the beginning of the sermon, this is just like standing before the burning bush. It sort of has the effect of making us tremble. That everything that was necessary was done. Everything that had to happen was completed. And what we need now is to live in the joy of the knowledge of it. You see? What we need now is to live in the joy of the knowledge of it. This secures your future. There's a reason. Imagine Peter standing there, and we'll close with this thought. Imagine Peter standing there that day, and as he is standing there listening to this prayer, I'm wondering if in his head, by the Spirit, he was thinking of 1 Peter 1, of what he was going to put down and say was going to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Listen to this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time in this you rejoice. See, he understood the implications of this. Heaven's waiting for you. Heaven's waiting. It's reserved. You're going there who believe the gospel. So now live in light of this knowledge. Enjoy your father. Enjoy your father through the work of the son. And I think it should have a great motivating influence on the way we pray. and talk to him. To thank the Lord for so rich a gift. To thank the Lord for his steadfast love. May we do that today in prayer as we come to the table. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your steadfast love in giving your son to die for us. These words are so splendid. They're so overwhelming. They're difficult even to communicate. But thank you for giving us assurance. Thank you for letting us stand here and listen to this high priestly prayer that was said so many years ago and which was declared is finished as Jesus was raised up on the cross. We long for the day, O Lord, where we will all together again be in glory for heaven that is reserved for us. But until then, give us not just a cultural Christianity, as important as that can be, But give us a Christianity that's real, that communes with you, that has a true knowledge of the gift that has been given to us through the work of Jesus. And may we grow in that wonderful understanding of who our Heavenly Father is and that you love us. Thank you, O Lord. Hear our prayer, forgive our sins, and give us assurance as we come to the table of the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.