A Great Guarantee (John 17)

Intro

Announcements

Hey!

New: welcome

Not: welcome back

I’m Bruce

Excited to be here to teach tonight.

Next week will be a little different, we won’t be meeting HERE.

We’ll be meeting at George Mason to hang out.

There will be food, snacks, drinks. Giving those away to college students, hoping to make connections and invite others to CityLight.

Instead of being a church that meets only within the walls of this building, we want to be a church that lives and operates OUTSIDE of this context.

The hope is to be a presence on campus for the incoming students.

Marine Corps Recruit Training

I moved to Virginia in the fall of 2020

Before I moved out here, I was finishing up my contract with the United States Marine Corps.

5 year contract as an Arabic linguist.

I signed up to join in May of 2015, I was an eager 24 year old Christian kid who wanted to share the Gospel

I was told I wouldn’t “ship out” until April of 2016, but in November I got a call saying that a spot opened up in December 2015 and it’s mine if I wanted it.

I was excited, so I agreed to leave in December.

Now when that day in December finally showed up, I wasn’t excited.

I was quiet, I wasn’t talking to anyone.

I was living with my parents in preparation of me leaving, and I was eating breakfast with them.

My mom asked if I was okay, and I just started bawling.

I was scared.

I was terrified.

I knew the next 13 weeks of my life were going to be hell.

I was asking myself, “What did you do? Why would you ever agree to be a Marine?”

All these emotions started boiling to the surface.

I started thinking about how I’m not cut out to be a Marine.

It would be much easier, more comfortable for me to just stay home and get a job in the area.

I was thinking about how there’s no chance I’d be able to do all the stuff in Boot Camp that they make recruits do.

I was scared. But I was also under contract, so I still went.

Luckily, my dad served 22 years.

He’s from CA and also did his bootcamp in San Diego.

So my dad and I drive down from my parents house to San Diego to send me off.

It’s about a 1.5 hour drive. And of course a lot of it was silence.

I was in my thoughts.

But there was a part of it where my dad spoke up, and started to give me some words of wisdom.

I’m eternally grateful for these words.

“It’s gonna be tough. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. But you can do it. You just have to remember these two things:

“The drill instructors will tell you over and over again about how you’re not a Marine and you need to earn the title, and they’ll hang that title over your head as motivation for you to perform, but you have to remember: You’re already under contract. The entire time you’re there, you’ll be getting paid. You already ARE a Marine. You’re just going through job training in the same way everyone else in every other job in the world has to go through job training once they’re hired. You’re already a Marine, you’re just going through job training.”

“You also have to remember that literally thousands of people go through this process every single year and millions of people have done this in the history of the Marine Corps. As tough as those drill instructors will be on you, you HAVE to remember that their job is to make sure you graduate boot camp. Boot camp is set up for you to succeed, not fail. They’ll do whatever it takes to get you through, even if that’s disciplining you.”

He also told me that unless I want to do pushups for an hour straight, don’t steal any peanut butter from the cafeteria.

In that moment I felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

Those words gave me so much confidence going into boot camp, because I felt like I had a stacked deck.

It almost felt like whatever I’d do, I’d succeed.

Bootcamp was grueling. It was physically tough, and it was probably the most mentally exhausting thing I’ve ever endured.

And the words that my dad gave me that day helped give me confidence, knowing that all I had to do was not quit, and I’d make it through.

Who wants that kind of confidence in your life?

The kind of confidence that allows you to freely attempt difficult things knowing that everything will be alright on the other end?

Who wishes they had that kind of confidence?

We all do.

We all wish we had the confidence to do the difficult things in life that we think we should.

To pursue that career choice

To ask your crush out

To share the Gospel with a coworker or friend.

That last one hits, doesn’t it?

All of us, if we’re believers in Jesus, deep down we know that we’re called to something big.

Something much bigger than any of us individually.

And we all WANT to pursue that.

But it’s intimidating.

Jesus himself tells us that the world will hate us.

If the world hated the master, how much more would it hate his servants?

We know that our lives as Christians are not easy; in many aspects its actually harder than a life lived in ignorance of Jesus’ truth.

And because we know that, it’s really hard for us to have the confidence to step into the life that God has set out for us.

That’s what I want to talk about tonight.

We all wish we had this confidence, and I want to spend tonight pointing you to a passage that shows you why you can have it. Why you can have this confidence.

This series we’re in, you know it already, it’s called See Your Savior.

Pastor John says this every week. Our souls deepest craving is to see the Savior.

And tonight we’re going to See the Savior as somebody who prays.

We see that in John 17 as Jesus prays to the Father.

John 16, Jesus know’s the time has come. He just got done telling the disciples that He was going to be departing them soon.

The disciples are about to enter into a time that might cause them to pause, to be scared, to hesitate… Jesus knows that, so what does He do?

HE PRAYS.

When we look at what it is that Jesus prays for, we begin to see that, just like the drill instructors at my bootcamp wanted us to succeed, to make it through, Jesus WANTS us to succeed.

And that should bring us confidence.

Realization: Not everyone has read John 17.

I’m excited that there are some people here who for the first time will get to see Jesus’ prayer for you.

We all need encouragement.

John knew that. His purpose for writing his Gospel was so that

John 20:30–31 (NIV)

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe (continue to believe) that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John is in the business of encouraging you to either believe for the first time or continue to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

It was a blessing for me to remember that some people will read this for the very first time tonight.

Like those words from my dad to me on the way to bootcamp, I hope that these words from Jesus’ mouth to the Father will be just as liberating for you.

Open our Bibles to John 17.

John 17 Text

John 17 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Four Main Requests of Jesus

Lots of requests, but we’ll focus on 4.

These 4 are specifically regarding his requests on behalf of the believers (not just his disciples at that time, but as we saw, all who would come to believe..)

That the Father would keep and sanctify those who believe.

That all believers may be in perfect unity.

That all believers may participate in Jesus’ glory

That the Father may be glorified

Before we dive into each of those four requests, I want to make a point.

A couple of verses.

John 16:24 (NIV)

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

1 John 5:14 (NIV)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Now if there’s one person in the history of the universe who could ACTUALLY pray in Jesus’ name, according to the will of God, who would that person be?

JESUS!

And what these verses are saying is that anything asked in the name of Jesus, anything asked according to the will of God will be given to us.

So, it follows that WHAT JESUS ASKS FOR, HE GETS!

Sometimes we pray with wrong motives, we pray in accordance to our will and not God’s sometimes.

So we don’t always get what we pray for.

But Jesus NEVER strayed from the will of God.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION

Jesus NEVER strayed from the Father’s will, and therefore, He ONLY prayed according to the will of God

It is a guarantee.

Jesus isn’t praying for a hopeful thought.

He’s not making an Amazon wishlist or sending a letter to Santa Clause.

No, he’s praying the will of God, and he’s effectively praying these requests into existence.

That’s the foundation of this.

If Jesus has prayed it, the Father will give it.

If Jesus has prayed it, SAY IT WITH ME, “The Father will give it!”

It’s a great guarantee.

So let’s look at the requests.

That the Father would keep and sanctify those who believe. (Protection/Sanctification)

Jesus is praying that those who believe would be protected.

Jesus is praying that those who believe would be sanctified (set apart to do the will of God).

Protection, what does that mean?

John 17:11–12 NIV

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Raised questions:

He lost one? Doomed to destruction? What does that mean?

Psalm 41:9 NIV

Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.

Referring to Judas. He was doomed to destruction.

The prophecy didn’t cause Judas to perish.

But God knows all. He knew that Judas would betray Jesus before Judas did. He knew Judas’ heart.

Judas was never really “WITH” Jesus.

So rather than thinking that the prophecy caused Judas to betray Jesus, view it as Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is a testimony to the truth of God’s word, a word that was spoken through King David well before Judas ever lived.

Jesus “lost the one” but it was one that was never really given to him.

1 John 2:19 (NIV)

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

Similar to Judas. Judas went out from them, but his going out from them (his betrayal) was evidence that he never really belonged to them, that he was not within the group that was “given to Jesus.”

“Whom you gave me…” IIIII (5 times)

“… that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” “… to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” “…I ask on behalf of… those whom You have given me; for they are yours.”

There’s an emphasis that Jesus is making that the Father has GIVEN Him people into his fold.

These people are His. They belong to Him.

According to the Scriptures, Judas was not part of that, but the other 11 disciples were.

So Jesus is praying that those 11 disciples, which then ultimately extrapolates to all believers, would be protected by the Father.

What the Father has done, nobody can undue.

Whom the Father has given cannot be taken away.

John 10:29 NIV

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Nobody can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

If you’ve been given by Father, you will be protected by the Father.

If He has placed you in His hand, you will never be taken from His hand.

This is “The Assurance of Salvation.”

God has chosen you, God has placed you in His hand, and there’s NOTHING that can change that.

Nothing. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

Once you are His, you are always His.

That’s what Jesus is praying for when He asks that the Father would “keep” us, that he would protect us.

That we would endure to the end because the Father makes it so, not because we do.

Because we can’t. Our best only gets us to Hell. We need God to keep us.

Sanctification:

Jesus prays for the sanctification of believers.

John 17:13–19 NIV

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

In summary:

Believers live in the world, a world that hates them.

They are not of the world, but they live in the world still.

He reiterates that He’s not asking for the Father to take the believers OUT of the world, but that He would leave them and protect them from the evil one while they’re still in the world.

In doing so, it allows for forging of holiness through trials, through temptation, through abiding in God’s word when the world is screaming at us telling us not to.

Jesus goes on to say that he sanctified himself for our sake.

That he set himself apart to do the will of God for our sake.

So that we might be truly sanctified

That we might be set apart from the world to do the will of God in the world.

So that’s the guarantee.

We, as believers, will be sanctified.

We will not be removed from the world, but we’ll live in the world with the truth of God’s word living in US.

And we will be sanctified in that truth.

In this prayer request, Jesus is guaranteeing our protection, our perseverance in the faith, and our sanctification.

If Jesus has prayed it, SAY IT WITH ME, “the Father will give it.”

Philippians 1:6 NIV

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

That’s the guarantee. Have confidence in that!

That all believers may be perfect in unity. (Unity)

As Jesus and the Father are one, that all believers would be one. Not that believers would just be part of some club together, but that they would be in true union.

In 2016, UK had the Brexit referendum.

Leave the European Union or no?

The EU (literally has “union” in the name) is full of countries who work hard to put aside selfish ambitions for the greater good, but ultimately, each of these countries still has the responsibility of doing what’s right for their country. So the UK voted to leave the EU, showing just how much disunity there was in this “union.”

Just because there’s Union in the name.

Just because it’s called the United States of America, doesn’t mean there’s unity.

So Jesus wasn’t talking about being part of a group together.

It’s not about being in a club; being in a category called “Christians”

It’s about being united to one another in the same way that Jesus and the Father are united.

There is so much disunity. It seems like an impossible tasks to be united as Jesus and the Father are united.

Take heart: Jesus has exactly what Jesus has prayed for.

And if Jesus has prayed it, “the Father will give it.”

There WILL be unity.

There is a unity that we just haven’t fully tapped into

How is this accomplished? Indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit in all believers gives a common ground that surpasses all other commonalities.

John 16: Jesus says he’s gotta leave. If he doesn’t, then the helper cannot come. (Holy Spirit)

See this in Acts.

They become united because God dwells within them.

God is in Him, and He is in the Father, and we are in Jesus, so the Holy Spirit is in US!

That is how we are in perfect unity, not just with one another, but with Jesus and the Father, too.

Jesus prayed for the perfect unity of believers.

The unity of believers leads to two things:

Participation in Jesus’ glory (Participation)

First thing Jesus asks for the Father to Glorify Jesus, which in turn brings glory to the Father.

This touches on both of our final prayer requests.

We can participate in Jesus’ glory

The Father be glorified

What is Jesus’ glory?

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Jesus’ glory is being raised by the Father after his death and burial.

Being brought back into full unity with the Father in Heaven through His resurrection.

We seem to forget, overlook sometimes, that when Jesus faced death on the cross, he faced death to the fullest.

Death is not just a physical death that Jesus experienced, but it was a Spiritual separation from the Father.

It was a ripping apart of the unity that has been shared between the Father and Son since before creation.

So when the Father raises Jesus from the dead, He reinstates that unity between them, and He restores Jesus back to His prior glory.

Through the death of Jesus, the world knows Jesus’.

Through Jesus’ resurrection, the Father’s love is made known to the world.

So Jesus reveals the love of the Father through both his death and resurrection.

Romans 5:8 NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In revealing that love, Christians, believers would continue to grow in that love and enjoy the personal presence of Jesus in our lives.

Vs. 13 says that Jesus is coming to the Father in prayer so that we may have the FULL MEASURE OF JESUS’ JOY IN US.

By experiencing the full measure of Jesus’ joy.

By experiencing the Holy Spirit living in us.

We get to participate in the glory of Jesus Christ.

We get to participate in the treasures that come from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus prayed also for when our time on earth comes to an end.

John 17:24 NIV

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

We won’t just see Jesus’ glory here on earth. But we’ll enjoy His glory WHERE HE IS, in Heaven.

Why? Because IF JESUS HAS PRAYED IT, THE FATHER WILL GIVE IT.

So we WILL participate in Jesus’ glory.

In doing so...

That the Father be glorified (Glory)

How?

John 17:23 NIV

I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The previous three requests come together to accomplish this one.

What brings the Father glory? Jesus glorified.

How is Jesus glorified? Through his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension back to his restored glory in Heaven.

Jesus is glorified by others receiving and understanding the Word that has come from God.

That people would know who Jesus is and what He did, and how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reunites all those who believe with the Father,.

Because without Jesus, all of us are in disunity with the Father because of our sin.

But Jesus, even without any sin, died the death we deserved to die.

Jesus experienced a disunity that He didn’t deserve to experience.

He experienced the breaking of a unity that has existed forever, for the sake of making a way for those of us in disunity to experience the unity that the Father and Son have.

And when we experience that unity, we come to understand that the Father sent Jesus

We can experience the love of the Father in us. The same love that the Father has for Jesus.

As more people in the world come to understand that, the more the Father is glorified.

And it all works together in harmony.

What is it that Jesus prayed for?

That believers, who believe in our hearts and profess with our mouths,

We would persevere to the end (through the Father’s power)

that nothing would snatch us out of the Father’s hands

We would be sanctified by the truth of the Father’s words

as we live in the world, being set apart to do the will of God

We would be in perfect unity with one another as Jesus and the Father are one

We would experience the love of the Father, which He had for Jesus, His only son.

That’s what Jesus prayed for.

AND IF JESUS HAS PRAYED IT, THE FATHER WILL GIVE IT.

Guaranteed.

Let’s pray.

Discussion Break

If there is one person in the history of the world who can effectively/perfectly pray “in Jesus’ name” it’s Jesus himself. What significance does the fact that Jesus prayed for you (as he prayed for all future believers) have on you?

NOTES:

The highest calling isn’t just to be missionary or pastor or something like that, the highest calling is to do what God has called us to do to the best of our ability.

Interesting Asides:

“I ask on their behalf…” Jn. 17 “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Jn. 16:26-28

John 16:26–28 NASB95

“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

In the old economy, God dwelt among people and showed His glory. In Jesus, God’s glory was displayed (cf. 1:14). Then Christ’s disciples glorified Him: Glory has come to Me through them. And now in the Church Age the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (16:14) and believers are also to glorify the Son (Eph. 1:12).

Blum, Edwin A. 1985. “John.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 2:332. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Repeated phrases:

Key Ideas:

Jesus has what the Father has given Him.

“Everything the Father has given [Jesus] has come from the Father.”