Jesus Prays for US

Jesus Prayer for Us

Pleasantville 7/7/2019

Travelling IHC September 5, 2019 (glen Iron)

Sunbury GMC 1/24/2024

John 17:20–26 KJV 1900

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

I. Jesus Prays for us

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Just before we read these words we find Jesus praying a powerful prayer for his disciples. He knew that his death was imminent and prayed essentially a prayer of benediction for his disciples. In the midst of this prayer, Jesus paused, and began praying for you and I. For those who would believe on Him. Jesus is praying for you. This is a glorious truth. A wonderful truth, and an encouraging truth. Another place in scripture tells us that Jesus sits at the right hand of the father interceding for us!

II. The topic of Jesus prayer

a. That we may be one with Him

Jesus prayed specifically that we may be one with Him, as he is one with the father. What does being one with the God look like? The passage goes to say in verse 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Made perfect in one with Christ. This means to be completely one with Christ, or consecrated with Christ. I use the word with because Christ has already consecrated, or dedicated himself to us by his death on the cross, therefore we are consecrated with Christ. We dedicate our lives to Him, as he has already done for us. I heard the statement “the amazing truth of the Gospel is not that we can receive Christ into our lives, but that he has already received into His.” Ot first I didn’t really understand what that statement meant, and was quite suspicious of it. What is saying though is that it is more incredible, more amazing that God sent His son to die for us, before we were even born. He made us a part of His life, before we existed, before we could choose Him, he chose to offer us salvation. He has consecrated Himself to us, we must consecrate ourselves to Him.

When William Booth was asked the reason behind His success he replied, “I will tell you the secret: God has had all that there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, even with greater opportunities, but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with me and them, on that day I made up my mind that God should have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.” That is consecration.

The apostle Paul was consecrated. Suffering beatings, and shipwrecks, stoning’s, imprisonments, and hardships beyond measure he considered it all a privilege to be counted worthy of such treatement for the cause of Christ.

William Borden was consecrated, as he gave is life over to Christ. As he said, no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets.

Job was consecrated as he allowed God to take all that he had, and said “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Martin Luther was consecrated, as he risked his life to stand for the truth of the Bible.

The Wesleys were consecrated as they preached the truth of the Gospel even though they were kicked out of the churches, and mocked by the mobs.

Francis Asbury was consecrated as he built the Methodist Church in America.

Jonathan Edwards was consecrated as he helped turn our nation back to God.

D. L. Moody was consecrated as he also helped turn our nation back to God.

Consecration, giving our lives over to God, so that he lives in us, and through us bring the power of God to bear in our lives. Not for personal gain, but for the salvation of the souls of the lost. These people, these examples of consecration changed their worlds. No, everyone who fully consecrates themselves to God does not go down in history, or change the world. However everyone who consecrates themselves to God could change the world. How much do we sell ourselves short because we forget that it is not us living, rather Christ living within us. Our weakness, our limitations do not hold God back.

b. That we may be with Christ

Jesus prays another prayer for us in this passage. “Father, I will that they also who thou hast given me, be with me where I am;” Jesus desire an eternity with us in heaven, where we will behold his Glory, where we will glorify him for what he has done for us! This is a beautiful gift, the result of this consecration to God.

We do not know a lot about heaven, but this is what we do know. John 14 tells us the Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. It also says that “In my fathers house are many mansion.” There is room for you! God is preparing a place for each of those who are fully consecrated to Him! The most important thing we know about heaven, God will be there! He will wipe away all tears from His children, for there will be no sorrow there. No pain, no remembrance of the evils of this earth, for the former things will be passed away. Our pain wracked, limited physical bodies will be made whole and perfect in heaven. there will be no sin, nor even any results of sin. Heaven will be even better than the state earth was in when God pronounced His creation to be good. Walls of jasper, gates of pearl, streets of pure gold, the saints of all ages gathered before the glorious lamb of God praising the Lamb for His eternal sacrifice! We don’t know a lot about heaven, but we do know that Jesus the precious lamb of God is there even now, preparing a place for you and I and interceding, praying, in our behalf. This is heaven.

Anytime I mention heaven I feel compelled to mention another place though. Not only is there a glorious heaven which God wants us to go to, there is a terrible hell to avoid. Once again we know little about this place, but this is what we do know.

There is darkness there, and no light. There is pain there, which shall last for eternity. There is fire there, and those in that fire burn, but are never consumed. There is memory there, those there will be able to look back at their lives on earth, their decisions which led them to this place, the ones who they led astray, the times they rejected God. But most of all there will be evil there, for Satan himself will be banished to this place of torment forever. All the evil, sinful people of the world will be there, all the Hitler’s and Stalin’s and only evil will be there. This is what we know of hell.

How do we make the choice, how do we decide to spend eternity in a glorious heaven, full of light, with place prepared for us, with walls of jasper, gates of pear, streets of gold, the saint of all the ages, the loved ones who have gone on before, the Christ who died for you and I? How do we decide?

The sermon comes full circle now, for the decision is shown in John 17:23. That we may be made perfect in one. That we consecrate ourselves to Christ, in Christ, with Christ. This is the decision, and we have a great heavenly High priest interceding for us at the right hand of the father, praying that we will make it. We have the greatest prayer warrior of all time on our side. Victory is possible! There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and Jesus living within us gives us the strength to make it to that eternal city and live forever in unity with Him. Take comfort in the difficulties and trials that we have, take comfort not because of the trouble that comes, but because Jesus Christ is our advocate actively interceding for us in heaven! He prays for us today, he prayed for us just before He left this earth. Take courage in both the spiritual and physical troubles in our life! This is the prayer that Jesus prays for us. This is the great prayer that Jesus left us with before he gave his life for us. That we become one with Him and that we would spend eternity in heaven, in the place that He has prepared for us, with him. Shall we stand.