John 17 Sermon 2

John 17

Sermon #2

June 29, 2025

John 17:6-10

By show of hands, who in this room has had the opportunity to buy a house? The first time you do this, it is an intimidating event. The number of papers you have to sign is exhaustive. I know many are electronic but you really should read all of the small print. The loan, the deed, the earnest money, the money transfer, the ownership, the escrow. It is all complicated and long.

But it is all necessary. If all of these documents are not signed and verified, there is a question on who in the contract does what. For the ones who have not done this, one person wants to buy the house. The owner agrees to sell the house. The new buyer puts money down to secure the sale (meaning a commitment that the sale would happen), then when all the documents are signed and sealed, the new owner takes control of the house.

Just last week I received a text from a person asking: If “God chooses us. Then what? What is our action item? Do we have a responsibility when it comes to our salvation if we are chosen? And if so, what is it?”

This is a remarkable question, and it is being asked from a genuine heart. The basis of the question is rooted in “how do I really know I am saved?” How do I know that the contract is really signed (to use my analogy). You see, when we miss the point and process of salvation, we start to think that God is playing the lottery and whatever random number gets called, that person gets saved.

Look, that is NOT how salvation works! Salvation is the strongest contract in all creation. Again, when we do not take time to fully understand what God did, what the Son does, and how the Holy Spirit secures, we are left asking, what is my part in salvation? How do I know that I know that I am saved?

The answer is rooted in our passage today. When we look at the love shared between the Father and the Son, it moves us as participants into knowing who and what God has done in our hearts. This understanding proves to us that eternal life comes from the Father, by the Son through the Spirit in God’s people. This action is done for HIS glory, not ours. His saving work is not mood driven, whimsical or capricious. It’s intentional and personal.

People ask why I make this such a huge deal. I’ll tell you; for some reason the evil one has figured out that the greatest way to get a child of God to fall is to get them to doubt what God has done for their salvation. As long as the questions keep coming, this message must be taught!

Okay, so how do we see ourselves right in this process of salvation? Today we are going to see what the Son, the Father, the Spirit and we as believers accomplish in salvation.

READ TEXT

As a review, last week I told you that this passage is the central focus of human history. There is no other richer, more complete, or comprehensive explanation of the entire human history, God’s plan of redemption of His children, than John 17. You and I have the opportunity to hear the intimate conversation between two of the three persons of the Triune God. God the Son, pouring out His heart to God the Father and we get to hear the truths.

Like I said last week, there is no better way to know what is in a person’s heart than to hear them pray. Jesus the Christ spent the better part of His earthly ministry in prayer with His Father and little is recorded on those prayers. Except here in John 17. We are offered a very rare and special opportunity to hear His heart. In so doing, all of our questions for salvation are laid to rest. Even the reason why we are saved is answered here.

So, with the overarching question, “how do I know I am saved,” and “what’s my part in salvation,” let us walk carefully into our passage to see who does what in the salvation process.

1. What Christ accomplishes:

Vs 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.”

If you missed last week, you need to go back and grab it. We laid the foundation for verses 1-5. In that message, we saw that the time/hour had come for His walk to the cross and the purpose for that hour (for the Glory of the Father). I would challenge you all to go back and listen to that.

Now, Jesus says, “I manifested Your name” to “the ones whom you have given.” Manifest (Reveal to cause to be seen, or cause to be known). Christ had perfectly made known the source of all salvation and knowledge. He did so by teaching both by word of mouth and by action. The word “manifest” is a word of both teaching and demonstration. He literally is taking us to the throne room of God and introducing us to Him! It’s a personal introduction to your Creator.

Now, we know that Jesus spoke to both those who came to believe and those who did not (Pharisees etc), but who did He “manifest” or make known the Father? It was to “whom You gave me.” Look back at verse 6. Jesus made known to whom God the Father had given.

This action is exclusive to the 11 and is NOT open to the general public. God the Father gives to God the Son those whom He has chosen to know him to know Him. Please notice who starts what. Step one, the Father gives to the Son! How quickly we forget this fact. We constantly go back to ask, How am I saved? Am I secure? It is God who tells us to remember. We are the people who forget. It is in our nature.

We are a people who forget all that He has done. My plea is that we remember what God has done! Remember where you came from! He is the entire process of salvation from beginning to end. This is why we are so secure in His hands. Your salvation starts right there in verse 6, “I have manifested Your name.”

Just as He has revealed and shown the Father to the 11, He is doing that for us whom He has been given. Through His Word, He is manifesting to us what the Father has done for us.

2. What the Father accomplishes:

No part of verse 6 sounds like a lottery or random chance. God knowingly gave His elect individually to the Son. Our source/starting point is from the Father through the SON and by the Spirit. The transaction is from that of the Father to the Son, who has been granted all authority over all flesh.

Church, none of this sounds like God putting His hand into the bingo basket and pulling numbers and then giving those numbers to the Son. No, this is individual and personal salvation. Just as the 12 were hand-selected, the pattern for our salvation is individual. Look at what the Father does.

He gave, give or given- The action words (verbs) reads like a transaction between two parties. It is very clear who does what. The ownership starts from the Father: Vs 6 “to the people whom YOU GAVE ME out of the world.” Who owns it all? By nature of the verse it is clear that God starts with the ownership. God the Father owns all of them. “Yours they were, and you GAVE them to me.” Here it is church! Who starts it all? God the Father gives them to God the Son.

From verses 6 to 10 in the ESV the words give, gave, or given is used more than 6 times. In chapter 17 these words are used more than 14 times. AT no time does it say that they (the 11 or us) do any giving. This concept that they “give their hearts” or give anything back in this transaction is completely voided from chapter 17. That is NOWHERE here! It would be the perfect spot and yet, it’s not here.

Instead, God the Father picks them “out of the world.” Think about that! That phrase “out of the world” implies that we who are saved were OF the world system. Meaning, we once opposed Him and He still chose to save us. If you are saved, God picked you out of the masses individually!

For those who say, but that’s not fair that He does not choose everyone. Before we go down that rabbit trail, allow me to define the word “grace” according to the dictionary: “the unmerited help given to people by God; freedom from sin through divine grace.” Do I need to define unmerited? It means that you and I do NOT deserve this!

Romans 9:14 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy[1]

Paul is anticipating the objection of fairness. From human eyes, God picking Abraham out of the masses, we want to throw a flag on the field. But, who are we to call into question His justice by saying, “that’s not fair.” To be 100% just would be to say that God should not choose anyone. He says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Please church, do not use the word “fair” when it comes to salvation. To judge God as “fair” or not is to place yourself over Him and implies that you are more authorized to judge than Him. That sin is pride and the root of all sin. It closely mirrors that of Satan’s original sin. It is a trap of pride. Fair would be God not saving anyone. Instead, because of His unimaginable grace, God shows His grace on those whom He gives to His Son to save. Fair would be to give none.

Remember, we have taught this before! This is why I go line by line through the Word. John 6:44 “43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day[2]”

Look at those words! NO ONE CAN COME UNLESS THE FATHER DRAWS. John 12:32, “32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself[3]”

There is nothing intrinsically wonderful about those who have been given out of the world. Why is this truth so important to know? We need to know that God is not calling His children out of luck or emotional decisions. He is doing this from the pleasure of His goodwill. God chooses based on Him being God. He is making the decisions based on His goodwill.

If the Son has manifested or made known the Father to you, you should now see the gravity of this! You should fall on your face and recognize that you did not do this! You had absolutely nothing to do with your salvation except your contribution of sin. It was God who called you, drew you, and gave you to His Son.

By His Grace, He gave you. But where does the Spirit come into play?

3. What the Holy Spirit accomplishes.

God the Father gives to God the Son. God the Spirit has a specific role. We studied this just a chapter ago. As a review, the role of the Helper is to secure, seal, and hold the child of God in the hand of the Son. The third person of the triune God holds us tight.

Ephesians 1:13-14

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. [4]

SEALED: (sphragizō): put a seal on (Mt 27:66; Rev 20:3); 2. mark (for possession or identity[5]

Guarantee: (arrabōn), first installment, a deposit which guarantees, a sure down payment, a pledge[6]

Think of the strongest legal contract possible. The Spirit, with the blood of the Lamb of Christ seals the transaction of God the Father giving to God the Son the child of God. The Spirit then, is the GUARANTEE or deposit which guarantees this transaction. To use my house analogy here, The HS is the earnest money or guarantee that this deal is done. This is why Jesus can say back in John 10:

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.[7]

For those who think or question their salvation, please stop it! Look at this transaction, this guarantee, this sealed contract between the Father, Son and HS! Look, if you are a child of God, we do not need to wonder if we are secure or not. God the Spirit, through the blood of God the Son by order of God the Father, secures you in the hand of the Son. There is no stronger guarantee or promise!

But pastor, what’s my part in all of this? Now what? What is my responsibility?

4. What the believer accomplishes:

We do have a responsibility! We have our part, and I want you all to hear me. The question I got last week after church is spot on.

Vs 6 “yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know…I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from You; and they have believed that You sent me.”

Instead of saying our responsibility is, I would prefer to say “our RESPONSE to what God has done is obedience. To answer that text from my introduction, our part is our response to what He has done. Our response is our obedience!

God’s work produces obedience in us! This is what makes the Gospel so freeing! It is 100% on God to save you and now we want to obey! It moves us to obedience as a natural response. Look at those words Jesus prays. They have “kept”, “received,” and “understood.”

This is a fruit of belief: Believe and you will be saved. God did not save perfect people or accomplished people. It should bring us great comfort to know that these 11 men are the very ones who will utterly fail in a few minutes and yet, the Son is still saying, they have Kept, Received and Understood.

Look guys, Jesus knew these 11 would fail Him and He is still praying as if His work in them will be enough and will hold. If it was me, I would not have picked the ones who would fail so fast. But He did! He did the work of education and saving these 11, and as far as Jesus goes, this is a done deal because the work of them keeping, receiving, understanding, and obedience to faith is by His work.

From His perspective, the transaction is done! Why do we want to go back and look for the loopholes in the contract to see if we are going to sin so bad that He will tear up the contract?

In our lack of faith, we second-guess what He has done. Instead, we should look closely at what He has sealed. He seals you, believer! Now, keep His words, Receive His words, and understand His words. Jesus says John 14, 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.[8] That’s our job! The order is HUGE! We do not love Jesus by keeping His commandments. Rather, those who love Jesus WILL keep His commandments. Those who love Jesus are the transformed elect who are now creatures of light who do things of the light. They SHOW their love, not create it, by obeying Jesus.

It is our responsibility to RESPOND by keeping, receiving and understanding His will through His Word. That is your job believer! That is your part! That is your contribution. It is 100% a response to the Father giving you to the Son and being sealed by the HS. Now, keep, receive and understand.

1 John 5:3 says “3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.[9]

And most obvious is John 10:27 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand[10]

Look, church, I know that I am assuming that you have come to a knowledge of Christ Jesus, a saving knowledge. If you have yet to believe that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way, truth and life, now is your time. This security and salvation I speak of starts there. Do you know that Jesus Christ is the only means of your salvation?

God the Father sent God the Son to live a perfect life, sinless and righteous as a payment of your sin. It was a personal act by the Son of God to save sinners like us from the penalty of our rebellion. The wages of our sin is eternal hell. Instead of us paying this price, Christ stepped into our spot and paid it all. No more debt for you and me!

Do you understand this? Do you receive this message? Do you keep this message locked in your heart? If so, we really need to give credit for this amazing action of salvation to the one who really deserves it. I’ll give you all a hint, it’s not you and me!

5. Give Christ the credit for your salvation.

In order to understand this sermon, we must understand the order of salvation. When we do not understand who does the contract, we want to steal the glory of our salvation from the one who should have 100% credit for it. That, my friends is where the insecurity of our salvation comes from! Let me make sure you hear me. Insecurity comes from the idea that if I had something to do with getting me saved, then I can have something to do with getting me out. When God accomplishes the whole thing from beginning, middle and end, then my response is to trust in His unfailing character even when I do not feel like He has accomplished it.

What was our part in all this? When He calls you a child, God the Father lovingly changes your heart to one that wants the things of God. When we see this right, doubt takes the back seat. When we rightly see that our response is based on what He has done, doubt should never have landscape in our minds!

Let me go back to my introduction. When we think we are the ones who initiated and secured this contract of our salvation, it’s no wonder that we fear the agreement will fall apart! But, when God does the contract with the Son and the HS seals it, it should remove all doubt!

God the Father wrote the contract between Himself, the Son and the Spirit. His perfect, righteous blood. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee that this contract is 100% executed and secured. Guess where we are in that contract? We are the ones who are given from the Father to the Son. To use my analogy, we are the house.

What is our responsibility? RESPOND! Allow Him to live in and direct every decision that you make. Allow Him to maintain, care for, and rearrange the furniture in the living room. That is our job!

Conclusion:

Everyone has a role in this thing called salvation. The Father gives to the Son. The Son secures the salvation of the believer, and the Holy Spirit secures the work of salvation on the heart of the child of God. Our role, keep His word, respond to His word, and understand what He has done! Our role is 100% reactionary to the contract that has been signed, sealed in blood and executed.

When we do that, it causes us to move! Like I said last week, there will be a response! When we give Him 100% credit for the process of salvation, you will see doubt drain from your minds and hearts. It will give you a humble confidence that the God of the universe loved you so specifically that He drew your heart personally. What an amazing Grace church!

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[5] Swanson, James. 1997. In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[6] Swanson, James. 1997. In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.