John 17:1 - A Faithful High Priest
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Intro
Intro
As you turn in your bibles this morning - please open to John 17
We will be focusing specifically today upon vs. 1
Though we will be doing somewhat of a general overview of this chapter
And it is my hope - Lord willing - that over the next couple of weeks as I have opportunity to step behind the pulpit to continue here in John 17
In what is known as the “High Priestly Prayer”
(Read whole chapter
Now this is truly a profound portion of Scripture as we look at Christ in His Mediatorial office
Christ as our High Priest, going to God the Father to intercede for His people
I trust you remember in the OT
That the Priests - before they could make a sacrifice for their people, had to sanctify or consecrate themselves for the work they were about to perform
We see for instance in Exodus 28 that the Priests had to put on special garments
We see in Exodus 30:17-21
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
That Aaron and his sons washed with water so that they wouldn’t die
We see in Leviticus 9 that the priests would need to make sacrifice for themselves before they could make sacrifice for the people
We see of course multiple steps for them to consecrate themselves for the work they were about to undertake
And in a very real sense, we see a parallel with Christ here in this Text
Of course we know that Christ had no need to make sacrifice for Himself before hand
He had no sins to atone for Hebrews 7:27
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
But He does consecrate Himself for His work
Notice John 17:19
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Why is this important
Again, note where we are at in our text - of course we are jumping into the middle of the text
But remember - He just finished the upper room discourse (Ch. 13-16)
And directly after this Chapter what do we see? His Passion
In Chapter 18 - we see Christ arrested - and tried
And then in Chapter 19 we see Christ being led away to be crucified - we see Christ go to make an atonement - a substitutionary atonement for His people
And many people look to His crucifixion as His work as the High Priest for God’s people
And of course, that is one of His Chief functions as our High Priest
But it is not His only function as our High Priest
Not only does He offer up Himself as a sacrifice to satisfy Divine Justice
But He also makes continual intercession for His people
And we see that here in our text today
That He goes to make intercession for His sheep
Not just the apostles
But for all His sheep John 17:20
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
He prays for all those who will believe on Him
He prays for you - if you are in Him now - He prays for you
Not just here in this text - this is simply a glimpse or a foretaste of an eternal reality
Christ - right now - in heaven
Is interceding for you
It is no wonder that this has been for many throughout the years a place of great comfort and strength
For instance - I trust many of you know John Knox
A man used by God in a mighty way in Scotland
A fiery preacher - used to bring much change and reform in Scotland
It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots - who was not a fan of Knox
Because he condemned the RCC
And wrote against female rulers
And it is said that she feared the prayers of Knox more than all the armies of Europe
John Knox of course was a mighty man of God
But on his death bed - when he worried about the state of the church
Whenever he was stressed and vexed and concerned over what might happen
Did he look to his own strength? Did he look to his own prayers?
Of course not - no
It is said - as he laid there on his death bed
That he called to His wife and told her
Quote - “Go, read where I first cast my anchor”
Speaking of this chapter
Why? Because he knew it was where he finds his stability
It is where he found his strength
I trust you remember Philippians 2:9-11
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Knox knew that if this was He who prayed for us - we have nothing to fear
“It is where I cast my anchor” he said
Where do you cast your anchor - dear Christian?
If this is how Christ prays for us - how sure must we be of every step that we take
Now - I think one reason why this portion of scripture is so interesting
Is because in prayer - we see someone's heart
We know what they truly care about
I know for me - it is always convicting to read through this chapter
Because here we see the perfect heart, the perfect love, the perfect intentions of our Saviour
And then I’m forced to look at my own prayer
And see how weak - how dry - how cold my heart is in comparison
But that is why this is a favorite portion of scripture
It brings comfort to the soul
Because we see the heart of Jesus
We see that the King of heaven and earth
Prays for you, and for me
notice in vs. 9 - that He prays for the good of His sheep
Not the whole world
But for His sheep
Those whom the Father has given Him
He also shows us his intent
Vs. 13
That we would have his joy in us
That our joy may be full
he prays
knowing the evil of this world- that we would be kept - verse 15
Of course we know it’s Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8
that the devil “ prowl around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour”
I know that the world is continually trying to entice us to go back to it and all of its vanities
We know that our own flesh kicks against us
That is why Christ praise that while we are in the world, we would be kept
He knows it is only the grace of God that keeps us
In this prayer, we see what Christ is doing for people
Not just what he did in his earthly ministry
But what he is doing right now in heaven at the right hand of the Father
This is how He continues to pray for you
Robert Murray M’Cheyne - another Scottish Presbyterian said
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet, distance makes no difference. He is praying for me”
Dear Christin
We must look to the one who is in heaven
The one who sits at the right hand of the Father
The one that Scripture says Hebrews 7:25
ever liveth to make intercession for them.
So, with that as a somewhat long introduction into our text
Let us now look - and as I stated before - we will go through this somewhat slowly
Today we will just be in vs. 1
And we will see him begin by praying for Himself (1-5)
But He will go on to pray for His disciples (6-19)
And then pray for all believers in all ages (20-24)
And what a benefit it is to know, that in a very real sense, Christ in His earthly ministry prayed for us
Again, this text gives us a foretaste of what Christ does now for us in heaven
But today specifically - focus your attention on vs. 1
You will notice - it begins with
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven”
What words had He spoken?
Well again, He just gone done with the Upper Room Discourse
He had just got done teaching/preaching to the disciples
And the first thing we see Him do after teaching is go the the Father in prayer
Why is this?
Well because - Jesus is the faithful High Priest
And as our Faithful High Priest He knows that apart from the blessing and operation of God
The Words spoken are of no benefit
And so He goes to the Father on behalf of His disciples
And subsequently on behalf of all of us
That the words which He had previously spoken would take root
That it would be applied
That it would take root and be beneficial
That it would take root and produce change
We do see throughout the gospels - do we not
That Christ speaks and teaches the apostles
Yet they are too hard hearted to believe What Christ has told them
We saw this for instance in Peter a few weeks ago
That Christ speaks to Him and he outright denies the words of Christ
We see this also in the Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13 (3-9)
Mark 4
Luke 8
So Christ goes to the Father and prays
That the word would not fall by the way side and be plucked up by the fowls
That it would not fall on the stony places and wither away
Or among the thorns and be choked out
But that it would fall upon good soil and produce much fruit
You will notice in the 1st portion of the parable
That it falls to the way side
It never takes any root
It never settles in
It is those who never give a thought to Christ
Never listen while sitting under the preaching of the word
And then you have
2nd - falls on the stony places
This is those who may listen - who may even make a profession of faith
But Christ says that the root has no deepness
The sun comes up and they wither away
When trial and persecution arises the first thing they do is denounce their faith
We see this all the time - do we not?
When something goes wrong in their life the first thing they do is reject Christ
“If God was loving why would this happen?” They say
And then you see the 3rd
This is one that hits close to home for me
As many of you know in our backyard we have these weeds - I believe they are called spurge weed
And we have tried everything to get ride of these weeds
I’ve spent hours in the back yard
Raking and hoeing
We have even borrowed a torch from the Lacks and I burnt them
But all they did was come back stronger
And they are invasive
They are everwhere
Moreover
They are jsut like these thorns that are depicted in Christs parable
They choke out everything that was growing before
And they don’t allow anything else to take root
Same thing goes with the Word of God
Christ knows that the things of this world
And the care of those things
Are a great hinderance to being able to profit from the Word of God
The things of this world divert and distract us from our duty towards God
Christ - in speaking this parable - knows this is the case
He knows that once He goes away - the disciples, and we, will be persecuted and hated for our faith in Him
And so the first thing He does once He finishes teaching
Is goes to the Father in prayer
Prayer that
This word would not fall to the side and be plucked up
That this word would not fall on stoney ground and wither away
That it wouldn’t fall among the thorns and be choked
But that it would fall upon good soil
And produce 100-fold, 60-fold, and 30-fold fruit
You may ask
Why do we have so much prayer in our Order of Worship
We Begin with prayer
Congregational prayer
Lord’s prayer together
Prayer before and after the sermon
WHy is that?
Well because Christ, as our example, showed us this is what we are called to do
And if Christ
The perfect preacher, the perfect prophet, the perfect High Priest
Went to the Father in prayer
How much more should we pray?
The man that stands up in this pulpit
Or any pulpit around the world
No matter the giftings
No matter the ability
Is so far beneath Christ
How much more must we pray?
Because through prayer - by the operation of the Holy Spirit
Is the only way that blesing and application can be added to the reading/singing/prayer/preaching of the Word
You see that in the unbeliever
They may read the Word of God but it is of no value to them
It never produces change
It never draws them to Christ
We must pray that God would add His blessing
That God would apply His word to us
And jsut a point of application on that
This is not just for Divine Servies
This is any time that you approach the Word of God
YOu should be praying before you do personal devotion
You should be praying after
That God would teach you by His word
That He would nourish you
That He would apply His word to you
That His word would take root and change you
Now - just a short note
It says Jesus “lifted up His eyes to heaven”
And of course last week we saw that the publican is said to have no looked up to heaven
We see him bowing his head down ot the ground
And you may ask - well which one is it?
Should I bow my head or should I lift my eyes up to heaven?
Well I would say much of that comes down to Christian liberty
But just a cultural note - it was common practice at this time to lift the eyes up to heaven in prayer
It was meant to signify lifting the soul up to heaven
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, Which made heaven and earth.
We saw how the publican was said to not be able to lift up his eyes to heaven
This is of course because he acknowledge his unworthiness
And Christ is seen here lifting up His eyes
And we could say that this is the contrast - is it not?
That the publican was unworthy
And Christ is supremely worthy
So therefore He has the right to look up to heaven
And this would be a true statement
But for those who are in Christ
Are you not clothes in His righteousness?
Are you not seated with Him in the heavenly places?
Do you not hae all the Spiritual blessings in Him?
You are accepted in the beloved
So therefore, we are able to lift our eyes up to the hills - the the Father of mercies
Now
We see Christ - in the very next clause state
“The hour has come”
What hour?
Remember
We had stated previously
The very next chapter (18) is where we see Christ arrested
Then in 19 we see His crucifixion
In 20 & 21 we see His resurrection and ascension
He says the hour has come - what hour? The hour of His passion
And He knows this
This is not something that will catch Him off guard
This is exactly what He came for
He prays saying
“Father - I have been perfectly obedient - I have fulfilled the law”
“My active obedience has been perfect before you - I as the second Adam have been perfect - so that all who are found in me as their Federal Head are seen as righteous”
“And now - O Father - the hour has come”
“That I as the Great High Priest - make a sacrifice for my people”
“Not with the blood of bulls or goats- not by entering into a tabernacle made with hands - not with an inferior sacrifice that will need to be done each year”
“No, But with the blood of the perfect - spotless Lamb”
“By entering into a more perfect tabernacle not made with hands”
“With the once for all sacrifice - which will never need to be made again”
“Now Father - glorify thy Son”
Isn’t it incredible that our Great High Priest humbled Himself in this way?
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Christ chose
As our Great High Priest
To die the cursed death of the cross
And by it - to be Glorified in it
And because of this our High Priest is able to make intercession for us
Not because of the blood of bulls or goats
But because of His blood
The blood of the covenant
And He is able to go to the Father on our behalf and say
“Father - these are mine”
“Father - forgive them - because I died for them”
“Father accept them - because I lived for them”
“Father I was raised for them - they are justified”
“My righteousness is imputed to them”
“Father - even their good works are purged and sanctified by Me - see them now as acceptable in thy sight”
Isn’t that incredible to think about
That our deeds - even as tainted with sin as they are - even though the Bible says that even our best deeds are as filthy rages
That they are filled with pride, and unbelief, and vain glory
But because of Christ’s Mediation as our High Priest, they are made acceptable
Not for our justification of course
But without His intercession our works have no legs to stand on
But because of His intercession
We are said to be Matthew 6 - laying up treasures in heaven
Do we not have a faithful High Priest?
And we will see more of this in the weeks to come
But before we close
Look at what He says at the end of vs. 1
Why has Christ done this all?
For the glory of God
He consecrates His whole work for the glory of God
Of course we see this throughout His earthly ministry
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And in doing so - He sets an example for us as well
All that He has done
His life, head, His coming resurrection and ascension
All of it is consecrated to His Fathers glory
And He not only does this in action
But in prayer
He shows us what our posture ought to be in our prayer
That God would glorify Himself in us
And so when we prayer
We must keep this in mind
And pray similarly
Father - bless me, that I may glorify thee
Give me healthy - that I may gloriify thee with my body
Give me energy - that I may glorify thee through my work
Give me success even - that I may glorify thee with my estate
I trust you remember that as we say the Lord’s Prayer
The first petition that we make it “hallowed be thy name”
Dear Christian
Examine your life -what is your motivation
What is your desire
Do you seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever?
I would urge us all to examine our prayer life specifically
Is our intent - even in our prayer life - that God would be glorified
Look to the example of our great High Priest
And know most of all - that even in your weakness
He prays for you
Right now - He prays for you
He is interceding for you
And because He intercedes for you
You are accepted in the beloved
