Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: John 17:1-5

Theme: Our Lord's selflessness in prayer as He stands in the shadow of the cross teaches His disciples an important element of prayer.

Last Sunday evening I gave you an introduction to the prayer life of Jesus to prepare you for our deep-dive into John 17.

Many Bible scholars have called this prayer — the longest recorded by Jesus — The greatest prayer ever prayed.

It’s hard not to agree with that assessment.

The last third of John, chapter 16, sets up the circumstance for us:

All this takes place after the Last Supper where Jesus established the memorial we call the Lord’s Supper.

After Judas leaves the gathering, but before they all headed to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus provides some extensive teaching to the disciples.

The material found is between John 13:31 and John 17:26 and is referred to as the Farewell Discourse.

None of the Synoptic Gospels record this material.

(Maybe it’s why the Holy Spirit told John, “Ya know.

The Church really needs a forth Gospel!”)

Beginning in John 16:25 Jesus tells the Disciples that, up until now, he has been speaking to them in figures of speech.

Literally the word used is allegories.

Allegories are figures of speech that use a story to hide a deeper meaning, typically a moral one — or in the case of Jesus — a theological one.

In Matthew 13:34 the Apostle writes, “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.”

Now, however, he will speak plainly to them.

He tells them, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father.”

This is amazing.

So completely does the Father identify with the Son and the Son so completely with the Father, that for us to love the Christ is to love the Father.

Jesus then sums up his life on earth I four marvelous statements “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.””

(John 16:28, ESV)

▸ I came from the Father — his incarnation.

▸ I have come into the world — his mission.

▸ I am leaving the world — his passion.

▸ I am going to the Father — his ascension.

It is love from beginning to end.

Love conceived the plan of our redemption.

Love set it in motion and love carried it through.

Divine love flowing ever and eternally between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; love embracing us, saving us, changing us, filling us, flowing back from us in Christ through the Spirit to the Father.

Love is the stuff of which eternity is made.

Finally, Jesus shares a summery of the next several days (vs.

31-33).

Because of the unfolding events that will soon transpire in Gethsemane, the disciples will scatter and abandon him.

Yet, he says, I am not alone for the Father is with me.

This brings us to our text for this evening, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

(John 17:1–5, ESV)

• The Person of the Prayer

• The Period of the Prayer

• The Purpose of the Prayer

I. THE PERSON OF THE PRAYER

"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven ... “ (John 17:1a, ESV)

1. the Scriptures reveal that Jesus was a man of prayer

a. the Son of the Most High God ... the Second Person of the Trinity ... the Creator and Sustainer of the universe ... needed to spend time in prayer with his heavenly Father

1) he was fully God in every respect — the Bible tells us so

a) he did things that only God could do — walking on the water, multiplying a scant lunch to feed multiple thousands of people, giving sight to the blind, voice to the mute and hearing to the deaf, raising the dead

b) he said things that only God could say — “your sin is forgiven”

2) he was fully man in every respect — the Bible tells us so

a) as a man, who had the physical frailties of men, as a man, who could be tempted in all things as any man can ... this man teaches us how to pray by instruction and by example

b. the occasions of His prayers were many and varied

1) He prayed early in the morning and late into the night

2) He prayed alone and in the presence of others as here in John chpt.

17

3) He prayed before major decisions and when encountering temptations

4) here in this passage — as Jesus faces the cross — we discover that his times of great personal crisis were preceded by intense periods of prayer

c. of his prayer life the author of the Book of Hebrews writes:

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

(Hebrews 5:7, ESV)

2. the most extraordinarily elegant and noble prayer in the Bible is the High-priestly Prayer of Christ which is this evening’s text

a. in this prayer we will see Jesus pray for three things

1) he will pray for himself vs. 1-5

2) he will pray for the Apostles vs. 6-19

3) he will pray for the Church through the ages vs. 20-26

b. it’s an amazing prayer

ILLUS.

J. Dwight Pentecost, who died in 2014 at the age of 99, was a Presbyterian pastor, and also Professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Of John 17 he wrote: "We have before us one of the most intimate glimpses anywhere in Scripture of the mind and heart of the Lord as He led in [this] prayer."

3. this prayer takes us into the mind an heart of Jesus, the Son of God

... the Person of the Prayer Is Jesus

II.

THE PERIOD OF THE PRAYER

1. Jesus is praying in the shadow of the cross

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; ... ” (John 17:1b, ESV)

A. THE “HOUR” HAD COME

1. don’t miss what is going on here

a. Jesus understands that the pinnacle of the Father’s redemptive plan is at hand

1) none of this is catching him or the Father by surprise

2) the reason for the incarnation is about to be ratified by the crucifixion

“ ... an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

(Matthew 1:20–21, ESV)

2. Jesus is saying in vs. 1, “Now is the time, Father.

The time for me to glorify you by dying as the once for all sacrifice for sin.”

a. this has always been God’s plan

1) Revelation 13:8 reminds us that Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world

2) before God spoke all things into existence and pronounced it “good” ... before animals walked, or fish swam, or birds flew ... before Eve was tempted and Adam sinned ... God’s redemptive plan was already in place

b. within hours of the “Amen” at the end of his prayer Jesus is going to be arrested

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”” (John 18:1–4, ESV)

3. but Jesus is not thinking merely about his death, but the entire consummation of his earthly ministry — death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation

a. the hour of John 17:1 refers to all four of these

1) it was the hour in which the Son of man would terminate his labors by rendering the one and only atoning sacrifice for the sin of mankind

2) the hour of fulfilling all Old Testament prophecies, types, and symbols

3) the hour of triumph over the prince of the world

4) the hour of dismissing the old and of ushering in the new covenant

b. it was for the joy that was set before him [that Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2)

1) hid death on the cross would be shameful, but his resurrection and ascension and coronation would bring multiplied joy

... this Is the Period of the Prayer ... Mere Hours Before His Arrest

III.