The Eternal Security of God’s People (John 17:1-26)

If you remain standing for the reading of God's Word from John

17 verses one through 26, 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, since You have

given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to

all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life, that

they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom You

have sent. I glorified you on earth, having

accomplished the work that You gave me to do.

And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory

that I had with You before the world existed.

I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave Me out

of the world. Yours they were, and You gave

them to me, and they have kept Your word.

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from

You, for 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.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world,

but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in

them. I am no longer in the world, but

they are in the world, and I am coming to You.

Holy Father, keep them in Your name which You have given me,

that they may be 1 even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which You

have given me. I have guarded them, and not one

of them has been lost, except the Son of destruction, that the

Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and

these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy

fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word, and

the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just

as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them

out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of this world.

Sanctify them and the truth. Your Word is truth, and You sent

me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, and

for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be

sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but

also for those who will believe in me through their word, that

they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in me and I in

You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may

believe that you have sent me the glory that you have given

me. I have given to them that they

may be 1 even as we are one, I and them and you and me, that

they may be perfectly 1, so that the world may know that you sent

me and loved them even as you loved me.

Father, I desire that they also whom You have given me may be

with me where I am to see My glory that You have given me

because You love me before the foundation of the world.

All righteous Father, even though the world does not know

You, I know You, and these know that You have sent me.

I may know to them Your name, and I will continue to make it

known that the love with which You have loved me may be in them

and I in them. This is the word of the Lord.

All right, you may take your seats.

Now, I've been assigned a text that some scholars have called

the greatest chapter in all the Bible.

One commentator said this is the greatest prayer after the

greatest sermon ever preached. One of my heroes, Doctor Martyn

Lloyd Jones, who's been called the last great Puritan preacher,

he devoted a whole year to John 17, and he preached 48 sermons

on it. No pressure.

I got one shot. Now, because this passage is so

loaded, I'm going to just focus on the main point and drive it

home. In 2002, my first year of doing

campus ministry with Ruf at Baylor, I was invited on a

sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands with 12 other

campus ministers. And I have never been sailing

before. So this week was a week of

conquering some of my greatest fears, namely sharks.

I love and then fascinated with sharks when they're on shark

week, but to actually see them in the ocean is a completely

different fear. On our first day I had to face

that fear because, like I said, I have never been sailing and I

thought our sailboat was going to flip.

We had great wind. And the moment they hoisted up

the sail in the boat, tipped a little bit to the side, I

started panicking and freaking out because I'm like, Oh my

gosh, we're going over and I am going to be eaten by a shark.

And so I immediately jumped to the other side of the boat

thinking that, you know, I might counterbalance it.

But that did not work. And the three other men who are

they are laughing hysterically at me.

And then the captain tells me something I did not know.

He began to tell me about the keel, which is under the boat,

this huge iron rudder that weighs about 3000 lbs.

I learned that the function of a keel is to counterbalance the

boat when the wind causes it to go on its side so that it won't

flip over. And I also learned that it is

what keeps the boat moving forward when the wind catches

its sail. John 17.

It's meant to be the keel of our lives.

It is meant to keep our lives afloat and keep us right side up

when sin threatens to capsize and cast us off from the

security of God's presence. It is meant to keep us moving

forward when we are frozen with fear at the thought of losing

God's favor. You know what the most frequent

command in the Bible is? It's not to love one another.

It's do not fear over 360 times this command is given.

So if the most frequent command is do not fear, then that means

that one of the greatest things we struggle with as human beings

is fear. And I'm not talking about fear

in general. I'm talking about the specific

fear that crashes into your life, that threatens to capsize

and overturn you. The fear that God will cast you

off and throw you overboard. The fear that God won't love you

anymore. The fear of losing God's favor

and no longer having God's delight.

See, some of you may believe that God has already cast you

off because of the things that you've done.

You think that the bad things that you have done disqualify

you from God wanting anything to do with you.

There's this dark cloud that is hanging over you because you

think God is chasing after you, looking to punish you for all of

the things you've done wrong. And in fact, some of you right

now think that the bad things that are happening to you is God

punishing you. And then others of you, you may

not struggle as much with the fear over your past sins.

You struggle with the fear over your present sins, the perpetual

sins, the persistent sin that you keep doing over and over and

over again, the sins that you've confessed over and over and over

again. How can God still love me?

Why would He forgive me again when I willingly choose to keep

sinning? Because we all struggle or will

struggle with the fear that God will cast us off and throw us

overboard. The question is, what do we do

with this fear answer? We listen to and trust that God

has answered His Son's prayer. See, the main point of what we

call Jesus's high priestly prayer is the eternal security

of God's people because there's a greater Son who has

accomplished their salvation. See, one of the questions that

has intrigued me about our texts is why is Jesus audibly praying

this prayer at this particular time?

Why does he pray what he says rather than teach what he says?

I mean, he's just been teaching his disciples about his

departure, how he's going to return to the Father.

And when he leaves, he says, I'm not going to leave you as

orphans. I'm going to send the Holy

Spirit, who's going to indwell you, who's going to comfort you?

Who's going to remind you of all of the things that I have taught

you? Jesus knows that there's hearts

are troubled. He knows that they're filled

with sorrow over the thought of losing Jesus, so why not

continue to teach them? Why does he pray at this point?

I think the reason why is because the best way to really

know what is in someone's heart is to hear Him pray.

Jesus is audibly praying so that His disciples can see and hear

what is in His heart, so that they can see and hear the

passion that He has for His Father's glory, so that they can

see and hear the concern that He has for their eternal security.

See, in just a few short hours from now, Judas is going to

betray Jesus. Jesus is going to be arrested.

He's going to be handed over to the religious leaders, and then

he's going to be illegally tried at night and then convicted

worthy of death and then handed over to Pilate so that they

could carry it out. The disciples are going to flee

out of fear for their own lives. Their world is going to be

turned upside down. All of their hopes are going to

be crushed. They don't understand what's

going to happen. They're going to doubt God's

purposes. They're going to doubt their

standing with God. And because of this, Jesus wants

them to hear what is in His heart as He pours out His heart

and then hands them over to the care of His Father.

See, what is in Jesus's heart has always been in His heart.

See, the most amazing thing about this prayer is that we

actually get a glimpse into the eternal counsel of the Trinity

before the foundation of the world was even created.

Jesus's prayer reveals a plan, a plan that was discussed between

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Before God created the heavens and the earth, before God made

man in his own image, before God crowned him with glory above all

of creation by giving him dominion over all that he has

made. Before all of this.

God knew that Adam would rebel against him.

God knew that Adam would trust Satan's word over His word.

God knew that Adam would spurn his love, throw God's rule off

in an attempt to rule his own life.

God knew that Adam's sin would bring corruption into this

world, that it would bring death, that it would bring

darkness, that all of creation would be affected by this.

And Jesus's prayer reveals that before Adam sinned, God had an

eternal plan to deal with sin and to save His people from what

their sins deserves. So this plan, it originates with

the Father, it is carried out and accomplished by the Son, and

then the benefits are applied and given to God's people by His

Holy Spirit. Which means before the

foundation of this world, your salvation has been on the mind

of God. Your salvation has been

perfectly planned from all eternity.

So Christians, this means that you were the object of his

affection and love before he created the world.

From all eternity you have been on his mind and in His heart.

There has never been a time when God has not thought of you,

never been a time when you haven't occupied His mind and

His heart. And because of this, this means

there is nothing in time that will ever change that because

for all eternity God has planned to save you.

And then Jesus's prayer. We see how.

Look at verse one, Father, the hour has come.

All throughout John's gospel. Jesus has said, my hour is not

yet here. My hour is not yet Now he says

it finally is. The hour of Jesus's glory is

finally here. The reason Jesus came into the

world is just about to unfold. Jesus is about to do what the

first Adam failed to do. And before we look at the work

that the Father sent him to do, I want us to see, and I'm going

to say it this way, I want us to see what Jesus is passionately

obsessed with. It's the only way to describe

it. You cannot read this prayer

without concluding that Jesus is passionately obsessed with His

Father's glory and the good of God's people.

Everything Jesus does is to magnify the glory of who God is

for the benefit of God's people. See, if the full spectrum of

Jesus's prayer takes us back into eternity past and then

pushes us forward throughout all of human history into eternity

future, then there has never been nor will there ever be a

time when Jesus is not passionately obsessed with God's

glory for the good of God's people.

Which means Jesus's eternal obsession with God's glory means

he is eternally obsessed with your glory.

Look at how he begins in verse one.

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son

may glorify you. Now look at verse 5.

And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory

that I had with you before the world existed.

And then look at what Jesus says near the end of verse 22 and 24.

The glory that you have given me, I have given to them.

Father, I desire that they also whom You have given me may be

with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me

because you love me before the foundation of the world from

eternity past into eternity. Future Jesus obsession with His

Father's glory means he's obsessed with Your glory.

He desires that believers not only be present to see His glory

for all of eternity, but for all of eternity.

He wants them to possess and have His glory.

Jesus laid aside His glory so that you could eternally have

it. And because Jesus laid aside his

glory to accomplish his Father's will, the Father gives a gift to

his Son, a bride, a chosen people who will become one with

God, who will be united with God for all eternity.

Look at verses 2 through three. Since Jesus has been given

authority over all flesh, He gives eternal life to all whom

the Father has given to them. And then he says, And this is

eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and

Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Because Jesus is passionately

obsessed with his Father's glory, The Father gives Jesus

authority to find and save a people for himself and then give

them eternal life. You see, eternal life is not

just a quantity of time, Jesus says in verse 3.

It's a quality of relationship. It's a quality of relationship

where we know who God is, where we believe and trust that Jesus

is God and that God sent Him to save us from what our sins

deserve. Look at how His chosen people

are kept guarded, protected, and eternally secure.

In verses 6 through 14, Jesus says I have manifested your name

to the people whom you gave me out of this world.

They have kept Your word. Now they know everything that

you have given me is from You. I have given them the words you

gave me. They have received them, They

have come to know in truth that I come from you, and they have

believed that you sent me. I am glorified in them.

I kept them in your name. I have guarded them so that none

of them is lost except the Son of destruction, which shows that

Judas was never really one of those given to the Son.

Jesus did not make salvation possible, he accomplished it and

Jesus's prayer, In his view, the salvation of God's people is a

done deal. Mission accomplished, task

completed, all that I have been sent to do done.

Nothing is lost and nothing is left undone.

And in case you think that Jesus is only talking about his

disciples, look at verses 20 through 26.

He's not just praying for his 11 disciples, He's praying for

everyone throughout all of history who will believe in him.

Through their witness and their words, they too will be given

Jesus's glory. They too will behold Jesus's

glory for all eternity. See, at the heart of Jesus's

prayer is the eternal security and the eternal glory of all of

God's people. All that the Father has given as

a gift to his Son are set apart from the world they are

recreated in and to a newness of life.

Jesus personally makes known to them the meaning of God's name,

and Jesus gives them God's word. They receive God's word, they

believe and trust that Jesus is God and that God has sent His

Son on a search and rescue mission to save them.

Throughout all of their lives. They are kept in His name.

None of them will be lost. All those kept in God's name

will one day behold their Savior face to face, the day when they

exchange faith for sight. And the moment they see Jesus,

they will instantaneously be changed and have His glory for

all eternity. So how does Jesus do it?

How does God save us? With the glory of his Son?

Because Jesus laid his glory down.

Look at the end of verse 5. And now, Father, glorify me in

your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the

world existed. What happened to the glory that

Jesus had before the world existed?

The eternal Son of God, who shared in the eternal love and

delight of his Father and the Holy Spirit.

The one who was adorned in heaven by the angels as the most

radiant being said to his Father before he created the world.

I will go and do all of your will.

I will carry out your plan. I will do what Adam failed to

do. I I will lay aside my glory and

rights as God in order to take on flesh and become like them.

I will be the greater Adam, the greater Son.

I will represent your people. I will experience everything

they experience. I will become their sorrows.

I will carry their burdens and their iniquities.

I will teach them and show them the great love that you have for

them. I will perfectly obey your law,

never once putting my interests above yours.

I will fulfill your law for them because they will fail, because

my life revolves around you. I will revolve my life around

them. I will serve them.

I will exalt them. I will never turn away from

doing them good because I will willingly lay down my life for

them and suffer the penalty for what their sin deserves.

I will allow them to beat me, to mock me, to torture me, to strip

me, to humiliate me. I will stay on the cross until

all of Your wrath, for all of their sin is exhaustively poured

out on me and Your justice is satisfied.

I will endure your displeasure. I will face your back as you

forsake me so that they will always have your face shine upon

them. I will do this so that they may

know that you will always be for them and never against them,

that you will always delight in them, that you will always love

them with a love that will never change nor end.

Why is Jesus praying this prayer at this time and why is John

recorded it? So that Jesus's disciples so

that you and I would rest, secure, and then accomplish

salvation that has been planned from all eternity.

It has been achieved and won in history through the life, death,

and resurrection of God's obedient Son, and then it is

given to God's people as a gift that will endure forever.

Lastly, look at verse 23. You just can't miss this.

Do you realize what Jesus is saying here?

Jesus says the audacity to say that God's love for His people

is no different than His love for His own Son.

God's love for those who trust in Him is the same love He has

for Jesus. It is an infinite love.

It is an eternal love. It is a limitless, unchanging,

never ending love. Brothers and sisters, if you in

any way look at salvation in terms of yourself or your

performance, the boat of your life is always going to flip

over because you're sailing on a boat that has no keel to

counterbalance the wind of your fears.

The only thing that can keep you afloat when the fear that God

will cast you off hits you is to believe and trust in Jesus's

work to save you and also to believe that God has answered

His Son's prayer. How do we know that the Father

has answered what we call His Son's High Priestly prayer?

Because in just a few, a few short hours, he's going to turn

down his son's prayer and guess the enemy.

Amen. Father.

Yeah. We need your spirit to help us

to believe the truths of what Jesus prays.

The work is done. There's nothing left to do.

We have entered into your eternal Sabbath rest because of

Jesus's work. So now help us to believe and

rest that it is finished so that we would step off of the

performance treadmill believing that we must finish.

You are the Lord of peace. Speak it and grant it to us now

I pray in Jesus name, Amen.