The Prayer of Our Lord

Oh, good morning to everyone. Glad to see you here. Obviously you've

got to change in speakers for today, so I give you fair warning.

Two things I need to warn you about. One, I'm not seminary trained

or nothing. Like I said. What you're gonna get today is the country

boys version of this scripture. And the second thing is if I'm hard to

understand, please forgive me, because English is my second language. I speak

Southern okay, and they're not the same. Okay. But we are glad

to have you here today, and I hope this will be a enlightening time

for you. I started saying, you know, I was fortunate to grow

up in a fully Christian family. And when I say fully, I mean

both sides went far back. So what what might have been unusual to some

people was very standard for our home. And that was prayer. That's not

unusual. It was not unusual to come in and see my mother had the

kitchen table praying for people. It was not unusual to come in and find

my father in the den with his Bible in his lap praying. There were

times growing up, though, that I could hear my mother pray, and

like I said, as she prayed for many people, many situations in the

neighborhood. And now the times that really got me was when, like at

night, the way our house was set up, my bedroom was here,

there's was there. Their head board was against the outside wall. My head

boarder was against their wall. And a lot of times Mom would go to

bed earlier, Dad would be out watching the news or something, and I

could hear her pray. Now, if you've never prayed out loud, you

need to try. It sometimes gets really any money. It's it's when you

can really turn loose and to hear your mother pray for your family and then

start praying for you. That's something that just you know, you you you

kind of get mixed feelings. You think you're you're eve dropping on this this

uh something that you shouldn't be. But the uh, the thing about listening

in on this type of thing is you learn a lot about the person and

you learn a lot about prayer. Now, what I was speaking on today

is called the prayer of our Lord. This chapter John John chapter seventeen.

There's a lot of disagreements among the theologians about this about who heard who actually

heard this prayer. See, Jesus was known to pray out loud. He

prayed a lot. He prayed any time he got a chance. But I

say he was known to pray out loud, and so some think that all

the apostles heard this. I personally just think he went off by hisself.

John, being the beloved disciple that he was, was staying close by,

being available for him. And I think John was the only one that heard

the prayer because John is the only one that had reported it. So another

thing about this prayer is we are listening in on a direct conversation between two

of the Godhead, the Father and the Son, talking back and forth.

And before we get started, of course, in the scripture, I need

to do a little bit of a background things that are familiar to most of

you. But I'd like to kind of set the stage to see where I'm

going. We all know that God that I'm sorry that Jesus was fully God

but also fully man. Being fully man, he had the same physical needs.

He got hungry, he got tired, he got hot, he got

cold, and he had the same temptations that we do. He grew up

the same as other men of his time say. He had the perfect life.

Well, to me, that meant not necessarily the perfect life. But

he was the perfect one year old, the perfect two year old, the

perfect three year old, and grew like other men grew. He learned a

trade from his earthly father. He was a craftsman, and he was called

out to start his ministry by his heavenly father. He was baptized by John

the Baptist, went to the wilderness for forty days and nights and went through

the first recorded temptations, then started his memory ministry. He chose twelve apostles

who he would kind of teach to prepare them to carry on his ministry after

years, and he spent three and one a half years pouring into them,

teaching them. They had traveled many miles, and they had lots of good

times. They had a lot of rejections that they suffered. You've also got

that time for him was the same as it is for us. He only

had twenty four hours in our day, so he was always pushing for time

to train his apostles. Crowds followed him where ever he went. Now to

me, I may be awful on this, but the sermonal on them mount

when I read that, that's that wasn't intended to be a sermon that was

a training session for his disciples, and and all of a sudden, hither

crowd comes in. So he turned it into a preaching session, burst and

a training session. But this was the kind of stuff he had to do

just to get the training in for his apostles. The last few months.

It was like a desperate push to get in the proper position to finish his

task here on earth. How many of you have had jobs that have deadline

set You know how the stress is when you're trying to meet that deadline.

But I got a question for you. Did any of those deadlines include torture,

beatings, floggings, and an extremely painful death. This is the deadline

he's looking at, So imagine the stress and the pressureless on him. He

was now just hours from the cross. So what does the master teacher do?

He goes into the Last Supper and he starts an evening of teaching.

Sometimes when you get a chance to look back on Chapter John chapter thirteen through

sixteen and see just how much teaching he did on that final night, cramming

at all in getting what he could in One of the foremost themes he's taught

was the coming of the Holy Spirit and the preparation of the disciples to carry

on his work after he was gone. He identified the coming betrayal of someone

who had chosen he had trained for three and a half years to betray him.

He identified his coming denial for someone who was in his inner circle,

and he was preparing to go to the garden of guess semity, where he

knew things would be coming to an end. See, the good thing about

being fully God is that you know what's going to happen. And the bad

thing about being god fully God is that you knew what's going to happen.

So this is his situation to me. Jesus was apparently able to get off

by himself for a few minutes to pray, and there during that time he

had this prayer, if you would please turn to John chapter seventeen, and

if you would please stand for the reading of the scripture. And so Jesus

spoke these things, looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour

has come. Glorify your son, so that the son may glorify you.

For you you gave him authority over all flesh, so he may give eternal

life to all You have given him. This is eternal life, that they

may know you, the only true God and the one you have sent Jesus

Christ. I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me

to do. Now, Father, glorify me in your presence, with the

glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have revealed your

name to the men you gave me from the world. They were yours.

You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they

know that all things you have given to me are from you, because the

words that you gave me I have given them. They have received them and

have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you

sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world,

but for these you have given me, because they are yours. Everything

I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I have

been glorified in them. I am no longer of the world, but they

are in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father.

Protect them by your name that you get have given me, so that they

may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I

was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them,

and not one of them was lost, except the Son of Destruction,

so that the scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to you.

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

completed in them. I have given them your word, the word hated the

world hated them because they are not of the world. As I am not

of the world. I am not praying that you take them out of the

world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not

of the world, as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by

the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world,

I also have sent them into the world, I sanctify myself for them,

so they also may be sanctified by the truth. I pray not only

for these, but also for those who believe in me through their message.

May they all be one, as you, Father are in me, and

I am in you. May they also be one in us, so that

the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you

have given me. May they be one as we are one. I am

in them and you are in me. May they be made completely one,

so the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you

have loved me. Father, I desire that you have. I desire those

you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they will

see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the world's

foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However I have

known you, and these have known that you sent me. I made your

name known to them and will make it known so the love you loved me

with may be in them and I may be in them. Let's pray gracious

heavily. Father, we thank you for the precious gift of your word.

We thank you for your blessings on this service today, and ask you you

would take control and speak to us today. I ask you to block anything

in this that is contrary to the message you would desire to be presented.

And I pray that our entire service would be a pleasing worship to you.

Pray your guidance and our knowing so that this day will be about you.

This I pray in the name of our Lord and Saves Jesus Christ. Amen.

Maybe see the first section there that one through six of John spoke these

things looked up to heaven and said Father, thou are hast come glorify your

son. The son may glorify you, for you gave him authority over all

flesh, so he may give eternal life to all you have given him.

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

the one you have sent Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on earth by

completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me

in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.

Pastor Jonathan spoke on this section concerning the glory of God a few months back,

so I'm not going to go really him deep depth on this, but

I want to use that first part to aim at one thing. Jesus always

was submissive to the Father, and he came to earth with a task to

complete. Now, I need to ask you to think back a little bit.

Do you ever get a task given to you by your parents? Or

have you ever given a child a task when they got through with it?

This is what it reminded me, he said. He said, I finished

the task and he wanted to get back to what he enjoyed doing. Child

children do the same thing, They say, uh, my son. I

used to give him a task to do and he'd get through with He come

back to the Dad, I did what you did, told me, I

rate that section of the yard. I got to leave us up. I

put them away, and everything's fine. Can I go back to play them

a video games? Now? Honestly, the games he played want nothing like

the video games today. They were. They were were simple things back the

impact man and stuff. But this is what Jesus was saying to his father.

He says, I've completed your task. I want to go back to

what I enjoyed doing. And what he enjoyed doing was glorifying the Father.

That's what he his entire desire was. So Jesus is preparing to go back

to his desire, which is glorifying the Father. He prays that I have

revealed your name to the men you gave me from the world. They were

yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they know all the things you have given THEE are from you, because

the words that you gave THEE I've given them. They have received them and

have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you

sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world,

but for those you have given me, because they are yours. Everything I

have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I have been

glorified in them. Here he switches and starts praying for his disciples. He

acknowledges, of course, that they were God's people, and that God gave

them to the Son. He has taught them, as he says, what

the Father has given him to teach them, and they have kept his word.

You remember, all the way through through jesus teachings, he never claimed

that the teachings were of him. He always said they come from the Father.

These words come from the Father, and he never wavered from that,

not even here. Now he's even going back that I taught your teachings.

And because of these teachings, and because of the way he taught, his

disciples knew that everything came from God and not from him. And they also

knew from those teachings that he was sent by the Father. They believed that

God sent Jesus. And Jesus narrative prayer down and he said, I'm not

praying for the entire world right now. Right now, I'm paying my disciples.

He prayed for the world at other times, but this prayer he's focusing

on his disciples. He continues by saying in verse eleven, said I am

no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I

am coming to you, Holy Father. Protect them by your name that you

have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

You got to remember to say, Jesus is just ours from completing his task.

He's prepared to leave them, and he has been protecting of them all

wything. Now he's asking the Father to protect them, and he wants them

to grant them unity, to draw them together so that they are together as

one, and also together as one united with God. They will be left

in the world. Like a true teacher, he's worried about them. I

think that's one of the things that amazed me. How dedicated of a teacher.

He was also first to us, as while I was with them,

I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded

them, and not one of them is lost, except the Son of Destruction.

So the scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to you,

and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy

completed in them. I have given them your word, the word. The

world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not

of the world. In making his flea to God the Father, Jesus reminds

the Father that he protected them by the name of the Father. He guarded

them both physically and spiritually. Not one was lost except Judus. And the

quote from that is so that the scripture may be fulfilled. That line brings

us around to one of the things that I was talking about earlier. Because

God, you knew what's gonna happen. He obviously knew the scriptures. He

knew that that was listed in the scriptions. He knew Isaiah back in Luke

when he was in the temple, if you'll remember, he was had a

scroll and he looked read from Isaiah. So he knew Isaiah's writings. He

knew Isaiah's prophecies, and he knew Isaiah fifty two fourteen. His appearance was

so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did

not resemble a human being. He knew this is what he was going to

He knew the pain and suffering he was going to go through to fulfill these

prophecies. He in his mind, I'm sure had relived these over and over

and over again. That was the human part. But with this in mind,

this is just such amazing to me. With this in mind, Jesus's

concern was focused on his disciples and believers. Fifteen. He said, I'm

not praying that you take them out of the world, but that you protect

them from the evil one. They are not of the world, as I

am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is

truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them

into the world. Sanctify myself for them, so that they may be sanctified

by the truth. You've got to understand here too, that these are troubling

times for the disciples. They are getting ready to lose their leader physically.

To them, it's going to be a time of not knowing what to do.

The people in that time are desperately trying to get rid of Jesus,

and they're also trying to get rid of the Disciples. So they're walking out

into a very hostile situation. They are they have no idea what they're begetting

ready to face. They're getting ready to walk in. Like I said,

they're walk into a world it's just totally hostile for them. Jesus knows what

they're going into. He knows what they're walking into, and he is again

the loving, dedicated teacher that hasn't hasn't worried about his students. Jesus saying

that they will be trying to live in the world, but not of the

world. This is something we've been asked to do. We're living in the

world, will not should not be living of the world. How easy is

that? Yeah, I thought so. So he is not praying for God's

protection of them only physically, but he's praying for their protection spiritually. Also.

He knows Satan will come against them and tempt them, trying to tempt

them away from God. He knows that earthly pleasures will be used to tempt

them to give up the faith and settle for the immediately immediate, for earthly

comforts and pleasures. I am sure you know nowadays you have people that will

flock around that different entertainers and stuff like that, and also for pastures and

stuff that people will will flock around them just because of their position. And

I'm sure you had the same thing back then, so they I'm sure they

had enough temptations, and Jesus knew that this was gonna happen, and he's

praying for them to have strength to be protected from that. They have had

some taste of these temptations. But at the same time, the whole time

they've had it, they've been able just to turn around and go back to

Jesus because he was right around the corner, or they were going to be

back to him in the field. He was there. They could see him,

they could touch it, they could feeling. Now it's coming to time

when it's going to have to be relying on their faith and their connection with

Him through prayer. Jesus knows that the earthly ministries of each one of these

disciples, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be something something,

just a terrible task that they're gonna have to get through. Every one

of the things that every one of the disciples died a martyr's death except one.

But he knows the work they will be left to complete. He knows

that they will not be able to complete their task unless they keep their eyes

focused on God. And he knows that they need to understand and focus on

Him as their savior. Then in verse twenty, I pray not for those,

but I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe

in Me through their message. May they all be one, as you,

Father are in me, and I am in you. May they also be

one in us, so the world may believe you sent me. I have

given them the glory you get given me. May they be one as we

are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they

be made completely one, as the world may know you have sent me and

have loved them as you have loved me. Any of us who have believed

and accepted Christ as our savior have believed because of the words of the Apostles.

They have sent the word out. This is how the good news was

delivered to all of us. Jesus knew that we would be subject to the

same type of temptations that was back then, the same time of obstacles that

the Apostles were facing. He knew that this was going to be an ongoing

thing. He stood at the cross and looked ahead and saw what we were

going to go through. This is one of the sections said that that kind

of brings this section home to me. This chapter is very, very dear

to me. It just affects me, I think more than probably any of

them, because he saw me, He saw what was going to happen in

this day and time, and he prayed for me. See, he knew

that the world would hate and try to destroy those who chose not to be

in the world. He prayed for us to have the same guidance and protection,

to be unified in our faith with all believers and with Him and the

Father, to be pulled together as one huge family. He prayed that we

would be in such unity that it would be obvious to the world that he

had had been he had been sent by God, and that God was in

him and he was in God. Likewise, the world would see that Jesus

lives in us and we live in Jesus. This is something we need to

work on. We need to step up, We need to be more in

touch. We need to reach out as Christians to other Christians and form more

of a unity because look at today, everything related to Christian beliefs are under

fire. The world can't stand someone living in the world but not of the

world. This is why Jesus prayed for us to have the same fellowship guidance

and protection. And then he said, Father, I desire those you have

given me to be with me where I am. Then they will see my

glory which you have given me. Because you love me. Before the world's

foundation, Righteous Father of the world has not known you. However I have

known you, and these have known you have known that you sent me.

I made your name known to them and will make it known, so the

love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be

in them. Jesus's final request in this prayer is that the believers are to

be with him. He is saying that he has made God the Father's name

known to us and that his love has been eternal. Jesus has taught us

that God sent the Father sent us, and he's made the Father known to

the world, but the world as a whole has not chosen to know the

Father. He's asking that those who have chosen to believe in him be allowed

to be with him. They will see his glory. And when we have

taught, when we have been we've learned over the times to studying the battle

that will be joint ours with Jesus, so by default we will partake in

his glory. How amazing is this prayer? I once again ask you to

remember that Jesus was fully God but also fully man. With the crucifixion just

hours away, and he knew everything that was going to go on, with

all these things running through his mind, the Master and creator of the universe

prayed for me. That's what breaks me down on this. He prayed for

me because I'm a believer. My question is, did he pray for you?

If he didn't listen to me. It's easy to get covered by that

prayer right now and receive eternal life at the same time. They're almost ten

nine and ten said, if you confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord, and

believe that you're in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you

will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and

one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Just know this, it's

free. You can't buy it, you can't earn it. You know are

not ever going to be worthy of it. You can never be too far

from Christ where he can't reach you. You can never be too sinful that

he can't cleanse you. It's salvation. Bought and paid for by the precious

perfect blood of Jesus Christ, that it took every drop offered to you for

free. If you just believe, if you how not a believe it,

please do not leave here today without Jesus as your savior. You do not

know if there is a tomorrow. Let's pray, our gracious heavenly Father,

we come thanking you for loving us so we stand in awe of love so

strong that you could go to the cruel cross and pay our debt for our

sins. We are thankful that, in time so stressful and leading to death

so painful, your thoughts transcended time and focused on every believer that would ever

be and prayed for us to be an eternal fellowship with you. We're thankful

that there is no barrier that can stand between us and your grace if we

simply believe and surrender to you. We thank you for this day of worship,

and we pray that if there be anyone here today that has not received

You as a savior, that today will be their day of salvation. Ask

you to lead us and guide us, strengthen us to walk your path,

and we pray this in the precious name of our Lord and savior, Jesus

Christ. Amen.