Jesus Prays for Our Salvation
John 17:1-5
Background
Good morning! I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to John 17. We are going to continue on with our series in the Upper Room.
If you were expecting something on how to deal with the coronavirus, I’m afraid I’ll be disappointing you. I have touched on the topic in our Hopewell Weekly, which is our weekly newsletter that I send out. If you have not subscribed to it, I would encourage you to do so. You can find that and the previous issues on our website.
We are going to press on in our study. If there is anything that we can recommend for dealing with the virus from a spiritual point of view it is what we find in this chapter. In this chapter Jesus prays. Those are the two most important things in life and they are the two most important items for times of disease: Jesus and prayer. What’s even greater is a praying Jesus; something we have as Jesus continues to pray for us right now at God’s right hand.
The prayer basically divides into three sections:
This morning we are going to read the first section, the portion where Jesus is said to pray for himself. But what I think you'll find is that though Jesus prays for himself, there's a good reason why he wants us to hear it. It has everything to do with us.
So hear now God's holy and inspired Word:
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.
Introduction
This chapter has been said to be the true Lord’s Prayer. The one that goes “Our Father, who art in heaven.” We commonly call that the Lord’s Prayer. But it is actually the prayer our Lord taught his disciples to pray. John 17 records the actual prayer that Jesus prayed.
We read in Scripture that Jesus spent much time in prayer. Sometimes he would spend whole nights in prayer. He would go off on his own to pray. In the Garden of Gethsemane we see him struggling and making use of prayer. But this is the longest recorded prayer.
Now, that tells you something. It tells you how important this prayer is. You will obviously say that all of Jesus’ prayers are important. But this one was especially important. It is important for us. Important for us to hear.
This is the interesting thing. We just said that in verses 1-5 Jesus prays for himself. But he wants you to hear what he prays for himself. There’s a sense in which Jesus prays for himself, but its content is meant for us as much as it is for the Father.
You get to listen in on this prayer. You get to eavesdrop, so to speak, because Jesus is sending a message to you, just as much as he is petitioning heaven.
So when you get that, the question becomes: What is he telling us? What is Jesus trying to communicate? And the answer to that is simple: Jesus wants us to know the particulars about eternal life. As he prays he declares the good news of the gospel. Redemption and eternal life are given in Jesus Christ. It’s right there in verse 3 (which is the heart of the heart of the passage): This is eternal life.
Jesus wants us to understand that this salvation has a particular focus, it is directed towards a particular people, and has as its goal a particular purpose.
I. Particular focus [3]
See in verse 3 it says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” You see here that this verse sums up the way of salvation. If you want to have eternal life, then this verse is your guide. It tells you what you must be focused on: knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
Now, there are three things here which need your attention. If you are focused aright, then you are focused on these three things. When it comes to being saved, you’ll notice that there is a relational element, a theological element, and a covenantal element.
First of all, recognize that there is a relational focus to eternal life. This is centered around the word “to know.” You have to understand that this is much more than having information or an intellectual knowledge of God. You may have been raised in Sunday School and you may know all kinds of facts about God, but that does not mean that you have eternal life.
To know someone has specific meaning in the Jewish mind. To know someone is to have a close relationship with them. It is to have that deeper understanding that goes beyond mere information into the world of real connection and affiliation.
You may have a conversation where you say, “Do you know Joe?” The person will respond by saying, “Well, I know of him, but I don’t know him personally.” They are saying that they may have some knowledge of him (what he looks like), but they are not friends with Joe. He does not have any kind of real relationship.
That’s what is being talked about here. Jesus says that it’s not enough to just have been taught about God or have some ideas about God. You have to be in relationship to him. That is eternal life: knowing God intimately and relationally.
But there’s also a theological focus. And this is where I say that it does take some doctrinal exactness. Jesus does not just say that you need to know God. It’s not just knowing a God or knowing God in some vague sense. He says you must know “the only true God” to have eternal life.
What he’s doing is specifying which God you must know. There is one God, not many (like the Mormons or the animists believe). There is only one true God – that is the triune God, as opposed to the Jehovah’s witness and the Jews and the Muslims.
In other words, your theology matters. You need to have the right theological base and understanding of who God is. Otherwise you’re involved in idolatry. You do not know the right God (the true God), you will not have eternal life.
So there’s a relational focus, and a theological focus to eternal life. But there’s also a third element. This is what I call the covenantal focus.
And that is found in the last part of verse 3. Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying that God grants us life in Christ. Why? Because he is the fulfillment of God’s covenant?
Why are we not able to have eternal life? It is because we are covenant breakers. We deserve death because we have sinned against God. We broke the terms of the covenant which he made with us; that is why we die.
But Christ has fulfilled the obligations of the covenant. This is why eternal life is found in him. When we come to faith in him and enter into a relationship with Jesus, the terms of the covenant are fulfilled. He has does it on our behalf.
So, how is it that sinners can have a living relationship with the only true God and enjoy the benefits of eternal life which they have lost because they have broken that covenant with him? It is by Christ and what he has done.
That’s the focus we are to have. It’s not just a broad, general view of some God and hope that one day you’ll be allowed to enter into heaven. Eternal life can be had. You can be assured that it is yours. But it comes through having faith that is rightly focused on these three things.
II. Particular subjects [2]
Who will be saved? Jesus answers that in verse 2. He says that he has authority to give eternal life to “all whom you [i.e. the Father] have given him.”
So who is it that Jesus specifies? It’s the elect. God the Father has chosen out from the world certain people who he would save, and all these are given to Jesus. And Jesus by his power gives them eternal life.
This is one of the more controversial portions of the 5 points of Calvinism. It’s the one we call Limited atonement. Some call it particular atonement because it is recognizing that the extent of Christ’s saving power is not applicable to everyone. It’s specifically for those particular people whom God has chosen.
Personally, I like to call it effective atonement. You see, Jesus death on the cross did not just provide salvation generally; Jesus’s death does more than just provide salvation. It effects salvation.
The illustration I like to use is that of bug spray. When my wife and I were first married, we moved into a little cottage in St. Louis. It was a quaint little house. It had two very small bedrooms, a living room, and a nice little kitchen. It was small, but it was just perfect for a newlywed couple. It was especially good because it was only $300 a month. I was in seminary at the time and Elizabeth was working at a small Christian school. So our budget was quite happy to have such a low rental payment.
The only thing was that this quaint little cottage also came with a bunch of bugs. The little creatures would pop out of no where and go skittering across the living room carpet. And so one of the first things we did when we got there was go out and purchase a large canister of Raid bug killer. And we came home and we doused those bugs with the stuff. I believe these were the first immersion baptisms I ever performed. Many of those bugs died more from drowning than the fumes.
But the bug killer was effective. It solved our bug problem. It was effective.
And this is how the blood of Christ works. It doesn’t just provide salvation. It actually works salvation. All who are given to Christ are given eternal life because his blood is showered down upon them. It is not dependent upon them believing or doing anything; it is the power of his death and resurrection that does it all. Eternal life is theirs because Jesus gives it to them.
And that is what this passage is saying, those people who God has chosen shall have eternal life as a result of Jesus giving it to them.
You may even notice how Jesus sets this up. He makes a distinction between all those in the world and his particular people. Jesus begins the verse by saying he has been given authority over “all flesh.” But then he goes on to say that he gives eternal life to “all who are given him.”
So he’s recognizing that though his power is exerted most definitely over all the people in the world (he determines the course of life, restrains them, and exerts power of his dominion over them), and it is for the purpose of giving eternal life to this specific number whom God has designated.
All this is to say that Jesus secures your salvation. You can see here an assurance that Jesus will most certainly bring his people life and accomplish their salvation, and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent it from coming to pass.
If you are wanting to go to the movies and you know lots of people are going to try and see the movie too, do you have to worry about getting a seat? Not if your tickets are purchased before hand.
That is essentially how it is for us. We have the assurance that Jesus has purchased our salvation. Our place in eternity has been secured. We need not worry. We need only to trust him and live for him.
That then brings us to our final point: We’ve seen that salvation has a particular focus and a particular people. We may conclude by noting that salvation has a particular purpose.
III. Particular purpose [1-2, 4-5]
What is that goal? It is the glory of God. The word glorify is used six times in these 5 verses. And it is summed up best in verse 1. Jesus asks the Father to glorify him, but the reason he asks is that the Father may be glorified.
What is it that Jesus wants? It is to advance the glory and the honor of the Father. And he knew that through his own death and resurrection many would recognize him to be the Savior of the World and many would subsequently be converted and glorify God by becoming obedient to him.
We talk about the chief end of man being “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Well we see here that Jesus wanted nothing other than the advancement of the Father’s glory. Through his death and resurrection, he knew that many would be converted and become obedient to the Father. God’s name would be honored as the gospel goes forward and the good news is brought to the nations.
What must we say in response? Let us glorify God. God’s will for us is that we embrace the gospel, turn to Christ, and begin to glorify God (even as Jesus himself did).
Good morning! I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to John 17. We are going to continue on with our series in the Upper Room.
If you were expecting something on how to deal with the coronavirus, I’m afraid I’ll be disappointing you. I have touched on the topic in our Hopewell Weekly, which is our weekly newsletter that I send out. If you have not subscribed to it, I would encourage you to do so. You can find that and the previous issues on our website.
We are going to press on in our study. If there is anything that we can recommend for dealing with the virus from a spiritual point of view it is what we find in this chapter. In this chapter Jesus prays. Those are the two most important things in life and they are the two most important items for times of disease: Jesus and prayer. What’s even greater is a praying Jesus; something we have as Jesus continues to pray for us right now at God’s right hand.
The prayer basically divides into three sections:
- Jesus prays for himself [1-5]
- Jesus prays for his disciples [6-19]
- Jesus prays for the future generations of disciples [20-26]
This morning we are going to read the first section, the portion where Jesus is said to pray for himself. But what I think you'll find is that though Jesus prays for himself, there's a good reason why he wants us to hear it. It has everything to do with us.
So hear now God's holy and inspired Word:
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.
Introduction
This chapter has been said to be the true Lord’s Prayer. The one that goes “Our Father, who art in heaven.” We commonly call that the Lord’s Prayer. But it is actually the prayer our Lord taught his disciples to pray. John 17 records the actual prayer that Jesus prayed.
We read in Scripture that Jesus spent much time in prayer. Sometimes he would spend whole nights in prayer. He would go off on his own to pray. In the Garden of Gethsemane we see him struggling and making use of prayer. But this is the longest recorded prayer.
Now, that tells you something. It tells you how important this prayer is. You will obviously say that all of Jesus’ prayers are important. But this one was especially important. It is important for us. Important for us to hear.
This is the interesting thing. We just said that in verses 1-5 Jesus prays for himself. But he wants you to hear what he prays for himself. There’s a sense in which Jesus prays for himself, but its content is meant for us as much as it is for the Father.
You get to listen in on this prayer. You get to eavesdrop, so to speak, because Jesus is sending a message to you, just as much as he is petitioning heaven.
So when you get that, the question becomes: What is he telling us? What is Jesus trying to communicate? And the answer to that is simple: Jesus wants us to know the particulars about eternal life. As he prays he declares the good news of the gospel. Redemption and eternal life are given in Jesus Christ. It’s right there in verse 3 (which is the heart of the heart of the passage): This is eternal life.
Jesus wants us to understand that this salvation has a particular focus, it is directed towards a particular people, and has as its goal a particular purpose.
I. Particular focus [3]
See in verse 3 it says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” You see here that this verse sums up the way of salvation. If you want to have eternal life, then this verse is your guide. It tells you what you must be focused on: knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
Now, there are three things here which need your attention. If you are focused aright, then you are focused on these three things. When it comes to being saved, you’ll notice that there is a relational element, a theological element, and a covenantal element.
First of all, recognize that there is a relational focus to eternal life. This is centered around the word “to know.” You have to understand that this is much more than having information or an intellectual knowledge of God. You may have been raised in Sunday School and you may know all kinds of facts about God, but that does not mean that you have eternal life.
To know someone has specific meaning in the Jewish mind. To know someone is to have a close relationship with them. It is to have that deeper understanding that goes beyond mere information into the world of real connection and affiliation.
You may have a conversation where you say, “Do you know Joe?” The person will respond by saying, “Well, I know of him, but I don’t know him personally.” They are saying that they may have some knowledge of him (what he looks like), but they are not friends with Joe. He does not have any kind of real relationship.
That’s what is being talked about here. Jesus says that it’s not enough to just have been taught about God or have some ideas about God. You have to be in relationship to him. That is eternal life: knowing God intimately and relationally.
But there’s also a theological focus. And this is where I say that it does take some doctrinal exactness. Jesus does not just say that you need to know God. It’s not just knowing a God or knowing God in some vague sense. He says you must know “the only true God” to have eternal life.
What he’s doing is specifying which God you must know. There is one God, not many (like the Mormons or the animists believe). There is only one true God – that is the triune God, as opposed to the Jehovah’s witness and the Jews and the Muslims.
In other words, your theology matters. You need to have the right theological base and understanding of who God is. Otherwise you’re involved in idolatry. You do not know the right God (the true God), you will not have eternal life.
So there’s a relational focus, and a theological focus to eternal life. But there’s also a third element. This is what I call the covenantal focus.
And that is found in the last part of verse 3. Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying that God grants us life in Christ. Why? Because he is the fulfillment of God’s covenant?
Why are we not able to have eternal life? It is because we are covenant breakers. We deserve death because we have sinned against God. We broke the terms of the covenant which he made with us; that is why we die.
But Christ has fulfilled the obligations of the covenant. This is why eternal life is found in him. When we come to faith in him and enter into a relationship with Jesus, the terms of the covenant are fulfilled. He has does it on our behalf.
So, how is it that sinners can have a living relationship with the only true God and enjoy the benefits of eternal life which they have lost because they have broken that covenant with him? It is by Christ and what he has done.
That’s the focus we are to have. It’s not just a broad, general view of some God and hope that one day you’ll be allowed to enter into heaven. Eternal life can be had. You can be assured that it is yours. But it comes through having faith that is rightly focused on these three things.
II. Particular subjects [2]
Who will be saved? Jesus answers that in verse 2. He says that he has authority to give eternal life to “all whom you [i.e. the Father] have given him.”
So who is it that Jesus specifies? It’s the elect. God the Father has chosen out from the world certain people who he would save, and all these are given to Jesus. And Jesus by his power gives them eternal life.
This is one of the more controversial portions of the 5 points of Calvinism. It’s the one we call Limited atonement. Some call it particular atonement because it is recognizing that the extent of Christ’s saving power is not applicable to everyone. It’s specifically for those particular people whom God has chosen.
Personally, I like to call it effective atonement. You see, Jesus death on the cross did not just provide salvation generally; Jesus’s death does more than just provide salvation. It effects salvation.
The illustration I like to use is that of bug spray. When my wife and I were first married, we moved into a little cottage in St. Louis. It was a quaint little house. It had two very small bedrooms, a living room, and a nice little kitchen. It was small, but it was just perfect for a newlywed couple. It was especially good because it was only $300 a month. I was in seminary at the time and Elizabeth was working at a small Christian school. So our budget was quite happy to have such a low rental payment.
The only thing was that this quaint little cottage also came with a bunch of bugs. The little creatures would pop out of no where and go skittering across the living room carpet. And so one of the first things we did when we got there was go out and purchase a large canister of Raid bug killer. And we came home and we doused those bugs with the stuff. I believe these were the first immersion baptisms I ever performed. Many of those bugs died more from drowning than the fumes.
But the bug killer was effective. It solved our bug problem. It was effective.
And this is how the blood of Christ works. It doesn’t just provide salvation. It actually works salvation. All who are given to Christ are given eternal life because his blood is showered down upon them. It is not dependent upon them believing or doing anything; it is the power of his death and resurrection that does it all. Eternal life is theirs because Jesus gives it to them.
And that is what this passage is saying, those people who God has chosen shall have eternal life as a result of Jesus giving it to them.
You may even notice how Jesus sets this up. He makes a distinction between all those in the world and his particular people. Jesus begins the verse by saying he has been given authority over “all flesh.” But then he goes on to say that he gives eternal life to “all who are given him.”
So he’s recognizing that though his power is exerted most definitely over all the people in the world (he determines the course of life, restrains them, and exerts power of his dominion over them), and it is for the purpose of giving eternal life to this specific number whom God has designated.
All this is to say that Jesus secures your salvation. You can see here an assurance that Jesus will most certainly bring his people life and accomplish their salvation, and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent it from coming to pass.
If you are wanting to go to the movies and you know lots of people are going to try and see the movie too, do you have to worry about getting a seat? Not if your tickets are purchased before hand.
That is essentially how it is for us. We have the assurance that Jesus has purchased our salvation. Our place in eternity has been secured. We need not worry. We need only to trust him and live for him.
That then brings us to our final point: We’ve seen that salvation has a particular focus and a particular people. We may conclude by noting that salvation has a particular purpose.
III. Particular purpose [1-2, 4-5]
What is that goal? It is the glory of God. The word glorify is used six times in these 5 verses. And it is summed up best in verse 1. Jesus asks the Father to glorify him, but the reason he asks is that the Father may be glorified.
What is it that Jesus wants? It is to advance the glory and the honor of the Father. And he knew that through his own death and resurrection many would recognize him to be the Savior of the World and many would subsequently be converted and glorify God by becoming obedient to him.
We talk about the chief end of man being “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Well we see here that Jesus wanted nothing other than the advancement of the Father’s glory. Through his death and resurrection, he knew that many would be converted and become obedient to the Father. God’s name would be honored as the gospel goes forward and the good news is brought to the nations.
What must we say in response? Let us glorify God. God’s will for us is that we embrace the gospel, turn to Christ, and begin to glorify God (even as Jesus himself did).