All right John 17 high priestly prayer of Jesus
this is the final chapter in a five chapter section
in John known as Peace message fill in the blank,
please upper room discourse, right? Yep room
discourse The first four chapters are Jesus in
the role of prophet disclosing God's character,
His nature, we might say, and His will. Not certainly
the entirety of it, but certainly the aspects
of it that are going to encourage the hearts
of His disciples. Remember that they've had their
emotions jerked around all over the place, right?
In that upper room, they came in on a cloud nine
thinking He was going to be ushered any moment
into David's throne and and take his kingdom
and they were going to have a when they were
arguing about what their positions would be in
it right and all of that and Jesus has to severely
You might say give them some emotional whiplash
And reveals a whole bunch of things that are
very devastating to hear and but in chapter 14
That's where we get that famous section that
uses that a lot when he goes to visit people
in the hospital who are dying you know, let not
your hearts be troubled. He says that actually
twice. He starts the chapter with it and ends
with it. And so the truth that He's giving them
about God, God the Father, Himself, Jesus Himself,
and the Holy Spirit, right? Remember that all
three of them are mentioned in this plan. And
of course, it's not the sum and substance or
the entirety of it. In fact, Jesus near the end
says, I have more to say to you, but you're not
able to bear it right now, right? And of course,
they're running out of time because the Judas
and that whole entourage is coming very soon
to arrest him. But the things that he has told
them in those four chapters are meant to encourage
them. But there's, you might say, about halfway
through chapter 15, there's some words that...
You might say, well, how does it encourage them?
Because he tells them the world's going to hate
you, right? Well, he ends that whole section
with another famous verse in John that would
be 1633. I have said these things to you that
in me you may have peace, right? In the world,
you will have what? More peace? Tribulation.
But take heart. Why? I have overcome the world.
Now, remember that for them, at that point, the
word world meant the Jewish system that was extent
at that time. For us, in applying this, it can
be the system that we're in today, the culture
and time that we're in. But those words are still
appropriate for us too. He has overcome. Thank
you for praying for our leaders. That's important.
We're commanded to do that. but we can take comfort
in knowing that Jesus and the Father are in control,
right? God is sovereign. We say that a lot here,
because you know why? Because it's true. Well,
it's not only true, but it's also the soil out
of which our peace and our joy grows, right?
Look at that last verse in chapter 16. I said
these things to you, that in me you made what?
Have peace right in the midst of so Jesus's words
of consolation to them in the last chapter and
a half That sound weird to us Well, how does
it how does it bring comfort to them to know
that that that world system or that? particularly
that Jewish system is going to hate them and
kick them out of the synagogues and and even
when it kills them Thinks that it's doing God
a service by doing that Well, he can say that
by saying that they will have peace not with
the system, but they will have peace in Him knowing
that He is Lord over that system and that He
is in control of it. And listen, Christian, the
circumstances that happen to you are in His hand.
It's not happenstance. It's not accident. Well,
maybe I slipped through the cracks. No. You can
take that to heart. He has overcome the world
and that's the ground of your peace. That's the
ground of your joy. Right? That's because of
the resurrection. Yeah. They didn't understand
that I believe at this time. They didn't understand
that peace because of all the things that were
going to happen. This was before he actually
went to the cross. That's right. But after that,
the resurrection... and they look back and they
can see the peace that they would have. That's
right. And I think a lot of that is the Holy
Spirit. Well, we can apply that today, too. That's
right, the Holy Spirit, yeah. Resurrection and
Holy Spirit, I agree. I think it's those two
things. And also one other thing we're going
to talk about in chapter 20, which is the resurrection
chapter, that's often left out, is Jesus' post
-resurrection appearances. to them as a group.
They gathered together as the Church and He taught
them. He opened the Scriptures. It says that
about the two disciples and wrote to Emmaus,
but it sort of characterizes, I think, what He
was doing after the resurrection. He was taking
them through the Scriptures and showing them
how the Scriptures spoke of Him and how He needed
to fulfill all of that. So yes, the resurrection,
that post -resurrection teaching, and then the
coming of the Holy Spirit. Did you have something?
It's just encouraging to me to see how patient
he was with him because I need that mercy and
that grace and that steadfast patience just like
they do. That's right. That's right. And he is.
That's right. And he cares for us as much as
he cares for them. And we'll see that when we
get to verse 20 where he prays for us as well.
And I like it because it shows us just how Now,
I would say they just they didn't get it. We
don't get it sometimes. We don't get what God's
trying to tell us. That's what he's saying. But
I'm saying is he kept repeating and repeating
and kept telling. How many times do we have to
do that? We have to get back, dive back into
the scripture. That's how we get our word from
him. And it's like, Rick, get this. Don't you
get this? Right. You know, that's why Chapter
15 is the back side. Go ahead and stop him. Bob,
you can help with that illustration. But you
know, that's why what he says at the beginning
of chapter 15 is so important too, right? Abide
in Me, right? Divide in the branches. That whole
illustration is meant again to help them and
us remember that it's not you come to Jesus one
time when you're 12 years old, walk the sawdust
trail, and then you've got your... fire insurance,
and you're good for the rest of your life. Do
you go to heaven? No, no, no. We need to stay
there, right? Because we need constant transformation
and sanctification. All of us do. Okay? We all
need that. We need to be reminded again and again,
like you said, Rick, and like you're saying,
Dad, and God is so patient with us, and He'll
teach us the same lesson again for the umpteenth
time. You know, that's like, oh, yes. We're thankful
for that. I remember. Yeah, yeah. John Calvin,
I think it was a great theologian of faith, he
said, I preach the gospel to myself every day.
And he's right. You're not your own. This might
be a good verse to hang a laminated piece of
paper from your shower that says when you wake
up in the morning, if you're like me, the first
thing I do is take a shower, right? You are not
your own. You're bought with a price. Every believer.
Oh, that's right. Today it's not me. It's about
him, right? Got to get that in our heads. I'll
bring Ezekiel and talk about stiff neck. Yeah.
Bob's got them. Leah, did you get one? Good to
see you this morning. Good to see you last night,
too. We get to talk a lot, so it's good to see
you. Okay. So, John 17, then Jesus takes off.
The prophet hat as it were and puts on his priestly
hat right and he starts talking now to the father
About first himself. That's the first that was
part one the notes entitled part one right now
We're in part two Jesus prays for his disciples
and then part three is coming up Which is where
Jesus prays for all believers, okay? And that
starts with verse 20 our section if you have
your Bibles you can turn there verses 6 through
19. I'm not going to reiterate because we spent
our entire time going back over, which we did
three weeks before our little trip to Europe,
which we enjoyed, by the way, quite a bit. So
I won't do that again. We've kind of been through
that. But basically, what I'm trying to do in
the write -up here on your notes, both pages
there, is to show the relationship between, in
our middle section of Jesus' prayer, the relationship
between the Father's keeping, it's translated
keep, okay, but it really means to protect. It's
not just, oh yeah, yeah, I've got something,
you know, like I give you my keys, you know,
here, keep this for me. Okay, yeah, whatever.
There's not a casual... keeping there. It has
the idea of protecting and guarding. And here's
the key concept. Valuing what you are protecting.
Right? Okay? And it's not just found with what
Jesus says how the Father has entrusted His people,
the Father's people now, to Jesus for safekeeping.
But now Jesus is turning them back over to the
Father for safekeeping, because he's going to
go to the cross and he can't guard them anymore,
right? And in fact, he's going to ascend to heaven.
We're going to see in our section. And he says,
I don't ask that you don't take them out of the
world, but that you protect them or keep them
from the evil one, right? And so he's entrusting
this treasure of God's people back to the Father,
as it were. But there's also a sense of keeping
in that these disciples have received this truth,
this revelation about God from Jesus, and they
are keeping it as well. So they value God's Word
and God's truth, and they show that by keeping
or obeying it, right? So you can go through the
notes there and you can see how that word is
used in other places, like where Jesus criticizes,
not criticizes, but maybe... Well, I don't mean
that negative way right but he he points out
to the religious leaders how they Keep or observe
their traditions above the Word of God, right?
So that in other words they value their traditions
over Scripture, right? And he uses the word there
that mean the same thing. The other thing is
is The giving right and and that expresses God's
love. Okay And so both of those two words are
there. God's love, love gives, right? Love gives,
love is invisible. It's seen in its effect of
giving, giving time, giving service, giving,
you know, listening to somebody, really listening,
okay, is an act of love, right? You're giving
your time to that person and your attention to
them. That's important. And by the way, that's
a different thing than hearing, right? I used
to tell all girls when they were growing up,
with these you hear, with this you listen. Listening
is active engagement of your mind, not just hearing,
not just waiting for the person to be quiet so
you can say what you want to say. Love gives,
we've seen that love protects, it gives, and
it works not only God to us and the Father to
the Son and the Son to the Father, but us to
God as well. How do you show your love? by keeping
His Word, by obeying it, right? You show that
you value and love God by obeying Him, right?
Jesus has already said that in His disciples.
So, let's get into the text then. And let's look
at our outline there, bottom of page 2. First
point is Jesus characterizes the disciples as
those who show they are God by obeying His truth.
One other pattern I want us to notice as we make
our way through this prayer, remember there's
three sections to it, right? Jesus has prayed
for Himself, disciples, and then all believers.
The main emphasis in Jesus' prayer for Himself
is glory. The middle section we're in is truth.
The emphasis is on truth. When we get to verse
20, it's going to pivot a little bit to unity.
And I'm just going to seed you with a thought
and we're going to talk about it when we get
to part three of this prayer. And that is what
is the difference between uniformity and unity?
There's some deep thoughts there, some profound
things that we're going to cover when we get
to that third section, okay? All right, but here
is truth, okay? So let's look for that as we
unpack these verses. So verses 6 through 8 is
point number one, okay? 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. Remember all the
things we just talked about. You know, you can
hear the keeping, you can hear the protecting,
you can hear the giving all in that one verse.
First of all, notice there's so much going on
here. The fact that they belong to the Father,
right? In our Bible study, now we're starting
in Ephesians, and we've looked at the very beginning,
the opening part of Ephesians, where Paul says,
starting in verse 3, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
in the heavenly realms with all kinds of spiritual
blessings in Him. He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. God the Father has
chosen and elected from eternity past people.
for Himself. They're His. That's important, because
as we work our way through this text, we're going
to encounter this word sanctify. In fact, Jesus
is going to use an interesting qualifier in addressing
the Father. That would be in verse 11. He says,
Holy Father. These two words, sanctify and holy,
have a relationship to each other. Holiness,
I was talking to my wife about this, and in fact,
you all may remember, this has been a while now
because I've been gone for a while, but in Ephesians,
in our Ephesians study, we'll revisit that here
later this month when we do the Bible study,
right, and I'll lead that. I'm going to remind
us again how important that word saints is in
Ephesians, as Paul specifically uses that word
to address believers. He doesn't just say believers,
he says saints, saints, saints, saints. And that
word simply means holy. That's all it means,
really. It's hagios, okay? And when it doesn't
have a noun, it's really an adjective, and when
it doesn't have a noun explicitly given like
holy spirit or holy kiss or holy city or holy
Sabbath or whatever, holy ground, it's often
translated by the translators as saints to drive
home the point that what he means, that the noun
is inferred. It means holy ones or holy people.
And Paul's point in calling the Ephesians, really
all the believers in that area, it may actually
be the church of the Laodiceans. But it would
include the Colossians as well, and that's a
circuit trailer. So in addressing all the saints
there, all the believers there with that word
saints, what he's reminding us is not that we
are morally superior to our neighbors, But rather
that we are God's specific chosen people For
his purposes and are set apart. All right, and
you're gonna see that in this text Okay, where
these disciples are those whom the father has
chosen. They're his people Okay, and they have
given he has given them to Jesus right and what
has she just done? I have manifested your name
to the people whom you gave me Out of where?
Out of the world. Remember in John 10, when he's
talking about, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the
door of the sheep, I am the Good Shepherd. When
he says, I am the Good Shepherd, near the end
of that, he talks about, he says, and I have
other sheep who are not of this fold, and them
also I must bring, right? And the illustration
he's using as he's talking about himself as the
Good Shepherd is that they've got these two folds,
okay? this Jewish system and then the Gentile
system. And what he's saying there is I have
sheep who hear my voice in that Jewish system
and I call them and they are coming out. They
don't belong to that system. They belong to the
Father and they hear my voice and they belong
to me as well, right? And then I have sheep,
thank God, in the Gentile. system as well, and
them also I must bring out. And so here you hear
this saying, even though the illustration is
not a flock here, but it's the same thing. You
gave them to me out of the world, right? It's
the same idea. It's the same idea. So, what are
we saying here? What is Jesus saying? Here in
verse 17, the main verse in this whole thing,
your word is truth. Sanctify them in your truth.
Your word is truth. What he's getting to is that
the thing that separates God's people from all
the other people is how they respond to God's
truth. When they hear the Word of God, it has
a different impact and effect on them. It draws
them to Him, as opposed to others who hate the
truth. Chapter 3, right? Men love darkness rather
than light or truth because their deeds are evil.
They love their rationalization. They love their
Darwinism. Buddhism or they love their Muhammad,
whatever other system is taking the place and
forming a construct of rationalization that helps
to suppress and push down and explain away their
conscience that's constantly telling them that
you're a sinner and you've got to do something
about this. You're in trouble with God. There's
all these other constructs that we make that
help us explain that away. But when you hear
the truth of the scripture, if you're God's child,
you'll hear His voice and you'll come to Him
and you'll realize, God have mercy on me, a sinner,
right? And thank God that He's provided a way
of escape. Alright, so you can hear this. So
again, these are saints, right? They're saints.
But they're not saints because they're morally
superior to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and
everybody else right there They're saints because
God has called them and that designation is his
doing not theirs And he is sanctifying them calling
them out of the world and the difference is Look
at the end of verse 6 there. They have kept your
word That's that word that same word that we
did the study on they have protected and guarded
it They don't just they don't just and I saw
We saw a lot of high church. Fletch and I talked
about high church versus I won't say low church
where I grew up. We didn't grow up in big cathedrals
and formalism. But some of these had these rituals
when they start their mass, their service. And
one of them is you've got this choir boy in the
robes and he's holding up the Bible. Have you
ever seen that? walking along and coming up the
aisle, holding the Bible as they come forward.
Well, that's not what he has in mind here when
he says, they have kept your Word. It's not just
that we have a book and we put on the front,
Holy Bible. Don't let any dust settle on it or
anything like that. It's the idea of they protect
and value the Word. for themselves, right? And
they obey it and they put it on a pedestal in
their own lives or put it in priority in their
own hearts, right? Not just that they've kept
it dust -free or hold it up as they walk in the
church. It's a form of symbolism, isn't it? Yes,
yeah. I don't mean to criticize that. No, no,
I get that. I'm just saying it seems like a form
of symbolism. Yes, it is, it is. And a lot of
these old churches in Europe, they have this
elevated little pulpit somewhere, a little spiral
staircase that goes up. That's where they often
read the Scriptures. And that's fine. But remember,
the Jews did a similar thing. If you've ever
been to a Jewish synagogue, they still today,
they'll have the scrolls there and they come
in with their scrolls. It's a big deal. They
even held one of the little pointers they have.
Metal pointer a little finger on the end usually
and it's sort of to help you keep your place
as you're reading And they show all this great
respect for them for the scriptures and Jesus
said to them These are they would speak of me
and you won't come to me, right? So the Bible
itself won't save you The Bible is God's instrument
by which he draws you to himself, right? It's
the voice of the Good Shepherd. We go to the
shepherd. We don't become enamored with With
the the printed word necessarily we we trust
the Savior that appoints us to All right, so
that's a lot I know but that's in verse 6 now
verse 7 John 17 verse 7 now they know that everything
that you have given me Is from you. What is the
everything that that he has given? Yeah When
he says that was it that the trick is Early in
verse 6 where He says, I have manifested your
name. God's name, when He says your name, it
doesn't just mean the covenant name of Yahweh,
right, or something. What He's talking about
is God's character, God's heart, you know. He's
addressing this prayer to the Father, right?
And God, think about this, God the Father specifically
chose that name or title for Himself out of countless
possibilities. I mean, He could have called Himself
anything. He chose Father and not only for Jesus,
but for us as well. And Jesus taught us when
we pray to pray to the Father, your Father. And
Paul says that He's given us the Spirit of adoption
by whom we say Abba, Father. the Spirit's work
in our hearts is to help us draw us closer to
God and to see Him as our Father. And that is
powerful. I remember as a new parent being very
deeply moved by that because I know my heart
from my children. It doesn't always come out
very well. By the time it makes its way through
my flesh, but I know my heart for them. I know
that I want nothing but the very best for them.
And to think that God, if that's true with me,
Jesus said, if you being evil know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more? Your
Father in heaven, right? So that's an amazing,
amazing, amazing truth. Okay, so verse 7 now,
Now they know that everything you have given
Me is from you. So what is it that He has given?
That the Father has given to Jesus and that Jesus
has given to them? His words. Yeah, the truth.
Think about how... I've really been, as I've
been studying this, it's really been moving.
It's true whenever something is in the forefront
of your thought, you start seeing it everywhere.
And I've just really been struck with how incredibly
blessed we are to know what we know. Man, oh
man. I mean, when you see people, even a lot
of people who are in church and call themselves
Christians, that are biblically illiterate, just...
shockingly, biblically illiterate. I mean, just
basics, basics, basics. And they don't even know
that, you know, and it's, wow. So, so God, so
again, you hear, you hear this, the value and
the giving and the, and the receiving and the
protecting here, right? And, and not only are
God's People precious to him and you can hear
the father giving his precious people to Jesus
for safekeeping And now Jesus is giving them
back to the father for safekeeping But you can
hear the value of the word of God the truth and
Jesus has given that to them All right, and they
know that that is from the father remember Philip
Near the beginning of all this that show us the
father, right? And that's what Jesus has been
doing. He's been revealing That heart of God
is very different from the kind of God that they
grew up with in hearing. I would suggest that's
true for all of us. The longer that you spend
in God's Word and let God speak for Himself,
the more you'll fall in love with Him. But if
you let religion get in the way and photobomb
that, it'll give you a perverted or twisted,
or it may be an easily manipulated form of God,
but you won't love Him. the way you should and
worship her. Yes? So, I thought about this occasionally.
How do we discern how much time to spend alone
praying to the Holy Spirit that as we read the
Bible by ourselves, that we'll understand and
understand the tree. And then how much time should
we spend with other people in Bible study? Have
you ever thought about that or is there any kind
of indication? I don't know that there's a formula
per se, but I can tell you this. You punched
a button of mine. One of my pet peeves is people
who profess Christ who can't seem to find a church.
even really a Bible study. It's just me and my
Bible and Jesus, you know, and that's all I need.
Oh, my goodness. Now, the New Testament is very,
very clear as we make our way through Ephesians,
especially the chapter four. It's so abundantly
clear that that God has given gifts to your brothers
and sisters that He intends to them to give to
you. But if you if you're not there, you're going
to miss what God has to give to you, even in
your alone time with the Holy Spirit in the Bible.
It's just the way God has designed it to work.
But on the other hand, of course, the other extreme
is I get everything from Bible studies and church
and whatever and don't spend time in the Word
either. So I can't give you a formula, but I
can say Dad is right in emphasizing repeatedly
through the years that encouraging everybody
to spend time every day in God's Word in some
form or fashion and then be prepared. I would
say the more time that I spend in God's Word,
and not just read it to know stuff, but read
it to really hear God speak to you. And then
it sharpens you and encourages you and actually
creates more of a thirst in your heart for more
of it. And then when you gather with God's people
and you hear even more, it's like, yes, give
us any way I can get it, right? Any thoughts
on... on that yourself. Okay. Prayer, the Bible
says to be a constant state of prayer. Most of
the time we think prayer is like our morning
prayer or when we bow our heads or something
like that. But prayer is just communication with
God. That's right. So all the time, if you start
your day out by reading the scripture, meditate
upon that scripture all day. You know, and the
Lord will reveal things from Scripture. He's
not going to reveal anything that's not there,
of course. But He will reveal other parts of
Scripture to you as you meditate on that. That's
right, that's right. And wear ear buds and listen
to a service or something like that. Meditate
like mowing grass. That's what I do every time
I mow grass. Have a set of headphones on and
I'll put a sermon on. That's right. And I'll
meditate on that and mill light through, you
know, and even afterwards I'm thinking about
that. So don't confuse prayer with just 20 minutes
in the morning or 10 minutes or however. That's
something that we're constantly being communing
with God. It don't have to be Dr. Anderson, it
don't have to be anybody else. You just have
to talk to him. He wants that fellowship. Please
don't close your eyes when you're driving. You've
got to have that desire to be in the world. Some
people don't have as much time. You know, some
people may have an hour and a half, two hours,
whatever. But I'm saying that once you're in
there, devote your attention to that, and once
you start learning that, you're going to have
that desire. You're going to fall more in love
with him. That's right. That's the whole key
thing is he wants you to know him intimately,
to fall more in love with him. Same thing you
was with your spouse. You wanted, when you first
was dating, you wanted just to be with her, be
with her, be with her. You still want to be with
her. But I'm saying, when you first started,
it was so hungry because you were learning. Same
thing with him. That's right. The good thing
about the scripture is, it's all learning. I
mean, you'll never get to the total depths of
it. That's right. You just keep going. And like
you said, when you stem off other people's stuff,
like what Larry said, that's great. I totally
understand and believe that. You talk to them
and pray to them throughout the day, meditate
on what you hear. But you stem off other people's
talk and not necessarily just the church service.
but fellowshiping with people at work or whatever,
and listen to what they have to say. You may
not agree with it or whatever, but if you don't,
then get back in order to see if they're right
or wrong. And then, you know, use your judgment
there. But you've got to have that, you've got
to have that, you know, you've got to have that
fellowship with you. And like Larry said, ear
buds, listening, mowing grass, doing whatever,
working whatever. And it gives a good perspective
from someone else's point of view. Love you.
Only that they're a good Bible fit, you know.
Right, it comes with a qualification. Yeah, put
on some good messages. And there's lots and lots
of good resources out there. Some of them aren't
quite as well known as others, but they're still
very, very good. There's one thing about Bible
in the year, you know, you can't shelve it at
the end. Yeah. There's a lot of books you can
say, well, I've gained a lot of knowledge on
that. There's a lot to take in, yeah. Next? Yeah,
right. A lot of weeks. I don't know, we have
devotions at the end. Always do. That's right.
And like you said, there's no formula to it because
you're like, okay, here's four chapters. And
you'll get about three words into the first verse
and you're like, okay, that's about a half hour
of like, wait a second, I didn't see that before.
And then you cross -reverse it and you're never
getting to the other chapters. That's right.
That's right. That's my problem. That's why I
don't read. I mean, it's just like three or four
words. It's like... Wait a second, I never read
that in there before. I read it many times, years.
The pastor does that sometimes when he speaks.
I didn't recognize that. I've seen that verse
many, many, many times. It just wasn't the Holy
Spirit trying to show you that particular information,
which just seems to be very pertinent for the
time of your life. That's right. Or your maturity
or whatever. Yeah, that's right. Those secular
words do that, you know. That's why I don't,
I mean, me personally I know Dad and some others
really like reading the Bible in a year, and
I have done that, okay, but generally I don't
myself do that because I have that very problem.
I always hit some statement or some phrase or
something in there that makes me go... Whoa,
wait a minute. I just can't help myself. I just
got a drill down on that. You know what I'm saying?
So it's slow going for me. But yes, you're right.
And that's what meditating is all about, right?
That's what Larry is saying. Don't just read
it, check the box. Okay, I brushed my teeth,
had cereal, I did my quiet time. And then go
on about your day. Let it really soak in. And
you've heard me say many times, and I really
firmly believe in this, I guess my way of saying
the meditate thing is wrestle with the text.
Wrestle with the text. If something doesn't make
sense, wrestle with it and pray and seek resources,
whatever that is, whether it's a sermon or whatever,
and listen to others until it's resolved in your
thinking. And you'll really grow by that. So
God's truth, verse 7 then, God's truth, He says,
Now they know that everything that you have given
Me is from you. This valuable, valuable treasure
that God the Father has given to the Son. Remember,
throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus said again
and again, I came to do not My will with the
will of Him who sent Me. The words you hear Me
say are the Father's words. In John chapter 3,
the second half, after the Nicodemus episode,
the second half, John the Baptist comes back
and he tells his disgruntled disciples, Effectively,
I'm of the earth and I'm only the witness from
the earth and I can only give you so much. But
He is from heaven. He's the witness from heaven.
And He's giving you the very words of God. The
very truth of God. Who God is. Who He really
is. Not who you want Him to be. Not who the world
says that He ought to be or any of that. It's
who He really is in His heart. And then verse
8. The words that you gave me right so if you're
in doubt about the interpretation of verse 7
verse 8 clears it up Right context this came
another key Bible principle, right? And by the
way if you are wrestling with the text something
doesn't make sense Look at a look at immediate
context first try to work it out very often you
can work it out from the immediate context That's
what's happening there And then sometimes you
very often too you'll need to reach into other
parts of scripture that speak more fully to that
issue But verse 8 there clears it up for I have
given them the words that you gave me and they
have what? received accepted them and have come
to know in truth that I came from you and they
have believed that you sent me the thing that
they were still not really clear about is what
exactly was his mission, but they knew he was
from God They absolutely knew that, and they
knew He was the Messiah, and they had received
these words. And Jesus has already, in those
four chapters, begun to disclose to them what's
about to happen in the hours, months, and even
years ahead, as things are going to go in a very
radically different direction than the Messianic
picture that they had grown up with. They knew
He was the Messiah and they thought He was going
to take David's throne and kick Rome to the curb
and usher in, reverse the curse and all of that,
all those Messianic prophecies. And Jesus is
saying, that's why I think that that segment
of time after His resurrection and before His
ascension was so important, because He had to
take them back through the Scriptures and carefully
parse out for them how those Old Testament Scriptures
really were fulfilled in this first coming, right?
That's very, very important. And that's why I
think we see so much quotation of Scripture in
particularly the Gospels, but really all the
New Testament, right? There's so much quotation.
Why is there so much quotation of the Old Testament
Scriptures? Because they are repeating to us
what Jesus had told them after His resurrection.
So verse 8, for I have given them the words you
gave me. They have received them and come to
know. in truth that I came from you, and they
have believed that you sent Me." Why is that
so important? Because the words that Jesus gives
are not just His opinion. It's not just His thoughts.
He's not some rogue, false prophet who's had
a vision in a cave somewhere that nobody else
knows anything about. No, this is coming directly
from the heart of God. I love that little phrase
in one of our hymns. Jesus blessed Redeemer sent
from the heart of God. I'm starting a study in
Colossians now with our Thursday Bible study.
And that's the whole theme of Colossians. It's
kind of a twin book to Ephesians. They're very
similar in many respects. But in Ephesians, the
Fathers take center stage in Colossians, at least
in the opening part. In the opening of Colossians,
Jesus is taking center stage. He is the exact
representation of God's being. He is everything
God wants us to know about himself we can see
in the sun. When you see Jesus being compassionate
to people and patient, like you said, with people,
that's the Father. He's revealing the Father.
Okay, so that's point number one I outlined.
Jesus characterizes the disciples as those who
show they are gods by obeying His truth. They
receive it, they hear it, and they know who Jesus
is. They're His sheep, right? They've heard His
voice. Now point number two, Jesus requests that
the Father protect the disciples in the world
system. Let's start with verse 9. This is 9 -12.
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the
world, but for those whom you have given me,
for they are yours. This is now the third time
we have encountered this almost exact same phrase,
whom you have given me. You find it up at the
end of verse 2, and given authority over all
flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have
given me. And then in verse 6, I have manifested
your name to the people you have given me. And
now in verse 9, I'm praying not for the world,
but for those whom you have given me. One of
the keys to Bible study, another one of the keys,
besides context as king and wrestling with the
Scriptures, another one is repetition is important.
It's there for emphasis. He's trying to drive
a point home, right? And the disciples are hearing
this and they're realizing, oh, wait a minute.
In fact, he's already told them, remember earlier,
he said, you did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you to go bear fruit. Right, so
they thought that they had sort of stumbled on
him and, hey, let's go tell Nathan, you know,
hey, we found the Messiah. No, no, no. It only
looks that way to you, okay. Woman at the well,
you know. Woman at the well, right, right, right.
And we have his wife. Yeah, Nicodemus too, you
know. He thought he was going to visit the Messiah,
but what he didn't realize was that he was being
drawn. I'm praying. Notice also he says, Who's
he praying for here? He's interceding for, as
our High Priest here, he's interceding for his
people, right? Not for the, not for the world
system. Does that mean that he doesn't care for
the other people who are in that system? Here,
in this case, he's not praying for the people
in that system. In other words, you can't just
yank that out and try to understand it. Look
at the rest of the context, particularly when
it gets down to verse 15, where he says, I do
not ask that you take them out of the world,
but you keep them from the evil one. Remember
that Jesus already in chapter 8 had said as the
light of the world, right? He had turned the
light on and he had, let's use this illustration,
he had parted the curtain and revealed that the
man behind their system was not who they thought
it was, right? It's not God, it's not Abraham.
You are sons of the devil. The man behind your
system is the devil, okay? And so I think what
he's saying here is leading up to, this is part
of like Romans and the Ladder, He's he's leading
up to this idea that his his prayer for protection
Is not necessarily just that whole system. He's
not asking that God the Father would preserve
that system Okay, he doesn't say the people in
the world He just says the world is the system
is referring out of this to this system that
is headed by Satan and is Marches under or wears
the robes of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob
Okay? And marches in their synagogues and in
their temple with their big scrolls, you know,
and make a big to -do out of God's Word, but
they refuse to obey it or even to allow it to
speak to them and come to Jesus, right? And so
what he's done is he's revealed that this system
is broken and it's under judgment. In fact, he's
already revealed that earlier. We looked at that
in chapter 16, right? That's verse 8, the Holy
Spirit. It's the prior chapter, chapter 16. And
when He comes, He will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment. Sin because
they do not believe in Me. Righteousness because
I go to the Father. You will see Me no more concerning
judgment because the ruler of this world, of
this system is judged. He is not asking the Father
to preserve that system, but He is asking to
preserve the people who are the fathers out of
that system. Let me be clear about this. It's
not that He doesn't care about or love the unsaved
people who are still lost and deceived in that
system. It's that specifically here, as a high
priest, He is praying for His people who will
be persecuted by that system, just as He is about
to be. And He's asking the Father to protect
them. Right, that's right. Now that was for the
system. I believe it was. That was for the system.
Yeah, that's right. Don't give up on them. This
corrupt, corrupt system. Now that's who He was
bringing them for. On the cross, right? Right,
that's right. And you know, even John tells us,
chapter 12, like it is, that there were even
many priests who believed in Him, but they were
afraid because of their reputation. And they're
going to get kicked out of synagogue. Right.
And then there's two examples in John's gospel
of very highly placed, wealthy, influential people
who were the head of a part of that system, Nicodemus
and Joseph Arimathea. Both are examples of God's
grace, even to those leaders, right? The Jews.
So there are still many in that system that will
be called out. You know, that's not our tendency
to do though, forgive those that hurt us. Yeah.
Even if you love the Lord, our tendency is to...
If you say that's not your tendency, then you're
lying because most people have that honor. That's
right. They want to rebel by it. That's right.
That's the only way we are different. And I'm
not trying to bring this up when Erica mentioned,
not about Erica, but the guy got killed. Oh.
When she actually forgave that guy. I really
hope in her heart she did because she said it.
That speaks volumes for her heart, for not only
love for her husband, for her love for that.
The same thing with Jesus when he's on the cross.
It's hard to do. So that just speaks just how
much love and intensity of love that he had.
That's right. That's right. Yes. Vengeance is
mine says the Lord I will repay leave it to him.
We're not to judge them right delight in their
judgment, but to love them Why doesn't God intervene?
Why doesn't he just zap these people like he
did Ananias and Sapphira? I mean, why can't he
stop these wicked people from killing others?
Why doesn't he just zap them with a lightning
bolt? Wouldn't that be nice? You know that person's
dead they can't do they can't hurt others Why
can't it be like that because sometimes I think
he's We say we say stuff like that's been bad,
but he's gonna get bored somehow out of all this
From all stuff. He's gonna be cool. That's my
service, bro What if what if what if God had
done that? at first to Saul. Saul was a major
persecutor of the church, right? But God had
mercy on him and gave him, eventually caused
him to be, ironically, of all the people, right?
To the Jews and Hebrew Hebrews to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. God has a real sense of humor,
but God is patient. Well, we're no better than
they are. That's right. Peter and Jude both say
that God has done that in the past. He has destroyed,
like Sodom and Gomorrah for example, and the
world that was before the flood as examples.
But Peter says God is patient with you. Not wanting
anyone to perish. So He's patient. Alright, let's
close the prayer. Good to see everybody. Father
thank you for your patience with us. Thank you
for the value incredible value of your word the
truth that we have in front of us It's not something
we should take lightly at all But we should hold
it treasure it and and keep it and guard it and
protect it first in our own thinking and then
in our churches and our families and then and
hold our and then to our neighbors as well hold
it out and not be afraid to to share it and to
not to argue with others, but just from loving
to tell them the truth. I pray for your blessing
now on the service, rest of the service, and
the lunch today, the fellowship, and then the
Bible study this evening.