Saturday, January 22, 2022

This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "Jesus Prayed For You", John 17:1-23, 1/23/2022

 JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU

John 17:1-23

INTRODUCTION

Jesus was in His final hours on earth.  He was headed toward the cross, the

Completion of His work on earth. Judas had betrayed Him and He would

Be accused of preaching the Gospel. He would be tried, beaten and

Nailed to the cross for our salvation.  He went to the Father praying for

His disciples.

 

THE DISCIPLES PRAYER

 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

A.    It is our job to pray for each other. No matter what we are going through,

Someone needs our prayers.

1.     The road to life is full of problems we cannot foresee.

2.     Jesus knows the problems we will face and intercedes for us

To the Father.

3.     Notice His posture was looking to the heavens.

4.     Everything for us comes down from heaven through the power of

The Father.

5.     We should continue to put our trust in the Lord who is our present help.

B.     The focus of Jesus is on the divine plan of the Father.

1.     Glorify Me that I may Glorify You.

2.     That should be our prayer.

a.     We should ask the Father to enable and strengthen us to work to

Glorify Him.

3.     The request of Jesus came at a great cost to Him.

a.     He asked the Father to allow Him to be wrongly accused, beaten

Until skin came off His back, nailed to the cross and death.

b.     Love is defined by the unselfish sacrifices we make for others.

C.     God the Father gave Jesus, God the Son power over us to provide

Eternal life through the cross.

1.     Jesus described eternal life as knowing the one true God and

Him crucified.

2.     The Apostle Paul said I determine to know nothing but Jesus Christ

And Him crucified.

3.     Most of us will never know the entire Bible.

4.     Most of us will never live up to the standards of Christian living

Jesus set for us.

5.     The good news is all we need salvation to know Jesus and

His crucifixion for the atonement of our sins.

 

 THE DIVINE GLORY OF JESUS

V:4. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

A.    Jesus came to give glory to the Father by teaching the Gospel and drawing men/women

To believe that He is the way to eternal life.

1.     His 3 ½ years on earth proved that He became man.

2.     His miracle proved that He was God.

3.     Teaching the Word of truth proved His mission was from the Father.

B.     In Jesus prayer, He claimed His position at the right hand of the Father

Was eternal.

1.     He was from the beginning in glory with the Father.

2.     Jesus voluntarily gave up His glory in heaven to become a man.

3.     It was the Father who restored Jesus to His original glory.

 

DIVINE ELECTION

V:6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them.

A.    Every now and then we need to review who we are and who we belong to.

1.     Ephesians 1:4 says we were predestined to be in Christ before the

Foundation of the world.

2.     We are owned by the Father, who gave us to Jesus to enlighten us

With the Word of truth,

3.     Jesus expresses confidence in His work in us.

a.     He is confident in our knowledge of the Word.

b.     He is confident in our obedience to the Word.

c.      Jesus is confident in the power of the Holy Spirit to

Convict us by the Word and bring us to repentance.

d.     Jesus is confident in our belief in the Word.

B.     Jesus is confident that we will come to know the plan of God

And role the Father plays and the role of Himself.

1.     In our salvation, nothing is left to chance.

2.     The same power Jesus used to draw the original 12 Apostles

To Himself, He uses today to draw us to Him.

3.     The same conviction power Jesus used over 2000 years ago,

He uses today with us.

4.     The same confidence that Jesus had with the original disciples, He

Has with us today.

C.     Jesus is constantly in prayer for us.

1.     Jesus is the power in our prayers.

2.     We should always be in prayer for each other

 

DIVINE PRAYER

V:9b. I am not praying for the world, but for those, you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.

A. Jesus is selective in His prayer.

    1. The Father is selective in who He chose to give Jesus.

    2. There are two types of people in society.

         a. There those God chose in Jesus.

         b. There are those God left in the world.

         c. There are those God chose for salvation.

         d. There are those God chose for hell.

B. Jesus and the Father claim ownership of all they chose to

     Believe in the Gospel.

1.     All believers, that is the Church, are chosen to give God glory.

2.     Jesus left the world to return to the Father.

3.     He made provisions for us through His prayers.

4.     We make provisions for each other through our prayers.

 

DIVINE PROTECTION

V:11b. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

V:13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

A.    One of the provisions, Jesus has made for us is that we are full of His joy.

1.     We will have trouble in this world, but the joy we have will override it.

2.     We should not expect to fit in with everyone.

3.     The world hates us because of our relationship with Jesus.

B.     Experientially, we are in the world.

1.     Positionally we are in Christ in heaven.

2.     God does not intend to eliminate the problems of this world.

3.     But He protects us in the problems, through the problems and

Out of the problems.

4.     The problems of this world are Satan designed.

5.     God has His arm of protection around us.

6.     Not only is our protection divine, but it is eternal.

We have been sealed in Jesus until the day of redemption

 

DIVINE SANCTIFICATION

 V:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

A.    Our position is one of heaven.

1.     We should carry ourselves as citizens of the kingdom of Heaven.

2.     It is the Word of God that sets us apart from the world.

3.     Men know we are of God when we live in obedience to the Word.

4.     We have supernational knowledge which is the truth, the Word of

God.

B.     Jesus set Himself apart from the world so that our belief in Him

Sets us apart from the World.

1.     The world can hear the Word of God but is not able to

Believe for it is foolishness to them.

2.     We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which gives us access

To heavenly knowledge.

 

DIVINELY UNITED WITH THE FATHER

V:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

A.    There is much work in prayer.

1.     We must pray for each believer.

2.     We must pray for an understanding of the Word.

3.     We must pray for clarity to teach the Word.

4.     We must pray for God to draw to us to those who He has

Chosen to hear the Word.

B.     We must pray that our lifestyle is a light to the world.

1.     We must pray that we are united with Christ.

2.     We must pray that we are united with each other in Christ.

C.     We must pray that the love of Christ will be experienced by all

Who comes in contact with us.

1.     We must pray that God gives us the mental strength to

To love our neighbors and our enemies as ourselves.

2.     We must pray that God helps our unbelief in every area

That we are weak and not pleasing to Him.

3.     Our equality in love will show that we are not of this world.

 

Rev. M. Mitchell

 

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