Sermon Notes
12-13-2009 Jesus Prayer part 1
John 17 is filled with the prayer that Jesus prayed! It is filled with much revelation about Jesus and the will of God the Father! The heartbeat of God is expressed!
John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
Jesus earthly ministry was to glorify the Heavenly Father. As Christ's purpose was to make manifest the glory of the Father so our lives should make manifest the Father’s glory
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Jesus came declaring the Father! Notice the positions Jesus is in! In the very bosom of the Father! Jesus came sharing intimacy with the Father. Jesus came to bring us into right relationship with the Father. Jesus came with the ministry of reconciliation to God! All through the book of John you find Jesus trying to draw men into right relationship with the Father!
2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
John 17:2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Jesus received a command from the Father and that command is eternal life.
John 12:49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."
The command that Jesus received from the Father is eternal life! Now in John 17 in Jesus prayer He defines eternal life as knowing God the Father and to know the one (Jesus) He sent! Jesus came that you might know God! True salvation is coming to know Jesus as your Messiah, complete and total surrender! To know that God is your Father! To be joined to God spirit to Spirit!
Jesus came that we might know God and that we might be known by God! In fact, if there is not this level of knowing God you have not yet been born again. You have not come to a true salvation!
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
After becoming a son of the kingdom of God we know God; or rather we might say we become known by God. Believers can cry out Abba Father! After coming to such level of intimacy let us not go back to the weak and beggarly elements. Here in Galatians Paul was rebuking those going back to observing days and months and seasons. It was the observance of the law if you will! We come up higher through true intimacy with God through Jesus Christ and then take a nose dive by trying to go back under the lesser glory and the covenant of death and condemnation!
2 Corinthians 3:7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
What remains is the covenant of grace and truth! What remains is the eternal life Jesus was praying about; the eternal life that brings you to knowing God and you being known by God. In fact the greatest deception of the devil is to make them think they are saved when God does not know them. Men trusting in their own doing and not putting confidence into the obedience of Jesus Christ!
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
In order to know God and to be known by God we must come through the cross of Jesus Christ! Faith in the Messiah. As stated total surrender! The only way to know God is to know the one Man’s obedience is your only point of righteousness. Imputed righteousness if you will. A righteousness so sound that a man’s sins will not be imputed unto them based upon the one Man’s obedience to the death of the cross of Calvary ! Jesus the sin bearer! He faced the shame, the guilt and the punishment of the sin of the world! Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! Coming to know Him as your Messiah, the one who saves His people from their sins is the only way to salvation!
Thus far the Word has defined eternal life as to know Jesus and His Father to be known by God!
Matthew 7:18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
Imagine a group of people so deceived, casting out demons in the name of Jesus and doing many wonders in the name of Jesus! What does Jesus say to them? I NEVER KNEW YOU; So many who are trusting in their own doings even in the name of Jesus do not really know God or are they known by God. It goes back to what are you trusting in? One Man’s righteous act brings the free gift of righteousness. Whose obedience are you trusting in? If it be your own, I pray you never hear the words of Jesus, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' I want to know Christ!
John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Jesus prays to the Father that we may know the Father and the Son!
Isa 53:12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
For those who have come by the way of intimacy surrendering to Jesus as our intercessor, Jesus is ever praying for you!
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus still is praying! If one comes to God through Jesus Christ there is a saving to the uttermost and an ever interceding. That is the knowing of God that is eternal life. This is found exclusively in Jesus Christ and there is no other source.
No comments:
Post a Comment