John Lesson 44

Introduction

Sanctified. That’s a perfectly good word. It’s a Bible word, and it really describes all who are Christians. They have been sanctified. But it is not some mysterious, mystical infusion of the Holy Spirit. Why don’t you get your Bibles and open with us to John chapter 17, where we’re going to be studying from the prayer that Jesus Christ expressed to his heavenly Father shortly before his crucifixion. And in this prayer, we’re going to learn how men can be sanctified today. A very pleasant good day to you. We’ve been studying verse by verse from the gospel of John. We’ve come to John chapter 17. Actually, in our last study, we talked about the first four verses of John 17, in which we pointed out that this was the Lord’s prayer.

This is the prayer that he prayed from his own heart unto his heavenly Father shortly before this crucifixion. He is with the apostles at the Last Supper, it has ended, and from chapter 13 through 16, he has been speaking words of encouragement to his apostles. But now in verse 1 of chapter 17, these words spake Jesus, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth.

1. Glory With the Father Before the World Was

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And verse 5, Jesus speaks about glory that he had with the Father before the world was. This verse, actually, or this thought, points out that Jesus Christ is more than just a mere man. Now there are those who have said that Christ was a good man, but he was nothing more than just a moralist, a philosopher, a man who helped many come to better social standing in their life. But Jesus spoke of himself as one who came from heaven. He claimed it many times. In fact, we point out that the gospel of John is written from the point of view to prove the very deity of Jesus Christ, and that being the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, that those who believe in him might have life through his name.

But Jesus in this prayer to the Father expressed, even to his Father, that he was with him before the world was. You may recall, even as the book of John begins, the very opening words back in John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, the expression is, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. The same as in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ was with the Father. In fact, he possessed deity. Now he is not an inferior God. He is not just a God, but rather Jesus Christ is eternal. He has all the characteristics even of Godhood or of deity. He is a distinct and different person from the Father, but he possessed the nature of Godhood.

2. The Apostles Given to Christ by Their Own Choice

In Philippians chapter 2, the scripture says in verses 5 through eleven, let this man be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. He emptied himself. He gave up his position of glory with the Father, and he took upon himself the form of a servant, made in the likeness of man. Jesus Christ, however, was deity, even before the world was. But continuing in John seventeen, verses six through eight, Jesus said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world.

Thine they were, and thou gave us them me. And they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whoso thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou did send me. In these few verses Jesus prays specifically for his apostles. These are the ones that have been given to Jesus and these are the ones of course with whom he has gathered at this last supper. And he says I have manifested or made known the Father’s name, thy name unto the me which thou gave us me out of the world. Earlier in our last study we talked about this expression of how God gives some unto the Christ.

In fact back in verses two and three he spoke about life eternal unto the ones that God had given and that term sometimes includes a broader meaning that is all who are Christians in one sense are given to Christ by the grace of God, and those are the ones who have life eternal. But in these few verses, he’s specifically talking about the apostles. The apostles as one is especially chosen given to him, and we notice that particularly how in verse 12 he speaks about how that only one of them had been lost and is referring to Judas Iscariot. So we know by context here, verses six through twelve, he’s talking about the apostles. But how notice how the apostles were given to Christ. It wasn’t by some choice of God and without their involvement, it was by their own choice.

Now they were specially selected for a special mission. But they had to make a decision to leave their nets and go follow the Christ. In fact, here, in fact, Jesus said, But as I have manifested thy name, they have believed. And they are the ones who have heard and they followed what I’ve said. And that corresponds with what he said back in John chapter six and in verse thirty-seven. When Jesus there said, All that the Father Father giveth me shall come to me. Now, how can we come to Christ? In John 64 and 5, he said, No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, we can’t come unless we’ve been drawn, but now the question is, how can we be drawn?

In John 6 45, it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. You want to come to the Christ, you want to be given to the Christ and life eternal be yours? Then be taught of God. Jesus said, Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Even the apostles heard and learned and came unto the Christ. And that’s the same process by which we today can come unto him. Jesus said, verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. In contrast, I’m not praying for everyone right now. I’m praying for these apostles, for them which thou has given me, they are mine. And all mine are thine. Really, in effect, if these apostles served the Christ, they were serving the Father to serve the one, in effect was to serve the other, because they were so united in their mission, their work, and their action.

So what is mine is really thine, he said. Now in verses eleven, reading verses nine through twelve, he said, I uh verse eleven, I and now I am no more in the world. But these are in the world, and I come to thee, holy father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gave us me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now Jesus spoke about these apostles, even as they were given unto him. He said, I I keep them. I have kept them through thine own name, those you’ve given them.

That is, they have been faithful, except for one. And he describes that one in verse twelve as the son of perdition. Literally, that means destruction, son of destruction. And he talks about Judas Iscariot here without calling him by name. We know it’s been at this last supper that Jesus had spoken how that one who would dip his hand or get the sop with him in the dish, that even that one should betray him back in John chapter 13. And now he says that one that the scripture might be fulfilled. Even in Psalm 41 and verse 9, the scripture had predicted that the familiar friend of Christ would lift up his heel against him. And so it was that Judas had already left the scene, and he had gone to betray the Lord.

But at this point in time Jesus cried to the Father is, Is I kept them all except the one, the one who has left. An interesting point arises here, and that is that did Judas leave by the will of God or by his own free will. Was Judas forced to betray the Lord? Was Judas forced because the scripture predicted it? Well, certainly I believe not. Judas acted upon his own free will. The fact that God could tell before a thing happened what would happen, does not mean that God serves us like puppets at the end of a string. We are free moral agents. We are creatures of choice. That’s what makes us in the image of God. He has not made us robots. He has not made us, forced us to serve either evil or to serve good.

Now he may know in advance what we will do, but we do what we do by our own choice. But God is no respecter of persons, Romans two and verse eleven. He wants all men to be saved, first Timothy two and verse four. He wishes that men would perish, even in Second Peter three and verse nine. So he would not force Judas or anyone else to be a son of perdition. In Romans chapter six and verse sixteen, in fact, the apostle said, Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey. His servants ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. To whom you yield yourself, you make the choice. If you’re going to serve the devil or whether you’re going to serve the Lord.

And so it was Judas Iscariot. He heard the same message that the other eleven heard. He saw the same Christ who was kept by the same power as the other eleven were. But Judas was scared, allowed the temptation of the devil to so take him that he fell. He went away and betrayed the Lord. You can betray the Lord in one sense as well today, though you may know truth if you do not follow it. You can choose to go another way. You can choose to lose the inheritance of life everlasting if you do not continue in his words. But now look at John 17, verses 13 through 16. Jesus continued his prayer by saying, And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

3. Sanctify Them Through Thy Truth

I have given them thy word, and the world hate hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that these should that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Now Christ prays for the apostles. He says they’re going to have hatred. They’re going to be persecuted. But he says, I don’t pray that you remove them from persecution. I’m not praying that you take them out of the world. But I do pray that my joy might be fulfilled in them. That you may keep them from the evil one, in fact. What Jesus is really saying is, give them the strength, give them the vision to look beyond.

There may be troubles and trials in our own life. Heaven isn’t on earth. It isn’t that we need to be removed from these struggles of this world, but rather help us to have the vision, to have the strong faith, to lean upon the Lord and to find the joy that’s in him. That comes through the hope, even of the inheritance that awaits those who are the faithful ones. And so Jesus is praying for them. And then in verses 17 through 19, he says, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctified myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Have you been sanctified?

Jesus prayed that men might be sanctified. The word sanctified really means simply set apart to a holy purpose. Have you been set apart? Well, you can be. It’s a perfectly good Bible expression. But how is it done? Not through some mysterious, mystical or infusion of the Holy Spirit, but rather he says in verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. If men want to be set apart to holiness, if you want to become a child of the Lord, a Christian, you can be sanctified through the word of truth. You come to the book, you study what it has to say. Even as Romans 16 and 17, the apostle said, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith and to faith. As you are sanctified, it’ll be through the process of hearing the gospel and obeying it. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, the apostle said that we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, the love of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men are called by the gospel, and they are sanctified by the Spirit and through belief of the truth. You see, the process is, Lord, speak, thy servant here. Having the attitude, thy will be done.

When we open the pages of God’s book, we learn who the Christ is, we believe in Him, and we’re willing to repent of our sins and confess our faith in Him as God’s Son, and be immersed into His death by baptism. Even the word of truth is teaching us that. And as we obey it, so we are being set apart to holy purposes. We are being sanctified, sanctified him in thy truth. Thy word is truth. Have you obeyed the gospel? Have you searched the word for the truth to learn what to do to be saved? We’ll be back in just one moment and continue our study in the prayer of Jesus Christ. If we were to analyze or outline this prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, he would say that the first five verses was the prayer of Jesus for himself to his Father.

4. That They All May Be One

And then verses six through nineteen, he prays for his apostles, whom the Father had given him in their special role as his ambassadors. But now in John chapter 17, verses 20 through 26, he prays for all who would later believe on his word through the apostles and their preaching of the gospel. Reading in John chapter 17 and verse 20, he says, Neither pray I for these alone, that is for the apostles, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. So he prays that not only for the apostles, but realizing that after Christ ascended to heaven, and the apostles would be preaching the gospel, the word that they would preach, that others would believe.

And so Jesus has a prayer for other believers. And that would include even men and women of this generation, in any generation, who would believe the word that the apostles preached. But where does Jesus praying? Notice closely. In verse 1 and 21, he says that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee. Now Jesus is not praying that several individuals become one person, but he is praying that we all who believe become as one. That in doctrine, in work, in attitude, and character, that we be united. The prayer of Christ is that believers be united. Now that’s more often what is heard by preachers today, or teachers today in the denominational world, that it often the doctrine said, Well, believe what you want to believe and go your own way.

Christ did not encourage division. Nowhere does the New Testament encourage division. But rather it is the prayer of the Lord that believers be united, that we be as one. That should be our plea. To the religious world of day, we ask, let’s put aside human traditions and human creed books, and let’s be united in the Bible and the Bible alone. If we speak, let’s speak as the oracles of God, first Peter 4 11. Let’s be united and thus saith the Lord. And let’s not add to the book or subtract from the book. But rather speak the word of truth as it is in truth. Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent, where the Bible is silent. That’s why really we call this program, let the Bible speak.

And know that you’re not concerned with what my thoughts are and my opinions are, but rather you’re concerned to believe what saith the scripture. Now notice Jesus prayed that all believers might be united. Not only is that the prayer of the apostle, that’s also the uh the prayer of Christ, that is, but that’s also the plea of the apostle. In first Corinthians chapter one, he was writing the church that was divided, it had some problems in it. In verses 10 through 13, he said, I beseech you, brilliant, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are the house of glory, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you say, If I am the Paul, and the eye of Apollos and Fire of Secrets and Thy of Christ, is Christ divided. Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Those last three questions of 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 13 do not need an answer. They’re rhetorical questions. They’re obvious. Christ, is he divided? Certainly not. Paul, was he baptized for you? Were you baptized in his name? Or was he crucified for you? Certainly not. And he said, Just as these things are not so, neither should you be divided.

Believers ought to be united, ought to be as one. That’s the plea of the apostle. But it’s also the plan of the New Testament. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 3 to 7, the apostle writes, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even if you’re called and one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. We plead to the religious world today, let us be united. Not just in the outward uh organizational ways, not just with a smile and saying, We love you, but rather let there be unity, as he said in Ephesians 4, one faith.

Let there be unity, one baptism. Let there be unity in always, one body, one hope, one spirit. In each of these, the plan of the New Testament is that there’ll be unity. How is it possible? Well, just as we were saying a moment ago, we’re in verse 20 he said, uh sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth, or verse 17 of John chapter 17. Sanctify them in the truth. You’re going to be set apart by obeying the truth. And if we’re going to be set apart and become Christians that way, then that’s the only way to have unity. Put aside human traditions. Put aside church doctrines, and let’s unite on what saith the Scripture. We can be united. We must be united. But continuing this prayer in John 17 and verse 22 through 23.

5. Even As We Are One

Jesus said, In the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. And that they may be one even as we are one. I and them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast led them as thou hast loved me. Now Jesus prayed that all who believe might be one. Notice though, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me. That they may be made perfect in one. Well, if we can understand how it is that believers ought to be one, and that simply means united, not one person. Then we get some understanding into how Jesus and the Father are one. There are those who sometimes say, Well, Jesus only doctrine.

And they say that Jesus is the same as the Father, that he just manifested himself in a human form and was called Jesus while on earth. They speak about the Spirit as being a characteristic of God. But the Bible speaks about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons are personalities, yet are one God. I know that sounds confusing, and sometimes uh people want to make ridicule off that very concept. But just as a husband and wife can be one, or just as believers can be one, so it is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can all possess the nature of deity or Godhood and yet be one. United in purpose, united in aim, united in work. Jesus had said back in John chapter 10, verses 30 through 33, I and my Father are one.

Now the Jews took up stones to stone him when he said that. But Jesus said, Many good works have I showed you from my Father, for which of these works do you stone me? Now, they said, Oh, we’re not stoning you for good work, but for blasphemy, because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. They understood Jesus was claiming to be God. He is God. He is the He possesses the nature of deity. He is from eternity. But he’s not the same person as the Father. You know, the very prayer of Jesus should illustrate that. Would Jesus pray to himself? If he is the same as the Father, why did he lift up his eyes to heaven and say, Father, the hour is come, as verse one says.

The fact that he prayed to his father says that there is more than one person or personality of deity or of Godhood. Why would he pray to himself? But it is understandable that as believers can be one, united, so the Father and Son are one. To love the one is to love the other. John 14, 21 through 23 would say. To honor the one is to honor the other. John 5 and verse 23 would say. To reject the one is to reject the other. John 15 and verse 23 also says. Now, if you’re going to accept the Christ, you must accept the Father. If you’re going to love the Father, you must love the Son. Will you obey? Do you believe that they are as united in one?

6. Be With Me Where I Am

Now continuing, in verses 24 through 26, Jesus said, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. For thou loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. In verse 24, Jesus says that even as God has given him, that he wills that they be where I am. Jesus knew that he was to be glorified, that he was to be in heaven.

And his desire was that when he came to earth, not to condemn the world, but rather to save the world. And thus it is that as people believe in the Christ come to the Father, so it is Christ wills that they should be with Him in heaven.

Conclusion

And so He says in verse 25 and 6, even He said, I have even as I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. That’s God’s prayer for you and for me who come to Him in faith. But now in verse 26, the very basis of His prayer, the foundation of His prayer is that Jesus Christ had declared the Father’s name. And just as He had preached about the Father, so many could come to know the Father, and by knowing the Father, could have the love of the Father for them, even as He had had for Jesus Christ, and I and them. Do you have the love of God in your hearts? Have you come to know Him and obey Him? The will of Christ is that you be saved, but it will be through the Word of truth.

Once you obey it, may the grace and peace of our Lord be with you until we study again.