John 17.16
Milk
February 15th 2015
Welcome
CAMPUS
Gather
Pray
Sing the Word of God set to music
Reflect on our individual lives before God
And study the Word verse by verse
Then we leave to apply our beliefs and faith through love to others.
Pray
Music
Silence
Okay we are going to wrap up chapter 16 this morning, then get into chapter seventeen where Jesus prays for the apostles before going to Gethsemane.
We left off last week with last week with Jesus teaching and training the apostles that once He overcomes sin and the grave that they would have a direct relationship with the Father who would love them BECAUSE they loved His Son and believed, verse 27 says, “that Jesus came out from God.”
The word for “came out of” (as in that Jesus came out of God) in the Greek is
EX ER KOM AHEE and it is used a lot in scripture.
It can mean issued from, escaped from, came forth out of, proceeded out of.
The meaning is clear – Jesus came out of, escaped from, proceeded out of God.
Now, we can all see this in any number of ways and support it by the Bible.
Some like to view Jesus as coming out of the Father as a created being (God’s Only begotten Son) like I am the issue that proceeded out from my Dad.
Others believe that when God spoke (His Word – as in Let there be light and there was light”) that what proceeded out from the Father took on a body and when “the Word was made flesh” (became Man) He was named Yeshua – God’s only “begotten” Son.
This is all interesting and possibly all has merit toward the mark.
I tend to see all of these things but have to also add in the Biblical passages that say that the Word was from the beginning, that the Word created all things, and that the Word had glory with the Father before the foundations of the world – elements that certainly make the Word sound as if He was in a separate and distinct relationship from the Father (which is the Trinitarian concept).
I think when we understand and agree that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and that it was the Holy Spirit that overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35) and she conceived (not of the Father but by His Spirit) that we can agree that what came out of the Father was His spirit (the Spirit of God) which was housed in the flesh of the Man Jesus and what made Him both God and Man.
So after Jesus tells the apostles
John 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
He says:
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Okay, back to John 16:28 where Jesus says:
“I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
The message of this verse is essentially THE claim that sets Jesus apart from all most of the claim of other prophets and spiritual leaders.
Some people maintain that He was just a man, some an inspired man, some that He is the elder brother of the human race who also came forth from the Father and into the world, and others get really close to the line and state that He is the only begotten of the Father, the Son of the Living God . . . but not God.
I know we hit on this a lot but Jesus hits on it a lot in His teachings to the eleven – so it must be important.
Along the lines of this thought Jesus also said in John 8:23:
“Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
This has to be included in the mix. What else?
In John 3:31 He said:
“He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.”
Comparing Adam and Jesus, Paul said:
1st Corinthians 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
Jesus further clarified in John 3:13
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
Likening Himself to the manna which was given to the COI from heaven Jesus also said in John 6:33
“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”
And then He added in verse 51:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Later He asked:
(John 6:62) “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?”
The Lord’s own descriptions of His origins are VERY different from the origins the Bible gives us of the Human Race, as Genesis 2:7 plainly says:
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Obviously the Spirit of Jesus – what dwelled within Him –was NOT of this world. His Spirit originated from an entirely different place than the rest of us as His came directly out of the Father but we came directly from the soil – and were then given life by God breathing into Adam and Adam becoming a living soul.
So where God GAVE Adam life by and through His own breath, Jesus as the Word actually came from God and had existence prior to his flesh being formed in Mary. Nobody else on earth can say this.
Therefore Jesus is able to say to everyone prior to rebirth,
“You are from the earth earthly, I am from above, heavenly.”
But listen to what Jesus WILL say in His intercessory prayer on the apostles behalf in the very next chapter. Ready? He says to the Father:
(John 17:14) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
From this line I think we get some great insight on what part of Jesus came from above.
It was the same part of the apostles that was NOT part of this world!
Get it?
Jesus says in His prayer that the world hated His apostles “BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD” and He adds, “EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD.”
Now we know that the flesh of the apostles was of the world and was still part of the world – they still ate, they still had bodily needs, they still died – so Jesus was NOT speaking of the apostles flesh that was not part of the world but their spirits, their minds, their hearts, right.
And so when He says the same thing about Himself we know that He was NOT speaking of His flesh – which could be tempted, would be beaten and would bleed the following day, would be crucified and die soon thereafter.
In other words, when Jesus – THE MAN – says that He was from above, that He was with the Father from the beginning He was absolutely referring to His Spirit and NOT His flesh that was name Jesus.
His spirit came forth from the Father. His inner light and fire and love and character and mind and power all came from the Father – but NOT His flesh.
That came from the earth – earthly – and was Mary’s contribution to His human make-up.
We can say this because the very men that He called to follow Him – men who were all flesh from birth – He says that they too, now, were hated, because they were not of this world.
Ultimately, this is the goal for all human beings. To be born-again, to become spiritually regenerated, and to become fully spirit-oriented while still residing in the flesh.
It was possible for His apostles – He Himself says so in chapter 17 – so therefore it is possible for us who are also fully human who did not originate from on high – will are destined to arrive there.
And just as the apostles were able in their spirit to “not be of this world” by and through the influence and teachings and leadership of Jesus – really their faith on Him – that is the exact same model on how we become “not of this world.”
By and through Him.
So after saying this to the apostles, they (who in my opinion were always trying to reach a point where they could prove to the Lord that they had arrived) say (in response to all He has taught) (verse 29-30)
29 “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.”
In chapter 16 there was some difficulty in their understanding – remember?
It culminated in the “in a little while” debacle where they didn’t understand where He was going or how.
So Jesus (from verse 20 until now) has embarked (once again, mind you) to explain to them where He was from.
And after being pretty clear the apostles say in verse 29 and 30 –
“Okay, now we get it. And we now KNOW you came from God or we really believe you on this point Lord. We have arrived relative to this matter.
And then it’s here that Jesus brings their certainty down a notch (as He is accustomed to doing with them). Verse 31
31 Jesus answered them, (and I would suggest that there was a tone to this query – one that may have been a tad sarcastic possibly, as He said) – “Do ye now believe?”
And then in the following verse He explains how weak this stated belief was, saying:
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
When He says, Behold the hour comes, yea now is,” we are only one prayer away from Him going to Gethsemane so their ardent professions of strength through faith were about to be challenged.
Anyway, “the time has come when you will be scattered,” that’s how strong your belief is in me,” he seems to say.
Matthew, Mark, and John have Jesus speaking of them being scattered and his appeal to the Old Testament passage in Zechariah 13:7 as a prophetic application to this event.
There Zechariah says:
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”
In the Matthew account Jesus applies this passage to Himself and so we have to believe that it had application, right.
The actual context of the passage in Zechariah may be speaking of something else, but the application was made by the Lord to Him as the shepherd who, when smitted, caused the sheep to flee.
He adds “everyman to his own, and shall leave me alone . . .”
“And every man to his own home.”
We naturally believe this speaks of the time of Jesus passion.
Matthew 26:55 says this about when Jesus was confronted outside the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.”
But every man did NOT return to their own homes at this point as Jesus says here (John and Peter followed after Him from a distance) so the thought is He may have been speaking of the time when He did ascend to His Father and the apostles grew impatient and returned to their own homes (Galilee) to fish.
Some think that the two apostles who were walking on the road to Emmaus were headed to their own homes – sort of with a game over attitude in their hearts.
But Jesus says that while they will all leave Him alone He will not, in fact, be alone, because “the Father is with me.”
Now, there are a couple of ways to see this.
We could say that His Father was with Him from birth through death and He was never left alone.
If we take His words here to heart and literally then this would be the case – they would leave Him but His Father would not.
So when He is on the cross and cries, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” we would say it was a cry out due to the pain but was not based in reality – the Father WAS in fact, still with Him.
Or . . .
We could say that when Jesus said, My God my God why have you forsaken me, that He was correct, that He was forsaken at this point, and therefore His statement here was incomplete.
I believe the latter. I believe that Jesus was not aware that He would be abandoned on the cross and in faith trusted that His Father would always be there – that is why He was able to say this to these apostles prior to going to the cross.
But for that brief time when the earth went dark, and Jesus asked why He had been forsaken I think He was left by God due to our sin that He took upon Himself, and suffering the alienation from the Father on our behalf fully, was able, by having no sin of His own, able to be fully reconciled (when light returned to the world) and return to calling God His Father.
Jesus wraps our chapter 16 up with:
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
All these things I have said to you so that “IN ME” you might have peace.
Did you catch that? The promise of peace was in Him.
Where they were going, what they were about to witness, what they themselves were about to endure, there would be little peace.
But IN HIM (He says) they would, could and should have peace.
He adds:
“In the world they would have tribulation,”
What else would there be for those who are not of this world but tribulation from the world and its ways and its members?
But He adds,
“But be of good cheer. I have OVERCOME the world.”
When Jesus (the very next day) will cry from the cross the words:
“It is finished,” the meaning is the same as what He says here in telling the apostles, “That I have overcome the world.”
The tense is perfect active indicative – not a future tense. And it means, “I’ve won.”
This is the message of the gospel, of the Good News, folks – He won.
Nearly two thousand years ago He won.
He overcame the fallen world. And in Him there is peace. While the world will deliver up tribulation, He tells them (who will go through more tribulation than most of us today) He tells them that IN HIM they would have peace.
Why?
Because HE has OVERCOME the world!
It’s a magnificent victory but long story short, tribulation and difficulty and sin and trials are all a battle between life and death, between light and dark, between love and selfishness.
The fallen world continues to engage ane promote and encourage elements of death, but He OVERCAME the world, and therefore peace is possible (life, love, light, living) when we find our safe harbor from within Him.
When we let Him live through us. When we have our lives couched in Him.
Because . . . He has overcome the world.
Vanquished the great foe of man, and His great reign over death.
For this reason we read of our great Redeemer in
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
It why Jesus said to His apostles in John 14:1
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
It’s why He said
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
It’s what caused Paul to write in Romans 5:1
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It’s why he added in Romans 8:37
“ . . . in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
Its why Ephesians 2:14 says:
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.”
Its what caused Paul to say in Colossians 1:20
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
And its what caused John to say (in 1st John 4:4)
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
And in 1st John 5:4
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
(long beat)
Our Prince of Peace.
(beat)
And so chapter seventeen is a continuation of sixteen and as mentioned it contains an epic prayer that Jesus prays on behalf of these eleven men.
We have been with them a long time, haven’t we?
We have watched the Lord call them, teach them, lead them, correct them, chide them, show them His nature, reveal the invisible God to them, do miracles for them to see . . . and now, literally minutes before going to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is going to offer up the most heart-felt pray for them – as He is about to be taken into barbarous hands.
Sometimes in scripture there are passages where it is apparent that Jesus is speaking only to His apostles – giving them specific jobs and directives – like when He tells Peter to go to the sea to get their temple tax – things like that.
But I am convinced that the words Jesus say here are just as applicable to all who believe on Him . . . that if He were praying with us today – right here and now – these very words could be applied to us, who too, are sent out as believers and share the good news with the world.
Remember, the Lord was about to act on behalf of the whole human race as High Priest and in the Old Testament, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would, in preparation for making atonement for the Nation would FIRST:
Washed himself, and put on clean linen garments.
It is believed that Christ may have done this back in John 13 when He laid aside his garments, girded himself with a towel, and washed the disciples feet.
Additionally, prior to the meal He would have certainly washed abundantly.
Additionally, the High Priest would offer a solemn prayer to God: First, for himself this Christ imitates in the first verses of chapter 17, then for the Son’s of Aaron, and then for all the people.
Jesus does the same with the Son’s of Aaron being represented by His chosen eleven and the rest of the world by (well) the rest of the world.
So let’s read through the entire prayer. It’s 26 verses. Will take two and a half minutes max.
Try and see if the Holy Spirit will take these words into your heart, as if Jesus is praying for all of us here today. They may mean more in this context than we might imagine.
Verse 1 chapter 17.
John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 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.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 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.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in 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 loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 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 lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 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.
Music
