The Intercessory Prayer of Christ                             John 17:1-26

1. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIMSELF (John 17:1-5)
1. His Request Stated (John 17:1)
1. His act of prayer
1. Jesus lifted up His eyes.
2. Jesus spoke.
3. Jesus addressed the Father.
2. The initial requests of His prayer
1. Because the hour is come (see John 2:4; John 7:30; John 8:20; John 12:23, 27; John 16:32); this is the seventh and last reference to the hour of Christ in the gospel of John.
2. That the Son might be glorified (John 7:39; John 13:31-32; Acts 3:13; 1 Peter 1:21)
3. That the Son might glorify the Father
2. His Request Supported (John 17:2-4)
1. His power (John 17:2-3; Matthew 28:18)
1. The power of the Son (John 17:2)
1. Over all flesh (Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 2:8-9)
2. To give eternal life (John 6:27; John 10:28)
2. The meaning of eternal life (John 17:3)
1. To know the only true God (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
2. To know Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 John 5:20)
2. His work (John 17:4; John 4:34; John 19:30)
1. To glorify the Father on earth (John 13:31)
2. A work that the Son has finished (John 4:34; John 5:36); compare with the finished work on the cross (John 19:30)
3. His Request Repeated (John 17:5)
1. Glorify with thine own self (John 17:5; Colossians 2:9)
2. Glorify with previous glory (John 17:5, 24)
2. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIS IMMEDIATE DISCIPLES (John 17:6-19)
1. His Identification of His Disciples (John 17:6-8)
1. Given of the Father (John 17:6; John 6:37, 45; John 8:42)
1. They were the Father’s.
2. The Father gave them to the Son.
3. Jesus manifested the Father’s name to them (John 17:26; Matthew 11:27; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 2:12; 1 John 5:20).
4. They have kept the Father’s word (John 8:31-32; John 14:21-23).
2. Knowing of the Father (John 17:7)
3. Receiving the Father’s words (John 17:8a)
1. Given from the Father to the Son
2. Given by the Son to the disciples
3. Received by the disciples
4. Believing the Father’s Son (John 17:8b)
2. His Requests for His Disciples (John 17:9-19)
1. For their preservation (John 17:9-16)
1. Kept by the Father (John 17:9-11)
1. The subjects of His prayer (John 17:9-10)
1. Not the world (John 17:9)
2. But the disciples (John 17:9-10)
1. They are the Father’s (John 17:9).
2. They are the Son’s John 17:10).
3. The Son is glorified in them (John 17:10).
2. The purpose of His prayer (John 17:11a)
1. The Son is no more in the world.
2. The disciples are still in the world.
3. The content of this prayer (John 17:11b)
1. Keep them.
1. Through your name
2. Those you have given
2. Make them one as we are one.
2. Kept by the Son (John 17:12; John 10:27-30)
1. Kept while the Son was in the world
2. None of them was lost.
1. Except the son of perdition – Judas (compare 2 Thessalonians 2:3)
2. According to the scriptures
3. Kept in the world (John 17:13-14)
1. That the Son’s joy might be fulfilled in them (John 17:13)
2. They have been given the word (John 17:14).
3. The world has hated them (John 17:14).
4. They are not of the world (John 17:14).
4. Kept from evil (John 17:15-16)
1. Not to be taken out of the world (John 17:15)
2. They are not of the world (John 17:16).
2. For their sanctification (John 17:17-19)
1. By the power of God’s word (John 17:17; John 8:31-32; Ephesians 5:26)
2. For the purpose of God’s work (John 17:18)
1. The Father sent the Son.
2. The Son sent the disciples (John 20:21).
3. Through the person of God’s Son (John 17:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
1. The Son sanctifies Himself (Hebrews 10:29)
2. That the disciples might be sanctified through the truth
3. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIS FUTURE DISCIPLES (John 17:20-26)
1. His Request for their Unification (John 17:20-23)
1. In the unity of the Godhead (John 17:20-21)
1. For them which shall believe through their word (John 17:20)
2. That they may all be one (John 17:21)
1. As the Father and Son are one
2. That they may be one in the Father and Son
3. That the world may believe that the Father sent them (John 13:34-35)
2. In the glory of the Godhead (John 17:22)
1. The Father gave glory to the Son.
2. The Son gave glory to His disciples (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 1:8; 2 Peter 1:3).
3. That they may be one
3. In the perfection of the Godhead (John 17:23; Ephesians 2:13-18); fulfilled at His coming (Ephesians 4:13; Ephesians 5:27; 2 Thessalonians 1:10)