Sanctified in Truth:

Context:

• Jesus continues His prayer, His talk with the Father.

John 17:6-8 “...I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me...”

To what people had God’s name been manifested?

• The people given to Jesus out of the world.

Does someone own these people?

• “...yours they were...”
• The Father has entrusted them to the Son.

Have you been given to Jesus?

What distinguishing truth did Jesus reveal about these people?

• “...they have kept your word...”
• They embraced the truth that Jesus was sent by the Father
• They have a belief in the Father because of the Son.

How have the words of Jesus helped you to know the truth?

John 17:9-11 “...I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one...”

What is about to change?

• Jesus is about to return to the Father.
• Jesus will no longer be present in the world.

What is Jesus prayer for the people the Father has given to Him?

• Unity.
• The Son and the Father are united as One.
• Jesus is praying that believers will be one with them.

John 17:12-19 “...While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth...”

What did Jesus do for the believers?

• He kept them.
• He guarded them.

What is Jesus expecting for believers?

• That they will have joyful fulfillment in Jesus.
• That they have His words and will be hated.

Why will they be hated?

• Because they are not of the world.

What is the alternative to being of the world?

• To be unified with God.
• To be set apart (sanctified) in the truth.

Where is Jesus sending believers?

• Into the world, just as He was sent by the Father.

Talking to the Father:

Context:

• Jesus doesn’t want His followers to fall away.
• It is to their advantage that He goes away.
• The big plus is that the Holy Spirit will be sent.
• There will be sorrow before the big plus.
• The hour is coming.
• Jesus provides access to the throne of grace and mercy.
• Now He starts His never ending intercessory prayer.

John 17:1-5 “...When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed...”

To whom has Jesus been talking previously?

• His followers.

What has he been discussing with them?

• The coming events.

To whom is Jesus now talking?

• The Heavenly Father.

How does a person lift their eyes to heaven?

• Is it more than gazing at the sky?
• Is it a focus beyond the realities of this world?

What does Jesus proclaim about the Father?

• He has sent the Son Jesus.
• He has given the Son authority over all flesh. (And yet He is about to die a cruel death at the hands of man) 
• The Son’s authority includes the giving of eternal life.

How does Jesus describe eternal life?

• Not as living forever and ever.
• Knowing the Father and the Son is eternal life.

• 1 John 5:20 “...And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life...”

• Ephesians 3:17-19 “...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God...”

What did Jesus accomplish on earth?

• He glorified the Father (...I glorified you on earth...)
• He did the work that the Father gave him to do (“...having accomplished the work that you gave me to do...”)

Did Jesus understand glory?

• He shared the glory before this earth was even created (...the glory that I had with you before the world existed...)

Tribulation Scatter and Overcoming Peace:

Context:

• Jesus doesn’t want His followers to fall away.
• It is to their advantage that He goes away.
• The big plus is that the Holy Spirit will be sent.
• There will be sorrow before the big plus.
• The hour is coming.
• Jesus provides access to the throne of grace and mercy.

The disciples say “Ah, now you are speaking plainly”, “Now we know”, and “we believe that you came from God.”

John 16:31-33 “...Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world...”

What did the disciples believe and how grounded in belief were they?

• They were pretty sure Jesus came from God.
• They didn’t know how unstable their situation was.

What was coming and what would happen?

• The crucifixion was coming.
• They would be scattered.
• They would abandon Jesus.

Would Jesus be alone?

• The Father would be with Him.

What does the world offer people?

• Trials and tribulation.

What did Jesus accomplish?

• He overcame the world.

What does this mean for followers of Christ?

• In the world there will be tribulation.
• In Christ there is peace.

Do you think you are immune to Tribulation Scatter?

How can a person have Overcoming Peace?

Access:

Context:

• Jesus doesn’t want His followers to fall away.
• It is to their advantage that He goes away.
• The big plus is that the Holy Spirit will be sent.
• There will be sorrow before the big plus.
• The hour is coming.

John 16:25-28 “...I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father...”

How had Jesus been speaking to His disciples?

• Figuratively. Not directly.
• In parables, riddles, and difficult to understand references.

How was this going to change?

• There was to be plain discussion about the Father and the Kingdom of God.

• Acts 1:3 “...He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God...”
• John 14:26 “...But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you...”

What would be different regarding the Father?

• No longer speaking to Jesus who spoke to the Father.
• It would become speaking to the Father in Jesus name.

Why would this be possible, and even necessary?

• Possible because the Father himself loves you.
• Possible because the death and resurrection of Jesus was to provide access.

• Romans 5:2 “...Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God...”

• Necessary because Jesus was going to be with the Father.
• Jesus came from the Father. Jesus entered this world. Jesus returned to the Father.

Was this establishing a different kind of relationship with the Father?

• No longer just priestly access on behalf of the masses.

• Hebrews 8:13 “...In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away...”

• Hebrews 9:15 “...Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant...”

• Hebrews 10:19-22 “...Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water...”

• Hebrews 4:14-16 “...Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need...”

How and when do you avail yourself of access to the throne of grace?

What is available at the throne of grace?

• Grace - Unmerited favor. Getting what we don’t deserve.
• Mercy - Unmerited forgiveness. Not getting what we do deserve.

All Things:

Context:

• Jesus doesn’t want His followers to fall away.
• It is to their advantage that He goes away.
• The big plus is that the Holy Spirit will be sent.

John 16:12-15 “...I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you...”

Why were there still things that Jesus hadn’t told His disciples?

• They couldn’t bear them.
• They didn’t have and couldn’t receive all truth.

Why was it beyond their ability to understand?

• Is there truth beyond what you know? Beyond what you can understand?

How were the disciples to receive all truth?

• The Spirit would guide them to all truth.

On what authority would the Spirit speak?

• The authority of heaven.
• The authority of the Godhead.
• Just as Jesus relayed what He heard from the Father.

What does the Spirit declare that is beyond current reality?

• He will declare to you the things that are to come.

What do you think this means?

What is the ultimate goal of the Spirit?

• To glorify Jesus.

What does Jesus say “...is mine...”?

• All that belongs to the Father.

What is shared with the disciples of Jesus?

• All that is His, which is all that is the Father’s.

How would you describe what Jesus offers through the Spirit?

• Full participation with the Godhead.

John 16:16-18 “...A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about...”

What sequence does Jesus describe?

• Time passes and He won’t be seen.
• Time passes and He will be seen.
• He is going the the Father.

What was confusing the disciples?

• What is ‘a little while’?

Can you describe why this would be confusing?

• Are heavenly plans difficult to understand with worldly thinking?

What would make it clear?

• His death, resurrection, and ascension.

Revelation 1:7-8 “...Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty...”

What sequence is being described in the Revelation to John on Patmos?

• He is coming with the clouds.
• Every eye will see Him.
• All tribes of the earth will wail.
• He was, He is, and He is to come.

Do you think that the current disciples of Jesus understand this clearly?

• We vaguely understand.

• 1 Corinthians 13:12 “...For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known...”

What will make it clear?

• When the event occurs.

John 16:19-24 “...Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full...”

What was the initial emotion that Jesus knew was coming?

• Sorrow - weeping and lamenting.

How did this compare to the world’s emotion?

• The world would be rejoicing.

How do disciples of Jesus experience life differently than the world?

• Situational assessments are different for the Christ centered.

What emotion would come later?

• The unfolding of God’s perfect plan turns sorrow to joy.

How safe is that joy?

• No one will take your joy from you.

What brings fullness of joy?

• Fully embracing, and participating in God’s perfect plan.
• As it unfolds, even our asking aligns with God’s intentions.