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John 17 - The Greatest Prayer in the Bible | Warren Wiersbe Sermons | Warren Wiersbe | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: John 17 - The Greatest Prayer in the Bible | Warren Wiersbe Sermons
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Summary
Core Theme
This content analyzes Jesus' High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17, highlighting its profound significance as the "greatest prayer ever prayed" and using it as a model to elevate believers' personal prayer lives.
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of studies in John chapter
17 I invite you to turn there as we read
the word of
prayer these words spoke 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
as thou H has given him Power Over All
Flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou Hast given
him and this is life eternal that they
might Know Thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom thou has
sent I have glorified thee on the earth
I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do
and now oh Father glorify thou me with
thine own self with the glory which I
had with thee before the world
was I have manifested thy name unto the
men whom thou gavest me out of the
world thine they were and thou gavest
them to me and they have kept Thy
word now they have known that all things
whatever thou Hast given me are of
Thee 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 had sent
me I pray for them I pray not for the
world but for them whom thou Hast given
me for they are thine all mine are thine
and thine are mine and I am glorified in
them 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 gavest me I
have kept and none of them is lost but
the son of predition that the scripture
might be
fulfilled and now come I to thee and
these things I speak in the world that
they might have my joy fulfilled in
themselves I have given them Thy word
and the world ha hated them because they
are not of the world even as I am not of
the world I pray not that thou should
take them out of the world but that thou
should keep them from the evil
one they are not of the world even as I
am not of the World San stify 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 sanctify
myself that they also might be
Sanctified through the
truth neither pray I for these alone but
for them also Who Shall Believe on me
through their
word that they all may be one as thou
father art in me and I in thee the that
they also may be one in us that the
world may believe that thou has sent me
and the glory which thou gavest me I
have given them that they may be one
even as we are one i in them thou in me
that they may be made perfect in one and
that the world may know that thou has
sent me and H has loved them as thou has
loved me
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 has
given me for thou lovest me before the
foundation of the
world oh righteous father the world hath
not known thee but I have known thee and
these have known that thou has sent me
and I have declared unto them thy name
and will declare it that the love with
which thou Hast loved me may be in
them and I in
them may the Lord truly take this prayer
Hearts who must
confess that their greatest need is in
life I think all of us know the
importance of prayer all of us know the
power of
prayer all of us know what God does when people
people
pray and yet many of God's people have a
praying I suppose there are many excuses
we can give or maybe even some
reasons but deep down inside I think
each of us is keenly interested in
having an effective efficient meaningful prayer
life now there's several ways that we
can learn how to
pray of course we can read books about
prayer and there are many of them we can
attend prayer circles or prayer
groups but sometimes the people we're
praying with there have a greater need
them I think one of the best ways to
learn how to pray is to open the word of God
God
God and no matter where you go in your
Bible you find people who pray and
pray and the greatness of
prayer I think is the basic lesson we
need we know the effectiveness of prayer
we know the promises of prayer we know
the importance of
prayer but it may be that one reason why
we are not as effective as we ought to
be in our praying is because we don't
see prayer as a great and a wonderful
thing prayer is something that we do or
praying is something that we
say and I want us today to
catch in some measure the greatness of
prayer sometimes I've heard people say
to missionaries well I can't do much but
I canay pray for you my friend when you
pray you are doing the greatest thing
you can
do and sometimes we as Christians are so
accustomed to saying
prayers that we've lost the
vastness and the
greatness of this thing that the Bible calls
prayer if you discover a a student for
example who who has a tremendous gift of
Music the way to encourage him is to
take him to hear the greatest music he can
can
hear let him go to the to the symphony
and let him hear the greatness of the
music of the past and something down
inside will be
ignited if you have a child who seems to
have gifts of literature and writing the
thing to do is to put in his hands the
greatest literature of the past and let
that literature as it were be kindling
inside the way to catch greatness is to
share in
it and if you and I are going to have
greatness in our Christian lives to the
glory of God there has to be greatness
to our
praying and for this reason we're going
to be focusing our attention on John
17 the greatest
prayer ever
prayed someone might at this point say
well how can you prove that this is the
greatest prayer ever prayed I don't have
to prove
it it's right there for us to
read but I would like to notice with
you several
considerations that make this the
greatest prayer ever
prayed and if you and I can somehow catch
catch
the greatness of this prayer I think it
will Elevate our own prayer
life instead of staying constantly in
that juvenile level we'll find ourselves
growing and deepening and maturing in
our prayer
life and so let's notice these
considerations of John chap
17 that make this the greatest prayer ever
ever
prayed consider first of all the
greatness of the person who uttered this
prayer these words spoke
spoke
Jesus now there are many great prayer
warriors in the
Bible if you ever want to have your own
prayer life quickened and encouraged
just read in the word of God and you'll
find Abraham as he intercedes for
Sodom lot is living in Sodom with his
family and Abraham is is praying and
interceding for Sodom it's a great
prayer you see Moses up in the
Mountaintop Israel has sinned and Moses
comes up to God and he says don't blot
them out forgive their sins blot my name
out of the book of life it's a great
prayer the longest prayer I think in the
Bible is the one that Solomon prayed at
the dedication of the temple I have been
to the dedications of buildings notice
that people pray long but Solomon's
Prayer was an inspired prayer and
Solomon is dedicating this beautiful
Temple and yet you take the prayer of
Abraham or the prayer of Moses or the
prayer of Solomon and you put it next to
John CH 17 and these men just fade
into Oblivion Abraham was praying about
one city and one event in one city Jesus
is praying about the whole church and
God's work for all
eternity Moses is praying for one nation
Jesus Christ is praying for people saved
out of many nations Moses was willing to
die Jesus did
die Solomon is praying about a temple
our Lord is praying about a spiritual
Temple his church it cost Solomon
nothing for that Temple to be built it
cost Jesus everything for this prayer to be
be
prayed consider the greatness of the
person who uttered this
prayer you see Jesus was a man of
prayer when he was baptized he was
prayed before he chose his disciples he
spent all night in
prayer early in the morning he arose and
went out to a quiet place to pray when
he was TR
transfigured he was praying when they
came to arrest him in the garden he was
praying as they nailed him to a cross he was
praying and today Jesus Christ is
interceding for his church Jesus was a
man of prayer now my dear friend if
Jesus Christ the son of God had to
pray how much more do you and I need to pray
pray
if Jesus Christ your savior who was
conceived of the Holy Spirit and born
into this world sinless in nature had to
pray how much more do you and I who
confess with David in sin did my mother
conceive me how much more do we have to
pray our Lord prayed a prayer of thanks
as he broke the
bread that came came from his father's
hand our Lord prayed a prayer of
dedication and intercession as he stood
outside the tomb of Lazarus about to
raise him from the dead when he had the
supper with his disciples he prayed and
blessed if Jesus had to pray how much
more do we have to pray in him dwells
all the fullness of the godhead bodily
but he prayed this is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased but he
prayed all authority is given to me but he
he
prayed do you and I think that we can
get through life without
praying a you left your room this
pray consider the greatness of the
person who uttered this
prayer Jesus the son of
God a second consideration comes to us
showing the greatness of this
prayer consider the greatness of the
petitions that he asked in this
prayer my good friend Dr Layman Strauss
has written a very fine book on prayer I
recommend it to you published by The Moody
Moody
press it's called sense and nonsense about
about
prayer I have a shelf of books about
prayer in my library and I think Dr
Strauss has written one of the best
because he gets right down to the
nitty-gritty right down as they say to
where the rubber touches the
road and he deals with this problem of
prayer people praying for things they
have no right to pray
for people praying foolish requests
you see greatness in prayer involves
greatness in
petition now we expect little children
to pray as they
do I forgotten which one it was but one
of my nephews when he was just a Little
Tike used to pray for all the dogs in the
the
neighborhood and then he would add my
end well children pray like that you
expect a little 2-year-old or
three-year-old when learning how to pray
to to lisp juvenile petitions then they
grow but my friend you've been saved a
lot longer than
that there's no longer a
juvenile mind or heart Paul said when I
became a man I put away childish things
that should include childish
praying in John chap 17 our Lord is
petitioning his father and there are
three basic petitions here in verses 1-5
our Lord prays for himself and his
concern is God's glory did you notice
that father the hour is come glorify thy
son that thy son Also may glorify thee
verse four I have glorified thee on the
earth verse five and now oh Father
glorify thou me you say that sounds
rather selfish my if you and I came and
said oh God glorify me that would be
selfish but if you come and say dear
Lord Use Me For Your Glory share your
glory with me that I may glorify thee
that's a different story whenever our
Lord talks about being glorified he's
Resurrection the hour he's talking about
is the hour of his death burial and
Resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ is
referring here to the
cross and so he's not praying selfishly
he's playing praying in a very dedicated
surrendered fashion he's saying father
I'm available I want to glorify you and
this will happen as you glorify me as I
get my work done here on
Earth he prayed for himself
that God might be
glorified I'm afraid that too often you
and I pray for ourselves but we don't
think about God's glory oh Lord I need
this do you oh God this has to happen does
does
it have you noticed in the Lord's
Prayer or the disciples prayer that he
taught his disciples to pray as a
model God comes first and we come second
you ever noticed that
God never gave us the Lord's Prayer just
to be recited it could be and and it
could be done profitably but it's a
model prayer he says now when you pray
pray after this fashion Our Father who
art in
heaven Hallowed be thy name God's name
comes first God the Father oh may your
name be
hallowed then God the son thy kingdom
come God the Holy Spirit thy will be
done on Earth as it is in heaven we
begin with the Trinity hallowing God the
father's name bringing Jesus Christ in
his kingdom to this
earth praying even so come quickly Lord
Jesus yielding to the holy spirit that
God's will might be done once we've
taken care of that
that
then we start turning to our own
needs give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses and lead
us not into temptation but Deliver Us
from Evil most of us don't pray like
that when you look at the greatness of
the petitions in this prayer it lifts
your own praying a little higher he was
glory in order for him to glorify God he
had to suffer and die am I willing
willing to suffer and die that God be
glorified when the news came to
Jesus that Lazarus was sick our lord
said this sickness is not under death
but that God might be
glorified Lazarus had to get sick and
die and then be raised from the dead
that God might be glorified you see when
you start praying about the glory of God
it lifts your request
God his second petition is for his
disciples verses
6-9 he prays for these men that God has
given to him and he has two requests
number one he prays for their security
verse 11 keep through thine own name
those that thou Hast given me then he
prays for their sanctity verse 17
sanctify them through thy truth Thy word
is truth here are his two great
petitions for his disciples for their
security father keep them for their
sanctity father keep them pure make them
all that they ought to be these are great
requests then he prays for his whole
church in verses 20 through 26 and there
he has two
requests he prays first of all for Unity
verse 21 that they all may be one not an
ecumenical Unity of one organization but
a spiritual Unity of one heart he's not
praying that everyone erase all
denominational distinctives nor is he
saying we should forget our own do
doctrinal commitments no he's praying
for a spiritual Unity that they all may
be one as thou father art in me me and I
in thee that they also may be one in us
now there is a spiritual Unity among the
true people of
God here at the Moody Church we have
many different Evangelical denominations
represented we have people who have come
from church backgrounds that vary that
are different and yet there is a
spiritual Unity a Oneness in Jesus
Christ it's my privilege and I
appreciate the privilege of ministering
in other
places there are times when I am with
this group there are times when I with
that group and in both groups I feel
very much at home because there's a spiritual
spiritual
Oneness our Lord prayed for you and me here
here
today and our Lord prayed that there
might be a Oneness a unity and he also
prayed for
Glory verse 22 the glory which thou gave
Gest me I've have given them verse 24
father I will also who that they whom
thou Hast given me be with me where I am
by the way the last time a saint
died God answered that
prayer someone in your family who knows
the Lord went to sleep and didn't wake
up again God answered that prayer father
I will that they also whom thou has
given me be with me where I am absent
from the body present with the Lord the
next time death comes and takes someone
that you hold near and dear you will
weep there is sorrow but remember this
it's an answer to
prayer Our Lord prayed that we might go
to heaven for what purpose that they may
behold my
glory oh what marvelous petitions he
begins with God being glorified he ends
with God's people seeing his glory and
sharing his glory he prays for himself
Glory oh God be glorified he prays for
his disciples may they be Sanctified may
they be kept safe he prays for the whole
church may they be unified and may they
gather in heaven to behold my glory the
greatness of the
petitions that he
uttered I think if I were facing a cross
I I wouldn't be praying like
this some of us uh can hardly even face
going to the dentist let alone going to a
a
cross and yet the greatness of these
petitions lifts our own prayer life
higher there's a third consideration
that makes this a great if not the greatest
greatest
prayer consider the greatness of the
purpose involved in this prayer
what is the purpose involved in this
prayer you'll find it eight
times as we spend several weeks together
the Lord willing going through John 17
eight times you're going to find this
purpose eight times you find this one
word Glory glorify Glory it's twice in
verse one glorify thy son that thy son
may glorify thee verse four I have
glorified thee on the Earth Earth verse
5 and now oh Father glorify me with
thine own self with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was verse
10 I am glorified in them verse 22 the
glory which thou gavest me I've given
glory our Lord was facing a cross yet
he's talking about Glory why on the
other side of that cross he saw Glory
the purpose for his praying was Glory
the glory of
God what do we mean by the glory of God
of course in the Old Testament the glory
of God meant the flashing of all of his
brightness and his
Splendor when they dedicated the
Tabernacle God's glory came and dwelt
there and so great was the glory that
men feared when they dedicated the
temple the glory of God came and filled
the temple and they weren't able to
serve in the New Testament you have that same
same
idea wrapped up in the expression of all
of God's character the glory of God
doesn't just mean the flashing of his
majesty and the Brilliance of his
unapproachable but the glory of God also
means The Shining forth of all of his
character the beauty of all of his
attributes what is Jesus Christ
concerned about he's concerned about the
glory of
God now verse five tells me he came from
Glory the glory which I had with thee
before the world
was he came from
Glory while he was here on Earth he
glorified God verse four I have
glorified thee on the earth he gave this
glory to those who trusted him verse 22
the glory which thou gavest me I have given
given
them not only did he come from Glory not
only did he glorify God on Earth in his
life his death his
resurrection not only did he give this
glory to his people but he dares to say
in verse vers 10 I am glorified in them
I wonder if our lord Jesus could come
and look at our fellowship and say I am
glorified in
them I wonder if Jesus Christ can walk
into our
homes and look at our families and say I
them verse 24 he tells us we're going to
behold his glory and so from start to
finish this prayer is concerned about
one thing the glory of God Paul had this
same idea when he said whether therefore
you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do
all to the glory of God he wrote to the
Philippian church and
said that Christ might be magnified in
I think our praying would mean a lot
more if we just lift a little higher and
say oh God here are the things I think I
need and here are the things I think I
ought to have and here are the things I
think you ought to do but Lord I'm
giving it to you and I want you to be
glorified whatever it is you want to do
you receive the
glory Jesus said I receive not Glory
from men he could have compromised and
received Glory from men he wouldn't do it
it
he said the only Glory I receive is the
God there's a fourth consideration that
makes this the greatest prayer ever
prayed we've considered the greatness of
the person who uttered the prayer and
the greatness of the petitions that he
uttered and the greatness of the purpose
of the prayer God's glory but consider
fourthly the greatness of the people
people about whom he was
praying he said I pray not for the world
many people have the idea that our Lord
Jesus Christ in his closing hours on this
this
Earth was interceding for a lost world
he wasn't nor is he
today you and I should
be we should pray for all men that
includes the
unsaved we ought to be interceding for
the lost but today Jesus Christ is
continuing what he started here in John
17 he's praying not for the whole
world he's praying for his church the
greatest people in the world today are
those who belong to his church I'm not
talking about church members who belong
to some local organization I'm in favor
of that every Christian ought to be a
part of a local Bible believing Christ exalting
exalting
assembly I'm talking about those people
who have the characteristics that he
points out here up in verse two he's
given them eternal
life verse 14 I've given them Thy word
verse 22 I've given them thy Glory who
makes up his church those who by faith
have received eternal life those who
have received his word those who have his
his
glory those who share his life down
inside that's his
church that's for whom he's
praying now interestingly enough the
word world is used 19 times in this
chapter 19 times he mentions the world
the word world but he does so as a
background against which his people can
shine in glory it's the church he's
praying about he prays for his disciples
they were his Believers he prays for
believers today verse 20 neither pray I
for these alone but for them also Who
Shall Believe on me that's a great
encouragement when Peter stood up at
Pentecost to preach he remembered that
believe the greatness of the people for
whom he's praying we have been living
through a whole generation of
people who have been criticizing the
church a great many organizations have
been founded and these organizations say
we are doing what the church cannot do
or will not
do I'm getting a little tired of
that for these same organizations that
tell us they are doing what the church
cannot do or will not do come to the
church for their
support financial support prayer support
leadership support and we're glad to
give it we're glad for any organization
God raises up to win souls teach the
word but there's no organization that
takes the place of a local
church our Lord is praying here for his
people who belong to that great body of
Christ and who meet together in
individual Bond bodes he's saying oh God
selfish our Lord wasn't praying
selfishly he says about these people
I've called them out of the
world and I'm going to send them back
into the world I've called them out that
I might save them I'm sending them back
that they might serve
me as the father sent me I'm going to
send them and so we're in this world to
witness for Jesus Christ and he's
praying for us the greatness of the
people for whom he prayed when Solomon
prayed he prayed to dedicate a building
made of gold and silver and costly
Stones our lord Jesus is praying for his
church a temple made of Blood Bought
people quarried out of the pits of sin
cemented by grace on the foundation Jesus
Jesus
Christ I wonder if you're a part of those
those
people have you trusted Christ have you
received eternal life verse two have you
received his word verse 14 do you have
his glory down inside verse
22 there's a final
consideration and perhaps the
greatest consider
the greatness of the price that Jesus
Paid to answer this
prayer how many times you and I have
prayed and God has answered and it
much there are times when we've been in
emergencies we've said oh God help and
God's help didn't cost us anything
Peter's walking on the water lord save
me and God saved him didn't cost him anything
but there are times when we pray prayers
and God says are you prepared to pay the
that Moses is off taking care of his
sheep in the desert he's saying oh
Jehovah God how is it back in Egypt how
are my people back in Egypt and God
calls him and says I'm going to do
something and Moses says wonderful I've
been praying about that I'm going to send
you Nehemiah
had a soft position in the palace he was
the cup Bearer to the king and one of
his relatives took a trip to the Holy
Land and when he came back Nehemiah said
to him how are things in Jerusalem I've
been praying about Jerusalem and he said
oh the walls are burned down and broken
down the gates are burned and it's
terrible and Nehemiah prays oh God the
city of my fathers the great City of the
great king oh do something God said
Nehemiah I'm sending
you and Nehemiah gave up his soft
position in the palace and became the
governor to rebuild a war torn city it
pray it cost Jesus Christ his life to
answer this prayer father the hour is
come what hour the hour when I'm going
to die but why are you going to die oh
because I want to answer this
prayer God can't be glorified unless I
die there cannot be the people of God
unified and Sanctified unless I die I
can't give you my glory unless I die you
mean you have to die to answer this prayer
prayer yes
yes written into John 17 is one word the
word is not there as I get it but the
idea is there it's the word
Grace 17 times in John 17 you find the
given God the Father gave the son God
the son gave himself God the Father gave
people to the son the son gave them
everlasting life seven times in this
chapter you and I are called Those whom
thou thou has given me we think of
Salvation as the Father's Love gift to
us God so loved he gave his son we are
the Father's Love gift to his
son oh Father I would that Those whom
thou has given to me oh to think that
you and I are God's gift to his
son it's
Grace but Grace costs
something grace is free to you and me it
cost Jesus his life
oh the greatness of the
price that Jesus had to pay to answer
this prayer someone here says well I I
want this eternal life thou has given
him authority over All Flesh that he
should give eternal life to as many as
thou H has given him I want this eternal
life you can have this eternal life it
cost Jesus his life how do you get it
receive it you say I want this to be
true of my life that he says in verse 24
I want to be with him up in heaven I
want to behold his glory you can have
Cross we take these things so lightly we
speak of them so glibly we sing of them
so carelessly
sometimes and yet for you to go to
heaven to see his glory he had to go to
hell and die
for us to behold Glory he had to suffer
shame for us to have life he had to have
death oh the greatness of the price he
prayer measured by this
prayer Our Own praying may seem very weak
weak
and ineffective but don't feel that
way the greatest Ministry you can have
is the Ministry of
prayer and the greatness of this prayer
encourages me to pray the greatness of
the person who prayed if Jesus had to
pray how much more do I and when I pray
this makes me more like him the
greatness of the petitions oh may the
Lord help us to pray for the big things
the Eternal things the vast things as
well as those small things in the light
of the big things
the greatness of the purpose of this
prayer the glory of God not my own
Comfort not my own
success the glory of
God the greatness of the
people to pray for more than just myself
my family my little group that excites
me so much oh to pray for the ongoing
and the strengthening and the building
of his
church and the greatness of the price
to be willing to say dear
Lord you paid a
me prayer is the greatest
exercise you and I can share in as we
worship God as we petition
God as we surrender to
God did you notice that in this prayer
unsaved father I pray for those Who
word father others are going to believe
and others are going to
believe father I want to pray for
them if you're unsaved
today if you've never received the
Savior you're
here he can save
you he prayed for
you why don't you come and trust
him God has given you the gift of his
son now he wants to take
son gracious father
as we have been considering this prayer
Ground that all that we have
said has been but a little cup of
water dipped from a vast
vast
ocean forgive us the smallness of our Christian
Christian
lives the little things that RP us
up forgive us oh lord for the smallness
praying help us oh
God so to be caught up in the greatness of
of
prayer and the greatness of your will
did thank you for the privilege of Prayer
I pray father for any here today without the
the
Savior any who hear this word oh that
they may come and trust you speak to their
their
hearts and help those of us who are your
pray to share in the greatness of
prayer for Jesus sake amen
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