Preached by Tony Cirigliano from a sermon by Mark Finley. Preached at the Columbia, SC 1st SDA Church on Sabbath, 11/27/1999, and at Boone, NC on 6/14/03
I grew up in a Catholic home, and although my parents never really read the Bible, they believed in God.
My mother would go to church when they had what were called Novenas- weeks of prayer.
My father would always go to the Catholic feasts, and buy for each of us a scapula, a picture of Jesus on a string that we wore around our necks.
Although my parents didn't know all the truths of the Bible, I believe that
God honored their prayers for me, for they were sincere in what they believed.
Illustration: I refused a car ride home from a dance when I was a teenager. I felt a funny feeling not to go with them. I found out the next day that both were critically injured, and the part of the car I would have been sitting in was totally crushed!
Maybe Father’s prayer for me!
Blessed is the family when Father prays, when Mother prays, when Children pray!
Blessed are teen-agers during those traumatic years who have parent's praying for them.
It is assuring to know someone is praying for you!
It is far more assuring to know that Jesus has prayed, and is right now praying for us!
John chapter 17 is one of the most significant chapters in all the Bible.
It records Jesus' most comprehensive prayer for His people.
In this chapter we can listen to Jesus' earnest longing for His children to be saved.
We are told in Manuscript 29, 1906 that in this prayer of John 17, “Our Mediator gave” us an illustration of His ministration in the heavenly sanctuary” on our behalf – right now!
Jesus focused His attention in prayer on you.
Before Him lay Pilate's judgment hall, the Roman scourge, and Golgotha's hill.
Before Him lay the cruel nails which would pierce His flesh.
Before Him awaited the crown of thorns that would be jammed upon His head, and the spear which would wound His side.
Before Him was the mockery of the mob, an illegal trial, rejection by His own people, and abandonment and betrayal from His friends.
Nevertheless, that night in the garden, Jesus was praying for you, and He thought of you!
His prayer speaks to you and I about the greatest love in all the universe!
Open your Bibles to John 17, verse 1.
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:
"Father, the hour is come . . ." Jesus said.
The hour to which millions throughout time have looked forward or backwards to had come!
The hour that the searchlight of history had looked for had come!
The hour that the prophets of old had proclaimed had come!
Father, that hour has come - the hour of My death on the cross ...
the hour when the controversy between good and evil will be finally and fully settled as the Son of God offers His life as a sacrifice on Calvary's cross.
The hour of the Savior's greatest agony was the hour of His greatest glory,
The hour of His death was the hour of His glorification!
Jesus marched to death, not as a defeated soldier, but as a conquering general.
The hour of Christ's death was the clearest demonstration in the universe of a Father's love!
Jesus revealed His matchless love on the cross.
Never again would there be any justification for doubting that love.
Never again would the human race have any possible reason to misunderstand that love.
Never again would human beings have any reason to place a low value upon themselves.
The cross demonstrated before a waiting world and a watching universe the magnificence of God's love.
There is a fascinating painting in the Washington Art Gallery.
Two divisions of Allied forces are attacking the Nazi forces.
The tanks are firing their guns.
Ground troops are in full battle.
One lone soldier in the center of the picture captures your attention.
Two groups of Allied soldiers have been cut off from one another.
An enemy bullet has pierced their communication line.
In the midst of heavy gunfire, a lone soldier is responsible for repairing the severed phone lines.
His hands are outstretched over his head in the picture as he works on the wire.
Just as he completes the job, bullets rip through his uniform His chest is splattered with blood.
The artist has chosen one word to describe his painting – DONE!
The message of the picture is obvious -- one soldier gave his life ... his blood splattered uniform indicates that the message got through.
Communication is re-established!
Friends, when Jesus Christ was lifted high on a cross above Jerusalem.
He got the message through!
Satan is a liar. God is love!
God is GOOD!
Divine love would go to any length to save the human race.
The prayer of Jesus that night recorded in John 17 is saturated with love.
Calvary's mountain echoes love through the valleys of earth.
Jesus looked beyond Pilate's judgment hall, beyond Gethsemane's garden.
He looked ahead to the trials and temptations, the suffering and sorrow ...
the disappointments and discouragement His followers would face throughout the centuries.
He was going home, but His followers would still be in this world.
Jesus made three specific requests for us that night!
Look at verse 11 of John 17.
"Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those Whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as We are.
Jesus was thinking about you.
He wasn't thinking about the crown of thorns, or the nails, or the spear that night.
He was thinking about you and me!
He was not thinking about Himself, but about His church!
Look at verse 21 of John 17.
"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 Zhou has sent Me. "
He was going to leave His followers.
He was leaving a small band of disciples with a variety of temperaments, with different dispositions and attitudes.
He thought of Peter who was so outspoken.... of
Matthew, who was so exacting, of Thomas who tended to doubt.....
Phillip who was introverted and reflective, and John had a fiery temper.
As Jesus thought of these men with such different backgrounds and dispositions, . . . .
He thought of the church in all ages and prayed,
“Father, with their different backgrounds, with their different dispositions, with their diverse ways of' looking at things, Father, keep them as one. "
The most convincing evidence that Jesus came into the world is the loving unity among His followers of varied backgrounds.
The greatest testimonies to the power of the gospel are not fine church buildings or magnificent institutions.
But the most convincing evidence that Jesus Christ has come into the world is to be seen in the transformed characters and lives of people.
Jesus prayed for oneness among His followers.
He prayed that husbands and wives would be one.
He prayed that there would be a sweet loving spirit in our homes.
He prayed that parents would be one with their children.
He prayed that children would be one with their parents that they all might be one!
And he said "That the world may know that Thou has sent Me."
He prayed that there would be oneness on the nominating committee, on the church board, in the Sabbath school meetings, on school boards!
We need to pray that the bond of unity never be broken.
Ellen White writing about our time often said three times, “press together! Press together! Press together!”
Among those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, there ought to be unity!
And when I am prone to push my own way, and to follow my ego to selfishly assert my own opinion ....
When I am tempted by the accuser of the brethren to gossip and to criticize unjustly, or cut down someone with my tongue,
I remember a garden.
I remember a night with Jesus on His knees, praying that His church would be one, and that there would be love and unity and real Christian concern for one another.
Brother holding the hand of brother, and sister holding the hand of sister.
Jesus knew there were arguments among them as to who would be the greater.
There was greed and outright robbery by Judas Iscariot.
James and John, the Sons of Thunder wanted the most important seats on each side of Jesus.
He was going to the cross, and they didn't understand!
In verse 20 of John 17 Jesus said, "I pray not for these alone, hut for them also which shall believe on Me through their word. "
The apostles wrote the New Testament, Paul also considered Himself an Apostle although not of the original 12.
Have you believed in Jesus because of what they wrote in the New Testament?
If so, then Jesus was praying for you that night!
He was thinking about you and I, about our homes, our families, our church!
Jesus continued praying. He earnestly petitioned His Father.
Jesus than asked His Father to keep us from evil!
Jesus was saying, "I do not pray that my followers separate themselves from the world in high-walled monasteries."
He wants us to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth.
He said, "No man lights a lamb and puts it under the bed, but he puts it on the lamp stand where it can give light!"
Jesus didn't light a light in my heart and yours so that we can hide it for ourselves, we are to let our light shine!
We are to witness! This little light of mine Lord, I'm gonna let -it shine!
But Jesus also knew that there will be temptation all around us.-- that we will be enticed to do evil.
He knew that the attractions of sin will be very real, and He prayed to His Father for you, that His Father would keep you from evil!
"Father, don't let them forget Me and be lost!" He was praying for us today, verse 20 says!
"Father, don't let so and so's child slip away from the Lord and be lost!"
"Father, don't let this one destroy their body temple with tobacco or drugs, or alcohol."
"Father, don't let this young person ruin their innocence with immorality."
"Father, keep this one from adultery."
"Father, don't let this one ignore My Sabbath day and forget about Me."
"Help this one remember the Sabbath day!"
"Father, don't let this child dishonor his parents."
"Father, keep them from the evil."
The Lord will give us the power we need to answer Jesus' prayer for us, if we will just go to Him!
I want you to notice something very crucial in Jesus prayer.
For in His prayer for us, He tells us how to be sanctified!
It is awesome! It is a wonderful revelation!
Look with me at verse 16 of John 17.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "
You and I are to be in the world, but not of the world!
A whole sermon could be preached on this verse alone!
But I want you to notice verse 17.
"Sanctifv them through they truth: Thy word is truth. "
I want you to notice that the truth of God sanctifies!
"Sanctify them through Thy truth."
It is to sanctify our lives!
The Holy Spirit uses the truths of the Bible to sanctify our hearts if we will let Him!
So when Jesus was praying in the garden, "sanctify them through Thy truth,"
He was asking the Father to let those truths change their lives, not just be knowledge in their heads!
In John 17, verse 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them through Thy truth," then He said, "Thy word is truth!"
He was saying, "Through Satan's fiercest temptations, let them use My Word to sanctify them!"
"Father, I pray that through My Word, their minds will be protected from evil. "
Brothers and sisters, many books are inspiring, but the Bible is inspired!
Many books are food for the mind, but the Bible is food for the soul!
Many books provide a direction for life, but the Bible gives us power for living!
Jesus was praying that you and I be Bible students because He knew that we would desperately need His Word If we are to get out of this thing alive!
And when life gets busy, and my priorities are mixed up, I remember a garden and I remember a night when Jesus prayed for me to be sanctified by the truths of the Bible!
When I am tempted to rush headlong into the day forgetting those still, small moments with God and His Word, I listen to the echoes of the words of Jesus, praying for me.
"Father, sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is the truth."
And I open the pages of the sacred Book to find meaning and direction and inspiration and courage and hope to live in this day and age!
Jesus prayed first for the unity of His church.
He prayed second that men and women on life's highway would not forget His Word that would sanctify their hearts, and then Jesus reached the climax of His prayer.
Look with me at John 17, verse 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 lovest Me before the foundation of the world.”
Think of what Jesus was facing.
Yet He was not thinking of His suffering, His pain, His agony.
His mind was not filled with what would happen to Him.
He was thinking about you! He was thinking about me!
Christ knew that beyond the suffering, beyond the rejection, beyond the death, there was a resurrection morning.
Jesus knew that He would soon be going home.
He was saying, "Father, when all this is over, I want these ones with Me in paradise!"
"Father, I want them to see what You have prepared for them! "
Much has been written about the death of Christ and about His resurrection and second coming.
But little has been written or preached about the homecoming of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was getting ready to go home.
He had been in this world for thirty-three and a half years.
Think of it! Christ had been separated from His Father for those years.
The infinite Christ, with an infinite capacity to love ...
Who had existed in heaven from all eternity in loving harmony and in absolute oneness with His Father.
For millions and billions and trillions of years, the self-existing Messiah had never been separated from His Father!
At a given moment in time -- at a specific date in history - the mighty Logos ...
The Second Person of Elohim – the Godhead had plunged into the arena of human affairs, taking on the form of man.
For the very first time, He was separated from His Father.
Yes, He had spent time in prayer.
Yes, He spent time in devotion.
But He was nonetheless separated from His Father for thirty-three and a half years.
I don't know about you, but when I think about that separation, I can identify with it.) Just a bit, although it hard for us poor mortals to fully comprehend.
Whenever I travel to do gospel worker training classes, or camp-meetings, it is hard to be away from my wife Marv Ann, and from my son Paul for three days.
I missed talking with them, and being with them.
It's a painful experience for me to wave good-bye and head for the airport.
I want to see the ones I love!
I can't imagine what it would be like to away for two or three months, or two or three years!
For thirty-three years, the One who loved the most, and who was loved the most, came on a mission of love.
He was wrenchingly separated from His Father's immense love for thirty three and a half years.
And now, after the farce of a trial, after enduring the jeering mockery of the crowd and a painful and agonizing crucifixion, after a glorious and triumphant resurrection, it was time for Jesus to go home.
On the Mount of Olives, He lifts His hands in blessing on His disciples.
He is going home now; it is time to leave.
And as He lifts His hands, a force greater than the lifting power of a thousand rockets ... a force greater than gravity begins to draw Him
Man steps off a mountain and goes down.
God steps off a mountain and goes up.
The Creator is greater than the laws of His creation.
He begins to ascend from earth to heaven.
As the sun illuminates the blue sky and puffy white clouds o the Galilean landscape, He is going home.
His disciples are there looking up into heaven.
As Jesus ascends higher and higher, He sees the Sea of Galilee upon which He once walked.
He sees Bethlehem and remembers how He was born there in a wooden cradle with the animals of the field.
He sees Calvary, where He was nailed to a wooden cross.
He sees Pilate's judgment hall, where He was condemned.
He sees Bethany – the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
He sees the empty tomb of Lazarus and His own empty tomb with the stone rolled away.
He sees the Mount of Olives where He spoke magnificent words to His people for all ages!
He is going home.
Soon He is out of sight of earth and the speed of His ascension greatly accelerates
He is on that Journey through Orion, to the third heaven!
Soon He is within sight of heaven.
What joy an anticipation there must have been between Jesus and His Father.
The angels in heaven, tens of thousands of them await His arrival.
The Bible records how they sang as they met their returning, victorious Lord!
David wrote of the scene in Psalm 24 verses 7 through 10 inspiration tells us.
Turn there with me.
7 Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in Battle.
9 Lift up ye heads, 0 ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. "O Who is this King of Glory? The LORD of Hosts, He is the King of glory!
He is met by the angels who sing that glorious song.
One group sings the question and another sing the answer!
The gates of heaven swing open, and surrounded by the rapturous singing of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels,
Jesus Christ enters into the glorious splendor of heaven.
And there, standing before Him with arms wide open, is His Father.
In that magnificent moment, Father and Son are united.
As they approach one another in the ecstasy of the
Moment a hush falls over heaven.
Seraphim and Cherubim are silent.
The angel hosts are quiet now.
The angels prepare to lift their voices again in a glorious song of praise.
But Jesus raises His hands and waves them back.
Jesus will not yet accept the adoration of the angels.
He will not yet accept the warm embrace of His Father.
Jesus stands and lifts His nail-scarred hands and says,
"Father, I will that those whom Thou hast give Me be with Me where I am."
By the way, you can find this whole scene described in the book Desire of Ages, on page 834.
"Father, I cannot accept the praise of the angels until I know that because of My cross, because of My sacrifice, My followers on earth will be here with Me someday."
And the Father replies, "Son, the sacrifice is accepted."
The Father embraces His Son's scarred body.
At that embrace, God was embracing the whole human race!
It was God's love for us that sent His Son on that mission in the first place.
Because He was the 2"d Adam, it was as if all the prodigal sons and daughters of all time who would be saved were coming home in the form of His Son, the Savior of the world!
Through Jesus Christ the Bible says in Romans 5:1 we can have peace with God!
If on that night in the garden – with Pilate's judgment hall and Calvary before Him. . .
with the nails, the whip, the crown of thorns before Him -
Jesus thought enough of me to pray for me, He must love me a great deal.
And if Jesus prayed for me that I might also be with Him one day in heaven, I want to be there!
When life seems to have little meaning and your head seems to be spinning
when despondency overwhelms you,
When sickness falls upon you even unto death . . .
Remember a garden, remember a night, and listen to the echo of the words of Christ.
"Father, I will that they be with Me where I am."
Remember the Savior is praying for you!
Allow the echoes of His prayer to inspire you on, to never -give up!
Never surrender to Satan's temptations to discouragement.
Jesus is praying for you!
You can be saved! You can live in heaven forever! He wants you to be there!
There is power in the prayers of Jesus.
He prayed for you in the garden that night long ago.
"Before He accepted the throne in heaven again, He wanted the assurance that you would be there.
He is praying for you today, in heaven, in the heavenly sanctuary, praise His holy name!
He says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me." - Rev. 3:20.
You can make it! Jesus is praying for you! - CALL