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Book: John
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John 17:1
I. "The Hour is come."
A. Jesus began early in His ministry to talk about His hour.
1. At the beginning of His public ministry when He was at
the wedding feast and they had run out of wine, when
His mother suggested that He do something about it, He
declared, "Woman what have I to do with you, My hour is
not yet come."
2. In 7:20 when they sought to arrest Him, no man could
put his hand upon Him for "His hour had not yet come."
3. The same statement is made in 8:20, "No man laid his
hand upon Him for His hour had not yet come."
B. Now in this final discourse with His disciples He is declaring
over and over that the hour has now come.
1. In 12:23 He announced, "The hour is come that the Son
of Man is to be glorified."
2. Having announced that, He declared in verse 27, "Now is
My soul troubled, what shall I say, Father deliver Me
from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this
hour."
C. What hour is He speaking of?
1. The hour when the dead would hear His voice. 5:25
2. When those who were in the graves would hear His voice.
5:28
3. 13:1 The hour when He would depart from this world and
go unto the Father.
4. The hour of His death, when He would dismiss His
Spirit.
D. In light of this hour, what is His chief desire? "That the
Father would glorify His Son, that Thy Son also may glorify
Thee."
1. Notice the similarity between this prayer and His
prayer in 12:27. "Now is My soul troubled; and what
shall I say; save Me from this hour: but for this cause
came I unto this hour, Father, glorify Thy name."
2. He was not seeking glory for Himself, but seeking that
the Father might be glorified through Him.
3. In 13:31 He said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and
God is glorified in Him."
4. In 14:13 He said, "And whatsoever you shall ask in My
name, that will I do, that the Father might be
glorified in the Son."
5. We are often seeking glory for ourselves with wrong
motives. We have a desire to be recognized, Jesus was
seeking the glory of the Father.
a. One of the problems of our flesh is our desire
for glory.
b. We want the worship and praise of man.
c. We want to be noted as the best, the greatest,
the most holy and honorable right reverend.
d. Oh that we might echo with Paul the apostle,
"God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of Jesus Christ."
e. It was through the cross that He brought glory
to the Father.
6. Twice in Ephesians 1 Paul uses the phrase, to the
praise of the glory of His grace.
a. He uses it in connection with our salvation
through Jesus Christ.
b. Our salvation was purchased for us by Jesus
Christ. God's righteous law required me to die
for my sin.
c. Jesus took the guilt of my sin and died in my
place.
d. God laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
e. All I can do is to praise God, and give Him
glory for His grace toward me. I praise the
glory of His grace.
E. It has been said that the chief purpose of man is to glorify
God.
1. In Revelation as the elders are responding to the
praise and and worship of God by the Cherubim who were
surrounding the throne, they said, "You are worthy to
receive glory, honor and power, for you have created
all things, and for your good pleasure they are and
were created."
2. In this prayer we see Jesus desiring the glory of the
Father.
3. We are told that we are to let our light so shine, that
when men see our good works, they will glorify our
Father which is in heaven.
a. I am very uncomfortable when men begin to
glorify me, it makes me feel that somehow I am
failing to let His light shine through me in
the proper fashion.
b. I am to be as a mirror reflecting His glory,
and a mirror only attracts notice to itself
when there is a smudge on it.
4. Jesus said, "Herein is My Father glorified, that you
bear much fruit." My chief purpose for existing is to
glorify God, I glorify Him by bearing much fruit.
a. And just what is the fruit of the Spirit?
b. Love. Agape. A word that is almost unknown in
classical Greek.
5. Man's life exists on three levels. Body, mind, and
spirit.
a. In Greek love on the physical level is eros.
b. Love on the emotional level is phileo.
c. Love in the deepest level is agape.
6. When coining a new word for the vocabulary it is
necessary to define that word.
a. In Galatians 5 Paul defines agape as joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance.
b. What is the opposite of joy? Miserable,
irritable, upset.
c. Of peace? Strife, contention, those who always
seem to be striving to prove a point.
d. Longsuffering, patient. Intolerant,
unforgiving.
e. Gentleness. Harshness, severe.
f. Goodness. Bad or evil.
g. Faithfulness, trustworthy. Unfaithful,
untrustworthy, unreliable.
h. Meekness. Arrogant, proud, pomposity.
i. Temperance. Excessive indulgence.
j. Paul said, "Against such there is no law." Who
can object to these characteristics?
k. Wouldn't you like to have these traits? We all
admire in our hearts the ideal, the problem is
how to attain the ideal. We so often think, I
must work at it. There is the basic problem, we
try to work at it. It is not the result of our
efforts, it is the fruit of the Spirit.
7. Note how these qualities were manifested in the life
of Jesus.
8. Another definition of agape is given to us by Paul in
I Cor. 13. Here he tells us of the characteristics of
agape love.
a. It suffers long. Longsuffering.
b. And is kind. Compassionate and forgiving,
merciful.
c. It does not envy.
d. Does not vaunt itself. Brag or gloat.
e. Is not puffed up. An inflated view of oneself.
f. Does not behave itself unseemly,
inappropriately offensively.
g. Does not seek its own way. Or insist on its own
way.
h. Is not provoked. You meet people who always
seem to be provoked about something.
i. Thinks no evil.
j. Rejoices not in iniquity. Does not find joy in
iniquity.
k. Rejoices in truth. Finds joy in truth.
l. Believes all things.
m. Hopes all things.
n. Endures all things.
o. Agape never fails.
9. Herein is your Father glorified, that you bear much
fruit. Father, I love You, I praise You, I adore You.
Glorify Thy name in all the earth,
Glorify Thy name, Glorify Thy name, Glorify Thy name in
all the earth.
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