The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls
On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia
Text from John 17:1-5
Trinity VII
1. Jesus' final sermon to His disciples (Jn. 13:31-16:33) is
followed by His high-priestly prayer (Jn. 17:1-26). This
sermon is a beautiful summary of the Gospel which He had
taught His disciples and this prayer is for Himself (vss.
1-5), the disciples (vss 6-19), the church of all ages (vss.
20-23), the everlasting, security of all of His children
(vss. 24-26). Jesus is the great High Priest, the Mediator
between God and man. Hebr. 7:25; 9:24; I Jn. 2:1; Rom. 8:34;
Is. 53:12; Lk. 23:34. The Bible does not tell us to pray to
the saints nor does it say that they pray for us. But Jesus
does pray for us.
2. Six times in this prayer Jesus says, "Father." (vss. 1, 5,
11, 21, 24, 25). Twice on the cross He said "Father." (Lk.
23:34.46). And because of Jesus we can say "Our Father."
3. Jesus here says "The hour has come." Which hour? The hour
for Him to suffer, die, rise and ascend into heaven. The hour
to save mankind. Previously He had said that His hour had not
yet come. Jn. 7:30; 8:20. But at Jn. 13:1 Jesus knew that His
hour had come. And He repeats it here.
4. It is His hour to be gIorified, that means His selfless
service to His Father and all people. It is His hour to
glorify the Father, to serve Him by saving all people. It is
His hour to glorify sinners, to die for them and take them to
heaven. The word "glorify" or "glory" appears five times in
these five verses. As true God Jesus had this glory from
eternity (vs. 5). As the incarnate God- man Jesus' human
nature received God's glory to save mankind. Now He is
sitting at the right hand of the Father in glory and will
glorify us when we die.
5. In vs. 1 where Jesus says "Glorify" He must mean glorify
My human nature" because He had the glory of God before the
world began (vs. 24). Likewise in vs. 5 when He says glorify
ME" He must mean His human nature because the divine nature
already had this glory before the world began. And the word
"Son" in vs. 1 refers to His divine nature. Therefore, both
natures, human and divine, are mentioned side by side. The
same is true in many, many passages. For example: Jn. 1:14;
Acts 3:15; I Cor. 2:8; Gal. 4:4; I Tim. 3:16. The Council of
Chalcedon (451 AD) spoke of Christ this way: "One and the
same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in
two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly,
inseparably." He is true God, begotten of the Father from
eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary.
6. How does Jesus glorify the Father? He answers that in vs.
2: the Father has given the God-man rightful authority over
all of mankind so that everything which the Father has given
to the God-man may have life eternal. The Father gave me to
the Son as a gift. And the Son gives me eternal life. I did
not choose Him. He chose me. I did not save myself. He saved
me. Nobody makes a decision to be saved.
7. In vs. 3 Jesus explains what eternal life is. It does not
begin when I die. Eternal life means to know God, the only
genuine God now already. The verb "to know" is the same as
Jesus used at Jn. 10:14: "I am the Good Shepherd and I know
those who are mine and those who are mine know me." "To know"
means the intimate knowledge between Redeemer and the
redeemed. See also Jn. 10:27-28 and II Tim. 1:12.
8. In vs. 4 Jesus speaks about glorifying the Father,
clothing, the Father in splendor. The angels sang of it when
they said: "Glory to God in highest and on earth Peace, good
will toward men." Jesus glorified God by completing the work
which the Father gave Him to do. What is that? Everything
from conception until the ascension. He came not to be
served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom. Mk.
10:45. Men glorify themselves because of their sinful pride.
Read Jn. 5:41-44; 8:48-50; 12:41-43. "The glory of men" is
sin and sinful pride. "The glory of God" is salvation and
everlasting life. We always say in the Lord's Prayer: For
Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and
ever." Jn. 1:14 says: "We beheld His glory." Every believer
has seen Jesus' glory and will see it forever in heaven.
The Sermon Outline of Harold Buls
On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia
Text from John 17:1-5
Trinity VII
THEME: Jesus' Hour Of Glory
INTRODUCTION
At Jn. 7:30 no one laid a hand on Jesus because His hour had
not yet come." The same is said at 8:20. No one killed Jesus.
He died willingly. At Jn. 10:18 He said "No one takes My life
from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have the
authority to give it up and I have authority to take it
again." In our text Jesus says: "Father, the hour has come."
His hour of glory was the hour of death and the cross.
I. GOD'S GLORY IS THEE CROSS. St. Paul said: "We preach
Christ crucified ."The cross was the center and consummation
of His life. Christians identify with Christ by crossing
themselves.
JESUS PRAYED,"GLORIFY YOUR SON SO THAT THE SON
GLORIFIES YOU."
1. The incarnation glorified the Son. Jn. 1:14
says "The Word was made flesh and lived among us
and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only-
begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth." God glorified His Son by giving Him as a
gift to all men. As true God Jesus had the
splendor and glory of God from eternity. Vs. 5.
This glory was given to the human nature of
Jesus to save sinners. People seek glory by
_getting_ wealth, power and a big name. God is
glorified by _giving_ His only Son. When He was
born, the angels sang "Glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace."
2. The work of Jesus glorified both the Father
and the Son. Jesus asked the Father to glorify
the Son so that the Son could glorify the
Father. How did He do that? By giving the Son
authority over all of creation not to rule it,
but, to give eternal life. In vs. 4 Jesus says:
"I have glorified You on earth by completing the
work which You gave Me to do." What was this
work? Jesus revealed the true God to us, the God
of everlasting mercy. Jesus took the sins of man
upon Himself. Jesus became poor so that man
might become rich. The God-man suffered and
died, became a curse, to remove death and curse
from mankind. In the Person of Christ God died.
The God-man, Jesus Christ, truly died and rose
again.
II. OUR GLORY IS THE CROSS.
At Gal. 6:14 we read: "God forbid that I should boast of
anything except the cross of Christ through which the world
is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world." Jesus'
cross separates me from the sinful world and the sinful
world from me.
A. The cross gives me knowledge of the only,
genuine God. The works of nature give natural
man a knowledge of His power and Godhead so that
man is without excuse. Paul discusses this at
Rom. 1:19-20. The invisible things of creation
are clearly seen from the creation of God. But
this knowledge of God does not save man. The
unbelieving Jews at Jesus' time had a natural
knowledge of God but they remained dead in
their unbelief. Many people today have a natural
knowledge of God but they do not have a saving
knowledge of God. Why did Jesus come? Why did
the Father glorify Him? So that people could
know the only genuine God through Jesus Christ.
Vs. 3. Natural knowledge of God frightens man.
Jesus gives knowledge of God which comforts. He
said: "I know My sheep and My sheep know Me. My
sheep hear My voice and I know them and I give
them eternal life."
B. The cross gives eternal life. Vss. 2-3. God
gave His Son, God glorified His Son, so that
everyone who believes in Him has everlasting
life. Why does a Christian rejoice? Because he
has life eternal now already. To know God and
Jesus is to have eternal life. It's like a
check which God has addressed to each of us and
signed with Jesus' blood. The saved thief on the
cross is a picture of every believer. The most
important thing on Mt. Calvary was the gift of
everlasting life to all men.
CONCLUSION
How are the Father, the Son and all mankind glorified? By
the coming of the God-man, Jesus Christ, Who met death and
conquered it, Who took away the sins of the world, Who says:
"Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavily-laden and I
will give you rest."
_______________________________.______________________________
This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg
by Cindy A. Beesley and is in the public domain by permission
of Dr. Buls. You may freely distribute, copy or print this
text.
Please direct any comments or suggestions to:
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Walther Library
at Concordia Theological Seminary
E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu
Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
Phone: (260) 452-2123 Fax: (260) 452-2126
_______________________________.______________________________
-----------------------------------------------------
file: /pub/resources/text/wittenberg/bul: trin-7a.txt
.