Ron Dunn Podcast - Prayer Of All Prayers (Part 2)

Episode Date: August 26, 2020

Ron Dunn continues in his sermon series on prayer

Okay, I want you to open your Bibles again this morning to the 17th chapter of John. 17th chapter of John. There are some people that I love to hear pray. I don't know, there are just some folks that have a gift or maybe it's something else, but when they pray, you just feel like you're in the presence of God. And one of my first mentors was a fellow by the name of Jake Self. I was 16 years old. He had me for revival meeting, first revival meeting I'd ever preached.

Two-week meeting outdoors under the stars we advertised, and three Sundays and two weeks. And I had three sermons. And I went down, bought 101 snappy sermons. And I typed them up and put them in my loose-leaf Bible, and I'm telling you the truth. I preached one sermon on it. I had no idea what that sermon was about.

But pretty boy Floyd's aunt was a member of that church, by the way. You know he was a Baptist. No, he was. He really was. But when Jake would pray, there was no pretension.

It was as though he and God were just alone talking. It always did something to me remember the pastor out of West Texas Jamal and I were in his church for a meeting and we thought about maybe just hiring him to come along and pray in the meetings. I don't know.

I know him very well. He is a man of God. But when he prays, I tell you, you feel like you're on holy ground. I like to read the prayers of Joseph Parker, the old contemporary of Spurgeon. And they're beautiful prayers, and I often wish I could have heard him pray. But wouldn't it have been wonderful to have heard Jesus pray?

Can you think of any more mountaintop experience than to hear Jesus pray. There must have been something transforming about hearing him pray because in Luke chapter 11 it says that Jesus was praying and after he prayed the disciples came to him and said, Lord teach us to pray. Now these were all good Jewish boys who had been taught to pray all their lives, but there was something about the praying of Jesus. When they heard it, they must have thought to themselves,

boy, that's prayer. I've never prayed. Lord, teach us to pray like that. It would be wonderful, wouldn't it have been to have eavesdropped on our Lord talking to his Father well there is a sense in which we can do that

in this recorded prayer of John 17 our Lord's prayer the true Lord's prayer, the true Lord's prayer, a high priestly prayer. And so let's listen to him pray. Of course, it won't be the same,

because you'll hear my voice and not his, but maybe you will hear his. Well, let's listen to Jesus pray. After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you.

And in verse 5, so now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. In this part of the prayer, which we discussed last night, verses 1 through 8, where Christ prays for himself. There's only one petition. He asks only of one thing of himself in verse 1, and it's repeated in verse 5. He just has one thing to ask of the Father. And that is this.

Father, glorify thy Son. Glorify thy Son. Honor thy Son. Manifest now yourself in your son. And of course, what Jesus was asking for was that God would honor him and manifest himself in him as he went to the cross. And as we said last night, that in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John, the glory of Jesus, the ultimate glory of Jesus is his crucifixion. What we would call defeat

is his glorification. And we need to remember as we see Jesus hanging there on that cross, dying in shame and humiliation, that for him it is the hour of his greatest glory. And so he says, Father, glorify thy Son. I am about to go to the cross. I'm about to do the one last task that you have assigned me. I can't do it on my own. I can't do it without your help.

Father, on that cross, it must not be just a man dying, but it must be God revealed. And so, Father, glorify thy Son. Now, let's look at this petition. First of all, as I read this petition, I recognize that it is a prayer barren of all selfishness. You know, it almost sounds, if you were to stop at that point, Father, glorify thy Son, it almost sounds like a selfish prayer. Like Jesus is saying, Father, glorify me, period. But the Son's glorification was not a mean, was not an end in itself. It was a means to a greater end. There was no selfishness in this prayer because he says,

glorify thy Son so that, comes that important word, that indicating purpose, so that the son may glorify you. Isn't that amazing? The motive behind Jesus praying, Lord, glorify me, is not so that he himself can rejoice and take pride in the fact that he's been glorified, but so that he might glorify the Father, because that's all he wants to do. His whole life has been dedicated to that one thing, glorifying the Father. He doesn't want glory just for himself alone, but he wants glory so that he in turn may glorify, manifest, magnify, reveal the Father.

You know, there's something interesting as you study the New Testament, and especially, again, in the Gospel of John. The only thing the Godhead is interested in is in glorifying each other. I mean, the Father glorifies the Son. The Son glorifies the Father. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Jesus. I mean, that's all they're interested in, is in seeing that each other, the member of that Holy Trinity, is glorified. And you can't talk them out of any other motive.

I tell you the truth, the only reason God wants to bless us is so that it may glorify Him. I thank God for high attendance in Sunday school, but I'm not so certain that the Lord is necessarily all that pleased with you having 4,000 in Sunday school unless somehow doing that can glorify the Father. You may be a magnificent and eloquent speaker, but I don't know that that matters much to God unless somehow your speaking can glorify the Father. You may build a great church, but if it's just to glorify yourself, then it is a sin, but it doesn't matter to the Holy Spirit unless somehow that can glorify the Father. That's all

the Holy Spirit's interested in, is in bringing glory to Jesus and to the Father. They have a one-track mind up there. They're interested in only one thing, and it was the one thing that Jesus was interested in in this life. He never sought glory for himself. For instance, would you turn with me to John chapter 5 and verse 41? He said, I do not accept glory from human beings. Well, that leaves most of us out right there. I do not accept honor and praise from human beings based on a purely human motive. And in verse 44, he lashes out at these Pharisees. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek

the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? And then in 718, he says, those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him. And in chapter 8 and verse 50 and 54, he says, yet I do not seek my own glory. And in verse 54, Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. He said, how can you believe if you seek glory from your peers? If everything you do in the so-called service of the Lord is so that you might have the praise of man. And of course, that harks us back to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, do not be like the hypocrites.

They love to pray standing in the corners on the streets. And on the corners, they toot their horn. You know why they chose the corners, don't you? Because that way they could be seen from every direction. And he said, verily they have their reward. It's interesting here in this chapter 7 and verse 18 when he says, those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him. You know, the flip side of that is a person who is seeking to glorify himself

and is preaching and singing and serving so that he might receive the affirmation of his peers, something false about him. I hate to preach sermons that convict me. I want to tell you, folks, studying this prayer has caused me to spend more time repenting and praying than any other passage. I have to face it. I want to be liked by people. I do.

And I think all of us who perform, preachers and singers, musicians, we have to watch out for that because we want the applause of people and I want people to like my sermons and I fight that I remember when I was 19 years old sophomore in college I was preaching a revival meeting in First Baptist Church of Bolegs, Oklahoma. Boy, I went to fancy places back then. John Bassagno, Johnny then, who's pastor of First Baptist Church Houston, was leading the music, playing his horn and leading the music.

And I don't know why, but we were having a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That church was packed to capacity every night. During the day, people in the community would drop by the pastor's house wanting to know how to be saved. I'd never been in anything like that where I was preaching, and I was scared. I was a 19-year-old kid, and I was scared. And I walked in one night, and that place was packed out,

and the atmosphere of the Spirit was so thick, you could cut it with a knife, and I was scared because I wanted to do good. I wanted to do good. I had the illusion that they had come to hear me, and I didn't want to disappoint them and I wanted to do good I wanted the pastor to say that was a great sermon

I wanted the people to come up and say oh that was a great sermon and we had other pastors there and of course I wanted to impress them and I went in the pastor's office and I got on my knees and I prayed and I confessed my unholy ambition to God and I said Lord what can I do how can I overcome this I'll never forget the Lord said to me all you need to do, son, is that when you walk out this door and the end of the service is to make certain that you have my approval. And all that matters is that I am pleased.

And that stuck with me all these years. But I have to tell you, I'm 61 years old. I thought I would be, you know, don't you think, you know, you think you get mature and you're going to overcome all of these things. But I have news for you, folks. I still struggle with that. I still struggle with that. Because I'm under the delusion that you came to hear me. And I don't want to disappoint you.

And I really would like to impress Alistair because we've never been together before, and I admire him. I was on your web today. Well, that's neat, and I'd really like to know what he thinks about my preaching. It's still there, and oh, God, I wish I could rip it out of my heart I have no right

no right to ever ever seek my own glory to seek the praise of men and to please men Jesus said he that does that is false Seek the praise of men and to please men. Jesus said he that does that is false. Because you see, if you're trying to, you know, please men and get the approval of men, you'll end up doing things that are not true.

And saying things that are not true to impress. It's easy for preachers to get the guru complex. And you have a following. Well, to keep a following, you've got to keep on saying things new and different. And so many times you'll manipulate the Scripture, and you want to try to astound people. But I want to tell you something, folks.

You don't ever touch the ark. It's like that man in the Old Testament. He saw the ark tottering, looked like it was going to fall, and he went and he was going to push it up and support it, and God killed him. Why? He said, you don't touch the ark. If I want it to fall, it'll fall.

But I want to tell you something. I've been in meetings sometimes where I've touched the ark. I've been meeting sometimes where it felt like it's going downhill, you know. And so I'd resort to something to try to whoop it up, like musicians do sometimes. And like preachers do sometimes, you know. Because I want everybody to go away saying, that's a great service.

And that's what you want, Jamal. You don't want everybody to say, this is a great conference. It is. But that's not your motive. If it is, you're false. This prayer is barren of selfishness the only reason Jesus seeks to be glorified

is so that he in turn may glorify his father and God knows my heart today that is what I really want truly above everything else I have some low motives but else. I have some low motives. But thank God I have some higher motives that I think will deliver me. And Jesus never sought his own, never sought his own glory. Well, if he had, he'd have said things that people liked. But he never sought his own glory.

All he wanted was that the Father would be revealed in him. And that when people saw him they would think not of this man who works miracles, but of this man who has truly come from God.

Glorifying God. First of all, y'all are going to have to listen faster than you're listening if I'm going to finish. Oh, by the way, let me just put this in. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't come up to me after the service and say, that's a great sermon, all right? All right. Secondly, this prayer is based on success. Notice he says, verse 2, Since you have given him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And he goes on and describes eternal life.

And in verse 4, he says, I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. Verse 6, I have made your name known to those whom you gave me. In other words, Jesus has a right to say, now, Father, glorify me so that I can glorify you because I've done what you told me to do. I've finished the work that you've given me. I have finished the work. I've given me I have finished the work I've done what you told me to do

and so now glorify me because I have obeyed your will and I've carried out your purpose now what does it mean by that finishing his work we're going to touch on a couple of things that we didn't have time to get to last night. But one thing, of course, is he finished his work, and he glorified the Father. He was successful in the fact that he revealed the Father. That

was his purpose, was to come and to reveal God. And some theologians, stuffy theologians stuffy theologians may disagree with Charles' analogy last night but I loved it where the old Attila the Hun or whoever it was Hector the Hun I don't believe they call him Hector took off his mask his horrible mask and revealed the father and

I mean you know you can quibble over that whether that's really you know theologically good or not, but it's a good illustration. And in a sense, that's what Jesus did. Because when you come to the New Testament, the one unique revelation that Jesus brings is that God is Father. You'll not find that concept in the Old Testament.

You'll never find David praying and saying, God, our Father. You'll never find David praying and saying, God, our Father. You'll never find Moses praying and saying, our Father. You'll never find Isaiah praying and saying, our Father. Now, sometimes he's spoken of as the father of Israel or the father of the tribe, but no individual in the Old Testament ever prayed and said, our Father. The first time you hear those words are in Matthew chapter 6 when Jesus says, this is the way to pray. When you pray, say, our Father. And he revealed that God was a Father. He took off the mask, and what we saw was a Father. He revealed God. But he also gave eternal life to those whom God had given him. That was part of his success.

Glorify me. Why? Because I have finished the work. I have glorified you in the fact that I have given eternal life to those you've given me. Now, he defines what eternal life is in verse 3. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. What is eternal life?

Eternal life, of course, is not endless life, although that's involved. But it doesn't mean living forever. But it means living on a new dimension. It means living on a higher plane. Actually, it's God's life. It's God's life. Because the only thing that you can attach eternal to is God. Nothing else is eternal.

Only God is eternal. We sometimes talk about the eternal to is God. Nothing else is eternal. Only God is eternal. We sometimes talk about the eternal thoughts of man, but there was a time when man was not. We talk about the eternal mountains, but there was a time when those mountains did not exist. The only thing that is really eternal is God. And so when he says he's given to us eternal life, it means he's given to us God's life.

That's why Paul can say Christ in you. That's why he says we are partakers of the divine nature, you see. Eternal life is knowing not about God, not an intellectual assent to all the truths, but it is a personal acquaintance, a knowing God, and knowing Jesus Christ as his Son. It's interesting, the tense of this word knowing means, shows progression. It could really be translated, this is eternal life, that they may be knowing you. The sense of progress is there. You see, and in anybody who has eternal life, I mean a person who really has eternal life, is going to increase in his knowledge of God,

increase in his fellowship with God. A time slipping away. Let me give you some evidences of this eternal life. Number one, they received the Word, Jesus says. He says, they have received them and know in truth that I came from you. They received the Word when they heard it. They opened their hearts and welcomed it.

Paul, writing to the Thessalonians in chapter 1, says one of the reasons he knew they were the elect of God is because of the way they received the Word of God. But not only did they receive the Word, but they kept the Word. Now, that word doesn't necessarily mean sinless perfection, but the idea behind that word is to keep a vigilant eye upon something, to keep a vigilant eye upon something. To keep a vigilant eye upon something. It's like when you're driving down the highway, which I do a great deal of, and I keep an eye on the signs because I don't want to get a ticket.

And I keep an eye on the highway signs because I don't want to go the wrong direction. It's sort of like those two nuns that were driving along the highway one night. She was going 19 miles an hour, just 19 miles an hour. And a state trooper pulled her over and said, I'm sorry, sister, but I'm going to have to give you a ticket. You're going 19 miles an hour. She said, give me a ticket. No, I'm going the speed limit. I've set my cruise control. I always go the speed limit, 19 miles an hour. He said, Lady, the minimum speed on this road is 40.

Where did you get the idea the speed limit was 19? She said, Well, I saw a sign back there that said 19. He said, Lady, that was the highway sign. She says, Oh, I guess that explains Sister Gertrude. And the trooper looked over, and there was the nun sitting in the passenger seat, rolled up in a fetal position with her eyes bulging, and she was babbling something and drooling at the mouth and trembling. And he said, what happened to her?

She said, I don't know, but I just turned off of Highway 134. Now listen to me, folks. I want to tell you something. A person who doesn't give a whit about the will of God, I wouldn't bet two cents on his salvation doesn't mean you're perfect doesn't mean you don't ever fail but you see one who has eternal life keeps a vigilant eye upon the will of God and directs his living accordingly just like you driving down the highway you keep your vigilant eye on the signs

and you drive accordingly and then third evidence is vigilant eye on the signs and you drive accordingly. And then third evidence is that he said they believe that you sent me and that everything I have has been given to me of you. You see in eternal life you realize that Jesus is the conduit of all

blessings to the Father and from the Father. Well, let me finish. Third thing, this prayer is burdened with sacrifice. It's burdened with sacrifice. Jesus knows what's going to happen. He's teaching us something. He's going to the cross.

He's going to suffer the shame and the agony of that unspeakable execution. That's the burden of his heart. He knows that he's praying in verse 5 that God will restore him to the former glory. But the only way is to go through the door of the cross.

And you know what we're told here is this. If you want to know anything about glory, if you want to know the meaning of glory, friend, it's not to be found in the traditional paraphernalia of angels and clouds and voices of thunders and trumpets blast. It's to be found in a manger at a carpenter's bench on a cross. That's where the glory is. And so when he says, Father, my hour has come, that's not a death knell that's a shout of victory

and the darker the shadow cast by the cross the brighter the light of his glory now let me just end with this in verse 22. He says, The glory that you have given me, I have given them also. You know what that means, don't you? The glory that you have given me, that glory that's going to take me to the cross, you have given him also. We're following his train.

And someday we pass through the door of death and enter into that transcendent glory of Jesus. Thank you.