Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: John 16:25 -17: 5 Dec. 1, 2024

Message: “The Father and the Son!” 

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. Today is the first Sunday in Advent. This month we will be doing a series of messages on Jesus’ pre-existence as it relates to the Christmas story.  The very first message that I will share with you today has to do with the relationship between the Father and the Son.

2. Most of us know the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. But in John 17, we have another prayer that Jesus prayed, except this one is a very personal prayer between Him and His Father in heaven.

a. In John 14 -16, we have the longest discourse between Jesus and his disciples. It took place in the upper room after Jesus shared the Passover Feast with them. 

b. Directly following that discourse and in response to it, Jesus prayed this prayer found in John 17. In John 18:1, it says: “When Jesus finished praying, He left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley…”  So the disciples may have heard Jesus pray this prayer. 

A. Let us begin by considering John 16: 25 – 33.

1. In vs. 25, Jesus admits to His disciples that many things He taught them about the Father were not easy to under-stand. But from now on He planned to make it clearer for them. In vs. 26, He told them that the day was almost here when they would pray to the Father, asking for help in Jesus’ name. Did you know that is where the practice of ending our prayers by saying: “In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen,” came from?

2. In vs. 27-28, He affirms that “the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving this world and going back to the Father.”

a. Clearly Jesus is describing His pre-existence with His Father. He lived with His Father before the world was created, and soon He was going back to His Father after His work here was accomplished.

b. Many people in our day believe all of us have a pre-existence. The Bible does not teach that. It teaches that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Jesus’ relationship with His Father was unique. He alone had a pre-existence.

3. When a person accepts Christ into His heart, in Rom. 8: 14-15, it teaches us that God gives us the Holy Spirit of Jesus to live in us. In the process, we are adopted into the family of God. In plain words, we are God’s children through adoption. 

a. In contrast, Jesus is and always has been God’s Son from eternity past.

b. But the Father had a mission for the Son. That mission involved Jesus leaving the comforts of heaven and coming to earth as a baby. Of course that is the Christmas story. As He said in vs. 28: “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to my Father.”

4. Our Advent theme this morning is “Hope.” How thankful we can be that Jesus agreed to leave His Father and to come into this world to give us hope. 

B. That brings us to the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17.  We are only going to zero in on the first five verses. 

1. In vs. 1, Jesus prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.”

a. In John 2: 4, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus told His mother: “My time has not yet come.”  But after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, in John 12: 23, Jesus told those listening to Him: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” 

b. By then His public ministry was almost over. And before beginning His road to the cross, Jesus prayed to His Father, saying: “The time has come; glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” 

c. Jesus’ mission required Him to die on the cross for our sins, be buried, and rise from the dead.  His resur-rection would bring glory to Him and to His Father too.

2. In vs. 2, Jesus prayed: “For you granted Him authority over all people that He may give eternal life to all those you have given Him.”

a. In vs. 4, Jesus prayed: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” By dying on the cross and paying the penalty for our sins, Jesus completed the work His Father gave Him to do. 

b. Remember His final word’s from the Cross: “It is finished.” And “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.”  Because of this, Jesus is able to give the gift of eternal life to all who believed in Him.

3. In vs. 3 of Jesus’ prayer, He describes the “eternal life” that He would freely give to those who come to love and believe in Him.  He says: “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

a. “Eternal life” is only possible by having a relation-ship with the Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus. It has far more to do with who you know than how long you will live. Heaven will always be living a life in Jesus’ presence, enjoying Him forever. 

b. Therefore, it would be even more accurate to say, it all depends on who “knows” you. 

4. In Matt. 7: 21, in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven.” 

a. Then in Matt. 7: 24, Jesus defines what He expects of those who claim to love and obey Him. He says: “There-fore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built His house upon a rock.”  Jesus and His words are that rock. We are saved by faith by believing in and doing all that Jesus has taught us. 

b. In John 17:2, it says Jesus will give eternal life “to all those you (God the Father) have given to me.”  In Eph. 1: 4, it says God “chose us in Him (Jesus) before the creation of the world.”  In plain words, the Father has known us before the world was even made! 

c. God has chosen us long before we ever responded to the gospel and chose Him. Have you ever prayed and said: “Lord, I know I don’t deserve it. Thank you for loving and choosing me?”

5. Finally, consider vs. 5 where Jesus prayed: “Now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

a. After Jesus’ resurrection, forty days later, He would ascend into heaven and be glorified, receiving all power and authority in heaven and earth. 

b. The good news is His resurrection and ascension guarantees our resurrection and ascension.  But it all began before the world was even created when the Son of God agreed with the Father to accept His mission of coming to earth for us.  

In conclusion: 1. As we live our lives, we never know what will happen tomorrow. It is a good thing because otherwise we would worry about it long before it happened.

2. But Jesus did know what was going to happen to Him, and He still agreed to go through it all, all for our sakes. Thank God for our wonderful Savior. Thank God for the hope we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.