Jesus Is At God's Right Hand

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

This week I was visiting in the home of a member and saw a Mother’s Day plaque displayed. It said, “God can’t be everywhere at the same time so he made Grandmothers.” I would imagine you could say the same thing about mothers. Surely God uses mothers and grandmothers to care for his children!

The member I was visiting saw me looking at the plaque and said, “Pastor, that’s not quite right, is it? It says God can’t be everywhere, but he is.” What a mystery this is! Our Savior is true God and true man in one person. He ascended into the heavens and is sitting at the right hand of God. Yet he is always present everywhere. He is with us in our worship this morning and at the same time with the saints in churches around the world - just as he promised. He tucks us in at night and rises with us in the morning. He is with us always and will be to the very end of time.

When the Bible says that Jesus is “sitting at the right hand of God,” it is not describing where Jesus lives. It is telling us that God has given his Son, Jesus, all power and authority in heaven and on earth to carry out his threefold office as our Prophet, Priest, and King. The prayer Jesus prayed in our text shows us the heart of our Prophet, Priest, and King. Consider this theme for our sermon today.

At The Right Hand Of God

I. As our PRIEST, Jesus prays for us

I hope that you will read all of John 17 today, which is the whole prayer that Jesus prayed for his disciples that night in the garden of Gethsemane. When he had so much on his mind, so much to ask of his Heavenly Father, when in his agony his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground, he still took the time to pray for his disciples.

It is a comfort to know that someone is praying for you! During these last three weeks as I have been deliberating the call that I received, many of you have said, “Pastor, we are praying for you and your family.” Some time ago, when I told a missionary that I kept him in my daily prayers, he had a look of joy and relief on his face. He said, “You don’t know how much it means to us to be in your prayers.” It is wonderful to know that someone is praying for you.

Friends, this Savior who prayed for his disciples is now at the right hand of God and he is still praying. He is praying for you and me. Listen to these passages. Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

When you are being tempted by Satan, and your sinful flesh is weak, and you do not know how much longer you can hold out, even before you have cried out to the Lord for help, Jesus has already stepped before the throne of his heavenly Father and prayed for you. When you faced one of life’s many hardships and you endured more than you ever thought that you could bear and you began to doubt if God still cares or hears or answers prayer, through every step of your hardship, Jesus stood at the right hand of God and prayed for you! When you come to a realization of a sin you have committed, and you know how terribly you have offended your God, and you step before the throne of God and make your confession, the one who made the sacrifice that paid your debt pleads to the Father for your forgiveness.