while we turn together this evening
to God's word once again. With his help, we'll turn to
the chapter we read in the gospel according to John, chapter 17. And we'll read the four opening
words in verse nine. John 17, verse nine. I pray for
them. I pray for them. These are, of course, the words
of Jesus. He spoke them in prayer to his
Father, and he spoke them, as I said in opening this evening,
in a very particular context. because Jesus had been speaking
to the disciples about how he was going to leave them, and
that he was going ultimately to glory, but that there would
be suffering ahead of him. But once he had left them, in
a bodily sense, they were then going to have a mission, and
they would be going into the world. and they would be going
to preach the good news of Jesus to the world, to the nations. And that, of course, was not
always going to be an easy task. They were a small group of people
from a small part of the world, and Jesus was going to give them
that commission to go into all nations And so for this group
of people, for these disciples, that would have seemed at times
a very daunting task. And Jesus knew that as the world
had hated him to a large extent, they would also hate his followers. And so the disciples, the apostles,
were going to be opposed. They were going to face opposition
and persecution. And in that context of Jesus
very soon to go to his own sufferings at Calvary at the cross, he prays
to God for his people. And so he lifts up the disciples
and he lifts up all of his people who were believed through their
word to God. He prays for them. He prays for
us. And so in this chapter we read
of Jesus' compassion and love and care for his people, for
true Christians. And here we see him in that role
as a high priest, representing others, speaking on the behalf
of others to his God and to our God. And this chapter is sometimes
referred to as a high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, because
in doing so, he is acting as high priest on behalf of the
church. But you see, the wonderful thing
is that we're told by the Apostle Paul that Jesus Christ ever lives
to make intercession for us. He is still a great high priest. in heaven tonight. He is still
speaking and praying on the behalf of the church tonight. And so
these words are not, you could say, an isolated occasion. This
is not the only prayer Jesus speaks. In Scripture, this is
the fullest record of Jesus' prayers. But we know that tonight
he intercedes, he prays on behalf of the church in heaven. And
so in looking at this chapter we are given an insight into
his prayers for his people. We're given a most intimate insight
into how Jesus prays for the church and what Jesus prays for
the church. that he is personally concerned
for the welfare of each and every believer and desires their good
and their prosperity. It's amazing to think that Jesus
has each and every member of the church in his mind as he
prays this prayer. I pray for them. And later on
he says, I pray not for these only, these alone, but for them
which shall believe on me through their word. He prays for each
and every believer through the ages until the end of time. And so we can believe here this
evening if we are a true Christian, a true believer in Jesus Christ,
he prays for us. And therefore, amazingly, wonderfully,
I don't think it's wrong If we're a Christian, and that's the qualification,
a true believer here this evening, that we can take these words
and apply it to us. And we can put our name in this
chapter. And we can say, in Jesus' praise,
if I can use my own name for an example, that Jesus prays
like this, I pray for James. I pray not for the world, but
I pray for James, which thou has given me. He says, now I
come to thee, that he is in the world. I speak of the world,
and now I come to thee. I pray not that thou should take
him out of the world, but thou shouldest keep him from the evil. You see, we can go through this
chapter and you can put your name in here. Wherever it says
them or these, you can put your name there. I pray for him. It's
that personal. It's that intimate, this prayer.
He has each and every believer in his mind. He prays for us
each. And that's the wonderful, amazing
thing about this chapter, about the prayers of Jesus. It is of
personal concern for his people. And so who does Christ pray for?
Well, as I say, he prays for the church. And he describes
who they are. In verse 6 he says, they are
them whom God has given him. Thou gavest me out of the world,
they were and thou gavest them me. He prays for those who he
has been given, for those who belong to God. And so the true
Christian belongs to God He has been called, he has been chosen,
he has been eternally loved, and he has been saved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has been given to Christ by
the Father and saved from his sins by the work of Jesus. They
belong to God. I don't remember who gave this
account, and if you've heard it before, I'm sorry if I don't
repeat it quite accurately, but I heard this story of a boy who
built a boat, who made a boat. He spent a lot of time on it.
And he made it look nice, painted it, and set off to the local
river to sail it. But as he was putting it in the
water, the current came and swept it down the river. and he couldn't
catch it, he couldn't catch up with it and it sailed off down
and he never, at that point, saw it again. And he was, of course, very upset
that what he had spent a lot of time on had gone. But some days later he was looking
in some old shops and there, in this shop, was his boat. And he looked at it, and he checked
it, and yeah, this is the one he had made. This was his. This
was the boat he had lost. And so he says, that's my boat.
I want it back. And the shopkeeper says, well,
I don't know anything about that. If you want it back, you're going
to have to buy it. And so somehow, this boy gets some money from
his parents, and he goes back, and he buys the boat. And he
holds that boat close, and he says, you are now doubly mine. For I made you, and I bought
you. And you see, that is the state
that the Christian is in, in our relationship to God. We belong
to him because he has made us, and we doubly belong to him because
he has bought us. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me. So that's who he's speaking of,
those who belong to Jesus Christ because he has made them, because
he has saved them, but also they are those who believe they have
kept thy word. For thou hast given unto them
the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee. You see, a believer
is someone who has received the word of God, who has believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart. who have, like Peter,
been able to confess, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And so the Lord is praying not for everyone in this prayer.
He makes it quite clear, I pray not for the world, he says. He's
not praying for every human being. He's praying for the church,
and the church are those who belong to God and who receive
and believe his word. That's who this prayer is for.
And so as I say, wonderfully, beautifully, you can put your
name in this prayer if that describes you. Someone who has received
the word of God in your heart. But you cannot, you cannot apply
the blessings of this prayer to you if it does not describe
you. He prays not for the world. And
so this is who the prayer is for. And this is so important
to us to think before we go any further, does it describe us?
Are we someone who trusts in the work of Christ alone for
our salvation? Are we someone who has received
his word and therefore have the witness within ourselves that
we are chosen and loved and bought? We belong to Christ. But this is who he prays for.
I pray for them. So what does he pray for? Jesus prays for them then, that
they were going to be in the world. And they were going to
be in the world without him. He says, I am no more in the
world, but these are in the world. This is the context, that they
are going to have to walk out without him. And so he prays
for them in that particular scenario, in that particular situation.
They're going to be sent into the world to preach and to witness
and to honour him. She says, as thou hast sent me
into the world, even so I send them into the world. But this is a prayer that is
still necessary for us in a similar context, because as the same
it was for them, so for the Christian this evening, it's as if he says,
I send them into the world. And I am no longer in the world,
but they are. And that's where we are tonight.
Jesus is not any longer physically in this world, is he? But we
are. And he sends every single one
of us into the world. We must walk in this current
age. We must walk amongst believer
and unbeliever alike. We must be in this world. And so each Christian here tonight
has, in that sense, been sent into the world. And we may feel that it's impossible
for us to really carry on. We may feel that we can't take
another step in this world, that we're not going to maintain our
witness any longer, that we're going to stumble, that we're
going to fall. We may feel that we're going to give up and we
fear the next step and the next days ahead of us. He says, I'm
sending you into the world and the world's going to hate you
and the world's going to oppose you. And we say, well, I can
go on no further. And so this is why we need to
come to a chapter like this, this evening, if we feel like
that. Because we are to hear our high priest praying. It's
as if we are given the privilege this evening to hear the prayer
of Jesus on our behalf. We need to come aside and we
need to listen to him praying for us. I pray for them. personally, individually, with
your name on his heart, I pray for you. We need to listen to
his prayer, because here is the real sense of joy and a real
sense of encouragement as he prays for his people. And I want to look at three things
tonight that he prays for, for his church. Firstly, he prays that they will
be kept. he prays that his people will
be kept. One aspect of this is he prays
that they will be kept together, that they will be kept in unity, unity with each other. He wants
his people to be kept Together with each other, verse 11, keep
through thine own name those who thou hast given me that they
may be one, as we are. His prayer is that the church
will be kept together. as God is together. You see,
the Godhead is fully united, as we are, he says, that they
may be one as we are. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
one eternal God in perfect unity. Now, the Church will never be
in unity like the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son are.
But this is the prayer, that there may be unity in the Church,
and that that unity will be centered in Christ. That's where the point
of unity is in the Church. There may well be differences
amongst the churches. There may well be differences
in the local church. There will always be some differences. We're all individual people.
But there should and always must be a striving for unity in Christ. That He is the center of all
our desires and of all our considerations together. That every conversation
we have, every decision we make, every path that we take has Christ
at its head. We run looking unto Jesus, and
that should be the point of unity in the church. That should be
what we strive for, should be what we work for at all times. But you see, the wonderful thing
is, that's what Jesus prays for. You see, he doesn't just tell
us to go and do this, he prays to his father that the church
will be united, that they will be centered in him. Because a
united church is the most healthy place for the soul and also brings
the most glory to God. So he prays that they will be
kept in unity, not that the disciples will fragment and disappear off
into different ideas and make their own little religions. But another sense of unity he
prays for is that their people will be united, not only to each
other, but to God. That they'll be united to him.
Verse 21, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. I in them, thou in me, that
they may be perfect in one. You see, that they may be united
to God. You see, isn't this a wonderful,
glorious truth, that God's church is as united to Christ as Christ
is to the Father. There is no division. There is
perfect unity as Christ sees it. Yes, at this current stage,
as we are in this world, there is sin that divides us. But as
Christ sees us, saved by his precious blood, there is a perfect
unity between the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and the Bride,
his Church. This is a wonderful state. of
the believer. It's where we are, united to
Christ. And yet it is also something
we should be striving for, that we are closer to him and walking
nearer to him, like Enoch did. We read, he walked with God.
And that should be our desire, to walk with God. And you see,
that's what Christ's desire is, as he prays for his people, that
there is unity in the church, centred in the Lord. Jesus Christ. So he prays that they'll be kept
together. He also prays that they'll be
kept from being lost, that they will not fall, that they will
not walk away. Verse 12, while I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me, I have kept and none of them is lost. but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Who's this son of perdition?
This is Judas. Judas Iscariot was amongst the
disciples, an open follower of Jesus, and yet he was lost when
he denied and he betrayed Jesus Christ. And we wouldn't be any
different from him if we were left You know, all the disciples
knew that it was in them to have the capability of doing this.
When Jesus says, one of you will betray me, they all say, is it
I? Is it I? They realized they had it in
them. They realized that they might do it, but you see, we're
no different. And you may think, and I'm sure
you do, we're a Christian here tonight, if we're a true believer,
we're looking at the path ahead of us. Looking at the days and
the weeks and the years ahead of us and we say, I'm bound to
stumble. I'm bound to fall. I'm bound
to deny my Lord. Maybe one day I'll even be like
Judas. Because you know your heart, you know what you're capable
of. You know that you may well turn back. And so here's the
encouragement. Jesus prays for you in that state. Knowing your weakness, knowing
your tendency, Jesus prays for you. He says, keep them. Keep them. I've kept them in thy name. Those
that thou gavest me, I've kept. But now I come to thee. These
things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled
in them. And so you see, he prays to God
that His people will be kept eternally secure, maintained
to the end. And they will be. They must be. None of them is lost. Because
this is an all-prevailing prayer. This is a prayer of Jesus which
is heard and which is answered. His people are not lost. The true child of God here this
evening will not be lost. So he prays they'll be kept in
unity, he prays they'll be kept from being lost, he also prays
they'll be kept from the evil of the world, as they struggle
on in the world and not being of it. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. And so isn't this a prayer that
we need? As we struggle on in this world, and try to draw this balance
that we're to be in the world, to be living in the world, but
yet we're not to be of it. We're to be separate and we're
to be different, we're to be, we need to be kept from the evil
of this world. We need to be kept, we need to
be taught to be separate, to be the Lord's people. But this
is what he prays for. We have a God, we have a Saviour
who knows what it is to walk in this world. Jesus has walked
amongst sinners. Jesus has fought temptation.
Jesus has felt the opposition of many. You see, we have a God
who knows and who cares and who prays that we'll be kept from
real damage, prays that we'll be kept spiritually healthy. that thou would keep them from
the evil. And so when we feel that we're
going to fall, or we're not going to persevere, or we're not going
to make it to the end, this is a prayer we should turn to. I
think even this evening, as our high priest intercedes for the
church, this is the prayer. These are his concerns for his
people. that they will be kept in unity
from being lost and from the evil of the world. The second thing we notice in
his prayer is that he prays that his people will be sanctified,
that his people will be sanctified. This means that they will be
set apart that they will be holy, that they will be different from
the world around them, and that they will be set apart to serve
and to follow him. You know, the priests in the
Old Testament, they were sanctified unto the Lord, they were set
apart to serve him. And he prays that the church
also will be sanctified, that they will be set apart in his
service. You see, we're not just kept. We need to be kept by the
power of God. And that in a sense is a passive
thing. It's God's work on our behalf. But also we are to live
an active life in following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to be holy as he is holy. We are to take up a cross and
follow him daily. And so we need this prayer. Sanctify them. He prays his people
will be set apart set apart for Him, and serve and follow Him
as He leads. And this is how He prays for
them, sanctify them. You see, how are we to set ourselves
apart? How are we to walk in holiness? How are we to take up a painful,
heavy cross every day? How are we to be His witnesses
in this world? Well, we can't, can we? How can
we ever make ourselves holy? We can't. How can we ever fully
dedicate ourselves in our own strength? We can't. But this
is the wonderful point, the wonderful record of this chapter. We can't,
but Christ prays. Christ prays for us. Sanctify
them. And this is a prayer that's heard
and a prayer that is answered. Sanctify them through Thy truth,
thy word is truth. So we are sanctified through
the word of God. That's why the scriptures are
so important. That's why the Bible is so vital
for us to know and to read and to study and to pray over. It's
so important because in doing so it shows us what it is to
be sanctified, what it is to be separate and to be holy. And so the lively Christian should
be feeding on the Word of God, should be reading the Word of
God regularly, and trying to learn those lessons from it and
glean those blessings from it. Christians should be people of
the book, because this is the way of holiness. This is the
way of godliness. It's recorded here from beginning
to end. It shows us what holiness is.
It shows us what God desires and what he commands of us. It
shows us his way and it corrects us when we go in a wrong way. And there is power in this word,
isn't there? There's power in the Word of God. When we truly
read it with the help of God, there's a power here that can
convict us and can change us and can cause us to desire His
ways. Of course, the central theme
of the whole of Scripture is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And
that good news of salvation Is the real motivation of His people
to be separated unto the Lord when we think that He loved us
so much to die on the cross on our behalf? Is that not our motivation
to say, Lord, we are Thine? Lord, we serve Thee. Lord, we
follow Thee. We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so my life is Yours. It is
no longer mine. It is bought with a price. And so as we read the Word of
God and as it speaks to us and as it works in us, we see that
it is our duty, it is even our desire and our longing to be
His in this world, to be holy as He is holy, to please Him. So keep returning to the Word
of God. This is where it says, sanctify
them. It's not just something which happens immediately, it's
not this growth in grace, this growth in holiness isn't something
that happens overnight. He's praised, sanctified them
through thy truth, so keep returning to the truth. Keep coming back
to the Word of God, drink it, eat it, because this is God speaking
to us. He praised it will be sanctified.
through the word but we're not just that sanctification he describes
through the word but also this is other element verse 19 when
he says for their sakes i sanctify myself that they also might be
sanctified through the truth it is because christ set himself
apart for the sufferings of the cross that his people are set
apart as his family, as his church. And so keep returning to the
word and through that keep returning to the cross, to where he sanctified
himself to the sufferings of death. You see, when we come to the
foot of the cross, we see the price of our salvation. We see
how much it cost Him. We see that we're bought with
a great, with an immeasurable price. We see that we have been
made holy through Christ's work, washed and cleansed and made
righteous. And we see there that we have
every reason to follow Him. to give our hearts and our lives
to him, that we also might be holy as he is. Sanctify them
through thy truth." You say, what a high standard, what a
battle, what a striving, how could you ever do it? You will
not. You cannot sanctify yourself.
You cannot consecrate yourself. You cannot put yourself into
the family of God. You cannot make yourself holy,
although we should strive for it. It's with God's help. It's with
God's grace. Which is why Jesus prays for
us. Sanctify them. And this evening, put your name
there. Sanctify them. Sanctify me. Through thy truth. This is Jesus' prayer for his
people. That they will be kept. That
they will be sanctified. That they may be a holy people,
separated, a clear witness in the world. And the third thing he prays
for is that his people will be glorified. That his people will
be glorified. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory. That his people will be glorified,
to be with him. This is the prospect And this is, in some measure,
the joy of the believer here, a prospect of being with him. This is what glory is to the
Church. Glory is the wonderful, shining,
sinless place. Glory is the place where the
angels gather to sing his praise forever. Glory is a place where
his people in innumerable company continually, perfectly worship
God from the depths of their being. Glory is a place where
we will serve him day and night as his servants. There'll be no sighing, there'll
be no pain, there'll be no sin, there'll be no death, there'll
be no crying. Glory is all of those things. But glory is this. You will see the King in his
beauty when you come to the land that is far off. That they will be with me. That's
what heaven is. That's what the eternity and
the new heavens and the new earth is for the Church of God. It's
to be with Christ, which is far better. That they might be with
me, that they might behold my glory, that they might see Him
in all of His beauty, that they might see Him in all of His wondrous
suitability, and that they might see the Lamb as it had been slain. that they worship Him because
of His suffering, they worship Him because of the cross, where
their sins were forgiven, where their souls were bought, they
will see Him in His glory. And you see, this is a certain
hope, something which is steadfast and cannot be removed for the
Church of God, because it is His prayer, I will. I will it. And so if we're a child of God
here tonight, if we're a true believer, we can put ourselves
in this prayer. I will that they also be with
me where I am. It must come to pass. This is
the prayer of Christ. And we are given the privilege
of listening in to the prayer of Christ on behalf of his people.
And I believe this, the prayers and the concerns and desires
of the interceding Christ this evening, that we will be kept,
that we will be sanctified, that we will be glorified. It must certainly come to pass. It must. I will. Why does Jesus pray this for
his people? Why is this his concern? Why
is this his prayer for the disciples and for the Church of God today?
Well, for his glory, firstly. Mine are thine, and thine are
mine, I am glorified in them. As they are kept, and as they
are sanctified, as they are separated unto the Lord, as they are His
distinct people in this world, He is glorified in them. They
represent something of Him. They reflect something of Him. He is the light of the world.
They are the light of the world as they reflect His glory. He is glorified in them. Do you realize that is the privileged
position of the believer here tonight? He is glorified in you. We don't feel that very often,
do we? We don't feel that we glorify
God very much at all. But as these prayers are heard
and answered, as they are kept, as we are sanctified, then He
is glorified in us as His work is seen going on in our life,
in our heart. I will be, says the Lord, a wall
of fire round about you and the glory in the midst. So he prays this prayer for his
own glory, that as his work is seen in the church, he is glorified. But he also prays this prayer
so that the effect of the answer will be seen on others. It will have an effect on others.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall
believe on me through their word, that their word might be heard,
that they may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. You see, this is the concern
of Christ also, that as his people are kept and sanctified, and
as they serve and follow him, that the world will believe through
their witness that God has sent him, that they will believe the
gospel through the witness of the church. And he prays for
that. This is why he prays for his
glory, but also so that the church will have an effect on others
as they reflect Christ. So this is his prayer. And I think this is so full of
teaching and so full of instruction for us to realize that the secret
to a healthy Christian life is to live closer and closer to
Christ. And that the secret to an effective
evangelistic concern in the world is for a kept, sanctified church. You see, we can do all sorts
of things, and we can be involved in every
work with regards to distribution and preaching and evangelistic
endeavour. But if the church that the world
sees is no different from the world it walks in, then that
endeavour really has very little impact. You see, Christ does
not say and pray that the church will be given help to do this
and to do that, and that they'll be given opportunities in all
sorts of ways. Now that is, of course, the concern
we have. But Christ's primary concern
was that the church would be holy. That the church would reflect
Him. And so this is what he prays
for. And yet this is what we struggle
so much in. We can be so active and so busy,
and yet our own personal spiritual life can wax and wane. And so what an encouragement
we have here. Jesus Christ prays for you. Jesus Christ brings
this need to his Father for you, that you will be separated, that
you will be sanctified, that you will be kept, that his Church
will be united in the truth, and that you will be glorified,
and you will be presented with him to behold His glory. You see, we are lacking so much
in ourselves. We are lacking. How can we be
kept? How can we be sanctified? How
can we ever hope to be glorified? Listen tonight. Listen. Jesus, our High Priest, He's
praying. Listen. Can you hear him praying? Can you hear him pleading? Can
you hear him bearing his wounded hands and feet and representing
you? Can you hear him? Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong, a perfect plea. A great high priest, whose name
is love, whoever lives and pleads for me. I pray for them, and
that prayer is always heard. May God add his blessing. Amen.