Let me read you our text for
this morning. It's the 17th chapter of John,
verse 9. I am praying for them. I am not
praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me,
for they are yours. John 17 is what I call the holy
of holies of holy scriptures. Here in John 17, we get a fuller
view into the heart of the Lord Jesus than we do anywhere else.
Prayer is the opening of the heart to God. An honest prayer
accurately reveals the heart of a man. And that is true whether
or not the man's heart is reconciled to God. In Luke chapter 18, we
have the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Both men
prayed, and both men prayed quite honestly. Out of the abundance
of his self-righteous heart, the Pharisee spoke of his own
works, things he did and things he avoided doing. He thanked
God he was not like other men, for indeed, this Pharisee did
not think that he was like other men. His honest prayer revealed
his proud heart. But the prayer of the tax collector
was just as honest. Out of the abundance of his broken
heart, he prayed, God be merciful to me, a sinner. This prayer
revealed what the man truly thought of himself. He was a sinner in
need of the mercy of God. Now this prayer of the Lord Jesus
in John 17, which is the true Lord's prayer, reveals our Lord's
heart in His attitude towards His Father, towards His people,
and towards the rest of the world. In fact, in this single verse,
verse nine, all three of these points were summarized. I pray
for them. I am not praying for the world.
I pray for these people, for they are your people. First,
let us note an astonishingly gracious reality. There is a
people for whom the Lord Jesus prays, and prays earnestly. Our Lord prayed, and He prayed
often, and we should follow His lead. If the very Son of God
prayed, how can we sons of God neglect this activity? But the
wonder is not simply that He prayed, or that He prayed often
and earnestly. It is this, that there is a people
chosen out of our sinful and rebellious race, and Christ prays
for them. Even as he approaches the horrible
experience of crucifixion and enduring the wrath of God, his
heart is turned toward our welfare, and he intercedes for us. Christ
set before us the value of praying. I've sometimes heard people say,
since God is sovereign, why pray? But no one believed in the sovereignty
of God more than Christ did, and no one prayed more earnestly
than our Lord did. Some merely recite prayers, and
their prayers do not make it past the roof. True prayer comes
from the heart, and it is not prayer until it is sincere and
honest. Prayer is asking for things in
faith and submission. This is how our Lord prayed.
He trusted His Father and also submitted to the will of the
Father. In Gethsemane, He prayed, Abba Father, everything is possible
for You. Take this cup from Me, Yet not
what I will, but what you will. Here we find that combination
of faith, trust, and submission. He firmly believed that his father
could do anything. Yet he trusts his father and
submits the outcome of his prayer to his father's will, not his
own. Prayer is making our request
known to God. It is not as though he does not
already know what we need. Our Lord assures us that the
Father already knows our needs. but our calling on Him to supply
our need is honoring to Him. James wrote that we have not
because we ask not, or when we ask, it is mere fleshly request
for selfish purposes. But all prayer born out of a
heart of love for God and an interest in His glory will be
heard. Prayer is intercession. We pray
for one another. It's not as though one believer
has any more power with God than any other believer, There is
no Christian on earth or in heaven that has better access to the
Father than any other. But our prayers in behalf of
our brothers and sisters are honoring to God, for they also
demonstrate our dependence on Him and our love for His people. Prayer is praise and thanksgiving. The two go together, don't they?
For how can we praise God for things we would not thank Him
for? praise and thanks for all things affirms God's right to
do with His own as He will, and glorifies His goodness as He
works all things together for the good of His people. Now,
let us note who it is that prays. The Son of God. It is written
that the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. Our Lord
was and is a man. It is the mystery of mysteries
that the Creator God became a part of His creation. This cannot
be explained, so it must simply be believed. Jesus of Nazareth
is a man who is God. But more, He is a righteous man,
righteous in every sense of the word. He did always those things
that pleased His Father. He did no sin, He knew no sin,
and in Him there is no sin. And His prayers were earnest,
fervent, and full of faith, so much so that we are assured that
He gets everything He wants. Had he asked for it, the Father
would have spared him the agony of Calvary. But neither in this
prayer nor in the prayers he made in Gethsemane do we find
him asking God to let him bypass Calvary. So we have a righteous
man praying fervently in John 17, so we must expect that it
will avail much. Even more, we have the Son of
God praying, the one of whom the Father said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him. Earlier I said
that no believer in heaven or earth has any more sway with
God than another. Yet here is one whose prayers
are guaranteed success. Even if you could get all the
saints of God from Abel forward to pray in your behalf, there
would be no guarantee that God would grant the prayer. But if
this one man prays for you, you shall have whatever he prays. Behold the ones for whom he prays.
He says, I pray for them. Who is this them? Five times
in this prayer, the Lord identifies them as the ones whom the Father
had given to Him. They belong to God the Father,
and the Father gave them to Christ. Now, all men belong to God in
some sense, in that He is the creator of all men. And Christ
has been given authority over all men. But there are those
whom He calls His own in a special way. They are called elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. Some believe that this means
that God foresaw who would choose Him, and therefore He chose them. That theory has no foundation
in Scripture. Do you recall the Scripture where
our Lord tells those condemned to eternal punishment, Depart
from me, I never knew you? Actually, Christ knows all men
better than they know themselves. So why would he say that he never
knew them? The knowledge he speaks of is
a personal knowledge, a knowledge born of love. This is the same
word used as a euphemism for the intimate love of marriage.
And so on the day of judgment, the Lord says to some, I never
had an intimate personal love for you. And to others, he will
say, I have always known you intimately and personally. This
is what foreknowledge is, to be intimately and personally
known by God from all eternity. It is for foreloved and chosen
people that Christ prayed. We might be led to conclude from
this that such people must be people of the highest quality,
a people worthy of such great love as would move Christ to
pray for them. Nothing could be further from
the truth. In verse 20, the Lord expands His prayer to include
all who believe the Gospel. But at verse 9, He has in mind
the disciples. What kind of men were they? It
is written that in just a little while, at the very point where
Christ could have benefited from their support the most, all of
them forsook Him and fled. One would deny knowing Him three
times. They were men known for their
doubts, their selfish ambition, their rash and judgmental ways. In other words, Christ is praying
for sinful people. Are you among those who believe
Christ? If so, then Christ was also praying for you. What sort
of person are you? When Christ prayed for you, what
kind of person was He praying for? Do you think He prayed for
you because, like the Pharisee, you are not like other men? Or
do you, like the tax collector, count yourself as nothing but
a sinner on whom God has been pleased to bestow mercy, even
the mercy of a glorious mediator like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let us note what sort of things Christ prays for them, knowing
that His prayer shall be answered with God's resounding yes. He
prays for their protection. Many are the dangers, toils,
and snares in the believer's life, but none of these things
shall separate them from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus or cause them to fall short of full salvation. He prays that
they would have the full measure of His joy. Many are the sorrows
of the believer, but Christ has borne their griefs and carried
their sorrows and given to them His joy. For the joy set before
Him, Christ endured the cross, and that joy is the guaranteed
possession of every one of God's elect, even as they go through
hard times Christ's joy sustains them. He prays for their sanctification. Sanctification means to be set
apart to God. God's will, God's Son, and God's
truth all serve to separate the people of God from the people
of the world. They have a separate destiny,
a separate hope, a separate faith, and so on. God has marked them
as His. He prays for their unity. One
of the saddest things to see in this world is those with like
precious faith falling out with one another. It happens. God's sheep are still flesh,
and the flesh often divides them. But it still remains that there
is one body. Even if we divide over fleshly
things, we are united in Christ, made to be one body as much as
Christ as one with the Father. and He prayed that all His people
would be with Him to behold His glory. This is the greatest of
salvation's blessing, not some home in the sky in the sweet
by-and-by, but to be in the presence of our Savior, safely beholding
His glory and enraptured by what we see. In closing, let us note
a sobering, righteous, and just exclusion. I pray not for the
says the Lord. Many people in this world are
operating under the delusion that God loves everyone, Christ
died for everyone, and the Spirit of God is trying to get everyone
to trust Christ. But here we see that Christ would
not so much as pray for anyone but God's elect. Let no man or
woman think that God owes it to them to save them if they
want Him to. God owes no man anything but
eternal punishment. Men who do not pray to God for
salvation should not be surprised to discover that Christ did not
pray for them to be saved. Let every man have full confidence
in the promise of God and call on God with full assurance that
God will save him. But let no one live a life of
worldly pursuits, resting in the thought that God loves everybody
and wants to save everybody, and all the man must do is give
God permission to save him and it shall happen. If you do not
seek God, do not be surprised that He never sought you. Knowing
the power of God's will, Christ's intercession, and the Spirit's
life-giving call, call on Him today while He may be found.
Seek Him with all your heart and you will find Him. Cast yourself
upon His mercy and learn that He delights in mercy. Hear the Savior pray, and then
call on Him to pray for you.