All right, would you open your
Bibles to the 17th chapter of John? Now, I did something at
this conference that I've never done before. I took pen and paper
with me and tried to take notes. Now, I'm not very good at making
notes for my own sermons. I'm even worse at taking notes
from someone else. But I see other preachers do
it, and I thought, you know, I'll bet you this is where they
get some of the material they preach. And so that's what I
did, except on a couple of occasions I brought paper without pen.
Didn't realize it until we'd already started, so there's a
Saturday morning message, I got nothing written from that. And
then Saturday evening I had to borrow a pen from Todd, but you
know me well enough to realize that's not surprising at all.
But one of the messages that was preached was from this text
of scripture by Brother Paul Mahan. And I'll urge you all
again, go listen to those messages. They were good, every one of
them. And I'm not gonna preach exactly
what he preached, though if you listen to his later on, you'll
see that some of what I'm preaching, I heard him say, but it's a good
message. John chapter 17, verse nine,
very remarkable statement in the scriptures. Our Lord says, I pray for them. I am not praying
for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are
yours. Now I've often called this chapter,
John chapter 17, the Holy of Holies of Holy Scripture. We know how the temple was built,
in various levels of holiness, if it were. That is, you had
the outer court. In fact, they even later on had
what they call the court of the Gentiles. And the Gentiles could
go that far in, but no farther because they weren't Jews. There
was the court of women because men were ordained to go into
the temple. So there was a court, one of
the outer courts for women. Then there was the outer court
where there was where a person might bring his sacrifice and
a priest offer it. And there was the brazen altar
where everybody could see, and I'm assuming, well, the altar
and then the basin full of water, the laver, as it was called,
that the priest would wash his hands in. But after you got out
of the courts and you actually went into the building, there
was what was called the holy place. And it had the table of
showbread, it had the candelabra there. And then you go past, there was
a curtain there that divided the holy place from the most
holy place, traditionally called the Holy of Holies. And no one
went in there except the high priest, and he only went in there
one time a year, and he never went in without blood. Why? Without
the shedding of blood is no remission of sins. And had he gone in there
without blood, God would have killed him. He had to come in
with the atoning blood. In fact, he came in and he had
a censer in his hand. Then he'd take incense off the
altar of incense and the room would fill with smoke. Why? Well,
God's symbolic presence was in there, what was called the Shekinah
glory. It says he's enthroned between the cherubim and God
said, no man can see my face and live. So even back there
in that Holy of Holies, it was a smoky place, you couldn't see
very clearly, but it was back there that God was most clearly
revealed. Clearly revealed in his sovereignty
and in his grace and his holiness and his purity, all that. Well,
this scripture, I call it the Holy of Holies of Holy Scripture. And to this day, I remember the
first time I read it. It was an evening, during the
evening, my first year of Bible school, and every evening we
were supposed to have devotions, you know, together as, I suppose
there were eight, 10 guys in the same building with me. And we would take turns leading
devotions. And that night as I was just
reading, I think it was probably some required reading, but I
came across John 17. I thought to myself, I have never
seen this before. And it so filled me with a sense
of wonder that I wondered if anybody else had ever seen it
before because nobody else had ever said anything to me about
it. It was like walking into a field of diamonds and wondering
why nobody else told me about this. And so I went through this
chapter for devotions that night. And it still has somewhat that
effect on me, certainly whenever I read it with some understanding
and perception of what's being said here. Now, I don't know of any other scripture
that so clearly tells us with words the character Christ's
true character, his heart, is just laid bare in this prayer.
I know that we could go to Calvary and from Calvary we could assume
that, but you know a lot of people looked at Calvary or they're
standing there watching it and didn't understand a thing. Why? No words. Nobody to tell them
what was going on. But here we have a record of
what might truly be called the Lord's Prayer, rather than what
is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, which should be called
the disciple's prayer. Because the disciples said, Lord,
teach us to pray, and that was a prayer he taught them to pray.
This is his prayer. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ
laying bare his heart before the Father. And in the things
he says, we discover who he is, what his attitude is towards
his Father, what his attitude is toward his people, and what
his attitude is toward the world, those who are not his people.
All of them revealed in this prayer and actually summarized
right here in this one verse. I am praying for them, I am not
praying for the world. Everything our Lord did was an
outworking of what he said in this prayer. We're not gonna
read the whole chapter, but we'll look at some of the other verses.
But when you get a chance, just sit down and read this prayer.
Read it when you're not gonna be interrupted. Read it when
you got time to pause and think on what you're reading. This
is the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything he did, you can
find its motivation and its purpose right here in this prayer. So
let's look at this one verse, verse nine, and use it as kind
of a summary and outline of all else that our Lord prayed in
this prayer. He says, I pray for them. Now, what a simple phrase to
bear such a weight of meaning and significance. You know, sometimes,
um, we get way too wordy. I say, we, maybe I'll just say
I get way too wordy. You know, if I'm gonna write
a post on Facebook, it's gonna be three pages if it's gonna
be two words, you know? That's just the kind of fella
I am. But the most powerful things are said in a few words. Give you an example. I do. You won't say anything more powerful
in all your life than those two words. And nobody will ever say
anything more meaningful to you in this life than those two words.
I do. I could come up with other examples,
but you see the point. And right here, our Lord says,
I pray for them. Very short. But if you can, God
will give you grace to enter into all that that means. Let's note that this is only The three basic
parts of a sentence. You've got the subject. I. You've got the verb. Pray. And
you've got the object. Them. The only other word is
a preposition that shows the relationship of the object to
the subject. I pray for them. Not against
them. Not to them. For them. in their behalf, even in their
place. I pray for them. How much is
prayer commended when we note how much our Lord did it? I will not boast to you of my
prayer life, as they call it. Really, I shouldn't boast to
you of anything. I'd be embarrassed if you know
what my prayer life was like. But notice this, how much our
Lord did it. He often prayed in the presence
of others. He preached a message once and
at the end of it he said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that you've hidden these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed them unto babes for so it seemed good in your
sight to do so. Now imagine that. You've probably, I don't remember
ever doing it, I may have, but I don't ever remember preaching
to you all and just right in the middle of preaching, stop
and pray. Our Lord did. What'd that reveal
about the Lord? Well, the Lord realized that
the people standing in front of him wasn't the only audience
he had when he preached. His father was there with him
and he spoke to him. just as he might speak to those
he could actually see. In faith, he praised his father,
he gave thanks to his father, he called on his father publicly. In fact, the very act of calling
God his father would get him in trouble, because they said,
you've called God your father, which makes you equal with God. He didn't correct them. He prayed publicly. He prayed
privately. I don't know how our Lord did
this. He's got a lot more stamina than me, obviously, and a lot
more ability to focus his mind, but he would preach and work
miracles all day long, and the disciples would be exhausted,
and they'd lay down and go to sleep, and he'd go off away from
them into some solitary place and pray all night long. I don't
know what you pray when you pray all night long. I mean, I really don't. Our Lord
didn't always pray all night long. He slept sometimes, but
sometimes he prayed all night long. And who can forget his
prayers there in the Garden of Gethsemane, which would come
shortly after this prayer right here in John 17. Went out of the agony of his
heart as he looked or stared into the face of what was about
to happen to him. He called out for help. And yet we who need much more
than he ever needed call for help so much less. He who had
strength within himself to do whatever he wanted to do called
upon his God for help. And we who have no strength at
all don't call very often. I hear people say, why pray if
God is sovereign? Another person answered, why
pray to him if he's not? If he can't do what he wants to do,
why bother asking him? I mean, you wouldn't come to
me and ask me to go to the president and get something, would you?
Why? Because you know, I've got no access to the president. I
can't do anything. We pray to God precisely because
He does as He wills in the armies of heaven and in the inhabitants
of the earth, and no one can stop Him or even question what
He does. He's one. If you have access
to Him, if you gain His ear, and He hears your prayer, you
will have what you ask. Because He is able to do anything. He is all-powerful, therefore
we pray to Him. What is prayer? Well, the first
thing, it's the communication of the heart toward God when
we pray, when we really pray. You know, there's a difference
between saying a prayer and praying. Now, not every recitation of
a prayer is vain. Most of them are. I'm reminded
of that pattern of, quote, getting people saved from my youth where
you'd say, well, pray after me. Dear God, dear God, I know I'm
a sinner, I know I'm a sinner. That kind of thing sounds like
marriage vows. And I fear, it's not my place to judge the hearts
of men, but I fear most of these things, most of those prayers
were reciting words without understanding. Churches often stand and pray
the disciples' prayer, our Father which art in heaven. And you
know something, that's okay. Why? Well, it's scripture for
one thing. There's nothing wrong with standing and reciting scripture.
And there's nothing wrong with reciting the Lord's Prayer if
you're not just reciting it with your lips, but it actually comes
from your heart. Nothing wrong with that. But here's the thing,
and you know it to be true. You can recite prayers and never
pray. We can learn to say words, and we can rattle them off and
not even be thinking about what it is we're saying. Prayer, prayer
is the true and honest communication of the heart toward God. And
it's not prayer until it's honest. I know within my case that so
often when I pray, I pray what I think I'm supposed to pray
instead of praying what I'm really thinking. And why I do that is
though God doesn't know what's in my heart anyway. and almost
saying, I'm praying, and he's sitting there, okay, I'll wait
around until he gets to what he really wants. I'll get past all these
these and vows and glory and all that kind of stuff and wait
until he opens his heart and I'll listen. It's not prayer
until your heart is open and unshielded to God. What our Lord did here was certainly
an opening of his heart towards his father. Now, True prayer is an opening of
the heart to God, and this is true whether or not the person
is right with God. Look at Luke chapter 18. Just
hold your place there in John 17 and turn back to Luke chapter
18. Chapter 18, begin in verse 10.
This is a familiar story, we often refer to it, but it perfectly
illustrates what I'm saying, that true prayer reveals the
heart. It reveals that the heart much
better than preaching does, much better than testifying. I got
a kick out of Chris Cunningham talking about testimonies. He
called them braggamonies, because most of the testimonies I've
ever heard are just people bragging on themselves about what they
did for God over the last year. But I preach, and I can tell
you that I believe what I preach. And I hope you take my word for
it, and I hope it's true that I believe what I preach. But
I can stand up, I can open this Bible, and just by analysis come
up with a message that's true. I'll tell you, if you could ever
hear me pray, I mean not an official prayer, not a pastoral prayer,
if somehow or another you were able to hear the thoughts of
my mind when I truly cry out to God, you'd find out what I
am. Same is true of you. And these two men who pray in
this story, both of them revealed exactly what they are. It says,
verse 10, and this is our Lord speaking, two men went up to
the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, and the other,
a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed
about himself or within himself, God, I thank you that I'm not
like other men, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this
tax collector. I fast twice a week and give
a tenth of all I get." That was an honest prayer. Unfortunately honest. That man
turned his heart toward God and he opened up his heart toward
God and what did God say? the most vile display of self-righteousness
ever recorded anywhere. I thank you God I'm not like
other men. Why did he say that? Because
he thought he wasn't like other men. Now it wasn't true, he was
just like all the other men, but that was an honest portrayal
of what he thought. He thought others less than him,
at least some others, and he named them. And he talked about
the robbers and the adulterers and even that tax collector,
evildoers. And there are a host of people
in this day, if you were to listen to them pray when they didn't
know that they were being listened to, I bet you'd find prayers
like this. I thank you, God. I'm not one
of those perverts. You know something? I'm glad
God hasn't let me act that way. I'm thankful to him he hadn't
let me act that out, but I'm not going to say I'm not one.
I don't know what I'd do if God let me go. I really don't. If you see a difference between
me and somebody else, and a difference that you would count a good one,
let me tell you right up front, God made that difference, not
me. Who makes you to differ? And what do you have that you
did not receive, says Paul? If you want to see you without
the grace of God, find the most despicable person you can find.
And look him square in the eyes, that's you. That's you. Our self-righteousness rears
its ugly head when we, on the one hand, we say, well, you know,
we don't judge other people. I tell you, I'm just like that
poor drunk down in the gutter. And yet we turn around at those
maybe from our religious past who expressed a great deal of
self-righteousness and we curl our lip at them and sneer and
say, but at least I know I'm a sinner. No, you don't. Not
if you say a thing like that. Contempt for others is proof
of a self-righteous root within the heart. Now, what does that say? It says
that every one of us has a self-righteous, a root of self-righteousness
within our hearts or in our flesh, however you want to put it. But this man revealed himself,
didn't he? In fact, he revealed himself so clearly we know what
he is. How much more clearly could God see what he is? But notice the next one, verse
13. But the tax collector stood at
a distance. He would not even look up to
heaven, but beat on his breast and said, God, have mercy on
me, a sinner. You know what? This man was praying
and he told what he honestly thought. Now both men told what they honestly
thought. Only one man told the truth about
himself. Both men were honest according
to what they thought. But only one man was not deceived. This publican, this tax collector,
who among Jews was the most despised one of all. I mean the Jews did
not like Rome. They didn't like that Rome ruled
over them. And you know what a tax collector
was? He was somebody, he was a Jewish man that collected taxes
for Rome. Now, none of us likes a tax collector.
And none of us likes somebody that'll work for the other side. Well, here's a combination of
both. He's taken their money. and he's doing it in behalf of
a despised authority. So you heap everything that a
Jewish person would think of as loathsome and despicable,
you put it all together and that's this publican, this tax collector. But God had given him some grace.
And in all honesty of his heart with what God had revealed to
him, he said, God have mercy on me. He didn't say, I thank you, God,
I'm not like other men. He said, I thank you, God, other
men aren't like me. He didn't give a list of virtuous
things he did and awful things that he didn't do. He lumped
his entire life under one description, a sinner. In fact, in the Greek,
it actually uses what is called the definite article, God be merciful to me, the sinner.
But the articles in Greek don't have quite the same significance
they do in English. And I believe what this time,
what it does is simply serve to emphasize the characteristic
he's talking about. He said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. Most people seek the mercy of
God found it at least in part that they're not as bad as other
people. We talk to people, we tell them
God says they're a sinner. I realize I've sinned but I haven't
such and such. This guy didn't talk about anything
he hadn't done. He said God be merciful to me
the sinner but of course you know I'm not like this guy over
here that's praying. I thank you God I'm like not like other
men. He said, the sinner, emphasizing
the sinfulness of his character. And he made a full stop right
there. He didn't make any excuses for himself. He didn't come up
with any contingencies. He said, that's what I am. I'm
a sinner. And the one thing I need, God
above all, is your mercy. And if I don't have that, nothing
else I have is going to help at all. That's an honest man. Now there's people that'll say
that dishonestly. They don't really believe they're that much
of a sinner. And while they're calling on God to give him a
hand, they're not calling on God for mercy. They'll say these
words, but mean something else. Only God knows what's really
going on in the heart. But when a man is truly praying,
out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks and you find
out what a man is. And this word here in John 17
shows us what our Lord is. Prayer is an opening of the heart
toward God. Prayer is asking for things from
God with faith and submission. Now, we ask God for things. Paul says in Philippians chapter
4 verse 6, make your request known to God. And there's a lot
in there. First of all, we've got requests
and it's all right to lay them before the Lord. And when we have requests, let's
lay them there. I know that we have things, you
know, if you want to raise, You may ask God for it, but you need
to go talk to your boss, too. I'm not talking about things
like that. I'm talking about the real matters of the heart.
There's no reason you should take them anywhere else but God.
Or certainly before you take them anywhere else, take them
to God. Lots of times on Facebook, I read where people say, pray
for me, la-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And I always wonder, have you
prayed for yourself yet? Have you taken this matter to
the Lord? Now, there's nothing wrong for asking for brothers
and sisters to pray for you. But don't ask them to do for
you what you won't do for yourself. Do you have something you believe
you need? Go to your father, ask him. Lay it down at his throne. Do
so with faith. Faith in what? Well, faith that
he is your father. And faith that as your Father, He will
give you everything that's good for you. Do you believe that?
Do you believe that the Heavenly Father is of a heart and mind
to give you everything good for you? Well, if you don't believe
that, start believing it right now. It's true. You say, oh,
but there's a whole lot of terrible things going on in my life. Evidently,
God thinks it's good for you. I didn't say He'd give you everything
pleasant. I said He'd give you everything good. I always want
to be careful that I never belittle a person's trials. Some of y'all
go through trials I've never been through. I've been through
trials you've never been through. And you really don't know what
a trial is until you go through it. You know, for many years,
when one of y'all would experience a death, I'd do and say what
I could. But for the most part, I was
playing the professional preacher, because I'd never lost anybody
close. and then my parents died. Now, I've lost some friends and
things like that, but you know what I'm talking about here.
Now, I still wouldn't pretend to understand what it's like
to lose a spouse or to lose a child, but at least I've got a little
taste of what it's like to lose someone, and they aren't coming
back, at least not in this life. Gives me a little more connection
with those who've experienced similar things. But we make our requests known
to God because he's of a mind to do good for his people. There are two guards when it
says make your request known to God. The scriptures give us
two guards on that. We shouldn't just go in there
and say, well, Lord, I'd like a brand new car. Now, if you
believe a brand, well, if you believe a brand new car would
be useful for you in the kingdom of God, fine. But you know, the
scriptures do put up two guardrails for us as we pray. One of them
is this, the Lord says, whatever you ask in my name, you will
receive. What kind of things would you
dare to go before the father and say, in the name of your
son, I ask? I read just a few paragraphs
from a book once called Praying Backwards. And of course the
reason they call it that is usually we put all these requests out
there and at the end of our prayer we say, and we ask this in Jesus'
name, amen. It's almost like the sincerely
or lots of love or whatever we put at the end of a letter to
God. But this person, whoever he wrote
the book, and I have no idea whether there's anything else
good in the book, but I appreciated this particular point he was
making. Start your prayer with, In the name of Jesus Christ,
your son, I ask. Well, maybe that'll affect what
we say next, huh? Maybe we'll realize that you
don't summon that name over just anything. When our Lord said,
whatever you ask in my name, that was not to be some kind
of a genie thing where you rub it and out comes a genie and
you get three wishes. So when you pray, keep this in
mind, even if you never mouth the words. You're coming before
the Father in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ. Let your prayers be guided by
that. You'll notice the things that
our Lord prayed for here were not flippant things. They were serious things. And
the other one is this, whatever we ask according to his will,
he hears us. And a lot of people say, yeah,
if we figure out what it is God's going to do anyway and ask for
it, we'll get it. Well, what's the use in that? Then prayer
is nothing but a guessing game of trying to figure out what
God's going to do anyway. What is God's will? Our Lord
said, and this is the will of him that sent me that all that
see the Son and believe on him, I shall lose none, but raise
him up the last day. This is the will of him who sent
me that of all that he has given me, I will not lose one, but
raise him up in the last day. The will of God is that his Son
be successful and bring glory to God and to himself through
the work that he does. And anything that we ask that's
consistent with that will, It'll happen. And therefore, our prayers are
guided by those guardrails. Prayer is intercession, praying
on behalf of others. In 1 Thessalonians 1.25, Paul
said very succinctly, brethren, pray for us. But in 2 Thessalonians
3.1, he expands a little bit. He says, pray for us that the
word may go out from us with power. In Galatians chapter six, verse
two, it says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law
of Christ. Now there's a practical side
to that. Do you see your brother or sister covered up with trouble
and trials that he can't bear? And there's something practical
you could do to help. Then you go there and you put
your shoulders to the wheel and you help. You do what you can
to relieve the insufferable burdens of your brothers and sisters,
but also bearing one another's burdens means to bear them before
the Lord. Is your heart moved for the troubles
that your brothers and sisters endure, the difficulties they
face, the struggles they go through? A lot of the things that our
brothers and sisters go through, we really can't do anything about
it practically. They're internal struggles. Or
they're family struggles. It's whatever. And we can't go in and actually
do something. I've told people before, you
know, that may be going through an illness in the family. And
I know it's breaking everybody's heart, a terminal illness. It's
breaking everybody's heart. And you feel like, I just wish
I could go in there for a day and bear this for you. Me be
the one that's broken down. Me the one that weeps and doesn't
know how to not weep and has forgotten how to laugh. Let me
be that for a day. You run off to Sioux Falls and have a good
time and get you some rest or whatever. You know something?
You can't do that, can you? There are burdens that we cannot
bear. In the same way that you might
pick up a load that somebody has, you know, let me carry your
suitcases even. But you can bear them before
the Lord. Who knows? The Lord may have sent trouble
to your brother or sister to get your attention and bring
you to the throne in your, in behalf of your brother or sister. intercession our Lord still intercedes
for his people it says he's able to save the uttermost then that
come to God by him for he ever lives to make intercession for
them there is one God and one mediator between God and man
the man Christ Jesus he's still a man he's still the mediator
he still prays for his people Prayer is praise and thanksgiving. The two go together, for how
can we praise God for things we'd never give him thanks? And
is not thanks simply one way to praise him for what he's done?
A thankless heart is a graceless heart. None of us give thanks
in the measure that we should, but someone who doesn't recognize
where his blessings come from and give thanks to God for them,
I'm just afraid he doesn't know God. Our Lord prayed in all of these
ways and he honestly revealed his heart to God. Virtually the
entire heart of our Lord was laid bare in this prayer. Now note what it is that he prays. Look over at James chapter 5
verse 6. James chapter five, verse six,
verse 16. Told my wife last night, we were
in Walmart, and I said, I gotta get new glasses. And I just did,
like two months ago. I said, I gotta get new glasses.
We got separated, and I'd left my phone at home, so I couldn't
call her and find out where in the store she was. So I was going
down each aisle just like a kid, looking for his mom, you know.
I looked down the aisles, and I looked, and all the way down
the other end is this woman standing there. I said, I think that's
Mommy. So I got a little bit closer until I could find out.
Sure enough, it was her, but she looked a little bit fuzzy
from across the aisle. Well, I see six when it should be a 16. James
5, verse 16, the last part of it, the prayer of a righteous
man is powerful and effective. I've seen this translated so
many different ways, and all of them are true. But I think
what, to gain a sense of it, it's better to paraphrase it
than it is to try to do a real strict translation. The energetic
or fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. Now, I've heard people say, well,
you've heard the phrase prayer changes things. Prayer doesn't
change anything. God changes things. I've even
said that. And within a certain context, it's true. People think
that the act of praying actually changes things. It doesn't. But
obviously prayer changes things. James says it does. It doesn't
change what God has purposed. It doesn't change what God will
do. But it certainly changes us. And from our viewpoint of what
they call secondary causes, in this world where we see cause
and effect and that kind of thing, we look at what we think is going
to happen and it doesn't look like a good plan to us, it doesn't
look like that's the way we want to go and we pray and it may
be that God will change what it looks like to us is going
to happen. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, which
simply means he's just like us. And he prayed. And God shut up
the heavens, no rain for three or so years like that. Talk about
a drought. He prayed again and they got
a deluge. Now you can say God planned those
things anyway. Okay. But we don't live in the area
or the reality where God plans. We live in the area where these
things would be carried out. We pray. And if we are, as James
said, the righteous person, we know what that means, believers.
And our prayer is honest and sincere and fervent. It avails
much. But if that can be applied to
men like Elijah or men like you and me, how much more to our
Lord Jesus Christ, who truly is the righteous man? And never
was there a prayer more earnest, more fervent than this one. This is our mediator praying,
our Savior, our God, our Redeemer. One of the early Spurgeon books
that I bought was a little small book. It's called The Pastor
in Prayer. And I just picked it up thinking it was going to
be about how pastors should pray. What it is was a transcript of
the prayers that Charles Spurgeon prayed, several of them. What
he prayed there at Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. You can get
books of his sermons, and here was a little book of his prayers. His prayers were remarkable to
read. I believe they were honest. They
were full of tenderness and appeals for mercy. Good prayers, at least as I'm
able to judge a prayer. But look who's praying here.
Do you think there's any dross in this prayer? Do you think
there's any selfishness in this prayer? Do you think there's
anything in this like where James said, you pray or you have not
because you pray not and when you do pray, you pray that you
might consume it on yourself. You see any of that in this prayer?
No, there's nothing in here that doesn't belong in here. And you
know something? There's nothing in here that's
not gonna happen. He's the only begotten Son of
God. praying to the Heavenly Father, and note what he prays
for, verse 11. Now we're back in John 17, verse
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. While
I was with him, I protected them and kept them safe by that name
you gave me. What's that name? You shall call
his name Jesus, for he'll save his people from their sins. And then in verse 16, it says,
they are not of the world. Excuse me, wrong verse. Verse 15, my prayer is not that
you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from
the evil one. Some of your enemies you can
see. The worst ones you can't see. The enemies you can see, you
might be able to handle them, okay? It's the enemy you can't
see that's bigger than you. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
protect them. Protect them. And you know something? The Father is protecting everyone
for whom the Lord prayed. He prayed that they would have
the full measure of his joy. I have to move along here. I
do encourage you to read this prayer and take note of what
things the Lord prayed for us. To have the full measure of his
joy. Notice that he didn't say the
full measure of their joy. A lot of times the things we
take joy in, we shouldn't be having at all. He said, may they
have the full measure of my joy. He says in verse 17, sanctify
them through your truth. Set them apart with the truth. The less we hear of the truth,
the more we find in common with the world. In our nature, we already have
much in common with the world. But if we absent ourselves from
the preaching of the word, we absent ourselves from that agent
that God uses to keep us separate from this world. and changes
our hearts and minds to think like his people rather than the
world's people. So he says, sanctify them through
that truth. Thy word is truth. And then he says, I pray that
they would be one, one in heart and mind. I hear people say,
you know, the church should be unified. Brethren, the church
is unified in many things. Paul says, there is one body.
He didn't say there should be, he said there is. I know that
Christians have formed many denominations and split over this and that,
and it's a sad thing to see. And even brothers and sisters
that walked together for a long time, and this has broken my
heart to see it happen over the past years. of the brethren who one time
walked in close fellowship and thought everybody was, you know,
one another was just the finest thing since sliced bread, suddenly
don't want to talk to each other. And I think, what went on here?
But you know something? Despite all those fleshly divisions,
despite all that malice and everything, they are one in Christ, whether
or not they want to admit it. Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ? so you and I are one in Christ. You and I are united in our thoughts
about him. You and I are united in our desires
for him. It may be a pitiful shame that
our flesh can get in the way of But our flesh can never overthrow
what God has done. Our flesh can never deny the
Lord Jesus Christ a full answer to his prayer. And whatever may divide the people
of God now will not divide them in glory. I don't know if there could be
any kind of regrets in heaven, I don't think so. I mean, it
would hardly be a wonderful place to be if there were regrets,
but if there were any, I'm sure the chief among our regrets is
anything we let come between us and a brother or sister and
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, may they be one. I used to like to put up a lot
of walls. I'm not even done yet, I'm sure. Flesh is flesh, it
never gets any better. But I remember a long time ago
thinking, you know, one of these days I am going to be reconciled
to every one of God's people. I may as well just get started
now and enjoy the trip. Every brother or sister in Christ
is going to be absolutely perfectly reconciled with every other brother
or sister in Christ in all the universe. But we aren't there yet. Don't
expect we'll get there yet, but what we can aim for it. That
they may be one. In verse 23 says, I in them and
you in me, may they be brought to complete unity to let the
world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have
loved me. The best testimony. that the
church has to this world. I know that we've got to give
out testimony and words, but that which marks out God's people
in this world is the love that they have for one another, because
it is proof that God loves them just like he loved his son. I see folks get on Facebook,
all claiming to be believers in the Lord, and they start fighting
with each other. Oh, we're silly stuff. I mean, doctrinal issues
that really aren't clearly stated in scriptures, but they go after
one another hammer and tong, and I've said to them before,
I said, what if an unbeliever is on this thread? What are they
gonna think of us? What are they gonna think of what we believe?
What are they gonna think of the Lord if this is all they
know about us? Our Lord said, let them be in
perfect unity. Let them love one another with
a pure love. and the world will see it. And
even if they don't believe what we believe, they'll have to say,
that's a special people. Something about them the rest
of the world doesn't have. Now note who he prays for. He
said, I pray for them. Who were they? Bunch of disciples who in just
a couple of hours would all forsake him and run cowards That's who he's praying for He's
praying for those of little who often he said to them. Oh you
have little faith. Why did you doubt? He's praying
for those who at one time Had the gall to come up and say when
you come to your kingdom Let one of us sit on your right and
the other on your left. It was two brothers James and John.
I You say, John, the beloved disciple, said that? Yeah, he
did. And you read another case, it kind of sounds like their
mom prompted it. You know, mothers love their
boys. I know that. At least mine did. And they like
their boys to be at the top of the heap, you know. Go up and
ask the master. You'll be all right. Go ahead,
it'll be all right. And they did. And they got rebuked,
but you know something? They got rebuked, but they didn't
get cast away. And the Lord didn't leave them
out in this prayer. But here's why the Lord prayed
for them. Going back to verse nine. I pray for them, for those you
have given me, for they are yours. They were, or they are yours. Everybody belongs to God in the
sense that he's their creator, but there is a people chosen
before the world began, and God owns them in a way he doesn't
own others. I know a lot of women in this
world, and I don't think I have malice toward any of them. Some
of them I like quite a bit. Some of them I love dearly. But
there's not one in this world I love like my wife. And God
has a benevolence toward everybody in the world of some sort. He
feeds everybody. Whatever good they have, they
got it from Him. But there is a people whom He
loves like nobody else. They are His. And He arranges
everything in the universe for their eternal welfare. Now that's love. We belong to
God. And the Lord Jesus said, that's
who I'm praying for. And now, very quickly, a righteous but
sober exclusion. He says, I am not praying for
the world. I often wonder what most of Christian
religion does with that. They say God wants, or Jesus
wants to save everybody. He wants to save everybody, but
won't even pray for them? Why wouldn't God pray for them?
Brethren, you're asking the wrong question. Why would God pray
for us? Why would Christ pray for me?
I've given him every reason to send me to hell. I've given him
every reason to say, Father, you see that guy over there?
Burn him up. I'm tired of him breathing my air. He says He believes in me, and
I know there's so little faith in Him, you couldn't light a
candle with it. He says He loves me, but He loves
so much of this world, if He loves me, I can't find it. He says He loves righteousness,
I know what He does. Doesn't look like He loves righteousness
to me. Brethren, the question is not why does Christ refuse
to pray for the world. The remarkable thing is, why
does Jesus Christ pray for anybody? Why should he pray for him? They
hate him. We read where God says he hated
Esau. People get all up in arms, well,
why not? Esau hated him. You say, well, why did he love
Jacob? I can't answer you that question.
But I can tell you why he hated Esau. And I can't tell you why
he prays for me, but I know full well why he doesn't pray for
the world. What does this say to us? I'm
sure glad I'm not of the world. I'm sure glad I'm not one of
those that the Lord said, I'm not praying for them. I would like to pray better than
I do. I'd like to pray more than I do. But I thank God for this,
there's one who prays for me, whose prayer will not be denied. God, the Holy Father's only begotten
son, has undertaken to pray for God's people, and God will not
turn him away. Heavenly Father, bless your word
now, in Christ's name we pray. Scott, if you and Nathan would
come, will observe the Lord's table.