Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm going to continue preaching through the book of John, chapter
17, in which I've entitled this series of messages in John 17,
The Lord's Prayer. And as I've mentioned probably
in the first two messages, that most people when they think of
the Lord's prayer, they think of Matthew chapter 6, where it's
given the model prayer, where our Lord was teaching his disciples
to pray, and he begins with, Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. That's the model prayer. That's
where he teaches his disciples to pray in respect of the glory
and the awesomeness and the greatness of the Father. But here is the
actual Lord's prayer in John 17. This is what is known as
his high priestly prayer, his personal prayer unto his Father,
for his people. We can divide this prayer into
three parts. The first five verses concerns
Christ personally praying in his relationship to his Father. As we've said before, we know
that the Bible reveals God, one God, in three distinct persons,
that's the Trinity. That is certainly a truth that
is most difficult to understand, impossible to understand with
our finite minds, puny minds, we might say. But God is one
God who subsists in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And for the purposes of redemption,
God the Son submitted Himself unto the Father in order to redeem
His people from their sins. And here is God the Son incarnate
praying to the Father. And the prayer that He prays
for His people now, is based upon his finished work on the
cross. He is praying in anticipation
of going to the cross. He says in verse 4 of John 17,
he says, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do, the finished work of Christ
on the cross. His obedience unto death is the
complete redemption and justification of His people. For in His obedience
to the law, He brought forth a perfect, perfect righteousness
and obedience to the law for His people. You see, He was made
under the law, and that means all that God's law required of
Christ's people, God's people, Christ became in his obedience. The law requires perfection.
You don't have it and I don't have it, but Christ brought it
in for his people. And then his suffering unto death,
shedding his blood on the cross of Calvary as payment for the
sins of his people. He said it. He said in John chapter
10, I lay down my life for the sheep, the good shepherd. And
in doing that, he satisfied the justice of God, and when you
put all his work together, his obedience unto death, the Bible
calls that the righteousness of God, because it's a righteousness
that God purposed and provided in and by his Son. So the finished
work of Christ on the cross, is the complete redemption and
the complete justification before God. That is, we are accepted
based on His blood and His righteousness. Now, the second part of this
prayer is where I am today. And beginning in verse 6, he
begins praying for the disciples that were with him at this time
here on earth. Now remember, he's about to go
to the cross. Some say he's about to enter
the Garden of Gethsemane. Some say he prayed this prayer
while in Gethsemane. Those are the kinds of details
that we don't have to worry about and argue and debate over. We
know that he prayed this prayer. Whether he prayed it on the way
to Gethsemane or in Gethsemane doesn't matter, but the issue
is this. He's praying for his people. And here, beginning at verse
6, he prays for the disciples who were with him in that day.
His going to the cross made them sorrowful. His going away. Now
it was necessary, he said, for him to go away. But he said they
sorrowed and they should rejoice. So he prays for them. He says
in verse 6, He prays to the Father for them. He says, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
That refers to his disciples, but it's a truth that applies
to all of his sheep in every generation, the whole church. Christ said, I've manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. That's
the name of God, the God of grace, the God of salvation, the God
who reveals himself through Jesus Christ. The Bible says, in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete in him. The glory of God revealed in
the face of Jesus Christ, how God saves sinners. It's not by
your works. It's not by our efforts, it's
by the blood and righteousness of Christ, and that's how God
reveals His name. His name is that which identifies
and distinguishes Him from idols. And so He says, "...thine they
were, thou gavest them thee." God chose them before the foundation
of the world in sovereign electing grace. And He gave them to the
Son. Now, you remember Christ said
in John chapter 6, he said in verse 37, "...all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." He says, "...thine they were, and thou
gavest them me," and then he says, "...they have kept thy
word." You see, they believed the Word, and they were by the
grace of God. preserved in that word. He says
in verse 7, "...now they have known that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee." In other words, they have been
brought to this great knowledge by the grace of God, by the revelation
of God, by His Spirit, that everything that Christ was and did as God-man
in redeeming His people and keeping the law, all the miracles, all
that He told them, it was of God. Not of man. He was no mere man.
Christ was no mere man. He was God-man. He's the unique
God-man. He's the Lord of glory. And He's
the Savior of His people. He says in verse 8, "...for I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me." And they
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they have believed that thou didst send me." What a great
and glorious message of grace. The Father sending the Son into
the world to save his people from their sins. What a great
message of the Gospel. Then he says in verse 9, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. His prayer
was not for all men and women without exception. The world
here represents the unbelieving, unregenerate world. It's the
world that is in opposition to Christ and which will die in
their sins without believing in Him. You see, His death was
for specific people, and so are His prayers, His intercessory
prayers. He died for His sheep, therefore
He prays for His sheep. And especially here for his sheep
who were on the earth at the time of his earthly walk, especially
during his death, he says in verse 10, and all mine are thine,
and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. They belong
to the Father, they belong to the Son. You see, the possession
Ownership of the people of God is specifically laid down. We who are redeemed of the Lord
do not belong to ourselves. These disciples here that were
with the Lord during his earthly walk, they did not belong to
themselves. Everything they are in redemption
and everything they have by way of blessing belong to God in
Christ. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
6 that as Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he said, you are not
your own. You are bought with a price.
Now, what was the price? It was the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, the price that bought
the people of God unto himself was not money or works or dedication
or tears or anything that they bring. I heard a minister say
one time, he said, the cost of forgiveness is repentance. And you know that is not so.
The cost of forgiveness is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you see that, my friend,
when the Holy Spirit reveals that to your heart, then you'll
repent. As a result, repentance is the
fruit of forgiveness that comes at the cost of the blood of Christ.
Now, that's not just splitting hairs. That is truth that is
vital. You see, that's the difference
between grace and works. If the cost of forgiveness was
your repentance, you would never have forgiveness, because you
would never come of your own to repent. The Bible says that
faith and repentance are the gifts of God. the gifts of God. So he says, all mine are thine.
They belong to the Father by divine sovereign electing grace. They belong to Him by adoption
in Christ. They belong to the Son by redemption. He paid the price in full. We sing a hymn at our church,
Jesus paid it all. And sometimes the original writer
put, all to Him I owe, and that's right. I owe Him love, devotion,
I owe Him obedience, not in order to be saved, but because He's
already saved me on the cross, He's redeemed me. But sometimes
we'll say it this way, Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it. White as snow. You didn't wash
it. I didn't wash it. Mom and Dad
didn't wash it. The preacher didn't wash it.
The church didn't wash it. In fact, the church, the true
church, is washed in the blood of Christ. And then he goes on
in verse 11. He says, and now I am no more
in the world. Now, he's speaking there in anticipation
of his going to the cross. shedding his blood unto death,
being raised again the third day, and then afterward ascending
unto his Father." So what he was saying here is, I am now,
I am no more in the world. Now Christ in his deity is omnipresent. That means he's everywhere. Like
the Father and the Spirit, co-equal in every attribute of his character,
he's God. But as God-man, as this specific
person, personally, he's going to go away. Now, he's with his
people. He never leaves his people. He
said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. How is he with his people? He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I am also. I'm with them. He dwells
within our hearts. The Bible speaks of Christ being
in us. Now, how is Christ in us? He's
in us by His Spirit and by His Word. But personally, right now,
He's seated at the right hand of the Father as God-man. And
so He says, "...and now I am no more in the world, but these
are in the world, and I come to thee." Now, the disciples,
that's Peter and James and John, later on Paul and others, They're
going to be in the world when Christ, after Christ, has ascended
unto the Father. And he says, and I come to thee.
I come to thee, Father, Christ the Saint, on their behalf. Holy
Father, he says, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we, or as we are. Now what he's praying for there,
you see, Christ and his people are one. I preached a message
several weeks ago called the One and the Many. Christ is the
One. His church, His people, His sheep
are the Many. The One represented the Many. The One kept the law perfectly
for the Many. Who are those Many? They are
sinners. That's exactly what they are.
But they are sinners saved by the grace of God. The One died
for the Many. many brethren, he called them
in Hebrews chapter 2. The church, the one was raised
again because he justified the many and he ascended unto the
Father and makes intercession for the many. Now what he's praying
for there is, number one, that the Father by his power through
Christ would keep them. You see, salvation, we are not
saved by works and we are not kept by works. We are saved by
grace and we are kept by grace. These people who talk about being
saved by grace and then lost because of sin do not know the
gospel. They don't know the grace of
God. Not only am I saved initially by the grace of God in Christ,
by His power, I am preserved by the grace of God and by His
power. And then he says that they may
be one even as we. Now, what he's talking about
there is their final glory. Even our final glory is by grace. And to be one, even as the Father
and the Son are one, means this. It means to be perfectly holy
within themselves. You see, right now, as I am represented
and as I stand in Christ, I am perfectly holy, now listen to
me, in Him. In myself, I'm not. In myself,
I'm still a sinner. In myself, even as a saved sinner,
my best efforts to keep the law fall short. In myself, my best
prayers and my best messages, my best thoughts are still tainted. with the indwelling presence
of sin within me. It's a battle. It's a struggle.
Now, sin cannot condemn me because Christ was condemned for me.
Sin cannot bring me back under God's wrath because Christ removed
God's wrath. But sin still influences me.
It still plagues me. It still wars against the Spirit
within me. And I have to fight the fight
of the warfare of the flesh and the spirit, again, not to be
saved, but because I already am saved in Christ. So I'm already
holy in Christ as I stand in Him, but not in myself. But one day, by the grace and
the power of God, not by my works now, not by my efforts, Not by
trying to make myself holy. One day, by the grace and power
of God, I'll be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. I'll
be free totally from the indwelling presence, from the flesh, this
sinful flesh. I'll be free from any power of
sin to taint or contaminate what I desire to do. Paul said it
in Romans chapter 7. He said, I want to keep the law.
But I want to keep it perfectly. I want to glorify Christ in everything
I think, say, and do perfectly. But he said, I have a law within
me, a powerful principle of selfishness and self-righteousness of sin
that plagues everything I do, so that it leaves me with nothing
to glory in but Christ in Him crucified, and I have to cry,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? Well, he says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. And that's what Christ is praying
for here as the mediator, the high priest, the intercessor
of these disciples. And he does the same for all
of his disciples. He says in 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." Now, that's Judas. And he says, the son of
perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. You see,
Judas was not one who was saved and then lost. He says it right
here, he said, while I was with them in the world, I kept them
in thy name. It was the personal presence of Christ amongst his
disciples that kept them. And he said, those that thou
gave me, I kept, I've kept. And none of them is lost, he
says. Now you see this, he makes a distinction here. between those
that the Father gave him and Judas, the son of perdition."
Judas was not one whom the Father gave him. He said, listen to
it again, he says, "...those that thou gavest me I have kept."
Remember what he said, I'll quote it again, John 6, 37, "...all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me." Now, Judas didn't
want him. Judas hated him. Judas was an
unbeliever. But it says here, none of them
is lost but the son of perdition. That doesn't mean accept as if
Judas was saved and then lost. He says, and here proves it now,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Judas was the son of perdition
from the beginning. And he did not believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had a profession of faith.
But he didn't have a heart confession. Holy Spirit wrought faith that
comes in the new birth when the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment. So he's the son of perdition.
In verse 13 he says, "...and now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves." The Bible speaks of Christ having a joy. The joy that was set before him
is spoken of in Hebrews chapter 12. There was a joy that was
set before him. Now what was that joy? Well,
it was the joy of glorifying his Father. And he brought that
out at the first of his prayer. I have glorified thee. It was
the joy of being raised again from the dead and ascended unto
the Father. His own exaltation. He spoke
of that. He said, glorify thou me with
the glory that I had with me before the world was. And my
friend, it was the joy of the complete salvation of his people. Now this is what he's praying
for his disciples on the earth at that time to see. Notice he
says there that they might have my joy. fulfilled in them." He
wanted them to see his death in the same way that he saw it,
as the glory of the Father, the exaltation of the Son, and the
salvation of God's people. And when they would see that,
they would have his joy fulfilled in them. It would be realized
and experienced within them. Verse 14, he says, "...I have
given them thy word, and the world hath hated them." But because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." You
see, when a sinner believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and when
he identifies with Christ in doctrine, in life, in walk, in
attitude, when he identifies with Christ and takes sides with
Christ against the world, the Bible says, the world hates them. Christ had said that over here
in John chapter 15, when he said, marvel not if the world hates
you. He said, it hated me before it hated you. But he said, you're
not of the world. And that's what he's praying
for here. I've given them thy word. His word is life. He has
the words of eternal life, for he is life. He said that. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. When the multitudes were leaving
him, he turned to his disciples, and he said, Will you go away
also? Peter spoke up and said, To whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life. And he gave them those words,
and the world hated them. The world hates the light that
exposes them for who they are. The world hates the light that
exposes their false refuge. And he says, Because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. They identify
with the Savior. They identify with the Redeemer.
They identify with the Lord of Lords. Do you? That's what we
need. We identify with Him when we
believe His Word and confess it before men. He says in verse
15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil, that is, from
the evil one. Christ is not saying take them
on out of the world. They have a job to do. They have
a task to do that He would give them in the Great Commission.
But he says, I pray that you will keep them from the evil
one, from Satan, who is the destroyer. Well, they can't be destroyed.
Christ defeated Satan. He says in verse 16, they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Again, they
identify with him. And then in verse 17, he says,
sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now, that
word sanctify means to set apart. It means to set them apart from
the world and distinguish them and identify them, how? Through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. You see, it
is the truth heard, believed, and confessed in the power of
the Holy Spirit that identifies and distinguishes the people
of God from the people of the world. It's not what you wear,
Somebody says, well, a Christian wouldn't wear that, or a Christian
would wear this. It's not taste-not, it's not
what you eat, it's not taste-not, touch-not, handle-not, it's not
any of the things that people today say is the distinction
of Christians and non-Christians. It's the word of truth. The church,
we're going to talk about that next week, the church is the
pillar and ground of truth. And here's the issue. Do you
in your preaching, in your witnessing, in your belief, do you exalt
Christ and Him crucified? Do you claim no salvation but
that which was finished by Him on the cross of Calvary? That
is the evidence of the Spirit's work within. Do you look unto
Christ, Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith? Or do
you look elsewhere? When you're convicted of sin,
do you find relief in anyone but Christ, his blood and righteousness? You see, that's what identifies
and distinguishes and sets the people of God apart from the
world. It's grace, my friend. Salvation
by grace. Paul said it this way in Galatians
6.14, God forbid that I should glory, boast, or have confidence
in anything save the cross. of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ
and him crucified. And so he says in verse 18, "...as
thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them
into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through thy truth."
Truly sanctified. Christ sends his people, his
church, his disciples, into the world to preach the truth. He
said, go into all the world and preach the gospel, teaching all
nations to follow Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. That's the issue. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? He is the Lord of glory. He's
the one mediator between God and men. He's the way, the truth,
and the life, the only Savior. Peter said other foundations
can no man lay than that which is laid. Jesus Christ in Him
crucified. Salvation in no other. I hope that message has been
helpful to your understanding of this passage of scripture
and the gospel as a whole. If you'd like to receive a copy
of this message, listen to the announcer and he'll give you
the details. The title of the message is The Lord's Prayer. This is part three, The Lord's
Prayer. And I hope you'll join us next week for another message
from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-432-6969. or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.