Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face." John 17. Verse 9. John 17, verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. I've entitled this message, what
the Lord prays for his people. And the Lord gives us such encouragement
to pray. He says, men ought always to
pray and not to faint, not to lose heart. Be careful for nothing,
but in everything. by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your requests, your petitions,
be made known unto God. God is even called, O thou that
hearest prayer. God hears prayer. And you think of all the things
that we ask the Lord for in prayer. The first thing I ask for is
forgiveness, for mercy, for grace, God's favor
toward me. We ask for him to provide for
us. Lord, provide me with what I
need. When we're sick, we ask Him to
heal us. We ask Him to protect us. We
pray for our loved ones that He would keep them and preserve
them and reveal Himself to them. And oh, when we're in trouble,
we pray. Have you ever been in trouble and you, Lord, get me
out of this. Get me out of this. Turn things
around. Turn the tide. how we pray when
we're in trouble. There's so many things that we
make petition for. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the great High Priest of His people. Now, what does He pray
for? He says, I pray for them. And
I think if we can learn what He prays for, we can learn something
about what we ought to pray for. Now, in John 17, There are four
specific things he says he prays for his people. Four specific
things. He prays first that they might
be kept from evil. Then he prays that they might
be one with one another. And then he prays that they might
be sanctified. And then he prays that they might
be with him. all the time. And those are the
four things that he asks in behalf of his people. Now, you can't
help but notice Our Lord says, I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. I'm not praying for everybody.
I'm not representing everybody. This prayer is not offered for
every son of Adam, only for those thou hast given me. He's talking
about the elect. He says, I pray for the elect. Now somebody says, why make an
issue of that? Well, the Lord does. That's enough of a reason,
isn't it? The Lord does. And this is to
teach us. You see, the gospel is in this.
If Christ prays for you, Father's gonna hear Him. When He said
from the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do. Everybody, that wasn't a generic prayer. Everybody He prayed for,
you know what happened? The Father forgave them. Every
single one of them. Everybody He prays for, whatever
He asked for, they get. If He prays that I might be kept
from evil, you know what? I'm kept from evil. If He prays
that I might be one with you, you know what? We're one. If He prays that I might be sanctified
through the truth, I am sanctified through the truth. The Father
never says no to Him. All He requests of the Father,
He has. If He says, Father, I will, They
be with me to behold my glory. You know what? I'll be with him
and I'll behold his glory. You see, the Lord's prayer, His
prayer is, this is the Lord's prayer. And whatever He requests,
because of who He is, equal with the Father, one with the Father,
because of who He is, everything He asks for, He gets. Now, This is not simply praying
about the disciples, this is talking about me and you too.
Look at verse 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Look
in verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, I'm not just praying
for the 11, but for them also which shall believe, not which
might end up believing, but which shall believe on me through their
words. So this is a prayer for all of
God's elect. Now, if somebody is disposed
to say it just doesn't seem right that he's not praying for everybody,
well, you take that up with him. He's the one who said this. And,
you know, whatever the Lord says, I'm just fine with. That's the
only way to look at it. But, thank God, his prayers are
always effectual. I love that passage of Scripture
we open the service with, where he says, Peter, Satan literally
has asked permission to have his hand on you, that he might
sift you as wheat. And Peter was no match for Satan,
was he? Nor are you or me. But he says,
I pray for you. Can you imagine the King of glory
having your name on his heart and representing you before the
Father and praying for you? There's such comfort in that.
If the Lord prays for you, what else do you need? Absolutely
nothing. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which you have given me. Now, look
in verse 11. And now I'm no more in the world.
He knew he was getting ready to go back to his father, but
these are in the world, my people. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one as we are. Look in verse 14, I've given
unto them thy word, and the world hath hated them because they're
not of the world, even as I'm not of the world. I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. Now the word keep means
to guard over. to protect them, to preserve
them, to keep them from falling and to keep them from falling
away. Now somebody says, can a believer
fall away? Well, if he can, he will. If
he can. He will, but thank God, he can't. Therefore, he won't because Christ
prays for that individual. If Christ prays for me, I must
be kept. Now, he says, keep them from
evil. And doesn't the Lord teach us
to pray that every day? Why, in that model prayer that he
gives his disciples, we're taught to pray, deliver us from evil. Lead us not into temptation.
We know if we're tempted we'll fall. So don't even let me be
tempted. Put a hedge about me and keep
me. Deliver us from evil. Now, this
thing of evil, it's a three-headed monster. First, keep me from
the evil one, from Satan. Satan is called the accuser of
the brethren. He's called the God of this world. He's called the prince of the
power of the air. He's called the evil one. He's called an angel of light.
There's a lot of names given to the devil. And I know this,
you and I are no match for him. Look how easily he turned Peter
around. I mean, you think about it. The
Lord told him, the Lord told him, you're gonna deny me three
times. Now, you'd think Peter would
have braced for that and thought, well, I'm going to do everything
I can for that not to happen. But there's nothing he could
do. He was no match for Satan. Satan sifted him as wheat. But I love that passage of Scripture.
Peter, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat, but I have prayed for you. Now, Peter was no match
for Satan. But Satan is no match for the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if he prays for you, You are safe. Now there's the evil of
the devil and then there's the evil of this world that our Lord
prays for regarding us. He says they're in the world.
I pray not that you take them out of the world but that you
keep them from the evil. That's talking about the evil
of this world. This world that has no love for God. No love for the Lord Jesus Christ
and the ways of this world are so corrupt. They're so evil. I think of that passage of scripture
in 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 where it says, all that's of
the world, he says, love, first he says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world for all that's of the
world, the lust of the flesh, the desires and the cravings
of sinful, fallen, corrupt human nature. You think of the evil
desires of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes where people live simply scared of what other people think,
controlled by what other people see, and they're just controlled
by the fear of man. That's what that lust of the
eyes is. And the pride of life, self-righteousness, what an evil
thing that is. And I'm afraid of it because
the world can have such influence over us. It can even get into... people's worship service and
they start adapting to worldly ways and worldly thoughts and
worldly methods and worldly means, it'll ruin a place. And I'm scared
to death. We can be so... Everybody in
here is affected by the world that's so corrupt. And yet look
at what a holy can get on you. Look at what a holy can get on
me. And so he prays, keep them from the evil of this world.
And I'll tell you what, The biggest enemy is when we talk about the
evil. Keep them from evil. There's the devil. There's the world.
But here's the biggest problem. This wicked, evil heart that
dwells in me. I need to be kept from myself.
I'm the biggest problem I have. I am sure of that. Keep me from
the evil of my wicked heart. If the Lord leaves me to myself,
I'll be as bad as Satan himself right now. Keep me. Preserve me. Lord, keep me. I can't keep myself.
That's why, Lord, pray this for me. Keep me from evil. Because I know if you don't do
it, I know exactly what's gonna happen to me. And I really believe
that there's no sin that I won't commit tonight if he doesn't
preserve me from it. So I pray, I cry, Lord, keep
me from evil. And notice, he says, keep through
thine own name, those thou has given me. Keep through thy own
name. His own name is his attributes.
His sovereignty, for instance. Make it a divine fiat. Make it
an act of your will that I'm going to be kept from evil. Will
me from being kept from evil. Will me. Do that for me, please.
Keep me from evil by your righteousness covering me. Keep me from evil
by your grace being extended to me and you cause me to walk
in your statutes and you cause me to walk in your way. Keep
me from evil by your love, by your mercy, by your grace. Every
attribute of God I'm calling upon to keep me from evil. And
that's what we're asking the Lord to do for us. Keep us from
evil. Now isn't this a glorious thing
to ask? Our Lord prays it for us and
we're to pray it for ourselves. Lord, keep me from evil. I'm so weak. I'm so helpless. I can't stand before temptation.
Keep me from evil. Preserve me. I want the Lord praying this
for me. Would you turn with me for a second to Psalm 121? Hold your
finger there in John 17, Psalm 121. David says, I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord, that one who made heaven and earth. Oh, I want him helping
me, don't you? I want the Lord to help me. Help me, Lord. Help
me. Verse 3. He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in. from this time forth and even
forevermore. What a blessing of grace to have
the Lord as your keeper and the Lord preserving you from all
evil. So this is the first thing he
asked for his people. He prays that we might be kept
from evil. Now listen to this. If the Lord
prays for me that I might be kept from evil, here's the glorious
thing. I'll be kept from evil. I will be kept. This is his doing. Now, the next thing that he prays
for is the unity of his people. Look in verse 11, John chapter
17, verse 11. And now I'm no more in the world,
but these are in the world and I come to thee, holy father. Keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are. Now you think of the oneness
of the father and the son. I love to think about this. It's
just something you worship in thinking about this. He said,
I and my father are one. So much so that He says, He that
has seen Me has seen the Father. Now that's one, isn't it? Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders.
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Jesus Christ is the
mighty God. Jesus Christ is the everlasting
Father. How can that be? I don't know,
but He is. He's God. He's one with the Father. One with the Father. And Christ Jesus is one with
His people. Both He that sanctifieth and
they that are sanctified are all of one." The Lord Jesus Christ became
one with me. He became what He was not. He
became flesh. He became what He was not. He
became sin. He became one with me, unified
to me, united to me. He was made sin on the cross
and just as truly as He was made sin, I'm made the very righteousness
of God in Him. I'm one with the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a blessed thing. And He prays for the oneness
of His people. Now, this must be awful important
because the Lord is praying that His people might be one. That you and I might have the
same agenda. That we have the same faith.
That we have the same purpose. That we have the same goal. That
we are one. We're going through this life
going in the same direction. One with one another. Now, that's
a powerful concept. Now, I want you to see a few
scriptures. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 10, Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but
that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and
in the same judgment. Look in Ephesians 4. Verse 1. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called with all lowliness. and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another, in love, endeavoring, giving every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." I'm to
give every effort to keep, to watch over, to guard that unity
of the Spirit. Brethren dwelling together in
unity. Turn to Philippians. Just a few
pages over. Philippians chapter 3. I'm sorry, chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. If there
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies
fulfill ye my joy, that you be like-minded. Having the same
love. Being totally in love and smitten
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Having the same love. Being of
one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look, not every man on his own
things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You know, Paul
said in another place, we have the mind of Christ. Look in chapter
four, Philippians, verses one and two. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved, and long for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. Now, I beseech you, O Dias, and
I beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Evidently, these two women were
having trouble, and he says, be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, remember the words of our
Lord, a house divided against itself. cannot stand, we're to
be of one mind and of one purpose. You see, only one thing is needful,
isn't it? You believe that? Only one thing is needful. It's
to sit at his feet and hear his word. Only one thing is important,
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're one in this. This is our desire, the promotion
of the glory and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
he prays for the unity of his people. Turn back to John chapter
17. Look what he says in verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word,
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, and the glory which Thou
gavest Me I have given them that they may be one, even as we are
one." I'm looking at some people who have the glory of Jesus Christ
upon them. And you know what? All of us
are one, aren't we? There's not one up here and one
down here. We're all one in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's neither bond nor free,
Greek nor Jew, male or female, barbarian. We're all one in Christ
Jesus. Made perfect in one, members
of the same body with the same care one for another. Verse 23,
I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one
that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
them as thou has loved me. So the Lord prays for the true
unity of his people. You know what? What he prays
for, he gives. His people are unified. They are at one. They do have
the same goal, the same purpose. His glory. Now look in verse
17. Here's the third thing that He
prays for. He prays first that we might
be kept from evil. Don't you want to be kept from
evil? Lord, pray for me. Keep me from evil. And I want
to be one with His people. Same desire. And then in verse
17, He says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now here's the third thing He
requests for His people. Sanctify them. Sanctify them. That word means to take something
common and ordinary, nothing special, and set it apart for
holy purposes. It means to declare to be holy. It means to make holy. He prays for the holiness of
his people. Sanctify them. Make them holy. How? Through thy truth. Now, I love the way He's praying
to the Father to do this for us. One thing I can't do is sanctify
myself. I can't make myself holy. But God can make me holy and
God does make me holy. You see, with regard to every
believer, I was sanctified. I was set apart by the Father
to be holy. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. Anybody know the
rest of the verse? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. I was sanctified when Christ
Jesus died because Hebrews 10.10 says, by His offering, by the
witch will, we are sanctified. a sanctification that knows no
progress. It doesn't grow or get better.
It's complete. By the witch will, we're sanctified
by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And
I'm sanctified by the Spirit of God when He gives me a new
nature, a holy nature, a nature that does not sin. That's what
a believer is given in the new birth, this holy nature. And
our Lord is praying, sanctify them through the truth. Now, if we're wondering what
the truth is, he tells us, thy word is truth. This book we call the Bible is
truth. Second Thessalonians 2.13 says,
We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God had, from the beginning, chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Now, wherever you have true,
genuine belief of the truth, you have the sanctifying work
of the Spirit of God. You wouldn't believe the truth unless God,
the Holy Spirit, caused you to. The one, they go together, sanctification
and belief of the truth. Now, the Scriptures alone, is
absolute truth, essential truth, authoritative truth because it's
the Word of God, undiluted truth, eternal, everlasting, immutable
truth. That's what the Scriptures are.
And my dear friends, we are not sanctified by error. We're not
sanctified by false doctrine. I'm only sanctified by the truth,
the truth of God's Word, the truth concerning who Christ is
and who I am and how He saves by His grace. And any belief
of the truth, that does not bring holiness of heart and life is
just an apparent belief of the truth, but it's not real. Because
anytime somebody truly believes the truth, holiness comes through
that. He said, sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. Believing
the truth is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. Now
look at it in verse 19. He says, for their sakes, I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."
Now, he says, I set myself apart for this, that they might be
sanctified through the truth. You see, the truth of the gospel,
it's a holy gospel, coming from a holy God, and it makes men
and women holy. The Scripture calls us holy brethren. While we're called saints, that
means holy ones. Every believer is holy. Now,
you want to know what to pray for? Lord, sanctify me. Lord, make me holy. Make me what
I can't make myself. Make me what I'm not by nature.
Make me holy. This is what our Lord prays.
He says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Keep me from evil. Don't keep me from evil. Preserve
me. Lord, cause me to be one with
your people. Cause me to be one with you. Cause me to be one
with your people. And Lord, sanctify me. I asked the Lord to pray.
This was what He prays. But let me remind you once again,
when He prays to the Father, sanctify them through Thy truth.
You know what? The Father sanctifies them through
His truth. Every believer is holy. A holiness that knows no progress. It's complete. The sanctification that's spoken
of in verse 19 is a perfectly completed act, never to be repeated. You know, Christ Jesus is said
to be my sanctification. He is my, He's made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So the Lord prays
for the holiness of His people. And look in verse 24, here's
the last thing we're gonna look at. He says, Father, I will. Now look at the character
of this prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ can say
to the Father, Father, I will that you do this. He speaks as
equal with the Father. You and I can't pray this way.
Why it would be utter blasphemy for me to say, Father, I will
that you do this, or I will that you do that. No, I can't pray
that way. But he can because of who he is. He says, Father,
I will that they also whom thou has given me Be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. I will that those whom you've
given me be with me. Don't you love being around people
you love? Like being with them, don't you? When you love somebody,
you like being with them. You want to be right there in
their presence. Now here's the Lord's prayer. He says, I will
that they whom you've given me be with me. Is he talking about
heaven? Yes. Is he talking about right
now? Yes. Right now. always in His presence. We're always with Him. And that's
what He desires for us to always be with Him. Now, once again,
think of the greatness of His person in this prayer. What if
I said, I want you all to be with me so you can behold my
glory. You'd say, I decline on that. For a man to say something like
that would be utter arrogance, wouldn't it? Just a regular,
I want you to be with me so you can behold my glory. That's offensive. Yet when the Lord Jesus says
it, it's the only thing that makes sense. I mean, you say,
yes, yes. As a matter of fact, this is
what heaven is. Beholding His glory. That's heaven to me. When
by His grace I shall look on His face. That will be glory. Be glory for me to just be allowed
to behold His glory. I want nothing else. That's heaven. I will, that they whom you've
given me be with me, where I am, I'm always with him. Lo, I'm
with you always, even under the end of the world. He's with me
right now, whether I feel it or not. Whether in my experience
I feel His presence or whether I feel so alone and so by myself
and so isolated, I know what it is to feel that way. You do
too. But you know what? It doesn't
matter how you feel. He's always with you whether you feel it
or not. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God,
not else is worth believing. So believer, He's willed. That
you be with Him all the time. And you are with Him all the
time. Beholding His glory. You know
His glory has something to do with His capacity to save people
like me and you. That's His glory. His glory. His glory. is that he can take and does
take somebody like me. Somebody who is sinful beyond
description and weak beyond description. And he says, they're mine. I'm going to make him just like
me. Now that's his glory. that He
can take somebody like me and make me just like Himself. That's glorious, isn't it? Beholding
His glory. Now, the Lord prays to His Father
that we might be kept from evil. And what happens as a consequence
of that? We're kept from evil. We're kept. The Lord prays For
our unity, and you know what? There's unity. There's a true
oneness. He prays that we might be sanctified,
and we are sanctified. And he prays that we might be
with him. And beloved, we're with him. And as we prepare to take the
Lord's table, when we eat that bread, and drink that wine, He's
with us. Yes, He's seated at the right
hand of the Father, but He's with us. And truly, we're doing
this in remembrance of Him. What a divine guest we have. No, guest is not a right word. He's with us, and we're with
Him. And we're remembering His shed
blood, what it did, put away our sins. We're remembering His
broken body, what He endured on the cross for us. And what
a blessing. Let's pass out the...