Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind this frowning providence
he hides a smiling face." John 17. 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. See, 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. And 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, the Father is going to hear Him.
When He said from the cross, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. 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 that
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 prayers, 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 to look at verse nine. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou has given me. For they and
I, look in verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, I'm not
just praying for the eleven, but for them also which shall
believe, not which might end up believing, but which shall
believe on me through their word. 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.
Will 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 opened 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. 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 has 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. And 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 going
to deny me three times. Now, you'd think Peter would
embrace 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 has 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 that 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 2, verse 15, where he 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 to adopt 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 sure everybody in here
is affected by the world that's so corrupt. And yet look at what
a what a holder can get on you. Look at what a holder 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 going to happen to me. And I really
believe that there's no sin that I won't commit to not if he doesn't
preserve me from it. So I pray, I cry, Lord, keep
me from evil. And notice, he says, keep to
thine own name those thou hast given me. Keep to thy own name. Well, 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? Now, 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 Praise
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 to 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 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. You 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 longsuffering,
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 two. Philippians, chapter two. If
there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ. If any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any vows 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 loneliness
of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Let 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 4, Philippians,
verses 1 and 2. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved, and long for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved, that I beseech you, Odias, 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 am them, and thou and me, that they may be made perfect
in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them as thou hast 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. Third thing that he prays for,
he prays first that we might be kept from evil. Oh, 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. 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, He had,
by the wish 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 him 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 thing, 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
any time 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 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 you 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 me through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Lord, 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 ask the Lord to pray this. This is 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 going to 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 know, 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 hast
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? You 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. And 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 His 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. Father, I will that they whom
you have 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. 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. The 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...