Pentecost Sunday
“Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, (Part 2)”
Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020
Submitted to the church website and presented verbally at PCCC
Scripture: John 17:6-19
John 17:6-19 NKJV "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. (7) Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. (8) For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. (9) "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. (10) And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. (11) Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. (12) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (13) But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (15) I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Summary: The value of persistent prayer is not so that God will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him.
Introduction:
The first part of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, which we discussed last week, describes Jesus’ prayer for Himself and reminds us of Jesus' close relationship with the Father. In the second part of Christ’s prayer, He prayed for others (His disciples).
One of the most heartening experiences a person can enjoy is to be prayed for by someone else. And even more comforting is to have that person pray with us. When someone prays on our behalf something wonderful happens! A bond is established between us and that other person, but there’s also a sense of intimacy between us and God. It’s as though we are being ushered into the very presence of God!
Prayer can be an effective conduit in establishing and nurturing relationships among Christians. Praying for fellow Christians (as opposed to preying on fellow Christians) helps to ensure harmony and peace within the church. When a congregation prays together, it helps in preventing any attempt to cause discord or strife.
But did it ever occur to you that Jesus Christ is praying for you and for me (born-again Christians)? He goes before His heavenly Father with intercessions on our behalf. And He does so especially in times when we are weak, when we are most vulnerable or susceptible to Satan’s evil attacks!
However, Jesus was selective in this portion of His prayer. He didn’t pray for everyone in the world indiscriminately. Instead, He prayed specifically. Verse 9 of our Bible lesson tells us:
John 17:9 NKJV "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
He prayed for “those whom God had given Him” (vv. 6-7, 9, 11-12) out of the world during His incarnation, namely, His disciples.
It’s important to understand that when Jesus spoke of “the world” throughout this prayer, He was wasn’t referring to the planet Earth and every single person on it. Instead, Jesus was referring to the fallen world – the population of people who are lost in sin, spiritually dead, and in an adversarial relationship with God. Jesus was from outside the physical world. He left the glory He had enjoyed from all eternity as the second person of the Trinity to walk the earth as a man (2 Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:5-8). Likewise, Jesus was outside the world of sin. He was completely sinless and remained sinless to become the sacrifice given for our sin. But God gave to Him a group of followers who had been part of that world, people whom God had rescued from that world and given to the Son (see above).
I. The Disciples Received the Gospel
Jesus said to the Father,
John 17:6a NKJV "I have manifested [rendered apparent, made known, revealed] Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world…”
In other words, Jesus had made God’s name obvious and clear. But what does that mean? Richard Phillips tells us:
Leon Morris writes, “In biblical times it was widely held that ‘the name’ in some way sums up the whole person.” To know the name of God is to possess a way of salvation; as Solomon wrote: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10). We know God because His name has been made manifest to us by Christ. Jesus revealed God’s name “in a way that [the disciples have] never dreamed of before, and in doing this He has enlarged their understanding of the nature of God.”
In other words, Jesus revealed plainly the total nature of God the Father in His perfection and holiness. He did this in a way that was obvious and clear. To whom did He manifest God’s name? It was to those the Father had given Him – the disciples.
John 17:6b NKJV "… They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
The disciples were God’s by virtue of His creation and by His election [choosing, selecting] of them, and He had given them to Jesus.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “they have kept Your word” (John 17:6)? The following words of Jesus’ prayer help explain it. He said:
John 17:7-8 NKJV Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. (8) For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
I believe Jesus used “Your word” as a shorthand expression for the gospel. He wasn’t saying that the disciples had obeyed every bit of the Mosaic Law or that they had kept all of the commandments that Jesus had given to them. But they had embraced the essential truths – Jesus’ message of redemption, the gospel. They had come to see Him as the Messiah sent from God, and they had put their faith in Him.
That’s really no different from what God does with us. If I am in Christ, it is because God took me out of the world and gave me to Christ, who manifested (revealed) His Word to me, with the result that the gospel is now in my heart.
As Jesus continued His prayer, He asked that what had taken place in His disciples would continue. He said:
John 17:9-11 NKJV "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. (10) And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. (11) Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
That final request, that God would “keep” the disciples through His name, was the essence of what Jesus prayed for.
The last of the five points, commonly called the five points of Calvinism and summed up by the acrostic T-U-L-I-P, is referred to as the “perseverance of the saints.” I think it would be better to call this doctrine the “preservation of the saints.” This puts the focus where it needs to be. It’s not that we somehow “hold on” to the end (persevere), rather it is God who keeps (preserves) us in the faith.
The Reformed position is this: If we have salvation – if we’re truly born-again (literally “born from above”) and have saving faith in our soul – then we will have that faith forever. Some Bible teachers say that Christians can fall away from the faith later in life. Any person who truly has faith in Christ will never lose it. So, how do we explain those people who profess faith in Christ then later fall away or recant their faith? Those people who seemingly lose their faith never really had it in the first place. In his first epistle, John writes about a group that left the church, saying:
1 John 2:19 NKJV They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
All those who went out are a good illustration of people who were in the church and seemed to be saved but weren’t.
II. The Disciples Were Kept by Father and Son
When I think about being protected (kept, preserved) by God, I’m reminded of an ancient ritual observed by many Native American Indian tribes. Before a young brave could achieve manhood in the eyes of the tribal council, he had to endure one final initiation.
Since childhood the boy would have been taught by the elders of the tribe to hunt, to fish, and to track wild game. As the boy grew in stature, he would have become adept with the use of a knife and a bow and arrow.
On the night of his initiation the boy would be led away blindfolded to a remote dense forest where he would have to fend for himself alone in the woods. During his childhood the young brave would have experienced the relative safety of being among his fellow tribesmen. But now, perhaps for the first time in his life, he was alone with no one to protect him.
The sounds of the night echo an eerie feeling. The rustling of branches can frighten the stoutest of brave hearts especially when one who is blindfolded begins imagining a wild animal on the prowl. Then, after a long and harrowing sleepless night, the dawn finally breaks through the glistening forest with rays of sunlight. And as he peers around the young brave discovers to his astonishment the towering figure of a man standing only a few feet away, armed with bow and arrow. It was the young warrior’s father who had kept watch over his son all through the night.
We must always remember that although God is invisible, God is also invincible! God is strong and mighty to save even the most fragile and weakest heart. We don’t need to see Him to know that He is with us … always!
Our confidence regarding the preservation of believers rests on the mercies of God and especially on the High Priesthood of Christ, who went into the heavenly places to be our Intercessor.
Romans 8:34 NKJV Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Jesus Christ Himself prays for our preservation. We rest in the effectiveness of the prayers of Jesus, not our own consistency as Christians. We can also rest on the wonderful promises of Christ’s watchfulness in keeping us, like the promise we read in John 10:28:
John 10:27-29 NKJV My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
Jesus Christ Himself stands behind us. He watches over us and keeps us, especially when the night is dark, when we’re afraid, when we’re weak, when we’re blinded and can’t see what will happen next.
Of course, we never find the phrase “the perseverance of the saints” in the Bible. Instead, we find the idea of “keeping.” To be kept is to be protected, to be preserved. The great priestly blessing of the Old Testament began with these words:
Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV "The LORD bless you and keep you; (25) The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; (26) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."
We who are saved are kept, not just today, but forever; not by our own resources and efforts, but by the power of God Himself. So, it’s really not surprising that we find Jesus praying,
John 17:11b NKJV “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”
Jesus had said, “Keep them in Your name.” If I am “in God’s name,” I am numbered among the redeemed. That’s how the disciples were on that night before the death of Jesus, before they were to face their greatest moment of crisis. So, Jesus prayed for them, asking God: “Keep them. Don’t let them go. Hold on to them.”
Jesus also expressed the desire that the disciples “may be one as We are.” Some believe that this phrase refers to ecumenism in the church – the merging of all Christian denominations. I’m sure that God is disgusted with all of our disunity and fighting, but I don’t think that we are still waiting for this request Jesus made to the Father to come to pass two thousand years later. Actually, this prayer was answered, because everyone who is in Christ Jesus is in union with Him, and therefore are in union with one another. The “communion of saints” that is spoken of in the Apostles’ Creed is real, and it transcends every conceivable boundary – denominational, geographic, racial, cultural, and socioeconomic. There already is a spiritual unity of all the saints; we are one with each other as the Father is with the Son – not by virtue of our activities or of our practices but by the spiritual unity that is wrought by the Holy Spirit in our salvation.
Jesus went on:
John 17:12 NKJV While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Jesus had just asked the Father to “keep” His disciples. but in verse 12, He revealed that He had been keeping them while He was with them in the world. Not all of the disciples were kept – one of them, Judas Iscariot, was lost, the “son of perdition.” Perdition refers to the final damnation that comes at the hands of God in His righteous wrath, and Jesus Himself attached that term to the name of Judas.
Can the experience of Judas be used as evidence that someone can come to faith and later fall away from the faith and end up in destruction? No. Judas was never born again. Much earlier in His ministry, Jesus referred to Judas as “a devil.”
John 6:70-71 NKJV Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (71) He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
He was numbered among the Twelve only to fulfill a role that was prophesied for him in Psalm 41:9.
Psalms 41:9 NKJV Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.
III. The Disciples Were “In the World but Not of the World”
Then Jesus said:
John 17:13-14 NKJV But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Jesus was never of the world. Every one of us was of the world at one time, but we’re no longer of the world. We are in the world (we still live here) but not of the world (we are not part of the godless world system). This mixed citizenship causes the people of the world (the godless world system) to hate us the same way they hated Christ. Still, Jesus prayed that we would have His joy, even in the face of trying times with people who hate us.
Continuing along those lines, He said:
John 17:15 NKJV I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
Wouldn’t it be great if Christians could live without any worry, or struggle, or conflict after coming to faith in Christ? Even better, wouldn’t it be nice to be taken to heaven after our conversion so that we would never experience the effects of the sinful world? Jesus didn’t pray that the Father would give His disciples the safety of isolation, that He would remove them entirely from the world system. Martin Luther said that Christianity has to be a “profane faith.” The word “profane” literally means “out of the temple.” Luther meant that the church is not supposed to spend all of its time gathered together in a “holy huddle,” basking in the glory of God. There are to be times for worship and fellowship, but then we are supposed to go back into the world, where we are to bear witness to the glory of Christ (i.e., witness). Jesus prayed that the Father would protect His disciples as they went forth, especially from the attacks of the Evil One, Satan.
He went on:
John 17:16-17 NKJV They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
In verse 11 of our Bible lesson, Jesus referred to the Father as “Holy Father,” since God is inherently holy. It was Jesus’ desire that His disciples would become holy. This is the purpose of redemption. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what God desires from us, other times God’s will is very clear. Paul writes,
1 Thessalonians 4:3a NKJV For this is the will of God, your sanctification…
So, how does this sanctification take place? It happens through the Word of God. Paul put it this way:
Romans 12:2 NKJV And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In other words, we are brought to greater holiness, greater godliness, by correct doctrine renewing our minds through the Word of God.
Jesus concluded His prayer for His disciples with these words:
John 17:18-19 NKJV As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
When we think about sanctification, we think about that process by which we become more Christlike after we come to faith in Christ. Although we have to work diligently to increase in holiness, we understand that sanctification is ultimately wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without His aid we won’t see any spiritual progress.
Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It would be very strange to hear a Christian say, “I am sanctifying myself.” But Jesus made that comment in His High Priestly Prayer. What did He mean?
I think the only way we can understand this is to remember that Jesus was preparing to finish His God-given mission to redeem His people. The language here points back to the Old Testament, to the Day of Atonement. The priests had to go through a ritual of cleansing before they could offer the sacrifice for the sins of the people. They had to prepare themselves, they had to set themselves apart for the holy purpose they were about to perform. Likewise, the animals used in that sacrifice had to be consecrated before they could be slain and offered to God. In other words, they had to be set apart prepared for a holy purpose.
The New Testament shows us that Christ is the Great High Priest, but He differed from all other priests in Israel in that, not only did He, as the priest, offer the sacrifice that was necessary for atonement, but the sacrifice He offered was Himself. So, Jesus was both the subject and the object of His priestly work. In the upper room, our Great High Priest was sanctifying Himself, consecrating Himself, setting Himself apart, for the task that lay ahead of Him.
Finally, Jesus prayed that the disciples would be “sanctified by the truth.” Falsehood corrupts us. The fall of the human race began with a lie, when Satan distorted the truth of God’s words to Adam and Eve. It began with a false doctrine that came through the message of Satan. And since that day, every time the truth is negotiated, compromised, denied, and weakened, our corruption gets worse and worse. The only thing that can rescue us from ourselves is a true understanding of God, a true understanding of Christ, a true understanding of our hopeless condition, and a true understanding of grace. The truth redeems. The truth preserves. The truth makes us free. The truth makes us holy.
Perhaps we can understand this is a practical way, through a story titled, “Have You Lost that Lovin’ Feeling?”
We’ve all been there at least once. When you’re single, divorced, or widowed, certain days and celebrations can be a harsh reminder of just how lonely you are. We thrive when loved. Although we need to feel loved, sometimes we simply don’t.
Unfortunately, I can still vividly remember one hard Valentine’s Day in particular. My dad always sent me a card in a red envelope each year. Hoping to find some joy in my day, I went to my mailbox. Instead of finding a card from dad, there they were, my final divorce papers.
Feeling completely alone as a recently divorced, very young woman in the early ’90’s, I was brokenhearted. Moreover, I was insecure; I was scared. Mostly, I was lonely. Really, I just wanted this day to be OVER.
What does it mean to be kept by God?
Through my tears, I cried out to the only One who could provide the comfort I so desperately needed. And because God catches every one of our tears in a bottle, He answered with a deep, heartfelt embrace that renewed my confidence. As a result, He gave me a sense of security to hold onto through this long, dark night of my soul.
Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He is rich in mercy and love (Ephesians 2:4).
What’s it like to be embraced by God? To be held? To be kept?
The security of having a Protector and Keeper allows us to be still, to rest for a moment in this knowing. I longed to feel this on that lonely day in 1992. Perhaps, you need to be reminded of this truth right now.
If today is one you’d rather just skip on the calendar, I want you to know that you are safe and secure. You are seen and treasured. Most importantly, you are kept. There’s a love letter written especially for you.
I’m writing to the chosen ones who are wrapped in the love of the Father God – kept and guarded for Jesus, the Messiah. May God’s mercy, peace and love cascade over you. Jude 1:1-2.
Jesus understood that, and in the agony of His intercession, He prayed that His disciples might be people of the truth and strength, kept by the Holy Father.
Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020
Submitted to the church website and presented verbally at PCCC
Scripture: John 17:6-19
John 17:6-19 NKJV "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. (7) Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. (8) For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. (9) "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. (10) And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. (11) Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. (12) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (13) But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (15) I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Summary: The value of persistent prayer is not so that God will hear us, but that we will finally hear Him.
Introduction:
The first part of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, which we discussed last week, describes Jesus’ prayer for Himself and reminds us of Jesus' close relationship with the Father. In the second part of Christ’s prayer, He prayed for others (His disciples).
One of the most heartening experiences a person can enjoy is to be prayed for by someone else. And even more comforting is to have that person pray with us. When someone prays on our behalf something wonderful happens! A bond is established between us and that other person, but there’s also a sense of intimacy between us and God. It’s as though we are being ushered into the very presence of God!
Prayer can be an effective conduit in establishing and nurturing relationships among Christians. Praying for fellow Christians (as opposed to preying on fellow Christians) helps to ensure harmony and peace within the church. When a congregation prays together, it helps in preventing any attempt to cause discord or strife.
But did it ever occur to you that Jesus Christ is praying for you and for me (born-again Christians)? He goes before His heavenly Father with intercessions on our behalf. And He does so especially in times when we are weak, when we are most vulnerable or susceptible to Satan’s evil attacks!
However, Jesus was selective in this portion of His prayer. He didn’t pray for everyone in the world indiscriminately. Instead, He prayed specifically. Verse 9 of our Bible lesson tells us:
John 17:9 NKJV "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
He prayed for “those whom God had given Him” (vv. 6-7, 9, 11-12) out of the world during His incarnation, namely, His disciples.
It’s important to understand that when Jesus spoke of “the world” throughout this prayer, He was wasn’t referring to the planet Earth and every single person on it. Instead, Jesus was referring to the fallen world – the population of people who are lost in sin, spiritually dead, and in an adversarial relationship with God. Jesus was from outside the physical world. He left the glory He had enjoyed from all eternity as the second person of the Trinity to walk the earth as a man (2 Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:5-8). Likewise, Jesus was outside the world of sin. He was completely sinless and remained sinless to become the sacrifice given for our sin. But God gave to Him a group of followers who had been part of that world, people whom God had rescued from that world and given to the Son (see above).
I. The Disciples Received the Gospel
Jesus said to the Father,
John 17:6a NKJV "I have manifested [rendered apparent, made known, revealed] Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world…”
In other words, Jesus had made God’s name obvious and clear. But what does that mean? Richard Phillips tells us:
Leon Morris writes, “In biblical times it was widely held that ‘the name’ in some way sums up the whole person.” To know the name of God is to possess a way of salvation; as Solomon wrote: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10). We know God because His name has been made manifest to us by Christ. Jesus revealed God’s name “in a way that [the disciples have] never dreamed of before, and in doing this He has enlarged their understanding of the nature of God.”
In other words, Jesus revealed plainly the total nature of God the Father in His perfection and holiness. He did this in a way that was obvious and clear. To whom did He manifest God’s name? It was to those the Father had given Him – the disciples.
John 17:6b NKJV "… They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
The disciples were God’s by virtue of His creation and by His election [choosing, selecting] of them, and He had given them to Jesus.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “they have kept Your word” (John 17:6)? The following words of Jesus’ prayer help explain it. He said:
John 17:7-8 NKJV Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. (8) For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
I believe Jesus used “Your word” as a shorthand expression for the gospel. He wasn’t saying that the disciples had obeyed every bit of the Mosaic Law or that they had kept all of the commandments that Jesus had given to them. But they had embraced the essential truths – Jesus’ message of redemption, the gospel. They had come to see Him as the Messiah sent from God, and they had put their faith in Him.
That’s really no different from what God does with us. If I am in Christ, it is because God took me out of the world and gave me to Christ, who manifested (revealed) His Word to me, with the result that the gospel is now in my heart.
As Jesus continued His prayer, He asked that what had taken place in His disciples would continue. He said:
John 17:9-11 NKJV "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. (10) And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. (11) Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
That final request, that God would “keep” the disciples through His name, was the essence of what Jesus prayed for.
The last of the five points, commonly called the five points of Calvinism and summed up by the acrostic T-U-L-I-P, is referred to as the “perseverance of the saints.” I think it would be better to call this doctrine the “preservation of the saints.” This puts the focus where it needs to be. It’s not that we somehow “hold on” to the end (persevere), rather it is God who keeps (preserves) us in the faith.
The Reformed position is this: If we have salvation – if we’re truly born-again (literally “born from above”) and have saving faith in our soul – then we will have that faith forever. Some Bible teachers say that Christians can fall away from the faith later in life. Any person who truly has faith in Christ will never lose it. So, how do we explain those people who profess faith in Christ then later fall away or recant their faith? Those people who seemingly lose their faith never really had it in the first place. In his first epistle, John writes about a group that left the church, saying:
1 John 2:19 NKJV They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
All those who went out are a good illustration of people who were in the church and seemed to be saved but weren’t.
II. The Disciples Were Kept by Father and Son
When I think about being protected (kept, preserved) by God, I’m reminded of an ancient ritual observed by many Native American Indian tribes. Before a young brave could achieve manhood in the eyes of the tribal council, he had to endure one final initiation.
Since childhood the boy would have been taught by the elders of the tribe to hunt, to fish, and to track wild game. As the boy grew in stature, he would have become adept with the use of a knife and a bow and arrow.
On the night of his initiation the boy would be led away blindfolded to a remote dense forest where he would have to fend for himself alone in the woods. During his childhood the young brave would have experienced the relative safety of being among his fellow tribesmen. But now, perhaps for the first time in his life, he was alone with no one to protect him.
The sounds of the night echo an eerie feeling. The rustling of branches can frighten the stoutest of brave hearts especially when one who is blindfolded begins imagining a wild animal on the prowl. Then, after a long and harrowing sleepless night, the dawn finally breaks through the glistening forest with rays of sunlight. And as he peers around the young brave discovers to his astonishment the towering figure of a man standing only a few feet away, armed with bow and arrow. It was the young warrior’s father who had kept watch over his son all through the night.
We must always remember that although God is invisible, God is also invincible! God is strong and mighty to save even the most fragile and weakest heart. We don’t need to see Him to know that He is with us … always!
Our confidence regarding the preservation of believers rests on the mercies of God and especially on the High Priesthood of Christ, who went into the heavenly places to be our Intercessor.
Romans 8:34 NKJV Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Jesus Christ Himself prays for our preservation. We rest in the effectiveness of the prayers of Jesus, not our own consistency as Christians. We can also rest on the wonderful promises of Christ’s watchfulness in keeping us, like the promise we read in John 10:28:
John 10:27-29 NKJV My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
Jesus Christ Himself stands behind us. He watches over us and keeps us, especially when the night is dark, when we’re afraid, when we’re weak, when we’re blinded and can’t see what will happen next.
Of course, we never find the phrase “the perseverance of the saints” in the Bible. Instead, we find the idea of “keeping.” To be kept is to be protected, to be preserved. The great priestly blessing of the Old Testament began with these words:
Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV "The LORD bless you and keep you; (25) The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; (26) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."
We who are saved are kept, not just today, but forever; not by our own resources and efforts, but by the power of God Himself. So, it’s really not surprising that we find Jesus praying,
John 17:11b NKJV “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”
Jesus had said, “Keep them in Your name.” If I am “in God’s name,” I am numbered among the redeemed. That’s how the disciples were on that night before the death of Jesus, before they were to face their greatest moment of crisis. So, Jesus prayed for them, asking God: “Keep them. Don’t let them go. Hold on to them.”
Jesus also expressed the desire that the disciples “may be one as We are.” Some believe that this phrase refers to ecumenism in the church – the merging of all Christian denominations. I’m sure that God is disgusted with all of our disunity and fighting, but I don’t think that we are still waiting for this request Jesus made to the Father to come to pass two thousand years later. Actually, this prayer was answered, because everyone who is in Christ Jesus is in union with Him, and therefore are in union with one another. The “communion of saints” that is spoken of in the Apostles’ Creed is real, and it transcends every conceivable boundary – denominational, geographic, racial, cultural, and socioeconomic. There already is a spiritual unity of all the saints; we are one with each other as the Father is with the Son – not by virtue of our activities or of our practices but by the spiritual unity that is wrought by the Holy Spirit in our salvation.
Jesus went on:
John 17:12 NKJV While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Jesus had just asked the Father to “keep” His disciples. but in verse 12, He revealed that He had been keeping them while He was with them in the world. Not all of the disciples were kept – one of them, Judas Iscariot, was lost, the “son of perdition.” Perdition refers to the final damnation that comes at the hands of God in His righteous wrath, and Jesus Himself attached that term to the name of Judas.
Can the experience of Judas be used as evidence that someone can come to faith and later fall away from the faith and end up in destruction? No. Judas was never born again. Much earlier in His ministry, Jesus referred to Judas as “a devil.”
John 6:70-71 NKJV Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (71) He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
He was numbered among the Twelve only to fulfill a role that was prophesied for him in Psalm 41:9.
Psalms 41:9 NKJV Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.
III. The Disciples Were “In the World but Not of the World”
Then Jesus said:
John 17:13-14 NKJV But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Jesus was never of the world. Every one of us was of the world at one time, but we’re no longer of the world. We are in the world (we still live here) but not of the world (we are not part of the godless world system). This mixed citizenship causes the people of the world (the godless world system) to hate us the same way they hated Christ. Still, Jesus prayed that we would have His joy, even in the face of trying times with people who hate us.
Continuing along those lines, He said:
John 17:15 NKJV I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
Wouldn’t it be great if Christians could live without any worry, or struggle, or conflict after coming to faith in Christ? Even better, wouldn’t it be nice to be taken to heaven after our conversion so that we would never experience the effects of the sinful world? Jesus didn’t pray that the Father would give His disciples the safety of isolation, that He would remove them entirely from the world system. Martin Luther said that Christianity has to be a “profane faith.” The word “profane” literally means “out of the temple.” Luther meant that the church is not supposed to spend all of its time gathered together in a “holy huddle,” basking in the glory of God. There are to be times for worship and fellowship, but then we are supposed to go back into the world, where we are to bear witness to the glory of Christ (i.e., witness). Jesus prayed that the Father would protect His disciples as they went forth, especially from the attacks of the Evil One, Satan.
He went on:
John 17:16-17 NKJV They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
In verse 11 of our Bible lesson, Jesus referred to the Father as “Holy Father,” since God is inherently holy. It was Jesus’ desire that His disciples would become holy. This is the purpose of redemption. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what God desires from us, other times God’s will is very clear. Paul writes,
1 Thessalonians 4:3a NKJV For this is the will of God, your sanctification…
So, how does this sanctification take place? It happens through the Word of God. Paul put it this way:
Romans 12:2 NKJV And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In other words, we are brought to greater holiness, greater godliness, by correct doctrine renewing our minds through the Word of God.
Jesus concluded His prayer for His disciples with these words:
John 17:18-19 NKJV As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (19) And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
When we think about sanctification, we think about that process by which we become more Christlike after we come to faith in Christ. Although we have to work diligently to increase in holiness, we understand that sanctification is ultimately wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without His aid we won’t see any spiritual progress.
Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It would be very strange to hear a Christian say, “I am sanctifying myself.” But Jesus made that comment in His High Priestly Prayer. What did He mean?
I think the only way we can understand this is to remember that Jesus was preparing to finish His God-given mission to redeem His people. The language here points back to the Old Testament, to the Day of Atonement. The priests had to go through a ritual of cleansing before they could offer the sacrifice for the sins of the people. They had to prepare themselves, they had to set themselves apart for the holy purpose they were about to perform. Likewise, the animals used in that sacrifice had to be consecrated before they could be slain and offered to God. In other words, they had to be set apart prepared for a holy purpose.
The New Testament shows us that Christ is the Great High Priest, but He differed from all other priests in Israel in that, not only did He, as the priest, offer the sacrifice that was necessary for atonement, but the sacrifice He offered was Himself. So, Jesus was both the subject and the object of His priestly work. In the upper room, our Great High Priest was sanctifying Himself, consecrating Himself, setting Himself apart, for the task that lay ahead of Him.
Finally, Jesus prayed that the disciples would be “sanctified by the truth.” Falsehood corrupts us. The fall of the human race began with a lie, when Satan distorted the truth of God’s words to Adam and Eve. It began with a false doctrine that came through the message of Satan. And since that day, every time the truth is negotiated, compromised, denied, and weakened, our corruption gets worse and worse. The only thing that can rescue us from ourselves is a true understanding of God, a true understanding of Christ, a true understanding of our hopeless condition, and a true understanding of grace. The truth redeems. The truth preserves. The truth makes us free. The truth makes us holy.
Perhaps we can understand this is a practical way, through a story titled, “Have You Lost that Lovin’ Feeling?”
We’ve all been there at least once. When you’re single, divorced, or widowed, certain days and celebrations can be a harsh reminder of just how lonely you are. We thrive when loved. Although we need to feel loved, sometimes we simply don’t.
Unfortunately, I can still vividly remember one hard Valentine’s Day in particular. My dad always sent me a card in a red envelope each year. Hoping to find some joy in my day, I went to my mailbox. Instead of finding a card from dad, there they were, my final divorce papers.
Feeling completely alone as a recently divorced, very young woman in the early ’90’s, I was brokenhearted. Moreover, I was insecure; I was scared. Mostly, I was lonely. Really, I just wanted this day to be OVER.
What does it mean to be kept by God?
Through my tears, I cried out to the only One who could provide the comfort I so desperately needed. And because God catches every one of our tears in a bottle, He answered with a deep, heartfelt embrace that renewed my confidence. As a result, He gave me a sense of security to hold onto through this long, dark night of my soul.
Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He is rich in mercy and love (Ephesians 2:4).
What’s it like to be embraced by God? To be held? To be kept?
The security of having a Protector and Keeper allows us to be still, to rest for a moment in this knowing. I longed to feel this on that lonely day in 1992. Perhaps, you need to be reminded of this truth right now.
If today is one you’d rather just skip on the calendar, I want you to know that you are safe and secure. You are seen and treasured. Most importantly, you are kept. There’s a love letter written especially for you.
I’m writing to the chosen ones who are wrapped in the love of the Father God – kept and guarded for Jesus, the Messiah. May God’s mercy, peace and love cascade over you. Jude 1:1-2.
Jesus understood that, and in the agony of His intercession, He prayed that His disciples might be people of the truth and strength, kept by the Holy Father.