I Do Not Pray For The World

I invite you to turn with me in your copy of God's Word to John chapter 17. We'll focus on verses 6 through 10. It's good to be with you all, and I am glad to be getting to know you all the more I'm here.

And I appreciate, even tonight, your prayers for our congregation. We pray for your congregation as well. We pray that the Lord prospers you in your work for Christ and the extension of His kingdom. Let's read the Word of God together.

Here, John 17, we'll focus on verses 6 through 10. And if I can invite all of us to stand together for the hearing and the reading of God's Word.

Let us hear.

I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave Me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me. And they have kept Your Word. Now they know that everything that You have given Me is from You.

For I have given them the words that You gave Me. And they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from You. And they have believed that You sent Me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom You have given Me.

For they are Yours.

All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. And I am glorified in them. Amen. You may be seated. Let's unite our hearts and let's pray together. Father, as we come now to Your holy Word, we pray, create within our hearts the reverence that You deserve, that Your Word deserves.

Your Word is worth more than 10 ,000 pieces of gold or silver coins. Your Word is priceless. It is wisdom from eternity from our God who is eternal. And Father, we pray, lead us this evening in the truth.

Send Your Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding, the eyes of our hearts, that we would see and savor and behold the glory of Jesus Christ and Your redemption of sinners through Your Son. Let us serve Him with faithfulness.

Let us obey Him. And let us live our lives as continual sacrifices for His glory. We thank You for Your Word. We pray for Your help now. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. John 17 is the Lord's high priestly prayer, and I've actually today just finished preaching through this chapter.

Various sections in it. The section I want us to consider this evening is not so much the Lord actually beginning His pleadings for His people, but rather Him situating His prayer and specifying who it is He's praying for.

And so let's begin here in v. 6. We'll work through the exposition, and then we'll turn to doctrine, and then we'll turn to application. In v. 6, our Lord says, I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.

Jesus is declaring His success in His work. He was sent into this world, and He's made known the Father to His people. Matthew Henry says that the Father's name is that by which He is known. That is His nature, His attributes, His will.

John 1 .18. No one has ever seen God, but God the Son has declared or explained the Father.

He says,.

They were Yours.

You gave them to Me. This is the doctrine of election. The disciples did not first choose Christ. They were first chosen by the Father. They belonged to the Father from eternity past and were given to the Son.

We could go elsewhere. Romans 9, if we had time, and we would see that the Father chose this people in Christ, not on the basis of their innate goodness, not on the basis of foreseen faith or obedience or anything of that nature.

They were chosen on the basis of God's good pleasure and His sovereign love to have mercy upon whom He has mercy. Jesus then says,. And they have kept Your Word. So this is now the fruit of election. This is the goal of Christ's incarnation for us.

The disciples' obedience is not the cause of their being given to Christ, but rather their obedience is the result of having been given to Christ. Election is always unto the end that we will have faith in Christ and serve Him.

The eleven and us, by the grace of God, by the Spirit's work, when they heard the Word of God, they believed and kept that Word. He says in v. 7,. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.

Christ has made that known to them.

They have believed.

They have believed that this is the Christ God promised. God in the flesh. They had come to this certain conclusion that everything about the Lord Jesus Christ, His power, His words, His authority, comes from the Father.

That doesn't diminish Christ's glory. That magnifies His glory. That He is the one equal with the Father. The radiance of the Father's glory. This is a knowledge that solidifies their trust in the Lord and prepares them for the next stage of their ministry as the Lord departs from this earth back to heaven.

V. 8, he continues.

He says,.

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. Now, notice the Trinitarian chain.

Of revelation.

The Father gives words to the Son. What to say and what to speak. This is a part of the Son's work He was given to accomplish. And the Son gives those exact words.

To the disciples,.

And the Spirit takes what is Christ and teaches it to them. And in turn, as a result, the disciples receive these words. Not just hear them the way many of the crowds heard them. They receive them. They are the good soil which receives the Word and bears fruit.

By the way, it's not enough to simply know about Christ. You must receive His Word and receive Him by faith.

V. 9, he says,.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. Here we see the particularity of our Lord's prayer. In Jesus' mind, which ought to be our mind, there is the world, and then there are those whom the Father has given Him out of the world.

His intercessory prayer here is for a particular group of people. He explicitly says He is not praying for the world. His petitions are for His people. This is particular redemption. Definite atonement.

Definite intercession. And I know there are plenty of people in our day who struggle with that, but it's right there in the text. The Father gives to the Son a certain people. The Son undertakes for them.

He lives for them. He dies for them. And He intercedes for them. Christ's work was not merely a general, potential salvation for all, but was a specific, certain, and effectual work for His chosen people.

And He prays for them. His intercession is as precise as His atonement. And finally, verse 10 provides a summary.

He says,.

Father, all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. There is no contradiction in purpose between the Father and the Son in redemption. All that belong to the Son belong to the Father, and all that belong to the Father belong to the Son.

No one drops out. It is a perfect, mutual, co-possession that speaks to the absolute unity of the works and the purpose of the Trinity. And He says the ultimate result is that He, Christ, is glorified in them.

Christ is glorified in the redemption of His people. Christ, the firstborn among many brethren, receives glory in being the champion. The one who blazes the path of salvation ahead of us, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

So that unto eternity, year after year, we will sing the praises of our Lord Who loved us and gave Himself for us. Now, let's turn our attention to our doctrine-deduced segment. I want to open up a few things just more in depth from this text.

We've kind of scanned the text briefly. Understood something of its meaning, I hope. I want to open up more particularly and a bit more at length some of the doctrinal delicacies we ought to learn and draw out.

The first one is this. We are instructed clearly in this passage regarding election and particular redemption. I don't usually make it a habit to harp on Calvinism. I like to think I've outgrown my cage stage, but when I come to texts like this, I do harp on it because it's in the text.

And our Lord, the great Prophet of the people of God, was unashamed of these doctrines. He never shrunk back from the particularity of God's redeeming purpose. For instance, Matthew 11, verse 25, he says, this is a public prayer, I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have revealed these things to babes and have hidden them from the wise and understanding.

For such was Your good pleasure. Here, he says similarly,.

They were Yours,.

You gave them to me, they have kept Your Word, and I pray for them and not for the world. Those should not just be controversial. Honestly, I wish those weren't controversial words at all. Those are wonderful words.

Because it describes for God's people the golden chain that cannot be broken between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I know people struggle with these doctrines. They've fallen in popularity.

It raises questions I know that have to be worked through. It takes time to work through them. But salvation is not just something God wanted to make hypothetically possible, and then just sit back and leave the result ultimately in the hands of His creatures and praise the Lord that He didn't.

I know that that's how many people think of the Gospel, and I believe there are many good brothers who think that way. I used to think that way when I was a new Christian. They believed that Christ died for all men in exactly the same way, making their sins hypothetically forgivable if they will accept it.

Like I say, I used to think that until Holy Scripture itself wrestled that thought from my mind. It simply doesn't work. It does not do justice to Scripture. Let me ask you, and I don't know all of you.

Perhaps some of you, you're wrestling with this. Perhaps it's the first time you've heard this. I would assume probably not. If Christ died for the sins of all men, then why are not all men saved? If Christ desired to save all men in His death, but doesn't, how does that square with text like Isaiah 46 .10.

That says,.

My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My good pleasure? If He died for all, why doesn't He pray for all? Why does He exclude the world from His intercession? And I know you might hear that and you think, okay, those are fair questions that need to be answered, but I've got a few of my own.

For instance, why does Jesus say things like, Well, whosoever comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out. Doesn't that mean that He died for everyone? Let me just say for the record, I believe in the indiscriminate free offer of the Gospel to all.

I say to every single person in this room, come to Jesus Christ right now by faith, and you will be saved. Anyone and everyone can come and be saved if they trust Jesus Christ. Not a single one who comes to Him by faith will be turned away and told, sorry, you weren't among the elect.

It doesn't work that way. Christ, the Apostles, and we preach to all men everywhere to repent and believe. But God commanding all men everywhere to repent and believe does not mean that He has purpose to save all.

What is in the Scriptures is a definite, effectual, actual accomplishment of salvation for those whom the Father gave the Son. There is a unity and consistency in the decree of the Trinity. The Father chooses a particular people.

The Son undertakes to save those particular people. He dies for them. He rises for them. He ascends for them. And He intercedes for them. And the Spirit applies salvation to that same people.

This is not new.

The old covenant foreshadowed this. Did the blood of bulls and goats hypothetically forgive the sins of the Canaanites? Or the Jebusites? No, the blood atoned for those for whom it was given. Israel. So too with Christ.

When He said, Father, it is finished, He meant justice has been actually satisfied for all those whom You have given Me. And now He prays, Father, let not that ransomed sinner die, for I bled and died for His salvation.

That's the reason we sing things like My name is graven on His hands. That's why the priests of the old covenant wore stones engraved with the 12 tribes of Israel. That's the first thing. We see here clearly God's election and particular redemption.

It brings us to the second thing that I want to open up briefly. Faith coming to Jesus Christ is the fruit of election.

Okay?

Faith is the fruit of election. Jesus says here,.

They were Yours,.

You gave them to Me, and I manifested Your name to them, and they have received My words. That order is very important. Sometimes when people hear about election and particular redemption, they confuse some things.

They imagine that there might be those who actually sincerely receive Christ. They believe in His name, but they are in the end rejected because they were not ultimately among the elect. I want to say to you tonight very clearly, that's a misunderstanding.

No one believes that. At least no Calvinist believes that. Rather, we believe that faith in Jesus Christ, us actually coming and being made willing and bowing the knee to Christ, that is the certain fruit of our election.

And that those who come to Christ in faith come because they were chosen. That was the Lord's purpose back in John 6 where He, again in detail, opens up these same things. He said back in chapter 6, all that the Father gives to Me will come to Me.

Why do they come? Because the Father who sent Me draws them. Apart from that drawing, Christian, we would remain in our unbelief just like the rest of the world. We don't differ because of anything in ourselves.

We differ solely because of the grace of God. Jesus quotes in John 6 Isaiah, they shall all be taught of God. And He's speaking there of the inward illumination by the Almighty Holy Spirit that comes to a dead heart like ours were at some point in the hearing of the preaching of the Gospel or the reading of the Gospel of Christ, and the Spirit opened the eyes of our understanding and our heart to believe Jesus is the wisdom of God.

He's the power of God. And the Spirit makes us willing in the day of His power. And as a result, we see His glory and we receive Him. That brings us to a third thing. After this, we'll turn to our application.

This text also draws our attention to the power of Christ's effectual intercession. His effectual intercession. This is where I want to press home the same thing. It's actually good news that Jesus says here, I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me.

Because what that means is that His prayer is not merely a petition for things that may or may not come to pass, but it is effectual intercession for His people. This is the prayer of the Great High Priest.

And it is prayer that is always, without exception, heard by the Father. Thomas Watson said, the prayer of Christ is not a mere petition,.

But a plea.

He does not ask, but pleads on the basis of His merit. Christ's intercession for us, brothers and sisters, right now in heaven, is a work of advocacy. Pleading our case before the Father. Pleading His blood and His righteousness,.

His merits,.

His completed covenant of works, perfectly obeying the Father on our behalf. And He says, Father, because of Me, and because they are in Me, save them, bless them, keep them, cause them to persevere. Do not let them perish.

Christian, what a comfort that is for the believer in whatever state he finds himself. There are times as a Christian when you are so weak you barely can pray, and certainly there are times when you don't know what to pray.

And yet, Christ is praying. When we are assailed by the enemy of our souls, when we are weighed down with the guilt of our sin.

And shame,.

Christ still prays for us. Watson said, when a Christian is weak and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him. His prayer is perfect. Powerful. It is the very reason we can come to the throne of grace, knowing that our great High Priest has secured our place.

That brings us to our application as we come towards a close this evening. I want to give you several, I think most of them are brief, but several applications from this text. A few of them are going to be regarding election, and a few of them simply living for Christ's glory.

Because both of those things are in this text. Let's start from election. I want to give you a few things. Number one, Christian, give thanks to God and praise to God for His particular redemption. Once you are humbled and God teaches you the glory of these doctrines, it cannot help but overwhelm your heart.

And yet, I also know because I'm like you, we begin to forget and we begin to treat as common things that should not be regarded as common. And doctrines that were once precious lose the sense of awe that they should create.

Why me? Why did God choose me?

A wretch like me?

Why would Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, undertake for me? I'm no better than anyone else. You see how sweet and awful is the place probably. Why was I made to hear Thy voice and enter while there's room while thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come?

Christian, the only answer is sovereign electing grace. Give praise to God. Secondly, gain assurance from particular redemption. That might sound funny to someone. I know sometimes people hear the doctrine of election and it actually can be a source of confusion for them and fear, and certainly when it's not properly understood, it can actually shake assurance.

But that's not the way God intends the doctrine rightly understood to function. Christian, draw assurance from the doctrine of election the way Scripture tells you to. Namely, you should never seek to discern your election without reference to the fruits of election.

Are you clinging to Jesus Christ? Are you clinging to the hem of His garment knowing no matter what, I will never give up my hope that I will only be brought safely into the presence of God through the One who bled and died for me?

Have you received Him? Are you genuinely serving Him and with evangelical obedience, are you drawing the life-giving sap from the vine? If so, then you should be assured that you are among the elect.

If you have kept His Word, if you've received the words of Christ, if you've believed He was sent from the Father, that is the evidence that you were chosen by the Father and given to the Son. Watson again, he says, the way to know your election is to make your calling sure.

The evidence of a divine act of grace in eternity is a divine work of grace in your life today. Christian, that's vital for us to understand. Don't try to search into the hidden things that God has not revealed to us.

He has not given us the names of the Lamb's book of life. Rather, He has told us, follow My Son. Believe in My Son. And by doing so, you will make your calling and election sure. Third thing, draw encouragement from election.

Election should help us keep things in perspective. God's purposes often unfold slowly.

In our lives.

We are not what we want to be. We are not what we one day will be. But election reminds us that God will finish the work that He has set about to do. God is not like us. He's not a workman who starts something and then leaves off the work of His hands.

Christ's prayer for our glory will not go unanswered. And so, Christian, when you feel weak in the Christian life, beat up, attacked, when you fall into sin, do not despair. Your salvation is not, thank God, based on one single moment snapshot of your life, but on a divine, eternal transaction that took place before the foundation of the world.

And God can be depended on to finish the work that He has begun. I would also tie into this, Christian, when you struggle, not only should you draw encouragement from election that God will complete that which He began, also remember Christ's active intercession.

God predestined His Son to die for you, to rise again, and to intercede for your perseverance. That's not cheap grace. We read it in Romans 3 this evening. Let us do evil that good may come. No. God forbid.

It's not an excuse to abuse God's mercy, but Christian, is that not the good news that we all need? That even though I fail my Lord and Savior Who loved me, it doesn't all of a sudden just cancel out His love.

When I am faithless, He still remains faithful to His covenant. He finishes the work the Father gave Him to do for my sake, on my behalf. Even when we fail Him, He pleads for us in heaven. He's our advocate.

When the accuser of our souls stands before God and lists our sins, Christ stands as our defense attorney pointing to His own righteousness. That's why we have hope. That's why we can press on in confidence.

That's why we can, by the grace of God, again resolve, Lord, I've sinned and I confess my sin, and now, Lord, renew within me a right spirit. I again trust You for Your grace, and I will not let the enemy of my soul prevail over me, but I will live by Your grace and serve You again.

That's not presumption. That's believing the promise of God in the Gospel. That's the first section. We're almost done here. Second section of application. I just want to speak briefly. That was application regarding election.

I want to just say three things regarding us living for Christ's glory. As I've said, the goal of our election is that we receive Christ's words, that we live for the glory of our Redeemer. How are we vessels who do that?

I want to give you three things. Number one, by our obedience. Christian, you know this. Obedience is not a bad word. Obedience is a great word. It's a biblical word. We obey the Lord who loved us and bought us.

Not as an effort to earn anything from God. We come to God with empty hands, but as the natural new expression of love of having been redeemed. We obey Christ. We show the world that His words are true.

That His words transform the sinner. They transform our lives. Thomas Watson said grace in the heart will be like fire in the bones. Grace is not content to remain dormant, but it overflows into the hands and feet in a life of obedience.

Cheerful, evangelical obedience to God in Christ. Second, we glorify Christ by love. Here I'm drawing from other portions of the Lord's high priestly prayer. Verse 26. I preached on this this morning.

He says,.

I have declared to them your name and will declare it, that the love with which you loved Me may be in them and I in them. Christ is glorified when we know the love of God for us and it overflows in a heart of love for His people.

It's one of the most tangible, first Christianity 101 ways we glorify our Savior is by loving His people. Being sacrificial like Christ was. Selfless. Loving those who are hard to love. Bearing with those who are hard to bear with.

Because we're hard to love. We're hard to bear with. Our lives of love are a powerful sermon to the transforming power of Christ our Lord. Third thing, we glorify Christ by our witness for Christ. Declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to others.

The context of the high priestly prayer here is Jesus is praying for them as He's about to return to heaven and they are about to be sent out on their mission across to the ends of the earth. They've received the Word of Christ and they're now going to be sent out to tell of Him to every soul under heaven.

Christ gets glory in the spread of His grace. Christ gets glory when we take His Word upon our lips and we tell it to others and Christ by His Spirit transforms heart after heart after heart into His likeness.

Hearts are made whole by the glory and the grace of Christ. When His Word goes forth, and those who are filled with fear and doubt and fear of hell and punishment finally understand and enter into the liberty of the Gospel, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and I am no longer a slave to the devil and sin and the fear of death, but I am a slave to my living Master who died for me and rose again never to die again.

Christian, we glorify our Lord not only by our own transformation. We should be about that business, but we also glorify Him by bringing others as much as is within our power into the realm of grace. Speaking His Word, so that they will receive it for what it truly is, the Word of God, and that they might respond with a heart of assurance and obedience and glorify our Lord.

Amen.

Let's pray. Let's pray together. Father, we pray now, write Your Word upon our hearts by Your Holy Spirit. Seal them to us. Lord, our hearts are prone to wander. We feel it. Prone to leave the God we love.

And so we pray, here is our heart, Lord. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Father, give us devoted hearts to Your glory. Let us live every day for Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The glory of our God.

We ask, Father, be merciful. Be our help. Send Your Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance the things that are Christ's that He might give them to us, and we might be nourished, that we might be strengthened.

We pray, Father, encourage our hearts by election our Lord's particular prayer for us, the power of His intercession, and let us respond with lives of obedience that bring glory to Christ. Bless us, Father, we pray, now as we fix our hearts, especially on the Lord's table.

Let us draw grace. Let us be nourished spiritually, we pray. Let us feed upon the bread of life. Bless and strengthen and grow Your people, and be merciful to those who are not yet Your people. Bring them in to Christ, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.