We're gonna be in John 17 We're gonna be starting in verse 6 today And we're gonna go to verse 10, so let's read I've 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." Let's pray. Father, I ask that you be with us, that you meet with us this morning. I ask that you send your Spirit to me to be a tool for your glory, to be a voice for your Word, Lord. I ask that you would bless this time that we have this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. So we find ourselves in the upper room again with Jesus and His 11 disciples. And we've been talking about the upper room. John 13-16 is Jesus talking to the disciples, teaching the disciples. And then we come to John 17, and most of us probably have the subtitle, The High Priestly Prayer. And that's really what's going on in John chapter 17. It's a prayer from Jesus speaking to His Father. We see that in verse 1 when He lifts His eyes to heaven and says, Father. He's addressing His own Father. This chapter, John 17, is really the Lord's Prayer. It is the Lord's Prayer. Some may think or ask, well, what about the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 5? When Jesus says, this is how you pray, our Father who art in Heaven. In that prayer, Jesus says, forgive us our trespasses. And Jesus has nothing to be forgiven of, and so He can't pray that prayer. And so we see John 17, which is truly the Lord's Prayer. This is truly the Lord's Prayer, and it's addressed to His Father. So John 13 through 16 is Jesus speaking. This can be somewhat of an illustration of Jesus's earthly work. It's, as I've said before, a summary or a culmination of Jesus's work on earth. We see his love, we see his kindness being poured out. And that's coming to an end. Jesus's work on earth is coming to an end. But, Jesus' work is not over. His overarching work is not over. He still has work to do that's waiting for him in heaven, and that is beginning. His work in heaven is beginning. Philippians 1, 6 tells us, I am sure of this, Paul says, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So Jesus' work in heaven is bringing this work that he began on earth to completion. He still has work yet to do. And this is Jesus' intercessory work. He's interceding on our behalf. He's speaking to the Father on our behalf. He's praying in John chapter 17 on our behalf for us. And so we get to see Jesus's work as a high priest and this is why this chapter is called the high priestly prayer Because this is Jesus's work as our high priest. He's praying to the father for us Verses 1 through 5 is Jesus praying for himself He's praying, Father, give me glory. Give me glory for because I have accomplished all the work on earth. Give me the glory. Verse five, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had before the world existed. He has inherent glory that he's asking to be returned to him. Then we move to verse six through 19, and this is really Jesus praying for his disciples specifically. He's praying for the 11 that are before Him, specifically those whom the Father took out of the world and gave to Jesus. But of course, these truths in this section can be applied to all Christians, all saints. And then we get to v. 20-26. And that's Jesus praying for all saints throughout all of time. We come to this section where Jesus is praying for the disciples. He's interceding for the disciples and for us. And there's three main points that I pretty much drew out of this section, verses 6 through 19. Three big things that we see about Jesus's intercessory work, his work in heaven, his work as a high priest. And I kind of want to break it up in this way. We'll talk about two of these points today. The first one is, Why does Jesus pray these things? Why does He pray this prayer? What's the reason for His intercession? Second, we'll see who does Jesus pray for? Who are the subjects of His work, His prayer? I won't answer this question too in-depth today, but next week we'll look at what is Jesus praying for? What is He actually asking the Father for? What is He interceding for? So, why does Jesus pray this prayer? Why does Jesus intercede for us? Why is it necessary for Jesus to pray for us? Well, as I said before, Jesus has ended his earthly ministry. We've really come to the end of Jesus' work on earth. The last verse in the Upper Room Discourse, chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus says, That's the end of Jesus' work on earth. That's the end of what he's done on earth, overcoming the world. He's overcome the world. That's what he came to do. At this point, in chapter 17, Jesus has not yet gone to the cross. He has not yet truly completed the work, but he's praying as if he has. And he says in verse 4, chapter 17, I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. He's saying, I've come to the end of the road. I've come to the end of the road. There's no turning back now. I've done all the work, and I will have completed the work. This is the end of Jesus' work. And we know that His work in 1 Timothy 1.15, I quoted this verse last week, Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Simply put, this is why Jesus came, was to save sinners. That's His work that the Father gave Him to accomplish. How did He save sinners? How did He actually accomplish this? 1 Corinthians 1.18. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. The cross is the power of God. The cross is where Jesus went to be the sacrifice for our sins so that sinners can be saved. The cross is Jesus' work on earth. The cross is really the end of it. And Jesus' work is finished. Hebrews 1-3, after making purifications for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Why is he sitting down? Why did Jesus sit down at the right hand of God? Because he finished his work on earth. He finished his work on earth. That's why we get verse 4 in chapter 17. I have glorified you on earth having accomplished the work. I've accomplished it. Notice something in verse 4, chapter 17. I've glorified you on earth. On earth. That's the key. Not all of Jesus' work is finished. Dying on the cross was really only half the work for Jesus. Romans 8.34 tells us what Jesus is doing in heaven, what he's doing as he sits at the right hand of the throne of God. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God? So he's at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. This is what Jesus does at the right hand of God. He intercedes for us. So Jesus' work as a sacrifice is complete, but His work as a high priest is merely beginning. That's why we get the high priestly prayer. Jesus is praying for us. I want us to stop and think about that for a second. That Jesus begins in v. 6, He begins a prayer for the disciples specifically and for us. I want us to think about what that means that Jesus prays for us. Jesus prays for us. That should be humbling. That should be fearful in a way. That should cause us to think I am not worthy of this prayer. Chapter 17 v. 9, Jesus simply says, praying for them. I am praying for them. This is not a one-time prayer. This is not a singular prayer that Jesus offers up. This is a continual prayer. This is an everlasting prayer that Jesus offers up to the Father on our behalf. He's praying. We know earlier in chapter 14, I believe it's verse 16, Jesus asks He says I will ask the father and he will give you another helper I will go and pray to the father and he will send you a helper This is part of Jesus's intercessory work father Go help these guys Send someone to help these guys and who does he send to help us the helper himself the one who Jesus named? the helper Jesus is praying for us. He is asking the father on our behalf for our help. And this is humbling, but more importantly, this should be encouraging to us. This should be encouraging to Christians, knowing and understanding that Christ is now, currently, before the Father, praying for us, interceding for us, trying to bring the work that He started to completion. So what is this interceding? What actually does it mean that Jesus intercedes? We often will hear Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he went and he's now interceding for us. We often hear that, but what does it actually mean that Jesus intercedes for us? What does Jesus do? What does he say as our high priest? This is a specific thing that Jesus does. This is not a general, ambiguous statement that Jesus is interceding. He's doing something that we don't really understand. This is something we can understand that Jesus does for us, and it's shown us in Philippians 1.6. I already quoted this. Philippians 1.6. I am sure of this. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. This is his intercessory work. This is what Jesus is doing as our high priest. I'm sure of this. He who began a good work in you. Began a good work. That's God starting something in Christians. He's starting a good work. What is the beginning of this good work? Well, the beginning of the good work is justification and regeneration, right? Those are two Theological terms that happen simultaneously in the life of a Christian. And it's the beginning of the Christian life. Justification tells us that we are declared righteous. These are the two things that happen when you're saved. You are declared righteous. There's no more sin in your life. There's no more payment for sin. There's no more guilt of sin in your life because Jesus took it on the cross. All that is credited to Jesus. It's no longer on us. Regeneration tells us that we are given a new heart. Regenerated. Something is made anew in us, and that's our life, and that's our heart. God takes out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. We're regenerated. And the cross accomplishes these two things. This is the beginning of the work. This is the beginning of the work that Christ is accomplishing in us. And it's through the cross that justification and regeneration are possible. It's in the cross that a work is begun. He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion. This, bringing it to completion, this is glorification. This is glorification. Christians being made perfect, being glorified. When our souls are finally joined with our heavenly bodies, there's no more effect of sin, there's no more fleshly desire, and we get to be in the presence of God because we are glorified. We are holy. This is the completion that Jesus is working towards. This is what Jesus is doing in heaven. This is Jesus' work in heaven. This is His goal in intercession as our High Priest. To bring us from justification, from regeneration, to glorification. He's starting a work and He's going to complete it and that's what Jesus' intercessory work is. This is why He prays this prayer. This is why Jesus intercedes for us. To bring us to glory. to complete the work that He started on the cross. Now, what does Jesus actually say to the Father? What is Jesus actually doing when He's speaking to the Father, when He intercedes for us? I want you to try to imagine with me a scene in heaven. God is seated on his throne and Jesus is seated next to him at his right hand. And they're looking down on earth, right? They're looking down on all the Christians. And as they look down, they see Mikey here. And they see as Micah lives his life, his Christian life. All the while, Micah's living his Christian life. He's sinning and he's trying to follow the Lord and he's back and forth and it's a struggle, but he's living a Christian life. All the while, Jesus is sitting there telling the Father, almost reminding the Father what He prays here in John 17. He's saying, this one, Micah here. Micah here is a Christian. He's a Christian because I have manifested my name to him. You took him out of the world and you gave him to me. He's truly one of your children because he believes in my words. He keeps your words. He loves your words. And of course we don't know exactly how it works. We don't know if they're truly seated on physical thrones, or if they're telepathically communicating or what, but we know this. We know this from John chapter 17, that Jesus is praying for us, and this is what He prays for us. This is what He tells the Father. Is that something you want? Isn't that something that we desire to hear from Jesus? This one. This is a true Christian. He truly believes in you. He truly loves you. He truly follows you, Father. This is what he is saying about true Christians right now. We know that because he says it here in John chapter 17. But the question we're trying to ask is why is Jesus praying these things? Why is Jesus interceding on our behalf? He's doing it to bring the work he started to completion, of course. But ultimately, verse 10 answers this question. Ultimately, verse 10, all mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. This is the ultimate goal of Jesus. This is his ultimate goal on earth. This is his ultimate goal in heaven, to glorify himself. And we know that when Jesus is glorified, God is glorified. When the Son has brought glory, the Father has brought glory. to be glorified in us by bringing that work to completion, by glorifying us. So now we have to ask, who is this? Who is it that Jesus prays for? And verses 6 through 10, the verses we have today, are really about this question. They're really answering this question of, who is it that Jesus intercedes for? He makes statement after statement about the disciples and about what they believe and about what they do that answers this question, who is it that Jesus is praying for? Verse six, look at this. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. I have manifested your name. What does that mean? I have manifested your name. Does this mean that Jesus Are we talking about God's title, His actual name, Yahweh? That Jesus just said Yahweh a lot? No, I have manifested Your name. Yahweh is the name of God, and that name means the Great I Am. See, God's name, it carries the full weight of His character. It carries the full weight of His glory. It carries the full weight of God's attributes. To manifest God's name is to embody God's character. To manifest God himself. This is what Jesus did. He was perfect, he was sinless, he was holy and loving and he was kind. He was so kind to people and even just. But Jesus embodies the character of God himself. This is something no human being can do because to embody God's character is to be God himself. You cannot embody God's character without being God himself. Jesus is the manifestation of God's name. And his name is only manifest, look at the wording in this verse, his name is only manifest to those whom you gave me out of the world. Notice Jesus doesn't say, I manifested your name to the world. I manifested your name to everyone that listened to me. No, I manifested my name to those whom you gave me out of the world. What does that tell us? That tells us that those who are not saved, those who are not these 11 disciples don't understand who Jesus is and they don't understand the name of God. because it wasn't manifested to them. It wasn't shown to them who Jesus truly is. And this is specifically for the disciples. God specifically, physically manifested Jesus specifically and physically manifested His name to these 11 disciples. All four Gospels are written by these disciples except for Luke. But Luke is just compilation of statements from first-hand accounts. These are all first-hand accounts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And what do we find in the Gospels? What do we find as Christians when we read the Gospels? We see God's name manifest in Jesus. That's what they're about. The good news of Jesus Christ, that He came to show us mercy. So who is Jesus praying for? He prays only for those who see Him. He prays only for those who understand who He is. Verse 8, we're going to jump around a little bit. But verse 8, For I have given them the words that you gave Me, and they received them. That's the first statement in verse 8. I have given them the words that you gave Me, and they have received them. Jesus taught these disciples what God wanted him to teach them. He taught them this and they received them. This is who Jesus prays for. Those who receive the words of Jesus Christ. Those who understand the words of Jesus Christ and those who believe the words of Jesus Christ. The second half of verse 8. And have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they believe that you sent me. So this is the second point. The ones who Jesus prays for are those who know that Jesus came from God and believe that he came from God himself. So we have to hear his words, we have to believe his words, and keep his words, and we have to believe that Jesus came from God. And he confirms the disciples' belief in that. They know, they come to know the truth that I came from you. Jesus confirms the disciples' belief in this. Which is kind of odd because chapter 16, verse 29, the disciples say, ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. We now know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. What does Jesus say? Oh, now you believe. Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered. He shatters that idea that they truly believe. But then he's over here confirming it. He's confirming that they believe that Jesus came from God. What's going on? The truth is the disciples do believe in Jesus as the Son of God. We know that Peter told Jesus We have nowhere to go except to follow you. We've left our everything for you. We have nothing else as the answer to our life except you. We know that the disciples believe in Jesus, but they still are scattered. They don't have full belief, but they will. And they have come to know in truth that I came from you. See, Jesus, Matthew Henry points this out, that Jesus He likes to look at the bright side, right? He likes to look at these disciples with rose-colored glasses. And isn't that wonderful that we have a Savior that almost ignores the unbelief for the sake of the tiny bit of belief that they have? If you have faith like a mustard seed, then you can move mountains. Their faith is much smaller than a mustard seed, but Jesus is still saying to the Father, they believe that I came from you. Isn't that wonderful? So who is Jesus praying for? Back to this verse 7. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. That's easy to say, right? That's easy to say that everything that I have is from God, right? What's hard to say is in verse 10. All mine are yours. Right? That's a similar statement. Everything that I have is yours, Father. Everything that I have, you've given to me. All mine are yours. What's the second statement? And yours are mine. Jesus is telling that to God the Father. All that I have is yours, but all you have is mine. We can't say that. That's impossible for a human to say. You can say those words, of course, but it's not true. It's true when Jesus says it. Why? Because He is God. Because Jesus is God. So who is it that Jesus prays for? Jesus prays for those who listen to His words, accept His words, receive His words, and those who believe that Jesus came from God and is, in fact, God. These are essential. That's the first thing. The first point of who Jesus prays for. Those whom believe in Jesus. Now look at the second half of verse 6. Back up to verse 6. Remember, I said this in verse 2. Verse 2, Jesus says, you've given me authority over all flesh to give eternal life. To whom you have given him. This statement, those whom you have given me, Jesus makes this statement seven different times in this chapter alone. Those whom you have given me. He's trying to say something. He's trying to emphasize something. That those whom he prays for are those whom The Father has given him. Verse 6, we see this progression. Look at this progression. Those whom you gave me out of the world. So who owned us first? Who owned the disciples first? The world owned the disciples. The world owned the disciples. And then the Father took them out of the world. And what does the Father do with them? Gives them to Jesus. So we go, the disciples and ourselves go from the world to the Father and then to Jesus as a gift. And this is who Jesus prays for, those who have been taken out of the world. Those who have been removed from the world. Holy people. Holy people. Those who are children of God. This language of, they're taken out of the world and then they're given to me, it suggests possession. This kind of language suggests ownership, that God has owned us. The world owned us, and then God owned us, and now Jesus owns us. And it's true, God bought us. And we know the theology of lordship, salvation, right? that when you're saved, it's essential that you make God your Lord, you make Jesus your Lord, and you follow him with your whole heart. You are no longer following your own desires, you're no longer following the prince of the power of the air. This upsets people, because they don't want to let go of their own desires, they don't want to submit themselves to the lordship of Christ. But true Christians True Christians love this. We love this concept, right? On Wednesday, we were at a prayer meeting at Ivan's house, and Ivan began to pray, and I remember he said, Lord, I wasn't looking for you. I wasn't looking to be saved. I didn't want anything to do with you. I didn't want to be saved. And yet you came into my life and you infiltrated all of my desires and you saved me. That's the story of every Christian, every true Christian. I was not looking for God. I didn't want anything to do with God. And yet He came into my life and changed my desires, regenerated me. Romans 6.22 tells us explains this concept. But now you have been set free from sin. We've been set free from sin. Yet, we have become slaves of God. Become slaves of God. The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. This slavery that we are in, we love this slavery. We love to be slaves of God. But it leads to sanctification and sanctification to eternal life. This is Jesus's intercessory work. He owns us, and he brings it to eternal life, to completion. Thanks be to God for enslaving us. Thanks be to God for freeing us from our enslavement to sin and enslaving us to his sanctification and eternal life. The end of verse 6 says, Chapter 17, verse 6, yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. This is the final point. So we have, this is who Jesus prays for. First, we have those who understand Jesus' words and Jesus taught them the truth and they believe in him. They believe who he is in truth. Second, we have those who are removed from the world, taken out of the world and given to Christ To look after, Christ looks after us and he brings the work that he began to completion. The third and final point of who Jesus prays for, who Jesus intercedes for, is those who obey, those who keep the word. To keep the word means to obey the word. And the truth is, if you have all the other attributes of believing in Christ and believing who He is and what He did, and if you are truly taken out of the world, it always results in obedience. It always results in keeping the Word. It's really easy sometimes to tell who a true Christian is, right? Because they're so obedient to Christ and they're so Separated from the world. It's easy to tell who a Christian is. Why? Because they don't look like the world. Why do they not look like the world? Because they've been taken out of the world. Set apart for obedience. Those who are obedient is who Jesus intercedes for. Those who are obedient and keep the word is who Jesus prays for. This is the work Jesus completes at the right hand of God. Final point, bonus point, I guess. Who does Jesus not pray for? Because we gotta answer that question. Who's excluded from this prayer? And Jesus actually mentions this. It's kind of interesting. Verse nine. I am praying for them. Jesus prays for us. That's a wonderful concept that Jesus prays for us. I am not praying for the world. He excludes the whole world. The whole world. Anyone who is not included in this list of things that he says that we believe in Christ and he's manifest of his name to us, he excludes every single person that is not included in that. What is the world? The world is the system of sin. The system of the world. Those who are enslaved to sin. Sin rules everything. Satan rules everything in the world, if you're a pre-male. The system of sin that's set in place. Right? That should be a scary verse for those who do not believe. That should be a scary verse for those who are in the world. So we know that Satan is the great accuser. He accuses everyone. And when Christians sin, I'm sure of this, that when a Christian sins, Satan is right there. saying, look, God, look, he's sinning. Is he truly one of yours? Is he truly a Christian because he's doing that same thing over and over again? And yet Jesus sits at the right hand of God and says, yes, but I paid for it. I paid for it and he is a true Christian and he's forgiven of that sin. But when a non-Christian sins, we're left to assume that Satan is still the accuser and yet there's no interceder. There's no high priest on their behalf. There is no one in heaven saying, it's okay, I paid for that sin. That's scary that Jesus does not pray for the world. He does not pray for the world. Of course we have the universal call to salvation. The universal call that the gospel is offered to everyone, indiscriminately. God so loved the world that he gave his son. Right? He gave his son to save those out of the world. But Jesus doesn't pray for those. He doesn't pray for glorification for those who are in the world. He doesn't pray for eternal life for those who are in the world. He only prays for those whom are given to Him. Those whom are taken out of the world. So this gospel call, I will ask, please, If you do not love Jesus as your Lord, if you do not love Jesus as your Master, and you don't understand who Jesus is, He has not manifested His name to you, then I ask that you accept this age-old calling. This age-old calling that today you can be saved. Today you can be saved. Today is the day of salvation. So I ask that you seek the Lord while He may be found, because one day He will not be found by you. But for Christians, praise be to God, our loving Savior Jesus Christ, who not only died on the cross for our sins, came to earth and shed his blood so that we can have purification, we can have justification before God, we can be declared righteous before God, but he also works for our glorification day and night. So let us be thankful to him and strive to keep his word, strive to be more like our high priest who intercedes for us. Amen. Father, I thank you for these verses. I thank you for this passage that we get to see Jesus pray for us. And I do pray for those who are not included in this, Lord, that they would seek you and that they would Knock, Lord. I thank you for your intercession and your high priestly work on our behalf. In Jesus' name, amen.