Well, this morning we return to that very holy ground, the ground on which our Lord offered his high priestly prayer. Last week we were in verse five, the first five verses of the prayer where Jesus prayed for himself and where he articulated the basis of eternal life when he said, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This morning we concentrate our attention on verses six through 19, where Jesus prays specifically for his first disciples, the apostles. Once again, we are reminded that before Jesus poured out his blood for us on the cross, he poured out his heart for us in prayer. John chapter 17, beginning in verse six. Jesus prayed to the Father. 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. And I am no longer in the world, but they, are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. So far, the reading of God's holy word. To his name be praise and glory. Let's look to him once again in prayer. Our gracious heavenly father, we thank you for these precious and powerful words of your son. We pray that you would speak them afresh to us this morning by the ministry of your Holy Spirit, that you would take my lips and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, and take our hearts and set them on fire with love for your Son and for others. This we pray through Christ our Lord, amen. One of the most overlooked, but more often than not, one of the more interesting parts of a book, at least in my opinion, is the acknowledgements, where the author thanks those who have helped make the book a reality. The parents who nurtured, the teachers who introduced new the authors who inspired, the colleagues who challenged, the supporters who gave, the children who were patient while research and writing took place, or the spouse who sacrificed to make it all possible. Of course, it's been said that behind every great man is an even greater woman, or perhaps more accurately, behind every great man is a surprised woman. But the acknowledgements page gives us that kind of behind the scenes look at who is behind the author, who is behind the one who wrote the book that enabled the book to come to fruition. Those supportive, thankful, maybe even surprised people who informed, inspired, and enabled the author to see their work to completion. Well, if the apostles were to write an acknowledgements page for a book about their lives and ministries, they would surely focus their attention on their best friend and teacher and savior, Jesus of Nazareth. They would acknowledge that he was the one who made their fruitful lives and lasting legacies possible. The apostles would no doubt thank him for recalling them to be his followers, for being patient with them, for loving them when they least deserved it, for speaking the truth in love to them, and ultimately for laying down his life for them. But no doubt they would have also thanked him for praying for them. And surely they would remember specifically the prayers that Jesus offered on their behalf as recorded here in the gospel according to John. which the Father was pleased to answer by the ministry of the Spirit in and through their lives. When we ask the question, how did the apostles, these heroes of the faith, become so great in and for the faith, we get part of the answer right here in John chapter 17. Quite simply, Jesus prayed for them. Their greatness in life and ministry after the death and resurrection of Jesus was a result of the prayers of their great high priest. As we consider what Jesus prayed for the apostles, we see that he prayed that the Father would keep them. Jesus himself had been with them for three years and he had kept them. but he was going away to the father. So he asked the father to keep them. It was like the parents who are going away on a trip. So they ask their parents or some trusted friends to keep their children. They don't ask a stranger to keep their children. They ask someone they trust. They know will keep the children safe who they know will do what is best for the children and who will keep the children on the tasks that the parents have left for them to do. So it is here with Jesus. Jesus entrusts his disciples to the safekeeping of his infinitely trustworthy Heavenly Father. Jesus asked the Father to keep the apostles in three specific ways. He asked him to keep them in the truth, he asked him to keep them from the tempter, and he asked him to keep them on the task that he had given them to do. First, Jesus asked the Father to keep his children, his beloved apostles, the truth. Notice how gracious Jesus was in his words about his apostles. Again, we read in verse six, 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. Jesus had faithfully revealed the truth about God and salvation to his apostles. Sometimes they were confused, sometimes they questioned what Jesus taught them, but Jesus here summarizes their response to his teaching by saying that they had kept the truth. They were the opposite of the world. who had rejected the truth as it is in Jesus and thus remained outside of a saving relationship with God the Father. Jesus' words here about his disciples in contradistinction to the world are reminiscent of John's words about Jesus in John chapter one where he said, he came to his own. and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Jesus was saying that unlike the world, The disciples, the 11 faithful apostles, had received the truth that Jesus taught them. So he was now praying that the Father would keep them in that truth. It's similar to what Paul said to the Colossians in chapter two of his epistle to the Colossians, beginning in verse six, where he said, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. So that is essentially what Jesus was praying for his apostles, that they not veer from the truth as it is in Jesus. If the apostles veered from the truth, corrupted the truth or denied the truth, the foundation upon which the church was built would crumble. As Paul put it in Ephesians chapter two in verse 20, the household of God was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. That is part of what we are confessing In the Nicene Creed, when we say we believe in the apostolic church, it's the church that is founded on and faithful to the teachings of the apostles concerning the triune God and eternal salvation found in Him. The apostles were those foundational keepers of the faith. Thus Jesus prayed that the Father would keep them so they would keep the faith. What enabled the apostles in the face of intense persecution and martyrdom to faithfully write and preach the faith, the good news concerning Jesus Christ? What enabled them to stay faithful to the truth to the point of death? The prayers of Jesus on their behalf. Jesus specifically praying that the Father would keep them in His name, keep them in the truth as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Keep them faithful to hold fast to and to hold forth the truth, the saving truth of Jesus Christ. And we should join with our interceding high priest in praying the same way for ourselves, for our church, for our ministries, for our children, for those whom we lead to Christ. We should pray that we who have come to a saving knowledge of the truth in Christ would be kept in it by the Father's care. Our prayers should be like those of Jesus for his faithful apostles. His prayers for them were not condemning, but rather gracious. Their faith was not perfect, but it was real. Jesus lifted up their faith to the Father and prayed that they would be preserved in that faith, that they would grow in it. His prayers for them were reminiscent of David's words to the Lord in Psalm 18 and verse 35, which we read earlier in the service when David said to the Lord, you have given me the shield of your salvation and your right hand supported me and your gentleness made me great. Our Savior. prayed for his fickle, frail, often failing disciples with gentleness. And those gentle, compassionate, loving prayers made them great. Is that how we pray for one another? For our leaders? For our children? John said in 3 John and verse 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Not walking perfectly, but walking really and faithfully in the truth. God the Father answered Jesus' prayers for his apostles through the gift of the spirit of truth, who led the apostles in all truth and who kept them faithful in that truth. May that be our prayer as well. Father, fill us with your spirit to keep us in the truth of your son. And as Christ also prayed, sanctify us in your truth. Your word is truth. May the Father keep us and our children and all those whom we lead to Christ in the truth, hungering for his truth, loving his truth, cherishing his truth, being transformed into the likeness of his Son by his truth. What made the apostles so great in the faith? Jesus asked the Father to keep them the truth. In the second place, Jesus asked the Father to keep his apostles from the tempter. The tempter's sights were set on Jesus first and but he had failed to get Jesus to sin in the wilderness and he would be defeated by Jesus at the cross and the empty tomb. He could not tempt Jesus to turn his back on the heavenly father. He could not drive a wedge between Jesus and the father. So if he could not get Christ to turn away from the father, perhaps he could get the apostles to turn away from Christ. One of the 12 did turn away from Christ. Judas, the one who hardened his heart against the love of Christ and who betrayed Christ. The one who, in his hardness of heart, opened the door to Satan, that Satan might come into him and use him as an instrument of evil. The one who would prove to be the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. The one who betrayed Christ into the hands of those who crucified him. Perhaps thought Satan, I could have my way with the others as well. There was one problem. Jesus prayed for them. He prayed specifically in verse 15, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. That prayer won the day. That prayer preserved the disciples. That prayer thwarted the designs of the tempter who hates Christ, the gospel, and the church. We know from Christ's own lips that his prayers kept Peter's faith. from being utterly destroyed by the tempter. In Luke chapter 22, beginning in verse 31, Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. You have to think that Peter in the acknowledgements page of his book on his life and ministry would say something like, thank you Jesus for praying for me when Satan wanted to destroy me and make shipwreck of my faith. Thank you for not giving up on me, but rather praying for me. that I might be delivered from Satan and restored to you. Jesus, it was your prayers that enabled me to persevere and be the rock and the apostle that you called me to be. Again, let us pray like that for ourselves and for others. We are in a spiritual battle. Our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Peter knew that personally, and so he could proclaim that in all truth for our benefit. Let us wield the weapon of all prayer for ourselves and one another, asking as Jesus taught and modeled for us, for the Father to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from the evil one. Let us not be duped into thinking that we can remain faithful in our own strength. When we think like that, we are most vulnerable Instead, let us ask the Father in the name of His Son for the empowerment of His Spirit that we might be able to renounce and withstand the wiles of the devil. What made the apostles great in the faith? Jesus asked the Father to keep them in the truth, to keep them from the tempter, and to keep them on the task that he had given them to do. And that task was the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. As Jesus said in verse 18, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And as we'll see next week, Lord willing, from verse 20, Jesus prayed not only for the apostles in his high priestly prayer, but also for those who believe in Jesus through the apostles' word. That was their calling, was to proclaim the word, the truth of the gospel. that many might believe, not only in their lifetime, but from generation to generation until Christ comes again. That was their task. The term apostle means one who is sent. Jesus himself is called our apostle in Hebrews chapter three and verse one because the father sent him to us. Jesus then sent out the apostles, the sent ones, into all the world to preach the good news of eternal life in him. That was their task. That is what he asked the Father to keep them focused on, the task of gospel proclamation. The apostles were not to keep the truth, keep away from the tempter, and then keep to themselves. They were not to create a holy huddle in a secluded encampment somewhere and simply die in the faith, maybe passing along the faith to their children and hoping that their children might pass the faith along to theirs. No, Jesus had given them a much greater and more glorious task, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. That was their task, to go into the world, a world full of sinners, many of whom would hate them and reject them, at least at first, because they hated and rejected their Jesus. but to go in love and prayer and with the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing it near and far. The apostles were great in fulfilling that task. They rose to that task. How did they do it? How did Peter go from denying Jesus to a servant girl to preaching Jesus without reservation before thousands of people, including the authorities who threatened and who finally took his life. How did Thomas go from doubting the resurrection to proclaiming it boldly all the way to India, where according to tradition, he also died a martyr's death? How was this kind of witness manifested by the other apostles? Surely in the acknowledgements page of their book on life and ministry, they would say, thank you, Jesus, for praying that we would not turn back from the task you gave us to do. Thank you for praying that we would be faithful in sharing your truth in our lifetime so that thousands, millions might be saved through our witness. May we join Jesus in praying like that for ourselves, that we would stay on task, on the task of sharing the simple, saving gospel of Jesus Christ with courage, conviction, and love. May we even be so bold as to pray that God would make us more fruitful and that we would see many come to a saving knowledge of his son. If you yourself have never received Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, I encourage you to do so today. Christ stands ready to save you. You get a window into his loving heart here in the prayers he prayed before he went to Calvary to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ is the best friend you could ever have. Jesus Christ is the one who sticks closer than a brother. Jesus Christ is the only savior of sinners. Won't you call on him today that you might be saved. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your praying son, We know from experience that prayer is hard work. And we know from the testimony of your word that in his prayers before he went to Calvary's tree, Christ sweated great drops of blood, such was his turmoil. Such was the sense of what he was doing as he was going to take upon himself the sin of the world that he might be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But he prayed, he persevered in prayer that he might glorify you, that his apostles might be kept in the truth, kept from the tempter, and kept on the task of gospel proclamation. And we thank you so much that he prayed for them, and that you granted his request, and that through their witness, we have believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through faith in him, we have eternal life. Father, keep us in the truth, keep us from the tempter, and keep us on the task of sharing your gospel with others so that they might have eternal life in you. As we pray through Christ our Lord, amen.