Brother Rob Cosby from the Reformed Baptist Church in Tucson is going to be giving us our devotional on John 17. Let's pray that the Spirit would be with him, and after the devotional, Al Huber will lead us in a hymn. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, Our trust and hope this morning is that you made your son to be our substitute. You made him who knew no sin to become sin for us. That we believing sinners, pitiful as we are, might become the righteousness of God in him. That you are pleased that we are gathered. You are pleased that we are here. We look forward to anticipation to the spirit helping our brother preach John 17 to us. Would you open our hearts? Would you pour in the truth? Would you minister to all the various needs that are represented here? May Christ be seen to be very big and great. We pray in His precious name. Amen. honored to be here this morning. If you would take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 17. We continue on in this passage. Pastor Waters looked at the first five verses yesterday. I'll be looking at the next 14 verses 6 through 19 today and then our brother John Miller will be going finishing off the prayer tomorrow morning. John chapter 17 and verse 6, 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 the 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 has been lost except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. 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. thus far the reading of God's word this morning. In chapter 26 of our confession of faith, we are given one of the great reasons for us to be part of local churches, but also part of associations. In paragraph 14 we read, as each church and all the members of it are bound to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ in all places and upon all occasions to further it, everyone within the bounds of their places and callings and the exercise of their gifts and graces. So the churches, when planted by the providence of God, so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it, ought to hold communion among themselves for their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification. Here we're called, we're reminded that it is our duty to pray for one another. As an association we pray for one another. Each week we receive a letter talking about the various needs of our various churches. But also at the same time in those letters reminding us of how much we appreciate knowing that our brothers and sisters are praying for us. And think for a moment about the great pleasure and the great joy that gives us knowing that we're not alone. That as we look around us this morning, all these people that are here and more besides them every week are praying for us, lifting up our needs, coming before the throne of God to intercede on our behalf. But as we come to our passage this morning, I am struck by the awesome realization If we are so encouraged when one another prays for us, when we pray for each other, how much more encouraged we should be knowing that the creator of the universe prays for us. If we're encouraged when these sinful people sitting next to us, when these powerless and weak people that have nothing in themselves pray for us and we're encouraged, how much more so knowing the omnipotent creator of the universe is praying on our behalf. Think for a moment about how the book of John begins. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This Word that through everything that is came into being. Now in John 17 we see Him praying for us. But as we think about this I'm also struck by the words of Psalm 8. When I look at your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? When we pray for each other, it is reciprocal. We pray for each other because we need each other. But the creator of the universe doesn't need us. There's nothing we give back to him in return for what he has done. He prays for us out of his mercy and grace and out of his love. And so as we see this passage, I'm so struck by the compassion and care of our Savior, Brother Thomas Waters, yesterday in reminding us of this, that as Christ comes to the end of his ministry here, we see throughout this passage that he loves us and that he cares for us. I was struck yesterday as he mentioned how much trouble he had bringing out everything that's here in just 20 minutes, and he only had five verses to work with. I've got 14 here, or 13. There's no way that we can give this passage the detail it focused on or that it needs, and so I'm not even going to try to go through much of this today. But I want to look at a few things here that I hope will be encouraging to us as we think through the intercession of Christ on behalf of his church. The primary context here is focused upon his intercession for his apostles. But we can take this on further to remind us that this is his prayer for the church at large. He begins by invoking the Father. He comes to the Father and says, these are the ones you have given me. I have kept them. I bring them to you. We are one with each other. The body is one with us. Now let us, I have taken care of them, now may you take care of them. When we think about the beginning of the intercession in verses 9 through 10, we often read these verses focused not so much upon the intercession as upon defending our doctrine of particular redemption and election. And those are important doctrines to think through in this passage, but I want to take us beyond that this morning and focus upon the reason that he is praying for this. And I want to focus especially here on the efficacious nature of our Lord's Prayer. On the one hand, Scripture reminds us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power. But our prayers have power not because of any power in us. Christ's prayers have power. They're efficacious because of the power in Him Himself. He is able to Himself bring about what He has done. We pray as sinful, broken men. We pray as weak and powerless that have nothing except for the fact that we are part of this body of Christ. But Christ prays as the perfectly righteous, omnipotent creator of the universe and everything that he prays for will come to pass. What I want to focus on this morning, though, for the majority of our time we have left, is what Christ actually prays for in this passage. I think sometimes we fail to appreciate just how much Christ is praying for us because of the focus of his prayer. When we pray, what is our first thought that we pray for? It is our physical well-being. We usually pray that the physical things of our life will be improved. But Christ's prayer does the exact opposite. I don't believe that means because he doesn't care about our physical well-being or that we should not pray for our physical well-being. But as Brother Slate pointed out last night, that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is not our physical needs but our spiritual needs and that is the focus of Christ's prayer. His focus is on two things here in this text, and that is our preservation from the evil one, our eternal salvation, our Christ keeping and preserving his own, and our sanctification. He begins by pointing us here to the reality that he is leaving the world. In just a few hours he will be led away. He's leaving. and the world is going to be set against his disciples. World here, I believe, on the one hand, the primary focus is upon persecution. But if we think about sanctification, we just think about the way that the Gospel of John uses world in general. I believe it points us to the fact that it's the realities of the brokenness of this world. This world hits us hard. Sometimes it's by persecution. In fact, Christ told his disciples that because we are of our master, as they have persecuted the master, so they will persecute his followers. But our suffering in this world comes from more than just persecution. It also comes, as we see in verses 17 through 19, it comes through our sanctification. Be nice if all of our sanctification always happen nicely and pleasantly. But if you're like me, most of the time sanctification happens best at the end of a two by four upside the head. It's frequently painful. Our sin brings consequences. Sanctification brings trials and tribulations. But it's not even just that. We live in a broken world and we experience brokenness. The blind man hadn't sinned, nor had his parents. He was blind to show the power of God. As we think through that some of the suffering that some of our members of our association are going through right now, we're struck by this reality. It's not because of sin. It is because of sin in the original sense. But it's not because of their individual sin. It's because we live in a broken world. The suffering of this world continues to hit us. And our prayer is usually, Lord, take us out of the suffering. Take us out of the world. Take us away from these trials and these tribulations. But the Lord in this passage here says, they're staying in the world. They're still going to be there. Keep them from the evil one and sanctify them. Think about Mark chapter 9 and Matthew 18 for a moment where we're told there that it is better to, if our hand offends us, cut it off. If your eye offends you, gouge it out. For it's better to enter into the kingdom of heaven maimed than it is to go through life whole. Now on the one hand, we often think about that passage, what do I have to do to stop sinning? The reality is, can you cut off enough appendages in order to stop sinning? The reality, the focal point I think we need to see in that passage is what is at the end. Our physical, the living in the world is not what's important. It is our sanctification. It is our preservation. And that's what Christ prays for here. He comes To us, he comes to the disciples and says, you're going to be in the world and the world's going to bring suffering. They're going to persecute you for my name. You're going to be broken by the brokenness of this world. You're going to be sanctified through my word and that's not always going to be pleasant. But he prays on our behalf and he says to the Father, Don't let the evil one have them. I've kept them and now you keep them. Sanctify them. Suffering then in this world is for our good. It's for our sanctification and it's for His glory in seeing enduring faithfulness. God is glorified even as we go through the trials of this world. But as we think of this text this morning, I want us to focus more upon the positive. In spite of these trials, in spite of the fact that we live in this world and we continue to go through the brokenness and the suffering of this world, our text reminds us that our Savior is praying for us. As we pray for one another, we have hope that the Lord is going to work on our behalf. But we know that what we desire isn't always what is best for us. And what we pray for may not come to pass. Because our wisdom is flawed. We don't see the big picture. We are weak outside of Christ. We have no power. And we are sinful. And even on our best day, our prayers are clouded by our own sin. But none of those things affect our Lord. He becomes before the throne. He is perfectly righteous. He is perfectly wise. And He is perfectly powerful. Nothing gets in the way of what He prays for. And everything that He requests of the Father will be answered. When Christ prays to keep us from the evil one, it will come to pass. When Christ prays that we be sanctified, it will come to pass. What comfort should we take in that? And why should this be? Who are we that He is mindful of us? Who are we that the eternal Word of God, who brought this world into being, should care about us? Even in spite of what He does, we continue to sin against Him. In spite of what He has done, we continue to struggle. But may we take comfort and take hope, remembering that in spite of all of this, our Savior is praying for us. On the one hand, I think it is important for us to Remember, in seeing this passage, the importance of correcting our own priorities. When we come before the throne of God and we lift up our prayers, remember that our physical needs aren't the most important. You know, we think about Mark 9 and Matthew 18. Our prayers are, Lord, don't let me lose my arms. Don't let me lose my hands. Don't let me lose my eyes. I think we need to be challenged occasionally that our first prayer needs to be, Lord, keep me faithful. Lord, sanctify me through your word. Keep me from the evil one. It is right and appropriate, I believe, from Scripture to pray for our physical needs. We are called to do that throughout Scripture. But sometimes we're going to lose hands. We're going to lose eyes. We're going to suffer. And so let us constantly remember that our first prayer should be for sanctification, for holiness, for our Savior. But most importantly, as we look at this text this morning, as we finish things up, I want us to remember that our, the primary thing here is to remember that our Savior is praying this very thing for us. May we take comfort in the fact that He is praying and that His will will be done. We have no claim upon Him, nothing that we bring to Him that warrants His great grace and mercy. But for some reason, beyond our comprehension, He who made the heavens and the earth, the moon, the seas, and all that is in them, He has come to earth and shed His blood. And He even now intercedes on our behalf. He's praying for us at this moment. that we be sanctified and that we be kept. And what He prays for will come to pass. May we take hope and take comfort in the love of our Savior and His prayers for us. And may we praise Him not just for answering the prayers that we make, but praise Him that He is praying for us and that His prayers will be answered and that we have hope. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and glorify your name, that you have sent your son. We praise you that he is even now interceding for us, that his prayers are lifted up. And we thank you that we have hope that we will not be lost to the evil one, that we will be sanctified, because that is the will of our Savior and his prayer. And may we give you all the honor and glory and praise for all that you have done, are doing, and will do in our lives and the lives of your church. And we give you all the honor and glory and praise in Jesus' name. Amen.