Advancing God's Glory Part 3 - Jesus Prays for His Disciples - John 17:14-18

1:24Well, we are in this portion of Scripture where Jesus is praying for his disciples first. He prays for himself in John chapter 17, then he prays for his immediate disciples, and then he prays for all those who will come and be his disciples after that immediate generation. So he's praying for us, included in that. But today, I want to continue looking at this prayer that he offered for his own immediate disciples. If you look back at verse 11, look at his prayer request: keep them. Do you see that in verse 11? Keep them. Now, implied in the word keep is the idea of value and the idea of threat. You keep that which you value, and you protect that which you value from threats, threats of loss. So, Jesus treasures his people, and he knows that they are in real danger, so he prays to his father to put them into a state of permanent protection. Permanently protect them. That's the idea.

2:41And there are several aspects of this section that, as we go through and look at the verses that we're going to look at this morning, I want you to have in your mind. I want you to keep in mind that specific prayer to keep them, keep them, and how he wants to keep them, or a specific prayer is keeping. Them in his name. Look back. Verse 11. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me. Keep them in your name. Keep them in that holy disposition that characterizes you, and specifically that holy disposition that was manifested in my life as Jesus is praying. He's saying, in the name which you have given to me.

3:32Jesus came, the word, singular, proclaiming words, all revealing, manifesting his heavenly Father. And so Jesus' name is the name whereby all of mankind is to understand the heavenly Father. So Jesus is saying, keep them in your name, in that name associated with the revelation that is found only in me. That's a specific prayer. Also, I want you to keep in mind the tone of this prayer. The tone of this prayer is triumph. Look back at verse 16 and verse 33, chapter 16, verse 33.

4:31These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world. And then he enters into this prayer in John chapter 17. And the note right preceding this prayer is one: I have to overcome the world. Take courage. He's about to go to the cross, he's about to spend the night in the belly of the earth going through everything. Evil is going to be thrown against him. Justice is going to be perverted. He is going to be mistreated. And here he is.

5:12Yeah, all that's in my immediate future. But you take courage. I've overcome the world. And then look at what he says in verse 13 of chapter 17. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. So here's Jesus on a note of triumph and a note of joy. I'm about to go to the cross, and the reason I'm praying out loud is so that they can know and experience and have my joy.

5:48So the tone, there's one of triumph. This is an amazing spirit that he goes to the cross with. And friends, this is the one we are. Following. Never forget that. Spirit of triumph, spirit of joy. But another element I want you to keep in your mind is Jesus' stewardship in this. Not only I want you to remember the specific prayer and the tone, but I want you to understand Jesus' stewardship, the stewardship of all that the Father has given him. Jesus is the perfection of stewardship. He talked a lot about stewards. So you can be sure that he is going to be a good steward of everything that God has given him, that his heavenly Father has given to him. And if you just look at the expression throughout this chapter, it shows up quite a bit. The phrase, you have given me, or a close-related phrase, but it's, you have given me, you have given me. Look at, just I'll start working from the back of it just to get a sense of this. Look at verse 24.

7:02Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, which you have given me. You see that? He has given him his glory. And obviously, in that same passage, he's given him men. So the Father has given his glory to Jesus. And you just keep walking that back. In verse 11 and 12, it's clear that Jesus, that the Father had given Jesus his name, the very idea.

7:30Identification of himself. He tied with Jesus. So the Father had given his glory to Jesus. He had given his name to Jesus. Look at verse 8 and notice that the Father had given his words to Jesus. Verse 8, for the words which you gave me, I have given to them. So the Father has given his glory, his name, his words. The Father has given him men. Verse 6, verse 9, verse 24, the men that you had given to me. And then look at verse 4. The Father had also given Jesus a work to do. Verse 4, verse 6, but 26, but also just in verse 4, just, I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. There is a lot that the Father had given Jesus. He had given him his glory. He had given him his name. He had given him his words. He had given him men, and he had given him a work to accomplish.

8:32And so what does Jesus do? Well, his work. Jesus revealed the name of his father to the men his father had given him through the words which his father had given him. And by doing so, he glorified his father, and he demonstrated the greatest kind of love, kind of a love of a good shepherd. Remember in John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He demonstrated that kind of love of a good friend. In John 15, 13, he says, Greater love has no one than this, and one lay down his life for his friend.

9:18You see, Jesus laid down his life to glorify his father by enabling others to see his father as he really is. That was the gift. He wanted to reveal, manifest the Father to the men through the words, make his name known. And such devotion, this is what Christ devoted himself to do, letting others see his father in him. And such devotion took him to the cross, took him to the cross to purchase their eternal redemption. But it wasn't just at the cross. Jesus was accustomed to setting himself aside for the interest of his father's glory. The cross is just that supreme expression of it all.

10:16And likewise, as we're studying this, keep in mind the way we glorify Jesus is in the same manner by laying down our lives so that others can see Christ in us. We're obviously not called to redeem the world and carry his cross in that sense, but we are called to carry our own cross. We are to be familiar with dying daily in words and deeds and in restraints. We are to live our lives so that others can see Christ in us. That's what it's like to follow this Christ of Scripture.

11:08And by doing so, we demonstrate this transforming power of Christ. Just knowing him transforms us. And by letting others see Christ in us, we communicate the highest kind of love that we can for other people. And you, when you exalt, assert, and you have to be the one on top, praised, you display a love for yourself that has no reflection of the Christ of Scripture. Well, Jesus is the perfection of goodness. Stewardship. He wanted his disciples to properly relate to his Father's Word, and so he said and did only that which promoted his Father's Word in the lives of His disciples.

12:16The emphasis this morning is upon truth. Truth. We read about it clearly in verse 17: the Father's Word is truth. Father's Word is truth. And it is the means to keep His disciples in His name. When He says, Keep them, it is through the means of the Word. So that plea you see in verse 11, keep them, is further developed in verse 17 as sanctify them. So the means to keep is by sanctifying them, sanctifying them in the truth. You see that in verse 17? Sanctify them in the truth, the Logos, your word, the Logos, singular, it is truth.

13:14In fact, truth is a very important issue in John's Gospel, right? In fact, Pilate in the very next chapter is going to ask this question: What is truth? And here, John already said, what is truth? Truth is God's reality. The Father's logos, that is truth. The Father's revelation of himself, that is truth. It's not just some empirical concept, it's about God's reality. That's truth. Reality as God sees it, because God is, truth is, because God is, and there are certain things about him that are true.

14:13And so God's reality is truth. And Christ is the embodiment of that reality. Truth is not man's interpretation of what he thinks might be true. No, truth is God's reality. Truth, by its very nature, has a sanctifying effect on those who receive it. It sanctifies. Listen, we were made for truth. We thrive in truth. We die in lies. It's been that way from the beginning. Let your heart get a hold of truth and it will change you.

15:09And that's Jesus' prayer for his disciples here. And so, as this morning, with the time that we have, I want you to see several sanctifying dynamics that truth has upon all who believe it, so that you will center your entire life around the truth. That that will become your existence, that everything it will center around the truth, and your life will emanate from the truth. So, there are three sanctifying dynamics that I want to share with you today.

15:50First of all, the truth separates. The truth separates, it separates disciples from the world. And the very idea of sanctifying is to set apart, to make distinct. And one of the things that the truth does is it separates disciples from the world. Look at verse 14, and it really does it by two ways. Look at verse 14. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them. So, the first way the truth separates disciples from the world is it awakens worldly hostility. Against those who receive it. It awakens worldly hostility against those who are of the truth. And the language is strong. I have given them your word, and the world has abhorred them, hated them, detested them because of the word. Why? Something that Jesus did. This is something Jesus did. He actively, I gave them your word. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them for it.

17:06What Jesus did caused a reaction. He gave, and the world hated. And it's, you look back at verse 6. It's clear that the disciples at one time belonged to the world. Verse 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were once part of this world, of the world system, but they're not anymore. Why are they not anymore? Because God is, because Christ gave them his Father's word and he hated them for it. You've heard me tell this story when I first came to Christ. Remember living up in the mountains of northern New Mexico, kind of a very, for the most part, Part society that was not really in tune with scripture, certainly not Bible-belt South. I moved in early high school to Hope, Arkansas. And I went to the First Baptist Church of Hope, Arkansas. And I heard the gospel. There it was just cultural. You just always went to church. That's just what you did every time the church was opened. And that's what I did. My grandmother had me there every time the church doors opened. Did I say that? Yes.

18:37But that became like Bethel to me. You remember in Genesis 28 when Jacob met the Lord, he saw the heavens open up and the ladder. And it's like he met the Lord there. And it's like you can imagine how Jacob really never, he probably didn't want to leave Bethel. He was fleeing from Easy. It's like, oh, I would like to stay here. Well, to me, that was that little church that proclaimed the truth. God met me there.

19:09And it transformed me. And then I had to go back to the land of enchantment, finish out high school. And I remember on one of my first occasions meeting with some of my friends who we had a godless existence, no desire for the truth. And I remember telling them, sitting in a circle, and I remember telling them, God has got a hold of my life. He has transformed me. And if you, and I remember this one individual, he looked at me with utter disdain, like, you fool.

19:54Are you saying you really are following? You really believe in Christ? And I said, and my response was something to the effect, I have not even stated it in half the force. Yes, and then some, and times over, and more. And if only you all could know him. And I remember that look. I remember that utter disdain, that detesting, that abhorring, that incredulous, you incredulous simpleton. It's this incredulous hostility. And I saw that spirit show up on his face. As I go through life, I see it show up on circles of academia, other circles, other circles. You believe him?

20:54Yes, yes. You see, no one really hangs out with those they hate. So I knew at that moment, I'm not part of this group anymore. I would love to be part of this group and share with them what I have found, but they hated me. At least some of them did. Thought I was a fool. You see, those who receive the truth are not welcome where it is despised. That's what Jesus is saying. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them. So they're not part of this world. The world hates them. And so he prays for the Father to keep them, keep the disciples, because guess what? The world hates them. And if the Father isn't going to keep them, guess what? They are most pitied of all creatures. They have no place.

21:57And by the way, the world never does warm up to Christ. When the world warms up to Christ, do you know what it all is? Quote warms up. It's only putting on a religious cloak, but deep down it is still worldly. No, the world never warms up to Christ. Only those who are in the world come out of the world and are joined to Christ, and then they are no longer of the world. Yeah, the truth separates. Disciples from the world. There's a second way. It doesn't, not just by creating hostility on the world side against those who receive the truth, but also by causing a new creation. Look back at verse 14. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of this world. Now, there's a staggering comparison. It's that they are not of the world, just like I am not of this world. We understand why Jesus is not of the world. He came from the Father in glory. He came, he was perfect. But how is it that now we are described, or his disciples are described as not being of the world? Well, it's the theme going through John's whole gospel, that of the new birth, right?

23:21Tells Nicodemus in John 3:3, Truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. The Holy Spirit is the referred to as the Spirit of truth, the one that causes, regenerates people. Listen, what John 1 says, and I'll read it beginning in verse 10. He, that is, the light, the Lagos, the incarnate word. He was in the world, and the world was made. Through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

24:29That is why they are not of this world. 2 Corinthians 5:17 sums this up nicely. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away, behold, things, new things have come. So, those who genuinely receive the truth, they experience a transformation of such epic proportions that Jesus describes it as a new birth. You see, and those who are born of the Spirit of the truth believe the truth, and they think and act differently than those who do not.

25:18They think and act in a manner that is at odds with the value system of the world, don't they? And what is at the core of this value system? Of this world, I'm going to give you a hint. I'm going to give you some generational labels. You've heard the baby boomers? You know what they're called? The me generation. You know what the millennials are called? The me, me, me generation. Or the me first generation. I'm sure Gen X didn't get those titles. Didn't get those titles, no. No. These labels describe more than just a few generations, don't they? They describe a disposition and the selfish interest of a fallen world.

26:09This is what our society does, right? We are intoxicated with ourselves. We are intoxicated with self-actualization, aren't we? We magnify self. We live preoccupied with self. Our ego is our master. Flamboyant displays of immorality are celebrated instead of shamed. Arrogant personalities are idolized instead of rejected. The what's in it for me mentality dominates the marketplace, our professional pursuits, and even the churches we go to. We post our extravagances, our ostentatious displays of Folly and the graphics of our own self-intoxication in hope to gain some kind of approval, right?

27:10Noise, shallowness, and show are preferred to substance, thoughtfulness, and truth. We seek to assert ourselves, realize ourselves, and promote ourselves because ego is our master. But when a person receives a knowledge of the truth, that is, when they receive God's perspective on reality and they see things as God really sees things, the me first becomes God first. The me, me, me generation becomes the God, God, God generation. And so they begin to think and act in a manner consistent with the God who created them and said, I will make them and they will bear my image. And they start beginning to look and think and act like God intended. They begin to thrive. God sets them on a trajectory of transformation because they have a new nature. And that's what's driving all of this. That's what's driving the transformation. They are no longer of the world.

28:30So the truth separates by awakening hostility against God's new creation. And in that way, it sanctifies this category of disciples from the world. So, second way, second sanctifying dynamic that the truth has upon those who receive it, the truth keeps disciples from evil. Not only does the truth separate disciples from the world, but the truth keeps disciples from evil. Look back at verse 15. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

29:18The world, the truth, keeps the disciples from evil. Now, if you look back at verse 11, remember that protecting his disciples involved keeping them in something, right? Keeping them in his name. And if you're kept in his name, guess what? You're kept from evil. So this keeping prayer is keep them in your name. And now we have in verse 15, keep them from evil. Keep them in your name. Keep them from evil. Jesus wants them to be kept from evil. Now, some of you question, it's not a real big one, but a translation, is it evil? Or is it evil one?

30:02Is it evil? Like as a just as a disposition, or is it from the devil as the evil one? Well, I don't think we need to get too tied up over that. I believe Jesus is praying that the Father would keep his disciples from the evil disposition of the devil. That's where evil originates, right? In fact, my daughters brought home a Venus flytrap from school one day. And the way Venus flytraps works is it opens up its, it's a plant, right? And it opens up its mouth and it has this attractant. It attracts flies. Smell or and the flies come in and they land and they're like, hey, this is pretty good. And then all of a sudden that trap just kind of closes down and there they are incarcerated and digested by the plant. And that's, there's something appealing about error sometimes. Error sometimes really resonates with us sometimes. Like, yeah, I don't, I don't really want God over my life. I want to live my own life. And so it's very easy to. The devil is like that satanic flytrap that, through his error, through his lies, he lures people in, and then they take it and they are then digested or incarcerated in evil. And this is what happens at the very beginning in Genesis 3.

31:49But what I think Jesus is really getting at here: keep them. I don't think he's just saying keep them from what the harm the devil can inflict on them, because all these disciples are really going to go through the wringer. No, it's not like keeping them from the harm that the devil can cause them. No, keep them from the slanderous perspective of evil. Keep them from the disposition of the devil. Keep them in the disposition of the Father. Keep them in your name. Keep them out of his.

32:20I think one of the things that they're going to hear a lot is, well, you followed the wrong guy. Look at Jesus. He's not God. He's not. You got it all wrong. And that would cause them to stop abiding, right? So Jesus is simply praying, do not let them incarce settle them in the truth. Keep them from this slanderous perspective of evil that mocks God, denies Christ. And since the disciples are. No longer of the world, Jesus prays for them to be kept from that evil disposition of the devil. They're no longer of the world, so keep them out of the master and the disposition of this world. Keep them in your name.

33:18And he goes on in verse 16 to say it again: they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. Keep them. We need to move on, don't we? Well, the sanctifying dynamics that the truth has upon those who receive it: first, truth separates disciples from the world. Second, the truth keeps disciples from evil. And third, the truth empowers disciples to overcome the devil and the world. And that's with whatever the devil and the world will throw at them. Notice that Jesus is not, what his prayer is not. He does not pray, God, take them, Father, take them out of the world, in verse 15, but establish them in truth. Sanctify them in truth. Instate them in truth.

34:15Let truth permeate them permanently. Keep them from departing. And it's not just keep them. By the truth, it's in the truth. Keep them in the truth. He wants their minds, their hearts, and their entire beings to be permanently inclined to his Father's Word. That's what he's praying for them. Bring about a state where they are permanently inclined to the Father's word. And this is a state that only God can bring about, because if left to themselves, they would defect.

35:04But Jesus is not praying, take them out of the world. Very interesting. Why would Jesus not want them out of the world? That's a good question. Even though the world hates them, because Jesus has given them the Father Word, Jesus does not want them taken out of the world. He has given them the Father's Word. The world has hated them for it. They are not of the world, so why not just take them out? Because He has something for them to do in the world.

35:39It's interesting. Several people, if you go through the Old Testament, prayed, Father, take me out of this world. Remember Moses and Numbers 11:15, Elijah and 1 Kings 19:4? Take my life, get me out of here. Jonah 4:3, please take my life, for death is better than. Better to me than life. Sometimes we get to thinking like this, right? We get so overwhelmed. Father, just take me out. Why do you get it? Let's move on. Let's fast forward this thing to heaven. Right?

36:16Think that way sometime, right? Or am I just the only one? Or is my wife the only one that's ever thought that? No, we think that way, right? Lord, why don't you get on with this thing? Why are you leaving us in the world? The world hates us and we don't belong. Why do you want us here? Well, the answer is because he has a purpose for leaving his disciples in the world. Look back at verse 18. As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.

36:54That's incredible. Jesus obviously had a great deal of confidence in these disciples. He had confidence that if they would be sanctified in the truth, even though the world hates them, and even though the devil has all manner of power, he knew that they would be able to handle whatever the devil or the world would throw at them if they be settled in truth. Father, don't take them out. Of the world, put them in truth and send them out.

37:37These men were about to be beaten and thrown and into all kinds of disarray. Christ is saying, You put the truth in them, put the truth in them, and they'll take on this world. And what different men they were when the truth took hold. But I am blown away with what he entrusted these disciples with. Remember earlier, I pointed out that the Father had given his glory to Jesus. Look at what happens in verse 22: The glory which you have given me, I have given to them. And you trace this all the way down. The Father had given his name to Jesus. Guess what he did? He shared that name, verse 6, 11, and 26 with the disciples. The Father had given him his word and words to Jesus. Look at verse 8. For the words which you gave me, I have given to them.

38:53The Father had given men to Jesus. It's clear that the disciples will be also lords. Be given disciples who will believe through their word. Just as the Father had given Jesus a work to do, so the disciples were given a work. Do you see what He entrusted to them? Everything that the Father had entrusted to him, he entrusted to these men. And He said, The changing point in these men's lives is going to be the truth. And if you will keep them in the truth, they will overcome this world, they will overcome whatever is thrown at them. And boy, they did, didn't they?

39:39Truth overcomes because He had a mission for them. Truth overcomes. And you know what? Jesus didn't want to just bring them out. And I believe not only did Christ have a mission for them to accomplish, and it was necessary for them to be settled in the truth. But I believe Jesus thinks that victory in spiritual conflict is better than retreat from it. Look at the disposition of this individual. I think he thinks victory in conflict is better than retreat from it.

40:26And he knows that. Many times we want to be exempt from. From spiritual conflict, from the perplexities and difficulties of this life, many brought on because of our faith in Christ. We face trials of many sorts, and sometimes I think we just have become soft people. But remember, he is about to go to the cross. He is saying, I have overcome the world, and I'm saying this out loud so that my joy can be in you. This is a guy who presses on, can't wait to get there and get through it.

41:06And this is who we're following, this is who we're becoming like. And yes, it involves a cross, doesn't it? But victory in conflict is better than exemption from it, for sure. He wants us to be overcomers, and he wants us to get a hold of the truth. The truth changes us. The truth separates disciples from the world. The truth keeps disciples from evil, and the truth empowers disciples to overcome the devil and the world no matter what they throw at.

41:58If such be the case, Case about the truth. It's important that we center our entire existence around it. Talking to a lot of students, I'm sure, at Texas AM, have you ever put more time into the scriptures than you have in one of your three-hour classes? I was really convicted by that. Because by the time I got through college, I had spent all kinds of manner in all kinds of books, deep and long. And I had never treated the Bible with the same attention.

42:38You spend a lot of time doing a lot of things. Put the same amount of effort into the scriptures, into his word, as you do in any other pursuit. And then some. But if you'll just do that, it'll get hold of you. I'm going to close with the words of A.W. Pink, because I think they're very appropriate here. Speaking of the word and why it's important for us to be settled in the truth and center our life around the truth and our entire existence around the truth, he says this: by it, everything is to be tested. By it, our thoughts are to be formed and our conduct is to be regulated.

43:30Just because God's word is truth, it sanctifies those who obey it. If then the word is truth, what a high value we should put upon it. If it is by the truth we are sanctified, how dearly we should prize it. Let us be careful of the opposite. If truth separates us from evil, guess what error does? It draws us into it. Establish your minds in truth, establish your hearts, center your existence around it, and let the truth get a hold of you.

44:14Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we approach you this morning, we recognize your incarnate truth, the Logos, the word that dwelt among us, communicates your great love for a dying and lost world. Father, that though we may be in our own sin, and the consequences we face are due to our own sin, yet you have provided a way for us to return and to run to you. Father, you revealed that as the veil was torn in two, you revealed that there is a way, a holy way, a clean way, and your heart is that we would run to it, Father. So we come before you. Help us to come before you with all. Of our diseases, all of our warts, all of our sicknesses, all of our infirmities. Father, help us to come with all of our needs and run into your presence. You're the only one that can forgive. You're the only one that can heal. You're the only one that can change. So rip our hearts open, expose, awaken our consciences to the areas in life that we know we need you.

45:30Compel us by your spirit to run to you. Father, thank you.