John 17:15-26

We will read this evening a portion of two prayers offered by our Divine Lord and Master on that night in which he was betrayed. The first is that memorable intercessory prayer of his recorded in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel according to John.

John 17:15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil.

Christ did not pray that his disciples should be taken out of the world. It is very seldom that we ought to present such a petition. If that had been a proper prayer for us to offer, it would have been authorized by the Master. There are times when, in great pain of body, or in deep depression of spirit, the believer, like Elijah under the juniper tree, requests for himself that he may die. If you ever do pray such a prayer, utter it very softly, for the Master does not authorize it, and that is a matter that must be left to the Lord of life and death. Jesus says here, «I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.» Sin is the real evil of the world; the danger of our being entangled in worldly customs, or dropping into the evil ways of an ungodly generation. Christ does pray that we may be kept from the evil that is in the world; and we also may and must pray that the Lord will keep us from the evil by which we are surrounded, and especially from the evil one who seeks our destruction.

John 17:16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

«They are of another race: they are swayed by other motives, they have another life; they have another destiny; ‘They are not of the world.'» Is that true of you, dear hearer? We are reading out of God's Book, remember. This is the description of Christ's people; does it describe you? «They are not of the world: «they are not worldly, they are other-worldly; their thoughts and hearts are set upon the world to come».

John 17:17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

What! Do they need to be sanctified? They are not of the world, and are kept from the evil in the world; do they need to be sanctified? Yes we shall always need sanctifying until we reach our heavenly home, where sin cannot enter. Every day we need the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit to lead us unto holiness. «Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.» It is only the truth of God that can beget holiness; false doctrine is never the medium of sanctification. You can tell which are false doctrines, and which are the true, by our Lord's own test: «By their fruits ye shall know them.» The same men who reject the old-fashioned doctrines also rebel against the old-fashioned style of living; loose living generally goes with loose doctrine. There never was an age in which the doctrines of grace were despised but, sooner or later, licentiousness prevailed. On the other hand, when we had Puritan teaching, we had also pure and holy living. This prayer is still needed for all Christ's disciples, «Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.»

John 17:18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

This is the original Missionary Society, and the model for all others; Christ sent, missioned, of the Father, and every saint missioned of Christ. Are you carrying out your mission, O ye people of God? How dare you call yourselves by that name if you have no mission to anybody? If you are living here for yourself alone, how can you belong to Christ, who never lived a moment for himself, but always lived wholly for others?

John 17:19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself,

«I set myself apart, as one who is consecrated, dedicated, devoted to a grand design.»

John 17:19. That they also might be sanctified through the truth.

This is our Lord's prayer for his disciples. In the ninth verse we read, «I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.»

Now our Lord Jesus prays for those who are to be his people. I wonder whether there are any of them here tonight.

John 17:20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe in me through their word;

There is a great company of people who are not at present believers, but who shall yet believe on Christ through the testimony of those who are already believers on him. O God, call out many such through our word I pray.

John 17:21. That they all may be one;

This is Christ's prayer for all those who shall believe on him, that they may be converted, and brought into the one Church together with those who are already there:» that they all may be one.»

John 17:21. As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Christ would have all his people joined in communion with himself, and with his Father; and when that is the case, then will men know that Christ came into the world for a definite purpose: «that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.»

John 17:22. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;

Christ is the incarnation of God, and the Church should be the incarnation of Christ. Oh, when shall this great prayer be answered?

John 17:23. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for those lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

A very short time after our Divine Lord offered this intercessory supplication, he prayed a very different prayer, in a strangely-altered style. You will find it in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-six. Remember that there was a very short interval between the utterance of the majestic prayer I have been reading, and the presentation of the cries and tears of which we are now to read.

This exposition consisted of readings from John 17:15; And Matthew 26:36.