“The Grace of Christ in Salvation” (John 17:6–12)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 17:6–12

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: November 10, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

We sometimes wonder about making it through the stormy seas of our lives. We don’t always see just how much Christ is guiding us, for His work is largely invisible to us. Yet, there are times in the darkness when a light shines out, a beacon of truth that guides us safely to shore.

In this chapter, we began to consider the fact that Jesus is engaging in His High Priestly Prayer. He turns from praying for Himself to praying for His disciples, revealing His heart as He intercedes for those given to Him by the Father. Here, Christ acknowledges the disciples as a gift from the Father and prays with deep affection for their security, unity, and faith. He will be a light to lead them, using His grace for His precious disciples.

These disciples, like all believers, are chosen from before the foundation of the world, known and loved by the Father. This morning, we’ll note four specific ways that Christ shows grace to us, the elect of God. First Christ shows God to the elect (v. 6), then He transforms the elect (vv. 7–8), then He intercedes for the elect (vv. 9–10), and finally, He secures the elect (vv. 11–12). Let’s consider the first of Christ’s graces.

Christ Shows God to the Elect (v. 6)

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

Christ says here that He “manifested” the name of God. The NIV renders this, “I have revealed,” but that’s not quite correct. It’s not just that Jesus has said something true about the Father, or revealed the truth about His name. Rather, He has made the name of God apparent in His actions and activities. At the beginning of this book, John says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:18). The signs and wonders which He performed as well as His teaching manifested the name of God.

What does the name of God mean, though? The word “name,” in this context, is a symbol for God’s character, authority, nature, and power. In v. 26, we read, “I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” In Hebrew, this is called Ha-Shem, “the Name,” a reference to the name of God. Jesus says He manifested Ha-Shem in a personal way, for He was the embodiment of God’s essence. This is how He manifested the Father’s name.

Yet, it’s not that everybody understood His manifestation in the same way. Specifically, Jesus says He manifested the Father’s name “to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.” This, of course, is a reference to the disciples.

What does it mean that the Father gave them to the Son? Take a look back to Jesus’s words to the crowd in John 6. He says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (v. 44). Those who come to the Lord do so because of the special drawing of the Father, and Jesus promises in v. 37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Jesus has come to do the will of the Father, and He says in v. 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” So, the Father gave the elect to the Lord Jesus.

Because the Father chose the elect, Jesus says, “they were Yours and You gave them to Me.” In other words, the Father chooses to set His love upon believers and He gives them to Christ. As they come to Christ, He receives them as His own, never casting them away from His presence. Instead, He manifests the Father to them so they can know the Father, and then He continues to grant them the grace to obey the Word of the Father.

What is the word the disciples kept? Jesus explained that back in John 6:29 — “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Remember that, in 16:30, the disciples say to Jesus that they believe that He came from God. They obeyed and kept the Father’s word by believing in Jesus Christ.

We are already beginning to see a truth about the elect coming to know God. They will be transformed by that knowledge. They will begin to keep God’s Word, for instance, but there’s more. That brings us to the next point:

Christ Transforms the Elect (vv. 7–8)

Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

Through His teaching, Jesus gave the disciples the very words of God, and He describes them as arriving at a point of knowledge. Knowledge is important, but it isn’t enough. First Corinthians 8:1 warns, “Knowledge makes arrogant [or puffs up], but love edifies.” Jesus and His love makes knowledge worthwhile.

He gave them knowledge out of His love for them. This doesn’t mean that they had full certainty or knowledge of everything. But they had knowledge where others did not. They knew that what Jesus said was truly from God, because they had come to believe that He came from the Father.

Consider why that might be. Was it that they were smarter than their neighbors? No — the Lord opened their mind to the truth. When Peter made his confession about Jesus in Matthew 16:16, that He is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus replies, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (v. 17). In 1 Corinthians 2:16, we read, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The truths about God are supernaturally appraised, but Christ can ensure that His disciples know what they need to so they can believe.

This is important because of our innate depravity. Scripture says that none seek after God (Rom. 3:11), but Christ can transform the heart of His disciples. Many of the Pharisees just used and abused God’s name as a means of advancement, but Jesus manifested the Father’s name and transformed the unbelieving hearts of the disciples.

As a result, they could receive salvation. He has the words of eternal life (John 6:68), and those are the words He gave to the elect. He prayerfully reports this, as well as the fact that the disciples received the truth. The disciples understood not by their own wisdom but because of divine revelation—a gift of grace.

Like these disciples, we too come to faith not by human insight but through the work of the Spirit. Scripture says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). When we are given the truth of God’s word, it transforms us, igniting in us a true belief in Jesus as the One sent by the Father.

This is possible not just with the words themselves which can sometimes fall upon deaf ears. Rather, this is possible because of the ongoing work of Christ. It’s there that we turn next.

Christ Intercedes for the Elect (vv. 9–10)

I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

Here, we get into the crux of the intercession, and it comes with a shocking truth. Jesus intercedes not for the world at large but specifically for His chosen ones, those given to Him by the Father. What does that mean?

First, He’s praying for believers — we’ll even see in v. 20 that He’s praying for us, as well. Yet, He prays most directly for His disciples and friends here. Jesus says in Luke 22:32, “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” His intercession includes requesting the Holy Spirit for them (John 14:16). He intercedes on the behalf of believers.

That part isn’t as hard to determine, though; what does it mean that He’s not praying for the world? Simply put, this means that the intercession of Christ does not include unbelievers. Rather, His intersession is particular for believers.

Now, we have to make distinctions to understand this better. This does not include praying for God to forgive unbelievers, as He does from the cross in Luke 23:34. He also prays for future believers (John 17:20–21). This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pray for unbelievers, either — we do and we should. So, what is this part of the prayer getting at, exactly?

This is a particular intercession which highlights the doctrine of definite atonement. Christ’s redemptive work on the cross is specifically for the elect. We see this in a number of places. For instance, in Matthew 1:21, an angel predicts that Jesus “will save His people from their sins.” Later, Jesus says that He’s the Good Shepherd, meaning He “lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). The Apostle Paul says that it was the church which was purchased with blood (Acts 20:28). Paul also says the Father delivered His Son “for us all” (Rom. 8:32), and he said Christ “loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). This prayer shows us that the Lord has a particular focus upon believers, even as He approaches the cross.

This is about atonement for sin. Jesus died for believers. Unbelievers will not get their sins paid for on the cross because they would automatically receive salvation without belief. If we argue that unbelief is the only sin Jesus didn’t pay for on the cross, then no one can be saved, for all Christians commit the sin of unbelief in their lives and would owe the penalty of hell for it. Scripture doesn’t teach that Jesus shed His blood for an indiscriminate mass of humanity — He shed His blood for His church, believers, the sheep — His people.

This is who He is praying for, then. Even in His ascension, He continues to pray for “those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours.” He continues to intercede for you and me and all who believe in Him.

He claims equal ownership with the Father. To make this personal, He is interceding for you who believe. And if He’s doing that, then you can be sure He’s doing something else.

Christ Secures the Elect (vv. 11–12)

I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

Jesus knows His time on earth is drawing to a close, yet His concern is for His disciples who must remain in a hostile world. He says twice in this verse that He is coming to the Father, and He places that in contrast with their remaining on earth. As such, He beseeches the Father in Christ’s physical absence to protect them as He has protected them. He prays for their security, asking the Father to “keep them” in His name.

The disciples are sinners. So, as one study notes, “Jesus, in calling on His Holy Father, pointed up God’s distinction from sinful creatures. This holiness is the basis for believers’ separation from the world.” Believers need holiness for this present world, especially with the presence of the evil one. We must be in the world but not of the world. Only divine holiness can guard us, and our holiness is in Christ.

The disciples need more than divine protection: they will also need fellowship. Division in the church is never the Father’s will. It creates avenues for the enemy of our souls to come in and destroy the work of ministry. The world may pull at us to divide us from the fellowship. Our own sinfulness may cause us to want to be separate from others and pursue our own interests. This is all displeasing to the Lord, meaning that it’s essential that we seek reconciliation quickly whenever possible.

It’s important to remember, though, that true union isn’t man-made. We need the Lord to establish the union between believers and the Father and to keep it. In v. 12, we see just that — it’s the grace of Christ which kept the disciples together. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

Sometimes, the Lord keeps us providentially by allowing us to encounter trials. We may go through difficult times in our culture, or we may face hardships in our fellowship. God has a purpose in allowing this, though; James 1:3 says, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” God can work through means like trials, and we will find our hearts stronger through the working of the Spirit of Christ; He keeps us by His divine power.

Jesus says here He “guarded” them. He protected them from the evil one and the world. Even as we experience heartache, as we pray, Scripture promises that “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philip. 4:7). We need His divine guardianship.

He even says that not one out of them was lost. He said that He would not lose one (John 6:39; 18:9). He will not lose any who belong to Him, as He says in John 10:28, “and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” Christ’s commitment to His people is steadfast.

Someone here might ask about Judas’s betrayal — was that a failure of Jesus’s protection? No! This was the son of perdition or “destruction” (ESV). This is a Hebrew “idiom for one destined to perish,” and in John 6:70, Jesus said one of them was a devil. So, the only exception to Jesus’s protection is the one set apart for destruction.

Jesus focused on fulfilling Scripture. Psalm 41:9 says, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” Jesus understood that to refer to Himself, and He allowed Judas to betray Him. Judas had his own responsibility to bear. Ultimately, though, he went out from among them because he was never truly of them (cf. 1 John 2:19). Once Judas chose to go, Jesus then gave this precious teaching to His disciples.

What about the rest of us? Judas spent his time with Christ engaged in activities like stealing from their money bag and plotting betrayal (John 12:4–5), but we have a faith that speaks of something different. Our salvation is secure because it rests not in our hands but in the mighty hands of Christ. We are “protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5). We are His, chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and kept by His Spirit.

Conclusion

Christ’s grace shines forth in salvation. He revealed God to us, transformed us by His word, and He intercedes for us with the Father while securing us eternally. This is the Savior we worship, One who completes the work He began in us.

Let us respond to this grace with gratitude. With hearts full of thankfulness, let us live lives that glorify the One who has loved and saved us with such abundant grace. And let us do so with unwavering faith and trust in His gracious keeping power.