The Son's Intercession for His Own
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 12 viewsJesus intercedes for His church, that we might be united in Him and sanctified in truth.
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TITLE: The Son’s Intercession for His Own
TEXT: John 17.6-19, The High Priestly Prayer - Part 2
INTRODUCTION:
Before we open up God’s Word to John 17 again this morning, I want us to consider a question together — Are you more of a planner or would you characterize yourself as more of an spontaneous person?
I am not saying this morning that one side is necessarily more right that the other because the subject matter really comes into play here. Me personally, being spontaneous or impulsive is not really what I am known for.
For small things like “What is for lunch?”, sure I’ll jump right on the spontaneous train all day long. Anything past that, for me I’d prefer things to be planned before moving forward. Some may also call this “Boring…” which may be a fair critique.
This morning as we pick back up in the middle of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, I believe the Lord wants us to see the purposeful aspects of God the Father’s plan of redemption in the lives of the disciples…not just to save them from sin but to prepare them for the work He had set before them.
LAST WEEK: Jn 17.1-5, The High Priestly Prayer - Part 1
Reorder What We Want, Redefine What Eternal Life Is, Rest in His Finished Work
This past week we looked together at the beginning of what is known as the High Priestly Prayer — where Jesus turns from His extended instruction to His disciples and begins to pray.
Jesus praying? Yes, the incarnate Jesus who was fully God but also fully man had submitted Himself to the will of the Father, and here he lifts up His eyes to heaven and prays to the Father.
In v.1-5, Jesus prays for Himself the the Father would be glorified in Him as He goes to the cross, for His hour had come. The Son’s ultimate glory would be His crucifixion, an ultimate display of the Father’s love for sinners.
With great certainty, Jesus speaks as if His crucifixion and resurrection had already happened.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Though the moment of His crucifixion and resurrection had yet to arrive, its certainty was as sure as the sun’s rising and it’ falling each day. It had long been foreshadowed by the Law and the prophets, thus it was already certain because He declared it would be so.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
All the honor, all the glory, all the praise was already His own and would rightly be bestowed upon Him once again as He returned to His rightful place in heaven.
THIS WEEK: Jn 17.6-19, The High Priestly Prayer - Part 2
This week in verse 6-19, we see our Lord’s focus shift from praying for the Father to glorify Him in His hour to praying for the men walking at his side.
Jesus pours out His heart before the Father for those who had been chosen by the Father for this moment in redemptive history. Just like your life and my life were purposed to be living now in 2026, these men were purposed for this point in history for a glorious honor — to be the initial under-shepherds and stewards of Jesus’ ministry and His Gospel at the beginning of the church.
They were called out of darkness by the Light of the world for a purpose! And Jesus prays for the Father’s will to be done as He prepares for His departure.
Main Idea:
When His hour has finally come, Jesus prays for the Father’s continued working of sanctification in the disciples as He prepares to establish His church.
Outline:
Jesus Prays the Father’s Plan (v.6-8)
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Protection (v.9-12)
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Provision (v.13-19)
PRAYER
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. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 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.
Jesus Prays the Father’s Plan (v.6-8)
Jesus Prays the Father’s Plan (v.6-8)
On more than one occasion through our journey together through the Gospel of John, we have heard these words from Jesus — “I have come to do the Father’s will” (paraphrase).
The Woman of Samaria - “Rabbi, eat.”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Jesus Speaks of his Own Authority
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Jesus - The Bread of Life
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Thus, a couple things are clear from these texts in John’s Gospel.
First, God has a plan or will. This concept can be considered from different perspectives, but based on these verses it is clear that God has a plan to accomplish in His creaton.
Second, Jesus the incarnate Son is the accomplisher of this plan. From Philippians 2, we see that our Lord Jesus humbled Himself and was born in the likeness of men so that this divine plan would be accomplished in His perfect obedience and atoning sacrifice at the cross.
(v.6)
Jesus prays in verses 6-8 concerning this great plan and how His disciples fit into the picture.
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.
We see that a major part of the Father’s plan then was revelation, making clear the name of God.
Why His name???
ILLUSTRATION: Consider with me - The Beaman Name
Many of you do, but in case some of you do not know me very well, by last name is BEAMAN. To some of you that may mean very little, and to others it may mean many things, most of which I hope are good things.
Your NAME means something to other people. Whether by your own reputation or the reputation of others that also bear your surname, over time your name comes with a certain understanding of who you are.
Well in an infinitely grander way, the name of God comes with an understanding of who He is.
God’s ‘name’ embodies his character; to reveal God’s name is to make God’s character known.
D. A. Carson
Furthermore, God is zealous for His own name. This is not a fringe concept but is supported all across the Book of Psalms where the psalmists sing and call for the Lord to work wonders for the sake of His own name.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
Thus, Jesus has revealed who God is to the people, more specifically here in v.6 those whom the Father gave Him out of the world.
The Father’s Giving/Choosing
Jesus reveals in His prayer that the Father has given Him a people, and it is these very people (Jesus’ disciples) unto which Jesus has revealed God the Father.
Jesus says “They were yours, and you gave them to me”. Knowing that this portion of His prayer is centered on His disciples, this reveals a couple important truths for us this morning.
1. God chose the 12 disciples. Yes, they bore the responsibility of responding to Jesus’ call to “Follow Me”, but it is also unmistakable here that even before their conversion, they belonged to God. A quick example
Paul in Corinth, the Lord Speaks in a Vision
9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
2. Those given by the Father to the Son will come. There is a blessed peace that comes with this for the believer. We just trust the Lord to build His church, and His word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it.
The Certainty of Their Coming
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Further, Jesus says those whom the Father gave Him have KEPT his word, meaning they are now obedient to the LORD. Like the LORD proclaimed through the prophet Ezekiel hundreds of years before this, God will dwell with His people by His Spirit and cause them to walk in His statutes and obey His rules.
Again showing the perfect unity within the Trinity, Jesus has declared to them the words the Father gave Him, and the disciples have received them.
ILLUSTRATION: Seeing A Plan Unfold
Have you every made a plan for something, and then were surprised when it actually turned out as planned?
I remember a couple years ago now, Logan was mentioning wanting some new bedside tables. A few days later, I came across a video on YouTube titled something like “Perfect bedside table using only three 2x4s”.
Naturally I was skeptical, but I watched the whole video and decided to give it a go. I purchased my materials… still skeptical. I get started on the steps of this plan… still skeptical that things will pan out as intended.
But I remember a moment during the building process when it clicked, and I realized “This is actually going to work.” Even though I had seen it be accomplished, I was still surprised when things were actually coming together.
In contrast to us as humans, God the Father was not surprised when His plan of redemption through the Son was being accomplished just as He intended it to be.
He was not stressing over it, He was not anxious at the many possible outcomes… no He decreed it to be so, and so it was.
So… when we say here that Jesus Prayed the Father’s Plan, what do I mean?
I mean that from eternity past before God spoke all things into existence, it was the Father’s plan to call these men for this purpose. It was the Father’s plan to choose for Himself a people (Titus 2.14, 1 Pet 2.9), but more specifically to call these disciples.
I mean that these men already belonged to the Father and were given to the Son to be called out of sin and death and into life by the power of God through His Word. I mean that God planned for them to receive the Son and His Word… SO THAT… they would be equipped for the Good Works that God had prepared beforehand that they should walk in them (Eph 2.10).
God the Father drew them to Himself, and they responded in His grace by keeping His word (v.6), receiving the Son (v.8) as from God the Father.
Exalting Jesus in John Jesus Prays for the Father to Keep His Disciples (John 17:6–19)
The disciples were responsible to believe, but even their belief was the result of what God said and did.
Jesus’ prayer revealed the Father’s plan for the beginning of time for these men.
APPLICATION:
Our response as believers this morning should be praise, wonder, awe at the mighty, sovereign working of our God from the beginning of time in both the redemption and purpose of sinners (now saints) within His will.
We would do ourselves a great disservice this morning to hear this passage and think — “Well… Jesus is talking about His disciples here, not me. I guess there is not much application for me in this passage.”
Or maybe even further “Well… that was the LORD’s plan for the disciples lives. I’m still trying to figure out what is God’s plan for my life.”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Our application — If you are in Christ this morning, you too were chosen! Before the foundation of the world, you were His, His chose you to be His own! And before we get too proud of ourselves, His choosing was before the world’s foundation, meaning before we even had any merit to boast in.
The LORD’s Plan for us — To be holy and blameless before Him! Holiness is produced in us by the LORD through a constant pursuit of the LORD while putting to death sin that remains in our lives. No… I do not know whether you need to be a teacher, a nurse, a surgeon, an electrician… but in whatever it is, His plan for you is holiness.
***Quick Note***
This morning, if you are not in Christ… meaning you have not trusted in Christ alone for your salvation through repentance and faith, my encouragement to you this morning is to not get lost in considering the question “Am I chosen or am I not? What if I want to believe but I am not chosen?”
Instead, center your heart and mind this morning on the word’s of Christ Jesus.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
GOSPEL
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 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. 12 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.
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Protection (v.9-12)
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Protection (v.9-12)
After praying the Father’s plan, the LORD Jesus makes a clear distinction at the beginning of verse 9 concerning His prayer.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
In connection with our previous verses this morning, Jesus confirms for us exactly whom His prayers are focused upon - the 11 remaining disciples.
As if any other clarification was needed here, Jesus then confirms “I am not praying for the world”, thus the requests He is about to make of the Father are not with the world in mind. Instead they are intercessory requests for these men alone.
Doesn’t that sounds rather exclusive?
Yes, yes it does but not in a negative way at all. Jesus is not intending here for us to follow “His example” by not praying for the world as if prayer for the world was wrong. No, He was praying for the 11 disciples here because He was preparing them for something.
John 17:10 (ESV)
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
Before making His request, Jesus affirms His perfect unity with the Father… meaning there is a people God the Father has set His affection upon based on no merit of their own and purely in His grace… all that belongs to the Father already belongs to the Son.
I’m honestly confused at the boldness of some distortions of Christianity and even further other world religions that largely have access to the Scriptures and have yet come to the conclusion that Jesus was somehow either a lesser God or not God at all.
The Gospel of John (specifically Jesus’ own wording) gives no room for that conclusion!
John 17:10 (ESV)
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
GLORY (doke-sah-zo)
Lexham Theological Wordbook (δοξάζω)
δοξάζω (doxazō). vb. to glorify, exalt, praise; to be/become exalted.
Lexham Theological Wordbook δοξάζω
doxazō refers to ascribing glory to or magnifying the greatness of the higher being
Jesus affirms —> His name is praised, exalted, magnified in the lives of these men! All across the NT (Matt9.8, 15.31, Mk 2.12, Lk 2.20, Gal 1.24) this is a verbal praise offered to Jesus or God in response to promises given, miracles performance, or saving works performed.
All of which brings us to the key verse of this section of the High Priestly Prayer.
(v.11) Keep Them
It is in verse 11 where we see Jesus pray for the Father’s protection over these men.
John 17:11 (ESV)
11 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.
Earlier, I mentioned that Jesus was preparing these men for something. Our LORD had called these men out from their normal lives to walk with Him and learn from Him for 3 years…SO THAT… in receiving the words of the Father from the Son, they would be equipped in innumerable ways for what the LORD had prepared for them.
With Christ as the cornerstone, it would be upon these men’s Spirit driven leadership, teaching, and writing that the LORD would establish His church.
The true church that would explode across the world as truth was proclaimed. The church that would not be extinguished even in the darkest times of history, for the gates of hell would never prevail against it.
And so our LORD prays “Keep them”, meaning to guard, watch and protect them. Jesus’ physical presence had accomplished this in all of them except Judas (whose betrayal was not a surprise but revealed the true position of his heart and fulfilled the Scriptures written beforehand).
He was going to be with the Father soon… so Jesus prays for their protection.
WHY?
So that their unity, their oneness, might not be compromised. And not unity for no reason, but instead unity regarding the truthfulness of what they had received in Christ. A unity in truth among them that reflected the unity between the Father and the Son,
This would be a truth these men would eventually suffer for and all of them would die for this truth, would be martyred for this truth except for John whom they tried to kill, but he just wouldn’t die.
What unifies them?
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
In their commitment to Jesus and His Gospel following Jesus’ departure, Jesus knew and they knew that danger awaited them. Jesus would be leaving, but they would remain.
Christ had founded His church. He had given them their Commission unto all nations from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And these men were not super heros!
They were common people like you and I who had received the truth by God’s grace, and who were in great need of prayer and the LORD’s protection for the sake of His name.
APPLICATION:
On this side of eternity, our church family will never not be in need of our constant prayer for one another.
Yes, as disciples of Jesus our salvation is eternally secure because it solely based His promise, His holding of us, and not based on our ability to hold ourselves unto Him.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
This is true!! And yet… we as brothers and sisters in Christ need one another’s prayer saying “LORD… keep him…” or “ LORD… keep her…” for the sake of your name. For the sake of their good and your glory, preserve them! Hold them fast!
We need this because the promise of difficulty in following Christ is just the same for us… but what also is the same is the promise that our joy will be fulfilled in Him.
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
We are His own, and He is ours! Thus as the Lord sought the protection and guarding of His disciples through prayer, we do the same for one another.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 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. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Provision (v.13-19)
Jesus Prays for the Father’s Provision (v.13-19)
Jesus’ prayer for His disciples continues here, and His requests of the Father are centered around His departure. He has led them to salvation, guarded them from evil, and kept them in the truth primarily through His words spoken to them and His works done before them. Regarding His spoken words to them, Jesus again here highlights a chief purpose in His teaching - the fulfillment of their joy.
The Joy of the Believer
This is a repeated concept across all of the apostle John’s writing. The words given by the Father and spoken by the Son to these men were purposed for their JOY.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Why JOY? Why not knowledge or understanding? Why not confidence? Why does the LORD seek for their joy to be complete in Him?
The answer to this question is deeply connected to this concept of God’s provision or providence.
Meaning this — “Providence is the governing power of God that oversees his creation and works out his plans for it.” - The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, v3, p1020
(v.14)
The Word of God has been given to them by the Son, and the world has and will hate the disciples for it.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Just as the LORD Jesus is not of the world, His disciples who are new creations in Christ are not of the world either. He chose them from the world, and their citizenship is in heaven.
And then comes the connection between The Joy of the Believer and God’s providence.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
The LORD Jesus was leaving, but they were staying. And looking down at verse 18, just as the Son was sent into the world, so the Son has likewise sent His disciples into the world! The mission of redemption given to Him by the Father is in a way handed then down by the Son to the disciples, now the ministry of reconciliation.
It was not the Father’s intent to save sinners and immediately bring them home to glory, and knowing then that these men were being sent out among the nations, Jesus prays that their joy might be His own.
JOY (chara)
For us to best understand John’s meaning here, the original Greek language is so crucial.
“Joy” here certainly does mean the experience of gladness, but its use across the NT is so much richer than just gladness.
JOY is a fruit and evidence of the Spirit’s presence with the believer (Gal 5.22)
JOY enables the believer to endure trials and suffering (James 1.2-4, 1 Thess 1.6)
JOY is connected with and evidence of faith (Phil 1.25)
And since faith without works is dead, we know that true faith is an active faith. Thus… Jesus spoke and prayed for the disciples JOY multiple times across the last few chapters so that when the trials came… when the suffering arrived… when the hatred from the world flooded in...God’s keeping of them in truth by His provision would keep them from the deceptions of the Evil One and remind them of the eternal, guaranteed, satisfying JOY that is found in Christ.
Sanctify Them (v.17)
As the disciples are not just remaining in the world but also being sent out into the world, Jesus prays: Sanctify Them.
SANCTIFY - to set something aside for special use
ILLUSTRATION:
As many of you know, we will be welcoming another son into our family in the next couple months, which is requiring a shuffling around of the boys rooms and the building of many new pieces of furniture recently. To be plain… IKEA is still in business today primarily because of the Beaman family.
But in building these new pieces of furniture, they provide you with what seems to be thousands of screws, pegs, and that terrible free screwdriver that is never useful all in one bag, jumbled together.
Because that is chaotic, I separate the different pieces of hardware into their one piles, ready for use at the proper time.
Jesus prays — Set them apart, consecrate them, prepare them, dedicate them, make them holy for the mission that has been set before them... in the TRUTH.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus goes on to say that He has set Himself apart for their sake, meaning His devotion to the Father’s will for the sake of His disciples and the joy with which He endured the cross would be the standard of devotion to the truth.
In His governing power over all of his creation and the executing of His plan of redemption, Jesus prays “set them apart for the service of God by the Word of God.”
APPLICATION:
The 11 disciples were dead in their sin, but now they were alive in Christ! They needed the protection of the Father and the provision of His mighty right hand as they faithfully carried out the mission given them… and all of this find’s its root in the transforming work of the Word of God.
The Word of God is everything to the Christian, so much so that many of our brothers and sisters across the world risk their lives just to take in all the riches that are contained within. It is the working of the Word within us that sets us apart for the LORD.
It is then the TRUTH that is contained within the Word of God that sets us apart and prepares us for the work of the ministry, which we all take part in as the church.
This is why our Comm Groups study books of the Bible instead of theologically based books. The latter is not bad, but it is just not the Word.
This is why our Family Worship does the same, and this is why we as your pastors desire our joint memorization of Scripture together… because like these 11 men, we too have been saved and set apart for God’s purposes because of the TRUTH.
If we desire the name of God to be glorified in our lives… like the song says “I pray it is said about my life that I lived more to build His name than mine”… if that is our aim this morning, then I can guarantee one thing for us this morning —> A commitment to the Word, the Truth, Christ himself will produce in us a greater joy, a greater love for the things of God, and holy living by the power of His great provision in His people.
Just as Jesus prayed for the Father’s continued work of sanctification in His disciples, let us also join together in prayer this morning that the will of God might be fulfilled in us for His glory.
