How Our Savior Prayed In The Shadow Of The Cross - Part 3 Series

How Our Savior Prayed in the Shadow of the Cross

Part 3: How Jesus Prayed for His People

The Gospel of John

John 17:6-20

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church – April 4, 2018

(Revised May 6, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 17. Here God's Word continues an in-depth focus on the night before Jesus died on the cross. Led by God's Holy Spirit, John has focused on this night ever since the beginning of chapter 13.

*In John 17, Jesus and His disciples have almost arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane. And before they crossed over the Brook Kidron, the Lord paused, looked up to Heaven, and began to speak to His Heavenly Father.

*No one has ever had a stronger prayer life than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But of all the prayers Jesus must have lifted-up to the Father, only eight more are recorded in the New Testament. All the rest of those prayers put together total less than 150 words. But the Lord's prayer here in John 17 has almost 400 words, -- so this is a very important prayer.

*God wants us to see how our Savior prayed on the night before the cross, and first Jesus prayed for Himself. In vs. 1 Jesus "lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You." Then in vs. 5 Jesus prayed, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

*Jesus prayed for Himself. And then, Christians, Jesus began to pray for us. Most of this prayer is a prayer for us. As the final hours ticked away before He went through immeasurable suffering, the Lord's mind was on us. As the final hours ticked away before Jesus made the greatest sacrifice in the history of the universe, His mind was on you and me.

*Please keep this wonderful truth in mind as we read vs. 6-20.

MESSAGE:

*Tonight we will begin to explore how the Lord prayed for His people. In vs. 6, Jesus told the Father: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word." Then in vs. 9-10 Jesus said, "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them."

*Who was the Lord praying for in these verses? Well, Judas the betrayer had already left the group back in John 13:30, so obviously, Jesus was praying for the 11 disciples still with Him that night.

*But in a larger sense the Lord was praying for all of the people who followed Him in that day. Again, in vs. 9-10 Jesus said, "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them."

*Jesus was praying for His devoted followers, like His own mother Mary, and Mary Magdalene. He was praying for people like Nicodemus, the saved Pharisee. You know that Nicodemus was the man in John 3, who first came to Jesus at night, and first heard the words "You must be born again."

*On the night before the cross, Jesus was also praying for His friend Lazarus, who was only alive, because the Lord had raised him from the dead. Jesus was also praying for little Zacchaeus, the crooked tax collector in Luke 19 who got saved after he climbed up in a tree to see the Lord.

*That night, Jesus was praying for all of the people who followed Him back then. But in the ultimate sense, Jesus was praying for every Christian who would ever live. He was praying for you and me. So, in vs. 20 Jesus said, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word."

*Jesus was praying for every person who would ever believe in Him. But what does it mean to "believe in Jesus"? Who are these people? Jesus tells us a lot about who they are in vs. 6-10.

*IN VS. 6 FOR EXAMPLE, WE ARE PEOPLE GIVEN BY THE FATHER TO THE SON, AND WE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE "KEPT" GOD'S WORD.

*As Jesus said in vs. 6, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word." That word "kept" means "guarded," "paid attention to," "taken care of," or "held on to."