I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message,“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word;
7 sermons cite this verse
what he has done in their life now reproduced in the lives of others and what i want you to notice is in those verses we read over and over again, you see, well, you see a couple different phrases repeated, but there's one word I want us to focus on, and it's the word world. When you look at this chapter as a whole, nearly 20 times Jesus mentions the world, almost 20 times. And even in the last part here, he mentions it over and over and over again. Look in verse 13, and you might circle or put a box or a triangle or something around these words because we've been circling a lot of different words, so you might want to do it in a way that differentiates it from the others. But I want you to circle or make some kind of note every time you see the world mentioned. Look in verse 13. It says, I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I'm still in the what? …
… with the eleven, but for you. John 17, verse 20. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Part of Jesus' prayer that evening. My message this evening is both from this text and also some reverie of personal experience. Adjacent to the topic this evening, not in any way to supplement but to complement the words that we have already heard, spoken so ably this evening in the message from Dr. Evans. …
It was a very powerful sermon, but where did the power lie, do you think? Well, instrumentally and speaking after the manner of men, I think it lay partly in Peter's vivid realization of what he was saying. He knew that his Lord and Savior had, with wicked hands, been crucified and slain—and that He had risen from the grave and had gone back again to Heaven. You could see, by his whole manner, that he was not talking about myths and fancies, but about truths and things of which he knew for certain. There is always a power about a man's message when his hearers know that he who delivers it believes what he is saying and has no latent doubts, no concealed skepticisms, but speaks what he knows and testifies what he has seen. The next secret of the power of Peter's discourse was, I think, that it was full of Scripture. There is a quotation, first of one Psalm, and then of another—David said this, and David said that—Peter's superstructure of argument was built upon the solid rock of Holy Scripture. Peter had a great mass before him that day needing to be moved and I do not wonder that he got such good leverage with such a fulcrum as he had. The more of Scripture, yes, of the very words of Scripture that we can use in preaching, the better and, certainly, the more of such thing as can begin with, "Thus says the Lord." Men will not care about what we say, or, "Thus says Mr. Wesley," or, "Thus says John Calvin"—it is, "Thus says the Lord" that will have power over them! McCheyne says that you will generally notice that conversions are worked rather by the preacher's text, or by some passage of Scripture quoted by him, than by his sermon, "For," he adds, "it is God's Word, not our comment upon God's Word, which is usually blessed to the salvation of souls." I think it is so, though the rule is not without many exceptions, and our Lord hints at that when He says, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word," as if the message of God-sent servants was not only God's Word, but also theirword—and men were led to believe on Jesus through hearing it. …
In speaking in this Psalm concerning the Word of God, David uses six different expression to describe it. And to each one he attaches a special tribute to commend it to us. As a rule, the ungodly know the Bible only by one name or, perhaps, two. They call it the Bible or the Scriptures—and that is about all that most of those know concerning it. But a man who is well acquainted with its contents has many names for it. The most notable instance of this is the 119th Psalm, which contains 176 verses, almost everyone of which has a mention of the Word of the Lord. It would be a profitable exercise to read that long Psalm through carefully—and to note all the variations of expression that the Psalmist uses concerning the Scriptures as far as they were known to him. But for our present purpose it will suffice if we confine our thoughts to the six descriptions and tributes that we find in this 19th Psalm. First, David says, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." In the margin, we have the word, "Doctrine," as another rendering of the word, Law, and we know that the term, "the Law of the Lord" is not restricted to the Decalogue, so we shall not do wrong if we apply this expression to the Gospel which is God's special means of converting souls—and to the whole Revelation of God's plan and method of salvation which we find in the Scriptures. If I want to know how I am to be saved, I come to this blessed Book and I read here, "the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which Paul said had made him free from the Law of sin and death. I read here Christ's own words, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." I read here the matchless story of Him on who I am to believe. I read about His Person, His Character, His Doctrine, His mission—and this "Law of the Lord" begins to operate upon my heart as I read it! It not only changes my outward actions, but it renews my mind, it alters the whole bent and purpose of my life—in David's phrase—it converts my soul! The springs of my being, which once were poisoned by sin, become purified by Grace. I know that you have found this to be true, Beloved, and that, therefore, you love this "Law of the Lord." McCheyne says that it is God's Word, and not our comments upon it, that saves souls. And I have frequently noticed, in conversions, that it has not been so much the word of the preacher that has been blessed as the Word of God, itself—though this, of course, is a rule to which there are exceptions, for our Lord Jesus, Himself, said in His great intercessory prayer, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them, also, which shall believe on Me through their word"—not only through Christ's own word, but through the truthful and faithful testimony off His servants—and still is the word of earnest, believing preachers and teachers blessed to their hearers and scholars! Yet the great converting agency is the Word of God, for this "Law of the Lord is perfect"—there is nothing in it in excess and there is nothing omitted from it. It is perfect in all its operations upon my nature, perfect to inspire my whole life and to kindle enthusiasm in my soul, perfect to enlighten my understanding and to subdue my will, perfect for everything which is needed for the conversion of my soul! …
Observe, next, that this prayer of Christ obtained an abundant answer. You recollect the many preservations which He experienced—how He was preserved while yet a Child, from the envy and malice of Herod and how, again and again He was delivered from those who sought His life. He was also preserved many times from falling into the snares set for Him by scribes and Pharisees and others who sought to entrap Him in His talk. How wisely He answered the lawyer who came to Him tempting Him, and those who sought to catch Him over the matter of paying tribute to Caesar! He was never taken as a bird ensnared by the fowler—He was always preserved in every emergency. He was like a physician in a hospital full of lepers, yet He was always preserved from the disease! Then, to close this part of the subject, notice that this prayer most deeply concerns the whole company of Believers in Christ, for it strikes me that when our Savior prayed to His Father, "Preserve Me," He was thinking of the whole of His mystical body and pleading for all who were vitally united to Him! You remember how, in His great intercessory supplication, He pleaded for His disciples, "Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are." This is the same prayer as, "Preserve Me," if we understand the "Me" to include all who are one with Christ. We also are included in that supplication, for He further said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me." Yes, dear Friend, though you may seem to yourself to be the meanest of the Lord's people, even though you are in your own apprehension but as His feet that glow in the furnace of affliction—even you are among those whom Christ entreated His Father to keep—and you may rest assured that He will certainly do so! Christ will never lose one of the members of His mystical body! If He could do so, His body would be imperfect and incomplete, but that it never can be! Paul tells us that Christ's Church "is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all-in-all" so that if He were left without His fullness, He would have suffered an irreparable loss. That can never be the case, so this prayer will be answered concerning the whole body of Believers in Jesus, who shall be presented "faultless before the Presence of His Glory with exceeding joy." Blessed be His holy name! …
[ON BEHALF OF THE GOSPEL MINISTERS' RELIEF SOCIETY.] "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on Me through their word." John 17:20. IN the very opening of this subject one feels inexpressibly delighted to see the wondrous love of our Savior towards His people. He here promises that He will intercede for each of them before His Father's Throne and He declares that this intercession also rises for those who are yet uncalled, unconverted and unregenerated! Mark the depth of His affection— He spends all His time in continually interceding for His people. I marvel at the condescension of Jesus Christ, that His people's names are always on His lips. When we consider that notwithstanding all His exceeding Grace and affection towards them, they transgress and rebel, it appears amazing that He should mention their names, or that He should regard their persons! But when we remember that, day by day, in that land where there is no night, He who stands before His Father's Throne bears perpetually on His breast their names deeply cut in the precious jewels and stones of the breastplate, and always with outspread hands, pleads for them, we cannot but admire His love for them and feel a deep veneration for that Divine Grace which makes Him declare, "For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns." You must also note here the peculiar knowledge which our Savior, Jesus Christ, has of all His people, as well as His particular love for them, for He says He prays for those who are yet uncalled. Now, none of us who have faith in God, none of those called and led to believe in Jesus, are unknown to Him. He knows His redeemed as well in one condition as another. He knows which of two drunks shall turn and become one of His family. There are none so sunk in the depths of sin and wickedness that if they are His by the Covenant of His Grace, do not even now share in His intercession! He knows His Beloved when there is no visible mark by which to know them. He discerns His sheep when, to other people, they seem like wolves or goats. He recognizes His family when they are black as the tents of Kedar and He knows they shall be fair as the curtains of Solomon! He knows His children when they do not know themselves to be His, when they fancy they are lost beyond rescue, or when they foolishly conceive that they can save themselves. Yes, and when all hope fails them—when it seems that the Lord does not know them and the Gospel does not know them—when no Christian knows them and the minister can give them no comfort—Christ knows them even then, for it is still written, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom You have given Me out of the world; those who have not yet believed; but who shall believe through the word of those who are already called." …
1st, Man is hereby brought to a greater and nearer union with God. If man had never fallen, God would have remained man’s friend; he would have enjoyed God’s favour, and so would have been the object of Christ’s favour, as he would have had the favour of all the persons of the Trinity.—But now Christ becoming our surety and Saviour, and having taken on him our nature, occasions between Christ and us an union of a quite different kind, and a nearer relation than otherwise would have been. The fall is the occasion of Christ’s becoming our head, and the church his body. And believers are become his brethren, and spouse, in a manner that otherwise would not have been. And by our union with Christ we have a greater union with God the Father. We are sons by virtue of our union with the natural Son of God. Gal. iv. 4-6. “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” And therefore Christ has taught us, in all our addresses to God, to call him our Father, in like manner as he calls him Father, John xx. 17. “Go tell my brethren, behold I ascend to my Father, and your Father.” This is one of the wonderful things brought about by the work of redemption, that thereby our separation from God, is made an occasion of a greater union than was before, or otherwise would have been.—When we fell, there was a dreadful separation made betwixt God and us, but this is made an occasion of a greater union. John xvii. 20-23. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, 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. 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.” …