The High Priestly Prayer

The Office of the Priest: Intercession and Sacrifice 0:31

Why do we call it the high priestly prayer? Well, in order to answer that, let me ask you a different question. In the Old Testament, what was the job of a priest? You've read about the priests.

You read about guys in tall pointy hats in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. What was the job of these guys? What was the job of the priest? What principally were they called to do?

Number one, when the people needed someone to be sent to meet with God, to go into the holy place. Go into the holy of holies. Who did they send? They sent the priest.

When the Israelites needed someone to offer sacrifices on their behalf, who did they send to go and offer the sacrifices? They sent the priest. When the Israelites needed someone to speak with God, to intercede with God on behalf of the people, a tradition that goes all the way back to Moses and Aaron, who did they send?

They sent the priest. The priest's job was to stand before God and intercede for the rest. The priest was a representative of the people, and his job was to intercede for the sins and the needs and the issues that faced the people.

What Kind of Priest Would You Send to God? 1:37

With that said, what kind of priest would you want? Let's say that you were to send someone to go meet with God on your behalf. Let's say that you had issues in your life and you wanted someone to go to God and take your issues to Him. What type of person would you send?

Would you send just anybody? Probably not. If you're going to send someone to go and meet with God, intercede on behalf of you, to pray on behalf of the things going on in your life, what kind of individual would you send? Well, you would go looking for the most holy individual you could, the most holy, the most pious individuals.

Those were supposed to be the priests. These were supposed to be holy and righteous individuals who were set apart from the world, who were devout in their studies, priests who understood what this book said and shared it and poured it forth to the people that they were the priests thereof. The objective of the priest was to represent the people very well and, in their own personal walk, to be holy and righteous.

Israel's Failed Priesthood in Ezekiel 22 2:25

“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”

— Ezekiel 22:26 (NKJV)

However, across Israel's history, they had gotten a lot of bad priests. Ezekiel 22 — and there's really a number of different passages across a number of different books you could go to to find selections just like this. But in Ezekiel chapter 22, God is going to describe the priesthood of the day. He's going to describe the priesthood as it was in Ezekiel's time.

This is what it says. My priests have done violence to My law. They're not off to a good start. My priests have done violence to My law, and they have profaned My holy things.

We just said that priests are supposed to be holy, supposed to have reverence for that which is holy. Rather, in Ezekiel's day, and as was the case many other times in Scripture, they did the exact opposite. My priests have done violence to My law, they profaned My holy things, they've made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean.

They hide their eye from My Sabbaths, and I am profane amongst them. In that text, God is not critiquing, per se, the people at large, although they were absolutely open to critique. He's saying, your leaders have failed. Your leaders have failed because they have made a distinction between that which is holy — holy — and that which is profane, and furthermore, they have not taught the difference to the people.

Therefore, the people suffer because they do not have good priests.

Christ, the Greater and Better High Priest 3:47

With that said, in today's text, we're going to see that the priesthood as an office, even if the individual men who occupied it for century after century after century, often failed. They didn't all fail and they didn't all fail equally. But even if the priesthood often failed, and it certainly failed in the time of Christ because it was the priests who were calling for Christ's head.

It It was the priest, the high priest, Caiaphas and others, who said, crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him. So even though the priest had failed, the office had failed, the office itself was created by God for the benefit of the people. And in due time, all those priests and all the sacrifices they offered were meant to point forward to a better, greater sacrifice that would one day come a greater and better priest.

You have to understand that if you're going to understand why this prayer is referred to as the high priestly prayer. Because in today's text, we see Christ doing that which the other priests had not done. Let's return now.

The Hour Has Come: Christ Prays for the Father's Glory 4:40

Verses 1 through 5, then we'll work our way through verse 19 with the time allotted this morning. Verses 1 through 5. So now Jesus spoke these words. Remember, this is at the end of the Last Supper.

He's washed feet. He's broke bread. He's done all manner of things to instruct the people. The betrayer's gone out.

Death is imminent. And what does He do with His last moments with the group, with the gang there in the upper room? He prays. So Jesus spoke these words.

He lifted up His eyes to heaven. And he said, Father, the hour has come. So many times in His ministry, Jesus said, My hour is not yet. Remember way back when we started this series, we talked about Jesus changing the water into wine.

Mary comes to Jesus and says, hey, can you help us out here? And He says, woman, My hour has not yet come. Throughout the book of John, My hour is not yet. Then as you progress further into the book of John, He says, My hour is coming.

Well, here to the Father, He declares, My hour is nigh. My hour is now. Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son may also glorify You.

As You have given authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, that Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I've glorified You on the earth. I've finished the work that You've given Me to do.

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory that I had with You before the world itself was.

Praying for God's Glory, Not Merely Our Prescriptions 6:03

Alright, the high priestly prayer across its verses is broken down into roughly three sections. This is the first. In these first five verses, Jesus is praying, in a sense, for Himself. But His prayer for Himself is very different from the prayers we offer for ourselves.

Have you ever prayed for yourself? I know the answer. You know the answer. And there's nothing wrong with praying for one's self.

But what we typically do when we pray for ourselves is we have an issue. We have a circumstance that's on our radar. We don't like it. We have some need.

We have some want. We have some desire we want God to fulfill. So what do we do? We come to Him with a prescription.

We say, here's my prescription. My life would be so much better if You would just do this. This is what I would like You to do to help me out. Now, it might be something very understandable.

If you're suffering from cancer, it's okay to say, God, would You please take away my cancer? That's fine. That's okay. With that said, so often the balance of our prayer life is nothing but supplication, nothing but giving them prescriptions — do this, do this, do this — as if He doesn't know what you need.

We ask Him to do things for us, especially when the ground shakes beneath our feet. People pray far more when the ground is shaking beneath their feet than in those times when everything is going fine. That's our prayer life, generally speaking. What we fail to do most often is to yoke our requests and our petitions to some manner or form or way in which, if those prayers are answered, God will be glorified because of it.

If you want to pray that God would take away cancer, if you want to pray that God would heal some health condition you have, if you want to pray for a job that you desire or something along those lines, pray for that, but ask yourself, how would God be glorified if He was to answer the very prayer that I'm praying?

How would God be glorified if He takes away the cancer, if He gives me this job, if He gives me this relationship, if He fixes that which is broken, if He does X, Y, Z — how is God's glory to be impacted if He were to do so? The more often you pray with that in view, the more robust your prayer life will be.

How would God be glorified if He were to give me or grant me the very thing I'm coming to Him and asking for? Very seldom do we think that through. We know how it would benefit us. That's the easy part.

But how would God be glorified if He answered the prayer in the way that you want it to be answered? And if, as you think about that, you can't really discern a good answer, then maybe you should take a look at the prayer. With that said, Christ's prayer here — Christ's prayer. He could pray for any manner of different things.

He was about to face the most horrific circumstance anyone has ever faced on the globe itself. The full cup of God's wrath poured out on Him. There's a lot He could have prayed for right here. But His prayer was centered and anchored upon the glory of the Father.

And in a sense, in verses 1 through 5, He says, Father, I'm coming home. I'm weary. This has been hard. It's been difficult, and it's going to get more difficult.

But in that difficulty, Father, I pray that You'd be glorified. I pray that what I would do would bring You glory. This is what we see in verses 1 through 5. His hour has come, and He wants the will of the Father to be done.

Christ Intercedes for His Disciples, Not the World 9:02

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”

— John 17:9 (NKJV)

Let's look at verses 6 through 12. Verse 6. I've manifested Your name to the men that You have given Me out of the world. Remember that phrase.

They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they've known that all things that You have given Me are from You. For I've given to them the words that You gave to Me. And they've received them, and they've known surely that I came forth from You, and they believe that You sent Me.

So they understand. They don't have the full understanding of the Trinity per se. They don't fully understand the Godhead, and yet they get this much, that when they see me and when they see my actions, when they hear my words, they're hearing yours. Amen and amen is what He's saying here.

So verse nine, He says, I pray for them — which is so cool. They're all about to run away from Him. Remember what's about to happen. Within 24 hours, they're all going to run away.

They'll tell him, no, we'll stay with You to the end. Oh, Jesus, we'll be with You to the end. Then they all run. Even Peter, the rock, will deny Jesus three times before the very night is out.

And yet He says, oh, I pray for them. I pray for them, even though I know what they're about to do. They're going to run and turn and flee, but I pray for the — verse nine — but I don't pray for the world. Notice that distinction.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those that You have given Me, for they are Yours. There is a distinction being made here, and we'll get to it in a few moments, but it's an important distinction if you're to get the greater scheme of theology correct. Verse 10, and all Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine, and I'm glorified in them.

Now I'm no longer in the world, but they are. These are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through Your name those that You've given to Me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.

Those whom You gave Me, I kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition. This is a reference to Judas Iscariot, who God had ordained and decreed would do exactly the things that he did. None is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture itself might be fulfilled, because scripture prophesied that the son of perdition would turn and be lost.

Election: The Father's Sovereign Choice 11:06

All right. After praying the first five verses for himself, Jesus spends the next 13 verses praying for His friends, His disciples. Verse six is that He's praying for those that the Father gave to Him or entrusted to His care. And later on, He's going to say, all those You gave Me, I didn't lose any of them.

Let me ask you, do you think it's changed? Jesus says, all that You have given Me, I have lost none. Do you think it's changed? Do you think all the disciples, all these years later, that the Father's entrusting the Son — all these, a big bushel full of disciples, people like you and I — and do you think He starts to lose them left and right?

No, and we'll explain the theology behind that in a few moments. A few weeks ago, on a Wednesday night, we studied aspects of Reformed theology. We touched upon predestination and election and the like. Those concepts stress God's sovereign choice over those who are His, God's sovereign choice over the eternal fate of mankind.

Well, God's sovereign choice, you can find it in Romans. We looked all over Romans the other night, but you can also find it right here in John 17. God's sovereign choice could not be clearer than we see it in verses 6 through 12 of the High Priestly Prayer. In verse 6, we see that the apostles were chosen.

They were given to the Son by the Father. Now, how do you make that distinction? Who to give? I don't know.

That's above our pay grade, but we know this much. He did it. His volition chose and gave to the Son those that He had chose. In verse 9, we see that not everybody was chosen.

Not everyone was given to the Son. Not everyone was handed over to Him, and nor does He pray for those that weren't. That can be hard to hear, isn't it? And yet, it's Jesus who said it.

He says, I'm not praying for the world at large here, O Father. I'm praying for those that You entrusted to My care. I'm praying and interceding for them in a way that I don't intercede for others.

The Perseverance of the Saints and TULIP 12:55

So that's what we see in verse 9. Verse 12, we see that all who are given to the Son are kept saved, with only Judas being predestined for condemnation. Sometimes we think that our faith is such a wispy thing that what God did is He started a change in you. He regenerated your heart.

You were born again. And then he kind of steps back to see what you're going to do. And he goes, oh my, I really was hoping that he would do what's right and really turn to me in faith. And it seemed like things were going good.

It seemed like he had faith, but I guess he doesn't because, look, he just departed from the faith and he's just consigned himself to hell. And the idea that God somehow stands back from all that and just kind of watches that happen. He spins the world like a top, stands back, sees what's going to take place.

That — that is the belief system of the Arminians. That's the belief system that's foreign to us. You know, in Reformed theology, we have this acrostic, we have TULIP, you know, the five points of Calvinism. Those who've been in the church, you know, if you know, you know what TULIP is.

Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the preservation or perseverance of the saints. These are doctrinal truths that we see here in John 17, Romans, and elsewhere in Scripture. Our theology is born out of something so clear as to give you great conviction this morning that if He has started a good work in you, if He has changed your heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, He will see that work through.

He will, he will, he will.

None Can Be Lost: Kept by His Strength, Not Ours 14:13

And what is he saying right here in John 17? He says, Father, You gave them to Me, and of those given to Me, none are lost. Again, do you think that changes all these centuries later? Those that are entrusted into Christ's care, not a single one of them can be ripped from His hands, neither heights nor depths can separate us from the love which is in Christ Jesus.

There is nothing out there, no force, no entity, no institution, no group of people that can ever tear you away from the arms of your Savior, but neither can you jump from them. You understand that? Nothing can separate you from the love that is in Christ Jesus, and neither can you jump from His care.

Of all those You have given Me, of all those You have predestined, of all that You've called out from this fallen globe, of all those You've given Me, I have lost none. Why? Because they were entrusted to My care, and I see it through. Brothers and sisters, this morning, if you could have lost your salvation, you already would have.

Your salvation is not upheld by your strength and your fidelity, but by His. That's His great covenant to us, and we see it in these verses. So in these verses, we see that when trials come, persecution, even the devil himself, He's going to identify a few verses from now. Jesus says, I intercede on their behalf.

I pray for them.

Kept in the World: Sanctify Them in the Truth 15:29

I pray for them that they would be preserved and protected in the midst of this evil world. All right, let's look at verses — our final verses. Let's look at verses 13 through 19. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

Jesus wanted His disciples to be joyful in the midst of really dark circumstances. Same is true for us. But I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they're not of the world, just as I'm not of the world.

I do not pray — notice this — I do not pray that You should take them out of the world. I do not pray that you should just send a life raft so that they never have to deal with fallen humanity, which desperately needs their witness. I'm not saying take them out of this world that needs the shedding of the gospel light upon it.

I'm not saying that at all. But, verse 15, that You should keep them from the evil one. Protect them while they're in the world. Protect them while they're in the world.

Verse 16, they're not of the world just as I'm not of the world, but sanctify them by Your truth, Your word. Your word is the truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they may also be sanctified in the truth.

Last week we made a statement. We said, if you fly the king's flag, if you fly the flag of your king, you will be hated by your king's enemies. If you're an ambassador for a great and a holy spiritual kingdom that is different from this world, then do not be surprised when those of this world hate you.

And that's not conjecture. That's what not only this chapter, but the preceding several chapters talked about. Jesus knew He was sending out lambs into the slaughter, so to speak. He was sending out lambs among wolves.

He knew he was sending out sheep amongst those who desired to shear and kill and destroy them. He understood what was happening, and He understood what was about to happen to Himself. He was under no false beliefs. You and I, sometimes we think we can carve out utopia in this fallen world as if that's the objective.

Jesus says, no, I'm sending them into this world that they might make a difference for this world, which is not an easy thing. Last week, we also mentioned, you know, if you were to take a sandwich board and go downtown — and it could be Gulfport, it could be Mobile, Bourbon Street, really anywhere — and you take a sandwich board and you just say something like this: God loves you, and you put it on either side of the board.

No one's really going to reject that. Why? Because people want to be loved. The idea that there's some entity, something out there, something transcendent that loves me, I kind of like that.

So people hear that and they respond generally positively. And the idea that God is love is a very biblical statement. Nothing wrong saying God is love. Nothing wrong with that.

However, it's not a fully rounded gospel presentation, is it? If on that same sandwich board you were to flip it over and it said something like repent, or something like faith in Christ is the only way into salvation, something along those lines — well, you would get a very different response from the same people walking by.

God is love? That's a biblical statement. Repent and turn, O ye sinners? That's a biblical statement too, but people respond to these things in very different ways.

The world doesn't like it when they are convicted of the very behaviors and attitudes and affections that they so desire. And frankly, neither are we. You ever read scripture and it calls out a behavior, attitude, affection that you were engaged in? What are you inclined to do?

Sometimes we quickly skip past that, or we reinterpret it to fit us. We're very good at that, at looking at scripture and either ignoring the parts we don't like or reinterpreting the things that are there in a way that they don't convict, but actually encourage or exhort us. We can do this in all manner of weird and odd ways.

With that said, Christ's concern is that He was about to send sheep out there amongst goats and wolves and lions and all these different things, and they were going to be persecuted significantly. And Jesus knows this, but He tells them, He says, if you're going to stand in the hour of test, if you're going to stand in the time of persecution, then you must be armed, you must be sanctified in the truth.

What does He pray for there? He doesn't pray, God, take them out of this world. He doesn't pray, God, to save them so they never have to deal with evil, they never have to intersect with fallen humanity. No, He doesn't pray that at all.

He says, when they do intersect with fallen humanity, when they do face — college students — things in the classroom that are unbiblical, when they do face, on television, in the media, or just in our interaction with our peers, when we do face things that are unbiblical, that we would have the means to stand in that day — not simply because we're strong and we like to fight, but rather because we have been sanctified in that which is true.

Scripture Alone: The Inerrant Rule of Faith 20:05

Jesus' prayer for His disciples, for the apostles, and later for all the church as a whole is this, that you would be sanctified in that which is true. You and I, we can access — where's my phone? We can access — I don't know, I got like 50 apps on this. I can access all manner of things, all manner of things: opinions, conjectures, polls, surveys, studies, editorials, articles, what have you.

None of that holds a candle to what's in this. This book is the divine, inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God. It alone is the rule of faith on which we can build our lives. The things that are here — is there truth sometimes contained in some of this?

Can various apps say things that are true? Sure. Is it infallible, inspired, inerrant? No. Does the various resources that we might turn to our left and our right and the culture around us — can they say things that are true?

Absolutely. Are they the measure for that which is ultimately true? Not at all. Scripture is the means that God has given us.

So when Jesus prays for His disciples, He says, oh, Lord, sanctify them. He says, I know Peter. I know how rough around the edges Peter is. Peter was really rough around the edges, especially when he was younger.

Peter would betray Jesus a little bit later. So Jesus prayed for Peter because He had to be praying with the very men who were standing around Him in mind. Oh, Lord, I pray for Peter. I know that one of Peter's problems is he has not been fully sanctified, which is true.

And, Father, You know I've done my best for three years. I've been teaching him, but he needs more. Sanctify him in Your word and Your truth. Peter — even after Jesus ascended, Peter continued to mess up.

There's a number of other occasions you see in the book of Acts where Peter didn't always deal with that which is right. But the good news is this, that Peter got older and he grew and he was sanctified more day by day, year by year, in the truth, in God's word. And ultimately, Peter, when he would transition to glory, he was a far more sanctified disciple than he was in the upper room.

But he had an advantage all those years. Number one, he was sanctified in the truth.

Christ Our Advocate: The Ever-Living Intercessor 21:56

And number two, the high priest was interceding for him consistently, regularly. Do you have any idea what an advantage it is to you that as you live out your days in this fallen world, that Jesus Himself is whispering into the ears of the Father things that are for your benefit? How cool is that?

Jesus is not like just the admissions director in heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. He is the singular path. He is the ladder which allows us to reach God's golden shores.

And once we're there, He will never, never lose us. But until that time, when we reach that golden estate, even right now, He's interceding for us and praying for us. He's an advocate. You have an advocate.

You have an advocate who's better than the rest of us. Any lawyers in this room? No, don't raise your hands. A lawyer's job is to be an advocate for the client.

But the lawyers in our group, the lawyers in our culture, the lawyers in the world around us, they're no more sinless than you and I are. But you see, the purpose of a lawyer is to advocate on behalf of the client. In our culture, we cannot do that flawlessly. But we have the great paraclete, the great lawyer, the great intercessor, the great advocate, who in heaven right now is pleading your case.

Believer, you got this. Whatever is coming up next week, next month, next year — you got this. Why? Because you're strong?

No, but because you have a high priest who has demonstrated His love for you by pouring out His own blood for you. If He gave His blood for you, what won't He give for you? We're in a much stronger position than we sometimes think that we are. Christian, this morning, be encouraged.

In John 17, with the very men around him that he was praying for, you've got to think that they went out of that room encouraged to hear, to hear their rabbi, their leader, their savior, pleading their case to the Heavenly Father. This morning, the same is true for you, and it always will be.

No matter what you might face, remember, you have a great intercessor in heaven sitting at the right hand, pleading your case in the ear of the Father. Let's pray.