Let us note that our Lord does not name gifts or miracles or intellectual attainments as the evidence of discipleship, but love, the simple grace of love, a grace within reach of the poorest, lowliest believer, as the evidence of discipleship. If we have no love, we have no grace, no regeneration, no true Christianity!
J.C. Ryle

I PRAY FOR THEM

I PRAY FOR THEM

Someone is praying for you at this very moment. Do you know who that
Someone is?

In John 17 we read four of the most endearing words that can be found in
the entire Scripture. The Lord Jesus said to the Father – “I pray for
them.”

It is one thing to have another man pray for us, but it is an entirely
different picture when the High Priest – the Son of the Living God –
makes intercession for us.

Here we see the Lord Jesus, interceding on the behalf of all of His
disciples –

John 17:9 – those who are God’s followers – “for they are Thine” –
John 17:10 – and who bring great Glory to the name of Christ through
their preaching and obedient lifestyles – “I am glorified in them.”

These disciples are described as those who came out of the world, are in
the world, yet are not of this world –
John 17:6 – “…the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world…”
John 17:11 – “…these are in the world…”
John 17:14 – “…they are not of the world…”

We are called out of this world – not physically – but spiritually – to
accomplish God’s purposes and plans. We are “IN” the world but not “OF”
it. As the basis for His petitioning the Father’s blessing upon His
disciples, the Lord Jesus emphasized twice the fact that they had been
separated from the world and now belong to Him –
John 17:14 – “…they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world.”

John 17:16 – “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

Let’s stop a minute and ask ourselves a very important question at this
point. As Jesus intercedes at the Father’s right hand for us this day,
can He say of us that we are indeed separated from the world and truly
consecrated unto God? Can He use that as a foundation for His
intercessory prayer for us?

2 Corinthians 6:17 – Have we obeyed God’s Word to us as recorded by the
Apostle Paul – “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty”?

John 17:11 – “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world…” On this very day we find ourselves in the midst of wicked men
and malignant foes. We are in the midst of terrible perversions of the
worst kind. Men happen to despise that which they should rightfully
esteem. Troubles, trials, and tragedies meet us at every turn because of
the wickedness of people’s hearts.

In the light of our ungodly surroundings, how did the Lord Jesus pray for
us? Did He ask the Father to bless us with more riches than the heathen?
Did He ask that the “wealth of the sinner would be laid up for the just”?
Did He pray that everything would always go well for us? Did He pray that
we would always be happy and live the “good life”?

No, His earnest plea to the Father was not that we would have more things
and possessions to lay up as treasure on this earth or that we would live
a carefree life. On the contrary, He prayed that the Father would KEEP US
FROM THE EVIL of this world. Throughout Jesus’ entire prayer, we read his
heartfelt cry that His followers would be KEPT by the Power of God as
they live their lives in the midst of a wicked and adulterous generation.

It seems that it would have been so much easier for God to save us and
then take us home to glory. But the message of the Gospel must go out.
Men must hear the Good News in order to be saved. And they will only hear
it as we obey the Great Commission and do the Works of Jesus in their
midst –

John 17:18 – “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also
sent them into the world.”

If the Lord Jesus emphasized the KEEPING of His people as they journey
through this world, shouldn’t the preachers be emphasizing the same? Yet
most of the preaching today deals with prosperity and abundance rather
than the Keeping Power of God found in His Word and the Sanctifying Power
of the Holy Spirit to Keep us Holy and Upright before God and men. Where
are the Preachers who are crying out against Sin in the Church and
calling the People of God to Holiness of living?

The Lord Jesus emphasized the KEEPING of the saints from all evil.
Shouldn’t the men and women of God, who supposedly stand in His counsel
every day as they wait upon Him for Fresh Manna for their people, be
emphasizing the same?

John 17:15 – “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

Jesus prayed that we would be kept from Satan as the tempter and the
destroyer and be preserved from his evil influence as he seeks to ruin
our souls and destroy our work for the Lord. He prayed that we would be
delivered from SIN and every thing that looks like it or leads to it. He
prayed that we would be preserved from everything evil and wicked. He
prayed that we would be sustained in our trials and saved from apostasy.

How are we kept? By what means are the saints of the Most High to be
preserved from the evil influences all around them?

John 17: 8 – “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest
Me…”

John 17:14 – “I have given them Thy word…”
John 17:17 – “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”

The Word of God is our Keeper. It is the key to our preservation from the
evils of this world. It is God’s means to “sanctify” His people.

What does it mean to “sanctify”?
It means to –

render pure and holy

to cleanse from sin

to render a person Christlike

to be less attached to the world
to get victory over evil thoughts, passions, and impure desires
to be more and more weaned from the earthly and more and more attached to
the heavenly

to become a pattern of holiness unto others
to be set apart unto a holy office or purpose
to be separated from worldly concerns and to be truly consecrated unto
God and His work.

How is it that the Church, generally speaking, is so worldly and full of
SIN nowadays? Why is it that Satan has such a place in people’s lives who
profess to be Christians? Why is it that so many have no power to resist
the temptations and allurements of Satan to SIN? What would cause a Holy
People to run to the world for their entertainment and pleasure rather
than to God and His Holy Word?

Why are so many not being “kept” in these Last Days? Many are falling
away from the Faith and, like the dog, are going back to their own vomit.
They are like the sow who was once washed but finds herself wallowing in
the mire again.

Why is this happening? Is it God’s fault? Doesn’t He have enough power to
“keep” His people from SIN and Satan’s attractions? IT IS NEVER GOD’S
FAULT that the Church is not where she should be. NO! NO! NO! God has NOT
lost His Power! He is still the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
POWER STILL BELONGS UNTO GOD!!! All power is still His in all of heaven
and earth.

Then wherein lies the problem? There is a lack somewhere. What is it? It
is a lack of the Word of God. The Truth of God is not being read nor
preached nowadays. Oh, don’t get me wrong – there is alot of reading
material – but is it the TRUTH? There is alot of preaching going on – but
how much of it is the TRUTH?

The Lord Jesus told us that we would be sanctified and kept by the Power
of His TRUTH. His Word is TRUTH!

If we are ever going to be kept from wickedness and all the evil
influences of this world, we are going to have to Get Back to the Bible –
Good old-fashioned Bible Reading and Study of the Scriptures and Good
Old-Fashioned Preaching of the Word of God.

Families will have to turn off the TV, take the ungodly, compromising
videos back to the Video Store, throw out the trashy magazines and
romance novels, and erect an altar in their home where the Father, Mother
and children all gather together and read and study the Bible once again.

Preachers are going to have to get off the golf courses and the lakes and
realize that they have been called with a Holy Calling and not to a
profession or a life of ease. They need to begin to push away the plate
and hide themselves in the Prayer Closet with their Bibles in hand and
cry out to God with every breath of their being until He comes down and
gives them a Word from Heaven for the people.

John 17:17 – “Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth.”

The key to our preservation as a Holy People of God living in the ungodly
environment of this world is the TRUTH – God’s Holy Word.

The Lord Jesus could very well have delivered us from this wicked world
the moment we all got saved. But He has a work for us to do. We have a
Divine Commission from God Almighty to reach the lost. He knew that we
would face evil and wickedness of the worst kind. That is why He prayed
to the Father to “keep” us while we are here. The Father has not left us
to fend for ourselves. He has given us the Greatest weapon to counteract
every wicked and evil influence the devil and his hosts of demons could
conjure up against us. He has given us His Word – the Truth.

The question is – What are we doing with it? The answer is clearly seen
in the kind of lifestyle that we are living before all.

John 17:15 – “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

Jesus is praying for us even at this hour. Let’s not disappoint Him.
After all that He has done for us, let’s call our families, churches, and
communities back to the Word of God. Let’s once again read, study, teach,
preach, and live by its principles. It is the only way that we as God’s
people will make it in this world. It’s the ONLY WAY that Jesus’ prayers
will ever be answered.

May God Bless His Word.

Connie Giordano