Jesus Prays for Us

Jesus is praying for us. This means we are blessed of God. We are the elect of God. Christ is praying for us. The Holy Spirit is praying for us. The church is praying for us. We are blessed people. We are rich in God and God’s family, and we lack nothing.

In the eternal council of the triune God, before the creation of the world, God the Father gave us, the elect, to his Son, that he may become man in the fullness of time and that he may die for our sins in our place to accomplish our redemption. The Son agreed to do this. The Holy Spirit also agreed to apply this redemption to each elect sinner. If you are elect, you are given to Christ in eternity and are a blessed people.

So the Father loves us, the Son loves us, and the Holy Spirit loves us. And the devil hates us, and the world hates us. But Jesus triumphed over the devil and the world; therefore, submit to God and resist the devil, and he shall flee from you. He knows he has been defeated by Jesus Christ.

We are loved by the triune God from eternity. Nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love. Even death cannot separate us. The Father gave his Son Jesus Christ all authority to save us. In time, the elect will hear the gospel call, and the Holy Spirit will regenerate them. He will give them new hearts to understand God’s will, new wills to do God’s will, and new affections to feel the same way God wants us to feel. Thus, we even rejoice in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations produce endurance; endurance, character; and character, hope—hope of the glory of God.

The Father gave his Son Jesus Christ all authority to save us. In time, the elect will hear the gospel call and the Holy Spirit will regenerate them, that they may repent and trust in Christ and be saved forever, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

The elect are not many but few—only a remnant. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to [eternal] destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13–14).  And Paul said, “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved’” (Rom. 9:27). We are the remnant; we are not many. When the truth is preached, many do not want to hear it. Few will hear it and love it. Ekklêsia means “the church,” the company of those whom God calls out of the world to be the light of the world.

Let us, then, consider the following points.

I. We Are God’s Elect from Eternity

• John 17:2: Jesus himself said, “For you [Father] granted [Jesus] authority over all people that [Jesus] might give eternal life to all those who have been given to him.” Five times in John 17 we read that the Father gave us to the Son to save us from our sins. Our Father in heaven, in eternity, gave us to Jesus to save us and give us eternal life. If you do not like this truth, you are not elect, you are not the remnant.
• John 17:6: Jesus said, “I have revealed you [the Father] to those whom you gave me out of the world.” We were in the world, doing our own thing. We were sinners, but God called us to be saints, holy ones. Jesus continued, “They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” In other words, you are not a remnant if you do not obey God’s word. Eternally called people obey Jesus Christ.
• John 17:9: Jesus also said, “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” Jesus does not pray for everyone; he prays for his people. Therefore, we must make sure he is praying for us by believing the gospel.
• John 17:24: Then Jesus prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Our eternal destiny is to be with Christ.
• Romans 8:29–30: Paul writes, “For those God foreknew [foreloved], he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” We are going to be like Jesus Christ, our elder brother, “so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Our destiny is glory.
• Ephesians 1:3–4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” When you believe in Jesus Christ, you are blessed with all the blessings imaginable. Paul continues, “For he chose us in [Jesus] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” God’s people are chosen before the creation of the world. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, that we may live a holy life. If you are not living a holy life, you cannot be certain about your calling and election. We teach that every believer must obey Jesus Christ as Jesus obeyed God the Father.

II. Christ Died for Our Sins

Jesus said in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work.” What was his work? It was the work of accomplishing redemption. Consider the following:

• John 17:4: Jesus said, “I have brought you [the Father] glory on earth.” That is our purpose too. We glorify God by our obedience. So Jesus said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” What is the work? He accomplished redemption by his obedience, finally dying in our place for our sins.
• John 19:30: “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’” What was finished? The work of redemption was finished by his death on the cross. So he cried out, “Tetelestai.” It is a perfect passive indicative, meaning, “It is finished,” meaning it is finished forever. Redemption was accomplished by the death of Christ on the cross.
• 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them . . . God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We give Christ all our sins, and he gives us his perfect righteousness.
• Romans 13:14: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the lust of the flesh.” In other words, the world sees Jesus when they look at Christians. We must behave as the light of the world.
• 1 Corinthians 2:2: Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” True believers will glory in the cross. Christ died for all our sins.
• 1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree [on the cross], so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.” I say “No” to sin daily. The devil is against me. He wants me to sin. We are to die to sins and live for righteousness. That means we are to obey Jesus Christ. Why? “By his wounds we have been healed,” saved. As God’s saints, we say “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. He is the eternal Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. He gives us the power to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness. In Adam, we became non posse non peccare (not possible not to sin). Now our condition is posse non peccare (possible not to sin) by Holy Spirit power. “Ye shall receive power [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). We cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. What is the double transaction? He died for our sins; we gave him our sin, and he gives us his perfect righteousness.

III. Christ Prays for Us

Jesus Christ prays for us, and his prayer is effectual.

• John 17:9: Jesus said, “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world.” “The world” stands for the non-elect. How do you know they are non-elect? They will not repent or believe in Jesus Christ. They trust in money, not God. So Jesus says, “I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”
• Romans 8:34: Paul writes, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life.” The resurrection proves that Jesus was sinless. A sinning Jesus cannot save us, for such a person must die for his own sins. But Paul says, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Jesus himself is praying for us. He prayed for us in time when he was on earth and he is praying for us now. Christ is praying for us in heaven, and on earth the Holy Spirit is praying for us.
• Romans 8:27: “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” God the Father hears the prayers of Jesus and the prayers of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our salvation is secure indeed. We believe in eternal security.

IV. The Elect Are Protected and Secure

• John 10:28–29: Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Our God is infinite, almighty, and personal. It is he who says, “No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” The devil can try, but he cannot snatch us out of God’s hand. Jesus Christ defeated the devil by his death (1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14–15).
• John 17:11: “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.” True believers are one in Christ. (PGM) We love one another because we all belong to the family of God. There is no discrimination in God’s church.
• John 17:12: “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the [damned] one.” This is speaking about Judas Iscariot. He was damned from eternity, yet Christ chose him to be an apostle. But Jesus continues, “None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” The truth is, Judas was not an elect. We are elect if we persevere to the end.
• John 17:15: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one [the devil].” We are protected from the devil. Yes, he will attack us but he will never succeed. The Father protects the elect, the Son protects the elect, and the Holy Spirit protects the elect. The devil is defeated forever by Christ’s death and resurrection. So James says, “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he shall flee from you” (James 4:7). 

V. The Elect Love One Another Sacrificially

The elect love one another sacrificially. There is a saying: When God comes in, money goes out.  We read about this idea throughout the Bible:

• Acts 2:44–45: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.”
• Acts 4:32, 36–37: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. . . . Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
• 1 John 3:16–18: John writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” Such a person is a fake. Yet such people are in the church. They are fake believers. John concludes, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
• 1 John 4:19–21: John also says, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
• 1 Corinthians 16:1–4: “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.” Here Paul is telling us that he was collecting money from Corinth and other places because the poor saints in Jerusalem were in need.

VI. The Elect Will Do Five Things

1. The elect will hear the gospel preached with total attention.

• Matthew 28:18–20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

2. The elect will believe the gospel. The Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” Acts 16:30–31). They believe the gospel.

3. The elect will obey the gospel. There are some people who do not like to obey the gospel. They want the gospel minus obedience. But consider what John says:
   • 1 John 2:3–6: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not obey what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (see also Heb. 5:8–9; John 15:10). A church that does not teach obedience to Jesus Christ is a synagogue of Satan.

4. The elect will suffer for the gospel.

• Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
• Romans 5:3–5: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces endurance; endurance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love [in abundance] into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” We live through sufferings by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we die in faith.
• 2 Corinthians 11:23–29: Paul writes, “Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?”
• Hebrews 11:35b–38: “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned ; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

5. The elect will be saved by the gospel.

• Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Jesus is Lord.  He is infinite God Almighty. All authority is given to him, and we confess that he is Lord. This is covenant theology. If he is Lord, who are we?  Bondslaves of Jesus Christ. Everyone in the church is a bondslave of Christ, to hear and do his will. If you are not obedient, you are not saved. You are to obey your parents, obey your pastors, and obey the police. When they speak, they are speaking with God’s authority. And we are to obey God joyfully. Jesus himself said, “If you love me, you will obey my commands” (John 14:15). In Hebrews 5:8–9 we read that Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered, and became the author of salvation for all who obey him. In other words, obedience is not optional. If you do not obey, you are a son of the devil. You are unsaved.

VII. Our Destiny Is Glory

What is the destiny of God’s elect? It is glory.

• John 17:24: Jesus prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me [in eternity past] to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.”
• Ephesians 2:6: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Even now, we are seated with Christ; we are in Jesus.
• Romans 8:28-30: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

We will be glorified to be with the Lord to see his glory forever. The ordo salutis, the steps of salvation, tell us that. We are:

1. Foreloved in eternity
2. Predestined in eternity
3. Called in time
4. Regenerated in time
5. Repenting in time
6. Believing in time
7. Justified in time
8. Adopted in time
9. Sanctified in time
10. Being glorified. It is going to take place in eternity. Our destiny is glory!

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John gives us a picture of the glory that awaits the elect.

• Revelation 19:6–8: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride [the church] has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” Yes, we were nothing; we were clay; we were grass; we were sinners. But now we are the bride of Christ and our destiny is glory. Hallelujah!
• Revelation 21:1–4: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” This is speaking about the new heaven and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13). John continues, “and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband [the Lord Jesus Christ]. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

“God himself will be with them and be their God forever.” That is what I am preaching. Let us receive great comfort from the word spoken. We are God’s elect from eternity. We sinned, Christ died for our sins, and Christ prays for us. We are always protected. The elect love God and love one another. The elect will hear, believe, obey, suffer, and be saved. The destiny of the elect is glory.