Calvary Road Baptist Church

“The Lord Jesus Christ Praying For His Remaining Apostles” Part 10

John 17.6-19 

I am fully aware that I frequently make comments in my sermons that cause some of you to think, “Great. He’s on that again, and will he not ever stop?” You may think I am riding hobby horses when I am actually attempting to stress important truths emphasized in God’s Word.

In this sermon, at the outset, in fact, I intend to drive home a point about the “world” yet again, the English word for the Greek ká½¹smos. Why so? Because your understanding of the “world” and what the Savior meant when He used the word is crucial to your understanding of your spiritual situation.

Consider. Why would the Lord Jesus Christ offer His high priestly intercessory prayer to God the Father, the only prayer of our Lord that seems to have been recorded in its entirety, and make direct reference to the ká½¹smos, the “world,” nineteen times in fourteen of the twenty-six verses of John 17 unless it was a matter of real significance? Have I piqued your interest?

Before we take our first look at today’s text, bear with me as I review this word ká½¹smoV once more, and what this word translated “world” means in the various contexts in which the term is used, bearing in mind that occasionally New Testament verses with word ká½¹smos do not refer to the same things in sequential verses. Thus, it is a word that we must be careful to handle prudently.

What do you think the Lord Jesus Christ referred to when He used the word “world,” the Greek word being ká½¹smoV? The term is used with seven different meanings in mind in the New Testament, with the context in which the word is used providing the key to its intended meaning in each instance. The list follows: 

First, ká½¹smos can refer to the universe as a whole, Acts 17.24.

Second, ká½¹smos can mean the earth, John 13.1 and Ephesians 1.4.

Third, ká½¹smos can refer to the world system as a morally evil entity, to society, Matthew 4.8, John 12.31, and First John 5.19.

Fourth, ká½¹smos can mean the human race, mankind, Romans 3.19.

Fifth, ká½¹smos can refer to the human race minus those who are believers, John 15.18 and Romans 3.6.

Sixth, ká½¹smos can be Gentiles in contrast to Jews, Romans 11.12.

Seventh, ká½¹smos can refer to believers only, John 1.29, 6.33, 12.47, First Corinthians 4.9, Second Corinthians 5.19. 

Being cautioned about how we should approach any New Testament passage in which the word “world” is found to translate the Greek word ká½¹smos, let us now turn to our text, John 17.15-16, where the word ká½¹smos is found three times in two verses. Once you find that passage, I invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word, where the Lord said, 

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

The Lord Jesus Christ has been praying for His eleven remaining apostles since John 17.6. That being recognized, is it not remarkable that it is not until these two verses that the Lord Jesus Christ actually got around to making the first of His two requests for His men? His subsequent request is found in verse 17.

It is also interesting to note that, even though the Lord Jesus Christ is about to depart the world, He took care to point out in His prayer that He was not requesting the removal of His men. Instead, He asked the Father to keep them from the evil, it being unstated but evident that this was to occur whilst they remained in the world, in the evil world system of mankind rebelling against God and the things of God.

It is frequently observed by commentators going back to the English Anglican Bishop Ryle in the 19th century that “Three of the only prayers not granted to saints, recorded in Scripture, are the prayers, of Moses, Elijah, Jonah to be taken out of the world.”[1] Interesting to me is the observation that while commentators point this out, the apostles were most certainly not asking God to remove them from the world. Therefore, this request by the Lord Jesus Christ was not in any way comparable to the pleas of Moses, Elijah, and Jonah to be removed from this world. Why do commentators mention Bishop Ryle’s seemingly irrelevant observation? Perhaps to fill space in their books.

Of concern to us is why, we might ask, did the soon to depart from this world Lord Jesus declare that He was not requesting that the Father remove His eleven faithful men from the world? The strategy employed by the Savior’s departure from this world, and His plan to leave His men in this world, was a strategy to demonstrate the victory the Lord Jesus Christ would win 

The Lord Jesus Christ did demonstrate victory by becoming our sin-bearer and dying on the cross for us, followed by rising from the dead and ascending to the Father’s right hand on high.

However, His plan to demonstrate His complete victory through His followers was not by immediately removing them and us from the spiritual battlefield following our conversion to Christ. Instead, and using those men as the initial examples of His victory, He works through the lives of His own here on earth, not by removing us from the field of spiritual battle but by preserving us through the spiritual conflicts that we face until the time of our home going.

What should be of particular interest to us is the final portion of verse 15: “but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil,” in particular the words “from the evil,” ἐk toῦ ponayroῦ. Though the translators of the Authorized Version chose to translate the phrase “from the evil,” it could just as easily have been translated “from the evil one.” Several commentators suggest that the Greek phrase means both/and rather than either/or “from the evil” and “from the evil one.”[2]

The construction of this portion of the verse might remind you of First John 5.19, which reads, 

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness,” 

which is thought by many to mean “the whole world lieth in the wicked one.”

Since first-century Christians of that region tended not to engage in the kind of linear thinking that is so common to we of the modern world who live in the West, and were also far less prone in their thinking to compartmentalize matters into either/or considerations, it is likely that what is meant in John 17.15 and First John 5.19 is that both the author of evil, the Devil, and the effects of his evil imaginations in the human race are not significantly distinguishable.

Therefore, the Savior’s plan for His own following His ascension was for His followers to remain in the world while distinguishing ourselves from the world until the time of our home going via martyrdom or natural death. We show bystanders who our Lord is by our involvement in and disposition toward this evil world system. As an aside, do not those whose so-called worship and praise services look more like nightclubs than anything else show who their lord really is? I think we can agree on that.

Our Lord’s personal demonstration of victory was the immediate conquest of death despite dying as our sin-bearer and His glorious resurrection and ascension. On the other hand, His demonstration of victory through His followers is marked by our determined resistance to sinning and our distinctiveness from the worldlings who surround us, who seek to compromise us, who strive to tempt us, and who are not above resorting to persecution against us.

Admittedly, believers are not as consistent as we would like to be or ought to be. Nevertheless, our demonstration of spiritual victory over the forces of darkness and those who are spiritually dead in this world is accomplished utilizing God’s grace through faith. This is declared in First John 5.4, where the apostle writes, 

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 

Verse 16 summarizes with the words, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated that He is not of the world by departing from the world and returning to the throne room in heaven. On the other hand, as His servants and as His followers, we demonstrate that we are not of the world in an entirely different manner.

We remain amid this evil world system until the time of our home going. But while we are in the world, we display by our lifestyles and by our lips that this world is not our home. We are strangers and sojourners here, and we are passing through on our way to glory and the eternal state.

Having surveyed the passage with something akin to a high altitude overpass, let us dive in for a closer look by addressing the contrasts found in both verses: 

First, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CONTRASTED HIS REQUEST 

Verse 15:

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” 

Though the verse begins with the words “I pray,” the Greek word the Lord employs here is not the usual word translated “pray,” but is the Greek word ἐrwtá½±w, that means “I am asking,” “I am requesting.”[3] The typical New Testament word for prayer is proseá½»comai, and is found in Matthew 6.9-15 where the Lord instructed His men how to pray. Proseá½»comai refers more to pleading and beseeching, whereas the word the Lord used in verse 15 is merely asking. Do I know why the Lord worded this portion of His high priestly intercessory prayer this way? Let me venture a guess. Perhaps it was to call attention to His unique relationship with the Father as an equal member of the Godhead. That is a suggestion and not a conviction.

Turn your attention to the Lord’s request. His request is what some identify as a point/counterpoint set.[4] A quick glance at verse 15 shows that the form of the sentence is “not that ... but that ....” It is a way by which an incorrect expectation is canceled and replaced when a proper expectation is put in its place. The first time we see this in John’s Gospel is in John 1.8, where we read, 

“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” 

The incorrect way was to identify John the Baptist as “that Light.” The correct way is to identify John the Baptist as the one sent “to bear witness of that Light.” Now we look at the two phrases in verse 15, first looking at the incorrect expectation that the Lord will correct with the appropriate expectation.

The Lord began, “not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.” The Lord Jesus Christ is putting to rest the misguided notion that He did not want His people right in the middle of this evil world system. He did not want His Father to remove those eleven men from the thick of it, and the same is true of us. He wants His people in the thick of it. Let me assure you that I am not suggesting that God does not want some of His people living in the rural regions, far away from the worst influences of this evil world system. However, I think it is wrong for those who have come to know Christ in the middle of it and whose lives and ministries are wrapped up in the middle of it to run to the high country to escape it.

I well remember an evangelist friend of mine who always spoke of a type of Christian compound or community remote from the evil influences of wicked inner cities. Excuse me, but that thinking runs counter to the Lord’s prayer to the Father. His will for those eleven men and His will for so many of His own since then is for us to be in the world but not of the world, in the thick of it. I think the 19th-century evangelist D. L. Moody was spot on when he said that if Christians continue moving to the suburbs, we will lose the cities, and if we lose the cities, we will lose the country.[5] Is that not what we are seeing unfold before our eyes?

The Lord continued, “but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” His death demonstrated the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory on the cross, His burial in Joseph’s tomb, and His glorious resurrection three days later. His victory was not secured or demonstrated by His avoidance of death, His avoidance of the consequences of becoming sin for us Who knew no sin, or His avoidance of victory over sin, death, Hell, and the grave with His resurrection. In like manner, the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory is also demonstrated through the lives lived by His own, not when we avoid contact with the world by all means available, but by our interaction with the world so as to prevail over the world’s (and the Devil’s) influences.

Keeping us from “the evil” is not accomplished by running away to Northern Idaho or Central Texas. Neither is it accomplished by conducting Church services that seem to imitate saloons and nightclubs or by living out our lives in saloons and nightclubs. It is accomplished by meeting, befriending, interacting, and pulling as brands from the fire those who do live their lives in saloons and nightclubs. Thus, we show no victory by our isolation from the world but by demonstrating how to live for Christ in the world while not being of the world.

This, then, is the Lord Jesus Christ’s request contrasted, replacing what some think He should have asked of the Father with that He did ask of the Father, and why. 

Next, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CONTRASTED THEIR REALITY 

Verse 16:

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” 

If you look at the second half of John 17.14, you will notice that portion is identical to verse 16.[6] Why do you suppose the Lord Jesus Christ would repeat such contrasting declarations? Why would such twice-repeated contrasting declarations be uttered with but a single sentence to separate them? Does that not suggest to you the importance of the contrasts the Lord made? Is it not suggestive of the crucial nature of the contrasts He made? I think so.

Note the two contrasts. In the first phrase the Lord Jesus Christ drew a stark contrast between His men and the world: 

“They are not of the world.” 

Let us be very clear about what the Lord states as true. His men are not of the world! Not that they should not be of the world. Not that they should not act like the world. The contrast He presented in this portion of His prayer to the Father is that “They. Are. Not. Of. The. World.” He did not declare an aspiration but a fact. Indeed, the challenge for those men (and for you and me) was to conduct their lives then so as to demonstrate by their deeds the reality of what the Lord asserted as true. The second phrase the Lord Jesus Christ uttered is both a comparison and a contrast: 

“even as I am not of the world.” 

The comparison aspect of this phrase is the parallel the Lord drew between His men and Himself. They are just like Him in this regard, in that the contrast made between His men and the evil world system is precisely the same as with Him. It is utterly unthinkable that one would imagine the Lord Jesus Christ having anything to do with the evil world system to which He refers. He did not dine with sinners to make them feel comfortable but to call them to repentance. And does not His comparison of Himself with His men in that regard strengthen the contrast He made in the first half of the verse? It certainly does.

Let us now take a step back and reflect upon the difference between what we perceive and what the Lord Jesus Christ says is so. The Lord’s men, just like you and me, consist of flesh and blood in our appearance. As well, just like you and me, those men lived not only on this planet, as members of the human race, but they were also geographically intermingled with those members of the human race who are enemies of God and who have entirely different destinies awaiting them. If our conclusions are wholly drawn from what we observe, it appears like they and we are the same. But we are not the same, just as Christ’s eleven men were not like the majority of the human race.

Despite initial appearances, the Lord Jesus Christ was altogether otherworldly, was He not? Though He was in every respect fully human, He was very different from everyone else in that He was without sin,[7] He had no beginning,[8] and He was in no way a part of the evil world system that was energized against the plan, the purpose, and the people of God. Despite initial appearances, Christ’s men were, as well, altogether otherworldly. Though they each had a beginning in their respective mother’s wombs,[9] and they were each of them sinful by experience and practice,[10] by their recently established relationship with Jesus Christ, they were no longer members of the evil world system dominated by the Devil and opposed to the plan, the purpose, and the people of God.

Those eleven had come to be, by their new birth and their justification by faith in Christ, otherworldly like their Lord Jesus Christ. They looked like they were just like everyone else. They sounded like they were just like everyone else. But if you observed them for any amount of time at all, you would begin to see evidence of how different they were. The same was true of the Savior, but for a different reason. He looked just like everyone else.[11] He was indistinguishable from other men. But if you paid careful attention to His actions and words, you would begin to notice that He was different and fundamentally unlike the evil world system comprised of the unsaved population of those living in rebellion against the rule of God. 

Consider the Lord Jesus Christ’s men, and then consider yourself. Unlike the Savior, the eternal Son of the living God come from heaven’s glory to live among men; those men were born dead in trespasses and sins. In sin did their mothers conceive them, and they began their pattern of lying from their births. Then they met the Savior. And they met Him because He chose them.[12]

As a result of hearing Him minister the Word of God to them, they experienced the new birth and were justified by faith in Him. From that moment forward, everything was different. Transformed from being the enemies of God, they became disciples of Jesus Christ.

In this portion of the Savior’s prayer to the Father we learn three things about them that applies to everyone since them who has come to know Christ through repentance and faith.

We learn, first, that the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates His victory in two different ways. The most obvious way, and the one we are most familiar with, was His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to glory. But He also demonstrates His victory in another way entirely.

He demonstrates His victory in the lives of those who are His, whose sins have been forgiven, who have been born again, who have been justified by faith, and who live for Him, love Him, and serve Him. That is an aspect of Christ’s victory that too little attention is paid to, but which is very important in reaching the lost with the Gospel.

Those men (and we) demonstrate Christ’s victory by the way they lived their lives and by the way we live our lives. Does Christ make a difference? He does in the lives of those who are His, and however imperfectly, it shows.

Second, and more explicitly, we learn that Christ’s plan for His men (and for us) is not to remove us from this world, but to leave us in this world to live for Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to reach people for Him, and to demonstrate that while we live in the world we are obviously not part of this world.

Not that some Christians should not live in Sand Point, Idaho. But the Christianity of the first century was a religion of the cities, Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Athens, and Rome to name a few. Cities are where the cultures are formed. Cities are where the decisions are made. And cities are where Paul went to establish Churches of Jesus Christ, not so much villages.

Third, His prayer was that the Father keep His men (and us) from the evil. Evil world system or the evil one, it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. The point being, how could the Lord Jesus Christ’s prediction be fulfilled (that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church, Matthew 16.18) if we are all the time running and hiding in the safest places we can find?

What, pray tell, does the child of God have to fear? Our Savior won the victory, did He not? And has He not demonstrated His victory for the last 2,000 years in the lives and ministries of His own left behind for a spell to dwell in the thick of it so, that we might reach the least, the last, and the lost for Christ?

Christian? Do you not grow weary of the fearfulness, the timidity, the tentativeness, and reluctance, and the fraidy cat mentality that is found in so much of evangelical Christianity? God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. And Christ left His men in the fight to do some fighting, with victory assured.

I close with these words. If you are lost, if you do not know Christ, you are defeated and even greater tragedy awaits you. But if you will turn from your sins to Christ, if you will cast yourself on Him, He will save you your sins, He will keep you all the way to heaven, and He will use you along the way to live for Him, to love Him, and to serve Him until your time on earth comes to an end.

I challenge you. Do not look around at the poor excuses of Christians in order to evaluate my wonderful Savior. Look into God’s Word. Behold Him there. And trust Him to saving of your eternal and undying soul.

__________

[1] Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1-vol. edition 1968), Vol 2, page 131, Leon Morris, The Gospel According To John - Revised Edition, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), page 646, Andreas J. Köstenberger, John - ECNT, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), page 495.

[2] Pink, page 131, Morris, page 646, D. A. Carson, The Gospel According To John (PNTC), (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), page 565, William Hendricksen, Exposition Of The Gospel According To John, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1961, Two Volumes Complete In One), Vol 2, page 360.

[3] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 395.

[4] Lidija Novakovic, John 1-10: A Handbook On The Greek Text - BHGNT, (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2020), page 7 and Lidija Novakovic, John 11-21: A Handbook On The Greek Text - BHGNT, (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2020), page 203.

[5] I have a firm recollection of reading Mr. Moody’s comment, but I have been unsuccessful finding the source where I read it.

[6] “A verbatim repetition of 17:14b (oὐk eá¼°sὶn ἐk toῦ ká½¹smou kaqá½¼V ἐgá½¼ oὐk eá¼°mὶ ἐk toῦ ká½¹smou). The only difference is the placement of the PP ἐk toῦ ká½¹smou before oὐk eá¼°sὶn,” Novakovic, John 11-21, page 204.

[7] Hebrews 4.15; 9.28

[8] John 1.1-2

[9] Psalm 51.5

[10] Psalm 58.3

[11] Isaiah 53.2

[12] John 15.16

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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church