Christ Prays that the Father Keep the Church from the Evil One

Scripture Readings: John 17:14-17 (text); Psalm 119:153-160
Canons of Dort V, Rejection of Errors, Paragraph 9
April 27, 2014 • Pasig Covenant Reformed Church • Download PDF sermon

Introduction

Beloved Congregation of Christ: On this Lord’s Day, we come to the end of our sermon series on the Canons of Dort, better known as the “Five Points of Calvinism” or TULIP. It has been full of comfort and encouragement to learn that before the foundation of the world, the Triune God decreed a plan to save his people from sin and his wrath; that all that the Father required for our redemption has been accomplished by Christ his Son, the Second Person of the Trinity; that even while we were in our present dead, sinful state, the Holy Spirit awakens our hearts to new life in God. Finally, it is such a great assurance to learn that God preserves from falling away from the faith all the elect given to Christ, and so we persevere until the end.

Today, our text reinforces this assurance that God preserves his people in Christ through his Spirit. In John 17, Jesus prays for all his people in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his sacrifice on the cross. Just as the old covenant high priest stood before the altar of sacrifice outside the Holy of Holies, Jesus stood before the cross in preparation for sacrificing his own body and blood for his people’s sin. This is why this prayer is fittingly called his High Priestly Prayer.

In this last prayer, Jesus summarizes before his Father all that he has done to accomplish his earthly mission to glorify the Father on earth and in heaven. He first prays for himself (verses 1-5), then for his present disciples (verses 6-19), and finally for all who would believe in him after his sacrifice (verses 20-26).

In praying for his disciples then, he prays for three things, First, he prays to the Father to keep them in his name (verse 11). Second, he prays to the Father to keep them from the evil one (verse 15). And third, he prays that the Father will sanctify them in the truth, which is his Word (verse 17).

So, Christ’s Word for us today is on the theme, “Christ Prays that the Father Keep the Church from the Evil One.” I have combined his three-point prayer in our text under two headings: first, By Keeping Them from the World; and second, By Giving Them God’s Word.

By Keeping Them from the World

Jesus tells his Father that the world has hated him and his disciples? Why does the world hate Jesus and his people? Because they are convicted by his Word, by his gospel. The gospel is salvation from sin through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, but who wants to admit being sinful? Everyone wants to be seen as a “good” person. “Sin” is taboo, even in many churches. God’s Word is too restrictive, kill-joy, and no fun. The world wants pleasure. Those who pretend to be Christians are choked by riches and pleasures of life, because they are slaves to various passions and pleasures (Tit 3:3). True believers are proven by their negative relationship to pleasures and sin, like Moses who fled from Egypt’s “fleeting pleasures of sin,” but “choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God” (Heb 11:25).

John warns us about the certainty of the world’s hatred agains us, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (1 Jn 3:13). They hate Christ’s doctrines and Christian life. When they see our holy and righteous lives, they are condemned in their ungodly and unrighteous lives. And the more holiness and righteousness we show to them, the more they hate us. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (Jn 15:18-19).

Even fellow believers sometimes hate us. They especially hate our doctrines of election, total depravity, particular atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints, saying they are so harsh and exclusive! They hate infant baptism and the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. They hate all these things without any knowledge of them.

They hate our “old-fashioned” “funeral-like” worship. They do not realize that they hate God and his Word when they do so. Because our worship is God-centered, Christ-centered, and centered on a Books that’s over 3,000 years old. Our music is God’s own old hymnbook, the Psalms. And our worship leader is Jesus himself, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (Ps 22:22; Heb 2:12).

So if the world hates true Christians, our doctrines, our worship, and our godly lives, then why should we remain in this world? Why not just go to a monastery? Why not just retreat in the mountains or desert? Why not just leave it all behind? In the 5th century, there was a monk named Simeon Stylites who went to the desert to avoid worldly evil and many people who sought his counsel. So he built a platform on top of a 9-foot pillar (style) and lived there for the last 47 years of his life.

Since the world hates us, is this asceticism what we should do? No, Jesus does not ask his Father to take us out of this world full of evil and sufferings. Sometimes, we ask God to take us, or to come quickly, but he does not, and Jesus delays his return. What if God removed all Christians from the world as soon as they are saved? Or what if, just as the Left Behind people teaches, God removed all Christians in aJesus Prays to the Father “Secret Rapture”? Who would be left to carry out the preaching of the gospel? How would others believe if there are no preachers, and no Christian remains as salt and light to the world?

We are not removed by God from our places for the sake of the world, even if this world is for us a vale of tears because of sufferings and persecutions. When we have lost everything in a disaster; when our marriage relationship is crumbling; when we are in so much pain because of a terminal sickness; or when we are physically unable to do anything because of old age or sickness, we cry out to God, “Lord, please take me, so my suffering will end!”

But Scripture tells us of three men of God who were so desperate of their lives that they asked God to remove them from the world by killing them at once: Moses, who could not bear the grumbling of the people in the wilderness (Nm 11:15); Elijah, who felt so alone when he was being hunted by his king and queen (1 Kgs 19:4); and Jonah, who could not bear the thought that God would spare the wicked Ninevites (Jon 4:3, 8). But their requests were rejected by God, because he still had work for them to accomplish.

So, instead of praying to the Father to remove his disciples from the world, Jesus prays that the Father “keep them from the evil one” (verse 15). He prays in similar words in verse 11, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me…” The “evil one” is Satan, who is like a roaring lion seeking to destroy believers and the church. He prays to “keep, guard, protect, and preserve them unharmed” by Satan.[ref]Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 3rd ed., 1002.[/ref] This is why earlier in John 17:12, he prays, “I kept them [through] your name. I have guarded them…”

The Greek word used here can be translated either “the evil one” or “evil.” In 1 John 5:19, the apostle clearly refers to Satan, “the evil one.” But in John 3:19, he clearly refers to “evil,” “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (see also Jn 7:7). In our text, it could be both, which would mean that Jesus prayed that his disciples be kept unharmed by Satan or by any other kind of evil, and that they will be guarded from doing evil works as well. In this way, God preserves them while they are in this world.

Because his disciples are kept by God from evil, and the godless world is under the sway of the devil, Jesus affirms in his prayer, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (verse 16). We often hear the common saying that Christians are “in the world, but not of the world.” And this is very true. God has left us in this world, and Jesus himself prays that the Father guard us from evil in this world. But we are not of the world, which means we are different from the world in all kinds of ways. First, our desires and pleasures are different—we take pleasure in hearing and obeying the Word of God preached, in partaking of the sacraments, in worshiping him every Lord’s Day, and in fellowshipping with other believers. But the world does not care for all these “foolishness.”

Second, our goals are different: we also have career ambitions, family ambitions, but we do all things first of all, for the glory of God, and only secondarily for ourselves. This is because our God is the Creator, Savior and Provider in heaven. Our God is not ourselves, our money, our family, or our career. We worship and give glory only to the God of the Bible who is forever gracious, merciful, holy and just. Our life byline is, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17). And our favorite catechism answer is, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever”!

And this is also why Jesus asks his Father to “sanctify” us in all of our lives.

By Giving Them God’s Word

Jesus first prays that his Father protect us from the world. Then he asks his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn 17:17). In Scripture, the word “sanctify” has two aspects. The first aspect is a person’s standing in relation to the rest of the world. Jesus prays that the Father protect his disciples from Satan and all kinds of evil in the world because we are not of the world. We are different from the world. And this is why the world hates us. In short, God has set us apart from the world.

The second part is a moral component, a lifelong process of growing in holiness in thought, word and deed. And how is this holiness accomplished in the Christian’s life? By Word and Spirit. The Word is revealed, explained and given power to the believer by the Spirit through faith in Christ.

Jesus affirms that God’s Word is truth, and this truth sanctifies the believer, as he thinks, speaks and lives according to this truth. This truth is the entire Bible, word for word, dot for dot, for Jesus says, “your word is truth.” The Bible is not merely true, as if it passes another standard of truth. It is Truth itself, and every thought, word and deed of man must be measured against the standard of God’s Word.

Since Jesus himself is God’s Word (Jn 1:1, 14), he also is the Truth, like his Father. John recalls in his gospel Jesus’ teachings that he is the Truth: “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:17); “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32); “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6).

And how does this truth sanctify? Through the means of grace found in his Word: preaching the gospel truth; and preaching the truth of Christ in the visible Word, the sacraments of the baptism and the Lords’ Supper. We see the truth of God’s forgiveness of sin and salvation through the sign and seal of water baptism and the bread and wine symbolizing his body and blood sacrificed on the cross.

The truth sanctifies not only because it is God’s Word and Christ himself is the Truth. But it is also worked in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples because of the Holy Spirit, who is also Truth himself. Again, John recalls Jesus promising to send “the Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:17; 15:26); “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (16:13). In his first epistle, John says, “By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 Jn 4:6); “And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 Jn 5:6).

However, we can easily see two basic dangers if truth and sanctification are separated. One is the love of sanctification without knowledge of the truth. We often hear people say, “We have no creed but the Bible,” an excuse for laziness in studying the Bible. Or, “We don’t need doctrine, we need to just love Jesus,” another excuse for Biblical illiteracy. For how can you love someone without knowing the person? The LORD lamented Israel’s destruction, saying, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6; see Is 5:13).

The opposite danger is the love of truth without love of sanctification. These are scholars, professors and students obsessed with studying, learning, and even writing books and papers about the Bible. Many of them are the so-called “higher critics” bent on deconstructing Scriptures. But they are merely scholars, not saints. We Reformed believers, with our emphasis on true doctrine, are sometimes prone to falling into this trap. While it is a most beautiful thing to love Scriptures and its truths, as we read in various parts of Psalm 119, it would be tragic if we do not apply these truths to our lives with the help of the Spirit of truth. We love to hear redemptive-historical preaching and teaching, but we must also love to hear how we are to live our lives as a result. We have to beware of the danger sign of the “frozen chosen,” knowledge without zeal. There must be both knowledge and zeal, Word and spirit.

Beloved friends in Christ, be comforted when you go through trials and afflictions! According to our Canons of Dort reading, some people think that Jesus never prayed for the preservation of his saints. But Christ himself prays to his Father that he may guard and protect you, even at this very moment. And because the Son of God, the Second Person of the Triunity, prays for you, the Father hears him, and the Spirit applies his prayer to you. Whatever Christ prays for those that the Father has given him from eternity will be done, on earth and in heaven. There is perfect unity in the work of the Trinity.

Why was Judas Iscariot lost while Peter wasn’t? For one thing, because Jesus never prayed for Judas, but prayed for Simon Peter, that he would be protected from Satan, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Lk 22:31-32). You may fail and stumble and fall in your Christian life, but Jesus prays for you, and he keeps you from finally failing in your faith.

Until Christ returns, God’s plan of redeeming both his people and his whole creation will not be fully completed. And you are part of the completion of this work. As the Father sent his Son into the world to save his people, the Son sends you into the world to testify about this salvation.

As the Father sent his Son to suffer for the sin of his people, so the Son sends you into the world to suffer for his sake, because the world will always hate the Son and his disciples. And as you suffer for Christ, you are to love and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ, just as he said Peter must do, “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:32).

And this work of witnessing, teaching and building up one another you must do, until Christ returns to make your sanctification perfect and transform you into his glorious image.