Luke 22:31-32

Introduction: The Need for Christ's Intercession

0:03 Message was delivered on Sunday morning, November 27, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I will you turn with me, please, in your own Bibles to the Gospel according to Luke, the Gospel according to Luke, and the 22nd chapter, and follow as I read verses 31 through 34. Luke, chapter 22, and verse 31.

0:44 Our Lord Jesus, in the presence of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion, says in the context of great intimacy with his own,

0:57 Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat, that I made. Supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not. And do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death.

1:32 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the rooster shall not crow. This day. This day. Until thou shalt three times deny thou knowest me.

1:54 A servant of God, ministering to his own people several generations ago, said to them, in the midst of a sermon that he preached, dealing with the theme that we will be considering this morning, every believer has need of every believer. Every believer has need of every believer. Every believer has need of every believer. Every believer has need of everything that Christ has to give.

2:23 Every believer has need of everything that Christ has to give. Now, why have I introduced our meditation with this quotation, and the servant of God of a bygone generation? Well, for this reason. After an intense season.

2:49 Of self-examination as to the reality of our professed experience of the grace of God, I have been seeking to draw your attention to texts of scripture that ought to be a means of encouragement, of strength, and of stabilization to the hearts of all who, having come through this season of self-examination, have been able to see the truth of God. I have been able to say, yes, by the grace of God, I am for real. And in the course of setting out such texts of scripture, we came several Lord's days ago to Hebrews 7 and verse 25, a text which declares that our Lord Jesus is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. And in the opening up of that text, we noted the assuring affirmation, he is able to save to the uttermost, that is, to the consummation of all that God has purposed in his redemptive grace. And then the satisfying explanation.

4:18 Seeing he. He ever lives to make intercession for them. And the response of many of you to that look at our Lord Jesus as our ever-living high priest, by his intercession securing our complete salvation, your response was such as to impress my own heart that this theme that I had not focused upon for a number of years. This is the first time, let's start with the second theme, that is, the sanctification of our human being.

4:52 In the word of God, I have been going through books of the heart for years and a long time and have been engaged in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, many times here on the as well as in other places. The last time I was with you two Lord's days ago, we considered two fundamental concerns relative to the intercession of Christ, that very intercession which secures our final salvation. I cultivated the last two fundamental concerns. We noted first, the place.

5:16 I developed the place of the last salvation. I invented a place. I created the space. I created the place for the last salvation.

5:18 from which he intercedes. And according to Romans chapter 8 and verse 34, we noted that his intercession is carried on at the right hand of God. That is the place of supreme power and authority. And also, according to Hebrews 9 and verse 24, he carries on his intercession before the very face of God, the place of acceptance and of favor.

5:55 And then we contemplated not only the place of his intercession, but the ground or the foundation of his intercession. And we had occasion to note again from Romans 8, 34, and from the context of Hebrews 7, 24, and Hebrews 9, 24, that the ground of the intercessory work of Christ, which secures the ultimate salvation of all of his people, is his once-for-all sacrifice made upon the cross. In his office as the great high priest of his people, our Lord Jesus not only offers a once-for-all, once-for-all sacrifice unto God, but by his ever-living intercession, grounded upon that once-for-all sacrifice, that intercession secures that everything he died to procure for his people will actually become the possession of his people. Hence, old Robert Trail said, that every believer has need of everything that Christ has to give.

7:22 And as surely as there is no salvation apart from our participation in the virtue of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, we can say with equal certainty there would be no salvation apart from the... the ever-living intercession of Christ, an intercession based upon that sacrifice.

The Content of Christ's Intercession: Luke 22:31-34

7:54 Now today, both this morning and this evening, God willing, I want us to consider together some of the specific concerns or the content of the intercession of Christ. As we believingly embrace the facts of Hebrews, namely that he ever lives to make intercession for us, and that that intercession secures our salvation to the uttermost, as we believingly embrace the reality that he is in a position of exaltation and power, of favor and acceptance, and he intercedes on the ground, of his once-for-all sacrifice, that everything he died to purchase will be ours. Do the scriptures give us any materials to put some concrete understanding into our grasp of what he actually prays for and intercedes for at the right hand of the Father? Now, some have suggested that it is just the presence of Christ that is, in itself, the intercession.

9:21 The Father looking upon the Son, and seeing treasured up in the Son all the virtue of his saving work upon earth, culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection, that his presence itself is all the intercession that is needed. Some go further, and taking subjugation, such passages as Revelation 5, where John sees the Lamb in the midst of the throne, but a Lamb standing as though it had been slain, they go so far as to say there is some representation before the presence of the Godhead of the very sacrifice of Christ himself. And these concepts, as I've tried to wrestle with them, and I've read extensively in the various commentaries and theologians, I frankly find I cannot grasp them sufficiently to preach them. And as I have been searching the scriptures and asking God, Lord, have you given us any clues whatsoever in scripture, at least things that point to something of the nature and the content of the intercession,

10:45 the intercession of our Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father, reminding ourselves that anything that was unique to the days of his humiliation has forever been stripped away from that intercession, I do believe, and it is not a unique conviction with me, that there are at least three passages of scripture which at least point us in the direction of having some concrete, concrete examples of how Christ carries on that work of intercession. We shall consider one of them this morning, and God willing, the other two this evening. Now the one we're going to consider this morning is the passage that I read in your hearing. Luke chapter 22, and beginning with verse 31. And what I want to do is first of all, give a brief exposition of the passage, and then secondly, highlight and bring into focus the abiding principles of the passage as they relate to the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ for us, his people. First of all then, a brief exposition of the passage.

Exposition of Luke 22:31-34: Setting, Substance, and Sequel

12:07 Note with me the setting, the substance, and the sequel to this paragraph. The setting. The setting. The setting of this paragraph is, as I've already hinted prior to reading it, the evening before the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.

12:26 Our Lord has eaten the Passover with his disciples in the upper room, verse 15 of this chapter. He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And then, according to verse 20, he has instituted that new supper of remembrance, and the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you. And in that very setting, there is then a period of contention in which there is among the disciples a controversy, over who will be the biggest big shot in the consummation of the kingdom of Messiah. Verse 24. There arose also a contention among them, which of them was accounted to be the greatest. And in that situation, the Lord Jesus corrects their wrong thinking, and in spite of the grief it must have caused him, here he, has just distributed the symbols of his own sacrificial death.

13:51 The Lord of glory is about to pour out his life's blood as a common malefactor upon an instrument of Roman execution, and they're talking about who's going to be the biggest big shot in the kingdom. Yet nonetheless, in his infinite patience and grace, he understands, and scores their virtue in verse 28, but you are they that have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father appointed me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So here they are contending about who's going to be the greatest, and while our Lord must have been deeply grieved, he does not so much rebuke them for cardinality, he simply corrects their misconceptions, and then speaks of what he will confer upon them by his grace as the reward of grace for their loyalty and fidelity to him. You are they that have continued with me,

15:17 me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom. And then speaking particularly to the apostles, he underscores that they will have a unique place in the administration of the new Israel of God. Now according to Matthew 26, 31, having said those words, he knows that these are the very ones who shortly thereafter will all forsake him and flee. For we read in Matthew 26 and verse 31, without attempting to put this into a precise chronological arrangement, in this very setting, then said Jesus unto them, all of you shall be offended in me this night. Amen. Amen. Amen.

16:15 Amen. And it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. And though he speaks these words after they leave the upper room and go out and down from the Mount of Olives, he is already cognizant that the ones to whom he spoke, saying, you have continued with me, and I appoint you a kingdom, are the ones who in a certain way are going to be scattered and are going to turn away from him. Now that's the setting of the passage. Now in that setting, consider with me the substance of what our Lord says. First of all, he addresses Peter particularly, but not by his newly given name, but by his old name, Simon. Peter is the name of the Lord.

17:15 The name you'll remember that our Lord gave to him, a rock. But at this point, our Lord reverts to his previous name and says not merely Simon, but Simon, Simon. And in the several instances where we have that repetition of the name, there is an indication of deep inward emotional disruption, attachment. Agitation. Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you. You remember David when mourning for Absalom. Oh, Absalom, my son, Absalom. In this repetition of Simon, it's clear that our Lord's heart is deeply engaged in his own emotion. He is deeply engaged in his own emotion. He is deeply engaged in

18:16 his own emotion, stirred in the light of the things he is about to say. And so addressing Simon in particular, he says, Simon, Simon, behold, think, consider, gather and marshal all of your faculties and concentrate them upon what I'm about to say. And obviously he had not taken Simon aside and whispered these things in his ear, but is addressing him. As the usual spokesman of the twelve, for in the original it is not Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, second person singular, but it is second person plural. And this is where the old Elizabethan English is helpful, because if you have the 1901, you will notice the change from you to thee in verse 32. So though he says, Simon, Simon, Simon, you Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, he is speaking particularly to Simon, but not exclusively in terms of Satan's request to have all of the disciples. Simon, Simon,

19:41 Simon, no longer the rock, but just Simon, I have a concern for you. And all of your fellow disciples, because Satan has desired or asked to have you in order that he might sift you as wheat. And the basic concept of the imagery that our Lord uses is this. The sifting of wheat, to separate the wheat from the chaff, was a concentrated almost violent agitation so that the wheat could be separated from the chaff. And that's the basic concept. And to build a whole string of ideas upon the imagery is exegetically unsound. What our Lord is conveying is this. Simon, Simon, Satan has desired you and your

20:45 companions. He has asked that he might bring you to the chaff. And he has asked that you into a situation of concentrated and unusual agitation and testing. And the thought could be with the idea to prove that you are nothing but chaff. That your attachment to me is no more real than the great multitudes who once followed me. And then I began to speak of eating my flesh and drinking my blood. But many went back and walked with me no more. Whatever this request of Satan was, obviously there are overtones of the book of Job and chapter 1, where we find this interaction between Satan and God himself concerning the integrity of Job. And how much of that our

21:42 Lord was aware of, we do not know. But he apprises this group, directing his words primarily though not exclusively to Simon. Satan has asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat. That's our Lord's description of Satan's asking and his intention. But our Lord says, I have made supplication for thee. And now he speaks directly to Peter. He speaks directly to Peter. He speaks directly to Peter. He speaks directly to Peter. He speaks directly to Peter.

22:20 Peter, probably because Peter's involvement in the next hours would bring forth the most aggravated expression of denial. The other disciples all forsook him and fled and remained at some distance to all of the events of going before the high priest and before Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate. But you remember it was Peter who out of his devotion to the Christ wanted to be nearer. And while he is there warming his hands by the fire with the soldiers, the little maid comes and identifies him. And this in turn leads to his taking oaths and bringing down curses upon himself, swearing with oaths that he does not know the man. So in the light of our Lord's knowledge of Peter's unusual involvement in the sifting process of the coming hours, he then directs his words more exclusively to Peter saying, I made supplication. And the word for supplication, Deomai, means to ask a specific

23:40 thing. And to ask with earnestness. To ask with serious, earnest supplication. And to ask with serious, earnest supplication. And so he says, while Satan has asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat, I made supplication for you, Peter. And here was the focal point of my supplication. That your faith fail not. That your faith would not, and the sense of the Greek word here is utterly fail. That your faith would not fail. That your faith would not fail. That your faith would not be totally eclipsed. That your faith would not prove to be the faith of an apostate, which is temporary faith. A faith that draws back unto perdition in the language of Hebrews chapter 10, or in the language of Luke chapter 8, in the parable of the sower, who for a while believed, Peter, I've prayed for you. I have made specific supplication for you, that your faith fail not. Then after speaking of Satan's request

25:01 and his intention, and the Lord's prayer and its focus, then our Lord gives a prophecy and a directive to Peter. And do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren. Here our Lord says by way of a prophetic utterance that Peter would turn back from whatever results of the sifting were fuel for repentance. When once you are converted, when once you turn again, here is a prophecy that whatever the sifting will do, it will do to Peter, resulting in his turning away from Christ, turning away from the path of duty, turning away from the path of fidelity to his professed loyalty to Christ. It would only be a temporary turning away, but he would turn back again. And with that prophecy comes a directive. Do thou, when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.

26:22 You will be better fitted, Peter, to minister to your brethren. And having come through this ordeal of sifting, and your restoration having been secured by my intercession, sealed by my own word of prophecy, strengthen your brethren. Now, basically, that's the substance of the passage. And what is that?

26:52 Is the sequel to this? Well, you know the sequel well, most of you, if not all of you. Peter does deny the Lord. As a dear preacher whom some of us have recently heard on tape in a sermon called The Autopsy of a Failure exegetes why Peter fell in this time of crisis. He said he was talking when he should have been listening. He was sleeping when he should have been praying. And he was warming himself by the sinner's fire. And that's exactly what happened. And you'll remember the very Peter who says, Look, Lord, I'm ready to go both to prison and to death. The Lord says, Peter, I don't question the sincere intention of your heart. But the reality is, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And we know that our Lord's word was true.

27:53 And Peter did deny, and denied with increasing vehemence in the midst of his fears of his own life being taken as he saw the seriousness of the intention of the religious leaders and the unprincipled Roman leadership to actually put his Savior to death. But then you remember our Lord looked at Peter, and that look coupled with the crowing of the rooster. Under the blessing of the Spirit of God brought Peter to an immediate, deep, and thorough repentance. And the Scripture says, he went out and he wept bitterly.

28:37 He was turned again in a matter of minutes from his denial, or just a couple of hours from his initial denial. Unlike David, who went on for almost a whole year, held in the grip of the sifting, that he experienced when he looked out from the rooftop and saw Bathsheba, and followed the horrible impulses of his baser nature. Here, Peter is turned again in a relatively quick fashion. And the Lord formally restores him by the shore of Galilee in one of those post-resurrection appearances when, having denied his Lord three times, three times our Lord, elicits from Peter the affirmation of his love. Peter, do you love me? You know, Lord, I love you. Peter, do you really love me? Yes, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.

29:39 And so the sequel to this is indeed fulfilled in the gospel history, in the life and ministry of Peter. And then, when we turn to his letters, the first and second letters, we find him in a unique way, being the strengthener of his brethren. He writes an epistle to a suffering people to console them in the midst of their suffering. And the second epistle, he writes primarily to protect them from the influence of false teachers and their heretical teaching that would destroy their souls. And the Lord's words are fulfilled. He did turn again, and he did fulfill the directive of strengthening his brethren. Well, that's a brief exposition of the passage. Now we come to the abiding principles of the passage as they relate to the intercession of Christ for his own.

Principle 1: Jesus Knows and Controls Satan's Efforts

30:49 The abiding principles of the passage as they relate to the intercession of Christ. And the first principle that we see in the passage is this. As our interceding high priest, Jesus knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ. As our interceding high priest, Jesus knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ.

31:31 As our interceding high priest, Jesus knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ. Look at the language of the text. Satan asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat. There must be few things more galling to the prince of darkness than to have to acknowledge he is at the end of the chain of the mighty Christ.

31:58 That he cannot touch anyone of Christ. That he cannot touch anyone of Christ's people without Christ's permission. Well, you will remember, I trust, when we were giving a parallel passage to underscore the significance of Christ being seated at the right hand of God. We looked at Ephesians 1, 19 and following, where that position is described as one in which Jesus, our Lord, is exalted far above all principality.

32:33 far above all principality. In power and might and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in that which is to come. And parallel to Job chapter 1, here we find our Lord acknowledging that there was some interaction in the spiritual realm, outside of the realm of human sight and human sound, where this embodiment of all evil against us. And parallel to Job chapter 1, here we find our Lord acknowledging that there was some interaction in the spiritual realm, outside of the realm of human sound, where this embodiment of all evil against us.

33:04 Christ and his people, the devil himself, Satan, the adversary, as one spoken of in Genesis 3, 15, who knows that his head is to be crushed by the seed of the woman, but who is determined that in the process he will bruise the heel of the one who crushes him. And in the book of the Revelation, that theme is picked up and we see that he makes war against the, against the woman, and against her seed, and against all who follow the Lord Jesus. It should be a tremendous comfort for us to know as God's people, when we read Hebrews 7, 25, wherefore he is able to say to the uttermost, those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives, to make intercession for them. That our great intercessor, our great high priest, knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ. If that were not so, how could we draw comfort from 1 Corinthians 10, 13?

34:26 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear, that God is faithful to win with us. The temptation, make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. If he were not in control of those temptations that come at the instigation of the prince of darkness, that promise would be negated. Thank God that promise is one that we can continue to rest upon and plead before God, because our great high priest knows and controls, Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ. And this is no novel opinion of my own. I personally have come to the conviction as I've wrestled with this issue, that God has given us the record of this incident only here in the Gospel of Luke, that we who are time-bound, and bound by the world of sense, and find it so difficult to form any workable condition, and find it so difficult to form any workable condition, but we have no conception to which faith can lay hold of. Christ is interceding, yes, but precisely what does he do as he intercedes?

35:46 What a wonderful thing to know that his Peters, who sometimes revert to becoming Simons, they are no longer rocks. They are no longer worthy of the name that Christ has given them. They will deny him. There will be lapses and periods of declension.

36:06 There will be lapses and periods of declension. There will be lapses and periods of declension. Yet in spite of all of that, he says on the front end, You are they that have continued with me in my temptation. You are truly my own.

36:19 You are not fair-weather disciples. You are attached to me in faith and love. And when the multitudes dispersed, you are those who said, To whom else shall we go? Ask the words of eternal life.

36:34 And yet in a moment of weakness, in a time of weakness, of divinely permitted sifting by Satan, the very one who said, To whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, is saying, I swear by Jehovah God of heaven, I know not! Can it be that sincere confession to whom else shall we go can be found in the same person who withodes a malediction, says I know not the man? Yes. That's the Peter of the Bible. And you see that which made the difference was Jesus tells him, I'm aware of the activity of the adversary of Satan who desires to sift and wants to show that his opinion is the right opinion, that you're all chaff and none of you has any real abiding attachment to me. So as God gave the devil permission to touch Job's family and all of his possessions to demonstrate that Job served God for God's sake

37:59 and not for what he could get from God, so the Lord Jesus permits unusual times of sifting, times of sifting that may even result in grievous temporary lapses. In the lives of his own people, we have an interceding high priest who knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ. But then there's a second principle in the passage that I believe clearly relates to the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus, and it is this. As our interceding high priest, Jesus prays for us. That Satan's efforts will not be successful. As our interceding high priest, Jesus prays, makes requests, makes requests for us that Satan's efforts will not be successful. Notice three things about that prayer in the text.

Principle 2: Jesus Prays for the Sustaining of Our Faith

39:16 The prayer is intensely personal. Satan has asked to have all of you that he might sift you as wheat. And in the original, there's an extra word that we could render the text this way to reflect that, the presence of that word. But I, even I myself, may have the use of the ego for you Greek students.

39:44 Instead of just the simple use of the verb, which has the first person and his action in it, I have made request, he says I, it is I myself, Peter, who have made request for you in particular, Peter. Though Satan has desired all of you to sift all of you as wheat, Peter knowing that in a peculiar way, his activity will be focused upon you as one who will have a unique place of leadership in the church that will be built upon the foundation of my person and work, I know that in a unique way, Simon, you will be the object of this sifting effort of the enemy. And my prayer for you, Peter, is personal. I myself, Peter, pray for you personally. And then secondly, the prayer is real request.

40:48 I've already alluded to this, the Greek word, the one that is used in Matthew 9.38, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest. Make request of the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers into his harvest. Most appropriate that I should have that parallel text after the Sunday school hour this morning.

41:14 It's the word used in Acts 4.31 after that prayer meeting held in the upper room upon the opposite side of the church Éthe Temple. And when he came to the service of the Lord, God acknowledged that, surely the Lord is with us. God was an answer to Joseph, and I'm sure that the Lord is what God sees in Joseph.

41:32 And when he came, he had asked Moses, he said, Moses, who are you? When I was little, why do you ask me? He said, you're everything I need. You're everything I need.

41:42 You're all I need. I wanna ask you something, I wanna ask you something, what is it that I need to ask you? And Moses said, now I'm gonna ask you something. The Lord Jesus says, And so will I.

41:50 us that Satan's efforts will not be successful is engaged in a very intensely personal redemptive activity. Do you person engage in our persons in all the individuality of our needs? You say, well, how can one person know all of the individual needs of millions of his people at one and the same time? It's because of who he is that he's able to do what he does.

42:24 He is God.

42:27 This is why the doctrine of the essential true deity of our Lord is not some abstraction. Without a divine Savior, we could not have a divine intercession in its scope and in its efficacy. And since the intercession is essential to our salvation, as well, we have seen, thank God there is one who can do such a work because he is just such a person who is the God-man. His prayer is personal.

43:02 His prayer is real request. The third thing note about his prayer is the prayer focuses on the sustaining of the root grace of faith. Look at the text. I made supplication for thee, Peter, Simon, that thy faith.

43:21 Fail not. That thy faith be not utterly eclipsed, totally spent and abandoned. His prayer focused on the sustaining of the root grace of faith. Now may I be bold enough to say that had the Lord Jesus said to Peter, I have made supplication for thee that thy courage fail not.

43:51 He would. He would not have shrunk back before the question of the maid. But the Lord did not pray that his courage fail not, for courage is one of the fruits of faith. But he prays that the root of all other graces, namely faith, would not utterly fail.

44:14 For if his faith were to utterly fail, it would fit the description of Hebrews 10. And here I ask you to turn there for a moment, please. Hebrews chapter 10. You know the great theme of Hebrews is the greater things, the better things of the new covenant.

44:35 That's the objective teaching. And the great emphasis of the exhortations is, therefore, continue in persevering faith in the better things of the new covenant. Don't turn back to types and shadows and cast off confidence in Christ. And here at the end of Hebrews 10 and verse 38 and 9, that my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him, but we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition, but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul. And see, the shrinking back here is not a temporary lapse. It is an utter eclipsing, an abandoning of faith. And when that happens, that's apostasy, and that results in perdition.

45:40 Whereas the scripture tells us we are kept by the power of God, how? Through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1.5. But now the question is...

45:56 What is it that keeps that faith from utterly failing? Even when for a period of time that faith is so eclipsed that had we known nothing of the previous history of Peter, and had our first introduction to him there by that fire outside the courtyard, surely we would have said, this is no lover and devotee of Christ.

46:29 By oath, if I know that God banned me here upon the spot.

46:38 It says with cursing and oaths, it wasn't he was using four-letter words, he was saying, I swear, I will take an oath by the God of heaven, if I know that man, let him destroy me on the spot. He would say, surely, maybe some of those soldiers warming their hands might be secret disciples, but this man is no disciple, he's no believer. Ah, yes, he does. Jesus had said to him a short time before, you are those who have continued with me in my temptation.

47:09 He calls his whole earthly existence the period of his temptation, the period of his trial. And he says, you have been with me, and I point you a kingdom, and I will give you special responsibilities and privileges in that kingdom. But here is a temporary lapse of blessed be God. The prayer of Jesus...

47:32 The prayer of Jesus focused on the sustaining of the root grace of faith, so he did not prove himself to be the stony ground hearer who believes for a while, but in times of persecution, falls away. No, Peter fell and fell grievously, but one look from the Son of God, one conscious remembrance of the prophecy of this Savior. Before the rooster crows, you will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will deny me three times, and the rooster crows, and through the ear gate of the crowing of the rooster, and the look of the Son of God through the eye gate, and the depths of his being were broken, and he wept, and he repents, and he turns from his wretched cowardice, and his temporary denial of Christ, and the root of faith that had attached him to Christ. The root of faith. That had opened up the world of spiritual reality, so that as Jesus said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, but my Father in heaven, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. That root of faith again produced its fruits of repentance, of subsequent open, unashamed

48:58 attachment with Christ in the post-resurrection appearances, and then that same Peter on the dead Pentecost looking strange. That root of faith became the sole rule in Christ. Then he put his heart and soul into the eyes of some of the very ones whom he saw, apprehend his Lord, spit upon him, and ultimately take him out and crucify him. He said to those people, You, you and you and you and you, by wicked hands have crucified and slain him.

49:32 You see, faith now produced a courage born of the influence of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. upon the sustaining of the root grace of faith. So the interceding high priest, Jesus, prays for us that Satan's efforts will not be successful, and that prayer for us is intensely personal. He prays, and he prays for us individually, in all the individuality of our peculiar vulnerability, and the devil's accessibility to us by divine permission.

Principle 3: Jesus' Prayers Are Always Effectual

50:17 As our interceding high priest, he prays that Satan's efforts will not be successful, praying for the sustaining of the root grace of faith. But then there is a third and final principle that I see here in the passage, and it's this. As our interceding high priest,

50:40 the prayers of Jesus are always, are always effectual. As our interceding high priest, the prayers of Jesus are always effectual. Look at the text again in Luke chapter 22. He does not say, Satan has asked to have all of you that he might sift you as wheat, but I made supplication for thee, Simon, and I made supplication for thee, Simon, but thy faith fail not.

51:17 And if you will cooperate with my prayers and turn again, you will then be able to establish your brethren. I could not believe my eyes when I read one of the commentators who, seeing the force of the absolute certainty and efficacy of the prayers of Jesus, wrote a whole paragraph to try to bleed this text of its obvious significance. He said, now, though it may appear, that the issue was already certain, if Peter did not this and if Peter did not that, because he's someone who refuses to believe that once God has placed a man through the narrow gate and on the restricted way, he's going to bring him home to glory. And when he comes to a passage like this, he sees his doctrine that you can lose salvation shattered, so rather than bend to the text, you should see what he did with the text. I wouldn't insult you by even reading the passage, but I wouldn't insult you by even reading the paragraph in your hearing. No. The Lord lets Peter know.

52:18 Think of this now. Think of this. He says, Satan's asked to have you that he might sift you as wheat. He clearly lets Peter know that he will have some very powerful influence in turning Peter away temporarily because he says, when you are turned again.

52:41 Now, you say, surely, if anything will minister to license, it's the telemark. You're going to fall, but you're going to be recovered.

52:50 Won't that make people turn the grace of God into less enviousness? It sure didn't with Peter. It caused him to go out and weep bitterly.

52:59 And for a child of God to know that though I may fall and fall miserably, so that at any given point what I may do and say, anyone viewing that in isolation would say, no Christian can do or say that.

53:19 But my Lord... My Lord Jesus Christ is committed to save me to the uttermost.

53:26 It does not make me bold to sin. It makes me feared to sin. Lest I should abuse such amazing grace.

53:38 And when I have sinned, and I think that he has pledged an everlasting kingdom to me, full well knowing in his perfect foreknowledge that that sin would have been committed along my pilgrimage, to the celestial city, that he still promised me entrance to that city. That doesn't make me bold to sin. It breaks my heart. That the Savior, knowing I would fail him so miserably, committed himself to all the agonies of the cross and to the selfless, ever-living intercession at the right hand of the Father to bring me safely home to him.

54:22 You can't help but love a Savior. And loving him, you want to obey him. And you want to jealously guard your heart for our interceding High Priest, the Lord Jesus. His prayers are always effectual.

54:44 Listen to old Bishop Ryle commenting on this passage,

54:50 reading now from Ryle's expository thoughts on Luke. We learn in these verses, one great, one great secret of a believer's perseverance in the faith. We read that our Lord said to Peter, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. It was owing to Christ's intercession that Peter did not entirely fall away.

55:14 The continued existence of grace in a believer's heart is a great standing miracle. Do you hear that? Do you believe that? The continued existence of grace in a believer's heart is a great standing miracle.

55:34 His enemies are so mighty and his strength is so small. The world is so full of snares and his heart is so weak. It seems at first sight impossible for him to reach heaven by the narrow road that leads there. The passage before us explains his safety.

55:53 He has a mighty friend at the right hand of God who ever lives to make it a safe, precious possession for him. There is a watchful advocate who's daily pleading for him, seeing all his daily necessities and obtaining daily supplies of mercy and grace for his soul. His grace never altogether dies because Christ always lives to intercede. If we are true Christians, we shall find it essential to our comfort in religion to have clear, diffuse of Christ's priestly office and intercession.

56:35 Christ lives and therefore our faith shall not fail. Let us beware of regarding Jesus only as the one who died for us. Let us never forget that he is alive forevermore. And then he quotes Romans 8, 34.

56:53 The work that he does for his people is not yet over. He is still appearing in the presence of God for them and doing for their souls exactly what he did for Peter. His present life for them is just as important as his death on the cross. When Ryle wrote, he said, 1800 years ago, we say 1900 years ago, Christ lives and therefore true Christians shall live also.

The Secret Work of Christ's Intercession

57:26 Bunyan understood this, didn't he? Remember the House of Interpreter kids? Remember that strange scene there was a wall and there was a fire at the bottom of the wall and on one side of the wall there was a man throwing water on the fire. But instead of the fire going out, it kept burning brighter and brighter.

57:48 And Christian scratched his head and said, I don't understand this. Whenever I see a fire and I throw water on it, the fire is extinguished. So Interpreter takes him behind the wall and he says, there's for the man. Who was continually pouring oil.

58:08 And Bunyan makes the perceptive comment that often the Christian is a marvel to himself. All he sees is the efforts of the devil to sift him. To use Bunyan's imagery, the devil in the world, in his own flesh, seeking to pour water upon any fire of devotion to Christ and attachment to Christ. Secretly, out of sight, there is the constant work of our Lord Jesus sending supplies of His Spirit into our hearts.

58:46 There, nurturing, quickening, reviving the graces that He Himself has implanted. And so I say these three great principles are here in the passage. With respect to Christ's intercessory work for us, surely, whatever there may be that is different in a world to which we find it difficult to relate, does Christ have to communicate by words to His Father? Well, surely if the sighs of my heart unexpressed are heard by God, the Lord would not have to express it in words.

59:29 But thank God that He's accommodating Himself to us. And here we see the great high priest, while he's still among us, performing his priestly function and giving us at least pointers in the direction of how he carries it on in the heavens with all of our limitations and all of the recognition that we are treading on holy ground. Surely, we are warranted to say from this passage, as our interceding high priest, Jesus knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from God. Jesus knows and controls Satan's efforts to turn us away from Christ.

60:11 If not, why did He teach us to pray? Our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

60:24 Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. If He does not forgive us, He will not forgive us. For we are the ones who have sinned.

60:44 He does not forgive us. He does not forgive us. He does not forgive us. He does not forgive us.

60:51 He does not forgive us. How can we pray to be delivered from it? The second great principle of our interceding high priest, he prays that Satan's efforts will not be successful and those prayers are personal and they are in the form of real requests and they focus on the sustaining of the root grace of faith. Thirdly, as our interceding high priest, the prayers of Jesus are always effectual.

Exhortation to Believers: Give Thanks for Intercession

61:12 What is my closing word of exhortation to you, children of God? Surely it is this. Do you not see that behind the scenes of your life, the ancient conflict of Genesis 3.15 is still going on?

61:30 The serpent and his seed, the woman and her seed. And Matthew 1.21 says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. How does he do the saving?

61:46 Well, there is the element of his perfect life, yes. There is the element of his substitutionary death, yes. But there is the element of his perpetual intercession. He is able to save.

62:01 Seen he ever lives to make intercession. Do you not now see why temptations, which have taken others away and led them clean out of the Christian faith, have crippled you so that at the time there seemed to be no difference between your sin and theirs? But here you sit this morning, not as a formalist, not as an irritated kid who says, Why in the world do I have to have parents bring me in a place like this? But you sit here with a heart that runs out in love to Christ and to his word and to his praise.

62:42 Why is it? Why is it? Why is it? Why is it?

62:43 You are still in the way of faith because you have one who prayed when the sifting time came that your faith would not be utterly swept away. You are a monument of the efficacy of the intercession of the Lord Jesus.

63:04 When I mentioned that incident Wednesday night of the man who heard me preach 42 years ago when I was only 17 or 18 years old, one of the things that struck me was that I was not a man. One of the things that struck me was that I was not a man. One of the things that so moved me was to look back and think of all of the fruit of the intercessory work of my faith. All of the places in my life where I felt indeed that I was in the sifting rack.

63:32 And there was the agitation and the shaking. And I felt the winds of temptation and almost like gales of satanic oppression that I thought for sure would blow me away as a child. God graciously brought me through. I stand today united to Christ because I have a faithful eye.

Exhortation to Unbelievers: Run to Christ for Refuge

64:02 Oh Christian, oh Christian, give thanks for his perpetual intercession which secures your perpetual walk in the way of faith. My unbelieving friend, my closing word to you is this. Far from Satan having to ask, far from Satan having to ask, far from Satan having to sit you. He doesn't need to ask permission.

64:28 You're already his. Jesus said to religious people of his day, you are of your father, the devil and the lust of your father. It is your will to do. And when Paul was commissioned by the risen Christ, recorded in Acts 26, he said, I'm sending you forth to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan, unto God, my unconverted friend, young or old, you are under the power of this adversary who hates God and vents his hatred by trying to drag as many of God's in his bears as he can into hell with him.

65:13 My friend, this Jesus, who intercedes and by his intercession secures the salvation of all of his own, he not only lives to make intercession for those, who are his own, he lives to receive every sinner who will come and say, Lord Jesus, I want to be within the orbit of that saving mercy and grace. Lord Jesus, will you look in pity and mercy upon a slave of sin and of the devil such as I? And will you not magnify your grace by liberating me and bringing me within the orbit of your intercessory work? By which I will be kept unto eternal salvation. I end where I began. Robert Trail was right when he said every believer has need of everything that Christ has to give. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

66:19 Our Father, we confess to you that when our poor, shriveled human minds seek to be saved, we seek to grasp the wonders of your grace and saving mercy in the Lord Jesus. We feel intimidated by their grandeur. We feel like little children standing before massive, mighty mountains and being asked to jump over them. Have mercy upon us.

67:00 Increase our capacity to grasp by faith the glorious realities upon which we've meditated today. Until the day comes when we'll no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face we'll see him who ever lived to make intercession for us and by that intercession brought us safely home to glory. Have mercy upon those who are not within the orbit of such gracious activity. O Lord, have mercy upon them even this day that they may run to Christ and find refuge in him.

67:42 Sealed on your word we pray and bless us on this your day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.