The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-11-11
THE SUNOAY.SChOOl..
Christ's Prayer for His Disciples = John
Il. 11:l-i9- Memory Verses 17-10.

LESSON FOR NOVEMBER 10, 1891.
GOLDEN TEXT.-He ever liveth to make inter.
cession for them.-Heh 7:25.
CENTRAL TRuTH.-Jesus' prayer on earth . |
type OF the prayer He is ever making for us in
Heaven.
TINE. Thursday evening, very late, April g.
A. DISC. Immediately following the last lesson.
PIACE.-An upper room in Jerusalem.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs.-l 1.-THE hoIr |
Is Gomez" the hour of cruciixion, the central |
point OF His redeeming work. "Glorify Thy |
SOM" manifest His glory by making His mis-. |
sion success by raising Him from the dead |
and placing Him at Thy right hand in Heaven. |
Thy Son glorify Thee:" the atonement |
and redemption in Christ manifested Gods |
love and wisdom, which are His glory 9. |
Eternal life:" true spiritual life, begun here, |
but which endures forever. 8 This is life |
eternal. that they might know Thee" by ex
perience. by partaking of Gods nature. Such
knowledge implies that they have eternal life |
5. (which had with Thee" (See John lib;
Heb. l:l-3) g. Thy name:" the outward rep.
resentation of Gods nature and character TO-
'All Mine are Thine" God and Christ are one.
ii. THAT they may be ones" not uniformity,
but unity; not oneness Of organization, but OF
life and love; the unity OF vine with one life,
one root, but many branches; the unity OF an
army, with many departments and regiments
same leader, the same law, the same purpose,
mutual love. ~ THAT the Scripture might
be fulfilled" Ps. II % John 1919. He did not
fall because 1t was in the Scriptures but
but when he fell 1t was seen that he had vol.
unfairly fulfilled the prediction IA. "They are
not Of the world" but are under different mas
ter, living different life, Is II pray not that
Thou shouldest take them out OF the world"
He would not have them with Him yet, nor
vya Laxrr xta.-
tempting world; for-n) They were to be His
representatives on EARTH they were ito be the
worlds Bible" (2) They were needed in the
world to do Christs work, to carry ON HIS
kingdom to success. 90 They needed to re-
main In the world for their own discipline and
growth OF character. Keep them from the
evils" the evil Is not chiefly sorrow nor re.
proach nor poverty nor misfortune nor perse-
cution nor death, but sin. and the wretched-
ness 1t causes to pervade all these things.
LESSON COMMENT.
Next to the prayer of Solomon at the
dedication of the temple, this is the
longest prayer in the Bible. 1t brought
that tender interview in the upper
chamber to close. After the Offering
of the prayer, the Master went forth
with His disciples to the Garden of
Gethsemane. This prayer Except
verses ~, III applies first to the apostles,
and in secondary manner to all be-
levers. In this prayer there are three
petitions offered by Jesus, which may
well claim our special attention.
~ Jesus prays that His disciples
may be kept. "Holy Father, Keep those
whom Thou hast given Me" Verse 1D.
Jesus knew full we'll the dangers, temp
tations and prosecutions to which they
were to be exposed. He longed for
their spiritual safety, and hence His
prayer for their continued preservation
(2) Jesus prays that they may be
sanctified. "Sanctify them through
Thy truth; Thy word is truth" Verse
~. To sanctify means to make holy.
The Master knew well that His apos-
ties were only frail disciples as yet,
who needed much grace, in order to full
fill their duties as apostles. There was
still great deal of earthliness about
them, as was made manifest that very
night in the Garden Of 'Gethsemane,
when they all forsook Him and fled.
(S) Jesus prays that they may be uni
fed. THAT they may be one, as We
are' Verse ~. There was danger that
when He left them they would split up
into antagonistic parties. Remember
that that very evening at the table of
the Lords Supper they had shown u
spirit of emulation and antagonism,
which He Himself had hardly been able
to suppress. Imagine, then, what they
would do, were the same spirit to ami
mate them after He had left them.
They would simply break in pieces, in
their vehement advocacy of their indi-
vidual claims. In this way all the
work that Jesus came down from
Heaven to do, and for which He gave
His life, would be frustrated. Now we
can see in measure how wisely Jesus
prayed for His disciples. and how i'm.
portant for them and for the world il
was that they should be KEPr-sANCTI-
FIED-UNIFIED.
In verse 90, the prayer of the Master
broadens out and takes in all the world.
"Neither pray for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on Me
through their word" Among this mum.
Der are we. Each believer in this day
believes because of the "word' or testi.
mony of these apostles And so each
believer may be comforted by the fact
that even when on earth, Jesus prayed
for him.
~ We need to be kept. Many per.
son starts we'll, and gives good promise
of usefulness, yet this promise is never
fulfilled. Not he that starts, but he
that endures to the end, is the ono who
is to be saved. But if we put ourselves
in the hands of Jesus, and rest there, He
will keep us safe; for He is able to keep
that which we commit to His charge
against that day.
(2) We need to be sanctified or made
holy. How much we all need this will
be apparent as soon as we compare our
selves with Gods law and His holy
standard of living. "Thou shalt love
thy ncighbor as thyself," says Christ
Let anyone measure himself by this
standard, and he will not long boast Of
his excellence of character.
| (3) We need to be unified. The church
has been much hindered, and much
shame has been brought upon the cause
of Christ by the dissensions of church
members. "A quarreling church,
what a hideous sight! yet, alas, what q
frequent sight A quarreling Sunday
school! A auarreling ministers meet
ing! If ever there is joy in hell and sor
row in Heaven, it must come from such