John 17:9

John 17:9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me; for they are thine.

There is an intercession of Christ which is for all the world, but his choicest intercession - his effectual prayer - is for his own. Nothing, perhaps, makes men so angry as this statement. They cannot endure that God should dispense his gifts according to his own will; but so it standeth true. There is an intercession in which none have a part but his own. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine."