9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,...
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Verse 9 is an example of Jesus praying specifically for a portion of His Bride, His apostles and disciples, and NOT the whole world. Why would He not pray for the world if He loved every soul in the world? Sorry, but He is praying ONLY for those the Father has GIVEN Him, present and future. Some will say, “God loves everyone!” Not true - God hates workers of iniquity (Psalm 5:5), the wicked and those who love violence (Psalm 11:5), abortion doctors (Proverbs 6:17), and liars (Proverbs 6:19). Any one of those passages by itself proves God does not love every person on the planet which means a lot of Christians believe an incorrect interpretation of John 3:16. See Bible Truth #66 for more info.
In verse 20 He begins praying for all those who will believe in Him through the witness of His Disciples. Again, I ask, If Jesus loved the whole world, why didn't He pray for the whole world? Why did He pray ONLY for those who would believe on Him? And then in verse 24 Jesus makes it clear that there are certain, specific, people that the Father has given to Him. This is beautifully reconciled with John 6:37 where Jesus said that all those the Father has given to Him (i.e. the Elect) WILL come to Him.
We become Children of God NOT by the will of the flesh (John 1:13). And when a lost person who is in the flesh “makes a decision” for Jesus, that is the will of the flesh and those in the flesh can NOT please God (Romans 8:8). We are saved because of nothing we do (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5).
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