Wonderful. We're looking today
at what it is for us to be kept in the name of God. In verse 11 of chapter 17 of
John's Gospel, if you turn there, the Lord speaks of his going.
He says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in
the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost but the sum of perdition that
the scripture might be fulfilled. How precious it is to be kept. How precious it is to be kept
by God the Father. How precious it is to be kept
by God the Son. How precious it is to be kept. in his name, in his name. I love what Norm read and it
was wonderful to hear what he said about it and it's just,
it's such a profound and wonderful thing. What is righteousness? God has three names, at least,
that are given to him in John chapter 17. He calls him Father,
he calls him In verse 3, the only true God,
which necessarily means that every other God and every other
imagination of a God that doesn't match all of what God is in the
scriptures, and particularly for us in John chapter 17 at
the moment, is no God at all. He's a false God. He calls him,
in verse 25, a righteous father. Righteousness is perfect conformity
and obedience. And if you think you can do it
like the Israelites did, you will die in the wilderness just
as they died in the wilderness. But I love what it says. He talks
of grace in the midst of all of this. In verse 24 of Exodus
20, he said, And listen to this. I want this to be this place,
in all places where I record my name, where he records his
name, where he records all of what it is for him to be the
God of Scripture, the God we read about, the God of Mount
Sinai, the God of the cross of Calvary. And listen to what he
says. That's exactly what we're wishing,
isn't it? That we actually just say, this is who God is, and
this is how he saved sinners, and this is what happened on
the cross, and this is his prayer for us. I will come to thee. That's what we're longing for,
isn't it? That God will come to thee, and I will bless thee. So turn back to John chapter
17. I want us to begin in verse 6 and we'll read down to verse
11 just to put some context on it. But he says, as he's about
to go to his father and go back to the glory which he had before
the world was, in verse 6 he says, I have manifested I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. And now they have known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for,
or because, I have given them the words which thou gavest me. And they have received them and
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast For they are thine,
all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified
in them. And then now I am no more in
the world, but these are in the world. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we, as we are. I love the fact that God keeps
We sing that song, don't we? Come thou fount of many blessings. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. O to grace, how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter,
like a bond, bind my wandering heart to thee. Is this you prone
to wander? Lord, I feel it. prone to leave
the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal
it, seal it for thy courts above. If you have been anywhere associated
with the things of the Lord, you know what it is to be a wanderer.
You know what it is, like I did, for too long. to have something of the knowledge
of God and run away from Him, and I ran away from Him for 20
years. I ran away from Him for many, many reasons, and obviously
all of them to do with wickedness and sinfulness, but I ran away
from Him in part because of the weight of the responsibility
that I felt that He would lay upon me. What a ridiculous thing
to And God arrested me as he has arrested so many of you here. And in all of that, all of that
time of wandering, God was watching. God was watching with jealousy
and with love and with compassion. He keeps, he keeps his own. That word keep means to guard
carefully, to watch over, to prevent from escaping. You have
a keeper of a prison. He watches the doors and he watches
the prisoners and he keeps them. It means to preserve. It means to hold them fast. If you've wandered as I've wandered,
I love the fact that our God is a keeping God. And I love
the fact that this prayer is for the child of God. just a
list of the most extraordinary promises about what God is doing
in the hearts of His people. Even when they don't know it,
this prayer is established and settled. This prayer was established
and settled 2,000 years ago before I even thought about winery,
before I was even here. And God has His people. He has
a people that are in this world, and He calls them mine. He calls them the gift of the
Father to Him. They are precious in his sight,
and he keeps them. And how wonderful it is to be
kept. To be kept in, listen to what
it says. He's no more in the world, verse
11. When I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own
name. Keep them through your holiness. He says in verse 25, O righteous
Father, keep them in your righteousness. He speaks of the glory of God.
He says, keep them in your glory. He speaks of love for them. He
says, keep them in your love, the love that you have for them. This is the only time in all
of the scriptures that this phrase is ever used, Holy Father. Holiness
is the declaration of who God is and it's such a difficult
word in some sense to understand. It means other. like us. Our conceptions of holiness are
nothing like His, isn't it? He is not like us. And only one
person can say that, and then what a time to declare it. Within
an hour, probably, or less, His blood would be staining the ground
of Gethsemane as the weight of all the sins of all those people
bore down on his holy, holy heart. And he cries out, doesn't he,
about how, I love what Psalm 40 says, and I love the fact
that this is a declaration in the great congregation. This
is what's declared, the congregation's not great because of the numbers,
the congregation's always great because of who's there. It only
needs to be a little congregation. It's a great congregation. That
whole religious world was there gathered in Jerusalem with all
of their Bible colleges and all of their missionaries and all
of their knowledge and all of their wisdom. And God wasn't
there. And he was down in Bethany. Who
took any notice of a little house in Bethany? Who took notice? But he says, I've preached in
verse nine of Psalm 40. I have preached. Righteousness,
in the great congregation lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within thy heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. That's what he's
doing, isn't it? That's what he's doing and that's
what he's declaring here in John 17. He's declaring, he's faithful,
he's declaring the faithfulness of God, the righteousness of
God, the name of God, the salvation of God, the loving kindness,
the grace of God is what that is. shy about declaring the truth
of God from the great congregation. Then he says in verse 11 of Psalm
40, When he was in this flesh, he was being preserved, wasn't
he? And he says the reason why. Listen to what he says. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore my heart faileth me,
as it did in Gethsemane's garden. all of the iniquities of all
of these people that he's praying for here. The disciples at that
time, the elect gathered, and all of the elect throughout eternity
says they're mine. That's how close he is to his
people. Holiness. We sang about it and
read about it earlier in Psalm 96. We worship the Lord in the
beauties of holiness. I love what one of the old writers
said, Stephen Charnock. Power is God's hand or arm. Omniscience is his eye. Mercy is his bowels, his heart. Eternity is his duration, but
holiness We are to be brought into the
presence of a holy God. And it's the declaration of the
angels. It's the declaration of the angels
on earth when people meet them, isn't it? That was what was the
cry that Isaiah heard in the temple when he saw the Lord Jesus
Christ. What did he hear? Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And even those messengers, like
all of God's messengers and God's servants throughout time, when
they're in the presence of holiness, they have six wings with two,
they cover their faces. They're not fit to look upon
him. He charges them with folly. They
cover their feet with two of them. And with two wings they fly,
there they are, waiting to do His will. In Revelation chapter
4 there is that same cry, the four beasts with the six wings
that are full of eyes, and they rest not day or night. If you
get to heaven, What are you going to hear the angel singing? Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God almighty. I love that description of God,
isn't it? Lord God, this is the name of God. Lord God almighty,
which was and is and is to come. And even those beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth
forever and ever. And the four and 20 elders, all of the gathered
assembly of God's elect children represented by those 24, Old
Testament 12 and New Testament 12, they fall down before him
that sat on the throne, and they worship him that liveth forever
and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
thou art worthy, O Lord. to receive glory and honor and
power. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ has been praying for. You've given him power over
all flesh. I had a glory with you before
the world was, and I'm coming back to that glory. And then
it says, because for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created. The essence of being in His Presence. We remember well that Isaiah
had one of those burning coals taken from off the altar and
it touched his lips, which is where his problem was. He said,
I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among the people of unclean
lips. and this has taken your sin away,
the fire from the altar. We come into the presence of
a holy God and we will, and we pray that as we anticipate coming
into his presence in the future, we will come with a certain reverence
as we spend our times together here. He's the first reference
to the word holy in all of the scriptures, is when Moses met
the Lord Jesus Christ in that burning bush. And what a great
picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That bush
burned and the fire didn't need anything from this earth to burn
it. And that bush, the fire burnt the bush and the bush wasn't
consumed. It's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and Moses told
him, you take your feet off, take your shoes off. holy ground. The next time it's
used it's remarkable. They are about to have the Passover
and before they actually have the Passover and before they
pass over and out of Egypt, before God passes over, they're told
that they are to gather together and remember the Passover and
it's called a holy convocation, a holy assembly. Testament times and it's exactly
what happens in the New Testament time. We gather around the Passover
lamb. We are gathered because of the
Passover lamb. We are gathered because of his
gathering us to himself and he says it's a holy convocation.
You do this every year and you remember that the gathering of
the Lord's people together is a holy convocation. The angels,
the He raises up a testimony to His
name. He's there. He says, I'll come
to you and I'll meet with you. The Passover is such a glorious
picture, isn't it? I love thinking about the Passover,
everything about it. I love what God says. He says,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'm not looking for
your faithfulness. I'm not looking for your OVs. I can well imagine,
again and again I often think, that there would have been someone
in one of those houses that day that that particular day had
done something absolutely reprehensible. Maybe even a murder, but something
really, really appalling. Were they safe? They were safe
in the house where the blood to the blood. God is looking
to his Son for everything. That's what John 17 is saying,
isn't it? God is looking to his Son for everything that he requires
of us. I love that picture, isn't it?
You were to take all the leavin' out of the house. There's no
place for works in the home of grace. There's no place for works
in the house of the Lamb's blood. Salvation is in the blood. They
took that Lamb in and they had to eat all of it. Salvation is
feasting upon all of Christ, not just what people find acceptable
and attractive to them. There is a Jesus that's floating
around this world now and there are so many millions and billions
that follow these particular Jesuses. But all of them, when
they're tested against the scriptures, you find that they're not the
name. They don't carry the character
of God Almighty. You can take John 17 to this
religious world and ask them whether this is the God that
they worship. A God that doesn't pray for everyone.
A God that has an elect people that the Father gave him. A God
that has a people whose origins are in heaven like his origins
are in heaven. A God who saves. Not a God who tries. Salvation
is in the house with the blood on the doorpost. The spotless
lamb is taken into the house. The spotless lamb is embraced
and cared for by the family for those days. Is that our experience? we feast upon Him and Him only. That salvation, according to
John 17 through 18, according to the Lord Jesus Christ, is
knowing Him as He truly is and God the Father who sent Him. Holy Father, Holy Father. If Isaiah 57, 15 isn't one of
your favorite verses, it ought to be. and I'm not much into
marking Bibles because all of a sudden you think you know that
one really well and you look at others, but I just love what
Isaiah 57 says. Verse 15, For thus saith the
High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, Holy Father, whose name is holy.
And listen to what he goes on to say, I dwell in a high and
holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones. I dwell with him. I dwell with him. He just dwells
with one, doesn't he? He dwells with his son, and in
his son, he dwells with all of his people in his son, doesn't
he? That's how we dwell in heaven, isn't it? That's how we get into
heaven. We come, and he's the one who
was contrite, and he's the one who was humble, and he's the
one who was revived, and he's the one who revives the heart
of the contrite one. He's with him. The Lord swears
in his holiness. He swears in his holiness. Psalm
89 verse 35. Once I have sworn by my holiness
that I will not lie to David. God is faithful. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
holy thing in Luke 1.35. The Holy Ghost will come upon
you, Mary, and the power of the highest shall overshadow you.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. How are we kept? All of that, what that means
is extraordinary, isn't it? I have kept them in thy name. He's revealed, the Lord Jesus
Christ has revealed the Father to them again and again. He says
to Philip, as they say, show us the Father. And the Lord says
to Philip, you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You've seen,
you've heard my words, you've heard the words of the Father.
You've heard, seen my works, you've seen the works of the
Father. The Father and I are one. Do you need keeping? Do you need keeping? All those who know they can't
keep themselves. I tremble when I hear people
claim to be believers and speak of their decisions with keep
them and their rights to do as they see fit. Rights? Rights? Sinners with rights? The elect
are kept, the lost are kept, the sick are kept, I love thinking, and I pray that
you'd love it as well, I love thinking about all of those people
that came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and every single one of them
that came humbly before him and in great need. Never, ever once
was one ever turned away. Ponder it, brothers and sisters. Lord, if I can just touch the
hem of his garment, I'll be clean. Those who are needy are those
who are kept. He keeps them in his name. He keeps them in his name. He keeps them being made aware. into this world and he has a
glorious person but a glorious purpose isn't listen to what
he says at the end of verse 7 verse 17 11 in John chapter 17 there
is a purpose the purpose of it all is that they may be one The keeping has a result, and
we'll look at that after the break, what it is to be one with
Him. But God's children cry out, don't
they? Lord, keep me by your holiness.
Keep me in your holiness. Preserve me in your holiness. Keep me by your faithfulness. Those who are saved call on the
name of the Lord. I'm calling on God who is faithful
to his promise. I'm calling on him who is merciful. I'm calling on him in his sovereignty. I'm calling on him in the glory
of his very being. I'm calling on him who is gracious. I'm calling on him who is merciful.
And that's exactly what you keep. Keep me in your faithfulness.
Keep me by your sovereignty. Keep me by your grace. Keep me
in your grace. Keep me in your assembled company
where you're worshipped in the beauties of holiness. Keep me
under the blood of the eternal covenant. Keep me in that house
with the blood on the doorpost. You might say, well, all these
promises are fulfilled. That's why we can ask with boldness.
That's why we come to him with boldness. We come to a throne
of grace in our time of need. I'm always in need never ever got above it. And
as I go on and walk more with the Lord, I find myself more
and more needy than I ever was before. There was a time when
I thought that I had some ability and I'm thankful the Lord just
strips it away from me and strips it away from me and you become
weaker and weaker and weaker and more and more helpless. And
you just do end up loving those wonderful verses in 2 Corinthians
12. He had all these problems, Paul,
didn't he? This thorn in the flesh. The thorn was his flesh,
probably, as much as everything else. The thorn might have been
pride. You can name all the other things. But the thorn is in the
flesh of men, isn't it? He says, My grace, God says,
My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness. Then Paul goes on to say, led
by the Holy Spirit, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. Then am I strong. Our God is glorious. He prays for His elect. He prays
for each and every one of them in His absolute omniscience.
He knew every single one. And he knows. He knows our frame. And what does he know? We are
but dust. And we need keeping. We are kept
by both the Father and the Son. This is what he goes on to say.
He says, while I was in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those
that thou gavest me, I have kept. I have kept them. So the elect
are the Father's gift to the Son, but we must be still kept. We are regenerated by the Holy
Spirit. You must be born again, and then you must be kept. We're
redeemed by the Son on the cross, but we still have to be kept
by God. Grace works powerfully in the
hearts of God's people. But you must be kept. He has manifested the name of
God to us, and then he says we must be kept. He has given his
words, the words of God, They must be kept. What's involved in keeping us?
Turn with me to 1 Peter, 1 Peter 1. These verses are so, so, so
glorious, this opening passage. It's lovely as we turn in these
things, isn't it? Turn to these epistles to remember
that He's saying, keep them through your name, Holy Father, keep
them through thy name. And at the beginning of all of
the epistles, we have a great declaration of the name of God,
the character of God, and the purpose of God. But listen to
what he goes on to say. The evidence of keeping us is
faith. He says, blessed, verse three
of 1 Peter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us
again unto a lively hope, a living hope, not a dead hope, a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you. who are kept by the power of
God. What's involved in keeping the
children of God? In faith, what's involved in
keeping the children of God in the name of God? Nothing short
of the very power of God. How much power is involved in
keeping us? How much power is involved in
causing us to be assembled here? How much power has been exercised
by God Almighty that we have borne testimony to Him here for
all of these years now? world out there to go to. There's
a whole religious world to go out there. We've been kept by
the power of God through faith. What's the evidence of being
kept? We just believe Him. We believe Him. We believe Him. And listen to what is the result
of this being kept. wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, if God causes it to be, you're
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, this faith that God keeps you in by His power, is
going to be a tested faith, a tried faith, just to make it stronger,
just to make sure that that faith is not looking to anything inside
of us. That's one of the benefits of trials, isn't it? That we
can't look into ourselves and we can't look to ourselves for
any strength. The trial of your faith being
much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. What is it to be kept? Whom,
having not seen, you love. You love. in whom though now
you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith. This is
what the keeping's all about, isn't it? Even the salvation
of your souls. we kept. Those who have met God
in the scriptures and met him in his holiness know that they
need keeping, they need keeping in his name. And the Lord revealed
himself to Peter, he says, depart from me, I am a sinful man. Everyone that meets him in his
holiness knows immediately the depth of his weakness like Paul
did on the Damascus Road. Why, he manifest his name. in the words he's given to us.
May we be the receivers and the believers of those words. And
may the Lord's prayer be answered for each and every one of us
here, that we are kept by a holy father, and we're kept in his
name, and we rejoice in all of the glorious character of our
great God. May the Lord add his blessing
to those words.