Good evening. If you will, be turning to John
17. John 17. Brother Bob wasn't able to make
it this Sunday or today. Vicki had come up positive for
COVID. He said he wasn't having any symptoms, but she'd been
in bed for at least five days last he told me. He didn't have
any symptoms, but he knew it would probably be contagious.
He just wanted to keep an eye on her. So, as you can, remember
him. Here in John 17, our Lord is
praying and we get to read it. Those 11 apostles sitting around
with him, that's been with him that whole evening, that whole
night, early in the morning. And they got to hear Him. With
their ears, they heard Him pray to the Father. And then the Lord
preserved that prayer in John's ears, and through the Holy Spirit
moved His hand to write it down, and we get to read it. How important is that? It's important. What a fault it is. I want to
give you my points before we read our text. I hope it's very
simple. I want to go slow. We'll see
if that helps. The work is done. We like that, don't we? I have
to preach the text. The work is done. We've got a
job to do because the work is done. Now let's read a text,
okay? Our Lord's praying. God's speaking
to God here. John 17. Verse 13, I pray the
Lord will be pleased to teach us this and to give us a great
deal of joy and happiness and contentment and motivation for
what he is praying to those apostles and it's for us too. John 17
verse 13, and now come I to thee that these things and these things
that I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them. Does the world hate you? Remember
all them friends you had, now they just, I mean, they'd cut
your throat if they got the opportunity to. He knows what he's talking
about, don't he? I've given them thy word, and
because we have his word in context and understanding, knowledge
and understanding, the world hath hated them, because they're
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not,
this is my text, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world. Now we're not of the world, just
as the Lord's not of the world. This ain't our home. We're passing
through. And the Lord says, don't take
them out of it. What you're in right now, stay
in it. That's what Christ is praying.
What you're going through right now, the Lord God Almighty said,
keep them in it right now. Stay right where they're at.
Leave them right there. I got something for them to do. I pray
not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from evil. Thou shouldest keep them from
evil, from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And as thou
hast sent me into the world, even so I have also sent them
into the world. You're not of the world, you're
in the world. Father, keep them in the world,
I sent them there. Everything they're going through,
night and day, while they're awake, while they're asleep,
I'm doing it. That ought to make us happy. He said, I want my joy to be
fulfilled in them. As thou hast sent me the world,
verse 18, even so I have also sent them into the world. And
for their sakes, I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. That's the 11 sitting right there,
but not just them. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me. through their
word. The work's done, we've got a
job to do because the work's done because we got a job to
do through their word. They got a job to do, don't they?
We just read the job they had to do, John had to do. Christ prayed that we be kept. All the while we are kept, we
are fit to be in the Father's presence. because he's saved
us, he's given us his word. He's prayed that we are to be
safe. Safe, we're to be kept from evil. That's the evil one,
ourselves, sin, we're protected. He prayed that his people be
safe and that we have joy. I'll keep them, keep them right
where I got them. I have them, I've kept them. And I want them
to have joy. Oh, Brother Pink had some things
to say about that. I'll paraphrase it for you. If a believer doesn't
have joy, it's because they've lost communion with the Holy
God. That's so, isn't it? That's hard,
that's heavy. Who can bear such hard sayings?
It's so. If we're miserable, it's because
we're looking to the world, we're looking to ourselves, we're looking
to our works, we're looking to our stuff from the past, our
experiences from 40 years ago, or whenever, or four days ago,
or four minutes ago. We're looking not Christ, that's
what we're looking to. And we're miserable. Now when
we look to Him, you that believe, you happy? Are you sad? There ain't no sadness when we
look to Him. We get sad sometimes when we look to ourselves what
He had to bear that's us. But He's our joy, isn't He? What
work has already been done? There's work that's done, we
got a job to do. Because it's done, we got a job to do. So
what's the work that's done? Look at verse 12. While I was
with them in the world, that's where we are now, I kept them
in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. His people. Those were given
to him before time. And none of them is lost. I've
kept them all. But the son of perdition that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. He wasn't given. But he protected
him the whole time, didn't he? He fed him. Judas breathed the
Lord's oxygen the whole time to serve his purpose, just as
Pharaoh. You imagine that? Being a king, Moses come to you,
God's prophet come to you, and I don't know what nerve they
think they got to talk to him. What made Pharaoh think that
was a good idea? He said, who are you? Who's this God? And
the Lord told him, I've raised you up, show my power. We ain't much, are we? Mankind
ain't nothing. Back in chapter 16, our Lord
said, these things I've spoken to you that you should not be
offended. There's not a scandal, there's not shame, and there's
not sadness. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. Well, I left this place, and
I left that place, and I left that place. Well, I guess that's
fine and dandy. Sooner or later, you start talking about the truth,
they're gonna kick you out. They're gonna run you out of town. You
can't bear your dead here no more. You can't get married here.
You stay away from us. If it wasn't against the law,
we'd kill you. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth
you, thinketh that he doeth God a service. I'm helping God out,
and I'm gonna get rid of his man. How many places can you name
it that's happened? It ain't nothing changed. They
think they're doing God a favor by going after his prophets or
his prophets' people, his family. He said, I got to go away. You're
going to be kicked out of synagogue. You're going to have a hard time.
The work given to him to do is going to come to fruition. This
hour's coming. I'm going to go lay down my life. That's good
news. He's going to go away. He's going to go to the father.
And he says in John 16, seven, nevertheless, I'll tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away,
the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him to you. He was with them then. He says in John 16, 20, barely,
barely, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament. You're
going to be sad, but the world's going to rejoice. They're going
to think they got me. He's going to hang on that cross
and have his hands pierced through and his feet pierced through.
And they're going to mock him and put a crown on him and spit
on him. And even those that love him
and cowardice are going to say, crucify him by keeping their
mouth shut. And that's me. And that's you. And that's everybody
else on earth. He said, you shall be sorrowful.
Not you might be. Well, you're going to be a skosh
sorrowful. He said, you shall be. But your sorrow shall be
turned into joy because you're going to know what I did. I'll
give you understanding. This had to happen. He came to
save sinners. That's what the work was giving
him to do in John 16, 33. It says these things I have spoken
unto you that you might have peace. That in me, you might
have peace. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. That's where the trouble is. But be of good cheer.
I've overcome that world. Now don't leave it. You're going
to stay in it because the work's done. You got a job to do because
the work's done. In chapter 17, he said, for all
those you've given me, I've kept them. I've double kept them.
That's what we looked at last week. And what's that? Remember
what that meant? The second one? You can't escape. They ain't
going to sneak out through my hands. They're in my hands. I
got them. That's the work that's completed, it's done. Now there's
a job to be done since the work's done. Look at verse 13, John
17, 13. And now I come to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I'm gonna give them a job to
do. It's good when you work hard and you get your paycheck, because
you know you put in a good day's work and it feels good, don't
it, son? You've been working hard lately. That's what God
designed us to do, to produce things and to go work. And it
feels good when you do what you're supposed to be doing, whether
that's cooking or praying or sleeping or whatever it is. The
Lord gave us putting my hand to do right now, and it's good. Our joy is going to be fulfilled.
And then knowing what work's done. He's done everything. We
got sweet floors. Let's sweep floors. I'm excited.
That ain't much compared to the eternal payment for sin. I wasn't
going to tell it, but I will. I got people scared to death
by AI and all this other garbage and nonsense because they ain't
got enough sense to fear a holy God. So they come up, they imagine
things. And I got Tom Harding's bulletin a couple of weeks ago
and Siri recommended I add something to my calendar. And it said,
do you want to make an appointment to pay the sin debt? I got to
hold my passion. I said, Siri don't understand
what she's talking about. She don't know what sin is, just
like every other little being walking around this place here
don't know. You don't know what that means. We do. If God's taught you what that
is, that'll break your heart. You're gonna have some sorrow
over that, but that sorrow's turned into joy. Didn't he say that?
He was right. His words proved to me again.
The work's done. He said, I've given them thy
word. Verse 14. And the world hath hated them
because they are not of this world, even as I am not of the
world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. Leave
them right there. But the world hates them. Uh-huh. Keep them
right there. But that thou shouldest keep
them from evil. Keep them right where I got them. You happy?
A lot of times I ain't. I'm going to tell you something
that believers experience. And I'm going to prove it to
you in God's word. Bear with me, okay? The Lord's praying
here. He prayed that we stay here in
this world that hates us, and it's got all its problems, and
its troubles, and its strains, and everything that we don't
like. It pleased Him to ask the Father
to keep them right where I got them. I wonder how many times
I pray for something I asked my wife this other day. And then
in holy, perfect intercession, my Lord prays 180 degrees from
what I just asked. What do you think? Lord, let
this happen. Lord, take me out of this world.
Nope. Here's what he meant to say.
Are you thankful for divine? Does that make you want to get
a prayer chain going and get you a bunch of lists going and
all that stuff like that? Father, I pray that you pray for me.
He's praying for us right here. Give me the wisdom to ask that
you are my wisdom, and give me the wisdom to ask that you're
my intercession, and give me the wisdom to ask that you're my
sanctification. Well, I'll get sanctification in a minute. I get too spun up. David prayed his son to be healed,
didn't he? It said in 2 Samuel 12, 15, and Nathan departed his
house, under his house, and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's
wife, barren of David, he was very sick. And David therefore
besought God for the child. He prayed, and David fasted.
That means he couldn't eat. Well, I'm not going to have a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich today, because that's going to
debt God to me. No. Eat something, David. I can't.
They tried feeding him. He couldn't eat. Get up off the
floor, David. Take you a shower. Let's put
a bed underneath you. I can't. Just limp, wasn't he?
He besought God for the child, and he fasted, and he went in
and he lay all night upon the earth, didn't even get in the
bed. He was praying that his son live. Did the Lord pray that
his son live? No. He killed his son. That's what was best. Did he
take David with him? Left David in the world, didn't
he? And they said, he's dead. David heard him talking, and
he arose from the earth, and he washed, and he anointed himself,
and he changed his apparel. He got dressed up because he
was going to go to God's house, and he worshiped God. And they
said, what are you doing? How are you eating now? And you're
cleaned up, and you're joyful. What's wrong with you? And he
said to his servants with him, what thing is this that thou
hast done? They're asking him. And he said, you fasted and you
wept for the child when he's alive, but now he's dead and
you're just going to eat and you're fine. And he said, while
the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can
tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?
And God was gracious to him and killed his son. And God was gracious
to us and his people throughout time in killing his son. He said,
but now he's dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall
not return to me. He's with the Lord. Matter's settled. He prayed his son lived, didn't
he? Apostle Paul asked three times that that thorn in his
flesh be removed. And you know, I thought, I was
walking real early this morning, and I thought that thorn in the
flesh may have just simply been his flesh. Go read Romans 7. He knew what that was. He may
have just said three times, Lord, take me out of this body of death.
The meekest man ever born of Adam, Moses. He led the children of Israel
for 40 years through there and they tried killing him every
other day. And he's so patient and so meek
and so long-suffering, wasn't he? He finally had enough and
popped. But before that, he went to the Lord in Numbers 11. He
said, I'm not able to bear all this people alone because it's
too heavy for me. I can't do this. I'm beyond my
wits end. And he said, and if thou dost
deal with me, if this is how it's going to be, he said, I
pray thee. Moses prayed for the work was done. I pray thee out
of hand if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not
see my wretchedness." He says, kill me. If thou deal thus with
me, kill me. That was the meekest man on the
face of the earth who was given something to do, and he got most
of the way done, and he gave up, threw his hands there, and
said, kill me right now, God. Kill me. What was the answer? The Lord said unto Moses, gather
unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest
to be elders of the people. Go get me 70 hardworking, understandable,
knowledgeable men that know the Lord, officers over them, and
bring them to the tabernacle of conversation, that they may
stand there with thee. Go get you some help. I got work
to do. These people need to be preached to. That was the answer. Moses prayed, God kill me. And
God said, no, I got a people out there and you gotta go preach
to them. Why? To bear the burden of the people.
That was the meekest man that ever preached. What about the
most, that peevish prophet? I wrote down a bunch of synonyms.
I have a thesaurus for peevish. Grouchy. Testy. Petty. Crabby. Old Jonah. God's prophet. Jonah. Moses was
God's prophet. Jonah was God's prophet. It says
in Jonah 4.8, And it came to pass, when the sun did arise,
and God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the
head of Jonah after he had dried up his gourd. that he fainted
and he wished himself to die and said, it's better for me
to die than to live. God just used him to save a couple million
people, didn't he? He went up on the side of the
hill to watch it, see if the Lord's gonna burn it all down.
And God said to Jonah, does thou do well to be angry for the gourd?
And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death. He doubled
down. You ever doubled down? Was God
faithful? And he said, Lord, then said
the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast
not labored. Neither made us to grow, which came up by night
and perished by night. You're you're so mad over this
gourd. It just kept a little bit of shade over your head.
And then the Lord said in Jonah 411, And should I not spare Nineveh?
He's gonna have compassion over Nineveh. You just preach to him
for days walking through there. That great city wherein there
are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern their
left hand from the right hand. There's a bunch of babes there.
A whole bunch of them. And much cattle also, question
mark. Lord said, shouldn't I have saved
my people? John says, kill me. I want to die. I'm ready. I just,
I did a whole bunch. He ends with a question mark.
The book of Jonah ends with a question mark. What was the answer? Jonah
was already used to save a couple million people. It's the greatest
addition to the body of Christ ever in recorded history. And
he said, hadn't he done enough? Nope. What's the answer? Jonah
wrote the book of Jonah. There in our text, John 17 verse
15. It says, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. Why is mankind on this earth? That's a question that was big,
real big when I was a kid growing up. Why are we here? Getting
in philosophical classes and all those things, reading them
books. Why? That's the biggest why we have.
Why are we here? Why is mankind on this earth?
I'll tell you the answer. I hope for you young people,
I got enough gray hairs that you might believe me. I know
what, I know the truth. We are here, it's for the glory
of God, for the furtherance of the gospel. And by doing that,
his glory and the furtherance of the gospel, God's saving his
people that he has in this world. And then when he saves them,
when he's actively doing that, by calling them out as we're
seeing it, or we're just having a service where everybody in
that service is believers, I don't know. But those that he calls
out, he comforts them. And he benefits them, and he
teaches them, because we got something to learn. All of us
that are here, too. Moses and Elijah, that great
representation of the law and the prophets, came to the Lord
on the Mount of Transfiguration, didn't they? Moses asked the
Lord, said, Lord, kill me. And he said, no, I got work for
you to do. What happened to Elijah? Representation
of all the prophets. He said, Lord, kill me. I can't
do it. I have a message of condemnation.
I'm out preaching here. Ain't nobody believing. Sleeping
through every message I have, and they're throwing rocks at
me if they're awake, and they're trying to kill me at every turn. They hate your
gospel. They've all turned from you. Just kill me. Elijah in
1 Kings 18, he just mocked the 450 prophets of Baal. I mean,
stood in front of them. I mean, made fun of them. Made
a mockery of them. Caught down fire from heaven.
What a prophet. Man, man used a God. Was he God's
man? Was he God's man sent to that
place? You better believe he was. And then what happened right
after? Jezebel sent word, said, I'm
going to kill you. And he took off running. He ran for the hills,
didn't he? Jezebel said, she's going to
kill him. It said he went for his life. He didn't go for a
trot. He didn't go at a snail's pace.
He took off running. First Kings 19, it says he came
to a cave and he lodged there and he went and found that juniper
tree, remember? The angel came and fed him, went back to sleep,
woke him up again, fed him another time, said, you're gonna need
some strength for this, buddy. Hold on to your hat. And he went to
a cave and he lodged there. Behold, the word of the Lord
came to him. He said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? Lord don't
ask questions for information. He's teaching his prophet something.
That one he's going to meet on a Mount of Transfiguration and
talk about that death that he should accomplish. That work
that's done. He goes and wakes him up, don't
he? And he said, I've been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts. And that's true. He did, he said,
I went to all the children of Israel. I preached to them and
they forsaken your coven and they threw down your altars and
they burnt the whole place down and they pull out swords on me.
And then the Lord sent some things to him, didn't he? Sent a strong
wind. Knocked some trees down. Maybe had a big old brush fire.
From wind. He'd said. But the Lord wasn't
in the wind. And he went and he sent an earthquake
and the whole earth shook. Sometimes we need our earth shook
up. We need our world shook up. But the Lord wasn't in the earth
shaking. He wasn't in the wind. He sent a big fire. The Lord
wasn't in the fire. Then he sent a still, small voice. That was the Lord speaking. Wasn't
what Elijah expected. Wasn't what natural man expects,
is it? It couldn't be unheard. That's a voice of many waters.
Still, small voice. And Elijah heard it, he wrapped
his face, and he went outside that cave, and then the Lord
spoke to him again. He said, what doest thou hear,
Elijah? Isn't that exactly what he answered? Ask him. He just
asked him that. And he answers him verbatim,
word for word, exactly the way he said the first time. I'm jealous
for the Lord of hosts and his children. They won't listen and
just kill me. Take me now. You know what the
Lord's answer was? He said, I want you to go down
this way. He said, you're going to call a lodger here in a minute.
He said, but I've reserved to myself 7,000. Let me tell you
what that means. That doesn't mean that there
was 7,000 good moral Christians out there that are already serving
the Lord, and they're doing great on their own, and so you got
battle buddies. That means there's 7,000 of mine
there. Now go tell them about it. Go
tell them about the finished work, Elijah. He had no different
message. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Not go get your own, not sanctify yourself. Nothing's changed.
Go preach to him, Elijah. Go preach to him. Go preach my
word to him. The work is finished. Now you
got a job to do. Does the Lord need me and you
to save his people? Is it dependent on me? Absolutely
not. But it pleased him, that's the
way he's going to do it. I wish I was a better speaker.
I wish all my points made more sense. I wish I was better looking.
I wish I had a smoother voice and not the accent that I have.
This is the means the Lord's pleased to do. For after the
wisdom and the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. They didn't sit down, read their Bibles and figure him out.
I keep saying that and I hope mankind will hear me. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Not
foolish preaching, by the foolishness of preaching. All them prophets
have said, I just can't bear this. And he said, no, you can't.
God does not give us more than we can handle. We can't handle
nothing. That's what we need to get. And then he says, you
can't handle it. I'm going to show you you can't
handle it. And I'm going to show you that my grace is sufficient. Now get after
it. He told them in Matthew 8, he
said, go therefore and teach all nations. Go make disciples,
preach the gospel to every creature, is what Mark wrote, wasn't it?
Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, black, white, old, young, Democrat,
Republican, it don't make a difference. Whatever continent they're from,
go preach to them. Everybody needs it. Oh, hear all you nations,
all right? He said, go and baptize them
in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all the things whatsoever I've commanded you.
We've got a job to do. Just like Moses wrote He lived on it, and
he wrote it. And Jonah went through everything
Jonah did, and Jonah told you what Jonah was and what the Lord
did. He said, salvation to the Lord, and he wrote it down. We
read it. He said, lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the world. He said, Mark, go in all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth,
you believe, and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. That work in this world may be
a service to the Lord of condemnation in those that do not believe.
And it may be one like Jonah, where the whole county is safe. Could you imagine if the Lord
saved every soul in San Diego County? The outcome's the Lord's. The
work is the Lord's. The gospel is the Lord's. When
he'd go tell people. When he preached to them, don't
we? Paul said, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in
them that are saved and in them that perish. Both. To the one
a savor of death unto death, and to the other a savor of life
unto life. And who's sufficient for these things? Nobody. And the first one that thinks
they are, if they're used, they're going to be shown quickly that
they're not. For we are not as many which
are corrupt in the word of God, but as sincerity, but as of God,
in the sight of God, we speak in Christ." Just tell you what
he says. Well, I don't like that. Well,
I don't like that you don't like it, but I'm going to tell you
what he says. I'll not say that. If he says it, I'm going to say
it, as long as he's with me. If he sustains me, maybe I'll
chicken out if he takes his hand off of me and I'll start kowtowing
everything underneath the sun and start telling people what
they want to hear. I pray God keeps me. He's got work to do
because the work's done. Isn't it? Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians
4, and he says, We have this treasure in earth and vessel,
that the excellency, this whole thing's orchestrated this way,
that the excellency and the power may be of God and not of us.
It's just proof. Outright proof. It ain't me,
and it ain't man that man's so prone to follow. It's God that
does it. It is. The work's done. So we're given
a job to tell everybody that the work's done because all the
work's finished. There in our text, John 17, verse
15. I pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them
from the evil. While we're here on this earth,
We don't have to pray to be delivered from sicknesses. We don't pray
to be delivered from persecutions. We don't pray to be delivered
from all these crafty, churchy things that we've been taught
to pray for and all that stuff, but from sin. Isn't that right?
Lord, keep us from evil. Keep us from ourselves. Keep
us from sin. Is that how he taught us how
to pray? From the evil one, too, isn't it? That's a believer's
joy. That's the only way somebody's
going to be happy. If they're happy in themselves, it's going
to prove to be not happiness. It's going to be a false hope.
And they're going to be ashamed. If they're looking at what they've
done, and their knowledge, and their studying, and their church
attendance, and all the churchy things they did before, and all
this other garbage and junk, and their own righteousness is
what it is. They're going to come up short. They're going
to be ashamed. A believer's joy is that the Lord's done it all.
He's paid for all sin, and He sanctified His people, and they're
as holy as they're ever going to be. Right now. And He did it. He's our wisdom,
He's our righteousness, He's our sanctification, and He bought
us. I'm not my own. I'm His. Bought by His blood. That makes believers happy. He
said, I want my joy to be in you. That's joy. That's comfort,
isn't it? Verse 16. They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. I thought
of that anointing oil of Moses. The Lord told him how to make
it. And he said, don't you dare let anybody make it again. Don't
you go home with the recipe and recreate it. Don't do it. He
was playing about it, wasn't he? And he said, now you go around
and you put the oil on that candlestick. That's mine. And you go put the
oil on that table for the show break. That's mine. And you go
put the oil over here. That's mine. And whatever that oil touched,
it was the Lord's. That means it was sanctified.
It was set apart for his use. That oil, whenever it touched
it, wasn't a down payment that it could be the Lord's in the
future after 50 short payments. It wasn't that someday it was
gonna be the Lord's, or if it tried real hard, it had the opportunity
to be the Lord's. As soon as that oil touched it,
it was His, it was holy, it was sanctified, set apart, different. Might have been in this world,
but it wasn't of the world, it was God's. Right then. Why did He do such
a thing? When that blood of Christ, when
He applies it and it touches a sinner, that sinner's completely
His, it's holy, it's without blame, He owns it, and it's for
His service. Got a job to do. Now maybe that
candlestick all it did was hold candles. An inanimate object
just held candles. Table just held up some showbread.
I don't know what that job is. Pinky finger does something that
a big toe does, doesn't it? Heart does something different.
Kidneys do something else. Everything's got a different
job, but they got jobs to do. Why? Work's done. He set us apart, didn't he? He
sanctified us. He says, sanctify them through
thy truth, thy word. Verse 18, as thou hast sent me
into the world. Was Christ sent into this world
to do something? Did he do it? He sent us to do
something. He said, I got a people out there.
I know so, because this earth is still spinning. The sun's
come up today, and if it comes up tomorrow, he's got sheep out
there that don't know him yet. And I ain't going to tell them
that the work's done. He's going to sanctify them.
As, after the same manner, as thou hast sent me into the world,
even so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes,
I sanctify myself. How are they going to be sanctified?
He's about to go to that cross and sanctify himself. And he's
our sanctification. And any man that, I don't care
if they agree with me on 99.999% of something, and they say, you've
got to sanctify yourself, they're taking Christ's works and it's
not good enough, and they can do it themselves, and they might
as well be guilty of the whole law. That's what Paul said, right?
That's a damnable heresy. In case somebody didn't understand
what I meant, that's a damnable heresy. He said, for their sakes, I sanctify
myself, that they also may be sanctified through truth. Who's
the truth? They'd say, what? Christ is the
truth. He said, I'm sanctifying myself. They're gonna be sanctified
through me. He's our sanctification. If man believes he does it, that's
what he preaches. If he believes Christ does it, he preaches what
Christ said right there. It's plain, it's in English.
Christ set himself apart and the Father set us apart because
we're in him. He did it. Neither pray I for
these alone. This is beautiful. We'll close
on it. Verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Could you imagine if you heard him? You heard his voice with the
ear, with the hearing of the ear. And he said, I pray for
them, Lord. I've kept them, keep them. I've
sanctified, sanctify them. I came here to do something.
I got something for them to do. Now you keep them, protect them
from evil and sustain them all the way to the end until they
serve my purpose and then bring them to me where I am. World War Three is breaking out.
I don't care. That's joyful, isn't it? Now,
when we're going to get sad, when we walk out that door and
we see the world, think about the world, smell the world, worry
about the world, look at ourselves, oh, I hope you don't pass a mirror.
I'll get real depressed on that one. When we look to Him because
the work's done, that makes me want to do my job He gave me
to do, preach, because the work's done. I hope that's a joy to
you. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your prayer.
Prayer of our Ancestor, our King, our Lord. Thank you for allowing
us to read it. Let us dwell on these things.
Not look to providence or circumstance or nonsense of this world, knowing
that we're in it. Keep us here till the trials
and the Providence that you've been pleased to give us is accomplished. Our brothers and sisters here
of Christ's finished work, his person, who he is, what a joyful
thing it is to tell of him. Oh, thank you for this forgiveness,
our redemption, our sanctification, the righteousness that were made
in Christ. Thank you for his faithfulness.
Forgive us for what we are. So quick to grab a hold of this
world instead of be used in it. Thank you for our brethren, those
that you've equipped equally and that so many of these trials
are for them, for us. Knowing we're being used that
way, Lord, and the things that you've said in us and you've
kept us here, make it joyful in us and in our brethren. The
trials they suffer, give them comfort in it. Knowing it's for
our, this whole body. We're thankful. It's because
of Christ we are. Amen. All right.