My oh my. The name of the message
tonight is kept from evil. Kept from evil. Tonight we'll
continue our study in John chapter 17 and Lord willing we'll cover
two verses tonight. What is said in verse 16 we actually
covered last week about the people of God not being of the world. So we're just gonna continue
on our study. We'll go from 15 to 17. So next
week we'll be looking at John 17, verse 17. But let's read, let's read John
17, verses six to 16. Now remember, we as God's people,
our citizenship is in heaven. We seek a better country. This
world is not our home. As that song says, we're just
a passing through. We are going to be up in glory
very quickly in light of the years. I find, can you believe
it's already October? What happened? my goodness is it me that but
the is the older you get the time he goes even faster each
it just seems to speed right up my goodness so our citizenship
isn't here and and we're we're waiting for our promotion aren't
we we're waiting for our promotion when the lord calls us home my
oh my and at our death when he returns either when either when
we die or when if he returns and we're still alive we're going
to be with him we're going to be with him forever forever glory
to his name So let's now look at John 17, and we'll read verses,
again, 6 to 16, to see the context of the verses we're studying
tonight. Keep in mind, again, this whole prayer is the high
priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this portion of
scripture that we're looking at now, from verses 6 to verse
19, he's speaking of the disciples, but it also has to do with we
who are the people of God as well. All the elect of all the
ages. Let's look at verse 6. I have
manifest 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. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I come 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 given me, for they
are thine, mine. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world." So where are we?
Where are the people of God? We're in the world. Now our brothers
and sisters, they've gone home to be with the Lord, but right
now there's a remnant that's in the world right now. Right
now. And he's talking about the disciples.
He's saying, I'm going to be going, I'm gonna go back to my
father, but these are gonna still be in the world. They're still
gonna be in the world And I am no more in the world, but these
are in the world and I come to thee holy father keep thou thine
own name Those whom thou has given me that they may be one
as we are verse 12 right now Well, I was with them in the
world. I kept them in thy name. Look at that kept kept by the
Great Shepherd those that thou gavest me Look how many times
we've seen already, those you gave me, those who are thine,
they're mine, my, all possessive words, beloved, all possessive
words. I have kept, and none of them
is lost, but the sun of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now I come to thee, And these things 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, because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. So we see verse 16 is very similar
to verse 14. And we covered the fact that
we're not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world.
Remember he came from above, right? We came from beneath,
but we're born again from above. We have the Holy Spirit within
us. So we're not of the world anymore.
We're not of the world anymore. Now this prayer of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this high priestly prayer, is very precious to we who are
the people of God. It's such a precious, precious
prayer. Such a precious portion to all
true believers. Because we have an interest in
it, beloved. As the born-again, blood-washed people of God, when
He's talking about those whom the Father has given Him, we
have an interest in that, don't we? That's us. That's us. So we have an interest in this
prayer. My not only because it's spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ,
but because he's lifting us up to the father. Most importantly, though, it's
spoken by the by the great king. He's praying for his elect. And marvel, as we've looked through
this prayer and as we will continue, marvel at the Lord's intercession
for us. He's saying we're in the world
now, right? He's already prayed that we'd
be kept from evil. Now, we have evil all around
us, don't we? Do you know what? If he hadn't prayed for us, we'd
be consumed by it ourselves. If the Lord didn't protect us,
we'd be consumed by sin ourselves. Because we're born again, yes,
but we still have the flesh, don't we? And if flesh is a flesh,
we battle with the flesh, don't we? All the time, all the time. Think of this though, however
weak we are, however poor, however little our faith, our names are
still written on his heart. They're written on his heart,
beloved. And he will not lose one of us.
He will not lose one of his sheep. Because we're kept by His power,
all according to His eternal love. Kept by Him. It's wonderful. Right now, we're
on His heart. And we find that hard to believe,
don't we? But it's true, beloved. He's
interceding right now for us. And note in the first section,
Spurgeon brings forth a negative prayer. He says, I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world. And then we see the positive
side of this verse, where it proclaims, but that thou shouldest
keep them from evil. Now for us, I pray that thou
shouldest not take them out of the world. Have you ever heard people talk
about You wonder why the Lord doesn't take people home as soon
as he saves them? Because they just go right to
glory, right? But there's a purpose. There's
a purpose, beloved, why we're still on this earth. Yeah, we
have labors to do for the Lord, but there's something else too.
We're being conformed to the image of the Son. And we do. He's ordained us to
good works. Ephesians 2 brings it out so
clearly. He's ordained every believer to good works. We don't
know what they are, but he's going to have us do them, beloved.
He's going to have us do them. Remember, if you give a cup of
water in the Lord's name to one of his people, It's like you've
done it unto him. Now we don't, we don't go, okay,
I gotta give Dave a cup of water now. If he comes over, or D,
I gotta give you a cup of water. It's not like that. We just do
it naturally, don't we? Because we love one another.
Because we love each other. My, oh my. So let's, let's consider
the first part of this verse. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world. Again, when we see people converted
to God, when men or women are turned from their sin and their
iniquity unto righteousness, which is only in Christ, when
men and women are saved from their sins, the thought again
sometimes strikes us, Lord, just take them home. So they don't
have to go through what we go through, right? And would it not be an amazing
thing to be translated and to go right to glory after the lord
saves you To lead the realms of sin and be in the bosom of
the lord jesus christ Would be amazing to be with the one who
loves us with an everlasting love Would it not be wiser to take
the young plants out from the chilly air of this world where they may be possibly be
injured or weakened and transplant them to the land where they may
bloom in peace forever. Oh, how our ways are not the
Lord's ways. It's not the Lord's way. Remember the gathering demoniac,
one of my favorite portions of scripture. where that man is tearing up
chains and everything, that just pictures religion, man trying
to reform them and put chains on them and try to fix them. He just tears them all to pieces.
But when the Lord comes, that man is sitting at the feet of
Jesus. He's clothed, right? Which pictures us resting at
the feet of Christ, clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
and the scripture says he's in his right mind. the mind of Christ. Now that man, he wanted to go
with the Lord. He actually asked the Lord, can
I go with you? And our Lord, our Lord, after he said this, he said,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, right?
He said here in John 17, our Lord said to that demoniac that
the The former demon possessed man. You go and tell the great
things that God has done for you. Go tell. Like you said. Something for him to do. Just
go and tell him. We can't convert him, right?
Norm and I were talking today, and I said to Norm, what a blessing
it is that we can stand up and preach and proclaim the gospel
and leave it in the Lord's hands, leave the numbers in the Lord's
hands, whatever he wants. And we were talking how spiritual
growth in the church is so important, and we were both talking about
how we see it amongst where we preach. I see it here, incredibly. He sees it there too. And Norm
said something, he said, you know, people like to think about
numbers, he said, but spiritual growth is more important than
numbers. And I thought, you know, there's something to that. Having
God's people grow in grace, and that's the Holy Spirit, beloved,
that has nothing to do with me. And Norm said, isn't it wonderful
that it's off our shoulders? I said, oh brother, because we
both came out of religion. We both came out of a religion
where it's all about what you do and you got to get everybody
pumped up and you got to do all this. We both of us came out
of the same thing. It's not about that. It's not about that at all. Not
at all. And look at the prayer of our
Lord here. Again, how our ways are not his ways. The demoniacs said, Lord, I would
follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And I'm going to say it
again, what Jesus said, go to thy friends and relatives and
tell them the great things that the Lord had done for you. Is
that not what we do? While we're still here on this
earth? Y'all heard, I got the chance
to talk to Crystal. You know, when that door opens,
we just talk, don't we? We just tell the great things
that God has done for us. He saved my soul. And He can
save anyone who comes to Him. By faith. By faith. And think of this. Some men, when they are converted,
are all for going speedily to heaven. But they've not done
what God's purposed yet. Spurgeon said this, they would
like to wear the crown without bearing the cross. They desire
to win without running and conquer without a battle. But their thoughts
have no agreement from Jesus because he proclaims here, I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, end
quote. The Lord's praying about the
apostles. He's saying, Father, I pray you don't take them out
of the world yet. Because what do they have to do? They've got
to go preach the gospel, don't they? He's going to send them out and
say, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In the prayer of our Lord, He
says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. God
has appointed a time when we will be taken out of this world.
Everyone in this world, believer and unbeliever, has an appointment
that we shall not miss. I don't like going to the doctor.
I'll make an appointment and then I'll call the doctor and
say, well, I'm gonna see you next month. As long as I got
my refills and all that, I play this little game. It's not good.
Vicky's really trying to get me to stop it. And now I got a doctor's appointment.
This is two weeks now. I have to make that appointment
this time. But this is an appointment no
one will miss. See, we can reschedule appointments. We can miss appointments,
right, in this world. But this is an appointment no
one will miss. Everyone in this world is appointed to die. there's no escaping death. Think
of this. As soon as we're born, as soon as we start breathing,
our hearts are a drumbeat to death. Every beat of our heart
is a drumbeat to death. It's coming. It's coming. So God's appointed a time when
we will die. And there's no one who's going
to escape that. But here we see a sweet way of our lord talking about we who are his
people that i pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world now death for you and i as believers
it doesn't have a sting anymore does it now when death comes
we're going to struggle like everybody else does to breathe
until we have our last breath But death doesn't have the sting,
because we're going right to glory, aren't we? All because
of what Christ Jesus our Lord did. Again, death will come for all
of us. All who are listening to this message or will listen
to this message. Death's going to come. And if we be the Lord's,
we're in His presence, just like that. My oh my. But if we're not, oh my. Woe. Woe is waiting. And just as a soldier, when he's
done his duty, he hangs up his kit, and he goes home and rests. Old
Roman legionnaires, when they finished their conscription and
all that, they would settle in the lands that they conquered
and just rest, become farmers. But we're going to go to glory.
We're going to go to the ultimate rest, and that is the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. And note our Lord is praying
for his disciples, and he does not pray that one of his chosen
people should too soon be removed. Because he knows the time of
their appointment, doesn't he? He knows the time of blooming
for the flower. He knows when the weary pilgrim
has made it home. and will be taken home. And he
prays here that his chosen people, these disciples, that they should
not too soon be removed. He does not desire to see, Spurgeon
said, his newly begotten souls plumb their wings and fly aloft
to heaven until their time shall come. And how frequently does the wearied
pilgrim put up a prayer? Oh, that I had wings like a dove,
that I'd fly away, that I'd go home to be with the Lord. How
many times do we cry that, eh? But the Lord has us tarried,
doesn't he? He has us tarried. But look at this. He's prayed
for us. Not only can this prayer be applied
to the disciples, but to all the people of God. to all the
people of God. And Jesus didn't plead for our
immediate removal by death, did he? Not at all. But he does ask that the Father
would keep us from evil. He places us again into the hands
of Almighty God. This is God the Son doing this. He asked that God would protect
us. But he never asked for us to
be gathered in before we are ripe. You don't gather fruit till it's
ripe, right? When we are conformed to the
image of Christ, You just take us home. Just take
us home, beloved. Look at these words again. I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. Now,
why does God have us tarry in this earth after we're saved?
Why does our Lord Jesus Christ here pray that those who he's
redeemed with his precious blood, those he's saved by his grace,
why does he pray that we not be removed right away out of
the earth. Here are some things to think
about. First, it would not be for our
own good to be taken out of the world right away. A little stay
on this earth will make heaven even sweeter. Think of that. A little stay. A little taste
of the things we go through on this earth. That's why we yearn
for heaven, beloved. That's why we yearn to be with
our King. That's why we yearn for Him.
And nothing makes - think of this - nothing makes rest so
sweet as toil. Right? After you work a hard
day, what do you want to do? You want to go home and rest. And I'll tell you what, when
you're wore out, we used to come back from the construction sites
just absolutely wore out, Vicki and I, sometimes, because we'd
get home at 11 or 12 at night, and we'd worked all day long.
And we'd come home, and we'd just be ready to fall over. But
just to sit down for a minute and rest, it was so sweet. So
sweet, just to sit, just to rest. And nothing, again, makes rest
so sweet as toil. Nothing can render security so
pleasant as a long exposure to alarms and fears. Think of what
we go through in this world. There's fear, there's alarms
that occur in our lives, right? But nothing will make the security
we have in Christ more sweet than all that happening. Because
what happens? What happens when a storm starts?
You see that storm cloud start to come in your life. Oh my,
here it comes. And just like the sky gets black
here, it gets black. And sometimes you feel like you're
covered in Egyptian night. But there's always a ray, isn't
there? There's always a light unto our
path. And it's He who is the light.
The Lord Jesus Christ. He's ever with us. Lighting our
path, beloved. All through that storm. Those
little dark clouds come around. There's an envelope. There's
still that light. And He's guiding us and directing
us all through that. See, if the Lord took us home
right away after our conversion, we'd never experience that. Right? We'd never experience that. We've
never experienced that loving care, knowing that our Savior
is ever with us. He's always beside us. He's carrying
us. The footprints in the sand, I
think they should just name it the one set of footprint. He
just carries us our whole life, beloved. He does for me. I know that. He does for me. He just carries
me along. Oh my. And the more we're battered
and scarred on this earth, the more glorious will be our victory.
The more, the more glorious will be the triumph when we get home
to heaven. And our Lord took us there and bought us there.
All according to his will and his purpose. And what will we
say? Hallelujah! We'll be praising his mighty
name with the other saints, won't we? That's what the saints right
now are doing. They're praising the Lord right
now. Sister Kay, yeah. Brother Jim, yeah. Brother Wayne,
they're praising God right now. Brother Richard, Sister Irene,
they're just giving glory to God right now. And they're absolutely
sinless. No pain, no sorrow. My, it'll
be amazing. But all those situations they
went through in their lives, right? All those things, just
let them know the truth when Christ said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. I'm always gonna be with you. Promise. Thy word is a light unto thy
path, right? And this word is a light for
us. And Christ is ever with us. Lighten, as I said, lighten the
way of this life for us. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He ordains our steps, beloved.
My. Absolutely amazing. Spurgeon
said, the deeper droughts of wool we drink here below, the
sweeter will be eternal salvation in and through Jesus Christ.
And he says, think upon this eternal glory where there's no
more sin. None. None. Dear brothers and sisters who
went before us they have no sin. They're not struggling with anything
None at all and See here. We are we toil every day Don't
we we toil every day and that's why when we get the glory we're
gonna sing unto him who's redeemed us with his blood Unto the lamb
that was slain We're gonna give him all the glory honor and praise
below So let us not then, my brethren, fear to advance through
our trials. For they are for our good. They're
for our good. And we've all went through them,
haven't we? But they're for our good. And they're going to stop.
And we're going to look back and see that they were a benefit
to us. And when we get home to glory,
I believe it's gonna be revealed the whole thing for us. And I
really think we're gonna see so many times when we should
have perished and the Lord protected us. All kinds of time, I believe
that. There are so many times. I know
times when I should have died and I didn't. Before I was saved
and after I was saved. My oh my. The Lord is so good. Number two. Reasons why the second
reason why the Lord keeps us in this world is think of the
fellowship we have with Christ when we're on this earth Think
of the sweet fellowship we have with him He's told us here never
leave us for our forsake us during any storm that ever comes our
way and I believe I believe that blessed fellowship with Christ
comes more in the valleys than it does in the mountaintops I've experienced that have you
Yeah, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Blessed fellowship with Christ.
So it's for our good that we remain on this earth. It's for
our good that we remain here. We would not have known this
sweet fellowship of walking through this life. of having the Lord
ever be with us if he took us right away after conversion.
We'd never know it. We'd never know it. I should never know in half the
Savior's love if I'd not went through the storms of afflictions. So it's for our good that we
remain on this earth. It's for our good. And how sweet
it is to learn about the Savior's love, about his unchanging love,
do you know there's never been a time, there's never been a
time, I heard this in the message last week and I'm still, it's
still rolling around in my brain, there's never been a time when
Christ didn't love us. Never. I told my daughter that last
night. I said, Crystal, for God's people, there's never been a
time when they weren't loved by God. She said, are you kidding
me? I said, no. Isn't that amazing? Poor, wretched,
no good sinner like me. You find out his love has been
set upon you from eternity, and you're just like, my Lord and
my God, right? Oh, praise his mighty name. He's
just amazing. So now we see, brother and sister
in Christ, why we remain on this earth. It's for our eternal benefit. It's for us to have sweet fellowship
with Christ as we go through things in this world. He says,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. Now,
the third reason that we're still in this world is for the glory of God. But
glory to God. When we go through a trial and
an affliction, we cling to our blessed Savior, don't we? We
just hold on to Him. We just cling to Him. Like Russian
water's coming at us, and we're just clinging to our King. You
know what? That Russian water won't hurt
us when we're clinging to Him. What happens when you, if there's
a big post in the river that can't be moved, the big rock,
big rock, because he's our rock. And you're clinging to that rock
and there's the storms of water coming all around you. And if
you hold on to that rock, you're fine. But if you let go, you're
swept away, right? Think of this too. Not only are
we clinging, but he's just got us in his grip. And he won't
let us go. So even if we let go, you're
mine. Nothing's gonna happen to you. Nothing's gonna happen to you
that's not within my permissive will. My, oh, that's such comfort,
isn't it? We cling to him. He's our only
hope. He's our refuge. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our salvation. He's our salvation. It is He,
it is He who sacrificed Himself to save His people from their
sins. It's He who went to Calvary and suffered and bled and died
in our room and place. It's He who bore the wrath of
God as our sins were imputed to Him and the wrath of God fell
upon Him for us in our room and place. It's He who's done this. It's He who rose again on the
third day and ascended into heaven to show that God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. He rose for our justification.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ who's done all this. It's He who shed
His precious blood to redeem our eternal soul. See, we were
on a slate block of sin. You ever see the old slate blocks
in the old movies? Bunch of slaves and they get
somebody stand up in the block and they say somebody says I'll
pay this much and they just keep We were on the slave block of
sin beloved And he He's mine I'll pay full for him. I'll pay full for her Everything you want I'll pay
for He's mine father gave him to me father gave her to me My,
isn't that wonderful, beloved? And we don't know who the elect
are, right? So the gospel goes out to everybody, doesn't it?
Like you said, whosoever will, let him come. I'm not afraid
of those words. Let him come to the water and laugh freely.
Let him come. My, we're not going to hinder
God. No. I'm just a poor sinner, are you?
And nothing at all. Nothing at all. But you know
what? Jesus Christ is my all in all. We're gonna look at a
story about that at the end of this message. Is he yours? Is he your all in all? Oh, the
believer says, oh, I own him as my all in all by the grace
of God and by the mercy of God. My so god's people god is glorified
in the salvation of his people We're regenerated by the power
of god the holy spirit My what great things he's done
for us Let's read verse 15 again He says I pray not That thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from evil or from the evil Here we see our Lord again
praying for our preservation. He says, I'm going to go. I'm
going to leave this world. Father, they're in your hands. We are in the hands of Jehovah. Not only are we in his hands,
we're in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are kept
by the power of God. God the Holy Spirit has regenerated
us, hasn't he? We're not of this world anymore.
We're not of this world anymore. Why do we like to come to church
and others don't want to have nothing to do with it? Why do
we specifically want to hear the gospel preached and we don't
want to have anything to do with error? Because we're not of this
world, beloved. God the Holy Spirit's done a
work in us, hasn't he? And we love the truth. We love
the gospel of God's salvation in and through Christ alone. That which speaks of the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. That which testifies of the glory
of God, that salvation is of the Lord. All according to His everlasting
glory, His goodness, His mercy. in His grace, in His eternal
love, which has been manifested to us by the fact that He sent
His Son to die as a propitiation for our sins, to die as our substitute,
to redeem us. The Word of God came to this
world willingly to save us from our sins. And we see here the
Word of God praying for our preservation, Again, he puts us again into
the Father's care. And note the Lord Jesus Christ
does not make their dying an object of prayer, as the latter
part of this verse says, but that thou shouldest keep them
from evil. Keep them from evil. Keep them
from the evil. Our Lord Jesus Christ is praying
that the apostles would be preserved in life, beloved. knowing that
their death would follow at the appointed time. He already knew
that it's appointed unto man once to die. He already knew
that. So he asked the Father that while
they're alive on this earth, please keep them from evil. Keep them from the evil. Let's
read it again. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy 2. They're not of
the world. They would be hated and persecuted
and killed by Christ's enemies in this world. And the Savior
does not ask the Father to take them out before that, does he?
Because they had a work to do. They had to go and preach the
gospel. And that gospel, beloved, just
spread like wildfire. all according to the providence
and will of God. Look at this. Look at this in
2 Timothy 2, verses 9 and 10. Paul writes to Timothy, he says,
wherein I suffer trouble? As an evildoer, even under bonds,
but the word of God is not bound. So he's being bound for supposedly
being an evildoer, which is preaching the gospel, which we know is
not being an evildoer. But he said, but the word of
God's not bound. It's still Roman free. See, the word of God cannot be caged because it's the power of God
unto salvation. And it will go and accomplish
exactly what the Lord has willed it will accomplish. There was
a day for every one of us who are believers that that word
was preached and we heard it for the first time. Didn't we? He's calling my voice, he's calling
my name. My. My, isn't that wonderful? Oh, we must remain in this world
for a little while. You know why? For the comfort
and for the edification of the church, too. We're each a blessing
to one another. That's why fellowship is so important.
Because we're a blessing to one another. Dave, you mentioned
the coal aspect. You take a coal out from amidst a bunch of coals
and you stick it over here, that coal is going to die and go cold,
isn't it? And that's what happens. Yeah, you testify that's what
happened to you, Dave. But now you're back. It's just, man,
the halls are just, it's amazing, isn't it? It's so sweet. It's
so wonderful. Just amazing what the Lord's
done. My, oh, my. So they had a work
to do. They were to go preach the gospel.
They'll be taken to glory, but it'll be in God's time, right?
We'll be taken to glory. We're ready now, aren't we? We're
ready now. Sister Barb Kirkpatrick, she
says, I believe this world just makes us homesick for heaven.
I said, oh, amen, it does, doesn't it? All these trials we go through
makes us yearn to be in glory even more. And look, though, he prays that
they might be all kept from the evil one. The believer does not
pray for death nor deliverance from the common ills of mankind,
or even persecution for the sake of the gospel, but be delivered
from sin, don't we? Sin is what bothers us the most,
isn't it? Persecution will come. But sin
is ever with us. My. Do you know what? I'm going
to tell us a little story later on. that won't have us sitting
down there going, oh, I'm such a sinner. I just, I'm going to
tell us a little story later on. And it helped me today. Oh
my gosh. Glory be to God. I'm saved. I'm
redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord, the Lamb. Think of this too. Behind all
evil influence stands Satan. We know that. That's especially
Against him that we need protection listen to the words of the master
He said in the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan had desired
to have you That he may sift you as wheat
that's what he does We're no match for him are we but listen
to this this is what but I prayed for thee oh The master says to
Peter. I prayed for you. I That thy
faith fail not. If Christ prays and our faith
will fail not, what happens? Our faith won't fail, will it? That's from God. We give Him
all the glory for that, don't we? Because if it was our man-made
faith, it'll be gone. Right? Oh my. He says, I prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. That's what we're to do. We're
to strengthen one another. Encourage one another. And I
see that now. I see that here. Last three years
I see it. It's incredible. It's absolutely
amazing. And it's all what God's done.
It's all Him, beloved. Like I said on Sunday, there's
no law anymore, is there? It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And our Lord is praying that
the Father would keep them from evil. From the evil, not just
the evil one being Satan, but the evil of sin too. And, oh my, sin is evil and bitter. And it's committed against our
God. It's committed against our God. committed against his righteous
law and it brings ruin and destruction upon man and from this the Apostles
were kept because they're in Christ they're in Christ now
they're still sinners living on this earth but their sin is
not imputed to them because it's been imputed to Christ it's wonderful
isn't it my oh my they're not they're not removed from indwelling
sin nor the commission of sin And they're certainly not under
the dominion of it anymore. Now we struggle with sin, don't
we? Now we struggle with it. And we won't totally fall because
it's He who keeps us. He who upholds us. And the scripture
says we are kept by the power of God. Isn't that wonderful?
That's so wonderful. I'll tell you why. And our Lord
prays that the disciples, as well as we who are the people
of God, be kept from evil. The evil of the world. The evil
of the world. He's also praying that we be
kept from Satan. The evil one. The evil one. Who is enmity originally
and immutably. Not from being tempted by him,
because we are tempted, aren't we? All the time. But from sinking
under his temptations. Lord keeps us. Lord keeps us. He goes about as a roaring lion.
Lord keeps us. We don't get devoured by Him. He can't do nothing to us unless
God allows it. And even then, we're in the Father's
hands, aren't we? Protected. Protected. And this does not suggest, this
prayer of our Lord does not suggest that our Lord doesn't have the
power or the strength to keep us. He's simply giving us to
the Father. Our Lord has all power, all might. But He's in full submission to
the Father. Remember when He's on this earth? He's in full submission
to the Father, isn't He? And this verse brings forth how
dear God's people are to Christ. How dear that you and I, as the
elect of God, are dear to Christ. And remember, there's a bunch
of lost sheep out there, isn't there? And the Lord has a message
going out, and He's going to save every one of His lost sheep.
They're not going to... How do we know? Because we're
saved! He saved us, didn't He? We who
are His people. I'm going to close with this
little story. It's going to take a few minutes. A guy named Happy Jack. Happy Jack. We may be like Happy Jack and
repeat these words. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. There once was a
poor man who lived in a small country town who had not all the sense people
usually have, but he had sense enough to be a great drunkard and a swearer. And he wants to listen to a poor
woman. And she was singing this song as she went along the street. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in all. And she was singing
this from her heart, beloved. And he went home repeating these
words. And he put his trust in the crucified
Savior. And he was really converted. Well, he soon came to the church
and though he was a peddler and always traveling about, he said
to the folks at the local church, I want to join your church. They remember in his very sinful
life. Required some great evidence
of a challenge before they received him. Oh, says he, I must come
in. but you being a great sinner
and you are unconverted out of the elders. My oh my. Well, said Jack, I don't know
if I'm unconverted and I confess I'm a great sinner, but I'm a
poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in
all. They could not get him from any
other testimony. That's all he kept saying. They
asked him all kinds of questions, and he just kept saying, I'm
a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all
in all. So they let him in. They let him in. They couldn't
refuse him, so they accepted him into fellowship. And after this, he was happy. One day a Christian man came
to him and said, but you always seem so happy, Jack, and pleased. How is it so? Well, he said, I ought to be
happy, for I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. Well, but, said the gentleman,
I can't see how you can always be so happy and sure. I sometimes
lose evidences of my salvation. Jack says, I don't. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. He never got away
from that, did he? He never got away from that.
Also the friend I am at times miserable because I remember
my sad sinfulness even that I have been since conversion also Jack
Well, then you've not began to sing. You've not began to sing.
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my
all at all Isn't this wonderful, oh, isn't it wonderful I Oh, said the friend, how do you
get rid of doubts and fears? My faith frequently fails, and
I miss my sure hope in Christ. My frames are so variable, and
feelings so contrary. What do you think of that? Think,
said Jack. Why, Master, I have no good things
to care about, because I'm a poor sinner, nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? What a wonderful story, isn't
it? What a wonderful story. Now we see the reason why our
Lord interceded and said, I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from
evil. And may we sing and say with Jack, I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all, by the
grace and mercy of God. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer?