Well, tonight we'll be back in
John chapter 17, and we will read verses 6 to 16 to see the
context of the verse. And our verse for tonight will
be verse 14. In tonight's verse, along with
verses 11 to 15, we see our Lord praying for the perseverance
of the disciples. Look at verse 11. He says, Now
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 hast given me, that they may be one as we are. And then
look in verse 12. So he asked the Father to keep
them. And then he says, While I was in the world with them,
I kept them in thy name, those whom thou hast given me. And
none of them is lost, save the son of perdition. And then he
asks that their joy might be full. And then he says tonight,
he says in verse 14, that the world hates them. And then he
prays again in verse 15, that the Father would keep them. I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. My oh my, how
much our great King loves his people. Loves his people. How
he's the great shepherd of our soul. So what comfort we, who
are the people of God, we're weak and frail, and yet we look
here and we can gain great comfort. We can find that the Lord Jesus
Christ, our wonderful, merciful Savior, has placed us into the
care of the Father. placed us into his care. And
we who are the born again, blood-washed people of God, we are kept by
the power of God." We're kept by the power of God. So now let's
read verses 6 to 16. Again we see this, and we've
seen so much that we're kept by Jehovah, and we see the Son
giving us to the Father's care in this wonderful high priestly
prayer. So as 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 hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them. And we know that's by grace,
right? And have known surely that I come out from thee, and
they had 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, 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, and I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep thou thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. When 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 son 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. Here's our verse for tonight.
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
that thou shouldest 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. My,
oh my. So tonight's verse will be verse
14. Let's read that again. I have
given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. Hated
without a cause, just because the Son has given us the word,
the words of the Father. And that's the gospel and that's
the regeneration of the believer in the word engrafted in our
hearts, beloved. Both. Because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Now, there was a time
when we were in the world and we were of the world. But by
God's power, we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
in this section here, our Lord is lifting up the disciples to
our Heavenly Father, and He tells the Father that He has given
to them Thy Word. He's given them Thy Word. He's
given them the Gospel. He's given them commission to
go out and preach the Gospel. And He's given them the abilities
to preach the Gospel. Therefore, the world hates them.
The world hates them. The gospel's spiritual, and it's
not agreeable to the carnal man. The carnal man is enmity against
God. And in the Greek, that's hateful
towards God. But the gospel's spiritual, it's
not agreeable to carnal reason. Men look at the gospel and they
say, well, that's not logical. You mean salvation's so simple
as it's through Christ alone and all I have to do is look
to Him? There's absolutely nothing I have to do? That's right. Salvation's
in and through Christ and Him alone. So it's not agreeable. The gospel of salvation in and
through Christ alone is not agreeable to carnal reason. But it's the
gospel of salvation in and through and by the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him alone. And what does it do? The gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace, it magnifies the grace of God.
It magnifies the grace of God. And it puts in the dust the pride
of man. Because it tells us that there's
absolutely nothing we can do to be saved by our own works.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. From beginning
to end and everything in between. Hallelujah. And it's also, the gospel is
against the carnal interest in worldly views and lusts of man. They see it as foolishness. They
see it as foolishness. But we who are the people of
God, we see it as the greatest thing in the world. Salvation
in and through Christ alone, by nothing I do, nothing dependent
upon me, only in Christ, And so we proclaim that wonderful
truth, don't we? We get the opportunity to talk
to our relatives and to friends. When the Lord opens the door,
of course, I was talking about this with someone yesterday,
not that we push the door open ourselves, but when the Lord
opens the door for us, we proclaim the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. And it also, what the gospel
does, this is something that's so true, it destroys man's boasting. It absolutely guts man's boasting. Because there's nothing for us
to boast in of Christ at all, is there? Nothing at all. Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 8. So the gospel of God's salvation
in and through Christ destroys the pride of man and the boasting of man and it
lifts up and it magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. So what it
does is it puts us in the right place where we're supposed to
be, doesn't it? It's in the dust. And it lifts the sun up and magnifies
the sun. That's what preaching of the
gospel does. That's what true gospel preaching does. Look at
this here in John chapter 8. This world's not our home, beloved.
This world is not our home. We're just passing through. Our
citizenship is in heaven. And in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And note what our Lord told the Jews here. He told them that
they were from beneath, but he was from above. He's telling
them, you're earthly and carnal, and I'm from above. He's the
only man that came from above, right? Look at this. I love this portion. Look at
this. John chapter 8, verses 21 to 27. Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.
Whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he saith, whither I go, ye cannot come. And he
said unto them, ye are from beneath. Look at that. Beneath. Carnal. Sensual. He says, you're from
beneath. I'm from above. You're of this
world. I'm not of this world. So if
we're in Christ, then we're not of this world either, beloved.
See, we've been separated from the world. We're still in the
world, but this world is not our home. We're longing to go
home and be with the Lord and be with him. Says, I am from above, ye are
of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto
you that ye shall die in your sins if ye believe not that I
am he, ye shall die in your sins. What a verse. If you don't believe
on Christ, you're gonna die in your sins. That's what he's saying.
Because he's the only way, right? He's the only way to the Father.
So this verse here excludes every other religion in this world. He says so clearly, I say therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe
not that I am he, the Messiah, you shall die in your sins. Then
said they unto him, who art thou? Who art thou? And Jesus saith
unto them even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that
sent me is true. And I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of him. And look at this, because
they're carnal, because they're not born again. See, the only
reason we understand the words of Christ is, number one, the
Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures for us. Actually, number one,
we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Number two, the
Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures for us and gives us an understanding
of what the Scriptures is. So even in our knowledge of Christ,
we can't boast in nothing. Nothing. Look at this. They understood not that he spake
to them of the Father. I remember before the Lord saved
me, I didn't understand the Scriptures. Did you, Brother Dave? You didn't
understand them, right? You couldn't read them, and there's
nothing there. Nothing there. But now, oh my,
now that we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God, I'll
tell you what stuff jumps off the pages now. It's absolutely
amazing. And just when I need to be comforted
by something in the scriptures, the Lord just illuminates that
scripture for us. It's wonderful. Or you hear something preached
in a gospel message, and it's just honeyed your soul. Now we
live in this world, but God's people are now strangers. We're
foreigners in this world. We've been born again from above.
Is it any wonder then that the believer in Christ now seeks
those things above? Remember what Paul said? Set your mind on things above.
Seek those things above. Is it any wonder now that we
seek the things above now? Because where's our King? He's
seated on the right hand of the Father in glory right now. Mine. And now, is born-again, blood-washed
saints of God, now we look to Christ for everything. All the
time, don't we? And when I say all the time,
I mean, usually we try to fix things on our own and then we
find out, whoops, I can't do that. So, you're right. We're
always learning, aren't we? We're always learning. Yeah. And look at here, he's praying
to the Father. Again, let's read verse 14 again. Here our Lord is praying to the
Father on behalf of the disciples. And he does this because he knows
they need his assistance, just like we do. Remember he said
to them, I'm the vine, you're the branches. Without me you
can do nothing. He knows our need, beloved, and He's already
prayed for us. The Son of God, God in the flesh,
has already prayed for Wayne Boyd in 2022, for Dave, for Linda, for Brian and Diane. He's already
prayed for us, beloved, and this is where he, now he intercedes
for us right now, but isn't it amazing to look back and see
this prayer, this high priestly prayer, and know that as we get
to the latter parts of it, and know that he prays for all his
people, because we're hated of the world, hated by the world,
he prays for all of us. That's incredible. That Jehovah
the Son, prayed for me, a sinner, 2,000 years ago, when he prayed
this prayer. My, I'm just never gonna get
over that. I'm just never gonna get over that. And we see, as
we've studied this chapter, we see his sovereignty all strung
through it, don't we? He's just absolutely sovereign.
So he prays for the disciples, and later on he's gonna pray
for us, because he knows we need his assistance. He knows we need
it. And look at this. In this portion
here, he's praying on account of the hatred that the world
will have for them. And that's the hatred that the
world has for all true born-again believers. And he declares the cause of
that hatred to be that they have embraced the Word of God. They've
embraced the words that the Father gave him, and that he told the
disciples, and we've heard it down through the preaching of
the gospel, haven't we? I knew a young man who the Lord
converted him, and he would sit at his parents'
dinner table, and there was a boarder that lived with the family, and
Before he went to eat, he'd bow his head and pray, and the young
man, and the father and the boarder would just rip him to shreds.
Because he's, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? And then all through the meal,
it would just be constant. But by the grace of God, that
young man just trusted Christ. Just rested in Him. And little
did he know, it was a witness to his mom. She asked him, how did you do
that? And he said, by the grace of God. And this went on for
six, seven months until he found another place to live. But I'll
tell you what, when that young man was in the bars and drinking
and doing all kinds of stuff that he shouldn't have been doing,
the dad was absolutely fine with him. But as soon as he started going
to church, Oh my, here comes the persecution. Here comes the
persecution. So we who are God's people, we
need, we need, we need our Lord's assistance, don't we? We need
it. He keeps us through all those things, things that would make
us throw our hands up. He keeps us through it all. It's
absolutely incredible. How He preserves us. He protects
His own, beloved. And look at what He's doing here.
He's taking and giving His sheep to the Father. And saying, Father,
I gave them Your Word. And we're going to see in the
next verse, He's asking them to keep them. Keep them, Father,
please. Keep them. Look at verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from evil. Look at that. So our Lord Jesus Christ is praying
for preserving grace from the Father. Isn't that amazing? Isn't
that absolutely amazing? And last week we looked at our
Lord praying that the Apostle's joy would be full and that they
would have his joy. And this is true for all God's
people. And now we see the reason why
he prayed that, is that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that there'd
be enmity between him, between him and the world, and even between
we who are his people. Turn back to Genesis chapter
three, verse 15. Let me go into a couple scriptures
here. Then put your hand in Proverbs, chapter 29. Back here in Genesis, we see
this hatred by the world prophesied in the book of Genesis, chapter
3, verse 15. It says, And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Look at that. The seed of the
woman is the Lord Jesus Christ. The other seed there is Adam's
natural seed. We are born dead in trespasses
and sins. Look at that. It shall bruise
thy head. See, the Lord crushed Satan's head at Calvary's cross,
but it only bruised his heel, which represents his humanity. Now turn, if you would, to Proverbs
29, verse 27. Scripture declares in Proverbs
29, verse 27, an unjust man is an abomination
to the just. And he that is upright in the
way is abomination to the wicked. See, the people who were once
an abomination to us when we were dead in trespasses and sins, I had folks that come to me and
talk to me about Christ, and I didn't want nothing to do with
them. And it says here, it says here, It says here that the upright
in the way is an abomination to the wicked. I didn't want
nothing to do with him. Get away from me. But look at
the other way. An unjust man is an abomination
to the just. Now, we look at the world as
safe sinners, right? And what the world does is an
abomination to us. Sinning against God. But we know,
but we know, now lest we get haughty, we know that the only
one who made us to differ is Christ. Is Christ. But look at that. An unjust man
is an abomination to the just. Now we hate sin. We never used
to hate sin. We used to love sin. Now we hate
it. And he that is upright in the way is an abomination to
the wicked. My oh my. Now turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 10. Look at this. Look what the Lord says here
to his people. So we saw that in Genesis 3.15
it was prophesied that there would be enmity, hatred, between
the seed of woman and the seed of Adam. Look at this. Matthew chapter
10 starting in verse 16 to 24. Here our Lord is going to warn
the disciples that persecution will come. Will come. He says here in verse 16, Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Look at that. But beware
of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils. They will scourge you in the
synagogues. See, this hasn't even happened yet. Our Savior is God. He already
knows what's going to happen to them. But now, as we read
this, okay, as we read these things, remember He prayed for
them in John 17. Oh, it makes it just so much
more powerful, because they're going to face all these things,
and yet Christ has already prayed for them. He's prayed for their
preservation, beloved. He's prayed that the Father would
keep them. Look at this. But beware of men, for they will
deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in
their synagogues. And ye shall be bought before governors and
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye
shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what
ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak,
but the Spirit of the Father which speaketh in you. And the
brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father
the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents
and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. Look at that. Look at that. Why does the world have enmity
with us? For his name's sake. See, they can't get at the Master,
can they? But they can get at us. They can get at us. Families and friends, people
who treat you differently because of what you believe, they can't
get at the Master, but they can get at us. And so don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. You shall
be hated of all men for my sakes, but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. Oh my. Now, people take that
verse right there, and they say, see I have to endure. We cannot endure on our own. We must be kept by the power
of God. That's what makes it so wondrous.
He prayed for us. He prayed that we'd be kept.
Multiple times we've seen in this, in this, in this uh, study
of this high priestly prayer. There was a whole message I did
called kept. We're going to look at more of that next week again.
Kept. Kept out by the power of God.
By the power of God. My, so this stuff, we're only
endured to the end because Christ prayed for us to be kept. Oh
my. But when they persecute you in
this city, flee you to another. For verily I say unto you, you
shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son
of Man become. The disciple is not above his
master, nor the servant above his Lord. Our Lord suffered persecution. We're going to suffer persecution,
beloved. Now turn, if you would, to John chapter 15. Got us turned
a little bit tonight. Just before this high priestly
prayer, our Lord had been talking to the disciples and letting
them know that the world's gonna hate you. It's so clear in this
portion here. And remember from verses 13,
I believe, or from chapter 13, I believe, to chapter 16, it's
all one discourse. It's one discourse. And here's part of that discourse
in chapter 15. And our Lord warned them that
the world would hate you. Now think of that. So He's warning
them in chapter 15 that the world's going to hate you. And then in
chapter 17, He's praying for them. Because of that very reason. Because He knew that they would
be hated because of Him. Right? Look at verses 19 to 27 in chapter
15. Our Lord speaks about the hatred
that the world will have for them. and also for all believers
who will follow. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. Look at that. What a statement. If ye were of the world, the
world would love his own. If we were of the world, the
world would love us, beloved. But because we're not of this
world, because we're born again, he tells us here, But because
you are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hath hated you. Look at that. But
I, I, I have chosen you. I've chosen you. Let that just
be honey to your soul. Christ chose us. We're chosen
by the Father, right? We're his bride. Oh my. I've chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. We just
looked at that. If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. But all these things will they
do for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. See? They hate us because we're of
him. because we're born again by the Holy Spirit God, because
the Father chose us in eternity. They don't know that. And have
you ever wondered, have you ever been around folks and you wonder,
say you go somewhere and someone always, this one person just
gives you a hard time all the time, and you wonder, why is
that? Why? Why? This person doesn't
even know me, and I see them maybe once or twice a week, and
they're just gnarly towards me. They don't even know why. There it is, yeah. Spiritual,
beloved. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure we've all
experienced that. Pray for the person, though.
Lift them up. You never know. They might be
one of God's lost sheep. We don't know. We don't know,
do we? Oh my. Oh my. Yeah. And he says, if I had not come
and spoken unto them, They had not had sin, but now they have
no cloak for sin. See, he's revealed. He's revealed
to us now what we are. The preaching of the gospel reveals
what we are. That's why people hate the preaching
of the gospel, because it excludes men from saving themselves and
says salvation is only in Christ and him alone and by him. Oh, my. He that hateth me, hateth my
Father also." Look at that. So, think of this. The Jehovah's
Witnesses, they say, oh, they're Jehovah's Witnesses. Yet you
start mentioning Christ to them, that He's God in the flesh, and
that the Holy Spirit is God, they're going to go squirrelly
on you. I've had it happen. My, oh, my. You start telling
a Mormon that Christ is Lord, They go squirrelly on you too,
even though they say they're the church of Jesus Christ. No,
they're not. No, they're not at all. Just a false church,
false gospel, man's works. So how do we look at this? He
that hateth me, hateth my father also. So do you love the do you
love the son? If you love the son, you're going
to love the father because you're going to find out that the father
chose you an attorney and gave you to Christ. It's wonderful. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, no one did the works like
Christ. No one ever did anything like what Christ did. Raising
the dead, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the
deaf to hear. Look at this. If I had not done
among them the works which none other man did, they had not had
sin. But now they are both seen and
hated, both me and my father." Look at that. That's strong language,
isn't it? But this come at the past that
the word might be fulfilled that is written, they hated me without
a cause. So there's a prophecy and that
that might be fulfilled, they hated him without a cause. And
you know what? They hate you and I without a
cause too, because we're God's people. My oh my. Look at this. But when the comforter
has come, all the precious Holy Spirit of God, whom I will send
unto you, all the great comforters sent from the Son, sent from
the Father. I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth. Oh, he guides us into all truth,
beloved. which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me. Think of this, Christ proceeded
from the Father, didn't he? And the Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Father. Praise, praise Jehovah's mighty name for what
he's done. My, he sent his son to die for
us. Then he sends the Holy Spirit
to comfort us. My, my, that's wonderful. Look at this. And he shall also, and ye also
shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning. Oh my, hallelujah. Isn't that
wonderful? From the beginning. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my. He comes and dwells within
us. Right? Another spirit. And the carnal world still has
the spirit of being dead and trespasses and sins. That's why
people we know can't understand, they think, what in the world
happened to that person? One minute they're out with us
doing all kinds of things, next thing they're saying, hallelujah,
Jesus saves. What in the world happened to
them? Well, well, it's, God's done a mighty work, hasn't he?
Saved them by his grace. And so now we have a different
spirit, not just from the kernel worldly, but also from the religionist.
See, the religionist that thinks that they can be saved by their
own works, they have the same dead spirit as the carnal whirling. There's no difference. They just
garb themselves up in religious garb. That's all. You know, they
come out with their backwards neck thing, you know, flowing
robes, so that they stand out amongst all the people. You get
10 grace preachers together and we all go out together, no one
would even be able to pick out which one's a preacher. Right? We're all the same. Oh my, but
see, and because they were separated from the world, and again, the
only reason we're separated from the world is because we're born
again of the Holy Spirit of God now. And now we've been separated
by God. God is the one who separated
us, beloved, not us. It's God who's done that. We're
sanctified now in Christ, sanctified in him. Turn, if you would, to
Luke chapter four. Now, an old preacher of old said,
persecution is the black angel that dogs the gospel. I like
that. It's the black angel that dogs the gospel. Persecution.
And God's people, they've been persecuted all through the ages.
And we may be persecuted in our lives, too, by friends or by
family. And who knows if persecution
will come down the road? We have no idea, but we're just
going to trust the Lord, aren't we? We're just going to trust
Him. That's all we can do, is rest in Him. Now, here in Luke
chapter 4, our Lord is preaching at Nazareth. And so what one
commentator said, his opening was long and they admired him. But when he came to apply it,
that's when it hit. That's when the word of God just
cut them to the bone. And then we're gonna see, they
wanted to kill him. They wanted to kill him. They wanted to drag
him out of the pulpit and they would have killed him, but it
wasn't his time. So he just walked through the midst of them. They
couldn't touch him, could they? No, it wasn't his time. But let's
read this portion. Luke chapter 16, or Luke chapter
4, verses 16 to 30. We see here, our Lord rejected
that Nazareth because of the words he spoke. And he came to
Nazareth where he had been bought up, and as his custom was, he
went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for
to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of Isaiah. And when he opened the book,
he found the place where it is written. Look at this. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. That's us, beloved. Poor in spirit. He hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted. Oh, that's us. To preach deliverance
to the captives. That's us. In recovering the
sight to the blind. That's us. and to set at liberty
them that are priests. We're free in Christ, beloved.
We're free in him. Oh my. To preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. And he closed the book. Look
at this. He gave it again to the minister and sat down and
all the eyes of them in the synagogue were fastened on him. So they
loved it when he read that portion of scripture. They thought, oh,
that was great. Right? They thought, that's great. Look
what he says. Here's where the rubber hits
the road, beloved. Here it is! Verse 21. And he began to say unto them,
This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness, and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,
and said, Is not this Joseph's son? Now here we go. And he said unto
them, Ye shall surely say unto me, This provert physician, heal
thyself. Whatsoever we hath heard done
in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily
I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Now, where was he preaching? Nazareth, right? But I tell you
of a truth. Now, he's going to go back in
Israel's history, right? And he's going to compare them
to Israelites who rebelled against God. But there was a leper who
was cleansed. He was a Syrian. My, oh, my,
look at this. But I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was
throughout the land. But none of them was Elias sent,
save unto Serpina, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was
a widow. A Gentile. Not to Israel. Look at that. Oh, that's going to get them
mad. Watch this. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of
Elias the prophet. And none of them was cleansed,
saving Nahum the Syrian, another Gentile. Yeah. And all day in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath.
I looked at that verse today, and several commentators, and
Gil said they were so mad because he was comparing them to the
unbelieving Israels at that time. And they were livid. They were
livid. That's what got them upset. Because
here he's saying, well, these two Gentiles, They were saved by grace. Oh
my. And look at this. They were so
mad, they rose up and thrust them out of the city and led
them down to the brow of the hill whereupon their city was
built, that they might cast them down headlong. They wanted to
kill him. They wanted to take him and throw
him off a cliff, beloved. Now remember who he is. He probably
just let them leave him there. He's God in the flesh, right?
So he goes there and then he just turns around and walks right
through them. And not one of them lays a hand
on him. It wasn't his time. It wasn't
his time to die. His time to die is at Calvary's
cross to redeem his people from their sins. He must fulfill all
righteousness. That's what he must do. And look
at this, but he passing through the midst of them went his way.
Oh my. May God give us grace, beloved,
to stand up amidst persecution for our faith. And may he give
us grace to stand fast when we are hated for what we believe. And let us ever proclaim that
salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. Let us, till
our dying breath, proclaim that. May God give us grace to do that.
The salvations of the Lord in Christ alone, by Christ alone,
who's God incarnated in the flesh. Salvations of the Lord. Amen
and amen.