Turn with me this morning to
the 17th chapter of the book of John. John chapter 17. Let me read to you these two
verses. Verses 9 and 10 of the 17th chapter. 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." Now all the Bible students, commentators,
those that are known as theologians who devote the biggest part of
their time devote their lifetime to studying the Bible they all
describe this 17th chapter as the high priestly prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ unto the Father. High priestly prayer of the Son
of God unto the Father in Heaven. And in his prayer, here, the
burden of his prayer has to do with his people. pray for them, for his people. You remember I told you here
a Sunday or so ago about, well maybe it was on Sunday night,
I told you about the high priest in the Old Testament, Aaron,
the high priest, who was set apart by God Himself to the office
of high priest, and His office was to represent those that would
come to God. Those that would make their approach
to God in confession of their sins must come through the high
priest. who made atonement for himself
and then for his people. And I remember telling you that
God, in His grace, allowed the Israelites to see the beauty and the glory of the
One who was about to represent them before the Most High God
in his high priestly garments. He told about the fine twined
linen. He took the gold and cut it in
strips, little fine strips, and took those strips, these skillful and cunning crafters took these
little fine strips of gold and interwove that gold into the
garments, into the epod, this outer garment that the high priest
wore. And it was so effective, they
had done their weaving of the fine strips of gold. It was so
effective that it intermingled in the material, in the cloth,
so as to be a part of the main outer garment, but yet be distinct
from that garment. and this garment made up of the
material with the various colors of scarlet and blue and so forth,
represented the manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gold
that intertwined that material, which was a part of it but yet
distinct from it, represented the Godhood. So it was man and God in one
person, the high priest. And that pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest, who intercedes for
us, who took, who guaranteed who guaranteed God the Father
that he would undertake for the people that God had given him, the chosen, the elect of God. He said, I'll undertake for them.
I'll be their surety. I'll guarantee it. I'll fulfill
all of the stipulations of the agreement and transaction that
was made in eternity past. And I'll accomplish redemption. I'll
make atonement for them. And they were his. Certainly by the
purchase price he shed his own blood for them, but here He pleads
for his own, in this high priestly prayer, for his own people as
Aaron, the high priest, pleaded for
the Jews when he had their names engraved in the stones, and it
was on his breastplate. they was always to appear before
the presence of God, those that the high priest represented,
and the glitter and the sparkle of these diamonds, these jewels,
precious stones. Here, the high priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ, pleads for his own people, the people that the
Father gave him. The people that the Father hath
chosen, he hath chosen us in him for the foundation of the
world. So he pleads for his own people.
Their names are on the priestly breastplate. He pleads for them. The point of which I want to
call attention is this. is the reason why he does not
pray for the world, but prays for his people. That's the point
right there that I want to try to emphasize. Why he prays not
for the world, but for his people. He says, I pray for them. Those that He represents. Those
whose names are written on His breastplate. Those that the Father
hath chosen. I pray for them. He prays not
for the world, but for His people, and He puts it like this. He
says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. I pray
for them, I pray not for the world. Now this is the reason
why he prays not for the world. But for them which thou hast
given me, now this is the reason right here, for they are thine. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, I pray for them that you have given me, for they are Well, you know, you've heard
me say and other preachers, and you've read for yourself time
and time and time again in the Bible that God has a people,
and the people that He hath chosen, He has sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to find them, to redeem them. to make atonement for him, and
to find him, and to bring him unto him. And no man cometh unto
the Father, except by and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He prays not for the world, but
he prays for his people, and he puts it like this, for they
are thine, for they are thine. Now listen. as if they were all
the more precious and more dear to Him because they were the
fathers. That seemed to make the people
that He prayed for so much more precious to Him because they
are Thine. They are Thine. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine." Now, we would have thought, as we think in human terms, that
he might have said, they are mine, therefore I pray for them. Now, that would have been true.
That would have been true if he would have said that. I pray
for them because they're mine. They're his, certainly. But if he would have said it
that way, we would have lost some of the beauty and the force
of this great truth that we find here. The beauty would have been
lost. He indicates by saying, I pray
for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me, for they are thine, that he loves us all the better. He loves us seemingly much more. And he prays for us earnestly,
fervently. Why? Because we are the fathers. Those I represent, they are thine. We need to remember and understand,
if we can, that our Lord has undertaken charitative engagements
on the account of these people, these people that the Father
has chosen before time ever was. And this desperate mission that
the Lord Jesus Christ is on, why He came into this world,
is to seek and to save sinners whom God has chosen before time
ever was. And He, in order to bring them
unto God, He must fulfill all that's required of God, of us. He's got to fulfill it. We are
lost before God. We wandered away. Oh, we like
sheep have gone astray, each to his own way. We're sinners by nature and by
choice and by practice. That's all we are. We have an
old ability in ourselves to fulfill
the requirements and the demands of God Almighty. But our Lord
Jesus Christ has undertaken, as our surety, to fulfill the
requirements for us. Our high priest, those that thou gavest me, he
said, I've kept. I've kept them. Well, let me say this in passing
now. Those that belong to him, I know
that there's times when I myself, and that's not to say that when
I say I myself is to cause you to think there may be a little
more in me than there is in you. I don't mean that at all. There's
probably less in me than there is in you. But just humanly speaking,
I've been in the way for a number of years. And I've professed
to be saved by the grace of God for a number of years. But yet
there's times, I guess, Not too many, but there are times
that I say to myself, am I His or am I not? I know that God found me. I know that. There are certain
things you know I can't give you no specific evidence of anything. I haven't talked with God personally. As a man talketh to his friend,
like God spake to Abraham. I've had no visions like the
Apostle Paul had, but if you would ask me for proof, I could
not give it other than the Word of God and other than to say,
I know that I know. I know that I know. There's something here. I know
it. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I once was blind, but now I see. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. You need to remember and I need
to remember and to be reminded over and over and over that our
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, has undertaken charityship
engagements on the account of his people and those that thou
gavest me. He said, I have lost none. I've kept every one of them.
And as I was trying to illustrate to you my own experience, my
own feelings at times, my waverings, my doubts, my fears? Am I his? Am I going through
the motions? Is this just a facade? I'm reminded,
I'm reminded, and it's always a help to my poor soul when it
dawns upon me that those who are really God Let me put it
this way, that which God really has, He never loses. If I'm really His, He won't lose
me. We'll never be lost if we're
really His, because He never loses anything that belongs to
Him, Bob. I lose the keys to my car. I lose a pencil or I lay down
my wallet. Nothing in it. But I lay it down
and I think, well, I'm going to go here or there. I better
get my wallet because my driver's license is in it. And I can't
find my wallet. And I look in this pair of pants
and this pair, I look here where I hide it and there and I can't
find it. But what really, in fact this
is what I'm trying to emphasize, what God has that really belongs
to Him, He never loses. And that makes my day. When that
comes to my heart, that I'm His and He's mine. And he ain't going
to lose me. And our Lord says, I have kept
them. All that the Father giveth to
me, I've kept them. I've kept them. Those that thou
gavest me, I have kept. Well, this great shepherd of
the sheep, He looked upon the sheep of His
pasture as belonging to His Father. Those of us, He said here, those
that are not of this fold, I must bring them. And so He looks upon
all of His sheep as belonging to His Father and His Father
hath given them to his charge, and it indicates that the Father
hath said unto him, All thine own hand will I require. And he won't lose them. I've
kept them all. I won't lose a one of them. All
that the Father hath given to me shall come to me. and him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise, for no reason, no circumstances
will cast out." You remember the story in the Old Testament
about Jacob, how he kept Laban's flocks? Laban was his uncle. And Jacob went there and worked
for him, and he became his flockmaster. Well, it says in the Old Testament
there that during the days that he kept the flock, he was devoured
by the heat, And at night he had to deal with the cold and
the frost. And it says that he was more
careful with them because they belonged to his
Uncle Laban. Very careful with them. And when
he was given charge up, He was to account for every one of those
sheep that belonged to his Uncle Laban. The sheep committed to
him, and he kept them, and the Bible says he didn't lose a single
solitary one of Uncle Laban's sheep. And why was he so careful
in keeping them? It's because they belonged to
his uncle. And we belong to the Father.
And so he keeps us. Now his prayer for his people
is, he prays for them because they belong to the Father. And
they have a peculiar value in the eyes of his Father. And the
next reason is, is because they belong to the Father. And he's
under the surety-ship engagement, as he was, as Jacob was with
his uncle Laban, to deliver them all to the Father on that last
day. When this thing's all over with, God's going to require them at
his hand. And he says, I'll keep every
one of them until that day. I have undertaken to fulfill
all the requirements and all the stipulations of the covenant. And he said in verse 10 there,
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified
in thee. Now listen, they are thine, all
mine are thine, and thine are mine. Now, it is all pronouns here, what they call
in English, possessive pronouns, to show that God looks upon his
people as his portion, his possession, and his property. They shall be mine, the Bible
says in the last chapter of the book of Malachi. They shall be
mine, saith the Lord of hosts, when I make up my jewels." Proprietorship,
possession, they're his property. Everybody here, I'm sure, has
something or other that he values above everything else. It may
be your wife or your children, or it may be some Bob has a... I heard him talking the other
day that he has a muzzleloading rifle that's two or three hundred
years old and came down through his ancestors from his grandfather
and his grandfather got it off some... It's a valued possession. They said, well, we thought maybe
you sold that. Oh no, Bob said, I wouldn't sell
that. I had some other guns. I sold
them, but I wouldn't sell that gun. Part of the valued possession. Is that what you said, Bob? Valued
possession one. Well, listen, everybody has something
or other that he values over and above the rest of his belongings. I'm not saying that Bob values
his shotgun over his wife. I don't mean that. But I mean
these little old personal belongings that a guy has. He values them. He values them. I have them at
all. I value them at all. Not over
Martha, the boys. the grandchildren, but I value
that dog. Ain't nothing but a dog. But
I value him like that dog. Well, these expressions here
where he says, And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and
I am glorified in them. These expressions here, they're
all applied to the Lord's people. To you, if you be the Lord's
people here this morning, if I'm one of His and you're one
of His, all these apply to you. You're the Lord's spatial treasure. He values you over everything
else in His possessions. Spatial treasures. These things
are applied to the Lord's own people, that is, his saints.
Mine, where it says, and all mine, all mine, that is his saints,
that is his people. And then he goes on and he says,
all mine, that's the saints, are thine, that's the saints
too, and thine, that's the saints, are mine," and that's the saints. All these expressions are applied
to those that God gave the Son before the world ever was. They
belong to God in the matter of election. They're given to the
Son to redeem and to make atonement for. And he says, I've kept them
all. I've kept them all. I haven't
lost any one of them. And he's not going to. All mine
are thine. That is the saints. Now, the
marks of possession are numerous and many here, and they're all
placed on one object, read it again, all mine are thine, thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. Marks of possession,
numerous, they are all placed on one object. Some say, does not God care for anything
else? Has he not got other things besides
his sheep? No, that's the answer. When compared
to his people, silver and gold are mine, cattle and a thousand
hills are mine. What is there that God has not? Everything's His. All things are of God, all things are by God, and all
things are through God, and there was nothing made that was made
that was not God's. But all of this in comparison
to His people are as nothing. That's how much God cares and
loves His people. They are that which He values
over, above everything else. And I'm glad. You know how you
value your children, don't you? You value your children much
more than you do anything else, don't you? You'd be a strange
parent if you didn't value your children over and above everything
else that you possess. There's a few, I guess, in this
world that do not have those values, but for the most part,
regardless of how wicked and evil a man
is. He does value his children. Well,
suppose there's a fire in your house tonight, and you could
only carry one thing out of that fire. You would not hesitate
a second as to deciding what that one thing If your children was there, you'd
grab that child, wouldn't you? And we'll say you just had this
one new baby, and that house was on fire. Would you sit down
and say, now, what shall I take out of that house? Shall I get
the safe? Shall I get the deed for the
house? Shall I get my valuables? Shall I get my precious silver
and my antiques? Shall I get my gold and my old
coins? Shall I get my suit that I just
bought and paid? What shall I get? You wouldn't
either. That wouldn't cross your mind.
You'd run up there and get that precious child and put that child
to your breast and run outside and say, burn up! I've got the
most precious, most valuable thing. in that house outside
Mount Sinai. God cares for His people over
and beyond everything else in His creation. In this prayer that I'm talking
about here this morning, it's the Son of God speaking with
the Father. It's not the Son of God speaking
to us. It's the Son of God speaking
with the Father. And He's speaking with the Father
when they are in an intimate relationship, communion, sweet
communion with the Father and the Son, and the Son with the
Father, a fellowship, one with another. What do people talk
about when they are alone? What does a husband and his wife
talk about when they're alone? They have a relationship, a communion,
sweet communion. They don't talk about how much
does a dozen of eggs cost. when they have this oneness,
this intimate relationship when they're alone. They don't say
to one another what they normally say to others. They're not saying,
well, this is a nice day. They're not saying, well, it's
supposed to be 80 tomorrow. No, in private, a man and his
close friend, or a man and his wife, what do they do? They lay
bare their hearts. This is the Son of God and the
Father, and He lays bare His heart. I pray for them. not to the world. They are thine, and mine, and
all thine are mine. The object of the conversation,
the laying bare of his heart, is his people. His people, in
this case, most of them were fishermen and peasants. poor, poor, poor sinners like
ourselves without a single solitary thing in us of any value that
could enhance or add to the glory of God. Oh, how precious that to believe
really is to God the Father. and to God the Son. Do you have
any idea this morning how much God loves His own? Any idea? They ain't no way of telling
it out, are they? The Lord Jesus loves us. God
the Father loves us. And the Lord Jesus Christ loves
us. Why? Well, one reason why he
loves us so is because we belong to the Father, because they are
thine. The Father loves us. The Lord
Jesus Christ loves us because we belong to the Father. Does
it not say, My Father hath chosen them? My Father loves them. And I read to you at the outset
here, that my father loves them, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. And he said, I lay down my life
for them, for the sheep, and I'll take my life up again for
the sheep, and I'll live throughout eternity for my sheep, for my
people. He says that over and over again. Why? Because we belong to Him. He's ransomed us. He who was bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, gave Himself for us. All mine
are thine, and all who are the sons are the fathers. Do we belong? to the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning. If we do, then we belong to the
Father. Can I sing this today? Can I sing this? The dying thief
rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there have I,
so vile as he washed all my sins away. Then you belong to him,
and you belong to the Father. And he loves you over and above every other valuable
that he has. Silver and gold and cattle on
a thousand hills, are but specks on the horizon when compared
to his love for his people. And the last thing he says, I
am glorified in them. How can that be? How can he be
glorified in you and I this morning? can be reflected, the great sun
up there, but you need proper objects to act as reflectors
of the sun. And the brighter they are, the
better they'll reflect. You and I, it does not seem to
me that we have the power of reflecting His glory. It seems like that we spoil and
we ruin and pollute and corrupt every good thing that falls upon
us by the hand of the Father. Yet He says, I am glorified in them." Glorified
in us. It's there, isn't it? Yet, I
am glorified in them. Listen to what else he says. While I was with them, in the
world, verse 12, while I was with them. I kept them in my name. Those
that thou gavest me, I have kept. None of them is lost. That which
really belongs to Him, He never loses. The son of perdition,
the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. He was never one of his. Judas
never belonged to him. You know, I know what the popular...
I'll tell you the most damning thing in religion, in this world
this morning, is this proposition that men tell other men. that God loves everybody. As hard as that sounds, it's
true, God doesn't love everybody. He said, While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me I have kept, none of them is lost, none of them. But the
son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled, he never
belonged to them. He never belonged to them. He
never was washed in the blood. He never was cleansed. And now,
and now come I unto 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. They're not of the world. They
don't talk like the world. They don't walk like the world.
They're not joined to the world. They're separate from the world. They're different. They're different,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but I pray that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. keep them from the devil. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them through the truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. Verse 20, Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their words. that they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one." are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them." Don't get anything else out of
what I said. Get this. How much God loves His children. How much He loves them. He loves them. It is seen in the fact that he
took the son of his bosom and sent him to make atonement for
their sin. If that doesn't tell us the great
love of God for those that he sanctified and set apart in eternity
past, that he would take the son of his bosom, his only
begotten son, and sent him to discharge all the liabilities
that was against the people that he chose. Sent him. And he came, gladly and willingly,
to pay their debt, to discharge all these liabilities. to be punished in their stead
against their sin. To lay down his life, they might
take it up again. The love of God in Christ Jesus. This stand will be dismissed.