If you'll turn with me, there's
some things hard to be understood, some deep things. And we'll not fix our attention upon these
things that are real hard to be understood and attempt to
wrestle with them, but we will wrestle with a couple of things
that are said here for our edification and for the glory of God. Let's
begin reading there at verse number 6, John 17 and 6. Look at that now in conjunction
with verse number six. As thou hast given him authority
or power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. Verse number six, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. These
are some deep things, hard to be understood. 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." Everything that you have given me, all things whatsoever thou hast
given me, they know that. They know that they are of thee,
God the Father. And I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me. They have received them. They
have known surely that I came out from thee. They have believed
that thou didst send me." That's what he says about these struggling
apostles, this little group that made so many mistakes. Just later
on here, you know, they all fled into the night and left him alone.
Yet he says here, he says, they believed. They believed. They received him. They believed
that you sent me. Verse 9, 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. I am not in the world. That is,
he anticipates his ascension. He anticipates the cross, the
suffering, the agony, and his death and his burial and his
resurrection. He anticipates that, although
It has not come to pass as of yet, but he knows it. He knows
what he must face. I am no more in the world, but
these are in the world, these that you have given me, they
dwell here. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I have kept them in thy name, that those that thou gavest
me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition,
as Judas is carried, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I 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 thou shouldest
keep them from the evil, keep them from the evil one, keep
them from the devil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Well, I said there are some deep
things here in these Seven, eight, nine verses here.
Some hard things to wrestle with, some hard things to be understood.
Let's fix our attention upon one important truth here and
learn together here this evening that our Lord Jesus Christ does
some things for His believing people which He does not do for
unbelieving people. Number one. He helps their souls
by spatial intercession. Look at verse number 9. Now we've
already established who the them are. I pray for them. These are His people. These are
the people that He says in verse number 2, as many as thou hast
given Him. He's given those eternal lives.
And then down Verse number 6, I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Verse number
9, now, our Lord says this, and I have said thus far that we
need to learn here, and it will be a comfort and a blessing to
us if we can learn it, if we can come to grips with it. I
know that it is a doctrine that will stir up some bitterness
in the hearts of the religionists of our day when they are confronted
with what I'm about to say here, with what I've already said,
that the Lord Jesus Christ does some things for His believing
people which He does not do for the unbelieving. Number one,
He helps their souls by spatial intercession. He says, I pray
for them. I pray for them. Just think of that. Some of us
are careless in our prayers and we're forgetful and even when
we do pray, when we think that we have our hands upon the horns
of the altar, and we think that we're wrestling and agonizing
with God in our souls. Most of the time, it's just fleeting. It's just for just a little bit,
and the first thing you know, our minds begin to wander, and
our thoughts become divided, and we're not one mind and one
heart, and something enters in, and all at once we say, Here
I am talking to God Almighty through the Lord Jesus Christ
and thinking about something else. Oh, what comfort it is
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ, He says, I pray for them. It's
a continual, perpetual, intercessory prayer that He makes for His
people constantly. Constantly. And I'll tell you,
I'll make good on that in a little bit. I pray for them. It's made
good right there. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. I don't pray for the unbelieving
world. I don't pray for them. I pray
for them. Now you look at it and take your pen and underscore
that. I pray for them, for the believers. I pray for them that thou hast
given me. All those that are believers
here in time are the result They are the sum and substance of
His eternal decree that He decreed in Himself before time ever was.
No man ever comes to Christ on his own. The man that comes to
the Lord Jesus, man, woman, or child that comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, comes because God willed him to come. Not against
His will, but making him willing. All of us are unwilling to surrender. We have such a a pride of this
natural man about us that we refuse to bow and accept anything
as a gift. We won't do that. We're so proud
and full of ourselves and self-sufficient that our Lord must do something
for us. He must prepare us. He must prepare
our hearts. He must work a work in our hearts
and empty us and bring us down and break us and strip us in
order that we might receive the gift of eternal life. in Christ
Jesus our Lord." Well, those that finally wind up at His feet
do so because He willed it. He willed it. He made us willing
in the day of His power to fall at His feet and beg for mercy
and we become recipients of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
eternal life. Well, he says, I pray for them,
not for the world. Not for the world. I pray for
them. I pray for them. Them that you've
given me, I pray for them. And I said, brethren, this doctrine
is especially hated by the world when they look at it, if they're
confronted with it. Most, you know, this religious
world has kind of gone along seemingly very smooth, the machinery
is in fine operation, and the engine is in tune, and nothing
seems to oppose it. But if they are ever opposed,
if they ever hear what I am saying, if they ever hear what the 17th
chapter of the book of John says here, if that ever falls on their
ears, that he says, I pray for my people, and my people are
those that God gave me according as he hath chosen us in them
before the foundation of the world." And when they find that
out, and find out that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His intercessory
work now on the right hand of God the Father, prays for His
people continually, perpetually, and everlasting, and does not
pray for them, then I'll tell you, brethren, this doctrine
is going to be hated by them. They're going to hate it. I'll
tell you, It brings about offense. It's offensive to the religionist
and it's offensive to the natural man and to the unbeliever. It
stirs up a bitter feeling among unbelievers. If a man is listening, this is
what he hears when you talk like this. When you talk about the
free grace of God, when you talk about the fact that God saves
whom He pleases. When you talk like that, if these
people ever get the drift of what you're saying, they'll come
up with this. They'll say, well, the idea of
God making a distinction between man and man is something that
I cannot fathom. That's what they say. They say,
well, if I heard you right, if I heard you right, You're saying
that God hath made a distinction. Well, that's right. You heard
me right. That's what he says. And now, this unbelievers and
pretenders and deceivers and religionists and those that are
wedded to rituals and ceremonies and formality and religion in
general, it makes them mad. It makes them mad. You mean to
tell me that God makes a distinction? Oh, yes! The spatial interest
and the spatial intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I believe, is the one and great and grand secret of the believer's
security. That our Lord, our Lord, is at
the right hand of God and He continually prays for the believer. That's the source of our security,
his activity. His intercessory work on our
behalf secures us to God. There's nobody that is safe as
one of the children of God. We're safe. And I say this without
fear. I know someone says, well, if
people believed that, if people believed that once you was in
Christ that your sins were forgiven and cast behind God's back and
you were safe evermore in the circle of the love of God. You were safe and nothing could
separate you. They said, well, that's a dangerous
doctrine and wouldn't people take advantage of it and wouldn't
people use that as a license to sin? Yes, some people would. Some people would, that's right.
Some people would take advantage of that and they would say, Shall
we sin that grace might abound? Let's sin all we want to. Let's
fill up our vessels. Let's drink of the corruption
and pollution of this world if God has saved us. But, brethren,
people say that and they do take advantage of it, but I'm not
going to quit preaching it just because somebody misunderstands
what I'm saying. I'm not going to quit. I'm not
going to say, well, it's a dangerous doctrine. It's not a dangerous
doctrine. Let me put it this way. Someone
said, well, if I believe that, well, then I do as I please. Well, I agree with that. A man
ought to do as he pleases. How do you please to do? I please
to glorify Him, don't you? Every believer pleases and desires
to glorify his Savior. That's what he pleases to do. I say this spatial interest and
this spatial intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ is this
one secret, one of the secrets, anyhow, put it that way, of the
believer's safety and his security. Why? Because he's daily watched.
He's daily watched by the ever-seeing eye of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Daily. Hourly. Secondly, there's not
a time that God does not see us. I can't explain that. I can't
understand that. I can't understand God. If I
could understand God, He wouldn't be God. I can't understand how
God can look over this vast universe and these billions and billions
of people and read every one of them's thoughts at the same
time and never forget it. I can understand that, but that's
the God of the Bible. That's the glory of God. It's incomprehensible. I cannot
comprehend the being of God Almighty and not even going to try to
explain it. Folks spend a lot of time arguing. I heard a fellow on the radio
here not so long ago said, well, he went over there in the book
of Genesis and waddled around over there and mommicked around,
tried to say something. When he got through, he said,
well, now, he said, I've spent here my 20 minutes and I've proved
to you from the Bible there is a God. I'm not wasting my time
trying to prove to anybody that there's a God, trying to explain
God or His existence. What good would that do? What
good would that do? Did you ever hear tell of anybody
on the face of God's green earth that was convinced by some man's
argument that God existed, and that brought him to surrender
to the Lord Jesus Christ and never heard of a case. I don't
think he ever will either. All right? We're daily watched. This is the secret of our safety
because we're daily watched and daily thought of and thought
for and daily provided with. Unfeeling, unfeeling care by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Over in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 7 and verse 25, let me read that verse to you hurriedly. Hebrews 7 and 25, if I can find
it. I think I can, just hold on.
7 and 25, it says this, It says, but this man, that's
the Lord Jesus, because he continueth ever, ever, he continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood. His priesthood has no, his ministry
as an intercessor has no end to it. Wherefore, because this
man who is who is the Lord Jesus Christ, because He continues
forever and has an unchangeable priesthood, therefore He's able
to do something. What's He able to do? He's able
also to save them, to the uttermost, them that come to God by Him. What? Seeing or because He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. That's how they're kept. That's where their safety is.
in the intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So He ever
lives to make intercession for them. Well, they'll never perish. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. They shall never perish because
He never ceases to pray for them. That's the reason you're not
going to perish. That's the reason I'm not going to perish. Who
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus,
my Lord? Can trials, troubles, tribulations,
can anything separate us? There's nothing, I'm persuaded
beyond a shadow of a doubt, Paul said, there's nothing that can
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Nothing. Absolute nothing. Why? Why? Why? Because He ever
lives to make intercession for us. Because He prays for us.
Because He never ceases to pray for us. Because remember this,
brethren, His prayers always avail. His prayers never fail. His prayers are always successful. He gets exactly what He prays
for. His prayers are not unheeded
or unheard or unanswered. He says, I thank You, Father,
that You always hear me. God always, His prayers do not
fall to the ground. God answers His prayers. His
prayer must prevail. So the people of God, then, they
stand and they persevere to the end. He that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved. The people of God, I pray for
them. They stand, they persevere to
the end, not because of their strength, not because of their
goodness, but because He intercedes for them. That's how they persevere. Because He prays for them. I'll
make good on it. I'll make good on it. Now listen,
when Judas fell, never to rise again. You remember that? He
fell. He fell. Never to rise again. Judas went out into eternity,
separated from God forever. Judas Iscariot. Listen, there's
another fellow that failed. His name was His name was Peter. And listen, over here in Luke
chapter 22. Turn with me over there to Luke
chapter 22. He failed. Peter failed. Judas failed. Judas went out into eternity,
never again to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter failed, but repented. and was restored. And the reason
for the difference was intercession. The reason for the difference
in the two men was intercession, not Peter's intercession. That
didn't make the difference. It wasn't Peter's intercession.
I want you to see that. You say, well, didn't Peter,
he fell and he failed and he wept and he cursed and he denied
God? He did all that. But then he
prayed. But his prayers did not affect
his being restored. Listen to this. Verse 31 of Luke
22. Look at that. And the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat. He wants you. He wants you. I've
got a hedge about you. He can't get to you. You remember,
The devil's God's devil. He's God's devil. You remember
that. A fella told me one time, he said, well, he said, I don't
take money except from believers that believe certain doctrines
and this and that, and I'll accept a little offering from them.
I don't take any money from anybody else. And I said, how come? He said,
God doesn't need the devil's money. I said, the devil hasn't
got any money. Where'd the devil get any money? He hasn't got
any money. Oh, no. That devil down there is God's
devil. He's God's devil. He's God's devil and God's got
him on a string. He can only do what God permits
him to do. He can't do anything. He can't
lay his hand on me or he can't lay his hand on you apart from
God's permission. He's God's devil. And God's devil
came to God. And he said, I desire to have
old Peter. I'd like to put him in the shaker a little bit and
shake him around. Satan hath desired to have thee
that he may sift you. But listen to this. Verse 22. I have prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not. See, there's a difference between
what old Judas did and what Peter did. Peter fell. He repented and was restored.
Why? Because of the intercessory work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all involved in John
chapter 17, that verse that I read, I pray for them. I pray for them.
He prayed for Peter. He prayed for Peter. Turn. Well,
look here. I'll read the rest. I prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not, and when you're converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Oh, what a blessing he was to
the brethren after he was converted from his error. And he said unto
him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee, both into prison and into
death. I'm ready. And he said, I tell you, Peter,
speaking as a man speaks to a friend. He looked him right in the eye
and said, Peter, Blessed Peter, Peter, the cock shall not crow
this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest
me." He said, it won't crow this day
until that's what you'll do. Turn the page over there to verse
54, I think it is. There are six things that I noticed
in there as I was looking at this. Look at it in verse Verse
54, it says, "...and Peter followed afar off." He should have been right up
there, hanging on the coattail of the Lord Jesus. I'm not saying
what I would have done. I would have been farther back
than Peter, I know that. But he should have been, by the
grace of God. He'd seen some things, he'd heard
some things, he understood some things, and he should have been
right there on the coattail of the Lord Jesus. He said he would. He said, I'm ready to follow
you wherever you go. But here it says he followed him afar
off. These fellows carrying them torches.
Well, he was out in a great distance away from the light of those
torches. He was way back there down the road following the Lord.
He followed Him far off. And then verse 55, it says that
these fellows had built a fire. And the last expression of the
55th verse says, "...and Peter sat down among them." That's
what is significant there, among them. He identified himself with
them, the enemies of God, those that hated the Lord Jesus. That's
where it's set. Well, notice in verse 56, it
says, "...as a maid that beheld him as he sat by the fire, and
earnestly looked upon him." That is, she just kept staring at
him. She just kept staring at him, and she said, "...this man
was also with him." Verse 57. this old Peter, and he denied
him, saying, Woman, I know him not. I don't know him. I don't
know him. Oh, may God deliver us from that,
that we'd ever come to the place that we'd say that. Oh, I hope that the devil doesn't
desire us, shake us, and bring us to a place that we'd reproach
our God, our Lord, by saying, Well, I really don't. I'm not
one of them. Well, anyhow, verse 58 says,
And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also
of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. I am not. Well, down in verse 60, another
fellow there in 59 said, Of a truth, this fellow also was with him,
for he is a Galilean. And verse 60, Peter said, Man,
I know not what you say. I know what you're talking about. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. Compassion, sympathy. And Peter
remembered the word of the Lord, how he said unto him, Behold,
the cock crowed, thou shalt deny me three times. And Peter went
out. He went out and he went bitterly,
bitterly. So you see, brethren, when Judas
fell, never to rise again, and Peter fell, he arose again. He repented and was restored,
and the reason for the difference was the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not Peter's intercession. Our Lord said, I pray for you.
Peter, he desired to have you and he's going to get you, but
I prayed for you that your faith fail not. your faith fail not. Well, another thing we ought
to learn here is this. He does not wish that his believing
people be taken out of the world, but to be kept from the evil
of the world, or be kept from the evil one, the evil one, the
devil. Deliver us from the devil. Deliver
us from temptation and deliver us from evil. Remember, that's
what it says in the Lord's Prayer. Deliver us from evil. Deliver
us from the evil woman. He'd like to have us. He'd like
to get us. He'd like to tear us up. If he had his way, he'd tear
us to pieces. He'd do us in. Well, our Lord here, I believe,
with his all-seeing eye, his omniscient, omnipresent, his
power. He detected. He who could read
the thoughts of men. He sometimes didn't have to ask
a man a question in order to find out what the man thought,
but he could just look at the man. In fact, he didn't even
have to look at the man, he could read his thoughts. He could read
his thoughts. He knew what was in the heart
of man is the reason why he committed himself to know man. And here's
these disciples here in this 17th chapter of the book of John.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, His all-seeing eye detected in the
heart of these disciples an impatient desire to get away from this
troubled world. And so He says up here, He says,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. keeping from the evil one. They've
got a lot of problems here. I know that it would be very
easy. That would be the easy way out,
to be converted and to be taken from this world. The very hour
that we was converted, that would be the easy way. But the easiest
course is not always the path of God or the path of duty. We're
left here for a reason, brethren, for a reason. We're left here
to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. And this process
comes about through struggle and wrestling and through trials
and troubles, through highs and lows. That's how it comes about. And I'll tell you this, he that
would win the crown, he that would win the crown must also
carry the cross. You cannot win the crown unless
you carry the cross. If we suffer with Him, the Scriptures
say. If we suffer with Him, we shall
reign with Him. Well, those are two things. Let me just mention about five
or six things here now that I believe that sets forth the difference
between the believer and the unbeliever. And these things
are things that you know, but as I remind you of them, They'll
bless your heart and be of comfort to you. First off now, when he
says, I pray for them and pray not for the world. Now, the believer,
he's praying for the believer. And always in this intercessory
work of his before the throne of God or on the right hand of
God's throne, he prays for the believer. Now, this believer
has a different standing than those who belong to the world.
Those here, he says, I pray not for the world. Those that he
prays for and those that he does not pray for have a different
standing before God. There is a different standing.
Listen, the world stands in Adam, and all flesh in Adam has been
condemned. It is condemned. They stand in
him. He is violated, transgressed,
usurped authority. transgressed the law of God.
He said, I want my will done. And every man who has not been
regenerated by the Spirit of the living God, who has not been
quickened from this dead state that he's in, he stands out here
in Adam, in the first Adam. A fellow told me one time, he
said, well, he said, I call everybody brother. Everybody I see, I say,
brother this and brother that. Another fellow said, well, what
if he's not a Christian? He said, well, I'll tell you,
if I miss him in Christ, I'll catch him in Adam. That's where
he's at, in Adam, out there. Every man outside of the Lord
Jesus is in Adam. And we are brothers in that respect. Well, their standing is in Adam. And unless God intervenes and
comes where they are and rescues them from their captivity and
leads captive to freedom, they're going to perish. They have a
different standing. God does not look upon them with
favor. He doesn't look upon them with
favor. That is in the way He does His people. He doesn't do
it. Our Lord doesn't pray for them. They're not of a special interest. because they have a different
standing than the believers in Christ Jesus. They are under
the condemnation of God. They are condemned. They are
condemned. But the man that is in Christ, the man that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, brethren, he is not condemned. The Bible
says that God hath made This poor sinner who has rested his
hope and his case in his Son, God hath made this poor sinner
accepted in the Beloved. God did that. God made the vilest
wretch outside of hell who has trusted, who has believed in,
who has come to the well of living water. God has made that man,
that woman, that boy, that girl, God has made them accepted in
the Beloved. God has accepted them in Christ. And that's their standing right
there. They stand in Christ. They have the righteousness of
God. They have it imputed to them.
That's their standing. God views them as though He views
His Son. He looks at His people. We can't
get this because we don't lay hold of it because we're always
saying, I know, but I thought this and I thought that. How
could I be a Christian thinking what I think? How can I be a
Christian doing what I do? You know what you say? You know
what I say? Many times something goes wrong, you have a bad thought,
Someone stops real quick in front of him, you blow the horn, get
out of the way! How can I be a Christian and
do what I do? Let me tell you, brethren, you
can't be a Christian and do what you do, whether it's good or
whether it's bad. Being a Christian is not doing
what you do or what you don't do. Being a Christian is being
in Christ Jesus. That's what being a Christian
is. That's where it's at in Him. It's not in what you do and what
you don't do. Huh? It's not in what you do and what
you don't do. But I'll tell you this, a right relationship and
a right understanding of where you are will also provide a right
conduct in your life while you're in this world. It'll do that.
It'll do it. All right. Believers have a different
standing. Unbelievers are in the world,
and the world is going to perish. But believers are in Christ Jesus
and His ministry of reconciliation Intercessory prayer continues
forever and ever and ever and ever. We're in Him. We're going
to be with Him. And when we die, we're going
to go to be with Him. I tell those folks down there
where I preached the other day, most people when they talk about
death, they say, well, he's gone on to his reward. Mother's gone
on to her reward. Father's gone on to her reward.
So-and-so went on to their reward. Well, I hope when I die I go
to heaven. Oh, we want to sing about heaven,
talk about heaven, the transparent glass, the golden streets, the
angels' choir, the hallelujah chorus, talk about the glories
of heaven, over and over and over and over. But it is rare
that you ever find anybody talking about, using Bible language,
scriptural language, saying, I have a desire to depart and
be with Him. That's where these fellows wanted
to go when they died. They didn't say, I want to die
and go to heaven. They said, I want to die and go to be with
Him, go to be with Christ. Why? Because Christ was their
all and in all. They understood this. They said,
He's my all, He's my strength, He's my standing. Everything
I have is in Him. They didn't talk about mother
and father. I know that's good. I know that we want to see our
loved ones when we die. I know that and probably we will.
I guess we will. I have no reason not to believe
we don't. But the desire, the aim, the
swelling up inside. of the believer who sees what
I'm talking about here this evening, who understands his standing
that's different, where he says, I have a desire to depart, which
is far better to be with Christ. I want to bathe him. I want to
bathe his feet. I want to look upon his wounds. I want to bathe myself in the
wounds of the suffering Savior. I want to see him as he is. Secondly, the believer possesses
a different nature. The nature of the unbeliever,
the individual that the Lord said, I pray not for him, his
nature is that he is born of the flesh. And that which is
the flesh will always be of the flesh. But a believer in Christ
Jesus, he has been born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said, the Lord
told Nicodemus, except a man be born of the Spirit of God. Except a man be born again. Except a man have a new nature. He cannot see God. He cannot
enter into the things of God. He said, the natural man, the
things of God are foolishness to the mind and the spirit and
the heart of the natural man. He can't enter in. He can't enter
in. You see, they have an evil and corrupt nature, but the child
of God has a holy and divine nature implanted in his very
being by God's Holy Spirit Himself. There's a difference, brethren.
There's a difference. And thirdly, those that he prays
for, he says, Throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation,
it says that they serve a different master. They serve a different
master. These who are of the world, who
do they serve? They are of their father, the
devil. That's what our Lord said. The desires of their father,
they will do. But listen to this over in the
book of 1 Thessalonians. There's a verse here I want to
read to you, and I think this is This is true to every Christian's
experience. In verse 1 and verse 9, listen
to this. It says, "...for they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. And how ye,"
this is those that have been converted, "...ye turned to God."
You turn to God from idols. to serve the living and the true
God. So they serve a different Master. We serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Master and we have
no other. We take no orders from no one in the spiritual kingdom
apart from the Lord Jesus. He gives us our orders and we
try by the grace of God to be obedient and comply with whatever
He says. We have a different aim. We have
a different aim. Theirs is to please self. I pray
not for them. Their desire is to please self,
to satisfy every whim and desire of this selfish man. That's their desire. Their whole
life is going in one direction, and that is to please themselves,
to please them, ensure for themselves certain things. Their whole life
is that way. You can see it, and that's part
of this world that the Bible says that we ought not to be
like. We ought to be divorced from. is from the spirit of this
world. The spirit of this world is what
I have is mine, and what's yours is mine. If I can get a hold
of it, and if you've got your eyes closed, watch out, I'm going
to get it. I'll slip up on your blind side and take it away from
you. That's the spirit of this world. But the spirit of the
believer is, what's mine is yours! What's mine is yours! And I esteem
you better than I esteem myself. I prize your success and your
joy more than I do mine. I rejoice when you are blessed. That is the Spirit. Oh, we have
a different aim. Ours is to please self. Ours
is to glorify God in Christ Jesus. And fifthly, we have a different
citizenship. We belong. Our roots are in a different
place. Actual citizenship, that's what I'm talking about. You see,
their citizenship is here on this earth. That's all they've
got and that's all they ever will have is the things of time,
the things of this earth. Ours is in heaven. Our citizenship
really is in heaven. That's where our roots are. That's the source right there. The roots go deep there in glory. We desire to be there with our
God. Theirs are on this earth, and they hate to leave it. They
hate to leave it. I'm afraid to die. Afraid to
die. Oh, I'm afraid to die. I'm afraid
if I go to the doctor. Some people are afraid to go
to the doctor because they're afraid the doctor will tell them,
well, you got it. You got it. You got it. It's
cancer. That's what it is. You got cancer.
You ate up with cancer. They don't need to operate on
you. Just go on and take the treatments. You're going to die.
And I'm not trying to talk about it. I know it's kind of morbid
and all that, but nevertheless, there's a whole lot of people
like that. They won't go to doctor. They're afraid to die. And the
reason they're afraid to die is because they're living for
this world. Oh, they're holding on to this world. This world
means something to them. They said, how can I make it if I
leave this world? If I leave this world, I've left all! That's
right. They've left it all. And when
you leave this, a man's outside of the Lord Jesus. When he's
left this, he's left it all! This is all he's got. It's all
he's got. This is all of his comfort and
all of his joy and all of his happiness. Here's his riches
right here. He's wedded to it. But the believer,
he's not wedded to it. He's not wedded to it. He can
go cut him off any time, take him out of the land of the living. He's going to be with him who
loved him and gave himself for him, died for him, died for him,
paid his due, paid his due, made him accepted and a beloved. And
he's going there and following his feet and seeing as he is.
Ah, yes, we have a different citizenship. And lastly, brethren,
we live a different life. We live a different life. I certainly know that my life
ought to be better. And I'll tell you, one day it
will be better. It will be better. I'm not perfect
now, but one day I will be. That's right. One day I'm going
to be perfect. Listen, we live a different life. far below the standard set before
us. That's true. That's true. I say
that to our shame. But nevertheless, no Christian,
no Christian in the general tenor of his conduct goes to the same
excess of sin as the unbeliever does. He doesn't go like the
unbeliever. He doesn't wallow in it like
the unbeliever. When he falls in it, When he
falls in it, by the grace of God, he gets up and shakes himself
and heads off on down the road. He may be staggered and he may
be wounded, but he's gone in the right direction. See, he's
gone. He's gone down the road. He doesn't
lay there and wallow. No, sir. No, sir. He's not a
dog that returns to his vomit or a sow or a hog that returns
to the wallow. He shakes himself and up he goes. I pray not. for the world. I pray for them! I pray for them!
You see, there's a difference, brethren. There's a difference.
Bless God there's a difference. I'm glad there's a difference.
I pray for them. The Lord Jesus prays for us perpetually, continually, alongside,
on the right hand of God, the place of power, the place of
mercy, the place of love, the place of peace. He's there. He's
there. And he prays for us. He prays
for us. There's not anything, there's
not a heartache, there's not a disappointment, there's not
anything that comes upon you that he doesn't know about and
touches the depths of his divine heart. No, sir. He knows something
about true love. Well, he knows what true love
is. Well, I hope that's been of a help to you. It has been
to me.