All right, brethren, let's go
to John 17. John 17. We'll go to the Lord before we
begin. Our great heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us
here this morning. Thank you for delivering us here
safely, giving us hearts to want to be here. Lord, we thank you
that you've provided us a place where we can hear the gospel
of your salvation in Christ. Lord, we ask you to bless it
to our hearts this morning. Cause us to hear. Be with our
brethren who suffer in this morning. Your brother Jeff is gonna have
surgery this week. Guide the doctors and be with
his family. Comfort them. Give us grace to
bow to your will in all things. We pray for brother John Chapman
that lost his father pray for his mother and his family that
they might be comforted, Lord. Whoever, if your people are in
need and you know each one, we can't name them all and we don't
know them all, but Lord, you do. We ask you to bless them,
be with them, and keep them. Lord, thank you again for this
day. In Christ's name, amen. Now, the intercession Christ
is making here in John 17, It's the intercession he makes right
now at the right hand of the Father. Just as he prayed for
his people right here, he still intercedes for his people in
glory. That's a great comfort. It's
a great comfort. Whatever we suffer, whatever
comes to pass, at that very moment, the Lord Jesus is interceding
for his people. He doesn't have to pray as he
did here in this John 17. He's just there. He's there. his person and his accomplished
work being there. He's our advocate with the Father,
our great intercessor. But he prayed here for those
he had called out by his grace already, but not only for them,
not only for those he'd already called out. He said in verse
20, John 17, 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word. Every time
I read John 17, I like this time this week when I started studying
this, I was gonna read, I thought I was gonna preach from several
verses after this. Every time I read it, I just
stop at that verse right there because it's astounding, it's
amazing, it's so good to know that when our Lord Jesus prayed
this prayer that very moment, he was praying for you who believe
here right now. He was interceding for each of
us who believe right now. And that's why we believe, because
he interceded for us. Our great high priest intercedes
for his people who shall believe. It's a great comfort to see him
intercede for those he's already called out, but it's also a great
comfort to see that he's interceding for those who shall be called
out. We have a lot of loved ones.
We pray for them. We'd like to see them believe
the gospel. Neighbors and and people all
about us. We'd love to see him believe
the gospel. This is certain This is certain if there he is and
Christ prays for them. They're gonna believe the gospel.
That's certain All right. I want to just break this verse
down and and see what we can get from this one verse first
of all Our text shows us that Christ knows and loves his people
Before we know him and believe him he knows and loves his people
before we know him and believe him He said, neither pray I for
these that I've called along, but I pray for them also which
shall believe on me through their word. Now, he said earlier here
that he only prays for those that God the Father gave him
out of the world. He said in verse nine, I pray
for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me. He said, for they are thine,
all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in
them. So that's who he prays for. He's praying for the same
ones that he laid down his life for. That's who he prays for. And it's because in eternity
and everlasting love, God loved his people in Christ. In eternity,
he loved his people in Christ. Before we ever knew him, before
we ever had faith to believe him, and that's where the love
of God is. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's in Christ. Paul said in Romans 8, he listed
all that list of things that were apt to separate us, but
he said those things won't separate us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? He gives all that list of things.
He talks about how weak we are. But he says there at verse 39,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able
to separate us, now watch this, from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's how come our Lord didn't
destroy the world when we fell in Adam is because his love's
in Christ. He loves his people in Christ. For Christ's sake, based on what
Christ has accomplished, And he's eternal, and his love, and
he's immutable, and his love doesn't change. We're familiar
with Jeremiah 31.3, he said, yea, I've loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That means that because God is
eternal, his love is everlasting. Like Melchizedek, no beginning,
no ending. Everlasting, eternal. And he's
immutable, so his love doesn't change. God's love does not change
just like God does not change. There's no beginning or end to
his love. That means God didn't hate yesterday
and then start loving his people today. And it also means that
he doesn't love his people today and start hating them tomorrow.
Those he loves, he loves everlasting. Psalm 103, 17 says, the mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. Everlasting,
everlasting, his mercy. We fear him because of his mercy. And that mercy's from everlasting
to everlasting. His love is from everlasting
to everlasting. So all those the father gave
to Christ, they equally loved of the father and equally loved
of his son, Christ Jesus. Our names were written in the
book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God did that. God did that. He wrote the names
of His people. His people were all purchased
with the same precious blood of Christ. They were all justified
with the same righteousness. They were all sanctified by the
same Spirit. All received the same inheritance,
the same way. God loved us while as yet we
were sinners. He loved us before time, before
there was any sin in the world. Loved us in Christ, but when
we sinned in Adam, he loved us while we were yet sinners in
Christ, in Christ. And Christ laid down his life
for us while we were yet sinners. Listen to Romans chapter five.
Romans chapter five, it says, talking about the love of God
should have brought in our heart, he said, scarcely for a righteous
man, Romans 5, 7, scarcely for a righteous man one will die,
Yet perventure for a good man, some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, his love toward us, and that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being
now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. That's just gonna be so of all
that Christ died for. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled We shall be saved by his life. And this makes
us rejoice. It makes us love him. It makes us want to serve him
and want to honor him and won't be zealous for good works for
him because this is all free. This was all simply because he
loved his people. And we see where we were. We see what sinners we were and
how we hated God and wanted nothing to do with God. And yet he came
and saved us, washed us with the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost through the blood of Christ because Christ
had justified his people. Now, so first of all, he loved
us before we ever loved him. He loved us before we ever loved
him. And then secondly, notice the certainty that each one for
whom he intercedes, each one for whom he died, they should
be given faith to believe. He says, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word. He doesn't say they might. He
said they shall. They shall. God doesn't do anything
in this world. He didn't make this world and
create men in this world and then just take his hand off of
it and leave it up to sinners. If he did, nobody'd be saved.
Nobody will be saved. Since we failed, nobody wants
to be saved by God so that God gets all the glory. That's not
what sinners want by nature. We didn't, we didn't. But God
foreordained that each one he chose shall be called. Romans
8, 29, let's look there, Romans 8, 29. Verse 29 says, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
This is for his son's sake, that his son might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. It's all him, isn't it? It's
all him. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Paul said in Ephesians 1.5, he predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he made us accepted in the beloved. And
then he abounded toward us in wisdom and prudence and taught
us what he'd done for us and made us willing to come to Christ.
This is all predetermined before the world began. Don't you find
it more comforting to know that God predestinated you and predetermined
your end. You don't like that when you
think it's all, you're gonna get the glory for being a big
eye. But when God makes you little
in your own estimation, that's when we start rejoicing that
he predestinated the end from the beginning. We can rest there. But not only does God foreordain
and predestinate, not only does that guarantee that we shall
be called, The reason each one should be called is Christ suffered
for each one. He justified each one. That's
why each one shall be called. He said there in John 17, I finished
the work thou gavest me to do. God gave him this glory to give
eternal life to as many as the father gave him. And Christ Jesus
came and he took the sin of each and every one of his people.
This thing had to be done in righteousness. And he took the
sin of each and every one of his people that God might be
just to judge him in our room instead. And that's what happened.
God judged him at Calvary. That was the judgment of all
God's people right there at Calvary. That's where he settled the judgment
of his people. Paul said in Romans 6, 6, our
old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be
destroyed. He accomplished that. He accomplished
that for all for whom he died. And when Christ was, when He
arose from the grave, His people arose from the grave. When He
ascended, His people ascended in Him. When He sat down at God's
right hand, His people sat down at God's right hand. And there
was a purpose for that. Let me show it to you in Ephesians
2. There was a purpose for that. He didn't do all that and say,
now I've done all I can do, now it's up to you. No, there's a
purpose for why He did everything He did. Ephesians 2, 4. But God, whose rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you're saved. He's raised us up together, made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Here's why.
That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
He did it. to come and show it to His people.
He did it to come and make it known to His people that He might
show us the riches of His grace for ages to come. That's why
He did all this. Well then, how are we going to
be made to believe Him since we're dead in sins by nature?
Look at the next verse. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast were his workmanship, you see
that? We were created in Christ Jesus
under good works which God foreordained that we shall walk in them. And
we shall. That's why our great shepherd
said, not one of his sheep shall be lost. He said, this is the
Father's will which has sent me of all which he's given me,
I should lose nothing. Now raise it up again, now it's
the last day. And so that's why he also made this statement.
He's talked about those he had called out of the Jewish fold
and brought into his fold, the great shepherd, but he said,
I got some Gentiles that are not of this fold that my elect. They're gonna be brought too,
but listen to how he worded this in John 10, 16. He said, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Why? Why is it a must? Because
he justified them. Not only did God everlastingly
love them in Christ with no change, but also Christ laid down his
life and justified his people and made us righteous. Justice
demands they be called. He must call them, and he shall
call them. That's the very reason the church
is in this earth, so we can preach this gospel, and that's our encouragement
to preach the gospel. That's why we don't get cast
down. When we're preaching the word because we have this guarantee
that he has a people here And he shall call his people to faith
in him in and here's the last thing Go back there with me John
17 notice each one shall be called through the gospel They gonna
be saved through the gospel He said verse 20 neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their words God ordained that those he saves, he's gonna
save through the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. We
were talking about this last night, about how some say, well,
if you was chosen of God and Christ died for you, it doesn't
matter if you ever hear the gospel, you'll be saved. And they say
that because they say we don't wanna take away from the sovereignty
of God. And you're saying by preaching
that, they say that we're taking away from the sovereignty of
God No, brethren, if God tells you from the beginning how he's
gonna do it and he does it exactly how he says he's gonna do it,
that doesn't limit the sovereignty of God, that magnifies God's
sovereignty. It's one thing to say you're
gonna go downtown over here and you may end up going a real big
circle to get there and get lost on your way, but if you'd say
exactly how you're gonna go to get there and that's how you
do it, that says something totally different. And if God told us
from the beginning he's gonna say through Christ laying down
his life. How did those men put him on
that cross? Because God was sovereignly working.
They did what God determined before to be done. And the same
thing, God is sovereign to send his preacher and to send his
gospel and to quicken his people and call his people. Because
he said it from the beginning. That's how it pleased him. Listen
to this, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He said, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren. Talking about those
called already. You're beloved of the Lord, you
were loved before. Be loved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now listen, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He called you by our gospel. Our risen Lord is our prophet,
priest, and king. He's not only our advocate with
the Father, he's not only our intercessor, he's not only our
righteousness and our holiness, he is our prophet who's gonna
get the glory for sending the gospel and actually being the
one who through the Spirit preaches it in the hearts of his people.
He said in Romans 10, 13, Romans 10, 13, He said, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? This thing comes all the way
back to our Lord, don't it? He's the one that does the sending.
as it's written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
Verse 17 says, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Go to Isaiah 52. I wanna show
you something, Isaiah 52. It's Christ himself that makes
us hear his voice. It's not just any preaching,
and even when it's the gospel preached in truth, it's not the
preacher or the person sitting there that makes this word effectual.
It is our Lord that does it. Now listen to this, Isaiah 52
in verse five, he said, he's talking about his people being
in bondage, and he said, now therefore, what have I here,
saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? They
that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord, and
my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore, my
people shall know my name, Therefore they shall know in that day that
I am he that does speak, behold it is I, how beautiful on the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes
salvation, that says to Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion. You see who it is that's doing
the preaching? It's Christ. doing it through his preacher.
Christ called his apostles and he sent them forth to preach
his word on purpose that through them, through their word, he
would call out others. And he's been doing that ever
since. He's been doing it ever since. He continues to this day
and he gets the glory. Paul said, he called you by our
gospel. Peter said, who by him do believe
in God. That raised him up from the dead.
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
Look at, you there in Isaiah still, look at Isaiah 61. Isaiah
61. It really did please God for
Christ to have all the preeminence. He pleased God that in him all
fullness dwell. He said the pleasure, whatever
pleases God shall prosper in his hand. It pleased God to save
through the foolishness of preaching. It pleased him to save by justifying
his right, his holy name, his law. It saved him to, it pleased
him to get all the glory and sending the preacher and blessing
it and making it effectual. And all this is prospering in
Christ's hand. Look here in Isaiah 61.1, the
spirit of the Lord God is upon me, this is Christ speaking,
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He anointed me to preach good
tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaven is that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified. We know Christ quoted that when
he walked this earth, and somebody will say, well, That just applied
to him preaching while he walked this earth. Brethren, the power
of God, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, is our Lord
Jesus. He's the wisdom and power of
God. And he's preaching this gospel in the hearts of his people,
wherever his message is being preached, where he sent the preacher,
and he's preaching that message. It's Christ who is getting the
glory for making his people hear that gospel in our heart. He
is working as certainly today in the midst of his church as
he was when he walked this earth. And he's able to correct, he's
able to chasten, he's able to strengthen, he's able to keep
all through the preaching of this word, just like he's able
to quicken and call in the first hour. And this is what he's gonna
keep doing. We're not just saved by the gospel
the first hour we hear it, we're saved by the gospel to the end,
to the end. God's people have to have the
gospel And we know that when we're saved by it. We know that
when we've experienced this power through his word, you know, there's
times you can't, you just can't, you just can't enter into these
glorious riches that we have. You're down and you're weak and
you just can't. And you'll come in sometimes
and you'll sit maybe several services and not be able to just
rejoice. You just, you just, it's like
a fog's over you. And then one day you hear, and
you hear, and it's as new to you as the first time you heard.
Why? It's the Lord speaking. And he
does that to us to make us understand we need him. We have to have
him. We have to have the Lord ministering
the word to us through this gospel. We have to. And he can just show
you things in his scriptures that you just didn't see. And
we have to have him. We have to. But you see what
assurance we have, our God should call out His people. The Father
has not done anything, left anything to chance. He orders everything. It's ordered in sure. He chose
us in Christ. Christ came forth and redeemed
His people. The Lord is sending the gospel to His people, gathering
His churches. He said, I dwell in the midst
of my people. He's sending the Spirit of God quickening His
people. He's preserving His people. And that Holy Spirit is irresistible
to quicken His people. That's why he said in Isaiah
55, 11, my word, so shall my word be that go forth out of
my mouth. Where's it going forth? Out of
my mouth, he said. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and shall prosper
in the thing whereto I send it. That couldn't be said any other
way except it's the Lord working it, making it effectual, and
that's true. 2 Peter 3.9 tells us this, the
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward. Who's the usward? The very ones Christ is praying
for in that intercessory prayer. Those the Father gave to him,
the elect, that's the usward. He's longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now we just saw faith's a gift
of God Repentance is a gift of God. Eternal life, spiritual
life's a gift of God. So if he's not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance, what does
that mean? It means he's gonna be the one that's gonna give
you this life and this repentance and this faith to believe him.
And that's what he's saying. He's not willing that any perish.
And so Peter said, because he's not willing that any perish,
because he's willing that they be given repentance. Later Peter
says, so you account that this long suffering of our Lord is
salvation. It is salvation. It will culminate
in the Lord calling each and every one of his people and not
losing one. That's so. That's so. Every time
I prepare a message, I pray for, try to pray for each person here.
I do this every day. I try to. I go by the cues in
my mind. I'll think where you sit. in
the building, and I'll pray for you, pray for your children.
But every message I'm preaching, I'm praying that those who have
never heard this gospel, I mean spiritually, I mean believingly,
I pray that the Lord will be pleased to call them, that he
would make it effectual, that he, I start out asking, Lord,
give me the word you would have me to preach. Give me the word
you'd have me to preach. Sometimes we go to the next verse
in a book we're going through, but sometimes we can't. because
I don't have a message on it. We had to just wait. But he'd
give you the message and you come and you preach, asking him,
bless it. Then when it's over, then once
you've preached it, same thing again at home. Go out again,
go through each pew. Lord, bless it to their heart.
Would you bless the message? Would you keep it lodged in their
heart? Keep them feeding up on this word. And Lord, whoever
don't know you, whatever one of those lost sheep's yours,
would you call them out by your grace? This is our prayer, but
we have this assurance. The Lord's gonna call his people.
He gonna call his people. And for you who he has called,
he's gonna keep you and he's gonna use you to speak the gospel.
He's gonna use us collectively right here to keep sending this
gospel forth because this is how he's gonna gather his lost
sheep in and call them. And he gonna keep doing this
till he calls each and every one of them. Each and every one
of them. They cost him his precious blood. He will not lose one. He will not lose one. He said
in John 10, 16, they shall hear my voice and there shall be one
foal and one shepherd. Now go to 2 Corinthians 5, 20.
I'll end with this. 2 Corinthians 5, 20. This is
how Paul applied this when speaking of the very same thing. He said,
now then, verse 20, now then, are ambassadors for Christ. As
though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. This is grace for him to send
the gospel in our midst. That's what he's talking about.
Don't receive it in vain. Hear this message. Believe on
Christ. Come to Christ. Be reconciled to him. Quit fighting
against God. Look, for he said, I've heard
thee in a time accepted. In the day of salvation, I've
succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now
is the day of salvation. That's the man. Come to Christ
now. And if you've already come to him, you know the message.
You keep coming to him. You keep coming to him. He's
saving you yesterday, he's saving you today, and he'll save you
tomorrow. All right. Father, we thank you for this
word. We ask you now that you'd bless it. We ask you, Lord, that
you'd make it real in our heart, make it life in our heart. Turn
us from ourselves, turn us from our sins, turn us from everything
that we try to find refuge in. Make us believe on the Lord Jesus. Make us trust him. Find all our
assurance in him, all that we need to be accepted in him. And
Lord, we ask you to keep this word in our heart. We ask you
to keep us looking to Christ, to keep feeding upon your word,
keep us assembled, keep us coming to hear you, keep us coming to
Christ alone. Thank you, Lord. And we ask you,
if you're pleased, call out one of your lost sheep. We ask you,
Lord, please glorify your name. Forgive us our sins and forgive
us for being cast down and doubting. Lord, we trust you. We believe
you. We know you're reigning and ruling. It's in Christ's
name we ask these things. Amen.