All right, let's turn to John
17. Go to the Lord before we begin.
Our great God and our Father, thank you for this day. Thank
you, Lord, that you've gathered us here. We ask you now to clear
our minds and our hearts that we might hear your word. Give
us your spirit, Lord, to enter in and believe that which we
hear. Rely upon you, trust you, behold
Christ. We thank you, Lord, for these
blessings. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's begin here
now. We're back in the Lord's high
priestly prayer, and we'll begin here in John 1711. The Lord said, and now I am no
more in the world, but these are in the world. And I have
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 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 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 that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Believer, you're not of the world. Our Lord said there, they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. By our first
birth, being born of Adam, We were only flesh and we were of
the world. Everything about us was of the
world. But being born of the spirit of God, being born from
above, being born by heavenly birth, there's a new spirit created
in his people that's not of this world, entirely not of this world. So you're not of this world,
not of this world. Christ was not of this world.
His human body was not of Adam. He's the Holy One. The Spirit
of God formed a body in the womb of the Virgin, and He took up
abode in that body. He's God in human flesh. He was
not of this world. And by Christ abiding in you,
that which is entirely new in you is not of this world. No
man created it. And when you die, you'll be with
the Lord immediately in that new spirit. Not of the world,
not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world, but we are
still in the world. He said in verse 11, and now
I'm no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
am come to thee. And so for this reason, we need
to be kept. We need to be kept. This is our
Savior's intercession for his people. to the Father. He prayed this for his apostles,
but this is the same intercession he makes for his people today.
He says there in verse 11, Holy Father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we
are. Concerning his apostles, he said,
while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those thou gavest me, I've kept, and none of them is lost. but
the son of perdition, but he didn't lose the son of perdition.
Son of perdition lost himself and it was written in the scripture.
That was that the scriptures might be fulfilled. When he says
here, keep them, that means there is a danger. There's a danger. And since we're not of the world,
the unregenerate world whose minds are enmity against God
also hate us. He said in verse 14, I've given
them thy word and the world has hated them because they're not
of the world even as I'm not of the world. He does not pray
we be taken out of the world, but kept while we're in the world.
He said, verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them
out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. I'm tired of this simply kept, kept. The first thing we'll
look at here is that each child born of God need to be kept,
and we shall be kept. Our great high priest does not
pray that we might be rich. He doesn't pray that we might
be given great honors in the world. He prays that his people
might be kept, kept from sin, kept from the world, kept in
faith, kept following our great shepherd, kept together, kept
in oneness. He said, verse 11, that they
may be one as we are. Kept having Christ's joy fulfilled
in us so that we rejoice in Christ and joy in Christ. He said, verse
13, now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that
they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. He's praying here
that we be kept from the evil of sin, both from our own sinful
nature and from the unregenerate world. Matthew Henry said, the
prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity. This goes so
well with our second message this morning. This is what our
Lord intercedes for, that we be kept in spirit, that we be
kept in faith, trust in him. We're sheep. We're sheep. And you know the analogy of sheep.
Sheep are dumb creatures and they need a shepherd. need to
be kept by a shepherd, need to be led by a shepherd, need to
be protected by the shepherd, and we're never gonna grow beyond
our need of being kept by Christ the shepherd. He's interceding
for the Father to keep us, and he keeps us, and does it through
the Spirit. We need to be preserved from
doubting, just like Thomas did. We need to be preserved from
being impetuous and rash, like Peter was. We need to be preserved
from being like John who wanted to cry down fire upon the enemies. We have to be kept from these
things. We're dust. We have a sin nature and we have
many failings. And if not for God keeping us,
we would fall away. We would fall away. We have to
be kept. But God keeps each of his children personally so that
not one shall perish. Look back at John 28, John 10,
28. This is what the Lord said. He
said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. While he was in this world, Christ
himself kept his apostles. He kept every one of them. He
didn't lose one of them. And it shows us that by him keeping
them, he's doing the same now from heaven. He's keeping his
people. We see how they needed to be kept. Personally, they
each needed to be kept. They fled, and he had to keep
them. He had to restore them. And we
see how each of us need to be kept. We need to be kept. Now,
when it says here, not one was lost but the son of perdition,
The Lord didn't lose him. It was determined from the beginning,
it was fulfilled, it was the fulfillment of scripture. The
Lord didn't lose him, he lost himself. But those that he everlastingly
loved, he kept and he keeps. Our Redeemer's gone to the cross.
He's already gone to the cross and he's made his people the
righteousness of God in him. He fulfilled the scriptures,
he fulfilled all that was written, he purged the sin of his people.
He had each one of his people on his heart when he went to
the cross and he was made the sin of each of his people on
the cross and he bore that sin away. He's our scapegoat who
took our sin away to a land not inhabited, never to be remembered
again. He put it away. He brought in
everlasting righteousness for his people. And our Lord Jesus
now has prepared a place for his people. He's gone to the
right hand of the Father where he ever lives to make intercession
for us, to intercede for us. continually interceding that
we be kept, that we be kept. And so he's gonna keep each one
he redeemed personally. He's gonna keep us in faith by
his power, by the spirit. He has to, he must, he must. 1 Peter 1.5 says, we're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation that's ready. It's salvation that's ready.
It's ready to be revealed in the last time. Prepared it. He already made it ready and
he made it ready for a particular people And so he gonna keep each
one. He calls because he made salvation
ready for each one. He died for So when he calls
us, he's gonna keep his child. He's gonna keep us Notice how
he prays to God the father. This is the assurance we have
that he should keep his people It's not only his blood. It's
not only his righteousness, which is Great security. But look at what he prays here,
verse 11. He says, holy father, keep through
thine own name those whom thou has given me. He speaks of God
as holy, first of all. Now this is great assurance that
he'll keep us because God's holy. God's holy. He'll keep those
who believe on his son and he'll do it according to his own holiness.
His own holiness, listen to Psalm 89.35. Listen to this. Psalm 89.35, he says, he says, once I have sworn by
my holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure
forever in his throne as the sun before me. This is according
to his holiness. according to His holiness. Everything
God does, He does in holiness. And He's promised. Look at Hebrews
6. He's promised His people. When
He calls us and calls us to trust Him, He promises to keep us. This is what He promised Abraham.
Hebrews 6.13 says, When God made promise to Abraham, because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. This is according
to His holiness. He's saying, surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so
after he had patiently endured, Abraham obtained the promise,
just according to God's promise. For men verily swear by the greater
an oath for confirmation. When men enter in an oath to
confirm a thing, it's an end of all strife, it's done. wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability, the unchangeableness of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it's impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
which entereth into that within the veil where the forerunner
is for us entered, Even Jesus made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He prays, holy, holy father. He's holy, he's sworn by his
holiness, he gonna keep his people. And then he prays to him as not
only holy, but as our father, holy father. The Lord has children
who he loved from everlasting to everlasting, and he will keep
his children. He will not allow his children
to perish He'll keep his children. He loves his children because
he would. And he asked God the Father to keep us through his
name, that is for the glory of his name, for his name's sake. God's attached his own glory,
his own holy name to the salvation of his people. That's our security.
Listen to 1 Samuel 12, 22. The Lord will not forsake his
people for his great name's sake. because it has pleased the Lord
to make you his people. You just think about that. Just
pleased the Lord. It pleased the Lord. Whatever
pleases him, that's what he does, and it pleased the Lord by his
grace, by his love to make his people his people, and he will
not forsake his people. They're his children. He won't
do it for his namesake. Psalm 79 9, this is our prayer. We pray in his name, and that's
what we're We're beseeching God for his namesake. He said in
Psalm 79, 9, help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory
of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy namesake. It's for his namesake. He's getting
all the glory and the salvation of his people. It's for his name.
And this is what he said in Isaiah 48, 9. For my name's sake, I
will defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for
thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I've refined thee, but
not with silver. I've chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine
own sake, will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? I'll not give my glory to another.
Hearken unto me, O Jacob, in Israel my called. I'm he, I'm
the first, I'm also the last. And here's another thing he prays
for. He prays, Holy Father, he prays to the Father, he prays,
do this for your namesake, and he prays to the Father for those
the Father gave to him. He says, these thou hast given
to me. That includes not only those
he called while he walked this earth, that includes those he's
called since then, and those he shall call. They were given
to the Son, and he says here, for speaks of those that were
given by the Father to him. Now, those the Father gave to
him are his inheritance. They're his portion. And God
the Father's gonna see to it that Christ has his inheritance.
He's gonna have his people. That's Christ's portion promised
to him in the everlasting covenant of grace. He's gonna have his
people. So those are some really good reasons that we can have
some assurance in him that he's gonna keep his people. God being holy, God being our
father, God being zealous of his great name, and God have
given us to Christ. We can be sure he'll keep us.
He sanctified us in Christ, he's gonna keep us sanctified in Christ.
Now, secondly, note what he keeps us in and what he's gonna keep
us from. He says he's gonna keep his people in oneness. He said in verse 11, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one as we are. Sin separates. Sin separated
us from God. Sin separated us from one another. Sin separates men from God and
men from men. Sin's the great divider. But
Christ by his righteousness He came and he took away the middle
wall of partition, fulfilling the law for his people. He took
away everything that we could use to try to exalt one over
another and divide from one another. He took that away. And then when
he comes and teaches us this word, he teaches us what we are.
He teaches us we're sinners. Sinners saved by grace. And he
makes us see this more and more about ourselves. that we're sinners
saved by His grace, freely by His grace, so that we see the
one who made the difference is the Lord. He's the one that made
the difference, and by His blood, by His righteousness, He made
us one in Him. You know Ephesians 2. He made
us one in one body, and then He sent the Spirit, and He birthed
us anew in the Spirit, and He taught us we're one. We're one
in Him. Listen now, one even as He and
the Father are one. That's one in nature. That's
one with Him and one with one another in Him. He created us
anew in His holiness. By His Spirit, He's made us one. And so by His intercession for
us and by His power, His grace, the Spirit of God working in
us, He's gonna keep His people being one. He said in Ephesians
4, 4, there's one body, there's just one body. His elect children
make up one body. They're one body. There's one
spirit, even as you're called, and one hope of your calling.
The same spirit birthed you, birthed your brother, birthed
your sister, here and in other places. One spirit. And you've
been called. One hope. One hope. It's Christ in the veil. Our
hope enters in the veil where Christ is seated. We have one
hope. One hope of your calling, one
Lord. We serve in one Lord. He's our sovereign master. We
serve in one Lord. We just have one faith. There's
not multiple faiths, just one faith. There's one baptism. There's one God and father of
all who is above all and through all, and he's in you all who
believe, who are born of him. And so the world is not one.
He said, they're not of the world even as I'm not of the world.
Look at the world. The world's not one. The world is not one. The world agrees on nothing but
it's hatred for God and for his Christ and for his people. That's
one thing the world agrees on. You see all those different Pharisees and Sadducees and Essenes
and Nicolaitans and the Romans and the Gentiles, I mean the
Romans and the Jews, all gathered together, religious and irreligious,
and they had one common enemy, Christ. One common enemy. They could agree on that. As
soon as they crucified the Lord and took him down and put him
in the tomb, not long after that, they went right back to their
division again. But you got one people who've
been made one by Christ. And you think about it, with
all the differences there are, with our sins, with our misunderstandings,
with our offenses, and all the different things that His people
do in this world, there's only one way His people are kept one. That's by the intercession of
Christ. That's by the Spirit of God in our hearts, keeping
us one, one in heart. Christ is our unity. He's our
bond. And he keeps us endeavoring to
keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. We want
peace, that's all God's people want. Now Christ doesn't pray that
we should be taken out of the world, but that we should be
kept from the evil, from sin. God's left us in this world to
preach his gospel. He saved us to save others. through using us to preach his
gospel. That's what he's doing. And he's
gonna have his people. He's redeemed them. And there's
some lost sheep in this world. And as long as he has some lost
sheep in this world, he's sending this gospel forth. So he's left
us here. Remember that one that he called,
wanted to go with him and be with him where he was. And he
said, go home and tell your family what great things the Lord has
done for you. This is why we're here now. We're preaching this
word. Tell your neighbors. Look for
a way to speak to your neighbor about the gospel. Look for a
way to do that. I think at some point I talked
to every one of my neighbors about the gospel, trying to teach
them Christ. Try to teach, try to look for
an opportunity, co-workers or what have you. And he's gonna
keep us preaching the gospel by which it pleased God to save,
that is, Christ and him crucified. You remember how in the parable
the Lord said The wicked one comes immediately and he tries
to steal away the word out of the heart. Christ is gonna intercede
and he's gonna keep his word in the heart of his children.
He's not gonna let us turn from this one gospel, Christ and him
crucified, from believing him and from preaching him. He's
not gonna let us turn away and start preaching another gospel
that's not another. He's not gonna let his children
start mixing law and grace and putting this thing in the sinner's
hand. He's gonna keep us preaching the one that God will have glorified,
that's his son. He's gonna have his son glorified,
and he's gonna keep his church preaching Christ and him crucified. This is our message. And he'll
call out his people by this message that exalts his son. So he's
praying for that, that we be kept from turning from this one
message of grace. And he left us in this world
to teach us his grace, to teach us his faithfulness, more and
more. to grow us in grace and knowledge of our Redeemer. He
chose to do it by cementing us together with other believing
centers. I've said this so many times
to you that this is the wisest thing. We just think of God. God chose to save through the
foolishness of preaching. I was talking to somebody just
the other day that was telling them somebody was putting us
down and being critical because We put emphasis on it pleased
God to save through the preaching of the gospel. But you think
of the wisdom of God to do it this way. Because not only does
it mean that men have to sit down and be humbled so that no
flesh and glory in his presence, they have to hear by the spirit
of God, teaching through this message that gives Christ, God,
our Father, his Son, and the Holy Spirit, all the glory and
salvation. Not only do they have to be humbled
so that no flesh glory is in his presence, but everybody that
he saves glories in him. Not only that, but as he's doing
this, he brings his people together in one body with believing sinners
who have all kinds of warts and all kinds of blemishes. And he's teaching us through
this means every day that his grace is real. that he's alive
and working in his church and his word is living. His word
is a living word, working in the heart of his people. His
grace is working in his people. He's faithful to work in his
people, to teach us to be gracious and teach us to be forgiving
and teach us to love one another. He's teaching us the things he's
preaching to us and showing us how real this salvation is. That's
so wise. And so he's gonna keep us together
for this purpose, and he's teaching us that he's alive, that he's
working, and he's doing it through all the many offenses and falls,
but it's by his wisdom. Continually teaching us, when
we get puffed up, he brings us back down. When we get too low,
he brings you back up. And he's using brethren to do
this. He's using us to minister to one another, to help one another.
And he's showing us he's the one working it in his people.
He left us in this world to teach us the evil of sin. The devil
is the evil one. And Christ is teaching us the
only way to resist him, there's only one way, that's through
faith in Christ. That's what Peter learned. Peter
said that clearly in his epistle, whom resists steadfast in the
faith. That means you don't have the
power to resist him. Peter learned that. He thought
he did. He said, oh, I won't deny you. But he learned we'd
resist the devil by believing Christ, fleeing to Christ, trusting
Christ. He's our shield. He's our refuge.
He's our defender. We're conquerors through him.
It's by him praying for us, interceding for us to be kept from that wicked
one. What happens when he lets you,
when he permits the devil to touch you like he did Job and
like he did Peter? Spurgeon said he permitted Job
to be tempted by the devil that all the world might see how God
can enable a man by patience to triumph. He just kept Job. He kept Job. In spite of Job,
he kept him. And in the end, made it apparent
that he's the one that kept him. He's the one that kept him. That's
what he's teaching us right now, every day. And our own sin is
evil. Do you find yourself today more
so than last year, more so than the year before that, more so
than when he first called you? Do you find yourself hating your
sin more now than you did? Do you find yourself seeing your
sin more now than you did? God's people do. You see it more
and more in you, and you just hate it. You hate it. Well, how do you How are you
gonna be delivered from the evil of our sin? He left us in this
world to teach us that he alone is keeping us from falling away
by the evil of our sin. He has to keep us from falling
away. We would surely if he didn't
keep us. It's one reason he taught us
to pray, deliver us from evil. He taught us to pray that, deliver
us from evil. We need that constantly. And
he's the only one that can do it. We're utterly dependent upon
him. And that's what Paul was brought to say. Thank God through
Christ Jesus, his son, he's going to keep us from falling away
by our sin. He has delivered us. He is delivering
us and he shall deliver us. And this is what Christ is ever
living to intercede for. Flee from sin to Christ. We're
entirely in his hands to keep us. He's going to get the glory
for saving us. That's the only way that we're gonna be able
to be presented to God unblameable, and that's in His righteousness.
We need to ask Him continually for the Spirit to help mortify
our flesh. Treat it like it's dead. Treat
it like it's dead. Don't let it influence you to
sin, and don't let it influence you from knowing what you are
in Christ when you do sin. He will keep the feet of his
saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by
strength shall no man prevail. Psalm 37, 23 says, the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. God's left us in this world to
teach us this. He's upholding us with his hand.
You'll fall, but you won't fall away. He left us in this world
to teach us more and more that true worship is spiritual. True
worship is spiritual. His blessings are spiritual.
This world and all things in it are perishing. We're so attached
to this world. We're being weaned from it. We're
being weaned from it. He may give you temporal riches.
He may take those riches and make you have less in temporal
things. He may give us temporal joy.
He may give us temporal sorrow. But through it all, this is what
we're going to find. Whether he gives you carnal riches,
if you're his, or he gives you poverty, either way, your joy
is going to be the same. It's going to be Christ. It's
not going to be in those things. It's going to be Christ. He's
going to keep you knowing that. If you're one day on a mountain,
and the next day you're in the valley, your joys will be the
same. When you get up on the mountain
and you have this carnal peace and these temporal joys, it won't
be long, he's gonna show you that's not your true joy, Christ
is. And when you fall low and think
why has the Lord done this to me and why has he taken the things
from me and why, he's gonna show you it was not those things that
your joy, he is. He'd come to you in the darkest,
trial and speak peace into your heart and give you joy in your
heart to make you know with full assurance you're His and all
your blessings are in Him. And that's when you know He's
my joy. He's my joy. He's my peace. He's
everything to His people. Even as God blessed Job's latter
end more than the beginning, what do you end up seeing that
happened to Job? Job died. Job died. You find that with everybody
in the scriptures. No matter how God blessed them,
they died. That's going to be your end.
You're going to die. What's going to happen then?
There's a new man in every believer that's spiritual. And by Christ,
death has no more sting. The power of death is gone. The
power and sting of death is sin, and he's put sin away for his
people. He said, though a man and die, yet shall he live. And
the moment you lay down this body of death and it goes to
the dust, you're gonna be with him. You're not of this world,
believer, just like he's not of this world. You'll be with
him. And that's when we'll really
see our joys, our blessings are spiritual. They're spiritual. We're gonna have a real body.
He's gonna give you a real body, but everything that he's gonna
give us in the end will all be of his creation. It won't be
of this world. There'll be nothing of the devil
upon any of it, nothing of the curse upon any of it, nothing
of sin and sorrow upon any of it. It'll all be his holy creation,
not of this world. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy, through the only wise God our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and forever, amen. He's the one. Paul said, I'm
persuaded. I'm persuaded. He's able to keep
that which I've committed to him. That's what faith believes. He's able. He's able. He's able. And he will keep that
which you, what have you committed to him? What's a believer committed
to him? Everything. Everything. We don't have anything, but he
gave us and we committed all to him. all, and he's keeping
that which you've committed to him. He's able. Father, we thank you for this
word. We pray, Lord, you'd hear our great intercessor, our great
high priest, that you would grant this petition. Lord, keep your
people. We depend upon you for everything,
every day. Make us know it more and more,
Lord. Truly keep us from the evil of our sin nature and the
evil of sin in this world. Keep us one in Christ. Keep us
knowing He's all our full provision. He's our security, our refuge. Keep us walking after Him. Keep
us looking to Him. Keep us knowing all these blessings
You've given us, Lord, and that You really are keeping Your people.
Have us hedged about like the mountains around Israel. Keep
us remembering, Lord, why we're here, not to heap up riches for
ourselves, but to preach this gospel in search of your lost
sheep, to glorify your name. Lord, we ask you, bless it, ask
that you would send forth this word now and bless it to the
heart of one of your lost sheep. Forgive us, Lord, our sins. Forgive
us for being so caught up with the temporal and with carnal
joys. We thank you for those things.
We bless your name for those things, Lord. You've given those,
and we thank you. Lord, keep us looking above.
Keep our affections set on things above. Lord, we thank you for
the great high priest we have there at your right hand. Pray
you hear him, receive us in him. In Christ's name we ask it, amen.