All right, brethren, John chapter
17. And we saw Sunday, this is our
Lord's half priestly prayer. And there's a word for you here
who believe, a word for every true believer. If Christ alone is the reason
you believe, He's the reason, if He's the power by which you
were given faith, If Christ is all your salvation, He's your
only righteousness, your only hope is Christ. If you have no
confidence in your flesh, your only confidence, your only
hope is Christ. You want to be found in Him,
having His righteousness alone, then I have a word for you, and
I want you to hear this now. It's not my word, it's the word
Christ spoke, but I want you to see what He is doing. He's praying to the Father, and
in verse 9, he says, I pray for them. Now, you that believe him, you
just think about that. You meditate on this thought.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I pray for them. That night he's praying for his
disciples, he's praying for his apostle, he's praying for those
he called out in the earth. But now he's risen and from the
right hand of the father he intercedes for. His people. He says, I pray for them. I pray
for them. And this includes those of you
that believe now, because he says down there in verse 20,
neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. If Christ alone is our salvation,
if He's done the calling and brought us to believe Him and
He's all our salvation, and we're resting in Him, He intercedes
for you. He says, I pray for them. Does that mean anything to you? Is that important to you? It's important to those that
know something about ourselves. Now, I've got something for you
here at the end. I'll show you why it's important
for us. And if you'll stay with me and let's look at these first
few points. I want to see who he's talking
about first. He tells us who he's talking
about, who he prays for. But then I want you to see at
the end, my last point, I'll show you why it's so important
that he prays for us. Now, here's the question for
all hearing this. How did we come to know Christ?
How do we begin in the faith? Was it through the hearing of
the gospel and truth? Was it through the true preaching
of Christ? Did Christ do everything? Did
the Spirit of God do it all? Did He get all the glory for
this? And how have we continued in faith from then till now?
This is the difference between true faith and the vain faith
of men. This is the difference between
a sinner continuing in faith, in true faith, and how he continues, And who
he glorifies is the difference in the truth and a vain confidence. Let's see how Christ's apostles
and how these other disciples were given faith. How did they
come to believe? When he walked this earth, he
called some people to faith. And however he did it then, that's
how he's doing it now. However he did it when he walked
this earth, that's how he's done it from the beginning. That's
how he's done it since he came. Well, this is how he declares
it. This is how the apostles and
all the other disciples began in faith. Verse 6. He said, I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. First of all, the gift
of true faith began in eternity. Did your faith begin with you
or did it begin with the Father, God the Father? Who did it begin
with? True faith began with God the
Father. He said, thine they were and
thou gavest them me. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me. It's only those that were the
fathers that he gave to Christ that Christ manifests his name
to. Only those that were the fathers, and he gave them to
his son, and his son manifested his name to them. I manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me. This is the certainty of
salvation. This is the certainty of salvation.
Those Christ gives faith are those the Father eternally loved. They were thine, Christ said.
They were thine. They belong to the Father. They
were thine. Those given faith to believe
on Christ were God the Father's from eternity. He loved his own. That's why. He chose them by
free grace, chose to save them, elected them unto salvation,
and entrusted them to his son to do everything to save them,
to give God all the glory in their salvation, to bring them
to give God all the glory in their salvation. Heaven's gonna
be a place where nobody boasts in anybody but God in Christ. We're going to spend eternity
saying thank you. If we can't say thank you now,
it's going to be hard to say it in that day. We're going to
spend eternity expressing love. If we can't express love now,
it'll be hard in that day. That's what His people are going
to do, because the Father loved His own freely, and He chose
us freely, and He sent Christ to manifest His name to us freely. If this thing had been based
on us believing in Christ, we wouldn't have had to say, I manifested
Your name to Him. Was our faith given because in
eternity God the Father entrusted us to His Son? Was that the reason
our faith was given? Everybody that believes in time,
the Father gave to the Son in eternity. Thine they were, and
Thou gavest them me. That's who it is Christ intercedes
for. He says, verse 9, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, but for them Thou hast given
me. to be praised for. Do you see
why this thing of him interceding for us is important? Did he just
start interceding for us that night? No, he'd been interceding
for his people since the world was made, since he entered covenant
with the Father. This is the only reason God didn't
destroy this world is because there was an intercessor. Deliver
him from going down to the pit. I found an intercessor. I found
a mediator. I found a substitute. Now secondly,
do we have faith because Christ manifested God's name to us? Then how come we have faith?
That's how the apostles' faith was given. That's how the other
disciples that he called believed. Christ said, verse 6, I've manifested
thy name unto the men. I manifested thy name unto the
men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were,
thou gavest them me. I manifested thy name unto them. Christ prays for those who give
Christ all the glory for their faith. That's who he prays for. Everybody, every man in this
world would want to try to claim this honor that Christ prays
for them. But it's only those who give
Christ all the glory for manifesting the name of the Father. That's
who he prays for. Those with true faith confess, we have faith
because Christ manifests the name of God to us. He manifests
the name of God to us. In this prayer Christ declared
in verse 2, that I was given him, look at verse 2, that I
was given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as I was given him. Now that's God's purpose
for which he gave his people to his son, that he may give
eternal life to as many as the Father's given him. And he said
there, the Father gave him power over all flesh, over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father gave
him. And then he declared in verse 3, this is life eternal,
that they may know thee, the only true God, in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. True faith in Christ is given
by the power of Christ manifesting himself in our hearts, and manifest in the name of God.
And it's because Christ has power over all flesh that he's able
to bring the gospel to each of his people and manifest his name
in us. Do it the way God purposed for
it to be done. Do it the way God pleased for
it to be done. That's how he, the Father, purposed
it all. And he entrusted his people to
the Son, but there was a way God the Father was pleased to
save his people. And Christ has power over all
flesh to bring it to pass exactly the way God was pleased to do
it. Exactly the way. Scripture is
clear. While Christ walked this earth,
while he walked this earth. How have he called his disciples
when he walked this earth? That's how he's called them before.
That's how he's called them after. How is he pleased to do it? This
is the day of grace. This is the day the gospel is
established. This is the gospel age, the preaching
of the gospel. And so how did he do it when
he walked this earth? How did he do it when he walked
this earth? Everybody that he manifests the name of the Father
to, Christ either went to them specifically, and preached the
gospel to them, or he drew them to himself and preached the gospel
to them. He preached the gospel to all
of them. He manifests the name of the Father to all of them.
And he either went to them personally, or he drew them to himself personally.
Every one of them. Every one of them. And since
he arose, he either sent one of his preachers to him, either
he came personally like he did to Paul, because he was an apostle,
or he sent his preacher to him. They preached the gospel to him
in truth. Not one time did he ever use a false preacher to
call out one person. He sent them the truth. He sent
them the gospel. He said he had to go. He said,
I must need to go through Samaria. Why? There was a woman there
at the well that was his. He must manifest the name of
the Lord to her. He had power over all flesh to
rule everything to go to that woman. And he knew right where
she was, and he went right to her. He sent the disciples across
the sea to Gadara. Why? He had that demon-possessed
man that was over there. He knew right where he was. That
was his. And he went there and freed him. declared the truth
to him. The leper heard about him, and
he came to him. He came to him. He heard about
him. He came to him. He came directly
to Zacchaeus. He knew right where Zacchaeus
was. He came to him. He called him to himself. After
he ascended, he put Paul in prison to preach the gospel to that
Philippian jailer and to his redeemed in that jailer's household,
who he everlastingly loved. Paul preached the gospel to him.
Think what had to happen. He had to be put in prison. An
earthquake had to come. He sent the earthquake. He had
power over all flesh, over all things and all flesh. Put him
there and brought that jailer to fall down in Christ at Paul's
feet and ask, what must I do to be saved? Paul preached the
gospel to him. He sent Paul to Lydia by the river. He sent Philip out in the middle
of the backside of the desert, right to where that Ethiopian
eunuch was. And that eunuch, he had power
over all flesh. He sent Philip there and that
eunuch, he gave that eunuch a heart to be sitting there reading Isaiah
53. And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? And he said, how can I except some man guide
me? It takes the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to give a man
a heart to shut his mouth and listen to God's preacher. Only
Christ can do that. Men know everything until the
end. Only Christ can do that. I mean, even in the beginning
of it, he has to do it. Lord Jesus as the mediator between
God the Father and those the Father gave him. He's God in
human flesh. That means he's God. He's the
fullness that God had bodily dwelt in him. He's God and he
has all power in heaven and earth. He's God in human flesh. He's
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The wind and the waves
obeyed him while he was on this earth. Everything that he commanded,
they did. The wind and the waves. He made
the wind and the waves. He's the power that rules the
wind and the waves. And they obeyed him. Blue, when
he said, blow, stopped. When he said, peace, be still.
Animals obey him. Who brought the animals to Adam
to name them? He did. Animals obey Him right now. Somebody
gets killed by a wild animal, ain't but one way that animal
had the power to kill her. That's the Lord. Power over all
flesh. All flesh. Not a hair falls off
your head, not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him. Power
over all flesh. That means He has power over
the wicked and disobedient. He can stop them from any sin,
or he can rule their sin and wicked rebellion to accomplish
his purpose. He's that powerful over all the
wicked and he's working all of it together. He's working every
bit of it together to send the gospel to his child who he promised
the father he would call out through the truth of the gospel. He has power to do that, doesn't
he? He has power over all flesh to work it all together, and
he has since the first tick of the clock. When the Lord sent
the gospel to you, if he sent the preaching of the truth to
you and calls you by the preaching of the gospel, Everything that transpired from
the very first second that ticked when he made time until that
point he gave you faith to believe. Every bit of that he worked together
to that one point when he brought you the gospel and preached the
gospel to you. Everything. When it says he works all things
together for the good of them who are called to them that love
God according to his purpose. Everything that's ever come to
pass. Not just in your life, in history. That's how sovereign
and powerful he is. Now can he bring the gospel to
somebody in truth or does he have to use a lie? He can bring
it in truth. He can bring it in truth. That's when we're called by him
and he manifests his name. This is part of manifesting his
name. To show us that he didn't have
to do it through a lie. He could do it through the truth
of the gospel. Because that's part of who his
name is. He was able to bring it to you
in truth. And anybody that wants to say, well, now, I wasn't sitting
under the truth when He called me, but now He called me. You
ain't heard His name yet. They ain't heard His name yet.
He ain't manifest His name to them yet. By His power over all flesh,
He brought the gospel to us, and He manifest His name in our
hearts. Just listen to God's name. This
is what He manifests to you. When He reveals Himself to you,
He reveals He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. This is
how serious, this is how... how holy and righteous God's
salvation is. He provided a substitute to lay
down His life in the place of His people, and that substitutes
His dear Son, His only begotten Son. He provided Him as a substitute. The Lord provided just like He
provided that ram caught that ticket for Isaac. That's what
He makes you know. He makes you know His name. The
Lord has provided. He provided His Son. When He manifests His name, He
makes you know His name's Jehovah Sidkenew. He's the Lord, our
righteousness. He would not clear our sin. We had to die. He makes us behold. We died at Calvary in Christ,
and Christ Jesus is our righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness. We don't have any righteousness
God will accept, except in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's how holy
He is. He manifests God's name, Jehovah
Kadesh, the Lord that sanctified thee. When he took up residence
in your heart, he separated you from every false gospel lie you
ever believed, didn't he? Didn't he? You thought it was
of you. You thought it was of your hand. You thought it was
your wisdom. You thought it was of your knowledge. You thought
it was of your works. You thought you were doing something to please
God. It all depended on you. He separated you from all of
that. When He took up residence, when He who is our holiness,
He who is our sanctification entered in, light shined, and
there was a new creature created, and you were separated from every
false idea and vain idol you had that you thought was God.
And He called you out of the world to follow Him, and He's
been doing it ever since, keeping you separated under Him. That's
Him. We're going to steal that glory?
That's His glory. That's His name. He manifests His name as Jehovah
Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. When He did this work for
you, He made you to know you've been healed. What does that mean? You have eternal life. That's as healed as you can get.
Though a man die, yet shall he live. You're healed. That's as
healed as you can get. Eternal life. Because that's
His name. He manifests His name, Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord our peace. He manifests to you. He is your
peace who brought peace between you and God. He did that before
you ever knew Him. He went to the cross and satisfied
the angry God whose wrath was against you and brought peace
for you. And then He came and when He entered your heart, He
brought peace in you and made you quit fighting against God
and bow and be reconciled to Him. That's his name. He has to do this work. Nobody
else can do this. We can't do this. He has to get
the glory. It's his name. His name is Jehovah Nissi, the
Lord our banner. He made you come in under his
banner and come in under his holy name and his flag and enlist
in his army to fight this fight of faith, trusting the captain
of our salvation only, Christ Jesus, and have no other, we
got no other banner. We're waving no other flag but
Christ and him crucified. We're preaching Christ, Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ. He will separate the wheat from
the chaff with that message. Hate the light bread and say,
I'm tired of this light bread. I want the garlics and the leeks
I had in Egypt. But that message is life for his people. He's
going to keep you trusting him because he's our one banner.
He manifests his name as Jehovah Raya, our shepherd. That rod
and that staff, that's how they numbered the sheep. They passed
them under the rod and they numbered the sheep. Where's Cheryl? There she is. Bring her over
here. There's my sheep, Cheryl. There's my sheep, Kalen. Bring
her over here. There she is. He numbered the sheep with the
rod. This gospel right here is the rod of our shepherd, and
he's the shepherd, numbering his sheep, calling his sheep,
bringing his sheep back, turning his sheep, correcting his sheep,
doing everything with the rod of this gospel. He's the shepherd.
That's his name. Jehovah Shema, the Lord is there.
He's present. When he came and taught you the
gospel, he made you to know. You're sitting in a crowd, but
he had gathered them up. He said, I'm there. Wherever
I've gathered my people, that's where I am, where I've established
my gospel and set up my banner and my truth be a priest, I'm
there. And when he entered your heart,
he made you know he is really there. Jehovah Shema, the Lord
is present. And be sure to get this, before
we knew his name now, the whole time Christ was working all things
together for his people, before we knew his name, our great intercessor
was praying for you. Right here, right here, I pray
for them who shall believe on me through their word. He was
praying for you right here. And he was praying for you at
the right hand of the Father, interceding. Before we ever knew
him, he knew us, and he was praying for us. Before we believed him,
he was the surety of each child given him of the Father, and
he's interceding particularly for you. Now that we've experienced
the power of Christ as our God and our Savior, we know he has
power over all flesh. We know. We've experienced it.
We've been made to know his name, and we know he has power to bring
the gospel to his people wherever they are. And all the while he's
praying for them in particular just like he's praying for us
in particular. This is why we preach the gospel
to every sinner. This is why we declare plainly
that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus shall never perish
but have eternal life. This is why we declare, believe
on him, trust him, oh you dry bones, believe on the Lord Jesus.
Because this is, this is, he comes and manifests his name.
And get what this means, child of God, now get what this means.
When you've been brought to be resigned to his will because
of his gospel, this is such comfort for you. It's comfort for the
believing mother and father whose child is yet lost. It's comfort
for the believing son or daughter who has a mother or father who's
lost. It's comfort for you who believe,
for anybody who attempts to leave the gospel or anything. It's
comfort. This is our comfort right here. We have this rejoicing. We have
this assurance. If the father everlastingly loved
your lost child, your lost parent, your lost loved one, if he loved
them and gave them to Christ, Christ has been interceding for
them from the beginning, and he has power over all flesh. He will bring the gospel to them
or bring them unto the gospel, and he will manifest his name
to them. Mark it down. Mark it down. as comfort for
his preachers, as comfort for the whole church, for our Lord
Jesus as we preach the gospel. Now, if you've experienced that
power, you know this. He's made his name known. You
know this. You know he's sovereign. You
know he is. You've experienced it. Now, here's the last point
I was working toward, and I want you to get this. Here's the comfort
for you who see and really understand. And you know this, the more He
manifests His name to you and the more the light shines, the
more you know this about yourself. This is for you that see that
your faith is really small. For you that understand that
your knowledge of Him is very little. It's like a thimble in
an ocean. Like a thimble in an ocean. But
here's the comfort we have, brethren. Christ is making intercession
with the Father for us, and it's His intercession, by His intercession, that our
faith is presented to the Father as perfect faith. Perfect faith. He said in verse 6, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. Now this is such a comfort
for us when we think of the apostles and the disciples for whom the
Lord was praying. Think about them now. Indeed,
by His power and His grace, He manifested His name to them and
they received His words and they kept them. There were several
tests He gave them. Several tests He gave them and
by His grace and His power, they passed the test. When that multitude
walked away, you just think of that multitude walking away.
If you saw everybody leaving, everybody leaving, everybody
leaving the gospel, and it was a multitude of folks, that'll
tire most people. They'll have to change the message
somehow. We got to do something, though.
Keep people here. We didn't do anything to get
people here. Christ did. And he turned to them and said,
you going to go away also? And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we are sure. Thou art the Christ. We believe
and are sure. You're the Christ, Son of the
living God. He had manifest his name to them. He had given them
the words, and they kept them. Oh, brethren, but how very weak
their faith was, and how very little their knowledge was. Before
that, right before that, he brought that multitude there and set
them down and he was testing his apostles and said, what are
we going to feed all these people? They had seen him steal the ocean.
They had seen him calm the wind. They had seen him raise, give
men sight and raise a man paralyzed for all his life. And what did
they answer? Where are we going to get food
enough to feed all these people? And he said this to them, testing
them. He said, tell them to sit down. And he fed them. Took a few little fish and a
few little loaves and fed the whole multitude. They were so weak in their faith
and their knowledge. John the Baptist, John the Baptist
sent word to Christ and said, are you the Christ or do we look
for another? Their hearts were troubled on
many occasions, and their hearts were troubled that very hour.
You remember when he said, we're going back to Bethany. We're
going near Jerusalem to call Lazarus. They said, Master, the
Jews have laid salt to stone thee. You're going there again? Mary and Martha were weeping.
They said, Lord, if you'd have been here, our brother hadn't
died. Their hearts were troubled. Has
your heart ever troubled, believer? How come you don't fall away? How come God receives your faith? The Lord told him he was going
to prepare a place for his people. Peter tried to persuade him not
to go to the cross. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know
where you're going. How do we know the way? Lord
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, Thomas. If no man
comes to the Father but by me, if you know me, you know the
Father. From henceforth, you know him, you've seen him. Phyllis
said, Lord, show us the Father, and it'll suffice. If you'll
show us the Father, we'll believe you. He spoke of the Spirit. One of
them said, Lord, how are you going to manifest yourself to
us and not to the world? He'd already done that. They were confused. They said,
what's this? He's talking about a little while and you won't
see me in again a little while and you'll see me because I go
to the Father. And finally he just said it clearly. And they
said, now we believe you. Now you're talking plainly. Now
we believe you came forth from God. He said, do you now believe? The whole the hour comes, yea
is now come. You shall be scattered. Every
man to his own, you'll leave me alone, yet I'm not alone because
the Father's with me." Now listen to what he said. These things
I've spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. When Peter denied Him three times,
and they all fled, and they left Him alone, their faith failed
not. Why? Why not? This One who has power over all
flesh, this One who manifests His name in your heart, this
One who prayed for them that night, is at God's right hand,
having accomplished the redemption of His people, and He intercedes
for His people. He ever lives to intercede for
His people. And as he prays here for his
people, he doesn't mention one word of any of that unbelief. Not one word of any of those
questions, not one word of their doubting and their fears and
their just plain out unbelief. Not one word of it. He says,
they've kept thy word. They've known that all things
whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. I've given unto
them the words which thou gavest me. They've received them. They've
known surely that I come out from thee. They have believed
that thou didst send me. The lesson is so comforting and
so instructive for us. The Lord speaks as it really
is. He speaks as it really is before
the Father. How could you say that when we
see all that unbelief and trouble and doubting and fear and just
flat out denying and fleeing away? How come we can see all
that? How come their faith failed not?
How could he say, they've believed. They've kept your word. Because when Christ went to the
cross, he died for your unbelief, he died for your doubting, he
died for your fears, he died for your troubles, he died for
every inconsistency in you just like he died for every sin. And
the righteousness, the faith of your faith, and the one who's
Presenting it to the Father and sustaining it in you is Christ
only and He only regards that which He has created in perfection. And what He's done is done in
His perfection. That's all He regards. And as
far as our little weak faith and as far as our little thimble
we got, we see that He regards even in us a grain of mustard
seed. Just a grain of mustard tea.
That's about all we got. We have strong faith when we
don't really need it. When everything's good and the
sun's shining. But you let the trouble come.
And we find out we don't have much faith. Just don't. But that's a good thing to find
out. Because unless you trust in your faith, and the better
you find that out, the sooner you find that out, the better.
It ain't your faith to believe in. Don't believe your faith.
Trust Him. He's going to keep you trusting
Him. That's how faithful the faithful
one is. He's going to keep us trusting
Him. And as He prays for us, it's His faith God looks upon
as perfect. It's His faithfulness to us that
keeps us believing. So when you see Him here interceding
for His people, It's only by his perfect faith that we're
accepted. That's why when you have true faith, you don't boast
in your faith. If you hear a man boast in his
faith, it's a sure indication he ain't got faith. If a man's
boasting in his faith, he don't have faith, not the faith God
gives. Because the faith God gives has heard something about
his name. And you can't boast in your name
and boast in his name. It just can't happen. What you
see in yourself is sin. What you see in yourself is constant
inconsistency. What you see in yourself is no
way able to come to God in you at all. You have to come in him.
That's what true faith beholds. That's why true faith Recovered over and over and over
by Christ says just what Peter said that night when he said,
do you love me Peter? And Peter said Lord, you know
You know you've manifest your name to me. I thought I knew
it Now I know it a little better, you know, Lord, you know all
things, you know, I love you Lord said now Peter go feed my
sheep with that go tell my sheep that go tell them what you learned
through this and Don't tell them, don't teach them to boast and
be proud and put down your brethren and tell me what all you've done.
You go feed them with this that you've learned now that you fell
flat on your face and see what a pile of dung you are and how
I saved you. Now go tell them, I know my sheep. I've manifest my name to you.
I'm saving my people. It's my faith by which you save,
not your faith, Peter. Well, Scripture says, but thy
faith has saved thee. He said that to somebody. He
said it to somebody who was trusting him. That's the only way your
faith saves you. And here's why it's so important.
I'm in with this. Look here. When the father gave
his children to the son, they didn't stop being the fathers.
They were the fathers and the sons, and they still are. And
here's why he's doing it this way. Look down at verse 10. He
said, All mine are thine, and thine are mine. and I am glorified
in them." Why didn't he say, all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and we are glorified in them? Why didn't he say that?
Because we just worship one God, the I am. And he said, all mine
are thine, Father, and all thine are mine, and I am. That's God the Father and God
the Son, the One God, the Triune God, God the Father, Son, and
Spirit. I am glorified in them. That's how he's going to keep,
he's going to be glorified with us giving him the glory and he's
going to be glorified for bringing us to keep giving him the glory
and for everything along the way. Everything along the way. And it's for this reason right
here. Be thankful for our Savior's never-ending intercession. If
you can say, this is all my salvation, if you can say right now, this
is my salvation, what you're preaching, Clay, this is all
my hope. Then you have this confidence,
Christ says, I pray for them. Now, if this is not anybody,
this is somebody saying, well, now, I believe, I but, but, it
ain't for you. I might be, might turn out to
be. But this is for them. He's going
to bring to say, Lord, it's all your glory. I'm nothing. And as you go, as you go, as
you go along, it's going to be just like it was with John the
Baptist. He's going to increase and you're going to decrease.
He's going to increase in your heart, in your estimation of
Him, in you, in your heart, in your estimation of self is going
to decrease. That's growing in grace because
he prays for his people. What a blessing. Amen. Father, thank you for this word.
Pray, Lord, you continue to may intercede for us and make this
word effectual in our heart. Thank you, Lord. Forgive us our
sin and unbelief. In Christ's name, amen.