All right, go back with me to
John 17. Our Lord's glorious prayer to
His Father for us. He said in verse 9, John 17 verse
9, I pray for them. What a thing
to hear. What a thing to know. I was thinking
about that. Our Lord, these disciples had
the privilege of listening to this. We have the privilege of
reading this. They had the privilege of listening
to this. There are some men who have been
gifted with the ability to pray. There are some men who when they
pray, it's just so from the heart, from God's Spirit. Can you imagine
listening to God Almighty pray? I pray for them. Why? Because I love them. That's why
I love them. I pray for them. Why? Because
I love them. That's why I love them. We looked at verse 12 last week. Our Lord said, 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 he says
in verse 13, Now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. He said, I'm saying these things
out loud so that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. And I have it. Hearing these
things, I'm so glad he said it out loud. His desire for us is
two things. If we listen to what he's praying
right here, his desire is two things. He is praying that we,
his people, might be safe and happy. That's what he's praying. He's praying that we might be
safe and happy. I think that is so precious. I'm so thankful for
that. Safe and happy. He keeps telling us it's not
going to be easy. Verse 14, he said, I have given them thy word
and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world,
even as I'm not of the world. Look back in chapter 15, John
15 verse 18. He said, if the world hate you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love his own. But because you are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also." Chapter 16, verse
2, he said, they'll put you out of the synagogues. You believe
this? word in context. Believe the word of God and they'll
put you out of the synagogues over it. They truly will. He said in verse 2, they'll put
you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service. We're going
to do God service. We're going to kill this blasphemer
for believing God's word. Verse 3, He said, These things
will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father,
nor Me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, whither
goest thou? But because I've said these things
unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell
you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if
I depart, I will send him unto you." I want you to be comforted. That's what he's saying. I want
you to be comforted. The only way that's possible is if I go
away. I have work to do. I have a work
that must be finished. You cannot be comforted if I
don't finish this work. There's one thing that comforts
a believer and that's that all the sin has been put away. All the debt has been paid in
this work that he accomplished. Back in chapter 15 verse 7, our
Lord said, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you
shall ask what you will and it shall be done to you. Verse 9,
he said, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Verse
11, he said, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy
might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. I've
told you these things that your joy might be full. He could have prayed every bit
of that within himself. But he out loud told us why he
came. He out loud told us what he was
already accomplishing for us. He said, Father, the whole time
I've been here, I've kept them. I've accomplished that. None
of them is lost. He told them what he was about
to do that night. He was going to let them take
him. and try him, convict him, and just shortly, within a few hours, the next
day, crucify him. He was going to rise. About six
weeks from this point, he was going to leave them. about six
weeks from this point, go back to his father, and he wanted
them to know and he wanted us to know why he was leaving and
what that meant for all of his people. And in that, he prayed
they might have great joy. I pray that they might understand
what is about to take place and that it might bring great joy,
not sorrow. He said, I told you I'm leaving,
and sorrow has filled everybody's heart. Oh, no. Thank God he left. Thank God he left. He endured
the cross, Hebrews 12 says, for the joy set before him. He did
this for the joy set before him. I cannot wait. Christ is coming,
hallelujah. At that moment, absolute joy
will come to every single one of us. And it will never leave. It will never ever leave. At
that moment, His joy will be absolutely fulfilled in us. Never
leave again. So our text, John 17 verse 13,
he said, Now come I to thee And these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." I've said every
bit of this, that they might have the joy of Jesus Christ
Himself fulfilled in them. A sinner that has been given
to Christ has nothing but joy ahead of him. Nothing but joy. Nothing but joy. When God allows
us to focus on that, We come into this house, and He allows
us to open up this Word, and He, in mercy, sends His Spirit. And He allows us to focus on
what is to come, and it makes this wicked world okay. It makes
it okay. Even in the middle of everything
that's going on here, we're happy, aren't we? Now, as soon as we
get our eyes off of Christ and we start looking back at the
world, it's all downhill from there. But when God in mercy
stops that for about 12 seconds every now and then, and we see
Christ in all his glory and everything that he's done for us, we're
happy. We are happy. Christ is our happiness. Arthur Pink said, a joyless Christian
is one who is out of communion with the Father. That's so true,
isn't it? Out of communion with him. He
said, other objects have engaged his heart and in consequence
he walks not in the light of his countenance. What's the remedy?
Our Lord said, ask and you shall receive that your joy may be
full. Lord, would you look on me again? Would you look on me again? Would
you bring me back into communion with you that I might have your
joy, that my joy might be full? Verse 14, he said, 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've given them
thy word. He's not just saying I preached
to them. Our Lord preached to multitudes
of people, multitudes of people, but they didn't all believe. It was not given unto them all
to believe. What he's saying is, I've opened
up their hearts to the Word. I've opened up their understanding
to the Word. That is a precious gift of God. If we understand this Word and
if we enter into this Word, we are a blessed people. And he's
saying that he gave us a will and a spirit to receive it and
love it. We love this word, don't we?
This morning, we had a difficult Bible study. I felt like it was
a difficult Bible study. And my hope was that our Lord
would send his spirit to every single one of his people and
prepare us to receive his word and love it. And I did. Personally, I did. We see all
of His truth, all of His Word, everything it says about us,
everything it says about Him, and we love it all, don't we?
Absolutely love it. Faith is what that's called.
Faith. Father, I've given them faith. The Word dwells in them,
which is Christ. The Word in us is Christ in us.
Verse 14, He said, I've 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. The world hates them because
I'm in them. That's why they're not of the
world, even as I'm not of the world. So verse 15, he said,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Keep them from
the evil of this world. Keep them from the evil one. We are no match for anybody or
anything. And if we think we are, we are
sorely mistaken. A poor woman I knew when I was
a child, a friend's mother, she used to always talk about how
the devil didn't have anything on her. And I'm going to tell
the devil this. And I used to, as a child, think, please don't
say that. We have no power over anything. Our Lord right here said, Father,
keep them from the evil. Keep them, is that not relieving? Keep them from the evil one himself. Our Lord prayed this for us and
he told us to pray the same thing for ourselves. He said, lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. If we're
gonna be delivered, Lord, you're gonna have to deliver us. I don't
have the power to resist anything. If we're going to be kept, you're
going to have to keep us. Here is our comfort. If our Lord prayed
this, then that means it was His will. And if it was His will,
then that's exactly what will happen. That's exactly what is
going to happen. He said again in verse 16, They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Verse 15, he said, I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world. That was interesting
to me. He said, I pray not that thou
should take them out of the world, even though they are not of this
world. He just said it in verse 14 and verse 16. They're not
of this world. We are not of this world. Hard
to believe, isn't it? This flesh is so of this world. My sin is so of this world. I
am so carnal. I want this world. Our Lord said,
they're not of this world. I believe him. I don't understand
it all, but I believe him. They are not of this world, even
though father, they are going to be hated because of this truth. Even though they're going to
be persecuted, in some cases they're going to be killed. He
said, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. Why? Verse 18, he said, as thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. He said, as you sent me into
the world, God the Father sent God the Son on purpose, with
a work to accomplish. And he said, just like you sent
me into this world, I have sent them into this world. To do what? Go with me over to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, look at verse 19. Our Lord said, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. We are still here
for the furtherance of the gospel. That's the only reason we're
still here. That's the only reason we are still here. Look at Mark
16. Mark 16 verse 15 says, He said
unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." That's
our charge. That's our commission. We are
still here to preach the gospel. We are still here to support
God's gospel and promote God's gospel. That's the whole reason
we're here. That's the whole reason we're here. The gospel
glorifies God. We're here to glorify God to
other men and women. The gospel is the means that
God has purposed to save His people, call out His people through
the preaching of the gospel. The gospel comforts God's sheep,
doesn't it? We are here on this earth for
God's glory, We are here to be the means that God uses to save
his own. Does God need us to save his
people? Absolutely not. But he has chosen to save his
people through the preaching of this gospel, hasn't he? Faith
comes by hearing and hearing the word of God, so we're happy
to preach it. What an honor it is to preach
this gospel. What an honor it is to support
God's gospel, promote God's gospel. And we are still here to comfort
each other. I am so glad that you're still
here. I'm so glad. I would not want
to be here alone. Go with me over to Philippians
chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 verse 21
says, Paul said, for me to live is Christ. Do we not say the same thing?
For me to live is Christ. To die is gain. But if I live
in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall
choose, I don't know. For I am in a strait betwixt
two. Having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better, every believer has either
had that desire or is going to have this desire right here.
At some point, every believer is going to say, it would be
so much easier to just be done with all this and go be with
the Lord. Let's just be done with this and go on and be with
the Lord. You don't have to turn there,
over in 1 Kings 19, Elijah sat down under a juniper tree.
Elijah was God's prophet and he'd rained down fire from heaven.
He'd done all these things. And he went down and sat under
this juniper tree and prayed to the Lord to just kill him.
He said, it is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life. Moses
did the exact same thing. Jonah did the exact same thing.
Remember, Jonah sat down in the sun. The Lord made a gourd to
come up to shade him. Jonah said, just let me die.
All three times, the Lord said, no. There's work to be done. There's
a work to do. Elijah, at that point, he said,
I only am left. Just take me. Let me die. I only am left. The Lord said,
I've reserved 7,000. Go deliver my message. Go deliver
my message. Paul said right here in Philippians
1 verse 23, I'm in a straight betwixt two, having a desire
to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless,
to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. God has given
us a charge. There is a reason why we're here.
It's for His glory, it's for the salvation of His people,
and it's for the comfort of each other. And so our Lord said back
in the text, go with me back to John 17. Verse 15, He said,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Once believers
understand this, they're a little more content to be here. Just a little bit more content
to be here. If the Lord has purposed good for a sinner through me
being here, then I'm happy for that to be the case. And in our
time here, we don't pray that the Lord would deliver us from
sickness, and we don't pray he would deliver us from even the
persecution of this word. Our prayer is that he would deliver
us from sin. Deliver us from sin. Verse 15,
he said, 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 this world, even
as I'm not of this world. Sanctify them. Sanctify them. Set them apart. Father, set them
apart for me. I'm coming to you. And I don't
pray to take them out of the world. I pray to keep them from
the evil. They're not of this world, even
as I'm not of this world. Father, would you set them apart
for me? Sanctify them. Through thy truth,
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth." Now do you have a margin for verse 19, the
word sanctified? Mine says truly sanctified. That's what I titled this message.
That's what I titled this message. Truly sanctified, truly set apart. I mean, truly, truly holy, truly
pure, truly Perfect. Truly perfect. That's what we are in Christ. That's what we are in Christ.
He's praying right here, sanctify them. Set them apart for holy
use. Christ is this word, Christ is
the truth, and we're sanctified in Christ. It is not something
that we attain. I want to say something very
quickly about sanctification and we'll be done. Sanctification
is not something that we attain. It's something that we are made
to be in Christ. Okay? And this is our Lord's
prayer to God the Father on our behalf out loud so we can hear
everything God has purposed and has done. Okay? Sanctification
is not something we attain. It's something that we're made
to be in Christ. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
30. It says, but of Him, God, are
you in Christ? We all must be in Christ. How
does a sinner get in Christ? God has to do it. I can't decide
to be in Christ. I can't do any work that would
put me in Christ. God has to do it. Of Him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom." Christ
is our wisdom. I don't have any wisdom outside
of Christ. And righteousness. Christ is our righteousness.
All of my righteousnesses are filthy rags. I don't have any
righteousness outside of Christ. And sanctification. Christ is
our sanctification. It's not my sanctification. He
is my sanctification and redemption. I don't have any payment outside
of Christ. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. If anybody is going
to glory in anything, it must be in the work of the Lord. Go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, look at
verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. That's Christ. And you are almost
there. You are complete in him. which is the head of all principality
and power, complete in Him. We do not become more and more
set apart. We were set apart from the world.
He said, Father, keep them from the evil. We were set apart from
the evil. We were set apart from destruction
in Christ, totally in Christ. He is our sanctification. As set apart as He is, that's
as set apart as it gets. As pure as He is, that's as pure
as it gets. You cannot get any purer than
Christ. As perfect as He is, that's as
perfect as it gets. That's as holy as it gets. He
is our sanctification. And he said, for their sakes,
you don't have to turn back in our text, he said, for their
sakes, I sanctify myself. I will set myself apart. And that's what he did on that
cross, didn't he? I will set myself apart that they might
be set apart in me. Set apart in the truth. What
he's saying is, Father, I am about to make them perfect. We were made perfect from the
foundation of the world in the purpose of God. We were made
perfect when Christ shed his blood on that cross. And we are
made perfect through faith in his word. And I have scriptures
upon scriptures to prove that. Perfect, absolutely complete.
If there is something that we still must attain, then Christ
did not finish the work. And He could not have said, it
is finished. If there was something still
that we must attain, He did not finish the work. But He did finish
the work. It is finished. In Christ we
are as holy as we're ever going to be. We are as accepted by
God our Father as we are ever going to be. Right now, we are
the sons of God. Absolutely the sons of God. We're
as pure as we're ever going to be. Total satisfaction before
God Almighty was accomplished when Christ set himself apart
for us. God set us apart in him. Now
let me give you one more scripture for proof and then we'll close
on this one. Go with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Boy, this is a wonderful scripture.
Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 9. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath. The word hath means it's finished. It's already done. He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Absolutely sanctified. In Christ we are truly sanctified. If we understand what the word
sanctified means, that's as good a news as I've ever heard in
my life. How perfect is Christ? When God
looks at Christ and He says, I am well pleased, how long will
we just stare at Christ? Just listen to every word He
says? Watch every step He makes? In Christ, God looks at me and
says, I'm well pleased. I am well pleased. Why? Because I turned over a new leaf?
No, no, no. It's because God in mercy put
me in Christ. Totally sanctified. Total perfection. Can't imagine that. Can't imagine
that. Good news. Alright, let's stand
together.