All right, go with me back to
John 17. John 17, let's read verse 12
again. That's our text. 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. None of them is lost but the
son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. He's talking
about Judas. He's talking about Judas. Judas
ought to be our proof that we cannot put any stock in anything
I mean anything but the saving work of Christ alone. We can't put any stock in anything.
Only the saving work of Christ alone. The only thing that we
can put stock in is His choice. That's all we can put stock in.
His hand. His blood. The work of Christ
alone. Jesus, He ought to be our proof
of that. No matter what we attain in this
life, no matter what we become in this life, if we don't have
God's mercy in God's Son, it amounts to nothing. It amounts
to nothing. Whatever we attain physically,
whatever we attain personally, it amounts to nothing. Judas
was an apostle. He was an apostle. I'm a preacher. Well, Judas was an apostle. One
of God's apostles. Nowhere does it say that anyone
was saved under his preaching. Nowhere. God didn't use him to
pin one word of the scripture. Not one word. But he was an apostle. Turn with me over to Matthew
chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 verse 1 says,
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave
them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names
of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called
Peter. and Andrew, his brother, and
James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, Philip, and
Bartholomew, that's Nathaniel, Thomas, and Matthew, the publican,
James, the son of Alphaeus, who is supposedly the Lord's brother,
and Labaius whose last name or surname was Thaddeus. Labaius
Thaddeus is Jude. Simon the Canaanite and Judas
Iscariot who also betrayed him. God Almighty numbered him with
the Apostles. He numbered him with the Apostles.
There was no reason for the other 11 to suspect anything of Judas. Nothing different. He gave them
no reason. He didn't stand out for any strange
reason. When our Lord said, one of you
is going to betray me. One of you is going to betray
me. Every single one of them. It says sorrow came over all
of them. And every one of them said, is
it I? Is it I? I read a sign coming
over here tonight, there's a house of religion, and it had a sign
talking about forbearing the weak, be patient with the weak.
And as soon as I read that, I thought, the problem with that sign is
I am the weak. I don't need to do a good deed
and be patient with another sinner. I am the sinner. And every single
one of them said, Lord, is it I? It's got to be me. None of them
said, Lord, is it Judas? None of them said that. Go with
me over to John 12. John 12 verse 1 says, Then Jesus,
six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus
was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There
they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of
them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of
ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus
and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why
was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and
bear what was put therein. Judas was the only one of the
12 that had a title. He was the treasurer. He was
the only one who had an appointed job, so to speak. He held the
bag. And he wanted that bag to be
full. That's all he wanted was for
the bag he held to be full. He didn't want any money going
out of that bag. The other 11 though, they had no idea of this. Now why am I telling you all
this? The reason is to show you that the other 11 wanted Judas
to be the treasurer. I don't want to be the treasurer.
They trusted him to handle that job. They had no reason to suspect. This says he was a thief. You
think they would have chosen him if they knew he was a thief?
No reason to suspect that. By his outward conduct, they
said he's the man for the job. You know, Peter, he's a little too hot-headed.
I don't know Peter's the right man for the job. Thomas, he doesn't
have enough faith. He's always doubting. It takes
a lot of faith to write all the money out of the account. It
really does. Oh man, the money's going away. Well, the Lord will provide money.
Judas, he's the man. He's the man for the job. Go
with me over to Matthew 26. Now, this is the same account of this ointment. We read that
in verse 9. It says, For this ointment might have been sold
for much and given to the poor. Verse 14, right after that, verse
14, Matthew 26, 14, Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot
went unto the chief priest and said unto them, What will you
give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him
for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought
opportunity to betray him. The chief priest did not come
and entice Judas. Judas went and enticed them.
Isn't that something? He didn't fall prey. He went
and enticed them. He said, what will you give me,
and I'll deliver him to you. And they said, how about 30 pieces
of silver? And from that time, he sought opportunity. Everything
that happened, he thought, now, can I betray him here? He sought
opportunity to betray him. Verse 17 says, now the first
day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to
Jesus saying unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare for
thee to eat the Passover? It's time to eat the Passover.
Verse 21 says, As they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you,
that one of you shall betray me. Verse 25, Then Judas, which
betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto
him, Thou hast said. He'd already betrayed him. He
had already betrayed him. He already went and said, what
will you give me? And I'll turn him over to you.
And now, as the hypocrite he was, he's sitting there listening
to what everybody else is doing and he says, Master, is it I? He knew it was him. After that, our Lord, he went
into the Garden of Gethsemane And he prayed to his father and
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. And then in verse 46,
right here in Matthew 26, verse 46, it says, our Lord said, rise,
let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth
betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas,
one of the twelve, came and with him a great multitude with swords
and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now
he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I
shall kiss, that same is he. Hold him fast. And forthwith
he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend,
wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus and took him." Judas did exactly what he wanted to
do. exactly what he wanted to do,
just like every other enemy of God does. Every single one. 1 John 2 says, They went out
from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now let me ask us this question.
I ask me this question and you, us. What's to keep us from doing
the same thing? Really. What's to keep us from
doing the exact same thing? Judas did nothing different than
what every other person on this planet wanted to do. They all
said, crucify him. All of them. Every single one
of them. Every soul outside of Christ,
that's what they said. Not just Judas. He did what every
man by nature wants to do. Our Lord did not force him to
do this. Well, he has laid captive on
us and made us to sit in the heavens with him, and he made
Judas do that. No, Judas did exactly what he
wanted to do. exactly what every man by nature
wants to do. Men and women are denying God
still to this day. Still to this day. They're rejecting
God every day, preferring 30 pieces of silver over God Almighty
every day. This flesh right here is prone
to wander. It's prone to wander. Do you
feel that? Do you ever feel that? Do you
ever feel that proneness? I feel it. I feel it. I do feel it. I believe with
all my heart that this flesh, Gabe Stoniker's flesh, is prone
to leave the God he loves. I believe it with all my heart.
I am so ashamed to admit it. I hate to tell you, but it's
the truth. Prone to leave the God I love. What's to keep me from doing
it? Really? Am I going to be here
in 40 years still preaching the true gospel of God? What's to
keep me and stop me from rejecting God and selling out choosing
the world over Jesus Christ my Lord. The answer is in our glorious
text. This is the most wonderful verse
of scripture. Go with me back to John 17 and
listen to what our Lord is saying right here in verse 12. He said, while I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. I kept them in thy
name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none is lost but the son of perdition that the
scripture might be fulfilled. This is our hope right here.
This is our only hope. This is all of our assurance. I don't have any assurance in
what I have attained. Well, you pastor what many believe
is a sovereign grace church. Well, Judas walked with God Almighty. The only assurance I have is
in what my Lord said. He said, I kept them in your
name. I have kept them and none of
them is lost." He said, Father, I kept them and I kept them. Father, I did two things. I did
two things. I kept them and I kept them. I titled this, Kept and Kept. That's what God's people are.
and kept. This word is in this verse twice. Kept and kept. And I'm so glad
the Lord allowed me to realize that it's not the same word.
It's not the same word. We have that concordance and
we look up these words and I thought, well, it's in there twice, better
check it twice. And as it turns out in the concordance, the first
word is number 5083. That doesn't mean anything to
anybody, I know. But the second word is number
5442. The only reason I tell you that is to prove it's not
the same word. It's not the same word. The first one, verse 12
says, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name. That one means to guard from
loss or injury. by keeping the eye upon. I watched them like a hawk, every
one of them. I kept my eye on them. I put
my hand around them. I shielded them, guarded them,
protected them, kept my eye on them. Father, I was their shield
and defender. That's what I was. I was their
mighty fortress. Father, I was their high tower. I kept them. The second one,
he said in verse 12, those that thou gavest me, I have kept. That one means to prevent escaping. Oh, my heart melted when I read
that. And it also means to keep from
being snatched. Father, they are indeed prone
to wander, but I kept them. And I kept them. I've not let them go. I will
not let them go. And their flesh is not going
to prevail. It is absolutely not going to
prevail. He shall not fail. Prone to wander,
Lord, I feel it. Well, you're not going anywhere.
I've kept them. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1
Peter 1, look at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God. through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. You who truly do believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and that's all. Not I believe on
Him and the fact that I'm a new man. Not I believe on Him and all my good works that I
did last week. You who believe on Christ alone,
you who are looking to Christ and trusting to Christ, you're
not doing that on your own. The reason you're doing that
is because you are being kept by the power of God. That's the
only reason you're doing that. You who are just hanging on Christ,
you're not hanging on Him because you're hanging on Him. You're
hanging on Him because you're being kept by the power of God.
You don't have any strength to grip. He's sitting there holding
you. You think, I'm holding on for
dear life. He's got his hand under you. You're being kept by the power
of God. Oh, but I'm nothing but a wretched
sinner. I am no better than Judas himself. Yeah. But you were given to Christ. You know what maketh me to differ
from that poor soul, Judas? I was given to Christ. I wouldn't
have done what Judas did. I wouldn't count on that. Every sinner who God the Father
gave to Christ is being kept by the power of God. Christ said,
I have kept them and none of them is lost. I love how Psalm
121 says, he that keepeth thee will not slumber. I love the
fact that he never goes to sleep. He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. Father, I've kept them and I've
kept them. Nothing's going to bring harm
to them, not even their own flesh. Let me close with this. I've
always loved the thought of this. Go to Psalm 34. Last Sunday night we saw that
we are one with Christ, didn't we? One with Christ. Bone of His bone. He said, I'm the head, you're
the body. We are His bones. We're His bones. When our Lord went to the cross,
He illustrated for us what he was doing for us. Something was
foretold from the foundation of the world, recorded in the
Old Testament, right here in Psalm 34, and illustrated on
the cross so we would see exactly what he's doing for us. by our
Lord telling Pilate and telling those soldiers and telling that
huge crowd of people that was crying, crucify him. And the
enemy that was behind it all, the great enemy that was behind
it all, this is what he said to him. He said, you can have
my face. He went to the cross and he was,
he couldn't recognize him. Marred more than any man, he
said, you can have my face. You can beat my face. You can spit in my face. You
can curse my face. You can rip my beard out. He
told him, you can have the crown of my head. You can press thorns
in my head. You can turn my head into a bloody
mess. You can have my back. You can
whip it. You can smite it with a rod.
You can have my hands. You can have my feet. You can
drive nails into them. You can nail them to a piece
of wood. You can have my side. You can
run a spear all the way up into my side, and everything that's
in me, you can spill it out. But you will not touch one of
my bones. You're not touching my bones.
Now look at Psalm 34 verse 20. It says, He keepeth all his bones. None of them is broken. Not a one. That's our gospel
tonight. Oh, he was so broken. He was
so broken. He was so mutilated. Not one
of his bones. Not one. Because of Christ, we
are being kept by the power of God Almighty. We are kept and
we are kept. All right, let's stand together.