John chapter 17. Tommy sent me a message this
week, that Henry Priest from this chapter, and I listened
to it, very powerful message, very powerful. He titled it,
Believers are not of this world. I'm going to leave it that way.
I'm going to leave it that title, Believers are not of this world.
That's a good title for this message. Now our Lord, we left
off in verse 9 last week, but in verse 9 He says, I pray for
them. God praying for His people. And
the Mediator, the man Christ Jesus, praying for us. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they
are Thine. Here's the reason He prays for them. They are Thine. That's why He
prays for them. They are Thine. Not only by creation,
but by election, by covenant love, redemption, they are Thine. And all mine are Thine, and Thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. Our Lord declares Himself
to be one in essence with the Father here in this verse, in
verse 10. Their interests cannot be divided. The interest of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is never, never divided. What belongs to one belongs to
the other. All thine are mine, and mine
are thine. And I'm glorified in them. Here's
another reason. for the preservation of those
whom the Father gave Him." Here's another reason for their preservation. I am glorified in them, in their
salvation. I'm glorified in their redemption.
I'm glorified in their affections. I'm glorified in their conduct.
I'm glorified in their final glory and I'm glorified in them
throughout eternity. You know that's what we are going
to do throughout eternity? We are going to glorify Jesus
Christ. Our existence on that new earth,
our very existence, our being there, glorifies Him. You know
that everyone whom God saves, everyone who ends up in His presence
on that new earth, every one of them are trophies of His grace.
You know, Ephesians chapter 2. We are trophies of his grace
is what we are. And he says, I'm glorified in
them. And now I am no more in the world. This is how sure,
confident he was that he would finish the work. He says, I'm
no more in the world. He speaks as if he's already
gone. I'm no more in the world." He's ready to depart out of it,
and a great change is about to happen for the disciples. A great
change is about to take place. They'd been with Him for three
years, and now they would not have His physical presence with
them anymore. Spiritual presence just like
we do, but not His physical presence. And how beautiful this is. It's
if He's handing them over to the Father, He's saying, Father,
protect them, keep them. He's about to go to the cross.
He's about to be forsaken. And He's praying for their protection.
He's interceding for their protection. Apply that, listen believer,
apply that to yourself. The Lord prays for your protection.
He intercedes for your protection. Keep them, keep them, protect
them. Take care of them. But these,
he says, he says, I'm no more in the world, but these are in
the world. These are still on the battlefield. You realize
that you and I are on a battlefield. We are on the enemy's turf. We
are on the battlefield. And they will be hated and killed
for my sake. What a terrible place this world
is. This world hates God. And when I say this world hates
God, that's everyone that does not believe. Christ said, if
he's for me, he's not against me. If he's against me, he's
for me. There's no neutral ground. There is no neutral ground. You're
either for him or against him, one or the other. But these are in the world, they're
still on the battlefield, and they're in an evil world, an
evil world. And he says, Holy Father, and
he's not talking about the one that they call Holy Father in
Rome, that's a devil. That is a devil. Holy Father,
keep them, listen, till the storm passes by. Keep them till the storm passes
by. Keep them safe. Keep them believing, that's what
he's asking. Keep them believing. We are kept by the power of God,
the scripture says, through faith, keep them believing. Keep them
as one in unity, that they may be one as we are.
Keep those whom thou has given me. You know, the elect of God
are the love gift of the father to the son, you know that? Every believer, every believer
is a love gift from the Father to the Son. You're a love gift
to Him. and keep those whom thou hast
given me through thine own name." Through your own power. The mighty
God. God All-Sufficient. Keep them
through your own name. And he says, while I was with
them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Listen, I kept them
by your power, and I kept them in your name. I kept them by
your doctrine, by your teaching. How important is that? Listen
to what Paul says to Timothy. This hit me this morning as I
was going over this. Paul says to Timothy, 1 Timothy
4, verse 16, listen to this. Take heed unto thyself and unto
the doctrine, the teaching. Continue in them. For in doing
this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. It's
so important. It's so important that I keep
to the teaching of scriptures. That's how God keeps you. He
keeps you by His power. He keeps you by His teachings.
He keeps you by His Spirit, giving you an understanding of what
He's teaching. He keeps us. And that's what He's saying here.
Keep them through thine own name. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I've
kept, and none of them is lost. None of them. Now, our Lord knew
that there'd be some knucklehead that would say, well,
one of them was lost. So you lost one, Judas. Judas was never saved. Judas,
he says, was a son of perdition. He was a hypocrite. He was an
imposter. There's always wolves among the
sheep, tares among the wheat. Judas was lost. He's lost. Those that Thou gavest
me, I have kept. Here's our security. Here's the
security of every believer. Them I have kept. And not one
of them is lost. Peter denied him three times.
Now, is Peter lost? Peter, is he lost? Yeah, there's
some denomination that believes you can be lost, you can be saved,
then you can be lost, you can be saved. That's not so, that's
not so at all. If Jesus Christ died for me,
if Jesus Christ has saved me, I'm saved. And that's my salvation. Eternal security is not that
I accepted Jesus. My eternal security is this,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for me. That's my eternal
security. That's it. He says, "...those thou gavest
me, I kept them." but the son of perdition, that
the Scripture might be fulfilled." Judas wasn't made to do what
he did, was he? God didn't make him do that.
You know what God did? God let Judas be Judas. He let
Pharaoh be Pharaoh. He says, God hardened his heart,
and it says Pharaoh hardened his heart. How is that? God let Pharaoh be Pharaoh. That's
simple. If God lets John be John, John
will leave the gospel. By nature, that's what I'd do.
I'd leave the gospel. And what this shows us is that
without the work of the Holy Spirit in us, that we would leave. Without Him keeping us. You see,
the Father chose us, the Son redeemed us, the Holy Spirit
regenerates us, and He keeps us. He keeps us. He keeps us believing, He keeps
us coming. He keeps us praying. You know, you feel impressed
to pray about something. You feel impressed to pray about
someone. You feel the weight of sin and
you ask for forgiveness. Without the Spirit of God, you
wouldn't do any of that. You wouldn't do it. You wouldn't
have no interest in being here at all. Not without Him. But there's also something here,
listen, there's also something here that we see and I want to
point out. Being in the presence of Christ
is not salvation. Judas was in His presence all
that time. All that time. But he never believed. He never believed Jesus Christ.
He never loved Him, never believed on Him. And now he says in verse 13,
"...and now I come to thee as the high priest over the house
of God, as the forerunner, as our kinsman-redeemer, as our
priest." He comes to the Father in prayer, in intercession, and
we get to listen in on it. My soul, let's give this our
attention. We are allowed of God to listen
in on our Lord praying for us, interceding for us. These things
I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in
themselves. I speak these words in their
hearing. And I speak these words that
are written that you and I, sitting here this morning, might hear
Him pray. Do you hear Him? Do you hear Him this morning,
praying in this Scripture? This thrills my soul. I could
read this over and over and over. This is for me too. I speak these
words in their hearing that they might know My love for them,
and Thy love for them, and Thy care for them. It's the reason
I'm speaking these words in their hearing. And these things are
written that you and I might know Him, and that you and I might have
His joy fulfilled in us also. One of the purposes of this prayer
was for them and is for us, that their joy or their sorrow might
be turned into joy. See, He told them, I'm leaving,
I'm going away. And they were sorrowful, and I understand that. I'd be sorrowful too if I was
standing there and had been with Him for all that time, and had
left everything. They left everything. They jumped
out of the boat, left their father, some of them did, they left everything.
And now He says, I'm going away, and where I'm going? Right now,
you can't come. Later you will, but not now.
And they were sorrowful. But He's speaking of these things
that their sorrow might be turned into joy. Even in the face of
what He was about to endure, He had an abiding joy. And in the face of the trials
that you and I are put through, we have an abiding joy in Jesus
Christ. And it's His joy. It comes from
Him. It comes from Him. It's not natural.
It's not of the flesh. It's of God. It's of God this
joy that we have that we cannot explain, this peace that we have
we cannot explain, even when we're going through a very difficult
time, it's His joy, it's His peace given to us. How comforting! Now listen. Read
this, child of God, read this. How comforting to know that the
Lord prays for our joy. He's actually praying for my
joy. Now, you know what that ensures? That ensures when I go through
hardships and hard times, I'm going to have it. Now, there's
going to take some growth and grace for this to develop, just
like, you know, you take a child, when a child is born, it takes
time for that child to grow up. It takes time for that child
to develop. It takes, you know, when that child is born, that
child has everything it's ever going to have. It has its, I
mean, it's going to grow extra arms and fingers, and it has
everything. But there is a maturity that
has to take place. And for every child of God, you
have everything. When you're born of God, you
have everything spiritually, but there's a spiritual growth
in grace and in knowledge of Christ. And as you grow in grace
and knowledge of Christ, your joy will grow, your peace will
grow, your interest in Christ will grow, and your disinterest
of this world will become, how do you say that, more? It'll
be more disinterested, I guess. You become less interested, put
it that way. Less interested. I pray for their joy. I have
given them Thy Word. Do you realize what's happening
this morning? The same thing that happened to the disciples
is happening this morning. He's given you His Word this
morning. He has given you His Word. You have believed His Word. You know the Gospel is true.
You stake your life on it. You know it's true. And He's
given you His Word right now. You're drinking the Word of God. You're eating the Word of God.
And to drink and eat of the written Word of God is the same thing
as to drink and eat of the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. It's
the same. I have given them Thy Word. And this is more than just speaking
the Word in their hearing. It's more than me speaking the
Word in your hearing this morning. It's putting the Word in the
heart. I'm putting my words. The Lord
said, I put my words in their heart. You know, there's some
that the Word just... It's not having what you call
a saving effect. But there are some who the Word
is getting into the heart, it's going into the heart, it's convicting
you, or it's giving you peace. Whatever's needed, child of God,
whatever's actually needed, the Word has given it. God's given
it to you in His Word. That's why it's so important
to be in the Word of God, because if you need peace, He's going
to give it to you through His Word, by His Spirit. If you need
comfort, if you need convicting, If you need conviction of sin,
it's going to come through the Word. If you need faith, faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. I've given them Thy Word. It's
not his. You know, he's not claiming as
a man that he came up with this. He said, as I hear, I speak,
and when I hear, I give it to them. If you hear the gospel in word
only, it's not gonna do anything but add to your condemnation,
but boy, if you hear it in power, it's changing, it's life changing,
it's changing. It comes in power. It'll cause
you to rejoice in the word. It'll enable you to walk humbly
before God. If the truth comes to you in
power, you will walk humbly before God. And you don't have to try
it. You don't have to say, well,
I gotta try to walk humbly today. That'll be the last thing you
do today. but it will cause you to walk humbly before God." And
the world, listen, here's the negative effect. The world will
hate them. Hate, that's a strong word, isn't
it? That's a strong word. The world will hate them. You know, when I first heard
the Gospel, I'm telling you the truth. I can't tell you how thrilled
I was when I first heard the gospel. And I thought the place
I was going, I thought they'd be thrilled. I wanted them to
hear what I heard. I thought, man, I found something. I found the truth. I found something
new here. And they were upset. I had to
leave. I literally had to leave. They
were so mad at me. And my first experience was shock. It was
just like, they hate it. They hate it. And I had to leave. I remember
how dejected and disappointed I was. The world will hate you. The
religious world will hate you. Nobody hated Jesus Christ more
than those religious Pharisees who claimed to be believers.
They claimed to be children of Abraham, the children of God.
They claimed to be in the covenant. They claimed they were it. and
they hated him. They're the ones who said, crucify
him, crucify him. The Romans, Pilate, they wanted
to let him go. Pilate said, I find no fault
in this man. He was examined by Pilate. He said, there's no reason for
him to die. They said, crucify him, kill
him anyway. I don't know whoever said opposites
attract. They must have been of the world
who said that. Because in the spiritual realm, like begets
like. How can two walk together except
they agree? Opposites attract. I don't think
so. Not in the spiritual kingdom
of God. They don't attract. No, no, no. And here's why the world hates
them. Here's the difference. Here's the difference. Here's
why your friends that you used to run with, here's why they
can't run with you no more, and you can't run with them no more.
Here's why. Because they are not of the world. You chose them out of the world,
but they are not of the world, even as I'm not of the world.
We are one with Christ now. We live in a different world.
As believers, do you live in a different world? Do you? As you grow in grace and the
knowledge of Christ, I promise you, if you're growing in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, you're gonna start living in
another world. And your sights and your hope and your life is
set on things above. You know, just as that song that
was sang by Peggy, you know this is temporary. Everything in this
life is temporary. Everything. I've learned, it's
taken me a while to learn this. You ever have such a good day
you try to repeat it? You ever had such a good day,
especially when I was a kid and growing up, and a teenager, and
you know, as a young man, there were times that I had such a
good time I tried to repeat it. Well, I don't try to repeat it
now. I enjoy it and then let it go. Because the Lord will
give me another good day. That day was that day. And let
that day go. Thank God for it. Thank Him for
it. Enjoy it. He's given you all
things to enjoy. Enjoy what you have today. Enjoy
the home He's given you, the house He's given you, the job
He's given you, everything God's given you. Enjoy it. It's not
wrong to enjoy what God's given you of this world, of this creation. Your health, enjoy your health
while you got it. And if God takes it, so be it. So be it. I feel healthy today. I don't have any aches and pains
going on, but I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. But I know who's bringing tomorrow. Learn to enjoy what you enjoy,
and let it go, and enjoy the next thing. When the Lord brings
it. Because He's going to time it. We have to learn. You'd think
we'd learn this sooner. But things come and things go.
By the providence of God, it comes and it goes, it comes and
it goes. Today, I was telling somebody this the other day,
but I was walking around the church here in the mornings,
and I was thinking my life is like a book. My life is written. Now listen, my life is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. My life is written, it's scripted.
I'm telling you the truth, it's scripted. Today, you know, today
this is what's going on. It's just like reading it in
a book. At the end of the day, you know what you need to do?
Turn the page, or you'll never get through the book. Don't get
hung up on one page. Well, this happened today, boo-hoo.
Turn the page. Tomorrow's another page. And
then week, and then the month, and then there's another chapter,
then another chapter. It just, I mean, it dawned on
me that my life is just, it's scripted, it's written. Do you
know anybody else better to write it than God? Well, let me write
part of it. I know what part you and I write.
It wouldn't be any good either. If you could live on this earth,
if you could live on this earth, and there's a person I'm thinking
about asking this. who claims to believe the gospel.
If you could live on this earth forever and ever, would you do
that? Would you do that? I was thinking
about that as I was walking around there too. I was thinking, if
I could live here, and the person I'm thinking of
is my dad. If you could live here, he's
90 years old and he does not, he said, I'm trying to keep my
feet above the ground as long as I can. You can't do that. I said, you're
already, you're just, your head's above the grave right now, that's
it. You think that's mean, don't you? You think that's mean. That's
not, that's just truth. That's reality. You're, it's
like, you're, no, you're, That is at the end. It's at the end. Would you live here forever? Now, listen to me. I'm not being
hard because I'm not, you know, if I was there, I don't know
what I'd think. I don't know. I don't know. I
do know this. Here's what I know. And I'm not
saying he's not a believer at all. I'm just saying you need
to focus on what you need to focus on. You need to put things
in proper perspective. And I know exactly where he's
at. He doesn't want to leave the
family. and all his relationships and
all those things. Those are the things that we
have to learn to let go early. We've got to learn to let them
go. Because someday we are. Henry said one time, he said,
don't make God break your fingers trying to get them out of your
hand. Just open your hand and let them go. It's like you to
release a bird. You just let it fly. Let it fly. They are not of the world, even
as I'm not of the world. God has made a difference. He's
put a difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians.
That's what he said. Listen to Exodus 11, 17. But
against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his
tongue against man or beast, that you may know how that the
Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites."
My people. God said, I've made a difference.
I've made a difference. Every believer is a new creation
in Jesus Christ. You know that? I mean a new creation. A new man created that wasn't
before. There was a time that I didn't exist. Only God can
say everlasting. There was a time that every one
of us did not exist. And then there was a time when
we came into the world. There was a time I was an unbeliever,
a God-hater, and there was a time that I was born of God. Born
of God. A new creation. One that was
never there before. Old things passed away, and all
things become new. Old things are passed away. Your
love of the world, the principles of the world. When we say the
world, we're talking about the principles of the world. We're not talking
about material things. Don't be trying to say, well,
if I own this or that, I'm worldly. No, that's not it. We're talking
about spiritual things. You don't love the principles
of the world no more. You don't love what you used
to love. You hate what you once loved and love what you once
hated. And you're not of the world now. We live in it, but
we're not of it anymore. We're not of it. And the older
we grow in Christ, It just seems to me, if we're growing in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, the more distant we are from
the world, aloof, the more aloof we become with the world. I don't mean arrogant either,
but I'm talking about distance. We're leaving it. It's like,
you see, you know, you've seen these on television, when they
send a space shuttle up, or they send, you know, they've shot
rockets up with men on it, and they show a picture of the Earth,
and you know how distant? You see it, and then it's just
getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. That's how we ought
to be growing in grace. The world ought to be getting
smaller, and smaller, and smaller. And Christ getting greater, and
greater, and greater. And then one day we will say
with Paul, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Oh, that
we could grow in such a manner that we would literally look
upon death as gain. And not something scary, not
a loss, but a true gain. A true gain. Born from above,
strangers and pilgrims. Love not the world, we don't.
We don't love its ways, its principles, its evilness. We hate it. And
our Lord said this, even as Christ is not of the world, even as
He said He's not of the world, nothing of this world entered
into Him. He said, Satan has come and found
nothing in me. He said, you are from beneath,
I'm from above. And as He is, so are we in this
world. We're not from the world either.
And I pray, listen, I pray not that thou shouldest take them
out of the world. Why does God have me, why do I have to work
here? I worked at a place one time back years, some years ago,
and I was so frustrated and I thought, why am I here? Why, Lord, why'd
you put me here? Why did you put me here? Well, He put me there first of
all because it was His purpose. It was His will. And it was a
growing process. It was a real growing process
in where He put me. There are some things I had to
learn and I believe some things I learned I could not learn anywhere
else or any other way. That's why He put me there. I
pray not that you should take Him out of the world. Well, you
want to go in a monastery? You know, there's been times
I've said I'd like to go to Alaska and get in the backcountry and
not be bothered again. That's selfish, isn't it? That's
about as selfish as it gets, is to be separated from everybody.
You're the light of the world. What does the light need back
in the bush? Back in the wilderness. Why would
you put a light back in the wilderness where no one is? You're the light of the world.
That's why God put you where you are, me where I am, as a
light, as a salt of the earth. That's why he did it. Oh, I pray not that thou shouldest
take him out of the world. But then here's another reason
why. The work is not done. Now, the work of redemption is
finished. But he said, other sheep I have which are not of
this fold, of them also I must bring in. Well, you and I are
part of the, we get to be part of the privilege of witnessing
to His sheep and Him bringing them in. Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel. He has sheep all over the world,
scattered all over the world. And we get a blessed part of
that. We are in His vineyard. We are
workers in the vineyard of God. Don't look at yourself as a worker
here at this place or that place. You're working in God's vineyard. There's still work to be done
in the vineyard. Now listen, I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil, the evil one, evil things, and the evil that's
in them. The evil that, Lord, keep me
from the evil that's in me. It's as evil as Satan. What he prays for is there in
our preservation. You think we'll be preserved?
He prays for our preservation here. Don't let Satan have them,
and don't let sin have dominion over them. Peter, he said, I've
prayed for you. I've prayed for you. We're no
match for Satan. We're no match for Satan. Just
tell Satan to go on back to hell. He's standing in your pulpit.
What are you talking about? He's standing in most pulpits.
This morning, he's standing in most pulpits. He really is. Here's what's so deceptive. He's standing in most pulpits
telling the people to tell Satan to go back to hell. That's so. Now, how does he keep
us? Well, he keeps us by his Spirit,
by his Providence, and by his Word. He says in verse 16, I'm going
to wind this down. They are not of the world even
as I'm not of the world. In their standing, they are not
of the world, they stand in Christ. In their nature, they are partakers
of the divine nature. Their master is Christ and not
sin and not Satan. In their aim is God's glory.
And their citizenship, it's in heaven. My citizenship, your
citizenship is in heaven. And their life is one of godliness. They have a different destiny.
It's of another world. Truly, they are not of this world.
We're not of this world no more. Now, I'm going to close here
because He says in verse 17, sanctify them through that truth. This I need to spend a little
more time with. I don't want to rush through
it now. So I'm just going to end it here. All right.