What a blessing it is to be able
to go through the scriptures in this letter, just to get a
glimpse into our Savior's communion with the Father. And oh, as we
go through this high priestly prayer, we will see our Savior's
great love for His people. He calls them the ones that thou
hast gave me." And that's all of God's elect who were given
to Christ before the foundation of the world. The message named
tonight is Saved, Kept, and Sanctified. Saved, Kept, and Sanctified. And what a wonderful comfort
we who are the born-again, blood-washed saints of God can find in John
chapter 17. We'll look at the second section
of of this wonderful letter. The first section again was Christ
praying to the father about himself. The second section we'll look
at tonight is Christ praying for the apostles, but we can
also see us interweaved in there as well. And in the last section,
which we'll look at tomorrow, we'll see Christ praying for
all the elect of all the ages. Oh, it's so wonderful. So isn't
it amazing to think that 2,000 years ago, he prayed for us?
That's wonderful. and what comfort we get. When
we read this passage, we can, as the people of God, we can
look and say, He's praying for me. These words apply to me. And as I like what Brother Mike
Richardson said, these are all red words. These are all red
words. All of them, the words of our
Savior. And isn't it amazing that the Holy Spirit of God has
preserved these words for us? 2,000 years later, and for however
long he tarries, these will be words of comfort to God's elect. It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. And our great God is sovereign,
we'll see tonight. He keeps his people, those he
saves by his redeeming power in his blood, and by the regenerating
power of God the Holy Spirit, he keeps them all. He won't lose
one. Not one. I like what Henry Mahan
used to say. We're on, Brother Henry said,
we're on the trail of God's sheep. As gospel preachers, we're preaching,
we're preaching and we're preaching to God's people. And then, God
the Holy Spirit goes forth and will start to draw those who
are still lost sheep. The same way he drew us, beloved.
The same way he drew us. Now let's read verses 6 to 10.
We're going to read verses 6 to 19. This is the part that deals
with the apostles. But we're going to break it down
in sections for us to read here. John chapter 17, starting in
verse 6 and going to verse 10. The words of the Master, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, He says, I have
manifest thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the
world. Thine they were. Look at that. We were the fathers. We were the fathers. And what
did the father do? And thou gavest them me. When did he do that, beloved?
Before the stars were ever spoken into existence. Before the world
ever was. Before the angels, before the
foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ. I remember
reading one old time where a preacher, he said this, you ever hear people
say God looked down through time and he'd see who chose him? That's a lie, because none of
us would ever choose him. You know what this old preacher
said? God looked down through time, And he saw everybody dead
in trespasses and sins. And in his mercy and his grace,
he said, you're mine. You're mine. You're mine. You're
mine. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. A people of his choosing. And
we see here that they were given to Christ and he's given them
back. He's going to the cross. He's given their care. He's given
their care back to the Father. 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. We didn't
know that before we were saved, did we? We had no clue who God
was. This is wonderful. For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me. And they have
received them. How have we received them? By
the grace and mercy of God the Holy Spirit. That's how. Otherwise
we'd reject them. But by God's grace and mercy
we've received them. Having been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God and given that faith to believe on Christ
and to receive these wonderful words. These wonderful words
of salvation in and through Christ alone. He gets all the glory. He gets
all the honor and praise. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely, this is something God's people know, that I come
out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send
me. Remember how many times, keep an eye as we go through
this prayer, how many times our Lord says, I was sent, I was
sent, I was sent. And as you study the Gospels,
look for that word too. He'll say he says it all through
the Gospels. I was sent I Was sent you don't know him, but
I was sent by him and my people will know him Oh, it's wonderful
by the grace and mercy of God. I Pray for them now look at this
I Pray for them. I pray not for the world Who's
he praying for? He said I'll pray for the whole
world I Pray for my people I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. This
is God's discriminating grace right here. Do you know the scripture
that says, for who made you to differ and what do you have that
you didn't receive? The word differ means to discriminate. We see it here too, don't we?
He's drawing a line. He says, I'm praying for my people.
I'm praying for those who gave me, Father. I'm not praying for
the whole world. Norm, you said it to me years
ago. The problem is, and we were all there before the Lord saved
us, is people don't believe what the Bible says. And we were there. We can have empathy with them
because we were there. My, praise God that he's showing
us grace. He's showing us mercy to believe
what he says. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them. Here we go again. Which thou
has given me, for they are thine. We're the fathers and the sons.
We're in a double grip, beloved. It's wonderful. And note in verse
six that the Lord Jesus Christ manifests who God is. He must
reveal it. He must reveal it. It says there,
I have manifest thy name unto the man which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Oh, my. And notice that one time we were
of the world. You couldn't tell an heir of
God from a goat. You couldn't tell a sheep of
God from a goat. But God knew who we were, didn't
he? He knew who we were. Christ knew who we were, too.
It's evident right here in this prayer. It's evident. God's discriminating
grace is right here set before us. God's electing grace is right
here set before us. It's the truth. I remember the
first time someone talked to me about election. I didn't know
nothing. I was lost as a white goose in
a snowstorm. I had no idea about Christ, about
who God was. I didn't have a clue. And they
said, well, you know, God chose the people. And I got so mad. If I wasn't religious, I'd have
cussed them out. Oh, I was so mad at them. But
now that the Lord saved me, it's one of the most wonderful doctrines
in the scripture. Because now I know, like you
know, if God hadn't chosen us, we never would have chosen him.
Right? He loves us first, doesn't he?
You love me because I love you first. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. and marvel
at how the Father has given Christ the people, and that we're included
in that number. It's absolutely incredible. Ephesians chapter 1, I know we're
all familiar with this, but I'd love to read it again. This is,
you know, I was talking to a preacher, another preacher, and said, isn't
it amazing? The gospel never gets old. You can get a job,
it gets old. You can get a house, it gets
old. You can get a car, it gets old. But the gospel never gets
old for God's people. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Look at this Ephesians chapter
one verses three to six. This is incredible. Where were
we in this? We weren't even born, we weren't
even thought of, but God thought of us. Look at this. Blessed be the God and Father,
verse three, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us. Now
this is written to believers. This is a fact, beloved. This
is a fact that he's stating right here. We are blessed in Christ,
right? who have blessed us, what, with
all spiritual blessings, not some, not a few, all of them. Justification, sanctification,
redemption, all those great propitiation, all those great doctrines find
their fulfillment in Christ, in Him alone. Bless us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, there's the
key, in Christ. Outside of Christ, there's no
spiritual blessings. Absolutely none. But in Christ,
we as believers, we have all spiritual blessings in Him. And
remember, too, all the promises of God are yea and amen in Him.
I used to think when I was a dispensationalist, I used to think, oh, all those
promises are just for the Jews. And then the Lord saved me, and
I found out they're all for us. Oh, my. How it makes your heart
sing. How it makes your heart sing,
beloved. It's wonderful. Look at this. According as he hath chosen us
in him. Now that word chosen in the Greek
means to choose. That's what it means. It means
to choose. Isn't that wonderful? According
as he has chosen us in him, that's Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. The unholy ones are
made holy. Yep. That's what it says and
look at this without blame We are so cleansed from all our
sin in Christ that we are without blame before God the Father and
that's right now That's not just when we get to heaven. That's
right now. Isn't that wonderful? It's glorious, isn't it? It's
glorious having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now, I mentioned
this last night and I'm going to mention it again. You ever
ask yourself, why me, Lord? You ever say, why me? Why me?
Why did you save me? Look at this. According to the
good pleasure of His will. Isn't that wonderful? We are
saved according to the good pleasure of God's will. My, that'll make
a Baptist shout like a, shout like a charismatic almost, right?
No, no. We'll shout, though. We'll shout,
though. My. And look at this. Who gets the
glory? To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us, what? Accepted? Sinners who could never
be accepted by anything we do. Accepted in Christ, in the Beloved. That's Christ. Oh, and so let us marvel. Let's
go back to John 17. Let us marvel at how Christ keeps
all that the Father gave Him, so that not one of them is lost. He redeemed every single one
of God's elect at the cross, so that not one of them is lost.
That's comfort, isn't it? That's comfort for we who are
the people of God. Oh, look at this. John 17 verses
Verses 7 and 8, Now they have known that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee. So who is he given to Christ? Us. It is of the Father's choosing,
all according to the pleasure of his will. It's wonderful. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, again,
by the grace and mercy of God. and have known surely that I
come out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. During our Lord's time on this earth, this was something
he emphasized strongly, that the words he spoke were the Father's
words. That the works he did, they were
the Father's works. That he came, and also that he
came to do the Father's will. He emphasized that so much. And
let us rejoice when the Father raised Him from the dead. It
proved that Jesus Christ is the anointed, ordained, and designated
Redeemer. And God was absolutely satisfied
with that, because the Scripture declares He's raised for our
justification. Oh, it's wonderful. Wonderful and let us all Rejoice
that all power all spiritual gifts all things pertaining to
the kingdom of God are by his appointment and by his decree
and According to his will and his purpose and that includes
everything Let us rejoice it includes our
salvation All of grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed
the doctrine of God, which were the words that the Father gave
Him. The word of truth. The testimony of God. The ministry
of reconciliation. How sinners are reconciled in
Christ by His precious blood and His righteousness. Undeserving,
unmerited sinners. And we praise God for it, don't
we? Oh, we praise God for it. And the disciples, and we who
are redeemed of the Lord, are kept by the power of God, and
we gladly receive the words of Christ now. Like I said, there's
a time when I didn't want to hear, I wanted to hear absolutely
nothing from people talking about the Bible. I despised them when
they came around me. And now here I am preaching the
gospel. God's amazing, isn't he? And we all did that in our
natural state, whether we admit it or not. We were all like that.
We may not have outrightly said, hey, you know what? You just
need to take a hike. But in not those kind of words, right? But
we sure thought it, didn't we? And we couldn't get, I know,
I couldn't get away from those fellas fast enough. Oh my, I had a little, young
fella kept feeding me tracks. Lived across the road. He was
my friend till he started feeding me tracks. I didn't like him
anymore after that. Didn't want nothing to do with
him. My oh my. God's amazing, isn't he? In the disciples and we who are
the redeemed of the Lord, by the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, we, as I said, gladly receive the words of Christ now.
Gladly. Who made us to differ? God. Who did a work in us? God. Why? Because he chose us according
to his goodwill and pleasure. Isn't it amazing? It all circles back to our King. It all circles back. We were
dead. We were graveyard dead and wanted
nothing to do with God. And now all we want to do is
be with the Lord's people and hear his gospel. Isn't that amazing? I remember Paul, he told me,
he said, you know, he's an older fellow we used to have down in
Central Point. And he said, you know, I would not have even been
around you folks if I wasn't saved. He goes, we're all from
different walks of life. And he said, honestly, I wouldn't
even want to be with you. He said, but you're the folks
I want to be with all the time now. And I love you. My, only God can change us like
that. Only the power of God. I've known
you all for 15 years now. And just the love that you have
for each other is incredible. And I know that's the love of
God in Christ, shed abroad in your hearts. Now we have that
back in Alma too, and it's wonderful. When two can walk together, right?
They have to be agreed, right? But oh, when two are united,
they can walk together in grace and love and peace. Isn't that
wonderful? And that all happens according to the will and purpose
of God. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And so we're in awe of God's
mercy. We're in awe of the fact that he saved us. That he didn't
leave us in the place we were naturally dead in trespasses
and sins. He didn't leave us there. And
we didn't seek him, did we? He sought us. He sought us out,
didn't he? It's wonderful. And we see in
this text that our Lord is the sent one. Look at verse 8. For
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that I am come out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." We
as the people of God, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was
sent by God. Sent by Him. And what was He
sent to do? I've said it every night, I'm
going to say it again. To save His people from their
sins. That's what He did. And he did
it by shedding his precious, precious blood to purchase our
eternal souls. Our Lord is a successful Savior. We proclaim a successful Savior. He finished the work that God
sent him to do and now he's our mediator, you know. I'll never forget the first person
that presented the scripture to me. I was a Catholic. And then you heard me, landmarkism
last night. I was a Catholic first and then
went into landmarkism, went from the fire to the frying pan, basically. And, but he, this, this fella
presented me the scriptures. And he said, you ever, you ever
read, uh, Timothy? And I said, nah, I didn't even
know the names of the Bible. But I was a proud Catholic, right?
And he said, why do you go to that priest? And I said, well,
because that's what we're told to do. We're told to go to the
priest. And he pulled up that scripture, says, for there's
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all. And man, I'll tell you what,
the refuge of lies started crumbling. There's only one mediator. And
we see him in this prayer, praying for us. He's in his office as
a mediator. He's going to go to the cross
as a substitute. And he's going to return to glory
as the mediator of his people. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And he was sent to seek and save
that which was lost. He says, I didn't come to heal
the whole. I came to heal the sick. And
that's sin sick, folks, like you and I. Isn't that wonderful?
Let's look at verse 9. We see our blessed Savior in
this prayer. He's not praying for everyone who ever lived or
ever will live. He's not praying for them at
all. He says, I pray for them. Well, he's been talking about
those who the Father gave him. I pray not for the world, and
now he's going to center it right down, right? He's going to narrow
it right in so we can't miss it. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. My heart just is thrilled to
know that we're in that double grip. We were God the Father's,
He gave us to Christ, Christ gave us back to Him. It's wonderful. And it's only because of Christ
that we have the forgiveness of all our sins. Only because
of Him. Now let us remember to he's praying
here is our great high priest He's praying to the father again. He's he's he's our mediator And he is the only mediator between
God and man there is no other one I He alone knows who the vessels
of honor are and who the vessels of dishonor are we have no clue No clue Who they are but he knows? He knows how do we know that
well because he told us here? I pray not I pray for them being
I pray not for the world But for them whom thou has given
me for they are thy who are they they're the vessels honor beloved
That's who they are Who's the world? The vessels fitted for
destruction. Oh, he's here praying for his
apostles. And for all who believe on him, which shows his care
and his concern. God is... His care is eternal. His concern for us is eternal. You ever think of that? He chose
us in Christ. He gave us a mediator. He gave
us a redeemer. And He provided them. It is His
own Son, the Word of God, God, before the world ever was. And He knows, again, who are
the vessels of honor and dishonor. And He will never pray contrary
to the will of God. He will never do that. Someone
says, I don't agree with that. But then you don't agree with
the will of God. See, when people come against
election, do you know they're not really arguing with us? They're
arguing with God. That's who they're really arguing
with. He says here, I pray not for
the world of unbelievers who live in sin and will die in sin.
What does God have to do for a man to go to hell or a woman
to go to hell? Leave them alone. What does God
have to do for you or I or one of the elect to go to heaven?
Everything. Everything. Isn't that amazing? That's why I say, praise God
he didn't leave us where we were. He had chosen us as vessels of
mercy. Vessels of mercy. Turn, if you
would, to John chapter 10. And again, I'm going to read
that verse 9 there. He says, I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. For they are thine. My, what
can we conclude with these words? Well, since he didn't pray for
the world, And he didn't die for the world. He tells us in
John chapter 10 who he died for. Look at verse 11. 11 to 16. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giving his
life for who? The sheep. The sheep. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for who? The sheep. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. Who is the sheep? All that the
Father gave him in Christ. That's who the sheep are. And other sheep I have, that's
us. That's us, beloved. The sheep I have which are not
of this fold them also. I must bring and they shall hear
my voice And there shall be one fold in one shepherd. We are
one in Christ Jew or Gentile one in Christ Ain't that wonderful In note in verse 10 all We who
are the redeemed of the Lord let us look at this version in
all in John chapter 17 let's go to John chapter 17 let's look
at verse 10 now oh This just leave us in all in all mine are
thine and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them My we glorify God don't we we
glorify Christ for what he's done for us my We were God's first, though. We were given to Christ. Again,
we're in a double grip. Can anyone remove us from the
Father's hand? Not one. Not even ourselves.
Not that we'd want to. He said, no man, that's all of
us, right? No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. Not one. I had a friend back
home who claims you can lose your salvation. I kept telling
him, well, this scripture says no man. So when God saves a person,
they can't pluck themselves out of Christ's hand. They won't
want to, but they can't. You see the foolishness? People
saying they can get their salvation and lose it. They never had it
in the first place. They never had it in the first
place. Because God's salvation is eternal. It's eternal, it's
wonderful. Christ Jesus our Lord, He's praying for those who the
Father had given Him in the covenant of grace, for them to be saved,
kept, and received up to eternal glory. He says, for they are
Thine, not merely by creation, but also by eternal election,
by decree. by a special grace. Let's read verses 11 to 13 now
in John 17. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that's Judas Iscariot, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now I come to thee, and these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world. He's sent by the Father. We see
him in verse 11 speak of his ascension back to the Father.
He says, And now I am no more in the world, but these are in
the world. And I come to thee, O Holy Father, keep thou, or
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are one. He's speaking of his ascension
back to the Father and those whom the Father gave to Him are
His bride, His beloved, in whom He sees no spot, because they're
covered in His precious blood, and clothed in His perfect righteousness. And He asks our Father to keep
them, because He's going to go to the cross. Look at verse 12, we see that
Kept them while he was in the world. Do you know if God didn't
keep us we'd be gone But praise God he keeps those he saves he
keeps he keeps us He says well 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 So he came to redeem a people
that God gave him and he kept them Well, he was in this world. My oh my. Again, we can't keep ourselves.
None of us can keep ourselves, but God keeps us. And the only one of his apostles
who is lost, who never was a sheep of God, was Judas Iscariot, the
son of perdition. So what comfort we can glean
here as the people of God. what comfort is set before us.
We are a people of God's own choosing. God saved us and He
will keep us. And then He's going to take us
home to glory, to be with Him forever. Note this too, the sorrow that's
to come does not even cause Him to take His mind off His people.
He's facing the cross, and where's his mind? His mind is on us. What great love he has for his
bride. You see, as I mentioned when
we first started this study, the love of God in Christ is
manifest here for his people. This is eternal love, unchanging
love. And it makes him cry out to our
great God that he would care for his people. that he would
give us his joy. Look at verse 13 again. And now
come I to thee, in these things I speak in the world, that they
might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. His only concern
is his people. And we're going to see tomorrow
that we're in that number. It's wonderful. He knows he has
to die. He's going to say, Father, if
it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thy will be done. And here, his heart and love
is exposed for his people in this wondrous high priestly prayer. Did we know any of this before
the Lord saved us? None. Is it not wondrous to us
now? It's wondrous. You know, he could have uttered
this prayer in silence if it had pleased him to do so. He
could have never recorded. And we would not have known about
this wonderful prayer. But the Holy Spirit preserved
these words. And he chose to utter these words. Christ chose to utter these words
and to have them be recorded and written down all by the inspiration
of God the Holy Spirit and what peace we get from these words,
what comfort we get from these words. It's wondrous. Let's read verses 14 to 19 now.
It says, I have given them thy word and not the And the world
hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world. I pray that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shalt keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world. Look at that. They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. See, Christ came down
into the world, didn't he? He's from glory He's from glory
Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth as thou has
sent me into the world even so I sent them into the world and
For their sakes I sanctify myself That they also might be sanctified
through the truth Well we see in those texts that the world
hates Christ it hates Christ and We shouldn't be surprised
that the world hates us because it hated our master first We shouldn't be surprised and
Paul wrote this He wrote this let's actually turn their Galatians
chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 We see what Paul wrote About how
the the child of the flesh The child of flesh Will persecute
the child of promise My look at verse 28 The 31 Galatians chapter 4 Paul's
using an allegory here to show that grace and works do not mix
Do not mix at all Now we brethren as Isaac was
are the children of promise know that we're called the children
of promise isn't that wonderful But as then he that was born
after the flesh, that's Ishmael, persecuted him that was born
after the spirit, that's Isaac, even so it is now. Look at that.
Paul says it's still the same. You know it's still the same
today. Nothing new under the sun, is there? Nothing new under
the sun. Nevertheless what sayeth the
scripture cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the
bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman
So then brethren we are not children the bond woman, but of the free
We're free in Christ And then actually go over go over back
one chapter in Galatians chapter 3 look at this look at this ah
This is marvelous Galatians 3 28 and 29 You know, we're spiritual Israel.
You guys know that, because Norm preaches that too. Look at this.
Galatians 3, 28 and 29. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There's neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female.
For ye are all one in Christ. We're His body. He's the head
and we're the body. Look at this. And if ye be Christ,
oh, this is wonderful, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. Wonderful. See, the world hates
us because we're children of the promise. Just like the child,
just like Ishmael persecuted Isaac. So the people of the flesh, the
world, will persecute the children of God. And Paul said it's even
so now. It's even so now too, isn't it?
Nothing's changed. Again, nothing new under the
sun. Let's go back to John chapter 17. Our Lord Jesus Christ in this
section again is praying for the Apostles. He's praying for
the Apostles here, that our Father would keep them from evil. Again,
marvel at how concerned our Savior is about us, God's elect, before
He's going to the cross. You know why he's so concerned
for us? Because we're his bride. We're his beloved. We're the
one he's going to redeem with his precious blood. He loves
us so much, he's going to give his life for us. Because that's
the only way we can be saved. By the work of a perfect man.
By the work of a sinless man. And his name is the man Christ
Jesus. Oh, that's our Savior. And he's
God! He's God in the flesh. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 11. Oh, our Lord. Our Lord tells us, too, that
we're not of this world. God's people, we're not of this
world. We live in this world. We rub shoulders with people
in the world, but we're not of this world. We're not of this world. You
ever go back to your family after the Lord saved you? And they
think, what in the world happened to you, right? What in the world
happened to you? They wonder. What happened? Well, the Lord saved my soul.
I'm born again. My. Look at this. Let's go over here. Hebrews chapter
11, verse 13 to 16. Our Lord had told us in verse
16, he says they are not of the world, even as I'm not of the
world. Look at this. Hebrews 11, 13 to 16. You know,
we seek a better country. We do, don't we? We can't wait
to get the glory, can we? It'll be wonderful. These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off by faith, they looked to Christ, and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed to them that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's what we are. What's
that old song? This world's not my home. Remember
that? It's really not. It's not our
home. Our home is in glory, beloved. We're just passing through here. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had the opportunity to have returned. But now they
desire a better country. Oh, the world's lost its luster. The world's lost its shame to
God's people. Now they desire a better country,
that is in heavenly, where God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for he hath prepared for them a city. God's prepared a
place for us, beloved. Isn't it wonderful? And what'll
make it heaven? Again, like I said last night,
what'll make it heaven is Christ is there. It'd be wonderful. Now, in Christ and through Christ
is the only way a believer is sanctified. And that is so clearly
brought forth right here in this verse. Look at John 17, 17. Sanctify them through thy truth
thy word is truth And then he also says in verse
19 for the for and for their sakes I sanctify Myself that
they also might be sanctified through the truth. Who's the
way the truth in the life Christ? Christ in him alone the only
way we're sanctified is in Christ my And he's praying for us to have
an enlarged view of that truth. For the Holy Spirit to show us
and settle us in the truth and ground us in the truth of the
fact that we're sanctified in Christ. And if the Word of God
is where we find that truth, we as God's people believe it. Christ alone is the complete
holiness of his people. We're only holy because we're
in Christ. That's the only way we're holy. He who is the truth to which
the whole church and the gospel bears record is our holiness,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, people talk about progressive sanctification. How
can that be if we're sanctified in Christ? Now we do grow in
grace, don't we? We do grow in grace. We grow
in the grace and knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But can any of us make ourselves more holy? None of us. We're sanctified in Christ. We're
made holy in Christ. What a rest that is for us, what
peace, especially when we came out of religion, what peace that
is. You ever remember in religion,
those of us who came out of it, how you're always trying to be
more joyful or more loving, and how the preacher would preach
a message and you'd go home feeling worse than when you went in?
And like we were talking about, you said, I used to say, well,
the next day I feel like a failure. And Norm said, huh, as soon as
I get home, I felt like a failure. Oh, my. But love, peace, and
joy are called the fruit of the spirit. He works that in us. We can't
even work it. We can't work that. He works
in us. Love, joy, peace, long suffering. Isn't that amazing? It's his so salvation in all
of it is of the Lord It's all his doing and we say glory be
to God Glory be to God for his wondrous grace Our great Redeemer
was sent in the world by the father to accomplish the full
redemption of his people and praise be to God he did it turn
if you would last place to turn to and 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 And Christ did not take this
honor unto himself, but the father ordained Christ to be the Redeemer
of his people and sent him sent him and The Apostles were anointed
and ordained and sent by Christ and all his ambassadors It's
the same Look at this in 2nd Corinthians 5 verses 17-20, Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, ye must be born
again. All things are passed away, behold
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself. We didn't want to be reconciled
in our natural state. So God does it himself. Isn't
that amazing? Oh, it's wonderful. Not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did besiege you by us. We pray you
in Christ's name, be reconciled to God. My, let's close with verse 19,
back to John chapter 17. Lord says and for their sakes
I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the
truth In verse 19 we see that our Lord brings forth that he
he set apart himself Not to make himself more holy
because he's already holy he's the son of God And he who did
no sin, but he's saying I set myself apart as a sacrifice well-pleasing
and acceptable to the Father that my people might be sanctified. And we're sanctified in Him.
Brother Henry Mann said this, I'm going to close with this.
He said, number one, God the Father sanctified us in His divine
election by choosing us in Christ. Number two, the Lord Jesus Christ
sanctified us by His sacrifice on Calvary's cross. And number
three, God the Holy Spirit sanctified us in regeneration, born again
in calling and in belief of the truth. And what do we say? Praise
be to God. Praise be to God.