Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. Glad
you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching through the
book of John chapter 17. And the topic today, the title
is Christ our intercessor. This is part two. I began part
one last week talking about Christ being the intercessor who stands
as the mediator between God and his people one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the God-man. And
this is one of the most precious, comforting, reassuring truths
of the gospel. That Christ, who was and is the
surety of His people, having all their sins charged, imputed,
accounted to Him, Their sin debt was charged to him, put on his
account. And then our substitute, the
one who came to earth and became incarnate, took into union with
his deity a perfect sinless humanity, body and soul, and walked this
earth as the substitute under the law and going to the cross
in the place of his people, his sheep, God's elect, those for
whom he died, and satisfying the justice of God to the point
of bringing forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
to enable God to be both a just God and a Savior. And so he died,
satisfying the justice of God, fulfilling all conditions of
salvation, bringing forth that righteousness, and he was raised
again the third day. and now ascended unto the Father,
ever living, to make intercession for His people. And His intercession,
His intercessory work includes His praying for us, for His people,
His working all things after the counsel of His own will for
our good and His glory. That's how we can say in Romans
8, 28, that all things work together for good to them that love God,
who are the called according to His purpose. Because He's
working then, preserving His people, bringing all things into
light, sending the Spirit forth to bring His elect, His chosen
people, His sheep, under the gospel, the true gospel. Not
a lie, not a false gospel. There's a lot of false gospels
out there. But there's only one true gospel
of the free, sovereign grace of God in Christ. who saves his
people from their sins. Not one person for whom he died
and was buried and arose again, for whom he now intercedes, will
perish in damnation. Not one. If you believe that
any one of them could perish, you don't believe in the true
Christ of the Bible. You believe in a counterfeit.
Because you have to believe that salvation is conditioned on you
and not on Christ alone. Listen, those who make salvation
conditioned on sinners, their Savior is themselves. Whatever condition they meet
makes the difference. But Christ made the difference.
Well, here in John 17, He's praying for His disciples. And He says,
look at verse 13, He says, And now come I to thee, coming to
the Father, And these things I speak in the world, that they
might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. His joy. You know over in the book of
Hebrews chapter 12, the Bible speaks of the joy of Christ. And what it's talking about here,
you know, in Hebrews chapter 11, we have the Hall of Faith,
which is a listing of believers in the Old Testament who went
through so many trials, even suffering, some unto death, but
they were kept by the power of God and by the faith that he
gave them to continue looking unto Christ. And so he says,
look at Hebrews chapter 12, this is verse one. He says, wherefore
seeing we are compassed or surrounded about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. That's these Old Testament saints
who went through so many trials. and troubles and sufferings. And again, it wasn't because
of their power and their goodness and their merit. It was because
of the grace and goodness and power of God. Their lives were
a testimony to the grace, the power, and the goodness of God.
And God gets the glory. So he says in verse one of Hebrews
12, let us lay aside every weight, every hindrance, every burden,
and the sin which does so easily beset us, which is unbelief,
doubts, so many times even believers get caught up in that for a while,
but they won't stay there because God won't let them go. We get
circumstances, things go wrong, we get sick, we lose things,
or whatever trial we're going through, And we get the why me
syndrome, and I don't deserve this, like Job, Job went through
it. But God will not let us go, he'll always bring his people
back to faith in Christ. And this is what he says, let
us run with patience, endurance, the race that is set before us.
The Christian race. The marathon of grace. And how
do you do it? Verse two, looking unto Jesus,
the author, the beginner, and the finisher, the completer of
our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame. He didn't
love pain and derision. He wasn't a masochist. He despised
that shame. but he endured it for the joy
that was set before him and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God. Now, why is he set down at the
right hand of the throne of God? Because he finished the work
and he now lives to make intercession for us, to intercede for his
people. But what was that joy that was
set before him? Well, the joy that was set before
him, number one, was the glory of the Father. Number two, it
was His own exaltation. Having endured the cross and
all the pain and suffering, He was raised from the dead and
ascended unto the Father. And the joy was the salvation
of His people. The Bible says, He shall see
of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Not one person
for whom he died and was buried in a rose again could perish. All of his sheep for whom he
died, all whom the father gave to him for whom he died shall
be saved. And that's his intercessory work.
Well, that's the joy. So back here in John 17, so he
says, And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Now what is that? That's salvation. In other words, all for whom
he died will have that joy in themselves because they're going
to be brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
and they're going to be preserved unto glory. What a joy. Think about it. There's joy and
peace in believing. Believing what? Believing that
Christ is all my salvation. That because He lives, I will
live forever. That I stand before God Dressed
not in my own works, which would be filthy rags, but dressed in
his righteousness alone. That's the joy. And he says in
verse 14, now this is John 17, verse 14. I have given them thy
word, and the world hath hated them. Now who's the world that
he's talking about there that hates them? They are those who
are in unbelief. who are so attached to this world
and their works, who are so proud of what they think they've done
for God, who are trying to establish a righteousness of their own,
who hate the people of God, who tell the truth, that all your
righteousnesses aimed at your salvation, aimed at justifying
you, aimed at gaining your rewards, is nothing but filthy rags. nothing
but evil deeds. We read about that over in John
chapter 3. The light that's come into the
world and men love darkness and hate the light because their
deeds are evil. The deeds that they're so proud
of That which they highly esteem, Luke 16, 15, that which men highly
esteem is an abomination to God. The best works of the best people
on earth aimed at saving them and keeping them saved, aimed
at making them righteous, is filthy rags, evil deeds, dead
works, and works unto death in the sight of God. And that's
why the world hates the people of God. He says in verse 14,
I've given them thy word. See, that word is the light,
the gospel that shows sinners that the only way of salvation
is the work of Christ, not the works of men. For by grace are
you saved, through faith, and that's not of yourselves. If
you think salvation is conditioned on the decision you make, you've
got to understand something. Even faith to believe is not
of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. A sinner saved by grace, according
to Ephesians 2 and verse 10, is one who is his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto,
not because of, but unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. So if we do any good
works, it's the foreordination of God, and it's the fruit and
effect of His grace, not the cause or the ground of it. And
so I've given them the word, And the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
You remember back over in John 15, verse 18, he said, marvel
not if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated you.
Now he's talking about those who are in unbelief. And I want
you to recognize now, even God's, even his sheep begin life in
unbelief. I wasn't always a believer. I
was a God-hater for a big part of my youth because I didn't
know the gospel. I claimed to be a Christian even,
but I didn't know the God of the Bible. I had a God of my
imagination, and I didn't know the true Christ. I had a counterfeit. But at some point in time, just
like he's saying in this prayer, he's going to reveal himself
to his people, to his sheep. But those who continue in unbelief
and die in that state, he says right here, he says, that's the
world that hates the people of God. Now, if you're sitting there
thinking, you say, well, what am I? Am I one of his elect or
am I one of his sheep? Well, let me ask you this. Are
you interested in finding out the truth? Not just what you
think you know. Not what you grew up hearing.
Now you may have grown up hearing the truth, I hope you have, but
most people don't. Are you willing to have your
understanding of these things challenged by the word of God? Are you really seeking the truth?
Will you lay it on the line, thinking that, you know, I wanna
test these things. Examine yourself whether you
be in the faith, the truth, lest you be reprobate. Do you want
to go through life and be like those false preachers in Matthew
7 who found out at the end when it was too late that all that
they highly esteemed and thought would recommend them unto God
was nothing but works of iniquity and that He never knew you? You
see what I'm saying? Are you really interested in
truth? Because that's the issue, the
gospel. You say, well, I'm not gonna
listen to you or anybody. Listen, listen, even if you do
already know the truth, you still should be willing to test it
with the word of God. Because if what you believe is
truth, it'll stand the test, believe me. Somebody said, well,
I don't want preachers to rock my boat. Listen, would you rather
have your boat rocked now or at the judgment? Do you understand
what I'm saying? Well, this is what he's saying. Look at verse 15 now, John 17.
He's praying for his disciples. He says in verse 15, I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil or from the evil one. Remember
we read over in 1 John 5 last week about the whole world lieth
in the evil one. Well, you know, while we're in
the world, even as believers, we're in a warfare. You know, I was writing a Bible
study lesson on Matthew 11 the other day, Where Christ says,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. And he makes this statement.
He says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And that
yoke is being yoked with him. And he says, that's easy. He's
not saying there that the Christian life is an easy life. He's not
saying that it's a life that always exists on the mountaintops
with no valleys. In fact, he said this, he said
to his disciples in John 16, the last verse of John 16, he
said, in the world you'll have tribulation, trouble, but be
of good cheer for I've overcome the world. That's the joy of
it. Christ has overcome. We're in
a battle. If you're a believer, you're
in a battle of the three great enemies. The world, the unbelieving
world, sinners who hate the gospel and hate you, hate your Lord,
hate the God of the Bible, even religious now. Remember, Christ
had more trouble from the religious people of his day than he did
from others. And so we're in a battle with
the world, we're in a battle with the flesh, that's ourselves,
that's our own sinful nature that is against God, that motivates
us in selfishness and unbelief, and we're in a battle against
the devil. But, and so it's not an easy
lie, it's a difficult lie. Especially if you stand firm
for the truth without compromise, you're gonna have a lot of people
who come against you. But the easiness that he speaks
of in the yoke there is the fact that salvation is never conditioned
on sinners in any way, to any degree, to any stage. It's all
conditioned on Christ. It's all free. It's all unconditional,
all undeserved and unmerited. It's all wrapped up and complete
and sure in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the yoke. It's the yoke of grace. The yoke
of the law is a burden you can't bear. The law requires a righteousness
you cannot produce and neither can I. But the yoke of grace,
the yoke of Christ, points me and leaves me to the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. and I rest
in Him. He'll give me rest. All right? But now, he says again here,
verse 15 of John 17, he says, I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from
the evil one. While they're in the world, fighting this battle,
being witnesses of Christ, He intercedes for His people. Keep
us from the evil one. Satan will attack. But what do you do? He says in
Ephesians 6, put on the whole armor of God that you may be
able to withstand the wiles of the devil. Satan will charge. He'll throw his airs of accusation. But what are you to do? Believe
in Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again. He's at the right hand of God
making intercession for us. We'll struggle with the flesh.
What did Paul write in Romans 7 24? Oh, wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Well, I thank
God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Look to Christ. Rest in Christ. Run the race
of grace. Hebrews 12 too. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And that's how
we're to do it. He says in verse 16, they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sinners saved
by grace for whom Christ died, whom he sent his spirit to birth
them again unto faith and repentance and perseverance. Sinners saved
by grace for whom he intercedes. They're citizens of a heavenly
country. They're not of the world. We're
in the world. But we're not of it. We don't agree with it. We're not in fellowship with
it. We're against it. We're in a
war with it. And so he says in verse 16, or
verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now the word sanctify, you hear
the word sanctify, sanctification, sanctified. It's the same as
the word holy, holiness, somebody who's holy. What does that mean? Does that refer to some kind
of super Christian who is more dedicated and more sincere, more
moral, doesn't miss a service? Is that what that refers to?
Is that described by those kind of people? No. Does that describe
somebody who is morally perfect? who never sins anymore, who doesn't
sin anymore? No. Sanctified, and holy, it
means separated. Separated out. Cut out, you might
say. And in the Bible, the word sanctification
is a big term. Sanctify, it covers a whole span
of the elements of salvation. For example, God's people were
sanctified before the world began, as God chose them in Christ and
gave them to Christ, conditioning all of their salvation on Christ. That's eternal sanctification
by the Father. And I can show you this over
in 2 Timothy, chapter one. He speaks of that salvation.
Talking about the gospel according to the power of God in verse
nine, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Ephesians chapter one talks about
being elect according to the foreknowledge of God, chosen.
2 Thessalonians 2 speaks of that in verse 13, but we are bound
to give thanks always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's
sanctified, set apart. by the Father. Now, why did God
set some apart and not everybody? It had nothing to do with their
works. You know, people will say sometimes when they talk
about the doctrine of election, they'll say, well, God looked
down through a telescope of time and then he foresaw what you
would do, whether you would believe in him or not, whether you would
do good works or not. My friend, that is a lie from
hell. That's salvation by works. God
is no crystal ball gazer. God is the determiner of all
things. He's the God of election, the
God of predestination. That's what the Bible teaches.
You say, well, I can't understand all that. It's not necessary
for you to understand all the ins and outs of that. It is yours
to believe because God said it. So understand that. Now, God
chose a people in Romans 8, 9, and 10, and 11, it's called the
election of grace. And that election of grace, he
said, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. It's all of grace, undeserved,
unearned. And why did God choose one over
another? Christ said in Matthew 11, He
said, it seemed good in God's sight. That's God's business.
That's not yours. Here's what I know. The revealed
things belong to me. I know God has a chosen people
and Christ died for them. They're gonna be in heaven. I
wanna be one of them. Well, look into this book and
find out who they are and how they get what they get, God.
It's not by their works, but it's by the free grace of God.
But go back to that 2nd Timothy chapter 1, talking about sanctified,
set apart by the Father before the world began. God's people
were set apart at the cross when Christ died for their sins. He
died for His sheep. They were sanctified by His blood,
sanctified in Christ. And then they are set apart by
the Holy Spirit when the Spirit comes and brings them under the
gospel, gives them life, spiritual life in the new birth, and brings
them to faith in Christ. And back over in 2 Timothy 1.9,
he says, who has saved us and called us with an holy calling. That holy calling is the invincible,
irresistible work of the Spirit. to bring Christ's sheep into
the fold by the preaching of the gospel and the power of the
Spirit. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes. They're sanctified by the Spirit.
And that means set apart in the gospel. You understand that?
And that's what Christ is praying for as he intercedes for his
people. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is true. You see, it is the truth of the
gospel that sets God's people apart from the world. It's not
how you dress or how you look, not even how you act sometimes.
Now, we ought to act better. We ought to be moral in all of
that. That's not the issue. We ought
to be obedient people. But it's the gospel that sets
us apart. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.