Wednesday 7/1/26 - They Kept Thy Word

Suffering was for me. In grief I cry. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like me. Oh, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Was ever grace so full and free? From heights of bliss to depths of woe, In loving kindness Thou didst go. From sin and shame to rescue me, O Love divine, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? Thank you. You may be seated. And if you would, Turn your hymnals over to number 42, All Hail the Power. All hail the power of Jesus' name.

Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial bond. To Him, O Majesty, ascribe and crown Him Lord of all. To him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all. John chapter 17. John chapter 17. We'll read from verse 6 down to verse 12. Verse 6 down to verse 12.

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. 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. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. Then they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee. They have believed that Thou didst send me.

I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given me, for they are Thine. All mine are Thine, and Thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. 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. 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 scriptures might be fulfilled. Our blessed, blessed Father, our Father which art in heaven, Your name is holy.

Oh, how holy is your name. The seraphims cried, holy, holy, holy. Three times holy. And Lord, we're grateful that you're holy. And yet you devised a way in your wisdom and your sovereign mercy to save sinners like ourselves. You and your wisdom and power through your blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you found a way to be just and justifier of those who believe in you, blessed son. And father, we thank you for who have the privilege to be out here, to be numbered with the living, but denumbered with the redeemed.

And Lord, as we've gathered here tonight, we've gathered to worship, gathered to hear your word. And Lord, I'm incapable of understanding and expounding your word, dealing with your word the way it ought to be done. So please give me your mercy, give me your grace, give me understanding and wisdom. And Lord Jesus, we pray for those who are not with us through your providence, through the weakness of body, through trials, through things that's going on in their lives.

Please uphold them. We know that your grace is sufficient and you'll give it as it's needed. As our days be, so shall our strength be. And Lord, we don't have the strength for tomorrow till tomorrow comes. Please meet with us. Bring glory to yourself. Have mercy on our children and grandchildren. We ask these blessed names in Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you would turn your hymnals to page 62, Crown Him with Many Crowns. Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark now, the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee. And hail Him as thy matchless King Through all eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of love, Behold His hands and side, Rich wombs yet visible above, in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight, but downward bends his wandering eye at mystery so bright. Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o'er the grave, Who rose victorious to the strife, For those He came to save. His glories now we sing, Who died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of heaven, One with the Father known, One with the Spirit, through Him given, From yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise, For Thou for us hast died. Be Thou, O Lord, through endless days, Adored and magnified.

Thank you, Judd. Appreciate it. I want to deal with verse six tonight more than anything else. Verse six through eight. And I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and this is what gets me. You gave them to me. You know what they did? They kept your word. They kept it. In the first five verses, our Lord is praying for himself.

He prayed to be glorified. and the reason being that the Father may be glorified. Then he asked the Father, please glorify me with your own self before the world was. And all this is before a single word of prayer for his people. The Father and the glory of Christ and the Father's glory always comes first, always come first. And our Lord taught us when we and the disciples pray, our Father, but he calls him his father. And this is the opening petition of our Lord's Prayer. The Father's glory comes first. And here in our Lord's Prayer, the Father's glory comes first, and the glory is connected.

The Father and the Son's glory is connected. If one's glorified, the other's glorified. And He loves that glory that He gives to His Father, and the Father gives glory to the Son. And in praying for himself as before his people, he shows that in all things, all things, he has the preeminence. And as we look at our Lord's glorification, we see there are seven of them. We see there are seven of them. First of all, he's glorified because of his relationship with the Father. Had a special relationship. He was God's only begotten son, one with the Father.

And I'll tell you what, in the second, because he was appointed, a time arrived and that says the hour has now come. That's the second reason why he was glorified. And thirdly, because all authority is given unto him, all authority over all flesh, all flesh, all authority is given unto him. That's why he is glorified. And all He was given this all flesh because God's purpose and God's promise, promise to give Christ to people. And the fourth reason why He's glorified and has glorification is He gives eternal life to His elect.

I give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him, me. That's His elect. He didn't come into this world to save everybody. He come to save His elect. He has an elect people. and they had been given to Him, they had been promised to Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. And by giving eternal life to His elect, He would bring them to a knowledge of the Father. Ain't that what it says in verse 3? This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. eternal life to the flesh, He brings them to a knowledge of God Himself.

And because He glorified the Father on the earth. He said, Father, I have glorified Thee, in verse 4, I have glorified Thee on the earth. While I was here on this earth, I glorified You. I glorified, nobody else did, but I did. I did. And the seventh reason because he gets his glorified is because he finished the work. I've glorified thee on the work on the earth and I finished the work that you gave me to do. That's seven reasons why he's going to be glorified. That's seven reasons why glorification, he's worthy of it. He's worthy of it. And oh my, these are the reasons he asked the Father to glorify him.

Now the second part of our Lord's prayer, I'm going to deal with it tonight. Here he is praying for his living disciples, disciples who are alive right now. And though he's praying for the apostles, they're just representative of all believers. What he pleads and prays for them is common to all believers. And look what he says in verse six. He first describes the ones he's about to pray for. He said, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. He doesn't begin by asking blessings for them. He don't ask any blessings for them. And our Lord comes before the throne of the father, becomes before God his father, and he presents his own. He presents his elect along with himself.

He said, I and the children, we trust God, we trust God, I and the children, which thou hast given me, our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to look over in Exodus 28 with me. I want to show you something our Lord does for us, Exodus 28, that our Savior does for us. Exodus 28, verse 29.

Oh, this is what our Savior does when He comes before the Father, and He presents Himself before the Father and those that were given to Him before the Father. And look what it says in verse 29, And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord. He brings their names and said, Lord, these are your people. these are your people I'm bringing them before you to show you I want you to remember them I want you to know them and he carries the names and thou shall put in that breastplate where those names are of the judgment of Urim and Thummim and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth before the Lord and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart continually. Now that's what our Lord Jesus Christ is doing right here He's carrying us before Him with our names on Him. He's carrying us before Him with judgment that He has to bear upon His own heart. And, oh, here our Savior is our great high priest, bore our name on His heart, enters into the presence of the Father.

And what makes this possible that He can do this? He said, I finished the work. It's done. That's why it can happen. That's because he finished the work. And, oh, my. And look what he says there again in verse 6. He said, I've manifested thy name, and listen to this, unto the men, unto the men, unto the men. He made known the Father's name to these men, and more than just these men.

You know, Mary sat at his feet, They wanted to learn of Him. Martha. Martha knew Him and ate at His table. Lazarus knew Him. Nicodemus knew Him. Zacchaeus knew Him. The great Gadarene Mananac knew Him. And to us who believe right now, we know Him. Now let me say something. You can know things about God, but to actually know Him, know Him. Know Him. and have a relationship with Him as your Father, as your God, as your Savior, as your Sovereign Lord who orders all things for our good and His glory. That's the God you've got to know. And our Lord Jesus Christ said that they might know Thee, Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.

And oh my, More than the apostles had been, you know he says, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou givest me. More than the apostles had been given to Christ. More than the apostles had kept his word. And that's what he says. The men which thou gavest me. Thine they were and you gave us to me. And they have kept thy word. And then look what else he said. I've manifested thy name. Thy name. Oh my.

Look over in Psalm 22, 22. Psalm 22, 22. Our Lord Jesus Christ, to make, he come to make the Father's name known. To make the, make known the Father's name. Look what he says in verse 22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation, I'm going to praise you." Now, I'll tell you what, he came to make known the Father. And what that means is he reveals him. He reveals him to his people to manifest his character. When Moses said, who am I going to say that sent me? He said, you tell them that I am that I am. And our Lord Jesus Christ said, I am seven times. I am. And everybody knew that I am.

And, oh my, He come to manifest the Lord's character, God's character. Our Lord Jesus Christ, everything that God has, and all the power and the wisdom and all the miracles and everything that happened in this world through our Lord Jesus Christ was done by God Almighty through His Son. Everything was done. And, oh my, displayed His attributes. Had power over nature. had power over physics.

People don't walk on water, but he did. He wanted taxes, go over there and get that fish and get the money out of his pile. Lepers came, and he said, yeah, I would that you'd clean me, Lord. I will be thou clean. All the manifestations of God, but he stood and rebuked the wind and the sea. God only can do that. And I'll tell you what. He revealed God in all of his attributes. And at the cross, every attribute of God. Now you think about this.

You know, biblical Christianity, the Bible and people who really know God and have some understanding of themselves and God and the Lord Jesus Christ, one thing they are, they're thanking people. You just, you know, you can't be, you can't face God and not thank. You cannot know God and not think. You cannot know how God can be just and justify and not think. That's why we sung that song. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Oh, my.

And I tell you, he showed God's perfections. Our Lord says no man, no man has seen the Father at any time, seen God at any time, only the Son. reveals him, only the son reveals him. And I mean, he made his father's name known. His perfections, his character, all of them was manifested in his son. First by his words, look what he says down in verse eight, seven and eight.

They've kept, I've gave them the word and they've kept that word. Now they have known, known. All things whatsoever thou hast, art you given to me. Everything I've got, you gave me. That's what our Lord's saying. And then he said, I give unto them the words which thou gavest me. They received them.

And here we go again. And have known surely that I came out from thee. It wasn't a supposition. It wasn't a suggestion. He said, they've known. They know. John said, Little children, I write unto you, because you have known the Father. Known the Father. Oh, my.

He manifested His character by His words, by His miracles, by His teaching, and only those who were able to receive Him and to receive His manifestation. Look in Luke chapter 10, verse 22. Look in Luke chapters. I'll show you what our Lord said over here. Luke chapter 10, verse 22. That's what our master said about this, what he said in verse 21, 22.

In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, your sovereign over heaven and earth, that you've hid these things from wise people, prudent people, and revealed them unto babes. It's a revelation. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. What pleases you, pleases me. Now listen to this. All things are delivered to me of my Father. My Father made everything mine.

And nobody knows who the Son is but the Father. And no one knows who the Son is but the Father. And listen, and to He to whom the Son will reveal Him. If you're going to know God, Christ's got to reveal Him. And when you see Christ, you've seen God. And that's what He's saying, I manifested your name, your name.

And we wouldn't know a thing in the world, a thing in the world, we wouldn't have any sense to get in out of the rain. We wouldn't know anything at all about God if it hadn't been for the Lord Jesus Christ. We wouldn't know a thing in the world about him. We wouldn't. We wouldn't know God. We wouldn't know his word. We wouldn't know how to keep it. We wouldn't know anything about it, except our Lord said, the Father give me everything. And only the Father knows who I am. And I know who the Father is.

And if you know him, to whomsoever I reveal him to, whom I do, Don't mean everybody's gonna get it and all look what he said back over here in our text in verse 6 I Have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world now listen to this now Gave some to him out of the world out of all the people in the world at that time I He only gave them a few.

There's 11 that he gave them of the apostles. 12 when he saved the apostle Paul. Oh, Mary and Magdalene and Martha and Lazarus and Zacchaeus, you know, that was just, give them to me out of the world. You think about God giving somebody and taking them out of the world and saying, they're mine.

He takes us out of the world. He said, you gave to me out of the world. We ain't going on about our lives. We is in the world, walking the course of this world, the spirit of this world. And that I, Lord Jesus Christ, said, I'm going to call you out of that. I'm going to make you mine. You belong, God gave me to you back in eternity, and I'm gonna reach and get you, and I'm gonna bring you, and he said he gave them to him out of the world.

Look, what is, 12, 15 of us here tonight? Well, that's 12 or 15 people that the Lord sent out of the world. People are meeting all over this county tonight, but here's a handful of folks that the Lord got out of the world, sent here. Thine they were.

And you gave them to me. You gave them to me. And oh, my. And I tell you what, that down they were and you gave them to me. You gave them to me. This is the sovereign election of God. A special company of people given to Christ, a peculiar people. And this is his special way. And I'll tell you something, they're eternally his. He chose us in Christ. before the foundation of the world. We were always his. We were even chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And then he called us out of the world.

And oh my, they're his by his immutable purpose. They were always his, always his. Jacob hath a loved, Esau hath a hated, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. For whom? Whom he did foreknow. Him he did predestinate. Him he did predestinate. He called them. He justified them. He glorified them. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Ah, my. And as these people heard him pray, Our Lord says, thine they were.

They were always yours. And then you turned around and gave them to me. You gave them to me. You gave them to me. Oh, my. What a comfort. When we was given to Christ, you know what that tells us? That he became responsible for us. He took and put on Himself to be responsible for everything about us, about our salvation, about our preservation, about our perseverance. I'll tell you what, Thou gavest them me. They're my responsibility now. What comfort, what assurance for their hearts that Christ takes the responsibility for His sheep. Sheep are not responsible for themselves. The shepherd's responsible for them. Never doubt that. Never doubt that.

I tell you what, our Lord took it upon himself to stand good for us, to be our surety, to become our responsibility. And then he says down in verse 7, I have kept And thou gavest them me, and they have kept my word. Now they have known all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. And thou gavest them to me. And why were we given to Christ? As a reward. This is the strangest thing in the world. As a reward. Ask of me the heathen, and I'll give them to you as a reward.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, it says that he shall see his seed. Through the travail of his soul, he shall see his seed, his seed. Not just everybody, his seed, his elect people. And oh my, we were given to him as a sheep is to a shepherd. And that good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. He's the door of the sheep. He's the fold of the sheep. And I'll tell you what, he said, another sheep I've got, which I also must bring.

That's us. Given to him as sinners to a savior. Oh, my. Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Given to him as being absolutely responsible for our salvation. All that the father gives me shall come to me." And they said, and I should lose nothing, but I'll raise him up at the last day. He's absolutely responsible for us.

Let me ask you, will he be faithful to his father who gave them to him? You reckon he'll be faithful to his father? He said, I gave them to you. You reckon he'll be faithful? bear his responsibility, bear the work that the father gave him to him, able to keep him, raise him up at the last day? Oh, my. Oh, will he be faithful to him who he trusted to his care? Let me tell you, if a single one of God's elect were to perish, you know what the consequences would be? God had to give up his glory and give up his throne. If he lost one, one, whom Christ died. One!

And Paul said, I'm persuaded, I'm convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he which begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And oh, this is what I love about it also. He said, they have kept thy word. There in verse 6 again. They have kept thy word. In verse 8 he says, in verse The first line, I've given unto them the words which they has given me. They received them and known surely. They have kept thy word to keep given to them. What did he give it to us? To believe it? God at faith believes his word. To obey it? Thy words. To stand guard over them. They're pretty precious over there.

Our Lord said, he's my disciple indeed, who continues in my word. And oh my, stand guard over it, because we have known that he come for Christ. When our Lord went out to get his disciples, went out to call them, when he called them, they went forth and followed him and left everything else behind. They believed and they followed. And that's what we do. We believe and we follow. And oh my, and they continued with him. This is one thing I know.

God's people will continue. Will continue. They're not gonna stop, start, stop and start, stay out five or six, eight months and then start up again. That's not the way it works. When Christ took responsibility for us, he took responsibility of us from the time we was born to the day he carries us to glory. And not one of them will be lost. He'll see that every single one of them are there.

He's the shepherd over the sheep. David, talk of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a bear come and tried to get his sheep, he tackled that big old bear and killed him. Killed him, killed a bear with his bare hands. And then a lion come and he got that lion's jaw, ripped it open and tore his jaw open. And if David would do that for sheep, what would Christ do to make sure that nothing gets us? Huh? That old roaring lion comes after us. Our Lord says, shut up, close your mouth.

You're not going to accuse my children. I shed my blood for them. I'm responsible for them. And I'm going to keep them. And don't you dare touch them. Oh, my. And we've kept his word. We believed his word. You know, and they continued with him. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, no man can come unto me except the Father which sent me. Give him to me. The Father gave him to me. And many of them said, that's a hard saying. That's a hard saying. You know, we have to be given to you.

Our free will ain't done it. Our works ain't done it. Our law keeping ain't done it. Our separation hasn't done it. How we dress hasn't done it. All our day long prayers hasn't done it. If that don't, that's a hard saying that we can't come to you unless it's given to us to do that.

He said, this is too hard. And a multitude turned and walked away. And he looked at the 12 and said, I guess you fellas are going to leave, too, then, ain't you? He said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Now, listen to this. Thou hast the words of eternal life. Words. Oh, he gives us words, comforting words, assuring words. And look over here in John 5, 38. Look at John 5, 38 with me for a moment. Let me show you something our Lord said over here. John 5, 38. Verse 37, he says, And the Father himself hath sent me. The Father hath borne witness of me. Now listen to this.

You neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape. and you have not his word abiding in you. For whom you sent, you believe not. What a difference. They didn't hear or see God. Now, Christ said, I'm gonna make them see and know. I manifested my name, the name of God under these people. Thy name under these people. And oh, they've kept your word. But these other people, they didn't see, they didn't hear. And oh my, and I'll tell you something else now. He said, I give them thy word, and they have kept it. They have kept it. They have kept it. They delight in it. They rejoice in it.

And now they've known, in verse seven, known, known that all things whatsoever you have given them, and given me of thee everything I've got, all my knowledge, all my wisdom, all my power, all my works, all my miracles, all the things that I've done in this world, you gave it to me. And then he said, and then I turned around and gave unto them the words that you gave me. And listen to this, they received them. They received them and have known surely, surely that I come out from you listen to this, and believe that thou didst send me." Now, you're talking about believing, son. That's why Mary said, when the angel comes and said, you're going to have a son.

How in the world can this be? That can't happen. Oh, yes, it can. And I'm going to tell you something else he never mentions, not here. He's speaking here in without taking notice of their weak faith. He's talking about the keeping the word. Believe in knowing God. He's talking about that. He don't take notice of the weak faith. They don't take notice of their failures to apprehend the word and their unbelief. It doesn't take any sense. He's presenting these disciples before the father by his perfection, by his merit, by his righteousness, by his power. by the work that he finished.

And oh, my. And I tell you, he that loveth and puteth no evil. And our Lord loved us, and I'm telling you what, Satan may accuse us, the world condemn us, but our Lord Jesus Christ says, they have kept my word. They believed that you sent me and have known that, known that. Sure about it, surely they know that. I'll tell you, that makes the Lord's people, that makes them to be something that the world don't know nothing about.

Don't know a thing about it. Our Father, in the blessed name of Christ our Lord, thank you for meeting with us this evening. Thankful for thy precious word. There's nothing like it in this world. The words you gave them to us, you gave it to us. And we received them. And we believe you. We believe that the Father sent you to be our Savior, to be our Redeemer, to be our righteousness, to be our justification, to be all of our salvation, to be all of it. to keep us, save us, and keep us, and preserve us until the day that you all take us to be with yourself.

God bless these dear saints as they go their way. Go home. Give them a good night's rest. Give them peace. Give them some comfort from these words tonight. Bring glory to yourself through all of us. And oh, Lord, increase our love for you and for one another. In our blessed Savior's name, I thank you and praise you. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, ♪ Forgiving to me ♪ ♪ Thy great salvation ♪ ♪ So rich and free ♪ See you Sunday, God willing. Good night and the Lord bless you.

Wednesday 7/1/26 - They Kept Thy Word

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Wednesday 7/1/26 - They Kept Thy Word

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