As I said, my text this evening
will be John chapter 17, but I want us to begin in Matthew
the sixth chapter. Matthew chapter six. The title of my message tonight
is the Lord's Prayer. Now that which is commonly called
the Lord's Prayer is not the Lord's Prayer at all, but rather
the Disciples' Prayer. Here in the sixth chapter of
Matthew, our Lord Jesus gives us that Disciples' Prayer. It
is given with slight variation, again in Luke, the eleventh chapter.
But really, this is given by our Lord Jesus as a model that
we should follow, an example we should follow, teaching us
how to pray and what to pray for. Let's begin in Matthew 6,
verse 6. But thou, when thou prayest,
God's people pray. They pray. You don't have to
prod them to pray, nudge them to pray, beat them to pray. They
pray. They know their need of mercy
and they pray. When thou prayest, enter into
thy closet. They pray and most of their prayer
is very private. People who make a great show
of prayer don't know anything about prayer. I have a friend
who, Brother Larry Brown told me about going to visit somebody
some years ago, and they told him they couldn't visit then,
it's time for their family to have prayer. That's a lot of hooey. There's nothing to that. It's hypocrisy, it's a show.
When you pray, enter into your closet. It's not talking about
literally have a prayer closet, it's talking about privacy. And
when thou has shut the door, you shut out the world, You shut
out the influence of the world, the carnal ambitions and cares
of the world. Pray to thy father, which is
in secret. Open your heart to God. Open
your heart to God. I dare say the most real prayer,
not forming words, so much as pouring out the groans of your
heart to God. You come freely to your Heavenly Father. You
pray to your Father which is in secret, and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. He will answer your
prayer openly, manifestly in your life. And when you pray,
use not vain repetitions. Hail Mary. Vain repetitions. Now I lay me down to sleep. I
pray the Lord my soul to keep vain repetitions. Don't teach
your sons and daughters to say their prayers. Don't ask me to
say a prayer for you. I won't do it. I will and I do
as God enables me pray for you. But there's a big difference
between saying prayers and praying. Saying prayers is just going
through so much religious nonsense, pretending before God when there's
no prayer in the heart. Prayer rises from the heart because
God's put it there. It's don't use vain repetitions
as the heathen do. For they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore likened to
them. For your father knoweth what
things ye have need of before you ask him. He knows before
you ask. And He knows His thoughts toward
you are thoughts of peace. He knows what He will do for
you. And yet He says, I will be sought for these things. So
that we're called on by God and urged of Him to call on Him in
prayer, to seek His face in prayer. Yet He knows what we need before
we ask Him. Verse 9. After this manner, therefore,
pray ye. And Luke, the Lord's disciple,
said, Master, teach us to pray. He said, all right, pray like
this. Our Father, which art in heaven. And then he gives us
seven petitions, seven things about which all prayer is concerned. Number one, hallowed be thy name. The petition is this, Father,
sanctify your own name. Honor your name. Glorify your
name. This is what we really want. This is what we really want.
God, honor yourself. Get glory to yourself. Number
two, thy kingdom come. Lord, save your people. Build
up your kingdom. Gather your elect from the four
corners of the earth. Number three, thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven. But Brother Don, we believe in
sovereign grace. We believe God's will is always
done in the earth. It is. It is. We pray that he will make
us submissive to his will and make us bow to his will and perform
his will because his will is right. You and I never know. I don't mean occasionally. We
never know what to pray for as we ought. Never. Never. So we have the Spirit of God
who makes intercession for us. And we here are taught to pray,
submitting all things to God's will. That's not just saying,
Lord, give us some rain, if it be your will. It's praying, Lord,
your will be done. Our master taught us so. If it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my
will, thy will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. Not give me increased riches. Not give me a new car, mine's
getting old. Not give me a place of prominence. Not give me a bigger house. Give me what I need today. Oh God, teach me so to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Luke translates
this or gives it to us, trespasses. Our debts are trespasses. Our
sins are debts. Trespasses against God as we
forgive our debtors. So he teaches us to pray for
God's glory, for the increase of God's kingdom, for God's will
to be done, for our daily needs, both temporal and spiritual,
forgiveness for our sins, and then he says, lead us not into
temptation. Lord, don't direct us in the
path of temptation. Don't direct us where our faith
may be subject to trial by which faith may be broken. Don't subject
me to temptations I'm not able to bear. But deliver us from
evil. Deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from the evil that's
in our hearts. Deliver us from the evil that's
around us. Deliver us from Satan. For thine
is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now that's the disciple's
prayer, not the Lord's prayer. Tonight I want us to look at
the Lord's prayer, here in John chapter 17. Our Lord Jesus is
about to enter into glory as our mediator and our great high
priest. You remember Aaron, the high
priest of Israel, wore the names of the children of Israel on
his breastplate because he was their priest. He specifically,
distinctly represented the children of Israel. And when he went into
the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the people, he interceded
for the people, and after atonement was made, came back out and blessed
the people. Our Lord Jesus is here about
to make the complete fulfillment of the Aaronic type. Our great
high priest is about to enter into heaven with his own blood.
He's about to go in to the holy of holies in the presence of
God with his blood, thereby obtaining eternal redemption for us. And
before he does, he prays this prayer found in these 26 verses
of John 17. Our Lord prayed and we're told
frequently in the scripture that he prayed. Many times we're told
he withdrew, went apart. He went apart by himself, went
apart with the disciples to pray. But as far as I have been able
to find, this is the only place where one of our Lord's prayers
is recorded in complete detail so that every word he spoke is
here reserved for us in the pages of Holy Scripture for our learning
and our admonition. He left us the full text of this
prayer as an example of his intercession for us, even now that he carries
on in heaven as our mediator and our high priest. Listen to
this. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Right now, right now, continually
maketh intercession for us. In Hebrews 7.25, we're told,
He's able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by
Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. So
this is our Lord's prayer as He makes intercession for us
as our God-man mediator, as that one who is our high priest and
representative before the Lord God. Now, in these things, the
Apostle Paul says, now since he is our intercessor in heaven,
since we have one in heaven, a high priest touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, a high priest who is a man just like
us, all things as we are, sin alone accepted, and even that
he was made sin for us, so that this great high priest, though
he is God, he is a man like us, touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, and he makes intercession for us as our priest. Paul says,
let us therefore Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of
grace. Come with freedom. That's what
the word boldness means. It's not this Pentecostal nonsense
you see on television, here on radio, demanding things of God. Boldness is freedom. Come freely
to the throne of grace. You know, I have friends, men,
some of you, you'll call and apologize because you interrupt
the day or take a little time. That fellow's coming up, they'll
sneak in the office door, they'll sneak in the door beside me so
they don't want to disturb me. And I appreciate that, I appreciate
the respect. Do you know I've never known
my grandson to even knock on the door? He just walks right
in, figures he's welcome, and he is, and he is. He has the
complete freedom of an innocent child with his grandfather. That's
this boldness. Let us, therefore, have complete
freedom to come to God, come to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Why pray? We believe in predestination.
Prayer doesn't change things. You're right. Prayer doesn't
change God, and prayer doesn't change the will of God. Prayer
finds the will of God, and not only finds the will of God, it
bows to the will of God. Prayer rejoices in God's will. Lord, do what you will. We'll
worship you. Prayer changes us, causing us
to know and follow and bow to the will of God. If our master
prayed, his servants certainly ought to pray. Back up to John
chapter 16 for just a minute. Verse 28. Here our Lord Jesus
makes three statements. Three statements which really
give us a sum of his person and work. Three statements that tell
us who he is and what he did. He says, I came from the Father. If he came from the Father, he
must have been with the Father and in the Father. He was in
the beginning with God and the Word was God. He not only came
out from God's presence, he came out from God's being. He came
from the Father. That means he was one with the
Father and came here from the Father. If he came forth from
the Father, he must have been sent by the Father for a specific
purpose. Do you remember what the angel
said concerning him? Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. When our Lord
Jesus came into the world, as he was coming into the world,
as he entered his mother's womb, and as he came forth, breaking
the mother's womb as the firstborn, he said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written to me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. So our Lord
Jesus came here for a purpose. He came here on a mission. He
came here with something to accomplish and He could not go back to the
Father until He had accomplished what He came here as Jehovah's
Servant to do. You remember what He said in John 16? He said,
when the Spirit of truth has come, He'll convince you of righteousness
because I go to my Father. If he had not brought in everlasting
righteousness, Dougie couldn't have returned to the Father.
That's what he came down here to do. Had he not saved his people,
he could not have gone back as Jehovah's servant. He said, I
am come into the world. I am come into the world. He
is not of this world, but he came into the world. God the
Son assumed our nature. He came here in our humanity,
conceived in the womb of the Virgin by God the Holy Spirit,
who formed in the Virgin's womb a holy human being, a holy human
being who is himself divine, so that he is the God-man, the
man-God. He never ceased to be God, and
he never ceased to be man, but he is rather perfectly God and
man in one person. Now we clearly distinguish between
things that are done concerning him as the God-man mediator and
things concerning him as God the Son, the Eternal Son of the
Eternal Father. But you can never separate the
two. He who is God, our Savior, is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
the God-man. That hymn we just sang, our hymn
book is changing, and most all of them have, Well, might the
sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in? When Christ,
the Mighty Maker, died, the man for creatures sin? That's not
how Isaac Watts wrote the hymn. He wrote to him like this, well
might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when
God the mighty savior died, the man for creatures sin. Well God
can't die, no, but the God man did. And he purchased the church. He who is God purchased the church
with his own blood. He came here in this world to
save his people from their sins. Look at the third thing he says
here in verse 28, John 16. Again, I leave the world and
go to my father. With those words, Tony, he says,
I've done what I said I was going to do. I finished the work. He must have completed the work
otherwise he could not have left this world and gone back to the
Father. The Apostle Paul gives this same
summary of our Lord in the first verses of Hebrews. Listen to
this, you don't need to turn there. God who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Now with those three statements
our Savior gives us a summary of his person and work. And I
can't think of a better commentary on his person and work than this
prayer we have before us here in John 17. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, is our sin-atoning sacrifice and substitute, by
whom our redemption has been accomplished. He is our great
high priest who makes intercession to the Father for his people,
the people whom he has redeemed with his own blood. And He is
our Almighty Savior, by whom all grace is conveyed to us,
by whose grace and mercy and with whom and in whom we are
saved. Now in this 17th chapter of John,
the Savior makes four great requests. actually four claims These are
claims of the sovereign Redeemer Who's fulfilled his father's
will and says father now do these four things for me? Do these
four things for me first? He says in verse 5 glorify me
Then in verse 11. He says keep my people then in
verse 20 he says save my redeem and Then in verse 24, he says,
give me my reward. Let's look at these four claims
of the Savior. First, verse 5. And now, O Father,
glorify thou me. Glorify me. This is my claim
as God's obedient righteous servant. This is what I ask of my God. And he who is our God, our Savior
called him his God. He who is our Father, our Savior
called him his Father. He said, these things I ask.
First glorify thou me with thine own self, now get it, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. Well, why would he be asking
for it if he already had it? Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.
Before time began, Jesus Christ, our surety, our mediator, that
one whom the Father, the triune God, had appointed and accepted
as our surety, was accepted of God as the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and God Almighty put everything in
the hands of His Son from eternity. But what's He praying for here
then? He's saying, Father, manifestly, Glorify me. Demonstrate this
glory that I had with you before the world was. And on the day
of Pentecost, Joel's prophecy in Joel chapter 2 was fulfilled. The Son of God, the Son of David,
was seated on the throne of David, and He poured out His Spirit
upon all flesh, and that was the fulfillment of the prophecy
in Joel. And Peter said, boys, this is
it. This is what the prophet was talking about. The Messiah
is on his throne. And he poured out his spirit,
showing forth his glory to give life to whom he will. Now this
is not a request, really. It's more than a request. It's
not a desire for personal ambition and exaltation. Rather, it is
a prayer for power and dominion as our mediator. for the salvation
of chosen men. And it gives us a clear basis
for the request. Verses 1, 2, 3, and 4. These
things, he says, Father, I've done. And on this basis, I'm
claiming my rightful glory. These words spake Jesus. What
words? Begin at John chapter 13, go
right through the end of chapter 16. These words spake Jesus and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Mary came to him at the marriage
feast and told him they don't have any wine. He said, My hour
has now come. The disciples took him and wanted to take him by
force, or the Pharisees did, and make him a king in John chapter
7. He said, my hour has not yet
come. My hour has not yet come. Over and over again, he says,
my hour has not yet come. The hour for which the world
was made. The hour upon which all things
hinge. His hour, the due time. Mine
hour now has come. That is the hour when he would
fulfill all the scriptures and accomplish redemption for us.
He says the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Here he's praying for God the
Father. to uphold and sustain him as he finishes his work,
that he may glorify God in every attribute of his being, and that
he may be glorified by God as our mediator. Verse 2. as thou
hast given him. Not shall give him, has given
him. Not as God the Son. God the Father didn't give him
anything as God the Son. He is one with the Father, equal
with the Father. But as the obedient mediator,
as our voluntary surety. Now the Father gives him power
over all flesh. Before the world was, God accepted
our Savior as our substitute, as our sacrifice, as our Redeemer,
and He put in the hands of our Mediator the reins of total dominion. If that won't sail your boat,
I don't know what will. He who died in my stead at Calvary
rules everything in heaven, earth, and hell. There's not a thought
in the mind of any man. There's not a roar in the fiend
of hell. There's not a deed performed
by any man or angel, wicked or holy. that is not ordained and
controlled by God my Savior. No wonder we say, it is well
with my soul. He rules the universe. Thou has
given him power over all flesh. Several years ago, when Brother
Darwin Pruitt was still with us in Danville, he walked into
the office one night, read that text. Verse 2, he said, word
power, does that mean authority or might? I said, yeah, that's
what it means. Authority and might. He has the
right to rule and the might to rule everything. And he never
gives it up. He never relinquishes it. He
always controls everything for this purpose. That he should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. What's
the Lord Jesus doing? He's ruling this universe to
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Now that
phrase is important. Six times in these 26 verses,
He refers to you and me, we who are His, as those the Father
gave to Him. Gave them into his hands as sheep
into the shepherd's hands. Gave them under his care as a
surety is trusted with the goods of his father's house or master's
house. Gave them into his hands and trusted him with our souls
from everlasting. These whom the father has put
in his hands. He's given him every power. might and dominion over all flesh
to this end that he might give eternal life to all God's elect. And that's what he does. He rules
the universe for the saving of his people. He's described in
Revelation 10 as that angel who has a book in his hand. The same
book you have in Revelation chapter 5, the book of God's everlasting
purpose and decrees. It has one foot on the land and
one foot on the sea and he's turning the pages of the book.
He's fulfilling the Father's purpose. What's that? The saving
of his people. I don't know what is going on
in our society. I don't know what the end will
be in this nation. Or what is going on in the Middle
East and what the end will be there. I don't have any idea.
That is the immediate end. But I know the end. God still
raises up nations, sustains nations, and puts down nations to save
his elect. Read the 43rd chapter of Isaiah.
He said, I gave people for you, men for you, nations for you.
There's nobody I won't sacrifice for you. Everything. All right,
look at verse 3. And this is life eternal. I'm
interested in that, aren't you? That they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Eternal
life is knowing God in Christ. It's not just a religious experience.
It's not just a religious or moral reformation. Eternal life
is spiritual life. It is life given to dead sinners
by God the Holy Spirit in sovereign regeneration. Eternal life is
not knowing that there is a God. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows that. The lying atheist who says he
doesn't believe in God is lying. He knows he's lying. I don't
mind telling him to his face he's a liar. God stepped his
being on his conscience from creation. Romans 1 says so. Either the atheist is lying or
God's lying. You take your pick. One of the two. Everybody knows
that God is. Eternal life is not knowing that
there is such a being as God. Eternal life is knowing God It's
not knowing about it. It's knowing it. It's knowing
it knowing it. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you Few years ago When my grandson will he's nine now,
he's not as easy to fool now as he was when he was four But
when he was in kindergarten He thought I hung the moon And he
thought I controlled everything. And thought, sure, I could whip
anything coming, go out and hunt grizzly bears with a switch.
He thought I could handle it. And I had the privilege of going
to kindergarten one day for dads and donuts. His daddy had to
work and I went over. And Will and I standing, having
something to drink and donut, whatever it was we're having.
And another grandfather was there, a little younger than me, considerably
smaller than me, and one of Will's buddies. He looked up at him
and said, Are you his grandpa? He said, yeah, and he looked
over at me. That's my grandpa. He's bigger than you. He said, yeah, he is. I bet he'd
whip me too, couldn't he? Yeah. Well, that fella didn't
know me from Adam, but he could have gone home and learned a
whole lot more about me than my four-year-old grandson knew
about me. All I had to do was get the records and find out
where I was born, who my parents were, how I was raised, how I
did in school, find out any kind of record I might have had, find
out where I lived. He could even find out what my
social security number was if he had the right clues to look.
He'd find out anything he wanted to about me. Everything's out
there. But he didn't know me from Adam. My grandson didn't
know anything about me. He didn't have any idea when
I was born or where and didn't care. But he knew me. Do you understand the difference?
Eternal life is not having all the facts about Christ and God. Eternal life is knowing the true
God. as he reveals himself in Jesus
Christ the Lord. That comes only by divine revelation. That doesn't come by instruction
in the mind, though God certainly uses that, or I wouldn't be here
doing it. But that revelation, that knowledge, comes only as
Christ is revealed in you. Paul said, Would it please God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, to reveal his Son in me? Well, but Brother Don, don't
you think folks have to know this and have to know that? Well,
sort of. Sort of. Now I realize I'm going
to knock down some sacred cows, but I'm in that business. Some
years ago, I read an article by a fellow. He wrote an article
and published it, sent it out. He said the apostles were all
lost until after the resurrection. Because they didn't know much.
None of them seemed to have known anything about our Lord's death
at Calvary or His burial and His resurrection as it took place. None of them seemed to understand
all that He had told them except for one woman. She's the only
one who understood. And this fellow concluded it
couldn't have been saved. They walked with Him for three
and a half years. Peter said, my Lord and my God. Thomas said,
my Lord and my God. Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He knew him. He didn't understand
a great deal, but he knew him. He knew him. I wrote to this
fellow, I said, do you mean to tell me that the Son of God gave
the keys of the kingdom of heaven to lost men? And told lost men
to rejoice because their names were written in heaven? and told
lost men their sins were forgiven to him? Well, that's ludicrous. That's ludicrous. You say, well,
how are we supposed to know who's saved and who's not? You're not
supposed to. Did you hear me? You're not supposed
to. It's none of your business. Or
mine. Well, we ought to inspect fruit.
All you can do is inspect the rotten part on the outside. You
don't have a clue who's saved and who's not. You deal with
your brethren on the basis of their professed faith graciously
and he separates the wheat from the chaff and he's the only one
who can. That's not your business and
it's not mine. We know that the Son of God has come and has given
us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we
are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ This
is the true God. This is eternal life. People
all the time write to me, want me to tell them whether or not
they're believers. And I refuse to answer the letters. I try
to be gracious, but I refuse to tell them. I can't tell you
that. I can't tell you that. I can tell you this, if you believe
God, you know it. If you believe God, you won't
need me to tell you. And if I can convince you you
don't, you don't. If you believe God, you know it. But I don't
have the kind of faith all I have. Who does? But my faith is so
shaky. Mine too. But I have so many
doubts. Who doesn't? I have so many questions. Me too. But I believe the Son
of God. This is the true God. And this
is eternal life. Verse 4. Now remember, this is
our Lord's appeal. This is the plea, he urges, why
the Father should glorify him as our mediator. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. Here is a man who perfectly loved
God. All the days of his life, every
breath he breathed for 33 years, he honored God. Every thought. who perfectly obeyed the will
of God, a man. He didn't do it for himself.
He did it for his people to bring in everlasting righteousness.
He says, Father, I finished the work you gave me to do. What's
he talking about? I have fulfilled all righteousness
as a man for my people. I brought in everlasting righteousness.
And I'm about to go yonder to Calvary and satisfy divine justice
by the sacrifice of myself, putting away their sins. And before I'm
done with this creation, I'm gonna present them to you and
say, lo, I and the children whom thou has given me, none of them
is lost. Then cometh the end and God shall
be all in all. All right, here's the second
thing, verses six through 19. Our Savior prays, now I'm no
more in the world, But these are in the world. Verse 11. 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 one. Keep through your own name those
whom you've given me, that they may be one. And in the next verses,
our Lord Jesus describes who his people are. I can't give
a lengthy exposition here, but I want you to listen carefully,
and I'll speak it a little slowly, so if you want to write it down,
you can. He gives us 12 things that identify God's people in
every place, in every generation, no matter how learned they are
or how unlearned, no matter how young they are or how old, no
matter how much they've experienced or how little. Here are 12 things
that describe all true believers. Believers are men and women to
whom God Almighty has been made known. I have manifested, verse
6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me. They've kept thy word. God's
name is who he is. Now I have no idea really why
my name is Donald Stuart Fortner. The last name I understand, that
was my daddy's name, my granddaddy's name and so on. But Don means
little brown stranger or a mighty ruler, neither of which applies
to me. Stuart refers to one who is a steward, I think. Fortner
is a name that refers to folks in Germany who were trolls, keepers
of the ford. But I was named Donald Stuart
Fortner just because that's what mom and daddy decided. Used to
be folks were named because of something identifying a characteristic
of their birth or a characteristic of the family. God's name is
who he is. It's all his attributes, all
his being, all his glory manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So the scripture speaks of believing on his name, calling
on his name, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. That means this, anybody who worships God as he
is, Anybody who believes God as he is, is born of God. Those who believe God are people
to whom God has made himself known. You can't do that for
anybody. I can't do that for anybody.
We preach to you, pray for you, and plead with you. We reason
with you, we show you things in the scriptures, you nod your
heads, I agree with that, but you can't see. unless God gives
you light and eyes to see. You can't believe unless God
opens your heart and gives you a heart to believe. You can't
come unless God brings you. It's just that simple. You mean
preacher? Salvation is all together? What
God does for me? That's it. And if God leaves
you alone, you're going to hell. If God leaves you alone, you're
going to hell. That's all there is to it. I
would suggest you take your place in the dust at the throne of
mercy and seek his grace, whose wrath you cannot bear. Number
two, believers were told in verse seven, know that the man Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ, the son of the living God. Now they have known, they have
known that I came out from thee. They have known that whatsoever
things thou hast given me are of thee. We recognize that God
the Father and God the Son are one. Explain that preacher. Well I don't understand it, I
can't explain it. God's bigger than me. He's bigger than me. That comes
as a shock to some folks. I don't know everything about
God. He's infinite. I can't begin to explain how
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit can be one
and yet be three distinct persons, but I know what's revealed in
this book. And we understand these things because God's made
them known. And we understand that the man,
Christ Jesus, is himself God in our nature. We know that everything
Christ did and said and everything he shall yet do is for us for
our salvation and is of God the triune God. We have this confidence
in everything God's in him and he's in God. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself. When Christ died at Calvary,
that man is God. And he made reconciliation by
his sacrifice. And the days coming when God
will judge the world by that man whom he's appointed, Jesus
Christ the Lord. Number three, look at verse eight. Believers are people who receive
the word of God. and receiving the Word of God,
they know who Jesus Christ is, the sent one of God, in whom
is all our hope and all our salvation. Now watch this. I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me. And they have thought about them. Well, preacher,
you gave me something to think about today. No, I didn't. No,
I didn't. They've received them. And they
know Surely that I came out from thee, and they believed that
thou didst send me. Believers read the word, hear
the word, and they receive it. They receive it. They bow to
this book. Believers do. Brother Donna my
dear granny. She she never would believe these
this message of God's grace, and she was fine Christian No
believers bow to this book Believers bow to it believers bow to the
revelation of God they receive the word and Receiving the word
believe and believing understand number four the verse nine Believers
are sinners chosen by God the Father in eternity, given to
Christ in effectual grace by the power of the Spirit as the
special objects of His mercy, love, and grace. I pray for them. I pray for them. Who? These people
who have received my word. These people who believe on me,
these people in whom I've been revealed, I pray for them. I
pray not for the world. Now I have a suggestion for you.
Next time you're talking to somebody about God's free grace, sovereignty,
predestination, limited atonement, and they start to snarl up and
spit venom at you, turn to John chapter 17 verse 9 and say, please
explain that. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. Looks to me like he's only interested
in a specific people. Looks to me like his only concern
is for specific people. Looks to me like all his work
is for specific people. They're called God's elect. Not
the world. He doesn't say, I pray for them
and everybody else in the world. He doesn't say, I pray for them
different, but I pray for everybody else too. I pray for them, not
for the world, but for them which you have given me. Now, I rather
suspect that if he wouldn't pray for them, he didn't die for them.
Our Lord Jesus is our great high priest and he wears our names
inscribed upon his heart and represents us to God. Aaron wore
nobody's name but the names of the twelve tribes of Israel,
no one else. In fact, when the Passover sacrifice
that began all of this typical service was first revealed, you
remember what God told Moses and Aaron? He said, go tell it
in the ears of my people. Don't tell Pharaoh anything about
this. Don't tell the Egyptians anything about this. This is
just for Israel. And God's grace is just for God's
Israel. All God's elect are the objects
of His grace and shall be saved by His grace. Number five. Believers
are those men and women in whom the Lord Jesus is glorified. Verse 10. All mine are thine
and thine are mine and I'm glorified in them. Imagine that. The Son of God's glorified in
you. How's that? Glorified by all
his operations of grace for you and all his operations of grace
in you. Three times we're told in Ephesians 1, when the apostle
describes God's mighty grace for us, he says, this is to the
praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of his glory. To
the praise of his glory. Three times. Nevertheless, I
saved them, the Lord said, for mine own namesake. He said, I
do this not for your sakes, but for my sake, that my name may
be glorified. Not only is He glorified in His
grace and the operations of His grace for you and in you, God's
glorified by your faith in Him. Glorified as we trust Him, glorified
as we bow to and obey Him. And He shall be glorified at
last in the consummate salvation of His elect. There they are
gathered around the throne. All the twenty-four elders, all
the multiplied thousands for whom the seats in heaven were
reserved, round the throne of the Lamb singing, worthy is the
Lamb. I'm glorified in them. Look at
verse 11. Here's the sixth thing. Believers
are kept in life and grace and faith by God the Father. by the power of his spirit by
the blood of his son 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've kept and none of them
is lost and then he throws a monkey wrench in it but the son of perdition. None of them is lost except Judas.
But why did he mention that? That the scripture might be fulfilled. To let us know that all the behavior
of Judas, that too is under his control and brought to pass exactly
according to his purpose and according to his will. Now, look
at this. God's saints are here described
as a people in the world in hostile enemy territory, a weak, sinful
people, but in all things kept by the power of His grace. There
hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
And God will with the temptation make a way of escape that you
may be able to bear it. in everything give thanks for
this whatever it is you now endure is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you and God keeps you God keeps you if he
didn't we'd fall a thousand times a day he keeps us number seven
believers are those who shall have Christ's joy fulfilled in
themselves Verse 13, now I come to thee, and these things I speak
in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. The joy of his grace, of his
salvation, the joy of sweet communion with the Father, and with the
Son, and with one another. That's how John describes it
in 1 John 1. Shelby and I don't own any property, never have,
and never will. We don't have any wealth. Don't
have any, don't intend to gather any. And I don't know anybody
in the world so rich as we are. Nobody in the world. Do you know
Tony, I would have a hard time driving a hundred miles in any
direction, anywhere in this country, I couldn't drive up somebody's
door, knock on their door and they'd be tickled to death because I
spent the week with them. We have fellowship with our God.
And with his son. And with one another. His joy
fulfilled in us as His family. Number eight, believers, because
of their faith, are the objects of the world's scorn. He says
the world hates them, verse 14, even as it hated me. The gospel
we believe, the Savior we serve, the God we worship is despised
by the world, and you're not gonna change that. And you didn't
expect the world to smile at you when you tell them the truth
about themselves, about God, and about God's salvation. It's
not going to happen. Men whose hearts are enmity against
God are enmity against you if you walk with God. That's just
plain fact. And churches need to learn it.
You folks trying to have a gospel assembly established here, pray
God will establish his witness in this place even more fully
than he has already. Don't start trying to make something
happen. If you do, you'll compromise
the word. You'll compromise the gospel. You're not going to get
the world to smile at God. It's not going to happen unless
you decide to make God as the world, which is what's going
on down the road here right now. Every place down here, every
place down here. I don't know of one of the folks
in any of those churches down there. I promise you, anybody
down there who made preparations, planning their, what they call
their worship service and their activities for six months to
a year in advance, didn't give a thought to God's honor. Everything was done to appeal
to men, to get folks to come. Our object is to preach the gospel
of God's free grace. Look at verse 50, number 9. Believers
are left in this world to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel
amid much evil, under the relentless assault of wicked men and of
Satan. I pray not that thou wouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from evil. Let nothing hinder you from faithfully
serving the Redeemer. Number 10, verse 16. Believers
are sinners who've been sanctified, set apart, distinguished from
all the world by the word of God. They are not of the world,
even as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. I I was raised in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. And I had a neighbor who lived
half a block from me on the backside of the house, straight up above
us, Tommy Bailiff. We went to school for 12 years
together. We walked to school together
most days. We came home together most days. We got in trouble
together most days. Got a little older, we dated
together. We were friends. We were friends.
I started wanting to date a girl who was going to church. And
her daddy never since stopped letting me date her unless I
came to church. And so I started going to church.
And soon, I wasn't interested in her. God sanctified me by
his word. He cut me out of the world. called
me by his grace. And I don't have a clue where
Tommy Bailiff is now. What's the difference? God sanctified
me by his word in the sweet experience of his grace revealing Christ
in me. Alright, number 11. Look at verse
18. Every believer, every child of
God is sent into this world as the servant of God Almighty,
to do His will, to glorify His name, to serve the interest of
His kingdom. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Later on
in John 20, verse 21, he said, He gathered his disciples together.
He gathered Chris and Don and Dwight and Tony and he gathered
Doug and Shelby and Mary Carol over there. He gathered us together
and he breathed on us his spirit. And he said, as the Father has
sent me into the world, so send I you. Tony, he sent us here. in the days of our sojourn in
this world for one purpose, the very same purpose for which he
was sent into the world, the saving of his people to the glory
of God. That's our mission. That's our
mission. He sent us here for the in-gathering
of His elect, using whatever He puts in our hands, talents,
time, money, abilities, whatever it is, to use for His glory. God make me faithful in that
end. Number 12, you and I, God's elect,
sinners who trust the Lord Jesus are the special objects of all
that Christ came to do. Verse 19. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they might
be sanctified through the truth. All right, let me quickly give
you our Lord's third claim. He said, Father, glorify me. I burned it. He said, Father,
Keep my people. There it is, Father. Save my
redeemed. Look at verse 20. Neither pray
I for these alone, but I pray for Don Fortnit. For them also
who shall believe on me through their word. Sammy doesn't say
them who might believe on me, he said them who shall. There
are some people who shall hear the word. There's a people who
shall believe on his name and that's what we're doing preaching
the word seeking the Lord sheep Somebody said if I if I believe
what y'all do I just preach to the elect. I would do if I knew
who they were But since I don't know they are we preach the gospel
everybody and by the power of his grace Working by his spirit
through the word he calls out his elect and they shall believe
on me through their word He says save my redeemed that they all
may be one as thou father art in me and I in them that they
also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me and the glory which thou hast given me thou gavest me
I've given to them imagine that all things the father gave to
the son he's given to us that they may be one even as we are
I in them thou in me that they may be made perfect in one that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me now here's the long and short of that when
God gets done when judgments over all God's
elect gathered into glory all creation going to be made to
know that He's God and He loves you. He's God and you're the
object of His choice. He's God and He chose you. He's God and He redeemed you
to the praise of His glory. Alright, look at the last verses.
Here's the fourth thing. The Savior says, Father, give me
the reward of my labor. In Psalm 2, The triune God says
to the mediator, ask of me, and I'll give you the heathen for
thine inheritance. And here the Lord says, all right, do it.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. Cause me at last to fully see
of the travail of my soul with satisfaction. that they may behold
my glory that they may see me in all the fullness and beauty
of my glory as the God-man their mediator the glory which thou
hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world oh righteous father the world has not known thee but
I've known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me
and I declare unto them thy name and will declare it now watch
this that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them and I in them that the love with which I am
loved of God may be in them and I in them and soon Lord Jesus
will have his prayer fully answered turn to Revelation 21 and we'll
read about it and go home Revelation 21 verse 3 I Heard a great voice out of
heaven saying I Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them and be their God, and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the
throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said
unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give to him that is a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things. and I will be his god
and he shall be my son. righteous father. Thank you for your word. for
our savior. for his unfailing intercession
on our behalf. Thank you for him who loved us
and By the sweet, irresistible constraint
of your grace, force us day by day, willingly to give ourselves
to Him. For Christ's sake, I pray. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.
Thank you for your attention.