1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,760 Just a word of update regarding Rose Burton, who was involved in an accident on her way 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:11,420 to church tonight apparently, and does not seem to have any serious injuries that we 3 00:00:11,420 --> 00:00:13,280 know of at this point. 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:17,640 She's on her way to the hospital right now in an ambulance, but that seems to be the 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:23,560 initial word that her, at least her injuries were not serious as much as they know. 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,000 So we're glad for that initial report. 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:34,520 Would you please turn in your Bible with me to John chapter 17 as we think tonight about 8 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:41,640 the good gifts of John 17. 9 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:47,840 Each December I have to ask my wife for a Christmas list of gifts that she might like 10 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:48,840 to have. 11 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,640 I suppose if I were the husband I ought to be, I would be taking notes throughout the 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:01:01,000 year as she mentions things that she would like to have, or we go through the store shopping 13 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,480 together when I'm so patiently walking along. 14 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:12,240 As she mentions the various things that look nice to her, unfortunately I'm not that good 15 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:19,340 of a husband, and so I have to have that list to work off of. 16 00:01:19,340 --> 00:01:24,320 She writes down those things that she would like to receive, and then I begin selecting 17 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:30,280 those gifts based upon my budget. 18 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,960 Usually the list is longer than the budget is, but that's the way it goes. 19 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:40,280 We enjoy giving gifts to our loved ones at Christmas time, don't we? 20 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:45,320 Heard a story about a little boy that went with his mother to the department store, and 21 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:51,480 like a lot of little children, he wanted to sit on the lap of Santa Claus. 22 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:57,000 He did, and Santa Claus said, well little boy, what would you like for Christmas? 23 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,600 So he said, well you better get out a pencil and write it down. 24 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,720 Then Santa Claus said, don't worry about that. 25 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,640 He said, I've got a good memory, you can just tell me. 26 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,760 The little boy was kind of dubious about that, but he went ahead and listed what he wanted 27 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:17,000 for Christmas, and jumped down off of Santa's lap and went on his way. 28 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,160 Well, it just so happened that afternoon, they went to another department store, and 29 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,720 there was another Santa Claus there. 30 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,920 So he got up on Santa Claus' lap, and Santa Claus asked the question he always did, he 31 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:34,760 said, well little boy, what do you want for Christmas? 32 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,880 The little guy jumped down and kicked him in the leg and said, you numbskull, I knew 33 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,160 you'd forget. 34 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:51,720 Aren't you glad we have a heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children 35 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,760 and doesn't forget? 36 00:02:53,760 --> 00:03:00,040 John chapter 17 is something of a gift list. 37 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:06,460 Gifts that God has given to His Son, and which His Son in turn has shared with us who belong 38 00:03:06,460 --> 00:03:08,380 to Him. 39 00:03:08,380 --> 00:03:15,440 God delights to give good things to those who are the delight of His soul. 40 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:22,360 In Psalm 34 we read, O fear the Lord, you His saints, for to those who fear Him there 41 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:23,920 is no want. 42 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,840 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in 43 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,760 want of any good thing. 44 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:40,160 Please understand that that is not a proof text for prosperity theology, what might be 45 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,440 called better, prosperity poppycock. 46 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:49,140 That teaching that is prevalent in some circles today that we can expect God to make all of 47 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:56,320 us who are Christians healthy and prosperous without exception, if only our faith is strong 48 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,840 enough. 49 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:04,840 I call that poppycock and not theology because it simply doesn't hold water as far as what 50 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,640 the Bible teaches. 51 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:14,840 There are some people of remarkable faith who have suffered sorely in life, such as 52 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:22,640 those mentioned in Hebrews 11, of whom it says, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, 53 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:30,200 being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes 54 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:31,200 in the ground. 55 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:37,960 It goes on to say, and these gained approval for their faith. 56 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:42,000 They wouldn't exactly be the ones to give the testimonies, though, on some of the programs 57 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:48,980 that you hear that preach prosperity gospel. 58 00:04:48,980 --> 00:04:54,520 The verses, like those in Psalm 34, however, teach us general principles that God's saints 59 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:59,060 through the ages have found true. 60 00:04:59,060 --> 00:05:04,280 It does not guarantee that all of us will escape consequences, for example, of our own 61 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:06,580 foolishness. 62 00:05:06,580 --> 00:05:09,120 God does not protect us all the time from that. 63 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:15,240 There are some times He graciously intervenes, but there are times when He well lets us suffer 64 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:23,280 consequences of our own mistakes, including financial mistakes, so that we remember them. 65 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:28,120 Nor does a promise like that found in Psalm 34, which we read, mean that we will never 66 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:37,000 come under persecution, or that we will never pass through the same sorts of tests and trials 67 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,680 that are common to all people. 68 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:44,720 But the fact is, generally speaking, that God gives good things to those who are His. 69 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:52,800 James 1, 17 says, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming 70 00:05:52,800 --> 00:06:00,080 down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 71 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:08,840 The fact is that God loves to give generously, and He does. 72 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:18,120 But of all of the exquisite, priceless gifts which God has given, it seems to me the one 73 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:26,240 at the very top of the list is the one that we're basically going to deal with tonight. 74 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:32,440 The one at the top of the list, the gift from God that is most priceless, is the gift of 75 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,760 revelation concerning Himself. 76 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:41,840 He allows us to know Him. 77 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:50,080 We who are finite, we creatures, God tells us about Himself. 78 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:57,600 Nothing surpasses the value of that self-disclosure from God. 79 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:02,640 In John 17 we want to read beginning in verse 6. 80 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:09,840 Remember, these are words which our Lord Jesus prayed before He was crucified, but He was 81 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:14,760 praying as though all of His work at the cross were finished. 82 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:20,880 He was already in the presence of the Father interceding on behalf of those who are His. 83 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:28,040 Verse 6, I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest me out of the world. 84 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:34,960 Mine they were, and Thou gavest them to me, and they have kept Thy word. 85 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:40,680 Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given me is from Thee. 86 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:46,920 For the words which Thou gavest me I have given to them. 87 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:53,560 And they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee. 88 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,200 And they believed that Thou didst send me. 89 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,440 I ask on their behalf. 90 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:04,880 I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given me, for they are 91 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:05,880 Thine. 92 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:12,000 And all things that are mine are Thine, and Thine are mine, and I have been glorified 93 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,000 in them. 94 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,480 And I am no more in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. 95 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:24,460 And I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep them in Thy name. 96 00:08:24,460 --> 00:08:30,960 The name which Thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are. 97 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:36,420 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name, which Thou hast given me. 98 00:08:36,420 --> 00:08:41,560 And I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture 99 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:43,780 might be fulfilled. 100 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:49,080 But now I come to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my 101 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,680 joy made full in themselves. 102 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:57,360 I have given them Thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the 103 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,680 world, even as I am not of the world. 104 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:06,120 I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil, or 105 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,860 the evil one. 106 00:09:08,860 --> 00:09:12,520 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 107 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,120 Sanctify them in the truth. 108 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,680 Thy word is truth. 109 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:23,480 As Thou didst send me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 110 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:31,000 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in 111 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,000 truth. 112 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:39,320 Now these words are like an ocean that one could explore a long time and never really 113 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,200 plumb the depths. 114 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:47,400 And yet tonight we want to look at this theme of the gifts that God has given. 115 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,800 The gift of knowing God comes to us through His Son. 116 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:59,720 The Father in the first place committed to the Son the responsibility to manifest the 117 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,800 name of God. 118 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:10,500 Jesus says here a couple of times, the name that Thou gavest me. 119 00:10:10,500 --> 00:10:12,560 What does that mean? 120 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:16,880 What is the name of God? 121 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,620 Is it a particular title? 122 00:10:20,620 --> 00:10:25,000 Is it a particular expression by which we are to address God? 123 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:33,480 What does Jesus mean by the name that the Father had given to Him and which He in turn 124 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:39,000 had passed on to His own? 125 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:44,900 You may recall a couple of chapters before this, Jesus instructed His disciples to pray 126 00:10:44,900 --> 00:10:48,760 in His name. 127 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:58,440 What Jesus was saying there was, when you pray to the Father, pray with the full realization 128 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:07,840 of me, who I am, as representing me before the Father. 129 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:15,280 We often tag on to the end of our prayers those words, in Jesus' name, amen. 130 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,320 That is not specifically what Jesus had in mind. 131 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:25,680 It's not wrong to pray that way, but often that's just sort of a way to say, now I'm 132 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:28,200 done praying. 133 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,920 And that's about all it means. 134 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:37,720 What Jesus was saying was, when you pray, when you come to the Father, realize who I 135 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:46,600 am, and that you stand before the Father in the fullness of who I am. 136 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,120 And in that sense you pray in my name, who I am. 137 00:11:51,120 --> 00:12:03,760 The name in the Bible represents the nature of the person who's called by that name. 138 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:10,240 Thus you find, for example, that Moses named his two sons what he did because they were 139 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,280 representatives, they reminded him of certain things. 140 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:17,760 And that happened many times in the Bible, that was common in people in that day. 141 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:25,000 The names meant something about an event or about the nature of the child or the child's 142 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,200 birth or the family or circumstances. 143 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,040 The name meant something. 144 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:35,160 And so when Jesus says, Father, you have given to me your name, he is saying, you have given 145 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:44,720 to me the privilege, the responsibility of declaring all that you are your name, all 146 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,680 that you are to them. 147 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:49,960 And I have done that. 148 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:58,320 So the Father gave to the Son the responsibility to manifest the fullness of all that God is. 149 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:06,080 We looked at this not too long ago, more at length, and so I'm going to pass on tonight. 150 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:13,280 But I remind you that in the past, in the Old Testament, God spoke in bits and pieces, 151 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,500 here and there, apart here, apart there. 152 00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:21,000 And he spoke in many different ways through the prophets. 153 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:28,560 But it was in his Son that he fully revealed himself to us. 154 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:36,340 He put all of the pieces together and then Son through Jesus Christ. 155 00:13:36,340 --> 00:13:42,560 So Jesus is simply expressing here as he prays that he knows the Father has given to him 156 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:49,800 the responsibility to disclose what God is like, what the nature of God is. 157 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,880 And he says, I have passed it on now to my own. 158 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:59,080 The Son gave to his own that word of revelation from the Father. 159 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:07,320 Notice in verse 8, Jesus says, the words which thou gavest me I have given to them. 160 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:12,760 And in verse 14, I have given them thy word. 161 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:18,960 Now in the full text that we read tonight, there are several statements that we can make 162 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,480 that I think apply to our lives. 163 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:31,880 First of all, these who were his own here were those who were given to him by the Father. 164 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:41,200 He says that in verse 6, the men whom thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were 165 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,960 and thou gavest them to me. 166 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:52,960 Again in verse 9 he says, I ask on their behalf, I do not ask on behalf of the world but of 167 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:58,280 those whom thou hast given me. 168 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:02,680 Not everyone is given to the Son. 169 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,680 Again we talked about this before so I will not go on this too long. 170 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:15,680 But just by way of reminder that if you are a Christian tonight, you are one who has been 171 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:21,520 given by the Father to the Son as a love gift. 172 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:29,760 That is a very precious privilege that you belong to the Son in a unique sense. 173 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:38,840 He purchased you and you have been given by the Father to him as his own peculiar possession. 174 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:46,320 Therefore you have lost your first identity which was as a citizen of the world. 175 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:53,840 Jesus points that out in verse 14, the world has hated them because they are not of the 176 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:55,200 world. 177 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,400 Just like I am not, he says. 178 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:02,600 He repeats himself in verse 16, they are not of the world. 179 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,800 What has happened? 180 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:11,120 A basic change in identity has taken place because they were given by the Father to the 181 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:22,160 Son that original identity with the world and its sin and its God, Satan, that original 182 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:30,360 identity has been changed so that now they are no longer of the world but now they belong 183 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,720 to him, to Jesus Christ. 184 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:44,000 I notice secondly that those who are given to the Son give evidence of that. 185 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,000 What is the evidence? 186 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:51,240 Well, in verse 6 he sort of summarizes it by saying, they have kept thy word. 187 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:52,560 What does he mean by that? 188 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,080 They have kept thy word. 189 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,000 I think he elaborates on that in verse 8. 190 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,800 Notice the process. 191 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,800 He says the words that thou gavest me I have given to them. 192 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:11,200 Notice, and they received them. 193 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,880 That is, they embraced them. 194 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:15,800 They welcomed them. 195 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:25,840 But not only that, and truly understood, he says, that I came forth from thee. 196 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:34,200 So those whom the Father gave to the Son proved that by the fact that number one, they received 197 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:45,240 the word of God and understood in the depths of their spirit who Jesus is, that he came 198 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,440 forth from the Father. 199 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:54,760 And not only that, he says, and they believed that thou didst send me. 200 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,000 Saving faith. 201 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,520 Saving faith. 202 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:07,200 So those that are given to the Son prove that they are given to the Son by their receiving 203 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:12,440 of the word of God, the fact that they understand it, or as it says in verse 7, they've come 204 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:17,240 to know, and then they believe it. 205 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:18,660 They believe it. 206 00:18:18,660 --> 00:18:21,800 That is the human side of it, isn't it? 207 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:26,920 The fact that we are given by the Father to the Son, that's the divine side of salvation. 208 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:33,540 Here we have the human side, the response side, and the part of man to receive, to understand, 209 00:18:33,540 --> 00:18:41,600 and to believe that word of God and who Jesus Christ is and what he's done for us. 210 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,520 Now he goes on to say a third thing. 211 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:51,760 Those who believed, because they were given by the Father to the Son, he says, were guarded 212 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:56,080 by Christ during his time with them. 213 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:03,240 In verse 12, he's speaking in the context here about the disciples. 214 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:11,440 He says, while I was with them, I was keeping them in thy name, which thou hast given me. 215 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:20,400 Notice that the security of the disciples rested upon the full nature of God, his name. 216 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,920 Not upon who they were, what they did, but upon who God is. 217 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:26,800 That's the security. 218 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:32,440 And Jesus says, those Father whom you've given me and who therefore believed on me, 219 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:42,440 I have guarded, I have kept them during my time with them, with one exception. 220 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:49,840 And that wasn't that he lost one, but it's that one who was with the disciples was not 221 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:51,740 a true disciple. 222 00:19:51,740 --> 00:19:59,360 And that of course was Judas, who is called here the son of perdition, the son of destruction. 223 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:04,520 And Judas' role was in fulfillment of the Scriptures. 224 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:09,840 The Old Testament had prophesied that there would be one like that. 225 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:16,800 And so John here records the words of our Savior as he acknowledges this to be true. 226 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:22,040 He kept those that were given to him, but one, though he had traveled with them, had 227 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,120 not been given, had not believed, and had not been guarded. 228 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:29,920 And that was Judas. 229 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:34,280 No one in his right mind would desire to be a Judas. 230 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:42,960 But it is tragically possible for a person nonetheless to go along with salvation, to 231 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:48,800 be in the company of other Christians, to use the language, to go through the rituals, 232 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:57,080 to even be a member of the church, and yet in the end to lose it all because there hasn't 233 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:01,600 been that personal faith in Jesus Christ. 234 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,080 How tragic. 235 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:10,800 How sorrowful will be the judgment for that kind of person who has gone through life thinking 236 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:16,240 sincerely everything's fine, but who never made that personal commitment of faith to 237 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:26,000 Christ, and who therefore comes down to the last judgment and finds himself lost eternally, 238 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:34,200 never having really been one of Christ's own. 239 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,940 Those who are guarded by Christ were then guarded by the Father. 240 00:21:38,940 --> 00:21:41,600 This is the fourth statement I want to make. 241 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:46,080 Those who are guarded by Christ were then guarded by the Father after Christ's departure 242 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,640 from the earth, after he went back to heaven. 243 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:56,480 In verse 11 he prays, Holy Father, keep them in thy name. 244 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:02,000 Notice again the basis of the keeping is who God is, his name. 245 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,880 Not who the disciples are, not what they did, but who God is. 246 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:12,280 Keep them in thy name which thou hast given me. 247 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:18,520 So he prays that after he has gone away back to heaven, that the Father would then take 248 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:24,120 up the keeping ministry, and God has done that, of course. 249 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:25,920 Why did Jesus pray this? 250 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:30,720 Well, it seems to be in our context at least two reasons for it. 251 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:38,040 He prays, number one, that the Father would do this, verse 11 again, that they may be 252 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,400 one even as we. 253 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:51,640 He says, Father, I want you to keep them so that they may be one, reflecting the unity 254 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,920 between me and yourself. 255 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:04,840 Now there are those who press today for ecumenical movements based upon John 17. 256 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:11,480 Was Jesus here praying that the Father would one day make all denominations one? 257 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,560 No he was not. 258 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:21,760 I'm not arguing that denominations are the perfect will of God for his people, because 259 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,920 I don't believe that to be the case. 260 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,560 But that's the human development. 261 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,720 What is Jesus praying for, that they may be one? 262 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,480 What's he talking about? 263 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,000 And is that something that's happened or hasn't happened? 264 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:45,560 Well, can you imagine a prayer request of God the Son that God the Father wouldn't 265 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:46,960 answer? 266 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,880 Is it possible that Jesus could pray this in his high priestly prayer and the Father 267 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,120 would never do this? 268 00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:55,120 Of course not. 269 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:56,720 It's impossible to think of that. 270 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:02,080 The Father is always going to answer the prayer of his Son. 271 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,360 So it's something that was fulfilled. 272 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:05,360 When? 273 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:12,320 Well, it began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came from 274 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:21,960 the Father and the Son and for the first time united spiritually into one body all believers 275 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,320 in Jesus Christ. 276 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:30,840 Irrespective of human denominations and divisions, all believers, those given by the Father to 277 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:38,680 the Son, have become one body because of the Holy Spirit's ministry in this age. 278 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,360 So my conviction is, no I said to our new member of class tonight, we have opinions 279 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,600 and convictions, you die for convictions. 280 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:52,320 I'm not going to die for this, but it's my strong opinion that Jesus' prayer was 281 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:58,400 fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in the coming of the Holy Spirit when that essential unity 282 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:08,040 between believers and himself was established for all time. 283 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:13,600 So he says, Father keep them so that there may be that unity and not one ever be lost. 284 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:15,040 Isn't it wonderful? 285 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,440 That one of the reasons that you and I are eternally secure in our relationship to God 286 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,840 is because Jesus Christ has prayed we would never be lost. 287 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:26,600 That not one of them should perish. 288 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:33,520 Oh, I know there are people who say, well, Judas, wait a minute, Judas never was a believer. 289 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,600 He only went along with it all. 290 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,320 He never belonged to the Lord Jesus. 291 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,960 So he wasn't lost after having been found. 292 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,000 He never was found. 293 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,960 He never did belong to Christ. 294 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,120 Jesus prayed that we would be kept, that we might be one. 295 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:56,960 But there's a second reason I think the scriptures tell us here that he prayed that the Father 296 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,800 would keep us and that's in verse 15. 297 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,400 He says, I do not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil 298 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:06,400 one. 299 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:14,960 And so he prays that the Father would keep us from the tremendous pressures of evil in 300 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:21,160 this world in which we live. 301 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,520 Evil is not just a moral force. 302 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,620 It is that. 303 00:26:27,620 --> 00:26:38,320 But behind that moral force of evil is personality that the Bible calls the devil along with 304 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:43,920 his hosts of angels that fell out of heaven with him. 305 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:50,000 They are the ones that give power to that moral evil. 306 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:57,120 Jesus here prays, Father, keep them, guard them, keep them from the evil and probably 307 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:01,040 understood as the evil one. 308 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:07,000 In other words, he is praying that Satan might never again be able to get a hold of us. 309 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:12,720 It's possible for you and for me to fall into his traps and we do. 310 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:17,300 We can trip at his snares. 311 00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:27,880 We can be beguiled and believe his deceiving words but we can never again belong to him 312 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,040 because Jesus has prayed that the Father would keep us from that. 313 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,400 It's a wonderful thing. 314 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:41,080 Jesus says, Father, you keep them as I go back to heaven. 315 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:48,160 And finally, we see this I think in our text, that those who are given by the Father to 316 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:57,720 the Son and who therefore believed and who therefore are guarded by God the Father are 317 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:05,640 also now sent into the world just like the Son was sent into the world. 318 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:14,080 Verse 18, as thou didst send me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 319 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,960 And so you see now, though they have been called out of the world and protected from 320 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,960 the world and the evil one, they are sent back to the world as ambassadors of the good 321 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:31,720 news that we might tell them what God is like. 322 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:37,440 That we might carry the name of God to those who are still lost. 323 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:43,120 That they might come to know him and to believe on him. 324 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:44,560 That's the cycle here. 325 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:50,560 We are called out to belong that we might go back to the world out of which we were 326 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,920 called. 327 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,080 Let me just make four quick applications and we'll be on our way. 328 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:01,680 Number one, we too have been given to Christ by God the Father. 329 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,160 We've talked about that. 330 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:09,520 The fact that you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ means that you have been given 331 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:17,640 to Christ by God the Father and we give evidence of that by our response to the Word of God. 332 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,360 That's the proof that we are genuinely Christ's. 333 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:30,320 Number three, we who respond to the Word in faith are guarded by Christ and by the Father. 334 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:39,160 Jesus says in John chapter 10, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. 335 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:40,640 We are kept today. 336 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:45,320 Jesus says here in fact in John 17, I pray not just for these whom you've given me 337 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:49,880 but for those who believe through them. 338 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:56,800 Now we're down a few generations away but we're in view here when Jesus prays. 339 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:05,000 So we are kept saved, we are guarded by God the Father and by Jesus Christ. 340 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Which leads me to the final application. 341 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:15,600 We who are guarded, we who are kept are sent on a mission to the world out of which we've 342 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,680 been called. 343 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:25,040 Did you know that God has a Christmas gift for the world this Christmas? 344 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,440 That's right. 345 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,760 There's somebody listening back there. 346 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,240 Can I ask you what it is? 347 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:43,200 God has a Christmas gift for the world and that Christmas gift is you, Christian. 348 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,920 You're the gift. 349 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:52,720 What does the gift contain? 350 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,840 Can those people in your office or in your classroom or in your neighborhood look at 351 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:01,880 that gift from God to them? 352 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,800 What do they see? 353 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,320 What do they understand about God? 354 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,760 Do they see a life that is pure? 355 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,040 A life that is different? 356 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:13,360 A life that is attractive? 357 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,800 A life that is loving? 358 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:24,640 Do they hear words from our lips that tell them what God is like and how they might come 359 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,880 to know God? 360 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:35,200 This Christmas, God has a gift for the whole world and that gift is you. 361 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:42,120 You as a channel of Jesus Christ to touch the lives of those around you. 362 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:48,120 Folks, let's be the kind of Christmas gifts that we would want to receive if we were on 363 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,520 the other end of it. 364 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:56,200 Let's be the kind of people that we would want to see if we were lost that we might 365 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,080 come to know God. 366 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,080 Let's pray. 367 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:14,800 Lord, you have given us to your beloved Son and by grace we confess we have been led to 368 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:19,720 believe. 369 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:26,160 By grace we are kept and by grace we have been sent. 370 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,840 Oh Jesus. 371 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:39,120 Jesus, we pray that as our friends and our neighbors open up the gifts from you this 372 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:46,600 Christmas and as they peer into our lives and behold our personalities and listen to 373 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:54,920 our words that that gift will be what you want to give them. 374 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,360 Knowledge of who you are. 375 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:08,880 May we be channels of your life and your love, your gospel to those around us. 376 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:21,440 Thank you for coming, for calling us, for keeping us and commissioning us. 377 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:28,440 Amen.