Romans 15:16 - What the Temple Represents Spiritually, Pt. 2 (02/19/2023)

Good morning, that was beautiful. Guys, I know how much work that takes to get ready to do something like that.

That's really wonderful. Thank you so much. We had a question during Sunday school while Ben was teaching and it was from one of our online students who had a family member who was asking questions about why does

God allow suffering and things like that. And so I sat there and answered that a little bit while Ben was preaching, teaching.

And but one of the things I said was I learned, you know, Brother Otis put it this way,

Brother David, God does not allow God causes. Think about that.

Because so many people in seminary, they teach the idea of God's permissive will and, you know, different things like that that are concocted that are not really in the

Bible. God does not allow. He's the great cause of everything that is.

And we're in his one perfect plan. It is true that his plan included

Adam and Eve making a choice that they wanted to make.

God did not make them make that choice. They chose to eat that which

God told them not to. And they told the devil, yeah, you know, we want to know not just good, but we also want to know good and evil.

And so that's what they got. And that's what we have. And so in my little answer,

I put, you know, we get the beautiful blue ocean, blue of the water, pretty clouds, the blue of the sky.

We get the beautiful mountains and the streams, and we get all the beauty of seeing our children born and our grandchildren born and all the good things of life.

But with that, we also get suffering and evil and murder and all of that that came with the other part that Adam and Eve asked to be part of, which was the bad part.

So we got what we wanted. And ultimately, I said, men and women do what they want to do, and God holds them accountable for it.

And that's what happened. And that's where we are. But, you know, I was watching as our guys were performing for us today.

I don't guess that's the right word in church, but they were ministering to us today with music. And then

I looked back at all of you and watched you for a little bit. And I thought, okay, so like this is part of the good.

This is part of the beautiful part right here, seeing your friends and loved ones serving

God and worshiping God together and having each other and the strength that we have together. That is the part of the good, and it helps us overcome the evil.

And the world is full of it. I mean, haven't you seen it accelerate even this week or the last 10 days in particular?

And it keeps accelerating. And God said there will be a great falling away from the truth before the antichrist would be revealed.

And that has to happen before Jesus comes back. So it's all leading towards our great prayer, which is come quickly,

Lord Jesus. And that's a good thing, right? So I have to always remember that. But anyway, that was beautiful to watch and hear this morning.

So wonderful to have some special music and boy, they did a wonderful job.

Well, let's pray and we'll get started today. Lord, thank you so much for your word. And we ask you to be our teacher today in Jesus name.

Amen. I don't know what you guys think about the revival that's supposed to be taking place in Kentucky.

I had a set of grandparents from Kentucky and they were so sweet, wonderful, wonderful people. Got to go see them about every other summer.

So I love Kentucky and it's burned in my mind, the smells and the views and it's all rains almost every day there.

So it's just lush green, but it smells a little bit, however things smell when they're wet all the time, you know, it's not a bad smell.

It's kind of fresh, but it's, you know, it's, if you like doing stuff outdoors, probably not the state you'd want to live in, but it is gorgeous.

But anyway, I don't know what you think about the revival. I haven't had time to look into it much, but I did watch on YouTube what was supposedly was the sermon that started it or where it started.

I don't believe after watching it, I do not believe it was the sermon that started it.

Because it was just like, it was the good thing about the sermon was it wasn't for show.

It was very sincere, seemed to be a very sincere sermon and no rah -rah, you know, nothing like that.

And it was a Bible oriented sermon. And so there were a lot of good things about it. Very humble preacher,

I think. Young, nothing wrong with that. But so I would have to say that's all

I've watched so far. I don't know anything about their doctrine, but that's where you go and you look to know if something's legitimate.

You look at the doctrine and you look at the moral, like is there immorality happening in and around it?

Because when you study church history, which I've spent a good deal of time doing, there have been many fallacious outbreaks of revival and modern tongues speaking and all that.

And surrounding every time we've seen that, we have seen false doctrine associated with it and immorality, sexual immorality almost every time.

But every time false doctrine. And so that's a good thing to look into. And I haven't had time, some of you may have, but I know

Jeannie has somewhat, but can't really tell for sure if there's really false doctrine or not. Some people are saying there is, but we don't know for sure.

That's secondary. So I wouldn't go by that with you, Jeannie, at this point, unless you've looked further. So we don't know that.

The young man mentioned once in his sermon that, oh, it might make us want to speak in tongues and kind of laughed, but I've joked about that too.

And it doesn't mean I believe in it. So I don't know if he was just joking or if they do that,

I don't know. But it's interesting to watch and I will look further into it.

If any of you looked into it, any information I don't know about, you think anybody have anything to say about it that you found about it?

Yes. Oh, you can forward it.

What was it? Oh, okay. Yeah. Forward it to me. I'll read it. But there are a lot of people around the world interested in it.

I can tell you that they're getting on the YouTube thing, there were comments from all over the world saying, we're happy to see this.

I've saw many of them that said, we didn't really know something like this would ever happen in America, but we're glad to see it.

That sort of thing. What does that tell you? So it's very interesting.

And what I could discern from what I saw was that after the young man finished,

I saw him just walk out. He just walked out because it's a college and it's required.

You've been there, chapel, probably around 10 in the morning and probably about 300 students out there, maybe 200 look like.

I don't know the name of the university. Okay. Are you familiar with it?

Asbury. Oh, there's Southern Baptist, Asbury is?

Well, that means they go for just about anything. No, it could be a good, it could be good.

We don't know. I heard that too. Yeah. So anyway, they were required to be there and the young man preached his sermon on love out of Romans chapter 12, which is an unusual place to preach on love, but there is some love information about love in that chapter.

And he was preaching on that. And there were three musicians that came up to sing and they cut the tape off.

So I didn't get to see that part, but they looked godly, the three young people, you know, they all looked very good and they cut that off.

But I could tell, I could read on the description said, and what happened after that was when the musicians finished and everyone left, the three musicians left to have lunch for about an hour and about five to seven students stayed.

They wouldn't leave. And they just kept praying because the pastor ended his sermon with a very simple prayer, but it just said something like,

Holy spirit, would you come down and move among the pews up and down the pews and teach the people to something like this, to learn about your love for us so that they might learn to love one another or something like that.

And they leave. Well, when they come back, the three musicians come back, those seven people are still there praying.

And then other people began to join and other people, and that's where it started right there. So it actually started after the sermon was over when everyone had left, except about five to seven students.

Charlotte and I are aware of two, well, three actually, Charlotte didn't get to take part in the third, the one

I went to that where she wasn't there, it was in another state. And I experienced genuine revival where the power of God came down on that room where it was.

And I can't explain to you what it was like. It was amazing. And it was an independent

Baptist church. And there's about as far as you can get from Charismatic. They don't believe in any of that stuff, but I'm telling you,

God came down on that place and people were shouting and crying and amazing.

But it only happened one night and it was over because I tried to get Charlotte to fly. I wanted someone from our church to see it so they wouldn't think

I'd gone Charismatic or something, you know? And she couldn't because she had one of the babies, it's been or mad,

I don't know which one. And I can't, you know, I can't come. I've got this brand new newborn baby.

I'm not coming. I can't come. And I'm glad she didn't because the next night it didn't happen. It was just one night.

So I've seen that. And it took, you guys probably remember Raymond and Sharon, I preached on praising

God for probably three months after that. Nothing ever happened in our church, remember? You know, nothing like that.

But I wanted it. But you know, the thing is, we're not in control of it. God is sovereign.

He chooses when to do something like that. Now, it's okay to pray for it. But it doesn't mean

God's going to do it all the time or often. He does it when he chooses to do it. Well, there were two other times we're aware of with Dr.

Rocky Freeman, my mentor. One was in Mahea, the town we're closest to where our houses are closest to that town.

And there was a revival there that was supposed to be a four -day Bible conference turned into a 14 -day outbreak of God's power and over 100 and something people were saved.

And then Rocky talked about another one in Louisiana like that. Both of those, as far as trying to determine the human part of how it started, were teenagers.

The one in Mahea was high school teenagers that prayed for weeks and weeks, I don't know, maybe months before Dr.

Freeman came and had, they had been praying every day for months with their youth director that God's power would come down.

So when Rocky got there, it was, he said, I've never seen like it. It was like it was ready. And the other one that Rocky talked about, there were two teenage girls that prayed and there weren't hardly any teenagers that came.

It was supposed to be, was it a youth meeting? It was supposed to be because only a couple of people came or something, but they kept praying.

And before long, there were over 200 young people there. And so both of those started with young people. And now this one is with young people, college age, which is barely past high school, right?

Now that you're growing, they're kids, right? So, but it started with young people. So that's, that's interesting, isn't it?

That often it's young people who have, well, for one thing, they don't all have to work, even though they're doing classes, they can pray for hours and hours throughout the day.

They're not at work or something. So that's interesting. So I don't know.

We'll watch it and pray. We, we want revival. If it's going to sweep America, we want it to come here too.

But I will say this, you can stay in a state of revival if you stay in the word every day.

And that's preferable to having a revival where it gets all emotional for about five days.

And then, and then you go back a month later, it's back like it was. We've all seen that. I've seen that.

That doesn't really change much seemingly, but there are always some lives changed forever at those people that get saved, sometimes hundreds of people.

So it's all God's plan, all part of his work. Well, we've been in this young man, by the way, was preaching in Romans chapter 12, especially towards the end of that chapter.

It's where, well, you can see it on YouTube. If you got there and search for it, you'll see it. You'll be surprised at the sermon if you watch it.

I mean, there were a couple of things he said that kind of were a little bit inappropriate. They weren't, it's not like they were undoctoral.

They were just probably lack of experience preaching. And you'll see that, but you'll go, it's no big, you know, it's no big deal.

But it's kind of interesting to watch. Well, we are a little beyond chapter 12 of Romans.

We're in chapter 15, verse 16. And we kind of off shot from there.

And we've been talking about the believer priest. And lately we've been in second Chronicles chapter 29. And if you remember the, one of the last things that happened was that the king had commanded the priest to go in and clean out the tabernacle or actually the temple.

And do you remember that when they cleaned it out, the unclean things, and you wonder, well, what is that?

Well, it could have been anything from leaven to dust, to parts of animals that when they did the last sacrifice, they didn't properly, they're supposed to take them out of the temple.

And Ben's teaching about that in Sunday school right now. It's very interesting. And they don't leave it, they remove it, the parts of the body of the animals that aren't supposed to stay in there.

So they hadn't done that. So they had to remove all that. And if you remember, they put the refuse in the river, the key drone river, which runs right by there.

Remember that? And so last time we started talking, I read you an interesting quote from Unger's Bible dictionary about that river and all the different things in the

Bible that have happened regarding that river. That river flows from the temple area all the way down to into the dead sea.

So now think about the picture of that, the refuse, which pictures the sin that shouldn't be in God's temple, was placed into that river, and it flowed down into the dead sea, which is where Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

They're underneath that. So look at that picture. And that temple pictures our bodies because our body is the temple of the living

God on this side of the cross. Well, at least after Pentecost, right? When the church started in the church age, which we're in, our bodies are the temple of the living

God. And this is where we meet with God, is right in this body. And so think about that picture of that river.

As we read this passage, I want to continue in the passage in John chapter 17, we were in, we didn't finish.

So turn with me to John chapter 17, verse one, and we'll pick it up there.

And think about this because we're going to end up at the key drone river again in this passage.

So these words speak Jesus. And remember

John chapter 17, the entire chapter is a prayer. It's Jesus praying. So these words speak

Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, and he's beginning to pray now.

Father, the hour has come glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.

As thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him.

And we preached on that last Sunday. So I'm not going to repreach that sermon, but I'm just trying to keep us in context here.

And this is life eternal that they may know thee, the only true

God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. So to have eternal life, you must know

God, the father and God, the son, or you don't have eternal life. I have glorified thee on the earth.

I have finished the work, which thou has given me to do. And now old father glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory, which

I had with thee before the world was. And we spent a good amount of time examining that last Sunday. If you remember, we went into Proverbs chapter eight verses 22, all the way down through about verse 30, which is a beautiful part of the scripture.

If you haven't seen that yet in Proverbs chapter eight, 22 through 30, where it talks about Jesus Christ being with the father before anything was created for all eternity, what we call eternity past, which is a funny word because eternity didn't have time in it.

So you say past that's a time word, but that's all that's the only way we can talk, isn't it? Because from us, it's going back on the timeline back past Genesis one, one, where time and space was created, at least earth and all the six days of creation and all of that.

Most of the universe that we know, I have a suspicion that heaven was actually created. The third hand was created before that, but maybe that's included in one, one, but it's not mentioned in the six days.

If you think about it, the heaven itself, the third heaven, I think it was there. It had time and it works different there, but it had time and it was a place.

And we know Satan and the angels already existed, right? They're not mentioned that they're created in the, in the six days they already existed.

And Satan was very familiar. Lucifer was very familiar with earth and apparently with Adam and Eve, right?

So we talked about that last time. Now I'd like to pick it up about, let's see.

Let's see, we went down through about verse 30. So let's pick it up at John 17, six.

I was talking about verse 30 in Proverbs chapter eight. So let's pick it up in John 17, six, and I have manifested thy name.

So now he talked about that he was with God before anything was made. And did he came out from God?

Jesus said, I came out from God. And when you read it in the passage that we were just in, in Proverbs eight, it's interesting because there's some indication that the

Hebrew word where Jesus came out from God and came into time is a word that means spiraled, whatever that means.

But he spiraled out into a physical universe from a place that's not physical.

Interesting to think about, but that's sort of when time began. And so he talked about that.

And now he talks about verse six. Now I'm on the planet earth with God's sheep and I'm in time and space.

And that's why his name was Emmanuel, which means God with us because the father is not, he's outside of time and space.

And you wouldn't know anything about the father without the son. That's why he's called the word because what is a word?

A word is something that transports information from one mind to another. You wouldn't know anything about the father without the son and the

Holy spirit, nothing except that you would know he existed by the creation. You would know something made it.

That's all you would know about God. Wouldn't that be sad if that's all we knew about God?

Well, that's how it would be without Jesus Christ. That's why God has to subsist as three distinct persons and yet one

God. And that's why every other great world religion is false because they only talk about one

God. They don't have a triune view of God's existence. Islam is false. Hinduism is false.

They're all false because they don't understand God. The true God exists as three distinct persons in one

God. And the only way we would have even know anything about God is by Jesus Christ being the word who expresses

God to us. So Jesus said, I came from there. I came here to you. Now watch what he says.

I have manifested your name. So you see without Jesus, the human race could know nothing about God's name.

Well, what does the name signify? Well, we know there are many names of God in the Bible, aren't they? Aren't there?

And every name shows us a different characteristic of God. And as you study the names of God, it's fascinating.

It opens up a different knowledge of who God is and how he is and how he exists and subsists.

And so it's very interesting, but without Jesus manifesting the name of God to us, we would not have known anything about God because a name tells us a lot about a person.

So it's kind of symbolic of Jesus brought us knowledge of the person of God as a person, as God being personal, you see, as opposed to being outside of space and time.

He now is imminent, which means with us and personal. And Jesus is the one who told us this.

We wouldn't know it. Now I know Moses told us some of it, but Jesus truly brought it in a whole different dimension of the knowledge of God.

And this is saying I, Jesus is saying to God, he's praying to God and saying, you know, you let me be the one who manifested you to these human beings, to your sheep.

I brought your name to them. This is beautiful. I have manifested your name. What does manifest mean?

Who can tell me, give me just a, yeah, brought before the senses.

How about that? To bring something before the senses where we can view it, smell it, touch it, see it, feel it.

All of those things that that's the manifested sort of into the physical world. Right. And that what you said, did you say, yeah,

I like that. So, so this, this is what Jesus did was he manifested God's name.

He brought his name and description of the father to us so that we can know him. What's interesting is

Jesus also said, no man comes to me unless the father draws him. So the father together with the

Holy spirit, who does the calling has to draw us to Jesus. Once we're with Jesus, he then begins to manifest the father to us.

And the scripture says the Holy spirit does not talk about himself. He talks about Jesus.

Interesting, isn't it? So I have manifested thy name unto the men which you gave me out of the world.

So does that say that he manifested God's name to all human beings? Or does it say that he manifested

God's name to the ones that God gave to him as a loved gift from a fallen race that was totally lost.

That's what it says. I extrapolated it a little bit there, but that's what it says.

So he manifests God to those who God chose. He manifests

God to those whom God knew before the foundation of the world as his own children. And Jesus came to them and manifested

God's name to those people, the ones that God the father gave to Jesus out of the lost world.

Thine they were. Now from a human viewpoint, Jesus is on the earth when he's praying this.

So he's in time. So he looks back in time before time began and says at that time, these very people were already yours.

Do you guys see that right? I mean Ephesians chapter one's famous for saying that we were with God before the foundation of the world or God knew us before the foundation of the world.

But here's another place where it talks about it here in John 17. So thine they were.

So we belong to the father long before Jesus was born in the manger.

Now Jesus existed as the eternal son already, but he wasn't born in the manger yet, but we already belong to God.

And we belong to God long before he ever made anything. When it was just God, God, the father, the son, the

Holy spirit existed and was perfectly happy, perfectly fulfilled. And it was just God.

There was no stuff. There was no place. There was no time, but we were with God in his heart and mind.

He already knew us by name, by the number of hairs on our head or lack thereof.

And all of that color of your eyes, who your parent, human parents would be, what you would do with your whole life, how you would serve him or not serve him.

He knew everything about you and me. And, and Jesus said that he manifested

God's name to those of us that God knew so that we could begin to know him. Isn't that beautiful?

So thine they were, that phrase says a lot. We belong to God before anything was made.

If that's true, how much did you have to do with your own salvation? Nothing.

And yet the modern gospel, even in Baptist churches, is a decision you must make at this altar in order to be saved.

So in truth, the new gospel says that, well, God is sovereign, but man determines his own eternal destiny.

Can that be true? Can both be true? No. That actually was a phrase that caused me my first three months of salvation.

I'd been saved only three months. And I was in a Sunday class where a woman taught that at First Baptist Church of Mahea.

Loved the woman. Her name was Sue Riddle. She's in heaven now. And she was teaching on the character of God. And she came to the one about sovereignty.

And the little phrase to express what she was going to teach the next week said, God is completely sovereign over all things, comma, yet man determines his own destiny.

And I went home and said, Charlotte, read that. She reads. I said, does that make sense? She said, no. So I picked up my

Unger's Bible dictionary. And that's the only book I had other than a strong concordance in a Schofield Bible.

And I picked up that dictionary and I found this whole section that said Calvinism. And I read it and I found a section that said

Arminianism and I read it and I said, well, I'm this over here. So I knew that when I was a three -month -old baby

Christian, I didn't know all about it yet. And, uh, but I knew that's where I stood.

So God is sovereign. Yeah. Um, that's true. And so your salvation is a work of God.

It's why it's called the operation of God in the Bible. God operates on us. We talked about that a little bit last time.

Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me. How many times has this church heard me say that God, you know,

I like to say it this way, because I've done this in crowds of people all around the country for trade way where there's people out there and I, and I get a little off on rabbit trails and have to do with scripture sometimes every time, actually.

And, uh, so I like to say this to them. I'll say, you know, I might talk a little bit about some of these sovereignty verses.

I know most of them never heard any of it. Seriously. They just never heard because their preachers don't preach this because they think it's divisive.

So they leave it out. But so when I talk about it, they like, I'll put the scripture up on the screen. I'm not just talking doctrine.

I'm just reading the Bible to them. And they're coming up at the break. You believe in predestination. I'll say, nah,

I don't believe in that. I don't believe in John three 16 either. What? Well, predestination is in Romans eight and you don't want me to believe that.

So why should I believe your verse? You know, and then I laugh, I smile and we, you know, I make them have to study is what

I do. So I have often said this look after the break, when I know there's people upset about what

I had said before the break, I'll come up in front of all of them and say, look, here's the deal. Um, probably everybody in this room can be divided into one or two kinds of people, probably about half of you.

If you were God and Adam and Eve fell and man was full of sin, you would just wipe them all out and start over.

And the other half of you, if you were God, you would just figure out a way to just let it slide and save them all. But none of you like how

God did it because he chose to save a small remnant out of the whole race and give them as a love gift to Jesus.

I've said that so many times and boy, they go, wow. You know, and they go home and start studying again, which is cool.

They never thought of it that way. Well, you've heard me say it so many times. He plucked out a few, a small remnant from a totally fallen race that deserves hell and is going there.

And he gave that remnant to Jesus as a love gift. Where'd that come from? It came from John 17, six and seven.

Thine they were and thou gavest them to me. And then if you think about it, let me go back to last

Sunday, just for a second. Actually, I think I've got it right here in Proverbs 8, 30 and 31.

When you tie this in with John 17, six, you vividly see this picture of God, the father selecting a few from a totally lost race.

None of them are deserving anything and just saves them through his grace by giving his own son, by the way, and then gives those people to his son because he loves his son.

So we are saved because of God's love for his son. You do understand that, right?

So it's not because you did something that pleased God. So he decided to pluck you out and save you or some little prayer you prayed that a preacher told you.

So, oh, well, I'll save that one. Or you had human belief, like, I believe, I believe. And so I'll say,

I got to save them. They believe it doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that at all, but we all grew up hearing that.

Now, if you prayed that little prayer, I always have to say this now, because a bad thing happened once when I preached like this one time.

But if you got saved by praying a little prayer, that little prayer did not unsave you because you were probably saved in the pew before you ever went up to pray the prayer when the

Holy Spirit called you and changed the desire of your heart where you desired Christ for the first time.

That was your salvation. While we were yet in our sins, he quickened us. That's the salvation.

The rest is stuff you do. Because of the salvation. So anyway, Proverbs 8, 30 says, then

I was by him, that's Jesus talking and he's beside the father, as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.

That's Jesus with the father before time began, before Genesis 1, 1. But look at the next verse, verse 31 says,

I was rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth and my delights were with the sons of men.

So Jesus, out of all of God's creation, all the vastness of the universe, billions of stars, even billions of universes,

I mean, galaxies. Jesus preferred the earth to all of them and he could foresee humans and he loved the humans.

And then you go into John 17, 6 and it says, thine they were and you gave them to me. So God did give the sheep to Jesus as a love offering.

Now look at the next phrase in John 17, 6, and they have kept your word.

Now, now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has given me are from you, from the father, right?

So, so they could keep the word. Now, what does that mean?

Does it mean we keep the law or does it mean we keep the word of God regarding the gospel, the good news?

The good, it means they received me as their personal Lord and savior because when

I shared the word of God with them and your name with them and they understood that that's how it works, they received it.

That's what he means by they kept the word, thy word. Now look at verse 8,

John 17, 8, for I have given unto them the words which thou gave me.

This is why I say the family business started with God because this was God's business, the father's business, and he handed it to his son

Jesus and said, now you go and do this on the earth, but don't, but just do what

I'm showing you to do. Just like a father teaches a son how to do the skill sets in their family business.

You do what I'm showing you to do. Don't do anything outside of that. Say what I'm showing you we will say and do what we're going to do to the people we're going to do it to and don't do it to the other people.

You see, I mean, don't heal everybody. Just heal the ones that I tell you to heal, which is what Jesus did.

Some people complained about that back then. Why didn't he heal everybody? See, humans would always do it different than God does it.

Humans would just heal everybody or heal nobody and kill them all, but they would never just heal some of them.

But this is what God did. And Jesus very clearly says, I'm going to give them the words that you gave me to give them.

I'm not going to give them any words other than that. And they have received those words.

See, that's the miracle because Jesus came to the earth and walked among walking dead men and women.

People whose eyes were blinded, whose ears were deaf, whose heart was dead.

And he resurrected them to the point where they could hear these words with ears that could hear.

A lot of the people that he talked to didn't have ears that could hear, but he would always turn to his disciples and say, he that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Because Jesus opened the ears that the father told him to open, but not all the ears. So he says that I've given unto them the words which you gave me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee.

And they have believed that you sent me. Now there is so much information in this passage.

First of all, you see here again, he goes back to the Proverbs 8 passage where it pictures him with God before anything began, before there was time or space or place, just, there was just God.

And then God, Genesis 1 .1. And then the six days of creation, God creates everything that is.

And Jesus spirals out of God into time and space,

God with us. And that's what he means when he says, I came out from thee. And they have believed that thou did send me.

So the people, the sheep believe that message, the people, the sheep, the ones that are going to truly be saved, that God's known forever.

When Jesus spoke to them, their ears were open. And they said, Oh, you're the one, you're the one that can show

God to me, can reveal God to me. You're revealing God to me with your word. And I believe you came forth from God.

And that's the sheep. Not everyone believed that most of Jews did not believe it. In fact, the

Pharisees crucified Jesus because they did not believe it. They called it blasphemy. So you get two sides of the spectrum far apart on this issue.

You pick one side, there's no middle ground here. And so, and so Jesus gave them

God's word. He gave them the gospel. And they believe, and he told them, I came out from God.

Let me show you another beautiful place, just for grins. Turn, turn to John chapter eight.

Just turn, flip back there a couple, few chapters back. John chapter eight is kind of a little bit of a different context because now

Jesus is talking to a group of goats. He's talking to some tares.

He's talking to the religious leaders of Israel who were not even saved and didn't even know God, but they were teaching the scrolls.

Supposedly they actually weren't teaching from the scrolls. They were teaching from things called targums, which were their own paraphrases of what they thought the

Bible taught. That's why most of the Jews missed their Messiah. That's easily proven from my library back in Bahia.

But anyway, so here he's talking to some of these goats who wore the priest's garb and had church every day.

And start with about verse 36. If the son, this is

John chapter eight, verse 36. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

I know that they are Abraham's seed. They claimed, you know, we're not born of fornication.

We believe in one God. We believe in Abraham. And Jesus is answering that, what the words that they just said.

So he said, okay, well, here's the problem with that. I know that you claim to be

Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.

Now contrast that with John 17, six, where he says, I gave them one group of people.

We call them the elect. I gave them your word and they believed it and received it and believed that I came out from you.

And then here, he talks to another group of people called the non -elect or the goats, as opposed to the sheep.

And these people, he said, my word has no place in you. I speak that which

I have seen with my father. I came out from him and spiraled into time and space.

And here I am with you and I'm telling you what I know about God. And you don't even listen to me, but you claim to be religious.

He says, I speak that which I have seen with my father and you do that which you have seen with your father.

They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to them, if you were

Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which

I have heard from God. And this did not Abraham. He didn't kill people who were prophets.

So you do the deeds of your actual father. And then they said to him, we'd be not born a fornication.

We have one father, even God. And Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me because I proceeded forth and came out from God.

You see Proverbs eight right there. He was in a place that was not a place where there was no time, just God.

And he spiraled out of that into the time and space that he himself had created together with God.

And now he appears on the earth and speaking to two different groups of people. One group of sheep who receive his word.

And the other group were goats who were from their father, the devil. And they did not believe that he proceeded forth from God.

They called him a blasphemer. So if God were your father, you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God.

Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech, my words, the

Bible, even because you cannot hear my word. You don't have ears to hear.

You are of your father, the devil and the lust of your father. You will do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him.

That's the world that you're living in today. He owns that. And that's how they are, especially the democratic party.

A lot of Republicans do no truth in a lot of them. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it.

Talking about Satan, right? And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin or convicts me of sin?

And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears

God's word. Ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God.

And then answered the Jews and said unto him, say we not well that you're a Samaritan and has the devil.

So now they claim he's demonic. So as he speaks the words that the

Holy Spirit speak through him, they're saying that's demons saying those words. That's the unpardonable sin right there.

So this group of people are all in hell right now that he's talking to everyone, every single one of them.

Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father and you do dishonor me. And I seek not my own glory.

There is one that seeks and judges barely, barely. I say unto you, if a man keepeth my saying, he shall never see death.

Wow. Isn't that a wonderful message to hear? Never see death. Death is a facade that Satan puts in our mind to fear.

Jesus said, whosoever liveth, in other words, whosoever gets born of a physical mother into this world, whosoever liveth and believe within me shall never die.

Who are you going to believe, Satan or Jesus? Because Jesus says death is gruesome. Jesus said, you don't ever die.

Then said the Jews, okay, he shall never see death if he keeps my saying.

And then the Jews said unto him, now we know you have a devil. Abraham is dead and the prophets and thou sayest of a man, keep my saying, he shall never taste death.

Art thou greater than Abraham, which is dead and the prophets, which are dead? Who do you make yourself to be?

And Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honors me of whom you say that he is your

God. Now listen to this. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him.

And if I should say that I know him not, I would be a liar like unto you. Who wants to get in a debate with Jesus?

That's my favorite verse in the whole Bible right now today is verse 55. If I said,

I don't know God, I'd be a liar like unto you. And they're the religious leaders of the day. Your father,

Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And then they, then the

Jews say unto him, thou art not yet 50 years old and how has thou seen

Abraham? Now there's a great question. If they could only have understood that answer, they wouldn't have been lost, but they can't see it because their eyes are blinded.

And Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say unto you before Abraham was, I am.

He didn't say I was, he said, I am. Now what is I am? If you go to Exodus three, what is it?

15. It's, he said, what should I, God, what should I say your name is?

And God said, tell him I am has sent you. And every Jew standing there knows that, right?

Every Jew today knows that and look at the result. You know, how many times have you heard family or people say, well,

Jesus never claimed to be God, right? You hear people say, well, watch this. I like that phrase.

Watch this. Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was,

I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed away.

How many times have you ever seen a person trying to avoid trouble to go right through the middle of the trouble. But anyway, why do you think they picked up stones to kill this man when he said,

I am? Because they knew he just claimed to be God before Abraham existed.

Jesus said, I am. So they tried to kill him. So don't ever say Jesus never claimed to be

God because he did right there and the Jews understood it. Maybe not, you know, maybe not the Gentiles.

So that's, that's an amazing passage of scripture. Now let's go back to chapter 17 though. He says,

I came out from the, I'm in verse eight now, John 17, eight. I came out from the, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

Do you see the contrast in how the sheep responds to God's word versus the goat? How the elect responds to God's word versus the non -elect.

Now here's a verse that your friends and family won't like at all. So maybe you don't quote it to them.

I don't know. Or maybe you do. If the Holy Spirit leads you to do it, then you do look at verse nine.

I pray for them. See, this is an interesting chapter all through chapter 17, because there's an us and there's a them, us and them, us and them, us and them, two groups of people, sheep and goats.

I told a group of Cowboy Church people up there in Ennis at the Cowboy Church this, and I said, that's not in the

Bible. There's no way it talks about sheep and goats. And they were supposed to be cattlemen and shepherds.

They never saw it. Anyway, it was funny. But anyway, so they, I thought they were going to stone me, but they didn't.

Probably because I had Raj with me to protect me. I did.

I did walk out in the midst of them. So did Raj. It was funny what we talked about in the car when we shut the door too.

I said, Raj, you should have been the one talking because you're meek and you could handle that. He said, no blood of David.

I think you were just the right one. Because I kind of gave them both barrels quite a few times.

Anyway, I pray for them. I pray, look at this. I pray for them. I pray not for the world.

So now you have two groups. The them here is the sheep that he's talking about. The ones that listened to my word when

I came out, the ones I gave the word to, and they believe that I came out from you. I pray for them.

And he said, but I don't pray for the world, but I pray for them, which thou has given me for they are yours.

Do you not see two groups of people? Do you, can you even comprehend that Jesus says, I don't pray for most humans on the planet.

Do you see it? Did he say it? Okay. So I have to ask you this and I'm not really talking to you here or even you.

I'm hoping this gets out on YouTube. No, I hope it doesn't actually, but, but I have to ask you this.

Okay. You didn't think Jesus was like this. You thought he loved everybody. You thought he died for everybody.

You thought he wants everyone to be saved according to second Peter, whatever the verse is. Maybe it's first, I think it's second

Peter. He's not willing that any should perish, but you never read the first verse in that chapter where it says,

I'm talking to the elect saved people. So in context, he's saying, I'm not willing that any of these people

I'm talking to should perish, which means elect people. But you don't want to look at that because you have formulated in your mind, a

Jesus that does not exist so that you can worship him because you like him better than the real one.

But what if I could show you in scripture that Jesus didn't even pray for the vast majority of the world.

He only prayed for a small group of people known as the elect. Would you still love that Jesus?

And I've had people walk away from me when I asked him that. But isn't that a good question?

Because if you wouldn't love that Jesus, you don't love Jesus. You love one you created. Paul said there are many Jesus's and many gospels, but really only one true one, didn't he?

Here we have it. I mean, here we have this. This is a great divide in the world, even in the

Christian world, a huge divide. Most of the Christian world today that we live in believes that Jesus prays for everybody, loves everybody, died for everybody.

Jesus himself said, I pray for them, the one that believed my word, the one that know you sent me, the ones that say that I came out from God, but I pray not for the world, but only for those that thou has given me for they are yours father and all mine are thine and all thine are mine.

And I am glorified in them, not all humans, but in them.

Wow. This is quite amazing information. Verse 11 says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world.

And I come to you, holy father, keep through thine own name, those which you have given me, that's called eternal security.

Now, if Jesus prayed that to God and said, keep those sheep that you gave me, will

God answer that prayer? Yes or no. Then how can anyone lose their salvation?

Only if you never read the Bible or read it through the shades of some theological group or seminary that taught you that before you ever read the

Bible. And then you just eliminate the verses that contradict that like all untruthful people do.

Only could you believe that is sad. And I got friends that are in that camp, but I mean, that's just,

I don't know how I don't get it. Keep through thine own name, those whom thou has given me and they, that they may be one as we are.

Second Corinthians 6, 16 says, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

For ye are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their

God and they shall be my people. And that physical temple that we've been studying is a picture of the temple of the living

God, which is us, the body that we're in. In verse 12 there in John 17 says, while I was with them in the world,

I kept them in your name. Those that thou gave me, I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

That was Judas. And now come I to thee and these things

I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

And I have given them thy word and the world has hated them.

So if you're a person who has eyes and ears to hear and see God's word, the world hates you.

Jesus Christ said that, so you believe it. It's true. They may act nice to you if they need something from you, but they hate you.

If the laws of the country you live in were to change, they would kill you. And the laws are going to change.

The scripture indicates that. So while I was with them in the world,

I kept them in your name. Those that thou gave me, I have kept and none of them lost except Judas so that the scripture can be fulfilled.

And now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have joy.

I have given them thy word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou should take them out of the world. Pre -trib rapture.

Jesus said, I don't pray that you would take them out. Pre -trib rapture says, oh, he'll take them out because he doesn't want them to have to go through that.

It's not what I see in scripture. Jesus did not pray that God would take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil while they're in the world.

So God will protect us as we go through a time like that, as long as we're in the word and obedient to him and to the

Holy Spirit. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them through thy truth. The word is truth. This Bible right here, the amount of worldliness that you have in your life or the lack of it is directly proportional to how much you're in this book.

This book and reading it and studying it is what sanctifies you, which means, doesn't mean it makes you perfect, what it means it makes you different, different than the rest of the world.

Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou has sent me into the world, even so I also sent them into the world.

There's the family business extended. Now the father and the son now take us and teach us the skill sets of how to live in this world and send us out to do the things

Jesus did when he was here. Isn't that beautiful? And for their sakes,

I sanctify myself, Jesus said, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray

I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.

So there we see those people witness to other people who witnessed other people who witnessed other people all the way down to us.

So he praying for us. So back in John 17, 2000 years ago, when

Jesus was praying this prayer, he asked God to bless those of us who would believe without ever having seen him, who would love

Jesus without ever having walked with him in the physical world. That's us. That they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee and they also may be one in us.

This is showing that your body is the meeting place where you meet with God. I'm in them, they're in me,

I'm in you father, you're in me, they're in me, they're in you. We're all connected and we worship him within our hearts and minds.

And we're all one and the glory which thou gave us me,

I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect.

That means mature in one and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me.

Now look, don't let that last phrase slip by you because that word as is an amazing word in that context because Jesus ended that whole thing, that whole prayer by saying

God the father has loved us the sheep as he loved

Jesus. How much did he love Jesus? He's been with him before anything was made and he says right here he loves us with that same love.

Can you even imagine that? You don't feel that way because we sin still. So we think well

God couldn't possibly love us but he said Jesus said he loves us as much as he loves

Jesus. Right now that's amazing information. So what's interesting is as you go on down you continue to read that chapter it only has well we'll read it's only three more verses let's read them.

Verse 24 Father I will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am.

And I've heard Spurgeon said this he said when you have a loved one that dies in your mourning the loved one you need to think about the fact that Jesus's prayer in John 17 just got answered.

That's all that is. You get it? He prayed father I will that they also which you have given me be with me where I am.

So all the same people he asked God to make us go to heaven and be with Jesus. And so that happens to some of us sooner than others doesn't it?

Be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou has given me for thou loved me lovest me before the foundation of the world.

Oh righteous father the world hath not known you but I have known you and these have known that you sent me.

And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith you have loved me may be in them and I in them.

And then there's no really no chapters in their original Greek so chapter 18 verse 1 says this and when

Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his disciples over the brook

Kidron. So here we see the Kidron river come into play where was the garden so the garden of Gethsemane where he prayed let this cup pass from me and God said no it can't pass from you and Jesus said nevertheless thy will be done is right next to this same river that they threw the refuse from the temple into that river and it flowed its way down to the dead sea which pictures hell.

And so he spoke these words and he went forth with his disciples over they crossed over the brook

Kidron walked right through it and there was a garden there into which he entered with his disciples and Judas also which betrayed him knew the place for Jesus oftentimes resorted there.

Spent a lot of time by that little river and Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and the pharisees cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons and Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto them who do you seek and they answered

Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus said unto them I am he and Judas also which betrayed him stood with them and as soon as he as soon as he had said unto them

I am he they fell backwards onto the ground and then asked he again who do you see and they said

Jesus of who do you seek Jesus of Nazareth Jesus answered I have told you that I am he if therefore you seek me let these go.

Now all of the agony of Jesus when he saw himself with all of your sins and my sins on his body and he said let this cup pass from me

I don't like the sin being on me and God said no. All of that happened right next to this river and this river had already been used by God to symbolize taking all the filth of that physical temple out and cleansing it so that God could be worshipped again and throwing it into that river and it proceeds down to the dead sea and that's really what

Jesus did for us right after this happened. He took all of our sins upon himself and he died with our sins and was buried with our sins and he totally removed them from us and then he rose again and so we have life eternal because of that and so that river is very important and when they put that refuse from that temple in there pictured

Jesus totally removing not just covering our sin totally removing it and that's why we stand today ladies and gentlemen as justified and that means just as if we have never sinned

God the father if you said I'm sorry I sinned today he'd say what sin he will never see sin on you he will never see you as a sinner because Jesus removed it he put it in that river and sent it to the dead sea to the deepest place on the earth never to be seen again isn't that wonderful let's stand and have prayer together

Lord we thank you for your word we ask you to continue to bless it in our hearts and minds help us to be able to relay this truth this gospel to others that you take us into their lives and our circle of life and help us to be bold and loving as we give people these words and Lord we know that they will respond to them in one of two ways and so we ask