John 17:6-10 - A Prayer For His Lordship

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

It's such a beautiful thing when

God weaves together Church services in ways that are beyond our ability to understand a moment ago.

Derek was talking about The hills and how they remind us of God's covenants and there's a theme in the

Bible that has to do with mountains That's the introduction to my sermon actually and I love how God weaved those two thoughts together in the ancient world mountains were considered to be some of the most sacred spaces in Topography in a sense if you were climbing up the mountain

It was in it was like you were climbing up to God because you were nearer to the presence of God Who dwelt in the heavens?

Mountains symbolized nearness to God that is why all of the altars and the temples are built on top of mountains

For instance the Tabernacle in Jerusalem built right at the base of Mount Sinai or the

Tabernacle in the wilderness the Temple of Jerusalem built on a Mountain Jerusalem is a city that sits on top of a mountain all of the altars and the high places even the pagans

Built their altars not in the valleys, but on the tops of hills and on the tops of mountains If you remember

Abraham sacrificed his son or was going to sacrifice his son on top of a mountain You remember

Elijah battles with the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel or Carmel The covenants themselves are drawn up on the tops of mountains

From all the way to the Adamic Covenant all the way to the Davidic Covenant Adam Was his his covenant was with God on top of Mount Eden I'll explain that in a moment

Noah his covenant was drawn up by God on Mount Arab Abraham his covenant was was concluded and crescendoed on Mount Moriah Moses on Mount Sinai David on the top of the hill that the mountain where Jerusalem would eventually be built

Now you ask why and I mentioned Eden Eden is a garden we think about gardens being in low topography

Well the way that the Jewish people viewed Eden was a mountain paradise

It it says that there were four rivers that flowed out from Eden So if you're gonna have rivers that flow out from somewhere then that somewhere it's got to be a higher

Geography higher elevation than the surrounding areas also in Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 14

In a symbolic way the writer calls it the mountain the holy mountain of God and he's talking about Eden in that passage

So all of the covenants are made on Mountains and the reason for that is because God is demonstrating the sacredness of the covenant

This covenant that he's making is something that's not happenstance or commonplace. He's calling the people up into covenant life also

He is showing that he is an exalted God That he is a God who is high in the heavens and he's also showing that he's a gracious God that he would stoop

Down low to meet with his people on the tops of mountains This idea that mountains are all over the

Bible is Significant and it may not be the way that we think today We think today going to the mountain is is sort of a fun weekend trip or we climb the mountain or we put on You know our hiking gear or whatever, but to them mountains were sacred there were places where you could go and meet with the

Almighty and God in his grace uses that Convention of thinking to make covenants to build temples and to meet with his people which demonstrates a lot about God and how he condescends to our level and uses our thinking to enter into and Incarnate in our space so that we can know him

Now if that's the case where God uses mountains in the Bible God has these great events that happen at mountains in the

Bible It should not be any surprise that Jesus has many mountain events in his life as well It shouldn't surprise us that many of the most

Consequential events in Jesus's life actually happen on mountains for instance Jesus was born at the foothill of a mountain

Then the town of Bethlehem was right in the foothills of the Judean plain or the Judean mountain

It wasn't a high mountain like the Himalayas But in that region it was considered a mountainous region the hills of Judah John Jesus was baptized near a mountain the rivers that flowed the

Jordan River that flowed flowed near a mountainous region So Jesus was baptized like the people of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai Washing themselves and cleansing themselves before they enter into the presence of God.

Jesus is washed at a mountain Jesus preached his first sermon after he is tempted in the wilderness

It says in Luke chapter 4 that he was tempted on a high mountain. Then he leaves the temptation

He comes and he preaches his first sermon like Moses on a high mountain Where Moses at Mount Sinai taught the people of God all of the law

Jesus sits in the sermon on the mount Apropos title and he teaches his people the new law

Matthew 5 6 and 7 There's midlife examples as well.

He fed the five thousand on a mountain. He performed healings on that same mountain He was transfigured on a mountain. He gave us all of that discourse, which is the greatest instance of prophecy ever given the most specific

Prophecy ever getting ever given of the downfall of Jerusalem and it came to pass in perfect clarity

He gave that on the Mount of Olives. He was crucified on the mountain hill of Calvary He was buried in the mountain tomb in the city of Jerusalem and in the

Great Commission He gave his commission to his disciples on a mountain and then ascended to heaven on the

Mount of Olives The most major events of Jesus life happen on a mountain if we don't pay attention to the details.

We'll miss that fact Well being as that Jesus is on the

Mount of Olives for his high priestly prayer He's also having this moment that we've been looking at on a mountain as well

Now if you remember the Old Testament priest what they would do is they're not in service all the time Especially the high priest the high priest

Once a year and we're talking about the Day of Atonement Would come to the mountain tabernacle or the mountain temple and he would do two things before he would enter the presence of God He would purify himself and then he would prepare himself at the base of the mountain

He would purify himself with water by washing his body ceremonially and Then he would dawn an outer garment

That was to cover his nakedness and that sort of imagery back all the way to the Garden of Eden where Adam was covered his

Nakedness was covered by God himself the high priest in the Old Testament was to have a White linen garment that covers his nakedness to show that God is the one who is purifying his priests to serve his people

All of this happened at the base of a mountain then after that the high priest would prepare

He would not only purify himself and get ready He would prepare himself and the first thing he was he would do is he put on three layers of clothing

The first was that initial garment that covered his nakedness The second was a blue linen ephod which set him apart as the high priest and that really applied to the

Aaronic priesthood a royal line of priests and then after that he would put on two pieces of of Clothing that are strange to us, but but they had great symbolic

Relevance, he would put on a chest piece and the chest piece had 12 stones 12 jewels that represented the 12 tribes of Israel and what he was

Essentially symbolizing in that is that the 12 tribes of Israel the people of God are near and dear to the heart of God The priest was representing

God the father's love for his people in wearing these 12 stones these that represented the priesthood

The second piece of clothing that he would wear is sort of like shoulder pads Like he's going into the presence of God protected almost like a football player is going into the line protected

He's armoring up. These shoulder pads were called filigrees. You don't have to remember that but Inside those golden filigrees would be two onyx stones one on this side one on that side and on each of the stones were written six out of the twelve tribes of Israel So what it's symbolizing is that the holy or is that the high priest would carry?

God's people into the presence of God because you bear your burden on your shoulders So he would go to the mountain he would wash himself he would close himself and he would bear

God's people into God's presence because God's people are near and dear to The heart of God and they are born into his presence by the representative by the high priest this is exactly what

Jesus is doing in John 13 through 17 and John 13 Instead of going to the river to cleanse himself like the high priest of old

He got down and he washed his disciples feet and he cleansed them And then he went back to the table and he put on his high priestly outer garment

He sat down as priest and then here instead of instead of putting on the the high priestly chest piece

He himself is carrying his people into the presence of God through this prayer He doesn't put on three layers of clothing like the high priest does he goes through three layers of prayer?

Where he is clothing himself with prayer so that he can represent his people to the father and he's carrying his people into the presence of God on His own shoulders and he will do so in John 19 when he carries the cross on his shoulders

To bear his people into the presence of God through his death burial and resurrection

What Jesus is doing in these passages is he's being our high priest And he's not being a high priest that can be that can that can be ended or the line can be destroyed

He is a forever priest and he's forever serving us Forever caring for us forever

Purifying us to be in God's presence and he's doing it through this high priestly prayer and eventually he will do this through his own sacrifice the story of John is the crescendoing story of the priest who offers himself as a sacrifice and That is what

Jesus is doing here So I say that to you just to give you another aspect of the beauty that's going on in the text

To show you that Jesus is the one who brings us into the presence of God and he's doing that here on the

Mount of Olives he's doing it on a mountain just like all the high priest did before Now today we're gonna look at John 17 again

We're gonna look at the high priestly prayer and we're gonna move past verses 1 through 5 which focus on Christ Focus on his glory that he has always had from all time with the father it focuses on the salvation that he's going to bring to his people that is gonna give him great glory and We're gonna move beyond that Now to verses 6 through 10

Which begin the section where Jesus is talking about his people? Today, we're gonna look at Not eternal life, which is what we looked at last week today

We're gonna look at what is temporal life with Christ actually going to look like what kind of life does this high priest?

Carve out for you and I What does it mean that we belong to him? What does it mean that we're saved?

These are questions that we're going to answer today. The high priest has already answered them in his prayer so if you will join me as we look at this prayer once more as We read verses 6 through 10 and as we dive into the truths that are revealed there in John 17

I have manifested your name To the men you gave me out of the world

They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word

Now they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you For the words which you gave me

I have given to them and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you

And they believe that you sent me I Ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom you have given me for they are yours and All things that are mine are yours and yours are mine and I have been glorified in them.

Let us pray Lord, we thank you so much That you're our true high priest

That you were the one who purified us you were the one who prayed for us and you were the one who

Revealed the Father to us Lord we pray that as we analyze today sort of this

Idea of what does it mean that we are saved? based off of Your high priestly prayer

Lord. I pray that we would see the fullness of what that means Lord I pray that we would see the beauty in what that means and Lord I pray that we would have right views of what your salvation accomplishes

Lord I pray that as we examine these texts That they would become real and near and dear to our own lives and hearts and Lord I pray that by your spirit you would invigorate us to holy life and holy living.

It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen Again Jesus finishes his prayer for himself, which is verses 1 through 5 where he prays for his own glory

And that's a pre -incarnational glory the glory you have forever with the Father And it's also an incarnational glory where he will win the salvation of his people

Today we're gonna shift to the prayer that he prays for us. What does it mean that you and I are his?

What does it mean that we're going to be saved? What does that mean now? I'll tell you that does not mean he's not praying for everyone here

He is not praying for the entire world He is praying only for his people.

He does not pray for the reprobate here and that is not guesswork for the Savior He knows the ones who are his and he prays for them and for them alone

This is a specific group of people that has been hand -selected by the Father given over to Jesus Christ He prays for them the elect and no one else in this prayer.

He does not pray for the world. He says so himself Now this is a very difficult doctrine for us in the modern world

We immediately conjure up things of well, this isn't fair Well, if we're speaking of fairness, none of us deserve to be saved and all of us deserve to die and go to hell

So if it's a fairness argument, I think all of us lose It's not about fairness.

It's about God's election that we're talking about and I understand that it's a it's a tough doctrine

The Lord is immeasurably sovereign. He's holy and perfect and all of his wisdom

He has unlimited goodness and perfect moral judgment and he's done something to offend you. I get it

We who are sovereign over nothing We who are unholy and lacking in all wisdom

We whose goodness doesn't even move the scales of justice and we whose morality is shaky at best.

I understand why you're offended Truthfully brothers and sisters, we're not in the position to even speak on these matters

Like Job who stands in front of the mountain and he says I've spoken about things that are far too

Wonderful for me to understand. I repent and then God gives him two more chapters on Why Job was not in a position to speak on such holy beautiful and lovely things

You and I are just not in the position to be able to cry foul on this particular topic

If we were NBA referees, we would be blind Trying to make calls blinded by our sin and by our depravity and by our finitude

Sometimes you think the refs are blind we actually are If you and I picked salvation and damnation if you and I were in charge of it

It would be sinful because there would be ways that our sinfulness and our selfishness and our and in our human

Finitude would creep into our decision making to where we said Well, this person is saved because I like them or this person is not our sinfulness would get in the way

But brothers and sisters do not project your finitude and your sinfulness and your selfishness on to God because God can make these decisions on who is his and who is not with perfect holiness with righteousness with goodness with with love and grace and with his justice

He does not pray for the whole world He prays for his people

Now if he prays for his people alone That means that there is a subset of people who are called his and if there are a subset of people who are called his

There's also a subset of people who aren't Which means that he doesn't pray for everyone. It also means that some will never belong to him and That's scary because when salvation is not dependent upon our goodness and our ability and our righteousness and our

Strivings we are entirely Indebted to the grace of God The only reason that anyone here is saved is not because you're better smarter more equipped than anyone else

It is because God in his gracious goodness has decided to overwhelm your sinfulness with his election

You are saved by the sheer pleasure and kindness of God That means you have no room for boasting.

You have no room for arrogance You have no room for thinking that you're high and lofty and high and mighty. You are his by his good pleasure

I remember when I understood this it broke my mind Listen I am

NOT a guy who struggles to eat a good hamburger but on the day that I discovered this

I Couldn't eat. I Took it back to my hotel room and I did eat it later

But I didn't eat it then The guy that I was sitting across from said there's nothing that you can do and I said, what do you mean?

There's nothing that I can do and there's nothing that I he said no, you're totally Lost without God and in that moment the vulnerability hit me

There is nothing that I can do to be saved if he picks me He picks me he chooses me for his glory.

And if he doesn't he doesn't I can't manipulate it. I can't control it I can't do anything to influence it.

That is a vulnerable position To be in and it is also a godly lovely

Worshipful place to be in because if you are his you did not do anything to get there Which means that all glory goes to the father all of our worship goes to him because we didn't do it

If you love Jesus at all, it is because Jesus first loved you If you care for him at all, it's because he's first cared for you if you have kind affections for you

It's because he's turned his affections towards you in our sin and in our death. We do not love

God He has to first love us I was talking to my daughter about this and She said it's my it's my daughter

Raelynn and she said I don't understand why Why how is this possible how what you know people have to choose to to follow

Jesus and I said well think about it like This you walk into a room where there's a corpse Laying in the coffin and you say hey,

I want you to follow Jesus. What is the corpse gonna do and She said nothing. I said you're right good thing.

You're taking biology in high school. I'm really proud of you. I Said now what if you yell really loud?

Nothing, what if you what if you put on a night show and you do an evangelical worship service? nothing

If that man or that woman wakes up, who is it going to be the what's gonna be the only reason that they wake up?

She said because God brought them back to life. I said, that's it When we're saved and we open our eyes and we cry out dear

Jesus save me the only reason that happens is because prior to that when we were dead a resurrection happened and Your eyes got open and your heart got open and you said

I want Jesus. Yes, we cry out to Jesus Yes, we say, please save me after we've been resurrected

That's the point Jesus is praying for us

Who he rose from the dead? Not for the world not for the goats not for the tears not for the chaff

That he will drive away by his wrathful wind He says that they come from the world

Because the spirit of the world is in them the love of the things of the world is in them

He says that we have been resurrected out of the world so that we have a new heart new passions and new and a new mind

But if he does not do that work in their life They remain in the wells of the world and they cannot save themselves out of it

He passes them by He prays he doesn't pray against them in this prayer

But he doesn't pray for them. He passes them over Because they are not in the

Lamb's Book of Life because they are not on the high priest shoulders Because they are not on the high priest breastplate

Now you and I You and I must pray for the world Jesus is not praying for the world, but we must pray for the world.

Why? Because we are not sovereign and we are not omniscient and we don't know whose are his

He knows perfectly whose are his but we don't he prays

Exactly and specifically for his but we pray for everyone because we don't know who belongs to the father

That's why if you have someone in your life And I'm so thankful every week that we have prayer requests for people's salvation

Because we don't know who the father is chosen if they're not dead God's not done and the only way that we know if someone is truly his or truly not is if he raises them from the

Dead in their life and it could take years There's people who are in your life right now who hate

Jesus who may come to faith in the future because of Because of his faithfulness in your prayers

Because of the preaching of the gospel and because of all of the means of grace that he uses you pray for all people

Christ prays for you. That's the point Now beyond just praying for his people.

It tells us a little bit about what salvation actually is Versus six or verse six sort of opens up the door to that.

He says I have manifested your name To the men whom you gave me out of the world

They were yours and you gave them to me and I have kept your word So we're talking about now salvation and the word manifest is a little strange.

I Mean, it makes me feel like maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm wrong here makes me feel like a magician The word actually

Better word is revealed Which I guess also could be used in Magician stuff as well, but manifest just it's just a weird word to me

The word means revealed that Jesus himself is the one who revealed the father to us. He revealed it says his name

Now you and I don't think about names like this We don't walk up to anyone else with a five by seven card and reveal our name

The only thing you would do on that end is you would probably confuse people on why are you doing this? But when

Jesus said that he revealed God's name he is leaning into an ancient Semitic sort of cultural practice that the name is what it tells us about the identity of the person when he says that he revealed

The name of God he's saying that he revealed the character of God to these people He pulled back the curtain and showed them the

Shekinah glory of the father and he did that for his Disciples he revealed

God to them. That's what he's saying. I revealed God's character to them through revealing

God's name and How did Jesus do this for his disciples? How did he reveal the character of the father by revealing the father's name?

John 14 9 tells us explicitly Jesus said to them have it have I been so long with you and yet you do not know

Me Philip, he was seeing me as seeing the father. Jesus is telling them that that I and the father are one

So Jesus over the course of his life is revealing who the father is by revealing who he is

To them the revelation of Jesus Christ is showing them who the father is

If you want to know the father you must know the son Matthew 11 27 gets that sort of the same thing.

All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one Knows the son except the father and no one

Knows and nor does anyone know the father except through the son and to anyone whom the son wills to reveal him the only way to know the father is through the son and the only way to know the father through the son is if the

Son chooses to reveal the father to you Jesus is telling us that no one can know the father apart from revelation and No one can know the son without the father choosing them therefore all of this is

An entirely God -centric salvation where the father must choose you out of the world and the son must reveal the father to you

So that you will know him if those two things are not true. You do not know

God Colossians 1 15 is another example. He is the image of the invisible God He's the firstborn of all creation

Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 is another example He is the radiance of the glory and the exact representation of God's nature

And he upholds all things by the word of his power, which he had When he had made purification of sins and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high

He is uncovering Jesus is praying. He is revealing to us that salvation is first a two -part work

It is the work of God the Father Electing you and drawing you to the feet of Jesus Christ And when you're in front of Jesus Christ, it is

Christ awakening you and revealing to you the nature of the father Those two things are critical to understand when it comes to our salvation

Our salvation is not The fact that we woke up and we realized how bad we were and we picked him

He seeks he saves the lost he reveals he awakens he opens up the eyes

That's his work before it's ever our declaration Now when he says them he says

I revealed this to them I think first and foremost, we need to acknowledge that he's talking about his 12 disciples

These are the men who were his pupils for three years The ones who saw every miracle heard every sermon who sat in on the campfire

Bible studies that he did where where they were gathering together in But you know off the record as it were that wasn't revealed in the

Gospels for three years He spent this time with him teaching them who he is so they would know who the father is.

But also This applies to us as well This is not a reality that is lost in the pages of the

New Testament. It works its way down to us how Because we were saved the exact same way the

Apostles took the Word of God and declared it and through the preaching of the word the father picked and chose his people that he knew before the foundations of the world and drew them by the preaching of the word to Christ and Then in their salvation

Christ revealed to them the father All the men and women who were saved in the Roman Empire in that first century

Were saved that way the preaching of the word drew them to Christ Christ revealed the father and in that revelation their lives were completely transformed and they were changed and They were changed into the kind of people who went out and declared the word and then the cycle started over They declared the word men and women were drawn to Christ Christ revealed the father and he sent them out to do it again

And again and again for the last 2 ,000 years salvation brothers and sisters is the story of the

Word of God Winning his people Christ revealing the father to them and sending them out to do it again and again and again

Every person who's ever been saved has been saved that way Now let's transition because I want to hit on that last point a little bit harder as we close

Because in American Christianity There's been a sort of easy believism that Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about.

There's been a cheap grace There has been a finish line Christianity that is set in that has caused a nation full of converts to not

Go deeper in Christ and to not ever become disciples Where we've treated salvation like it's the finish line

Well, I'm really glad I'm saved now. I've done that brothers and sisters salvation is not the finish line.

It's the starting line This is why a culture of hyper evangelistic

Christianity Tele -evangelist regular evangelist and let's save as many possible people as we can without making a single disciple has proliferated in this culture where we have a nation that is filled with toddlers in the faith that have never been discipled and Because of that we treat salvation like it is the end unto itself instead of the beginning of everything

After justification and the Bible comes sanctification Jesus says in this passage

That although the father did choose and although the son did reveal there's more to it than that That's the beginning of our life.

That's the beginning John 17 3 of the eternal life and The first thing that he tells us is that we will come under his lordship and love his word

For all who are truly saved they will love his word. They will keep his word.

That is not a that's not a suggestion That is a reality Look at what it says in verse 6 you gave them to me and they have kept your word

This is not what we've joked about many times before. It's not a might could This is not a might would or might should they

Jesus gave them or Jesus revealed the father to them. God gave them over to the Son and Because of that then they kept his word and they loved his word

He doesn't say that when the father gives them over to them They're gonna fail to grow and they're gonna basically be immature for the rest of their life.

He does not say that He doesn't say that they're gonna limp along in mediocrity for the rest of their life, and they're never gonna advance in their faith

He doesn't say that they're gonna be lukewarm uninvolved and unconvicted Compromisers for the rest of their life.

He does not say that And I'm pressing on this not to offend

I'm pressing on this because Jesus says in the scriptures that if you're lukewarm, he will spit you out of his mouth

There's no expectation for a Christian to remain immature for the rest of their life

It's just not there Altered the scriptures we were to grow up into maturity of Christ.

We're to grow deeper into the gospel of Christ We're to have more passion as we get older more love for the word more obedience.

These things are not Antithetical to the Christian life I've preached The gospel in a sermon before and I preached obedience at the end as the outworking of the gospel and somebody called me a legalist for that Because we're afraid

To obey Jesus lest we do it for the wrong reasons. Yes, of course, we will pervert anything

But the expectation of our life is not that we would live in an obediousness mess

The expectation for our life is not that we would avoid obedience For fear that we might get it wrong

The expectation is as children of the Living God that we would grow up into better Obedience that we would follow him if my children said dad.

I don't want to obey you because I don't want to get a big head Are you kidding me

You'd have a swollen bottom for that This is how we treated

God though. God. I don't want to obey you So I don't get a big head What that makes no sense?

He elects us Jesus reveals the father to us to transform us

To make us love him more to make us worship him better to make us obey him more and more

This process is called sanctification and that process of sanctification is bringing you under the lordship of Jesus Christ So that you forget your thoughts you forget your opinions and you forget your need for control and you become a faithful slave of Jesus Listen the

Christianity is not a glamorous life. If you want that go to Scientology or Go to Mormonism where you can one day be a god of your own universe

Christianity is not a glorious life. You're a slave and your happiness as a slave is dependent totally upon your submission to the master

The more you submit to the master the more happy and joyful you will become that is what Christianity is all about Christianity is a religion of joy, and it's the only religion that's actually true

But my point in that is that it's a religion of great joy and the joy doesn't come from pumping yourself up The joy comes from putting your face on the ground and saying

I follow you Christ, whatever you say Whatever you want. You are my king. I am NOT the one in charge

You want me to give my whole life to you? Okay, you gave your whole life for me You mean to you want to be in your word?

Okay, Bible says you're the word I want you So I'm gonna be in your word. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna seek your face

I'm gonna be like David and I'm gonna stay awake at night and I'm gonna run after you and chase after you and I'm gonna

Lose sleep over that because I want you We've got to get away from this idea that we're somehow afraid of obedience or we got more important things to do

This country is Falling apart because Christians for 50 years have had more important things to do.

We've been elected We've been justified He has revealed the father to us not for nothing

But so that we would serve him and obey him and love him and love his word and Second thing.

This is the last thing That we would not just love his word, but that we would rest in his sovereignty verses 7 through 8 says this

Now they come they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you For the words which you gave me

I have given to them and they received them and they truly understood That I came forth from you and they believed

That you sent me I can imagine the smile and the joy on Jesus's face where he's praying this prayer to his father in all of the agony and all

Of the anguish and all of the pain that he's getting ready to face on the cross He admits here that after three years of ministry, they've understood finally

That I came from you That my words came from you that my behavior came from you that everything in all reality

Father comes from you Jesus's choice of the disciples came from God Jesus's words that he spoke.

He said I don't speak my own words only speak what the father tells me to came from God Jesus his actions. He said I am showing you the father.

I'm not showing you me. I'm showing you the father So his actions didn't come from him that came from God The son himself didn't come on his own initiative.

He came because God sent him so he came from God What we're learning and what

Jesus's disciples learned after three years is that Everything comes from God and that is where true

Christian joy rest is knowing that everything comes from God There is nothing in your life that happens to you.

That doesn't come from God unless you want to say that God is a sovereign All your joys come from God all your pains come from God All your ups come from God and all your downs come from God the word came from God the

Sun came from God and every Event that happens in your life comes from a good God who loves you and wants to sanctify you according to his purpose

Brothers and sisters if I could employ you to understand anything, it would be a sovereignty of God in this

When you understand that nothing happens inside of your life nothing happens to you

That's outside of his sovereign care and love and control. You can rest at night You can sleep at night and you're untouchable as a

Christian when you get that Paul says it took him to the end of his life to get that so it's not easy

He said at the end of his life. He said I've learned the secret of contentment So it took Paul a long time.

It's gonna take us a long time, but brothers sisters We have to understand that everything comes from God.

God is good. God loves you He gave you every situation in your life because he loves you Do not look at your situations that you're going through right now and say why is

God doing this to me? Answer your own question and say because he loves me That pain that brokenness that disease that misfortune that family member that whatever it is

When you look at your life and your situations you say why is this happening to me answer yourself?

Don't let yourself speak to you you speak back to yourself and you say this is happening because God loves me

This is happening because he cares for me. This is happening because he wants me to grow and When you believe that when you understand that no one can steal your joy

Because you're not a victim anymore You're a slave of the king who loves you and everything.

He's given you is for your good You can't be attacked you can't be you'd be like Paul in prison who sings whenever they arrest him

You'd be like the disciples who leap for joy because they were counted worthy of suffering It crushes the flesh inside of us and makes us actually free

When we realize that nothing happens to us outside of the sovereign will of God You can't be paralyzed when you believe that you won't get angry or upset when you believe that and Your peace will never be taken from you when you believe that And our last thing

I would just say His brothers and sisters These things are not suggestions the sovereign

Christ prayed them for you and If there's any person that has ever prayed a prayer that I would expect would come true.

It is not me or you It is Jesus Christ Brothers and sisters know and rest and trust in his sovereign plans and purposes for you

Dive in and learn his word be a disciple Not just a convert

And you will have true joy and peace No one can take it from you. Let's pray Lord we thank you that you prayed this prayer for us you prayed it first and foremost for your disciples, but through the preaching of the word and through The manifold means of grace these treasures these promises have worked their way down to us and they're ours

Lord I pray that we as your people would not forget What salvation actually means?

The first thing that it means is that you elected us by no power of our own and you and God you drew us to the feet of your beloved

Son and Then we know that The Son and his love and care for us and obedience to the

Father revealed the Father to us so that we were awakened We were regenerate we were justified Our minds and our hearts were made alive again and in that We came to declare the gospel

That is this gospel that saved us we became alive again Lord, I pray that in our living

That we would not treat our election and our justification as the end of our faith

Lord I pray that for whatever many years we have left on this earth that we would not treat our Salvation as the finish line and that we get to spend the rest of our lives doing whatever we want

Or the beauty of the Christian gospel is that our salvation is just the beginning

Lord let all of us who are saved count the cost and let all of us who are saved run after you

Explore and dive into and love your word Rest and trust in your sovereignty and Lord help us all of us here to die to ourselves

So that we may be alive in you Lord, I pray for all of us here that that would become increasingly true over the course of our lives

And it would become increasingly true in our children Lord, we pray these things in Christ's name.