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Well, I'd invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 17. And I would start by asking you this question. What is protection? What is being guarded or what makes you feel safe and protected? For some people, it might be a Kevlar vest.
For some people, it might be just being at home. When we think of national security, we're pretty safe, not only because we have a great military, but because we sit between two oceans. Sometimes I think that makes us seem invulnerable.
There was a nation. In the 1920s and 30s. That did what it needed to do, it thought, to be safe. They constructed a series of fortresses that came to be known as the Maginot Line. I don't know if you noticed, but Maginot kind of sounds like imaginary because it really wasn't safety, but it felt like safety.
They built it as a result of the end of World War I, and they wanted to make sure that the Germans couldn't mess with them anymore. They wanted to be done with all that. So they built this series of fortresses and sat behind them and they felt pretty safe.
And actually when World War II started, the allies, that is to say the French and the British, had more planes, more tanks, and equal manpower, roughly, in terms of their armed forces as the Germans did.
And yet six weeks later, the Germans occupied Paris. Safety, protection, security. Fortresses can't give it to you. Oceans can't give it to you. Nothing that mankind or the world offers can give you safety, security, protection.
That is only available in the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe. And as we look at John chapter 17 today, I hope that you'll see this. John chapter 17, and I'm going to start reading in verse nine.
John 17, verse nine. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them.
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me. That they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.
I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world and for their sake, I consecrate myself that they may also be sanctified in truth.
Chapter 17 is amazing. You know, I describe it this way and I think this is right. We are literally being invited into the kind of inner sanctum of the Trinity. We are getting to see the Trinity in operation.
Jesus is pulling the curtain back, as it were, and allowing us to see how they communicate. Jesus praying to the father. We have recorded for us God, the son hours before he's going to be crucified, praying to God, the father, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
This is a prayer which we need to pay attention to. He prays for himself in verses one to five for the disciples in verses six to 19 and then for all believers, including us. Including us in verses 20 to 26.
Last week, we saw how Jesus focused on the results of his works and his words in verses four to eight. We saw him proclaim, as it were, his mission accomplished that he had done what the father sent him to do.
Somebody wrote me this week and asked me, they said, well, how can he talk about things like they were finished, even kind of talking about his death and everything as if it was past tense? Well, there's a certain sense in scripture in which things are so certain that they are referred to in the past tense.
If you think about Romans chapter eight, verse 30, when it talks about us being glorified, and we'll look at this verse here in a minute, when it talks about us being glorified, well, that's past tense.
And it's so certain that Paul writes it in past tense because once God has said his affection upon you, your ultimate glorification is certain. And it's in that same way that Jesus is speaking about the events that are going to come in the next couple of days.
In his mind, they are so certain they are done. Mission accomplished. So he asked the father to return him to his previous glory, a request that only one who is eternally God could make. Right. It's not like he gained glory by coming here.
He wants to return to the glory that he had before he came. We also saw the results of Christ's finished work. The father displayed, in other words, all the fullness of deity in Jesus dwells. Right. And he showed the disciples, he taught the disciples so that they would understand the nature of the father.
If you have seen me, you have what? Seen the father. We also saw the disciples transformed. The disciples were taken out of the world. Meaning out of this pool of people called the world by the father's elective purpose and given to Jesus.
We also saw that the disciples believed, and as I said last week, it wasn't a perfect, full formed faith. Nevertheless, it was a saving faith because they believed in his deity. And finally, we saw the impacts that his words had on the disciples, that they caused the disciples to believe because God's word has its effect on God's people.
And this morning we will see Jesus pray three protective principles for believers so that we might have, well, first of all, better security, but secondly, a more effective testimony of the world. And you say, well, what does that have to do with it?
And we'll see the connection later on. Three principles, three protective principles. And the first one is Jesus prays for the disciples, not for the world. Look at verse nine, I'm praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
We see throughout this passage. I mean, how many times did I say the world? I didn't even count. But there's this contrast, the sharp contrast between those the father has given Jesus and the world. There's a vast number of people out there, what, seven billion plus people in the world.
How many are elect and it's a relatively small number, but it's not as small as this number. However many millions or billions of people there were on the earth when Jesus was alive, there are 11 people that he's praying for.
Eleven, how do we know that he's praying just for those 11? And as I said last week, it's 11 men in the Greek, not 11 people. You know, we have to be politically correct now and then, I guess. But they are the ones who have, as verse eight says, have believed that you sent me.
These are the ones, nobody else. And considering that all that Jesus has taught them in chapters 13 and 16, if you think about even starting the last supper and how he washes their feet right up until, you know, towards the end of chapter 16, he says, after I die or after I'm gone, you guys are all going to desert me.
You're all going to go back to your homes after all that and all the shock and all the disappointment and all the kind of heaviness of the evening. Of course, he prayed for them. It was right that he prayed for them.
But when we think about and if your mindset is, well, he's just talking to them, he's just praying for them. Well, look ahead to verse 20. There are clear implications for us, for all who believe. Look at verse 20.
I do not ask for these only. These eleven men only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. How did you come to faith? Well, I'd say most likely it was through the word of the apostles, through the scriptures.
Either hearing them taught or reading them. Right. And as we know, in just a few hours, he'd be laying down his life for them and for other believers, for all the elect, which meant that he would no longer be with them physically.
Right. He said he would never leave them, but he did leave them physically. He's going to remain with them. The spirit's going to be with them, but they're not going to be able to, you know, knock him on the shoulder and say, hey, Jesus, let me ask you a question.
Those days are over. So what does Jesus mean when he say he when he says that he's not praying for the world, when he says that he's praying on behalf of the elect? Well, he's not praying on behalf of the world.
Why? Because they will never come to faith. The world are the non-elect, those that the father has not given to the son, those that the father did not choose before the foundation of the world for salvation.
But Jesus is praying for these disciples and he's praying for their spiritual safeguarding, their spiritual protection, for their spiritual health and well-being. And if you think about it, if that's his prayer, if that's the focus of his prayer, why would he be praying for the world?
How do you pray for the folk, the well-being and the spiritual health of those who are not saved? The answer is you can't. You can pray for their salvation, but you can't pray, please preserve them in the, you know, in the situation that they're in.
That would not be right. Just as the atonement is for the elect only, so his intercession is for the same group. He's praying for those. And again, Jesus mentions these 11 are the fathers and they are given to him by the father.
Divine sovereignty and divine election are central to the Lord's prayer. This contrast between the world and the disciples, the world and believers is central. And so is this idea of the father giving those chosen ones to the son.
Every person not given to the son by the father is of the world. And every person given from the father to the son is, are his own belong to them, to the father and to the son. And there's an unwavering consistency in scripture on this.
As I mentioned, Romans 8 30, just a moment ago. Let me read verses 29 and 30 of Romans 8 for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first.
That is to say, Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined, he also called and those whom he called, he also justified and those whom he justified, he also glorified.
Now, firstly, I just want to say, think about this. He foreknew, foreknew comes before predestination. So before he decided that he was going to predestine them for salvation, he foreknew them, which meant not that he knew them ahead of time, but the, he for love them.
He set his affection upon them. That's why he predestined them for salvation. And if we think about that chain of events, the father foreknows, he predestines, this happens before the foundation of the world.
Then what happens in time? We go on to read that he calls them, right? He effectively calls them out of the world unto himself, unto salvation and the same group foreknown, predestined, called, justified, declared righteous.
And then Paul says that that same group justified are going to be glorified from beginning to end. It's, you know, again, we can use the hands foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified, same group, not one lost.
Now, if Paul, when he was writing Romans meant to say that God foreknew everyone, that there was some kind of pre-existence or there was some kind of thought in God's mind that he was going to set his affection upon everyone, then he would have said so.
But it's those whom he foreknew. The father only put his affection on his chosen ones before the world began, not everyone on his elect, on those he chose. Lloyd-Jones says this, he says, the promise, as I say, the promise of salvation is definitely limited.
It is not universal as to the people included. The popular idea of the love of God is the antithesis of this. That idea says that he is regarded as promising to bless all exactly the same way. But there is a great division and distinction everywhere in the Bible between the saved and the unsaved.
I was even thinking about Psalm 1, right? There's a way of the righteous and how God blesses the righteous. And then what does it say? The psalmist says, not so the wicked. It's not the same for the wicked.
There's always this sharp contrast between those upon whom God sets his affections and those upon whom he does not. The saved and the unsaved. John 3, 5, Jesus talking to Nicodemus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
He's talking to Nicodemus, the teacher of all Israel. And he says, there must be a supernatural work done to you. The Holy Spirit must cause you to be born again. Otherwise what? You'll not enter the kingdom of heaven.
John 3 again versus 18 and 19. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. It's already happened. You don't get a second chance because he has not believed in the name of the son of God.
And listen to verse 19. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. The world is not neutral. Jesus comes into the world and the world rejects him.
Why? Because they love their sin and they hate having it exposed. There's this idea that somehow when we go to talk to unbelievers that they're neutral, that they're open to discussing things on a thoroughly morally neutral basis.
They might be interested in discussing things, but their hearts are not neutral. They are enemies of God, haters of good, lovers of darkness. Now, Jesus here in John 17, he's praying for believers. He's praying for the elect.
He's praying for his disciples. Did he ever pray for his enemies? Yes, but that's not the purpose of this high priestly prayer where he's interceding on behalf of them, knowing what they're going to deal with.
And by extension, what we're going to deal with, I, you know, I, I get as upset about things that are going on in the world as anybody about persecution, about the slide, the moral decay in our world.
But this is predictable. People love their sin and they're just coming out and expressing it more and more and more. Again, talking about the elect, look back at verse 10, John 17, Jesus says, all mine are yours and yours are mine.
And I am glorified in them. Now, the first part, all mine are yours. That's really not that remarkable, right? If I say, you know, and I'd probably pridefully say it so you can say it. I won't say it.
Everything I have belongs to the Lord, right? That would be right. No matter what it is, if it's my wife, my kids, my grandkids, or my car or my money or whatever, it's all the Lords. He gave it to me and he can do what he wants with it.
And that, that would be the right attitude to have, right? And if he just stopped there, we'd go, that's fine. When Jesus says, all mine are yours, but he doesn't stop there. He says, and yours are mine.
We would never pray. We would never pray. God, everything you have is mine. Can you imagine that? How could you ever pray that? You couldn't. Jesus did. Yours are mine. How could he do that? If he's a mortal, a mortal, not immortal.
If he's a mortal, if he's a human being only, then he couldn't pray that. Unless he wanted his own show on TBN or something like that. He is saying what? I mean, essentially we're back to, I and the father are one.
He's praying, but he's praying. I mean, think about what the disciples are hearing. They listen to that first part and they go, okay, that's good. That's powerful. Everything belongs to Jesus. Only God, the son could pray to the father.
Those who belong to you also belong to me. And as they share that ownership of the elects, both the father and the son have reason. They have cause to protect them, to ensure that they do what they need to do.
Right? Why? And I am glorified in them again, past tense. Jesus is going to be glorified as he goes to the cross. He's going to be glorified in what they do after the cross. What these men do because of the protective work of the father, because of the empowering work of the spirit after the cross, he is glorified in them.
And may I say upon occasion, he is glorified in us by what we do. And it's interesting too, because I said past tense, it's really not past tense when he says, I am glorified as perfect tense. One-time action, ongoing results.
Amazing. He's going to redeem them. They will be kept and this will redound the glory of the son and ultimately the father as well. Before the world began, the father chose the elect. Now Jesus will redeem them and the result will be glory for him.
So protective principle number one, Jesus prays for the disciples, not for the world. Second principle, Jesus prays for the unity of the disciples. And this one, I got to tell you, this one is so heavy, I may not go on to another one.
Jesus prays for the unity of the disciples. He's no longer going to be physically with them. He's no longer going to be there to kind of rally the troops as it were. Look at verse 11, the first part of it says, And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.
And I am coming to you. Pretty straightforward here. His work is complete when he says he's no longer in the world. Again, he's speaking as if Calvary, the cross and all that is behind him. And he says, I am coming to you.
He's going to the father. He knows where he's going, but the disciples are going to physically be what? In the world. They are in the world. Thus, they will be subject to temptation, to error, to every ill this world can throw their way.
And because he is leaving. Jesus makes a request of his father. Second part of verse 11, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. Now, this is the only place we have recorded for us any of the gospels or any of scripture where Jesus refers to the father as Holy Father.
Now, it's a little bit speculative, but why here? And I think this is a good reason. We've just talked about what the world is like a little bit. What greater contrast could there be than the holiness of God?
The world is immersed in sin. It wallows in sin. It loves the darkness and hates the lights. And again, isn't that the nature of the world around us? Isn't that what we see celebrating sin? It's not enough to just say that, you know, in our own private homes, we're going to sin as we please.
They prayed it down the streets. And now they're imposing their views on everyone else. In schools and, you know, we see in other countries and English speaking countries like England and Canada. If you dare to speak about something as being sinful or wrong, you could lose custody of your children.
You could go to jail. A lot of things could happen to you. And the world is going to seek to divide and conquer the disciples. And if we think about just these 11 men in here, think about what they're being asked to do.
There's the Roman Empire to think about. There's the Jewish leaders. Who've been after Jesus for quite some time. They're surrounded by unbelievers who profess Judaism, not just the Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees, but just general unbelieving Jews who are hostile to Christianity.
They're surrounded by all of this and much more the governmental authorities. 1 John 5, 19 says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Satan's in control of everything. But God is holy. He is other.
He is unlike anyone or anything else. He cannot be tainted or influenced by sin or Satan or anything that this world has. So when Jesus asked the father to keep them, he's asking the father for their spiritual protection, their spiritual well-being.
And when he says in your name, he's saying by all that you are, by all your attributes, by all your power, all your might, and all that you have revealed yourself to be through me, all that these disciples have witnessed, all of that, I want you to guard them.
Why? Because it's only by a unity of faith, a unity of mind that they're going to be able to. Fulfill their purpose. Jesus says that they may be one, even as we are one. Henriksen wrote that they might remain united in love and in the defense of the truth.
That's what we do. We're united in love and we are to defend the truth. No matter what the world says. And even though these 11 men would have different roles, some of them would have big ministries, other lesser ministries.
They would need a unity of cooperation and purpose. We could say a unity of, could even almost say essence. He says, just as the father and I do, right? We want to have that same relationship between believers that exists between the father and the son.
That sort of unity. I was thinking about it and I go, okay, now is that unity? Is that unity of mind, that unity of purpose, that unity of vision, unity of love? Is that any different what we should have?
BBC ought to pray that the father and son will keep us united. Because again, if we think about this for us, we have different roles. We have different gifts, but we serve the same Lord and master. And he has given us one purpose, one purpose, one thing that we're here for.
It's the same thing the disciples are here for. And we'll see that in a moment. What is that? To evangelize the world. And think about the standard that he set again, that they may be one, even as we are one.
I think we fail. I mean, we can't even, you know, even in my own home, and I'm going to confess here. Janet and I do not have the relationship that the father and the son have. It's not perfect like that.
In case anybody was wondering, you could just write that down. Just use it against me later. The relationship between the father and the son was perfect before all time, now and forever. Ours isn't. Nobody's is.
And as you think about Jesus praying for the disciples, praying for these apostles. These men, again, they are not alone in being held to that standard. And we're going to skip ahead again. And I'm going to reread verses 20, verse 20, and then I'm going to add 21.
Because this verse applies to us. And just listen to it again. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us.
So that the world may believe that you have sent me. We're to be unified. Why? So that the world might believe that the father has sent the son. All people everywhere will know that the father has sent the son.
That's our duty as Christians. That's weighty. That's heavy. But Jesus prayed for us. That we might have that unity. What stops us from having that unity? In a word, sin, right? It might be pride. Might be that we think our opinion is so vital that it needs to be heard.
Maybe it's in a hallway. Maybe it's in the parking lot. Maybe we think it's critical that we be respected. That our feelings not be hurt. And, you know, now we have all sorts of ways of slandering people and, you know, being even sly about it.
You know, I know Steve doesn't have an Instagram account, so I'll go after him on Instagram. I wouldn't blame you. Instagram, you know, social media is just a crazy world. But between Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, and, you know, there's probably about 50 platforms I don't know anything about.
You can say whatever you want all the time. And the truth is, we often feel free to gossip. After all, so-and-so is a bad person or they did a bad thing. That's not loving. That's not unifying. That's not what we're called to.
And it's certainly not how Jesus in Matthew 18 tells us to handle things. Why did he set that up? Because he wanted us to go to each other at the lowest possible level, love each other enough. If we could overlook sins, yes, do that.
And if we couldn't, come up, put our arm around somebody and say, you know what, when you said, when you did, this really bothered me and we need to work this out. In fact, I think we could maybe even think of it this way.
Jesus is praying to his father and that's good and it's much better. But I think he even could have said, protect them against themselves. Protect them against themselves. When we do these kinds of things, when we, as one author said, bite and devour each other.
When we do this kind of thing, we insult Jesus. We throw his name into the mud. If we cannot love one another in love and deed, how can we expect to convince the world that Christ has made a difference in our lives?
If we sin freely amongst our family here, how can we proclaim the power of the gospel to cleanse us from sin? Let me tell you how you can be forgiven from not just the guilt of sin, but the presence of sin, the power of sin.
Jesus praised the father that he would keep us by his power so that we would be unified. But how often do we eagerly undermine his prayer? There have probably been times where it would be better for unbelievers not to know that we are believers and that should not be.
We ought to be the most joyful, the most winsome, the most patient, the most gracious people, particularly in speech. We cannot act and speak like the world does and then think it does not impact our witness to the world.
Our unity is reflected in the love that we have for one another. How do I know that? Because Jesus said it, right? They'll know you're my disciples by what? The love you have for one another. Unity is a choice.
We tell people all the time, love is a choice, right? Well, I don't love my wife. I don't love my husband. Well, love is not an emotion. It's a choice. It's action. Unity is not an emotion. Unity is a choice.
Let's look for a moment. Colossians chapter 3. I was going to go to Ephesians 4, but I go to Ephesians 4 all the time because I love Ephesians 4. But let's look at Colossians chapter 3, similar, but listen to how the wording just sort of coincides with what the themes of John chapter 17, beginning in verse 12 of Colossians 3.
Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another. And keep in mind, he's talking about how Christians should treat other Christians.
Bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. How does God forgive? Completely, fully, done, finished.
It's taken care of at the cross. Is that how we forgive? Verse 14, and above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, in unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.
And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Right? We want to honor him. Giving thanks to God the Father through him, through Jesus. That's how we're to conduct ourselves in the household of God. It's how we're to think about one another. In Ephesians 4, don't turn there.
I'm just going to quickly say a couple things. He says, let no corrupting talk, corrosive words, bitterness come out of your mouths. But only that which is good for building up. Right? We're not to tear down with our mouths, but to build up, to give grace.
And it's interesting in verse 30 of Ephesians 4, right after that, that it may give grace to those who hear. And then in verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Then he says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away. Listen, how do you grieve the Holy Spirit? How do you grieve him? It's with your mouth. It's with the things that you say.
Why? Because what you're really testifying, when you slander, when you slur, when you gossip about other people is, I don't care what the Holy Spirit is telling my mind right now. I'm not going to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit is a person. He's God. When we disobey him, when we ignore that alarm bell going off in our head and just say, I'm going to let it fly. We're grieving the Holy Spirit. Jesus in John chapter 17 prays to the Father.
Keep them, hold them, protect them, give them the same relationship that you and I have. May God help us to do that. I'm going to save the rest of this for the next time. I just, let's pray. Father, we think about the Lord Jesus Christ on the night, which he was to be arrested, knowing that this was coming, knowing that Judas had betrayed him, knowing that he was soon to leave his dear friends.
He prayed for them. He prayed for their protection. He prayed for their unity. He prayed even that you would keep them by your name, in your name, all that you are. Would you keep us mindful of who you are, who we are, what you have done for us?
Let us often think of how we have been purchased with a price. And that price is not slavish obedience. It's not drudgery obedience, but it is joyful obedience. We want to obey you because we love you.
We want to follow you because we love you. We want to love one another because we love you. Father, help us to do that. Help us to testify to this lost and dying world. That Jesus Christ was sent by the father and as evidence, we show the love that we have for each other here at Bethlehem Bible Church.
We pray these things in Jesus name.