The Gospel of John: Our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer (4)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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The Lord rehearsed before his father his efforts to glorify him, the father, before his apostles.

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Everything he did, everything he said throughout his three years of ministry, he always directed them to the father that it was coming forth from him.

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And so beginning with verse 9 we begin to read of the specific nature of his prayer for his apostles and this again continues up to and through verse 19.

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Let's read these verses, verses 9 through 19. Jesus petitioned his father,

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I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

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And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now

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I'm no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep to your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are.

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While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me

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I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

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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.

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I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.

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They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth.

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Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes

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I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

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Last week, last Lord's Day, we examined 9 through 12, and we might say in these verses first,

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Jesus set forth the grounds of his prayer for his apostles. We close with verse 12, last week, in which our

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Lord Jesus declared he had done for his disciples what he had done for his disciples while they had been with him during his ministry.

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He declared, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name, those whom you gave me

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I have kept, none of them is lost, except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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And so he had kept his apostles, particularly, specifically, in his father's name, and what he means by that is that Jesus had kept them securely in their faith, and their faithful adherence to him.

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The reason that he did so was because they belonged to the father, and so Jesus kept them in that position of faith and fellowship with himself and his father.

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The father had given them to his son, in eternity past, of course, they were of the elect, and the father had entrusted these disciples to Jesus, and of course,

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Jesus had been wholly faithful and successful in guarding and preserving them from defection and departure from him and his father.

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He had guarded them, he had protected them for the previous three years of his earthly ministry.

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And of course, the one exception was Judas Iscariot, but the reason he was lost to Jesus was not because of Jesus' failure, but because it had been declared in the

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Holy Scriptures in the Old Testament that Judas would be damned.

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Now, secondly, we come to the second portion of his prayer for the apostles, and here he prays specifically that the father would protect or keep his disciples, and this is what we have in verses 13 through 16.

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And so, in verse 13, we read, but now I'm come to you, and these things

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I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Jesus first declared what was immediately before him, he said to his father, but now

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I come to you. Now this is interesting, this is what he had on his mind,

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I'm coming to you, and yet look what he had to go through before he went into the presence of his father.

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He was about to be arrested, perhaps just minutes later, he then experienced many hours of extreme pain and humiliation through the trials for Pilate and Herod and the high priests.

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He'd then be crucified, undergo three days of death. He would then rise to ascend to his father in heaven, but he did not recount what great difficulties were immediately before him, rather he recounted what was most important to him.

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I come to you. That was what was on his heart. Now I come to you.

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He was filled with joy at the certain and immediate prospect of being with his father, but at the same time it brought great concern that he had for his disciples.

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He was leaving them behind in a hostile, fallen world. He had kept them for three years, now he was leaving them, and so here he's praying,

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Father, would you continue on with this protection of them in my absence, basically.

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So he declared, these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Jesus had spoken directly to his apostles of what he was securing for them from his father, and again he prayed these words in their hearing, even as he was praying to the father.

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All of his speech was expressed in their hearing in order to encourage them and equip them to deal with his departure and the difficulty that they would experience without his physical presence to encourage and strengthen them.

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You put yourself in their frame of mind. You know, he had secured their protection and preservation, now all of a sudden physically he's no longer going to be with them.

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You can imagine how unsettling that might have been. What were included in these things that Jesus had spoken in the world, he'd spoken to them regarding the true nature of eternal life, we saw that up in verses 1, 2, and 3, of his ability due to his authority to confer eternal life to all the ones that the father had given him in eternity to his elect.

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He spoke in their hearing of the mutual love and concern that both he and his father had for them, that they could be assured of their preservation due to God's commitment to keep them safe.

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He spoke of their redemption that he had accomplished on their behalf, and he spoke of the glory that his father would confer upon him for having secured them onto him.

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He confirmed before them that he had kept them secure, and now he prayed that his father would continue to secure them even onto their everlasting glory.

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Jesus declared the purpose for having told all these things in their hearing that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

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And so Jesus spoke these things so that his joy for them might be their joy within them.

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Jesus rejoices over his people, if you're a Christian he rejoices over you, and he would have you rejoice in knowing that he rejoices over you.

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So Jesus spoke these things that his joy for them might be their joy within them, and why would it not be?

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Why would it not be for us? These words of Jesus to his father, which were expressed in the hearing of his disciples, were recorded for us that we who believe as they did may also have his joy fulfilled in us.

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Christians ought to be characterized by fullness of joy. And of course it's not dependent or contingent on what happens to us in this world.

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It's because we know of what lies before us, secured for us, promised to us by the father, secured by his son.

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And so we may have this joy now in great measure, however of course we will experience the full realization of this when we join our savior before the throne of his father.

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But it should be a cause, a basis of great joy to us now in this life because of all that our

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Lord Jesus accomplished for us and prayed to his father on behalf of us. And so as one once wrote, this joy in him is a grace of the spirit and is attended with faith in Christ.

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It should be constant but is frequently interrupted, though the ground and foundation of it is always the same.

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It is therefore at present imperfect but may be increased. It is unknown to the world and inexpressible by the saints and may be said to be fulfilled in them when it abounds in them more and more when they are full of it and that is full of glory which will be fulfilled in glory.

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But we ought to be characterized by joy now regardless of what's happening to us in the world.

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We next read in verse 14 that Jesus prayed to his father, I've 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.

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He first said I've given them your word. Here again we have affirmed to us that the words that Jesus said, that Jesus taught were the words given him from the father.

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I have given them your word is what Jesus declared. What's implied by these words and what will be stated later in a forthright manner is that the

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Lord gave his father's word to his apostles so that they in turn will declare that word to the world.

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Later in John 17 20 we read of our Lord Jesus praying, I do not pray for these, in other words apostles alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

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Every Christian since that day that have heard the apostolic witness, maybe verbally when they spoke in front of them, certainly in their words that are recorded for us in the

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New Testament. We believe on Jesus because of their word and it was all due to Jesus praying that that would take place here in verse 14.

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And so their word that is the word the apostles will declare and publish will be the word of the father declared to them by Jesus Christ.

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And the Bible of course is the word of the father to us. It's the word of God and that's how we refer to Holy Scripture.

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By the way we see a principle that is commonly seen throughout Scripture, God purposed to reveal himself and make himself known through the instrument of human agency.

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Jesus said I'm praying for these apostles and I pray for those that will hear of me through their witness.

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God desires that people hear through human witness. God could have sent his angel to speak the gospel to the

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Ethiopian eunuch, you recall in the book of Acts. But instead God sent his angel to Philip and then sent

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Philip to give the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. Jesus Christ could have revealed the way of salvation to Paul when he appeared to him on the road to Damascus.

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He did not. He sent Paul to Damascus and then summoned Ananias, you go tell

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Paul the way of salvation. It's always God's purpose to use human agency, the human voice to convey his word to others.

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And God could have sent his angel to reveal the gospel to Cornelius and his household.

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Cornelius is a Roman soldier but he chose rather to send the angel to Cornelius to instruct

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Cornelius to send for Peter who would then travel to speak to Cornelius and his household regarding salvation.

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God has ordained that his elect, whom he has a purpose to save from their sins, hear and learn the gospel from those who had already heard and learned the gospel.

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And that is the way the kingdom has advanced through these last 2 ,000 years. Of course all who have gone before have gone on and now this responsibility rests upon us as churches and as individuals.

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But the love of the Father that the elect enjoy, and there's much said about the elect in this passage, which had brought them to the

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Savior comes with a caveat. Although the Father loves them, the world hates them.

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So again Jesus prayed to his Father, I've 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.

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The fallen world hates Christians. It is when

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Christians are acting and speaking as Christians should act and behave. The people of the world hate

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God who made the world and there can be no peace between them and God and there cannot be peace between true

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Christians who are living as Christians and the fallen world. Most people of the world of course would deny that they hate

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God but it's a truism. When Jesus Christ made known

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God they crucified him and they would do so today too. People are sinners and when the true

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God is made very clear to them they would kill him if they could and they did.

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The God they believe in and claim to love therefore is not the God of the Holy Scriptures because they actually hate the

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God of the Scriptures. For if when God is revealed in truth for who he is and what he's like the hatred for God that's characteristic of the world will be stirred up toward him, that is toward Christ and his people.

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This is a truism. John Gill wrote, the inhabitants of the world, worldly men such as are what they were when they first came into the world are under the influence of the

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God of this world, lower case G that would be the devil, and led by the spirit of it and are wholly taken up with the things thereof.

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The unbelieving Jews were chiefly designed who bore an implacable hatred to Christ and his apostles and the same fate do the faithful ministers of Christ and his members have in all ages and places more or less.

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The men of the world gnash their teeth at them, secretly plot against them, inwardly curse them, rejoice at any evil that befalls them, greedily catch at anything to reproach them, stick not to say all manner of evil of them and to do all manner of evil to them.

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And of course history bears this out, doesn't it, about 2 ,000 years.

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We, you know, in our free society, in a society that has been relatively characterized by the preaching of the word and righteousness through the history of our nation, we have been largely spared but we're the exception, not the rule.

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And of course there are many of God's people, godly people all over the world today that are suffering terribly because they're

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Christian and the world hates them for it. J .C.

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Ryle wrote of this, let us not fail to remark that true believers must expect the hatred and enmity of the wicked in every age.

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We can anticipate it. They must not be surprised by it. Christ and his disciples had to endure it and all real

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Christians must endure it too. The reason of this enmity is the continued testimony which believers bear against the world's opinions and practices.

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We can get along with the world if we mute ourselves, right? You begin to declare God's law and his righteousness and you see what kind of hatred comes up.

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You know, if we speak about sexual morality as set forth in the scriptures, it wouldn't take any time at all, right, to raise a reaction in today's world.

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The world feels itself condemned and hates those whose faith and lives condemn it. If believers were more bold, decided, consistent, they would soon find these things out more than they do now.

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The good opinion of the world is about the last thing a true Christian should expect or desire. As I read

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Ryle's word there, I thought about churches, how churches, they think that in order to, they're going to spread the gospel by getting the world basically to think well of them and they shape their ministries accordingly.

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If all men speak well of his opinions and ways in religion, he may well doubt whether there's not something very wrong and defective about them.

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We are not to court the world's enmity, a narrow, morose, uncourteous, and exclusive spirit is downright wrong, but we are never to be the least surprised by the world's enmity if we meet with it.

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And the more holy we are, the more we shall ever, the more we shall meet with it.

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Christ was perfect in holiness, but the world hated him. The Lord Jesus was pleading with his father to guard his people for they have his word entrusted to them and because they are in need of his protection, for the fallen world hates them.

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And yet it's to these people that hate God and hate God's people that we're called to bring salvation through the gospel.

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And so you can understand there is going to be conflict. We shouldn't be surprised by it, we should expect it.

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We're to tell unfallen people that what they do not want to hear, even as they view us as people they do not want to hear from, for they believe us to be ignorant, errant, and opposed to what they think is good and right for them.

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Amazingly they accuse us of being filled with hate, when it's our love and concern for their souls that we speak of what we understand to be true, the true word of God.

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I obtained this week a book, I'm up to about page 200, it's fascinating, written by a relatively unknown preacher of the 19th century,

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Solid Ground Christian Books has published it. It's a story of John Ashworth, first 80 pages is about his life, he was born in an amazingly impoverished situation, he tells a camp going to school without shoes, it's very touching.

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He started later what he called the Church of the Destitute, and so the book is entitled

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Amazing Conversions, John Ashworth and His Strange Tales, and the strange tales were his recounting of the conversions of these notorious people within the impoverished place.

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One common trait that seemed to characterize many of them was intense hatred of Christians, of their churches, and especially the parsons.

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But after their conversion to Christ, they became lovers of Christ, lovers of his church, and of those who told forth his word, and of course true conversion results in a great change in a person, so much so he's a new creation in Christ Jesus, and so upon becoming a true

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Christian, a person comes to love the things that God, love the things of God, and he comes to hate the things that God hates, a complete change takes place.

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Boy, I used to hate Christians, I hated God, I used to blaspheme Jesus Christ just to get them to stop witnessing,

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I hated my friends who cared for my soul, boy I was abusive.

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Ashworth told the story of the conversion of a hard man in his town named Sanderson, and this is a little lengthy, but this illustrates the natural hatred of the world when you confront a person clearly with the scriptures.

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Your lady's description of Sanderson's creed, or rather no creed, I found to be correct, his hatred to parsons, as he called ministers, was intense.

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The sight of one of them operated on him like the sight of water to a mad dog, and made him howl almost as loud as his own old fox, he named his dog

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Fox, and there was superstition in the town, and Ashworth talks about how this dog

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Fox, every time he'd come up under a window and howl, they believed that somebody was going to die in the household, superstition.

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He was about 35 years old when his neighbors began to talk of his altered looks, his stout form was giving way, severe coughing set in, and he was, in the opinion of many, a marked man, in other words, about to die.

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In misty or cold weather, he kept his room, ultimately became unable to walk up and down the stairs. An old shoemaker named

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Philip Poles became much concerned about the spiritual state of his dying infidel neighbor.

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He, however, durst not go to see him himself, but earnestly entreated

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Mr. Britton, a zealous primitive Methodist minister, to undertake the hazardous task. You know there's going to be conflict.

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We inherently know that, don't we, when we go to them and talk to people about Christ? They'd sooner have you curse

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Christ than bear witness, a good witness for him. Mr.

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Britton went to see Sanderson at the request of the anxious shoemaker. On entering the house, he informed

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Mrs. Sanderson of his wish to see her husband, adding that he was informed he was an infidel, in other words, a hardened unbeliever, but he had come to talk with him about his soul, for he was sure he had one.

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I'm very sorry you've called on such an errand, for I am sure my husband will not see you, and it would very much vex and disturb him if he knew you were in the house.

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I'm pained it is so, observed Mrs. Sanderson. I've come purposely to disturb him, for he'd better be disturbed here than damned hereafter.

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If God in his mercy does not disturb him, he'll be lost forever. Just go upstairs, if you please, and ask if I may see him."

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Poor woman, she knew not what to do. She was afraid to offend her husband or the minister, but Mr.

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Britton persisted, and at last, she went upstairs, began quietly to arrange the various little things about the room, fearing to tell her a real errand, but Sanderson had heard a strange voice in the house and inquired who was below.

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A gentleman of the name of Britton, whom Philip Powell requested to call and see you,

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I think he's the minister of Philip's church. Tell him I shall not see him, and when

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I need him or any other person, I'll let him know. He spoke these words so sharply that Mrs. Sanderson quickly left the room and closed the door after her.

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Well, what does he say, asked Mr. B. That he'll not see you or any other minister, was her reply.

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I have a good mind to kneel down at the bottom of the stairs and pray so loud he will hear. The Lord have mercy on him before it's too late, and Mr.

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Britton's colleague, hearing of the matter, charged him with being too soft and determined to go himself and see the infidel, whatever the consequences might follow, and Sanderson had strictly ordered his wife not to allow any parson or professor of religion by any means enter the room.

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She knew his temper, and when the second primitive minister came, she told him of her peremptory orders.

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Well, I have come to see him, intend to see him, was the answer, and if you dare not ask permission,

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I'll go up at once and take all consequences. Fortunately, her husband heard all the conversation, called from the top of the stairs.

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If any parson dared to enter his room, he would smash his brains out with the poker. I give his words that the reader may better understand the morose, untamed character of the man.

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He also ordered his wife to fetch a policeman to turn him out immediately, and this caused our good primitive brother to beat a retreat, and rather altered his opinion of Mr.

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Britton's softness. And so the matter was then brought up to Pastor Ashworth, who after prayerfully pondered the matter, determined to send one of the little girls in his

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Sunday school to see Sanderson. Apparently this infidel thought a great deal of this little girl, neighbor child, who would often come to see him, so the pastor taught the little girl to memorize a short hymn and then go recite it for Mr.

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Sanderson. Here's the account. She attended well. The directions I gave her at about three in the afternoon went up to the sick infidel's room.

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Well, Alice, you've come to see your sick friend, observed Sanderson. Yes, I've learned a new piece, and I've come to say it to you.

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Will you let me? Sanderson was quietly rocking himself in his armchair with his feet on a small footstool, his back towards the window.

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He took the child's book, saying, now then, be very careful and say it well. Mind you, do not miss a word.

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Alice stood before him, folded her hands, and a full, clear voice began. When life's tempestuous storms are o 'er, how calm he meets the friendly shore who died on earth to sin.

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Such peace and piety attends that where the sinner's pleasure ends, the good man's joys begin.

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See smiling patience smooth his brow. See the kind angels waiting now to waft his soul on high, while eager for the blessed abode, he joins with them to praise the

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God that taught him how to die. The horrors of the graven hell, those sorrows which the wicked feel, in vain their gloom display, for he who bids the comets burn and makes the night descend can turn his darkness into day.

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No sorrows drown his lifted eyes. No horror wrests the struggling sighs, as from the sinner's breast his

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God, the God of peace and love, pours sweetest comforts from above, then takes his soul to rest.

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When the child had finished the hymn, Sanderson handed her back the book, quietly said, that'll do.

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You may go down and take Fox with you. I want to have no company at the present.

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And Ashworth sought an early interview with the child on asking what Sanderson said. Her artless answer was, he put the book on his face and I think he cried.

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And so Ashworth was able then to establish communication with Sanderson, talking about secular matters, he wouldn't talk about religion matters.

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But over time, Sanderson came under conviction of sin, accompanied with the desire to be converted to Christ.

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The Holy Spirit was clearly working on him. And Ashworth gave this account.

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Still walking about the room, he took out his handkerchief, that would be Sanderson, pointed it to his face, he groaned out at last with a choking voice.

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Oh, Mr. Ashworth, Mr. Ashworth, I'm a miserable man. That child's him, and poor

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Joseph, that was another witness that was given, have crushed me to dust. And I have long,

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I've held out as long as I can, whatsoever must I do. And then

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Ashworth told of his conversion. For several days, Sanderson remained under the lashings of a terrified guilty conscience, still wrestling for pardon and peace.

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But the moment of deliverance came. Sanderson was on his knees, the earnest cry, oh

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God, for Christ's sake, blot out my iniquities. Save my poor guilty soul, and burst from a heart of anguish.

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And those words were the sublime strain that reached the majesty on high. And the swift -winged messenger of reconciliation, with a still small voice, whispered, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace.

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And Sanderson rose from his knees, a new man. He was now unspeakably happy.

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He was just a miserable man before him. Heaven had supplanted hell.

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His enraptured soul burst forth in praises and thanksgiving. The change made a noise in the neighborhood.

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His old acquaintances reported he was wrong in the head. And if they were right, he was wrong.

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For now, they were wide as the poles asunder. He sent an apology to the two ministers he had insulted.

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Shook hands with old Philip, the shoemaker, and for several months, tried to undo the injury he had done by speaking to old and young of the power of saving grace.

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Reading the Bible was his delight. And many passages in the New Testament, he committed to memory.

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He was now a happy man. And that's what happens when people are converted.

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I believe in present days, frankly, most evangelicals have lost understanding of what salvation truly is.

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They think it's simply forgiveness of sin, so you don't go to hell, go to heaven. Salvation is deliverance from sin, not just the penalty, but the power of sin, the love of sin.

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To become a Christian is to become a new creature in Christ. And, you know, how often do you hear about it?

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Not as frequently as we'd like. Forgive me for giving another example, because this is a common way in which hardened people are converted to Christ.

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Ashford told the story of Emmett, an older shopkeeper who kept his shop open on Sundays and decried the

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Christian Sabbath. He was a miserable man whose hard speech was known by everyone.

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His business was suffering because he was such an ornery guy. Ashford said, have you ever looked in a large mirror?

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Go up, look at that mirror and growl and curse at that person. And what do you see come back at you? This is what happens in the world, the way you act.

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Now go up and smile at the mirror. See what happens. Somebody's smiling back at you. And this really struck this man in his heart.

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When Ashford spoke with Emmett one morning, he responded to the pastor, If there is aught

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I delight in, it's to choke a parson. I wish I could choke everyone so that they could never speak again.

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And Ashford went on to tell the story of his witness to this hardened man, who over time came under great conviction of sin.

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The time came when Emmett's opinion was quite different toward the Lord, his church, and those who proclaim

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Christ to him. Here's the record. The change that Emmett was so troubled and anxious about came at last.

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He was under conviction. He'd been very attentive to the means of grace on the Sabbath and requested he might be allowed to attend a weeknight meeting for Christian experience.

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In other words, to be converted, where you hear the gospel. From one of these meetings, he returned in deepest distress and for four days sought mercy in prayers and tears.

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O Lord, wilt thou not pardon me? If thou wilt not, I cannot be surprised, for I have left thee to scorn thousands of times and insulted the very name of thy dear

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Son that died for sinners. I have indeed been the chief of sinners, but wilt thou not save me?

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O do, Lord, do, for Christ's sake, that died for sinners, do save me. And that heartbroken prayer was heard.

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And again, the power of Christ's blood was made manifest in being able to save the chief of sinners.

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For Emmett became a child of God, a sinner saved by grace. And in a letter

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I received immediately after, in which he gives this prayer in deliverance, he says, For a moment I felt as if I had left the earth, and that my spirit was soaring aloft into heaven.

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I felt my faith to be as strong as Samson. My wife says I'm happy as a king, but no king is half as happy.

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This is the brightest day of my life, and now truly I begin to live. For I'm a child of God, bought with the blood of the

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Lamb, that taketh away the sin of the world. And I hope I shall walk humbly before him, and daily ask his blessing and grace to guide me and help me to live at peace with all mankind.

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Emmett's conversion produced great astonishment amongst all who knew him and old him. The sneering, mocking, scorning, scoffing,

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Sunday shopkeeping, infidel book -selling, 30 -year secularist should become a Christian astonished all and greatly pleased many.

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But it was like a bombshell thrown among his old companions in infidelity. Many of these called to see if what they had heard was true and found it true indeed.

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But when it was reported that Emmett was expected to give public confession of his conversion at the church he attended, many went who were not often found in a place of worship.

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I suppose if there's one main lesson that stands out in this book as I'm reading it, is that the nature of true salvation is not merely or simply obtaining

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God's forgiveness of sins. I fear that there are scores, multitudes of church -going people who think that they have forgiveness of sins, they claim they believe on Jesus and his death, they know all the right words, they may even believe the doctrine, but if there's not a life that reflects the life of Christ, there's only deadness and damnation.

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And they're going to be awakened rudely on the day of judgment when

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Jesus says to them, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness, I never knew you.

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Salvation is transformative. We're a new creation in Christ when we come to salvation.

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Well again, Jesus said to his father in John 17, 14, I've given them your word and the world has hated them.

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It's always been the experience of those who have furthered through their witness the kingdom of Christ.

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But we're called to take this message to a world that hates us. And the idea that somehow we can polish off the corners and make our message palatable and pleasing to people who are lost in their sin out there, you end up stripping it of its content and its offense.

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There's an offense to the cross. And this is what the Holy Spirit uses. We don't want to be offensive, but you can be just as sweet as can be.

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And the message, if it's true and clear, is going to be an offense. And oftentimes this is how the

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Lord initially begins to deal with people because they're smitten. If what he is saying is true, then

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I am in the wrong. If what he says is true, I have got to make some changes here.

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And then oftentimes an effort is made to make some changes only to fail. And then they begin to say, unless Jesus sets me free,

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I'm a goner. And this is how God brings people to true faith in Jesus Christ.

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The fact is when we are converted, we're taken out of the kingdom of Satan and we're translated into the kingdom of his dear son.

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Top of page 8 in your notes as we begin to close off here. Verse 15 records,

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Jesus said, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one, from the devil.

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There are many Christians who think that the ideal place for them to live is away from people, insulated in the world.

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Let me go out and be a homesteader somewhere in the woods where I don't have to be in the world. This is not

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God's will if that's your primary motivation. Nothing wrong with living out in the woods, but if you're doing so because you think that somehow you're going to be more holy out there, separate from the world, you're going to get out there and find that the real problem is you're there.

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There's no getting out of the world. The Lord would have his people. That's why I'm here, not in Montana.

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Nothing wrong with people living in Montana, but you got to be where the people are if you're going to be in the ministry.

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We're to be dwelling in the world for this is the sphere in which he would have us work. And we are to perform this work with the assurance that the devil cannot defeat us.

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He can make things tough, but he cannot defeat us because the Lord Jesus prayed,

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Father, keep them from the evil one. And so the devil can do nothing ultimately to defeat us.

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He can disappoint us and frustrate us. He forbid Paul from going into a certain region, but it was all due to the will of God.

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So the Lord Jesus, don't take them out of the world. As Thomas Matten wrote, not that thou should take them out of the world that is presently glorify them, either by ordinary death or an extraordinary translation like Elijah and Enoch were translated.

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Christ was not ignorant of their danger, and yet he would have them right out the storm.

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He would not carry his disciples to heaven with him, nor doth he pray his father to do it, though he loved their company, and they his, that they should be content to die with him.

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As they said in John 11, the father wanted them to continue in the world, as did

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Jesus. But keep them from the devil. Now, Jesus did not desire to pray his disciples be taken out of the fallen world, but they might live and strive within the world, immune from the assaults and harms of the devil.

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Of course, the devil is a very real personal being. He has great power in the fallen world.

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He has the ability to cause both spiritual and physical harm. But here our Lord prayed to the father he would protect his apostles from both.

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As Manton wrote, keep them from the devil, that they may not come under his power, from the world, that they may not be deceived by his allurements.

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Briefly, this keeping may be referred to in their life or to their souls. Keep them alive as long as they have work to do.

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Keep their souls, that they may neither by the world nor by the devil be drawn to do anything unseemly or unbecoming their profession.

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2 Corinthians 13, I pray God that you do not do evil, but that you should do that which is honest, as Paul wrote to the church and Jesus to the church.

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I will keep them from the hour of temptation which will come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth.

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And so, it's as though the Lord speaks here of his concern and care for his apostles. In the same way,

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Christ in his wisdom orders the existence of every one of his own. He prays as a high priest on your behalf as a

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Christian. Now the devil can make your life, you know, in many ways miserable, but he's a frustrated being because he cannot really hurt you.

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Jesus warned Peter, Satan desires to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith fail not.

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And the devil would destroy you in every way, but even what the devil does ultimately falls out to your spiritual benefit and growth.

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It's amazing, the devil must be the most frustrating spiritual being in existence because he can do nothing to thwart the furtherance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

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And so, as long as we have opportunity for service to Christ and his people, our desire should be to remain in this fallen world, even though it would be even, of course, more pleasant to depart and be with Christ.

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And Paul wrote of that, I won't read the passage, but he says, hey, I wish I could go to be with Christ, which would be far better, but as long as I see that being here will bring benefit to you, service to you,

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I'm going to remain. And that should be our desire as Christians. I know

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I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress in joy of the faith. Perhaps that's a good place to stop.

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We'll pick up here next week, Lord willing, with John chapter 17, verse 6.

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They are not of the world, just I am not of the world. It's actually a repetition of verse 14.

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It's the same words. Jesus repeats them, but with a different purpose, a different context. And we'll consider that next week,

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Lord willing. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your great grace.

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We thank you that your grace is greater than our sin, and that you purposed, Lord, in spite of our rebellion and our lost condition, to save us through Jesus Christ.

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Thank you, God, for your mercy, your love. Help us, our God, to be willing to suffer the consequences, the difficulty that will come our way as we bear witness to the true gospel of Jesus Christ in our fallen world.

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And we pray, our God, that you would give us fruit for our effort, that we would see our churches increase, see the kingdom of Jesus Christ advance and expand, our

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God, so that we might see fully realized, Lord, people from every tribe, every nation, having come to salvation through Jesus Christ.

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Help us, our Lord, even as our world seems to be degrading and degenerating into chaos, confusion, violence, that you'd help us to be true to you and faithful,

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Lord, in maintaining and proclaiming your word, that we might live faithfully to you,

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Lord, in these days in which you've called us and you've equipped us and promised us, our

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God, for a wonderful and glorious success in serving you.