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Mr. Mayor, but I might as well.
Uh-huh.
Take it to make me cry.
We ask the Lord's blessing.
Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for the truth of this hymn that reminds us that we are strangers and we are pilgrims. In this scene, we are strangers. We don't belong in this world. For heavenly citizens and pilgrims on the way.
Home to the Father's house.
And now with our salvation nearer than when we first believed our God and our Father.
We acknowledge that, umm, we see evidence.
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Of those things that are going to take place after the rapture, how this world is forming up morally and is being ripened, as it were, for judgment. And so as we have thy word before us this afternoon, we just ask thee that thou bless it, that it might bear that precious fruit in our lives, that we might have a sense of, uh, what it is to be in relationship with the Father.
And with the sun and what it is to have eternal life and the blessed portion that is ours. Our God, our Father, we pray that thou S work by thy spirit, that those things that are necessary for us might be brought out according to thy mind, and that we might be refreshed, might be encouraged, instructed, and that we might apply these things to our feet. Our God. And so we thank thee that thy love has separated us from this world and given us a life that's worth living.
So help us.
Our God and our Father, we give thanks for the occasion together in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Brother Ted, would you consider that we could start at chapter 17, maybe verse 6?
Chapter 17 of John, verse 6.
John chapter 17, starting with verse 6.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest to me, and they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for I have given unto them the word which thou gavest me, and they have received them.
That I've known, surely, that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given me, For they are Thine, and all mine are Thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those Thou hast given me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world.
That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them.
Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth. As Thou has sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Not that they are for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as Thou, Father art in me. And I envy that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.
In the glory which Thou has given me, I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one.
I in them, and Thou and Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me and us love them as Thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom now has given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me. For Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee. And these have known that Thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it that the love were with Thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in them.
I have manifested thy name. What does that mean?
What would it refer to the the full, uh, revelation of the of the Father? Now in Christianity, as mentioned, we have the knowledge of a relationship with God as our Father is the same character as the Lord himself enjoys.
Umm and uh, we're brought into the enjoyment of that relationship.
Umm, as umm, believers now as children of God, I ascend unto my father, and your father to my God, and your God is. Is that the thought?
If you look back in John's Gospel chapter 2 and verse 11 you have another manifestation. It says in John 2 verse 11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus and Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory, and his disciples believed on him.
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Whether he manifested fully the.
Father in all of his. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
And the Israelites in past time, they had the names of Jehovah. They knew the Lord as the Lord God Almighty. They had a distance of relationship. But now they were seeing that one who had been presented as Jehovah in the Old Testament. Now they were seeing who He was. He was being manifest to them. And in the completeness of what? His name?
Meant they they saw him there.
There's a verse in Jeremiah Chapter 9 that might tie some of this together. Verse 24.
But led him that glory, glory in this that.
He understandeth, and knowing me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth.
Or in these things I delight, saith the Lord. So in that sense.
There was the one that was the dispenser of loving kindness. That was the one.
That upheld righteousness, and this is but a partial.
Revelation, so to speak, of that manifestation that we have in verse 6.
Where it speaks in uh, just to uh.
Clarify that.
The relationship of Father, I think we all understand, is only known to true believers.
And it's a relationship that is characteristic of Christianity, where it speaks in.
Umm. In Ephesians 4.
Where it speaks of umm.
God and Father of all.
That does not mean that God is the father of those who are still in their sins without Christ, but that is in the creatorial power of God He created. Every person, every man and woman is responsible to God because they're the offspring of God, as Paul said, and they're.
They have accountability to God, He was their creator, although they don't acknowledge, and many do not acknowledge it, but the relationship of Father is something peculiar to uh, to Christianity and, and this, this period, this dispensation in which we are now, umm, to enter into the very.
Thoughts of God and have the capacity to to enjoy God in His person.
As in that relationship of bothering we as children.
So to manifest this particular.
Phrase to manifest his name.
Than was to.
Make appear. We can put it that way or to present.
All that the Father's name, uh, we might say, represents it represents who he is, His person is, if we can apply it this way, his personality, his, uh, the way he is, we might say. And that's what the Lord manifested to us. I know for myself, I've always had this concept of the sun and the concept of the Father and my concept of the sun was one personality who was.
Tender and merciful and kind. And then there was the Father who was austere, stern, and, uh, I don't know if others have kind of separated those two persons in that way or, or the thought that their personalities were different. Because what we're told is that what the Lord Jesus was manifesting here was the Father. He was making known to us, the Father. If you look at Matthew Chapter 11.
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And verse 27.
A verse that a brother pointed out to me shortly after I was gathered many years ago. I had never seen this before, but Matthew 1127.
It says part way into the verse, no man knoweth the Son.
But the father?
Period.
That's what the brother told. No one knows the son but the father.
And neither knoweth any man the Father save or accept the Son.
And he to whomsoever the son will reveal him.
And so the Lord Jesus came to reveal the Father, but he didn't reveal them to everybody.
As you say it's, so this is.
One of the essential elements, if you will, of Christianity that's exclusive to it is that we know the Father because we when we knew the Lord Jesus, when we observed him in the Gospels, the way he is, his personality, if we can say it that way, what we are seeing is that of the Father.
The sun is hidden and This is why it's something that those that.
Don't understand or try to uh, apply the human relationship of son and father.
And try to apply that to the relationship of God the Father and God the Son. They've got it backwards.
There we we do not understand this mystery of the relationship of the Father and the Son. This has not been revealed to us.
What we know is the Father, and this is what you know, Philip, the Lord is trying to make Philip understand it was Phillip. I'm not. It was Phillip or Thomas. Thomas. Thomas, Sorry.
Why are you asking me to show you the Father?
That's what you've been seeing all along, you might say.
I'm sorry, what's Phillip?
Sorry about that.
Here we have in that diverse that our brother referred to. There all things are delivered to me of my father, and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Now we're on very holy ground here. We have to be careful because it doesn't say that the Father reveals the Son here.
This is an inscrutable mystery that we need to.
Be very careful that we don't try to analyze or dissect the person of the Godhead, person of Christ. It's an inscrutable mystery. We can, we can enjoy it by faith, but we're not called to understand it. And the early brethren have made some very serious errors in this regard. They have looked into the ark and they have been, they've been LED astray. We need to.
Simply rejoicing the truth.
Of the Person of Christ, perfect God, and one who took manhood.
Took the Godhead glory into union with himself as a man and leave it at that.
Is that right, Robert? Yes, if we go back to the beginning of the Bible itself in Genesis.
It says in verse one in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
It's really Elohim, plural. They didn't understand. They knew that the name of God there was plural, but they didn't understand.
And So what the Lord is saying here that in what characterized Christianity and he's giving the seed plot of Christianity in the Gospel of John, it's a transitional gospel and he's unfolding the knowledge of the Father and his name is exposed here. It's the the manifested all of the glories of his name in connection with that relationship. And that word manifestation means to really take the cover off. It's our older brother used to give a little illustration and I think it's very nice.
Is you might have a table with a tablecloth on it and all kinds of things underneath the table. And you might say, well, I think that's a bowl that looks maybe like a glass. I can't see it clearly, but there's clearly something underneath the tablecloth while someone reaches out and pulls the tablecloth off of that table and you see clearly now there's there's a bowl, there's a cup. And in the Old Testament, they, they read those names of Jehovah. Let's look at it in Isaiah Chapter 9. They read those names.
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And, umm, they had a little idea of the.
The Godhead glories of Jehovah, but not clearly.
And So what God desires in Christianity is that we would know the distinction.
Of the persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And God the Son manifested the glories of the name of God and His personal. So in Chapter 9 of Isaiah, verse 6. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end. Well, they read those things. They were prophetic. They didn't understand clearly. And we cannot say ourselves really definitively that we understand clearly. But we can enjoy what has been given to us, and we can enjoy the character of the Lord as it's given in those different names in the Old Testament, and hear that He manifested, I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gave us, Me out of the world.
Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
Think of how he did it with the love of the Father too. Wasn't it just back one chapter? In the end of chapter 16 he says, verse 25. These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs, But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
Fit umm, at that day you shall ask in my name, and I pray not, I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you that.
That's the wonderful thing, isn't it? Think of how the father has been revealed in that.
Love not only for the Son, but for those the Son died for he that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall we not with him also freely give us all things He tells us in Romans 8. And so this is what was declared to us, And what a wonderful thing to know the Father.
There's a nice connection here towards the end of the verse where it says Sal gave us them. Me, I think it's nice to make the connection with the Levites that were given to Aaron. Let's just look at a few verses and Numbers first and chapter 3.
Verse nine it says, And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron, and to his sons.
They are wholly given unto Him out of the children of Israel.
There was not to be any exception.
And they were to be given wholly. And let's just look at another verse in chapter 8.
And verse 19.
And I have given.
The Levites as a gift to Aaron.
And go on to Chapter 18.
And verse 6.
And I behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel to you. They are given as a gift for the Lord to do the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
So that states the purpose there, doesn't it?
And so we have types in the Old Testament, but these types fall short and I think we get a little picture of what we have in our chapter from what we have in the Book of Numbers and.
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It's wonderful to think that we have been given to the Lord Jesus, but then there's also a purpose to, isn't there?
That we should be to the praise of His glory.
So as we've already said in.
The really brings out the thought that the source of all of this blessing is the Father's heart. And so now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, while the Old Testament Saints didn't know the Father. Have you ever thought when you pray? And it says, I think it's in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 20, it says giving thanks always unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought when you pray?
And you say father?
That you have a far closer relationship that even Abraham had. Moses couldn't pray and say Father, and so you and I can pray to the Father. But we know that the source of our blessing, the source of what we have in Christ is the Father's heart. And it's already been brought out in love with the Father. And so the Father we have been given to the Son as a gift. And it says I have been. I have given unto them.
The words which thou gave us, me, and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou did send me. So we not only know that we have that relationship with the Father and that we have been given as a gift to the Son, but that we have the words that have been given of the Father to the Son to speak to us, to communicate to us His love and His purposes, that we might not be ignorant in the day that we live in.
We ought to be intelligent as was brought before us in the meeting previous. We ought to be intelligent as to where we are in the Christian testimony, where we are in the world's history, and that we have been given as a gift to the Son. We have the word of God-given to us that expresses His love for us, His purpose for us, and that we recognize that the Son Himself was sent from the Father's heart, from heaven itself, to bring us into that blessing.
We have a Prime Minister in Ottawa where I live, but, uh, if I was to send him a gift, I, I wouldn't know what to send. He probably has everything that heart can wish, Prime Minister Harper. But he wrote to me a letter and said that he wanted to such and such for his birthday. Then I would know what to send him.
But God has done this for us. He has given us his word. He has shown us that which is pleasing to Him plainly in his precious word. We have it in our hands. And it's a wonderful blessing that God has given us his mind in his precious word, how much we should value it and live in and live in the good of the of the truth.
And seek to please the Lord down here. A little time that remains to us.
That's why John's gospel begins the way it does in chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
And so the Lord Jesus is the communication, God's communication to man to reveal himself.
And so God sent the Son, his Son, The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, yes, but he also sent him with the higher purpose, if I could put it that way, to reveal himself. Because in the Old Testament days they could worship a far off, They couldn't come into the very presence of the Lord except once every year. The high priest could come, but now you and I can come as those that are holy priests into the presence of the Lord.
To offer our sacrifices of praise and Thanksgiving to Him.
Without ceasing and without fear. And so here really in verse 8 speaks of communion. We're brought into communion with God.
We know the Father and we know the Son. We know the source of the blessing, and that's the Father, the Father's heart. How thankful we ought to be, how it ought to be expressed in our lives.
The appreciation that we have for the knowledge of the father, the knowledge of the son, to be able to walk in communion with those with the the sun and to know the father.
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It has been said there's three onenesses here. The first one that.
We have here in verse 11, I suppose, the Oneness in communion. There's Oneness in testimony later on Oneness in glory. But notice that in verse 11.
The words Holy Father.
Are used there, and if I'm going to have communion with the Lord, I've got to put away from my life those things that are unholy.
Uh, we're called upon to uh.
To walk in separation from evil. I cannot have communion, I cannot walk with the Lord if I'm allowing something in my life that is contrary to His word.
Uh, that will, uh.
Will destroy communion with the Lord, so this is the first reference here.
We have Father, we have Holy Father, we have righteous Father, but here it is in connection with communion.
With the Lord in our pathway down here.
Uh, and it means that we have to walk in self judgment because we do have an old nature that allows too often manifests itself and, uh, hinders communism with the Lord. Or it might be the world that gets into our hearts and becomes.
An object we've been, we have been delivered from this present evil world, but it still attracts our hearts. So, uh, we have to be careful of our walk, walk circumspectly.
It's even, uh, I think.
Brother John goes beyond and I don't know, I'm not saying you were insinuating this, but it goes beyond just.
Avoiding certain things that may seem unclean or sinful.
Almost any occupation can become something that interrupts communion.
Umm before this he calls him the Father, but when his about to use the name as an instrument for sanctifying them, he says Holy Father, Holy Father, keep through thy name so.
It's the holiness of God.
Has manifested in that name, Holy Father, that is to keep them, to sanctify them and.
It has to be understood that.
The things that are in the world are not of the Father and.
I believe here he is praying that we would be kept, you know, again almost from anything, and it may not be the same things for you As for me.
The things that are not of the father, when, when the apostle John said the things that are in the world, he names three things that are really in US, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And you say, well, the things that are in the world, but then he says these things, these are things that exist within us. Well, that's because it's it's not a particular thing out there.
It's the things that 'cause our heart to depart from the Father.
Those are the things that he's praying that we'd be kept from.
Spoke to a sister recently who's.
Relatively young in the faith and she had been depressed lately and, and, uh.
And I've encountered this a number of times and.
Christians that are just feeling like they're down and they're not enjoying the Lord.
And you don't like to be critical or judgmental or try to.
Set them straight necessarily, but you call them on the phone and you can hear the television in the background.
I'm not trying to say, you know, right or wrong or this is right or that's wrong. But the point I'm trying to make is what? Well, you know, if you're, if you're spending time imbibing the world, what do you expect as a believer? You're going to, you're going to be in the joy of the Lord while you've been imbibing the world. You know, it's just, it's not that complicated.
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And I would even say going beyond that, I mentioned television, but you know, nowadays on out on the web, there is no end to the amount of entertainment and fun and occupation you can have in front of that screen.
And, uh, it's troubling.
To think you know, we're told in the first chapter of Romans.
That God thinks the invisible things of God have been manifest from the foundation of the world by the things he created.
That's what Romans one says.
It says you can learn and you can know, at least in part.
You can know God through his creation.
And as believers, even though we've been brought into this intimate relationship, it does not, uh, take away the fact that we can learn things about God through his creation.
We it's another way it always it was his word that brought the creation into being. And so in a sense, the creation can be looked at in a sense as the word of God and it can be read. It can be enjoyed. Why would you not spend some time out there enjoying the creation even though tainted by sin and through the fall, the creation still reveals. And Paul says that's why no one has an excuse.
No one has an excuse. If they haven't been preached, the gospel hasn't been preached to them, or they haven't heard the word of God, or never read the scriptures, they're still without excuse.
Because the creation testifies of him.
So why would you spend so much time on the computer?
On some virtual reality or farce book and whatever else is out there.
Instead of spending some time enjoying creation and getting to know your God a little more.
I might just point it out in the 19th Psalm, maybe if we turn to it very briefly, we're given three revelations, 3 testimonies, if I could put it that way, 3 testimonies that God has given to man. And you mentioned the first one in the 19th Psalm, from verse one down to the end of verse six is the testimony of creation. And so that's the everlasting gospel.
And he says in verse 2, Day unto day utter his speech, and night unto night.
Short knowledge, There is no speech nor language. I'm going to read it the way it says Mr. Darby's translation. There's no speech nor language nor words, yet their voice is heard. And then it speaks of in verse 7 down to verse 11, the end of verse 11. You have the word of God-given. It's a special revelation from God himself. And the Lord Jesus came and he gave us. He says in our chapter, I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. He completes the revelation.
Of the Father here he gives that revelation, and we know that the apostle Paul was used as well.
And the other apostles to complete the word of God, and then in the last revelation or the last testimony in verses 12/13/14 in the 19 Psalm is really the testimony of man's conscience.
But he needs the light of God's Word to give him the light to shine upon that his conscience, that he might have a full revelation. And so, as I say, the word of God is given. The Lord Jesus was sent of the Father, and He gave the words I have given unto them, words which thou gavest me, that we might be brought into the knowledge of our relationship with the Father, and in the intimate relationship that we have there, but also the blessings of Christianity.
Lord Jesus gave the seed plot of those the blessings of Christianity. We already went over that verse two. He should give eternal life. Now He gives the words in verse eight and then a little bit later on in verse 22. The glory which thou gave us, me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. So He brings us into the dignity of those that are in the family of God and John's ministry brings us into the family of God, teaches us our responsibility in the family of God and the blessedness of that relationship.
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He doesn't bring us into full Christian position the way the Apostle Paul does. He doesn't speak of the church and bring us into the UMM. He doesn't teach his connection with the one body, I should say. And so here he's bringing us into family relationship and that we know the Father and the blessedness of it.
Which is, it would have been correct to say that the oneness that John speaks of is the oneness of life, the oneness we have through sharing a common life. That is the divine light. And the oneness that Paul speaks of is the oneness that is, uh, that is created or formed by the Spirit and the indwelling spirit.
We should be clear on that. It's often confused. The two onenesses are often confused and.
And that leads to confusion in practice as well.
Might be good to read verse 21 in that connection.
That they all may be one as thou Father art in me, and I indeed that they also may be one in US, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And so he's really bringing before them the family relationship here that were part of the same family. It's really not. He's not bringing in church truth in connection with being members of the one body of Christ. That's really Paul.
Not ministry.
While we're left in a world that is, uh.
That is opposed to.
To our Savior and the disciples had the comfort and the.
Keeping of the Lord when he was with them, but now he was going to be separated from them and they were going to be left in a world that was opposed to God and to and to grace. And we live in that world today. We gather around a rejected Christ, brethren, not around a glorified Christ. Tomorrow morning the Lord tarry. We're going to remember the Lord in his death.
We gather around a rejected Christ, and so the Lord foretells of that rejection very clearly in this chapter.
Umm, he, he, uh, shows them that the same spirit that was against him in his wonderful pathway of perfect obedience.
That same spirit would be against them, would be manifest toward them, if they.
Were true representatives of the Lord Jesus and.
The same spirit which crucified Christ is in the world today. And if we're faithful, and I'm afraid that often I am not faithful, but we're faithful to the Lord, we're going to feel that that enmity toward the message and toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But remember that the Lord is there on high as our great high priest and our advocate, and he's living there to make intercession for us.
To strengthen us in the pathway, to give us the courage and the energy to go on in this Dark World and to be a testimony for him and to be an ambassador for Christ. We have the provision in a glorified Christ in God's right hand. What a what a wonderful truth that is.
I think it's nice how John brings in eternal security in his writings. And here in verse 12 he says when I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gave us, me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And so Judas we know is portrayed here is the son of Perdition. He was one who pretended to be a believer and he really wasn't.
He was really an enemy within. And so the Lord had been given those disciples and all those that were of faith. He had been given them and he's being you have been given to him. If you know him as Savior, you can never be lost. It's impossible for you to be lost. He says in John's Gospel chapter 10, it says in verse 28, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my father. My hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hands.
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And so we have double security, as our brother Gordon used to often remind us when we were younger.
Is that the Lord has us in his hand. None of them shall pluck them out of my hand and then it's the Father's hand on top of the sons hand. None is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. We have double security. But here in this verse that we're reading in verse 12 of our chapter, the Lord is the Father has given them, given his disciples, given us to the son and it says none of them is lost.
None of them. They can't be lost. Your salvation has nothing to do with how.
Your performance, as brother mentioned this morning, nothing with your performance all has to do with the work of Christ. It's all finished. It was all finished at the cross of Calvary and were kept by the power of God. If there's any fruit in your life or mine, why that's a different thing. And so he it says in John's Gospel chapter 15 that in verse two that every branch in me that's a real believer that beareth not fruit he taketh away.
In every branch that beareth fruit, He purchased it, that it may bring forth more fruit. And so sometimes there is in His governmental ways those that do not bear fruit, those that will not walk in a holy way. Why, it says He taketh away. And sometimes in the governmental ways of God a life is taken of one is a real believer. That perhaps is, you might call it the recalling of an ambassador.
But when there's fruit for the Lord, there's a desire to please him.
It says that he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. And that's the work of the Lord with you and I. But it's not to be taken as a picture of whether we really have salvation or not. Why we're kept by the power of God through faith. And so the Lord is, he says, I have kept them and none of them is lost. None that are redeemed with a precious blood of Christ can ever be lost.
It's nice to see that we have a faint type of.
Internal security brought before us in the 25th chapter of Exodus where we have the table of showbread that's mentioned and it mentions in the 25th verse of that chapter says Thou shalt make unto it a border of a hand breath round about.
Well, that provided security, that border of hand breath, didn't it? So it's pointing to that which we have here not only in this chapter, but earlier on in John's Gospel as well.
Very solemn thing to think of Judas and his.
His.
And under the judgment of God, the son of perdition, the only person, I think, where it says that Satan actually entered into him.
To perform that, uh, awful act of betraying the Lord.
And it's remarkable that.
The disciples questioned who it was that would betray the Lord because nothing that.
The Lord Jesus ever did during his life would raise one suspicion.
Of any difference in his.
Feelings toward Judas, and he had beheld all his wondrous works and heard his words and, uh.
It didn't make any impression upon him. I suppose he did perform miracles too, but he was the son of perdition. He never had a divine life, and he went to his own place. But the Lord never betrayed any any suspicion that Judas would be the betrayer of him.
00:50:08
I should say he never, he never made any statement that, uh, the disciples would, would have, uh.
Would have concluded that Judas would be the betrayer.
Since he carried the bag, they probably thought he was most trusted.
If Judas had read the Old Testament, he would have found that there was one of the Lord's.
On that would betray him and he could have said, uh, I'm not going to be that person.
But he allowed Satan to take control of him, and covetousness was his downfall, and he committed that awful act. So the Lord calls him here the son of perdition.
Look at some of those Scriptures, John, It says in the Psalms, he's mentioned five times that I know of Indiana, the Psalms. Judas is in the 35th Psalm. He's mentioned in verse eight. So the 35th Psalm, verse 8 says let destruction come upon him at unawares, and let his net that he'd catch himself into that very destruction, let him fall.
And then if you look at the 41St Psalm.
The 41St Psalm, verse nine, Yeah, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, have lifted up his heel against me. And then if you look at the 55th Psalm, another mention in verse 13.
But it was thou a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked into the House of God.
In company, and then the 69th Psalm.
I can't remember where which verse it is.
He's mentioned in the 69th Psalm here.
Perhaps verse 20.
Reproach have broken my heart. I'm full of heaviness and look for some to take pity. But there was none. And for comforters that I found none. And then there's one more Psalm 109th Psalm.
And umm, verse 6.
We could read the few other verses, but verse six set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer come and become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and begged well.
The Lord mentioned Judas, as you say in the Old Testament, and in a sense there had to be a Judas, There had to be a betrayer.
But Judas was responsible.
And so he was lost. He numbered. He was numbered among those that were the disciples. He had the most favored place among the disciples of the Lord while the Lord was here. And he betrayed the Lord at the end of his life. He proved that he wasn't real. I hope there's no one here that is masquerading as a believer. Judas was a real pretender, but he's in a lost eternity.
Robert Towne, Acts, Chapter One.
Verse 20.
So that.
Peter's quoting there in Psalm 6925 is the verse.
What is written in the book of the Psalms? That his habitation be desolate.
So there's two ways of sanctification here that is brought before US1 is the truth of the Word of God. As we read the word of God will cleansed. That's the washing of water by the Word.
Our ways are corrected.
And it leads us to self judgment. Sanctify them.
Through the truth, thy word is truth. We need the daily washing of the Word of God because we live in a defiling world. The other point is, I might say here that sanctification just means separation.
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We should be more sanctified from the world this year than we were last year. And here it's the thought of a progressive sanctification. Sanctification is is presented in the word of God in two ways. There's the absolute positional sanctification which we have through the work of Christ. There's no, there's no progress there. There's no change. That's the aspect that is brought out in Hebrews. The Epistle of Hebrews is positional sanctification.
We've been separated from the world once and for all, but here it's the progressive side. You get it also in First Thessalonians 5.
Pray God that your spirit, soul and body might be sanctified better. Look at that verse First Thessalonians 5 and 23.
Our First Thessalonians 5.
This again is the.
Verse 23 the the, the progressive side of sanctification, the practical side and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what we have in our chapter here. It's something that is.
Continuing on in our lives and the Word of God is the instrument that is used. But there's also another aspect. The Lord has set himself apart in the glory as an object.
Uh, for their sakes, verse 19, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
So the Lord has set himself apart in the glory as our object now, and if we're occupied with Him as our.
Brother has brought out if we have him as the object, that will have a sanctifying effect in our lives.
So when he was here, he sanctified himself. He set himself apart.
For the purpose that God had given him, to accomplish the work that his Father had given him.
And so it takes purpose of heart in each one of our lives to sanctify ourselves. And it doesn't just happen. There needs to be really energy of faith to do it and to look forward to that day, that future day. And the Lord is desiring in your life and mind that we look forward to that day. I might say that the apostle Paul speaks of only two days in his ministry.
One day is that day and the other is this day, and you have an opportunity to live this day and for this day, or you can live your life in view of that day. And so the apostle Paul and his ministry presents those two days in a nice way. And so sanctification really in his desire is that you and I would be sanctified, set apart by God for a holy purpose.
Is one of the little descriptions. We know that in connection with sanctification there are different aspects of it.
But here the Lord speaks and says in verse 19 that He sanctified himself.
That they also might be sanctified through thy truth. And so the truth of God should have a sanctifying effect upon us. We can't just read it, and it's a good theory for other people to live by. But if we understood and we knew the truth and we had bought the truth for ourselves, we're willing to lay aside those things that would hinder us from walking in it. Why we would walk separated lives. And that's really what a St. is. Saint means a separated 1.
We're separated. God has arranged that we would be separated from this world. We don't belong to this world, he says in verse 14. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. You have been separated by the work of Christ, forever separated from this world.
You're a child of God, you don't belong to this world and it hates children of God that live for Christ and live for heaven.
We don't know if you've ever noticed it before, but verse 20 is where we get included in all this.
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It really is. Uh, it's a verse that should have parenthesis around it.
The Lord, in a sense, stops in the middle of what he's saying and says.
Not just praying for these ones here that are here with me now.
But for all those ones in the future who are going to believe on me through their word.
Through their testimony, that's what we have in our hands.
We have their testimony as as to all this truth was given to us in the Bible. We believe on Him through what we have in the Bible.
Which is their word.
And He prays for us here. It's wonderful. Ever wonder about it? All the things that He was praying for, His disciples then applied to those who believe on Him through their work.
It corresponds to 1St Epistle John in chapter one.
And yeah.
You get verse 3.
Well maybe read verse 2 for the life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which is with the Father and was manifested unto us, the apostles.
That which we the apostles have seen and heard, declare we unto you. How important that they would be one, as the Father and the Son were one. Well, they couldn't be one, as the Father and the Son are one in Trinity.
So it can't mean that.
But it's one in that all that the sun did and spoke was exactly what he'd been given of the Father. When the Son spoke, it was exactly the words of the Father. There was no difference. They were one in their thought. They were one in their purpose, they were one in their aim. And so how important that the apostles would be one as they were one. And we've received their testimony.
And it's one. It's one.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, the apostles. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And so we have been brought into that circle of fellowship.
Through their work and the testimony of it is one. And so now we find all those things that apply to them apply to us. We've been brought into that same circle of fellowship and communion.
The Lord really is putting us in His own path.
He's going back to the father.
He's leaving us in this world, but He's putting our feet in His own path that He took through this world. He perfectly knew and enjoyed the Father and His love, and He manifested it, and He is manifested the Father to us. Now we know and enjoy the Father's love, He and perfection. We in our measure manifest the heart of God.
He's given us His word, says of the apostles. They've kept it all. He kept the Father's word, and he knew and enjoyed his love because there was nothing divergent in any way in the Lord's path of thought. His obedience was imperfection. And you and I, as we keep His word, we're going to know and enjoy his love in that way too.
In every way in putting our.
In his own path through this world was the world opposed to him that was already brought out? Yes, it will be opposed to us too, and everything we are in that new life that we possess. The world is against it. There's obstacles to overcome. He overcame it. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And so.
In every way through this, it's putting our feet in his path, and so consequently in His path down here, as God manifests in flesh, He was one with the Father. And so now there's a unity manifested again He imperfection. We look within and we see failures, but that the truth is absolute. This is true of believers.
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We need we need it for our conscience because our practice can come far short, but nonetheless, it's true. And this is as we walk in the good of it. There's a unity that's manifested as is brought out in in verse 11.
But they were to know the Lord in a different character. Now it was not in an earthly aspect one who would establish the Kingdom.
We weren't to no price after the flesh anymore. They were to know him in a heavenly character. Uh, he was returning to the Father and uh, the Spirit of God would come and uh, we would have, uh, an understanding of our relationship. Now we are, we, we know Christ glorified at the right hand of God. This is a very important point to, to, to grasp that now we know the Lord.
As a glorified man now, of course we.
Meditate upon his wonderful pathway down here in the Gospels of Mr. Darby said, don't get far from the gospel. That's the moral glory of the Lord Jesus fully exhibited for our for our instruction, our comfort. But now we know Christ as a glorified man at God's right hand, and there he is interceding for us. When we fail, he intercedes.
As our advocate, it's really his intercession that leads to our, uh, respiration. It's not our prayers that, uh, engage the Lord as our advocate. It's His work for us. There at God's right hand, He prays for us. He works in our conscience when we have failed and, uh, He washes us by His word and restores our souls. It starts with the Lord, but the whole idea.
Here is that we know Christ now in a heavenly character, and we've been brought into a heavenly relationship that even the disciples did not know at this time.
Could we turn together, please, to Jeremiah chapter 15?
Jeremiah, chapter 15.
And verse 62.
Jeremiah 16 verse 16 says Thy words were found, and I defeat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name, oh Lord God, for those some instruction there for us.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them. I believe this is what the Lord is Speaking of in John 6 and.
And it really comes down to believing the words.
Now the words were given to us and the Lord says in our chapter.
Verse 13 these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. And then in first John where where our brother took us to they said that these things. Verse four, these things we write unto you that your joy may be full and now related to the verse that was just read to us. The key to having joy.
From the words is believing them.
And believing them leads to obedience. So.
Really the key is believing. And there's a scripture, I'm not going to take time to look, look it up, but it says the Lord fill you with all joy and peace in believing. That's the key. They're not going to have any joy in the word of God unless you believe it.
And believing it is, is essentially that's what eating the word is, is believable.
18 in the back, 18 in the last.
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A bottle of laundry feminine. So you have anything else also, but I don't know, but I don't know about.
That.
That we read a verse in John chapter 20.
Four weeks commit ourselves.
John's Gospel, chapter 20.
Verse 29.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou has believed. Blessed are they that have not seen.
And yet have believed. Shall we pray?
Our gracious God, our loving Father, we.
I have no doubt from the meetings of this day that we stand in a blessed position because of Thy Son, even our Lord Jesus. We thank the Our Father that we've been able to take in much of what was given out this day, and we trust that it would work in our hearts, that we might walk in it, that we might be in some fashion a display of that Blessed One.
Who is no longer in this scene but yet.
Is very much attached to our hearts. So we thank Thee, our Father, for the enjoyment of these things that pertain to Him and to Thyself. And we look to Thee for Thy rich blessing to each one, that whatever portion it is we come away from here with that it might work to Thy glory. And his we look to Thee our blessed Father, in Thanksgiving and the worthy and precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.