The Keeper of Our Souls

Transcription

1 The following sermon was preached at Redemption Baptist Church on Sunday, 18 September We encourage you to look up the Scriptures that are referenced. May the Lord speak to your heart as you study His Word. The Keeper of Our Souls John 17:11-13 On the evening just after Jesus had fed the 5,000, Jesus sent his disciples out into the Sea of Galilee toward the city of Capernaum, about 7 miles away, while He Himself stayed in the mountain for the evening. The disciples, being experts on the Sea of Galilee, could foresee that a storm was coming; and they were afraid to go into the sea. Nonetheless, Jesus compelled them to go, and they obeyed. Just as they had feared, though, a violent storm arose, and their lives were soon in grave danger. Meanwhile, Jesus was up in a mountain above the Sea of Galilee, praying for His disciples. He knew exactly what would happen to them before He sent them out into the sea; but He sent them out there in order to test and strengthen their faith. While they were down on the sea toiling and fighting for their lives, Jesus was praying for them; and right when they thought they would die, Jesus appeared to them in the middle of the sea. He walked to them on the water, and got into the boat; and with a single word, He stopped the storm so completely, that it was as though there had never been a storm. Likewise, Jesus, our High Priest, is up in the heights of heaven today, praying for His disciples down on earth. He looks down from Heaven, and sees not only the physical dangers, but also the spiritual dangers that His people are facing; and He prays to the Father on Christians behalf. It s fascinating to think of what a prayer from the Son to the Father, on behalf of believers, might sound like; yet, that is precisely what we find in John 17. In this chapter, we find a record of the prayer that Christ made for His disciples on the night before His crucifixion. As you know if you have been here through this series, Jesus made seven specific petitions to His Father during this prayer. The first request was that the Father would glorify Him on the cross, so that the Father also might be glorified. (The Father and the Son were glorified by Christ s suffering on the cross, because through His suffering and death for our sins, salvation was made possible for us.) Secondly, Christ requested that the Father would glorify Him with the same glory that they had shared together before the world began. This request was fulfilled when Christ ascended back to His Father s throne in Heaven. He now shares His Father s glory, just as He had before He came down to earth. Now, this morning, we will be looking at Christ s third request to His Father. In this request, we will learn much about the Father s protective care for His children. The title of this message is The Keeper of Our Souls. Read John 17:11-13 I. Jesus third petition: Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me (v. 11) In God s mind, Christians are citizens of Heaven, and not of this world. Philippians 3:20 says that our conversation [in other words, citizenship ] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2:6 Paul says that the Father

2 has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The Christian s position in salvation is so secure, that in God s mind, it is as though His people were already seated in heaven. That is how sure and irrevocable our reservation in heaven is, brethren! Yet, the reality is that we are not in heaven yet. The Resurrection Day has not come yet. We are still in our mortal bodies, which are stained with the sin nature; and for that reason, we must battle vehemently against our fleshly nature daily. Furthermore, we have absolutely no encouragement from the world around us as we fight this battle with our sinful flesh. We live in a nasty, sin-drenched world, surrounded by rebels and enemies of God, who wish to drag us down with them into sin. Also, Christ, our High Priest, is no longer physically among us, as He was with His disciples for three years. He has returned to His Father. For now, we are stationed in this wicked world as ambassadors of the King of heaven, without the physical, bodily presence of our Lord to reassure us. It is for this reason that Christ prayed that the Father would keep (terein literally, guard ) His disciples, as they fight their way through this wicked world. Let s take a look at verse 11 again. (Read verse 11 again.) There are several important things I would like to point out from this verse. First of all, please notice whom Jesus asked to do the keeping of our souls. He requested that the Father would keep us. Now, did not Jesus explicitly say that the Father gives saved souls to the Son, and that the Son keeps them? He certainly did! (See John 6:37.) Why, then, did Jesus entrust the keeping of the saved to the Father? There is only one answer: the Father and the Son are equal. What the Son does, the Father does together with Him. We who are saved are kept by both the Father and the Son! Let s look at another Scripture that reveals this truth. Read 1 Peter 4:14-19 In verse 19, Peter reminds Christians that the one who keeps our souls is God. Now, in the New Testament, Jesus is sometimes directly called God ; but most of the time, the word God refers to God the Father. In this verse, the word God seems to be speaking of God the Father, in particular. But even if Peter be talking about Jesus in this verse (and this is possible, since Christ is our Keeper and Creator), then this verse still proves that Jesus is God! Christian, you are kept in the Son s hand, and in the Father s hand. As we saw last week, we who are saved are bound in a bundle of life with the Lord our God. But what is involved in this keeping? In what way do the Father and the Son keep us, or guard us? Well, first of all, the Father and Son keep our souls from eternal condemnation in hell. That is definitely what Jesus was talking about in John 6:37 when He said that He would in no wise cast us out those whom the Father gave to Him. But there is more to this keeping than being kept from hell. Here in Jesus prayer, Jesus is definitely requesting His Father to guard His people from the dangers that we face in this world. What are these dangers that we face? Well, there are two basic kinds: physical, and spiritual. Let s talk about the physical first. Every day, Christian, you face physical dangers. Satan and his minions hate you; and if they could take your life from you, they would do so. If they could inflict you with a deadly illness, or cause you to die in an accident, they would. Satan does not want any born-again Christians around in this world to be salt and light, and to lead others to salvation. Of course, we know that Satan has always been at work to cause unsaved men to kill God s people, as well. At this very hour, in at least half of the world, Christians are being hunted down, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Until only very recent times, this was

3 the lot of true, Bible-believing Christians all over Europe. It is estimated that 50 million true, born again Christians were murdered by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church throughout the Dark Ages in Europe. Islam and communism have killed countless Christians, as well. Now, this raises a question: If the Father keep us from harm, then why do many Christians die early and unexpectedly from sickness or accidents; and why are Christians murdered? David wrote in Psalm 34 that the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Why, then, are Christians killed? Well, we must not forget that sickness and death are simply part of the curse of the Fall. Eventually, we all die. Also, Christ guaranteed that men would try to kill us. Jesus had just told His disciples that very night that very soon, men would begin to kill them, thinking that they were doing God service by doing so. Christians can and do suffer for Christ s sake. But how does this square with God s promise that He keeps and guards us? Let s see what Peter had to say about this. Read 1 Peter 3:12-14 Peter acknowledged that Christians can suffer (and, presumably, die), for Jesus sake. In verse 12 he said, But and if ye suffer. It is possible for Christians to suffer. Yet, Peter also said, And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? Clearly, he is saying that no one is able to harm us. Now, how can these two statements agree? It s simple. God protects His faithful servants from harm unless and until He wills it. When harm does befall us, it is because He allowed it for His own purpose; and we can be happy and untroubled, knowing that we suffered for Christ s sake. And what about death? When the Christian dies, it is because God s work on earth for him is done. But until God wills so, the enemy cannot harm or kill God s people. The Father keeps us from physical harm. But that is not all. The Father and Son also keep Christians from spiritual harm. In 2 Peter 2:9 Peter says, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. Brethren, every day you and I are faced with temptations. The devil is constantly hurling fiery darts at us. Sometimes, it can seem overwhelming; and we too easily wear out, and give in to temptation. However, we are not doomed to fail. There is no temptation that is too strong for us. We can overcome temptation, when we rely on the Lord, and humbly ask Him to help us. He will deliver you, and keep you from evil. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Christ would not have taught us to pray for something that the Father is unable to perform. Nothing is impossible with God and that includes deliverance from sin. Trust in Him, Christian! He will keep you from sin, if you will rely on Him. Now, let s go back to verse 11, and look at the last part of the verse. (Read verse 11 again.) Jesus had just asked the Father to keep His disciples; but in the last part of the verse, He stated why He wished to keep them. He asked the Father to keep His disciples in order that that they may be one, as we are. Christ was asking the Father to preserve the disciples physically and spiritually in order that they might have unity. Now, this begs a question: How can we, as Christians, exercise unity? If we be scattered from each other, unconnected, and not working together, how can we possibly practice unity? Unity can be practiced only by congregating together, and working together. Well, guess what? That happens to be what a local church is, and what it does. The very word church

4 comes from the word ecclesia, which means a called-out assembly. The whole purpose of the church which Christ Himself established is to assemble ourselves together from out of this sinful world, and work together to serve Christ. Allow that to sink in, Christian. One of the main reasons why God guards your life in this world, and delivers you from temptation, and from doctrinal error, is that you might assemble together with other believers in a Bible-preaching church (to which you should belong by way of biblical baptism), and be unified in serving and praising the Lord! Read Philippians 1:27 Brethren, there can be no talk of unity if we do not take Christ s church seriously. Church is not merely a sideline for the Christian; it is top priority! Most of what we are commanded to do, as New Testament believers, can be carried out only within the context of the church. Christ prayed to his Father that we might have unity; and in order for that to happen, we must not only have a family relationship (all belong to the Family of God by way of salvation), but there must also be unity in truth and in love. Practically, this can only happen when we assemble together. Read Ephesians 4:11-15 What did Paul define as unity? Did he define unity merely as everyone being saved? No. It was more than that. He defined it as unity of the faith. (The faith includes all the doctrine of Scripture, not merely the doctrine of salvation.) Paul defined unity as everyone being grounded in truth, so that we do not fall prey to false doctrines. And, at the same time, he defined it as speaking the truth in love. There can be no unity unless we are members of the family of God; unless we have correct doctrine; and unless our zeal for truth is combined with love for each other. Unity means nothing unless we obey Christ s command to join a biblical church, and then strive together to be doctrinally right, and to love each other. Now, perhaps you are thinking, I understand what you re saying about being unified together in the local church, pastor; but isn t there a place for unity among Christians in general? Yes, there is. There certainly should be unity among all believers everywhere, since we all belong to God s family, and have the same Word of God and Holy Spirit to guide us. But, just as in the local church, it must be true unity. Let s see what Paul had to say about it. Read Romans 15:1-6 In this passage, Paul was writing to Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome. The year was about A.D. 60; and Jewish Christians were now moving back to Rome after being gone for many years. (They had been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius in the year A.D. 49; and the ban had just been lifted.) While they were gone, the Gentiles in the churches of Rome had been towing the line, and keeping things going. But now that the Jews were back, there was a cultural clash between the Gentiles and the Jews in the churches. Paul was admonishing the Gentiles and Jews to accept each other, and to be unified. He wasn t telling them to have a false, political unity (what we call ecumenism today). He wasn t telling them to ignore false doctrines, and to link arms with professing Christians who taught false doctrine (or who maybe weren t truly saved at all). Quite the contrary. He was telling them to have true unity that is based upon truth (in other words, right doctrine ) and love.

5 You see, we need to remember that even in the Scripture we just read, Paul was addressing members of churches in Rome. (There were at least six different churches mentioned in the letter. You can find them listed in Romans 16 as the church in such-and-such pastor s house. ) He was not writing to lone ranger Christians who hopped from church to church, and who had never joined and committed themselves to a church. Nor was he writing to churches that had right doctrine, and telling them that it was O.K. for them to fellowship and work together with churches that taught heretical doctrines. He was writing to legitimate churches that taught right doctrine; and he was admonishing them, as churches, to have unity within their individual churches, and with other churches of like faith and practice. However, that unity was to be based on common adherence to right doctrine, and love for each other. Christian, I hope that unity with other believers within Christ s church is of top priority to you. Christ has preserved your very life here on earth for this purpose! If you have not been biblically baptised, and thus do not belong to a biblical church, do so without delay, so that you can fulfil God s will! And if you do belong to Christ s church, don t sit on the sidelines. Strive together in one spirit with your brothers and sisters in Christ to serve the Lord! II. Christ s faithfulness to His disciples (vv ) Now, let s move on to verse 12. (Read verse 12 again.) In this verse we see, once again, Jesus faithfulness to His Father, and to His disciples. Jesus affirmed that He had not lost one soul whom the Father has given Him to keep. Isn t that encouraging, Christian? We who know Christ oftentimes stumble and fall into sin; yet through it all, it is Christ who holds us and keeps us from utterly falling. If my continued salvation were dependent upon my ability to hold onto Christ, I would be doomed! I couldn t do it! But, thank God, it doesn t depend upon me. Christ is the one who holds me by His grace. It s like when I am walking down the street with my little girl, and she suddenly decides to make a foolish move or dash that could cause her serious injury, or even death. She may stumble and hurt her knee, or get scraped up; yet, she doesn t die, or sustain a life-threatening injury. Why? Because Daddy foresaw the danger, and continued to hold onto her hand, and guarded her from serious harm even though she tried to dart away. I kept her. I guarded her. Likewise, Christ is able to keep that which we have committed to Him (our souls) until the Resurrection Day. Read 2 Timothy 1:12 Now, what do we make of Judas Iscariot? Did Judas lose his salvation? Christian groups that teach that a believer can lose his salvation would say just that: and they even try to use John 17:12 to prove it. They would say, See? See? Jesus said that None of them is lost, but the son of perdition. That means that Jesus did lose Judas, because Judas committed a terrible sin, and Jesus had to cast him out. Judas lost his salvation. However, there are several huge problems with this! I d like to take time to look at them. First of all, if Jesus had saved Judas soul, but later lost him, then His promise in John 6:37 would have been false. Jesus said, Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. If Jesus had cast Judas out after having received him, then His promise would have been false, and He would have been a liar. We know this is not true! Jesus Christ is ever true and faithful. He is sinless and undefiled. He never lies or fails!

6 Secondly, the word lost does not imply that Jesus once had Judas, but then lost him. The word lost comes from the word apōleto, which means perished, destroyed, or lost. This whole phrase could rightly be translated, And none of them perished, except the son of perdition. This word apōleto does not imply that Jesus had found Judas, but then lost him: rather, it implies that Judas was already lost, or destroyed (in God s eyes). I don t mean to get overly technical with grammar; but you ll notice that Jesus didn t use the passive tense. He didn t say that Judas was lost ; He said that Judas is lost. If Jesus had said, None of them was lost except the son of perdition He would have been implying that someone else had lost Judas: and that someone would have been Himself! But that isn t what Jesus said. He said, None of them is lost, except the son of perdition. Literally, this means, None of them has perished, but the son of perdition. Judas was the one doing the action of perishing! What this means is that Jesus is not the one who lost Judas; it was Judas who perished because of his own choice. By the way, the verb is aorist tense, which means that the action of perishing had already happened! At some point in the past (probably when he decided in his heart to betray Jesus), Judas had crossed over a line beyond which he could not return. He had rejected the call of salvation one too many times; and he was marked for destruction. God stopped convicting his heart, and allowed him to follow Satan to his eternal destruction. Jesus did not lose Judas; Judas lost himself to eternal destruction. Judas ensured his own destruction by refusing Jesus. There is one more reason why we know that Judas did not lose his salvation. Right here in this verse Jesus said, those that thou gavest me I have kept. (Read verse 12 again.) Obviously, this statement implies that at least one of Jesus professed disciples had not been given to Him! Those who were given to Him, He had kept; but the one who only appeared to belong to Jesus had never been kept at all. Judas was that man. Judas never did belong to Jesus. He was a lost man all along. Jesus had said all the way back in John 6, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Judas talked like a believer, and acted like a believer (outwardly), and was considered by everyone else to be a believer; but in his heart, he had never truly believed and repented. He was the son of perdition (destruction) all along. By the way, Judas had every opportunity to be saved. David had prophesied of Judas betrayal of Jesus, and of his damnation, 1,000 years before he was born (in Psalms 41, 69, and 109): however, God did not predestinate Judas to do what he did. God is not the author of evil. God foretold what He knew Judas would choose to do; but He did not predestinate him to do it. In fact, He lovingly gave Judas every opportunity to be saved. Judas sat under Jesus teaching for three years. He could have responded in that time. Not only that, but Jesus sincerely offered him the office of Apostle. Christ actually had an honoured position of service for Judas all mapped out for him, if only he would believe, and be saved; but tragically, he never did. He died in his sins, never having been saved. How about you? Do you, perhaps, look like a Christian, and sound like a Christian yet, you ve never truly believed on Him? If so, don t put off salvation! Run to Jesus today, and put your complete trust in the Sacrifice He made for you on the cross! Now, let s move on to verse 13. (Read verse 13 again.) Jesus had already promised the disciples earlier in the evening that their joy would be full if they would abide in Him. Jesus told them, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full (John 15:11).

7 Now, as Jesus was praying to His Father, He once again mentioned this joy that He had promised to give to His disciples. But please notice carefully what Jesus said. He said that He had spoken His Father s words to the disciples so that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. He didn t say your joy : He said my joy. Whatever would bring joy to the disciples was the same thing that had brought joy to Jesus. And what brought joy to Jesus? Doing His Father s will! In Hebrews 12:2 Paul wrote, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. My friend, if you want true joy in your life, please realise that the only way you will find it is by doing the Father s will. If you have never been saved, then you must be saved by placing your faith in Jesus before you can even begin to do the Father s will. You are separated from Him, and cannot even begin to please Him until you receive His gift of salvation, and enter into a relationship with Him. If you do know Christ as Saviour already, please do not allow yourself to become distracted by pursuits of this world. You can t lose your salvation; but you certainly can lose your joy if you do not continue to seek that which Christ sought after namely, loving and obeying the Father. If you think greater happiness is around the corner when you land that better job, or when you get married, or when you accomplish that personal goal, or have more money in the bank, then you are chasing rainbows. Improvement of circumstances will never make you happy. In fact, there is a difference between the word joy and the word happiness. The word happy goes back to the Old English word hap, which means chance. Happiness, by its very definition, is based upon chance. A lost person is happy when circumstances happen to be going his way. A saved person, however, has the ability to have true, lasting joy, even in the midst of the most adverse circumstances. Read Philippians 3:1, 4:4 Christian, don t trade in happiness, which is based on circumstances, for real joy. You can have real joy continually, if you will submit to the Lord continually, love Him, and do His will. Your High Priest has promised you joy; and He is faithful. He will keep His promise! Conclusion: This third prayer request of our High Priest is still being answered to this day. To this day, the Father and the Son are keeping believers. Christian, you needn t fear that Christ will let go of your hand. You do, however, need to trust, obey, and submit to Him daily, so that you may have the power to overcome temptation. How about Christ s prayer that believers would be one? Are you in unity with God s people especially within the framework of this church? I m not merely asking whether you are not having a quarrel with others: I am asking whether you are fully involved in the mission of this church, and are striving together in unity with the members of this body? Do you know other members enough to say that you are unified with them in doctrine and in love? Are you even a member? Perhaps you know the Lord, but have not been baptised. Won t you obey the Lord in this matter? Perhaps you have never been saved. You cannot have any unity with God s people until you yourself are a member of God s family. There is only one way that you can become a member of God s family. Jesus said, Repent ye, and believe the Gospel. Don t be a Judas, who only appeared to be saved, but was lost all along. Let go of your own worthless religion and self-effort, and simply trust in Christ today!