Will grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We invite you at this time to find your seats and to go ahead and silence your electronics so you won't be embarrassed in the middle of the service when your phone goes off. And let us now prepare our hearts for worship. you. So, so so So, so so so We welcome all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to Dayspring Fellowship. We are delighted that you've joined us this morning for worship and we want to Welcome, visitors. Those of you who are first-time visitors and are here to join us for worship, we want you to have this booklet, Ultimate Questions, for free as a gift and a token of our appreciation for you joining us. You'll find a stack of these out on the hall table. And while you're there, please sign our guest register so that we can have a record of your visit. But be sure to take one of these for free before you leave here today. And then inside your bulletin, I just want to point out there on the left side that we're continuing on in our adult Sunday school class at 945 every Lord's Day morning here in this room, going through 1 Samuel. Right now, once we get through 1 Samuel, we'll go straight on into 2 Samuel. We're just walking through at one chapter. at a week, and we have a rotation of five brothers who are teaching this. It's been a fruitful study. This message from this morning was unable to be streamed, but hopefully it was able to be recorded and uploaded to Sermon Audio at some point. Right now, Sermon Audio is down for everyone in the world, so you can be praying for that. They did a major upgrade on Monday, which looked on their end like they were ready for prime time, but obviously they weren't. What they did on Monday actually broke all of the links on Dayspring's website to sermons and to the live stream and so forth. And so I was thankful Chickie noticed that on Monday. She was trying to stream a message for one of her friends and alerted me. And then the webmaster, who is me, had to go in and recode our website to get those links to work, which was working fine. But I don't think they anticipated the problems that they would have come Sunday morning regarding the bandwidth. So if you go to Sermon Audio, just to their website, their website rarely even comes up. If it does, it's slow as mud right now. So we pray for their IT guys, as they're probably stressed out, scrambling this morning to try to get things up and running. Hopefully they'll do that today, if not this week. So we can pray for that. But I do think the recording still works. So if you're providentially hindered from joining us at Sunday school, that should have been recorded and eventually will be on Sermon Audio. Also look there, you'll see that on Wednesday evening of this week, 5.45 p.m., we're going to have a brown bag supper just right over here in the fellowship hall. So come at 5.45 or whenever you can get here. Join us for some fellowship and then after that at 6 30 p.m. Right here in the worship room. We're gonna have a lecture on Knowing God's will for your life. I've been lecturing on topics on the second Wednesday of every month that day springers have brought to my attention This was a big one. How do I know God's will for my life and thinking through decision-making? As I began to work on this lecture, it grew. I realized what a large but helpful topic this is. So it's going to be a two-parter. We're going to do part one this Wednesday and then part two next month. So I look forward to that. I want you to try to be here for it. I think it'll be, I don't want to toot my own horn or anything like that, but this message I think it's going to be just particularly helpful and freeing to anyone who's ever struggled with thinking through, you know, who's the right person that God has for me to marry? Or what job should I take? Or is he calling me to the mission field? Or where do I live? You know, what church do I join? Those kinds of things we're going to be talking about from God's Word. I think it's going to be extremely helpful. You'll also see in your bulletin on that left side, down at the bottom. Sermon passage for next week will be the end of John chapter 17. We began 17 last week, and we will finish it up next week. So I encourage you, as always, be reading that passage and preparing your hearts for worship next Sunday. Across the page there, we have many announcements. One is that the monthly free resource. I'm encouraging Dayspringers to save their money in order to give to the mission this year and to read for free the great resources that are online for us. And so one of those is the Selected Sermons of George Whitefield. Whitefield was one of the great preachers during the first great So he was a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards and has a remarkable selection of sermons online which can be read for free. So I want to encourage you to do that this month. We also need nursery volunteers to help out once a month in the nursery, and so I pray that the Lord would raise up volunteers to want to do that. This is the Sunday of the conference that I've been announcing for quite a while now. Tonight, at Park Hills Baptist Church, right here in Austin, we're gonna have this free Christian conference that's titled, The Church and Politics, Quit or Conquer, Following Christ Through Political Turmoil. The doors will open at 4.30. The first some odd number, I don't forget the number, who arrive are gonna get a free resource, and there's going to be refreshments provided, The conference will begin at 5 p.m. sharp, and there's going to be three speakers just giving short 20-minute messages. I'll be speaking, and Ben Wright will be speaking. He's the pastor at Cedar Point Baptist Church. And Josh Hayward of Kenney Avenue Baptist will be speaking as well. And then we're going to have a panel discussion afterwards that I'm looking forward to. So I encourage you, if you're able to be here, tonight. It's going to be a helpful conference, and it's also just going to be a sweet time of fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters from about 12 to 14 healthy and good churches right here in the Austin area. So I think that's going to be fun for us. Also, the Ladies' Brunch and Bible Study is at 10 a.m. this Saturday. September the 14th, so ladies, mark your calendars for this special time that the ladies look forward to every month, 10 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. The ladies are going to gather for their monthly brown bag brunch and Bible study in the Gospel of John. Also, this parenting seminar is coming up. It's going to be held at Kinney Avenue Baptist Church The cost is $10 per attendee. Childcare will be provided for parents. And so it's especially designed for parents of young children. The title is Reaching Your Child's Heart. And this parenting seminar is going to be led by Juan and Jeanine Sanchez. Juan Sanchez is the senior pastor of High Point Baptist Church, along with Josh and Christina Hayward. Of course, Josh Hayward is the pastor of Kenney Avenue Baptist Church. hosting this event. To register to get more information, you can see the link in your bulletin. It's also time to think about the annual Day Spring Retreat. We've already signed up for it, but there are Service opportunities available to be signed up for. We're still receiving payment for your rooms. And out on the hall table, we have this yellow flyer. You want to grab one of those if you haven't already, which is just chock full of good and helpful information about the retreat, especially what to pack and what to bring and how to get there and all of that. So I encourage you to grab one. And then, finally, we are delighted to welcome into our membership Adam Miller, who has been a regular visitor here week after week and had a delightful membership interview with him recently and heard his testimony. We want to receive him as a Dayspringer this morning after the service. He's going to stand with me over here by the red door, and I want to encourage you to come and greet him and give him a warm day spring welcome into local church membership here. Well, as we begin our worship this morning, please take your red hymnals. We're going to be mainly in the red today and turn to hymn number 529. It's 529 in the red. Hold your finger there and please stand together for our call to worship. Our call to worship this morning comes from Jeremiah 31. At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again, I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim. Arise and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God. Let us sing together. Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art called compassion, Pure, unbounded love, Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation. Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, O breathe, Thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in Thee inherit, let us find the promised rest. Take away the love of sinning, Alpha and Omega be. End of faith has its beginning, set our hearts at liberty. Come, Almighty, to deliver, let us all Thy life receive. suddenly return, and never, nevermore thy temples leave. They would be always blessing, serve thee as thy host above, pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love. Finished in Thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation, perfectly restored in Thee. Changed from glory into glory, Let us pray together. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are holy and merciful and mighty, and we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in the person of your dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that we know him and that we know you through him and that we know your love. We thank you that it is by the power of your Holy Spirit that you have brought us to the knowledge of yourself, that you have changed us and redeemed us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You've called us by your spirit to be your adopted children. We thank you, Lord God, that you have made us new creatures in Christ so that we can love you and have faith in you and trust in you and depend upon you for all things. We pray that you would draw near to us to enliven our singing of these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. for the admonition and edification of the local church. We pray, Lord God, that you would meet with us in the Lord's Supper and that you would just vouchsafe to us again that our sins are indeed fully forgiven, blotted out because of the blood of Jesus Christ. We pray finally, Lord God, that as your word is read aloud and preached, that it would be your voice that we hear. So we pray, Lord, that as we worship you, you would ensure that you get for yourself all the glory, all the honor, all the worship, and all the praise. In Jesus' name and for his sake we pray, amen. You may be seated. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to hymn number 302, Come, Christians, Join to Sing. you Come, Christians, joy to sing, Alleluia, Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King, Alleluia, Amen! Let all with heart and voice Before His throne rejoice, Praise His gracious choice, Alleluia, Amen! Come, lift your hearts on high. Alleluia! Amen! Let praises fill the sky. Alleluia! Amen! He is our guide and friend. To us He'll condescend, His love shall never end. Alleluia! Amen! Praise yet our Christ again. Alleluia! Amen! Life shall not end astray. Alleluia! Amen! On heaven's blissful shore, His goodness we'll adore, Singing forevermore, Alleluia, Amen. Now please turn to the front, to page 81. Oh love of God, how strong and true. Above God, how strong and true, Eternal and yet ever new, Uncomprehended and unbought, beyond all knowledge and all thought. O love of God, how deep and great, far deeper than man's deepest hate, self and self-kind. do like the light, changeless, eternal, infinite. O heavenly love, how precious still, in days of weariness and doom, In nights of pain and helplessness, to heal, to comfort, and to bless, O wide-embracing, wondrous love, We read you in the sky above We read you in the earth below In seas that swell, in streams that flow We read you best in Him who came To bear the unsung cross of shame Sent by the Father and from I Our life to love, our death to die We read your power to bless and save And in the darkness of the grave, still more in resurrection light, we read the fullness of your might. O love of God, our shield and stay through all the perils of our way. Eternal love in you we rest, forever safe, forever blessed. We will exalt you, God and King. We will ever praise your name. We will extol you every day, and evermore your praise proclaim. Now we have the reading of God's word. Good morning. Okay. I'm going to read second Corinthians five, 17 through 21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Amen. We celebrate that great exchange, our sin for His righteousness every Lord's Day when we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. And I want to encourage those of you who are not members of Dayspring Fellowship to feel welcome to partake of this supper if you belong to the Lord. And we want to make that absolutely clear as to who this supper is for. If these things don't apply to you, we're glad you're here and we welcome you. We just ask that you pass the elements along as they come your way to not partake in the sacred meal, which can be dangerous for those who are not in the Lord and covered by his So the first thing that we ask is that you're one who believes and understands these words that we just sung in this psalm that we read God best. In Him who came to bear for us the cross of shame, sent by the Father from on high, our life to live, our death to die. We understand that our hope for salvation, our hope for a right standing and a right relationship with our creator, God, is not found in ourselves, in our own efforts or our own righteousness, but are found in this one who lived our life for us, right, who substitutionary life lived in our place, obeyed the Father perfectly for us so that we could have a right relationship with him, so that his righteousness could become ours and counted as ours, and who died the death that we deserve to die, went to the cross, bared that shame so that all of our sins would be absolutely, finally, and forever punished and removed from us so that we might be reconciled to God and given that ministry of reconciliation. And so we ask that you be one who has been saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, for his glory alone. And then secondly, we ask that you be a baptized believer, but we leave the details of your baptism up to your own individual conscience. And finally, we ask that you not be under church discipline from your local congregation so that we can support the Lord in his work here in the world. As we prepare ourselves now for the Lord's Supper together, Contemplate the wondrous love of Jesus by turning to hymn number 261 in your red hymnal, number 261. What wondrous love is this? Let us sing together. What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul? What wondrous love is this, O my soul? What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord a bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul. To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing To God and to the Lamb I will sing To God and to the Lamb is the great I am. While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing. While millions join the theme, I will sing. And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be, And through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on, And through eternity I'll sing on. Good morning. You know, I tell you this all the time, that it's amazing to watch the Spirit work every Sunday in this service, the scripture that Candice read, the songs that we sing. And as I was reflecting last night and struggling on what was I going to say today, It's not my message, but it's the Lord's message. And the Holy Spirit works through all of us to bring his word. And it's just, I sit and I wonder, I'm not worthy to be part of this. But the truth is none of us are worthy to be part of it. So bear with me. A very familiar verse from Galatians chapter two. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Most of us know and have recited this verse many times. We cling to it because of the truth it contains. It is a glorious gospel truth. Christ died for us. And if we believe in Him, His death is counted for ours, which the law demands. And His resurrection is also credited us, bringing the gift of eternal life. His death being counted for us, It frees us from the penalty of the law which we could not pay on our own accord. Now, you heard Paul talking to the Corinthians just a few moments ago about this. Well, he spends a significant part of the book of Romans talking in depth about what we just read in Galatians. Without going into an extensive dissertation on the entire book of Romans, let me give you a few excerpts from chapter 7. Remember, we are freed from the law. Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, hang on to this one. You also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." Paul continues through this chapter to detail the Christians' battle with their sinful flesh, that battle we all fight. He ends the chapter with his famous statement, "...wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?" But God is merciful to us, brothers and sisters. He knows our battle. And praise God that there is a battle. Because, beloved, the very battle that you fight against your own sinful flesh bears testimony of a redeemed heart. Without the work of Christ raising us in Him, we would have no new heart. We would still be dead in our trespasses and sin and content to be so. But thanks be to God for His work for us and in us, reconciling us to Himself through the blood of His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And so I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body. For we all partake of the one bread. Whoever therefore eats of the bread or drinks of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Brothers and sisters, let's take a moment to examine ourselves. Our Heavenly Father, we go back and we sing yet again the refrain, what wondrous love is this, that you gave your only Son for rebels against you, dead in sin and content to be so, but called to the light of your Word, through the power of your Word, to repentance and reconciliation for the work your son did on our behalf, work we could not do and indeed would not do. But you loved us with a love we cannot even fathom to redeem a people for your glory. Lord, may your word fill us and equip us to be faithful servants in your kingdom, to bring this message of light into a world of darkness, that hearts would be changed, that lives would be altered, and many more would begin to battle the flesh with a new spirit. Be with us now. Strengthen us, encourage us, and teach us. For your glory alone, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The same way also he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is the body of the Lord which is given for you. This cup is the new covenant in Christ's blood, shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sin. Please take the insert in your bulletin, how deep the Father's love for us. How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss! The Father turns His face away, As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers, it was my sin that held him there. until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. What should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. Now turn in the back of your red hymnal with me to page 786. We're going to take a moment to read responsibly the Great Eighth Psalm. Please stand together. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. Because of your enemies, the silence of the foe and the adventurer. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Let us pray together. Our great and merciful Father, we give our thanks to you today that you are mindful of man and that you have given your people, your steadfast love and mercy. We thank you for Dayspring. We thank you for all that you are doing among us through your word and by your spirit. And we lift up all who are in need today and especially remember to you those who are grieving the loss of Nancy Decker and ask that you would bring comfort to their hearts. We thank you, Lord, that the gospel was clearly proclaimed at her funeral yesterday, and we pray that you would make it effectual for all who heard. Lord, we pray that you would bring comfort and healing to all who are sick today, to Ben Linda, to Sandra, to Rebecca, to Rosella, to Marie and all who are suffering. Father, we pray for President Biden and for Congress, for all the courts in this land, all of our leaders in government, that you would work your sovereign will through them and that we would remember to pray for them and to honor them. We plead with you, Lord God, for our unsaved loved ones and pray that you would open up their hearts to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We lift up to you the needs of your people, your church throughout the world. We lift up our missionaries. and those who preach the gospel, we pray for your pastors and teachers and evangelists throughout the world whom you have called and gifted and who serve your people. We pray that you would be with Grace Fellowship as they gather to worship you out in Elgin this morning, that you would fill their pastor, Eric Dodson, with your spirit this morning, that our brothers and sisters out there might be strengthened in their faith in Christ. And we pray, Lord God, that all Israel would be saved. and that the whole earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, amen. Well, you may be seated, and parents and children who would normally go out to Children's Church, I just want to alert you that our Children's Church teacher called in sick, and I don't think we found a substitute in time, so we ask that you stay with your parents in the service. We do have nurseries over there for the little ones. Please turn with me now in your copy of God's Living and Active Word to John chapter 17. We're back in John 17. We began the 17th chapter of John last week, and now today, starting in verse 6, he says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me. And now they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. Well, it is a magnificent passage that I'm eager to dig in with you, but we have to ask, first off, how much of this part of the prayer is really for us, gathered here at Little Old Dayspring Fellowship about 2,000 years after Jesus prayed this prayer? Is this portion of the prayer just stuff that he prays for his 11 disciples, and then beginning in verse 20, he sort of stops praying for the 11 and switches and begins praying for us. Some people have read it that way, but verse 20, it actually indicates that what Jesus prays here, he prays for us today as well. And so as we study this, you've got to understand Jesus isn't just praying for the 11, he's praying for us here as well. These things are for us. And my hope is that by studying what the Lord Jesus prays for you today to the Father, that you'll know more deeply Jesus' love for you, and therefore that you'll be encouraged today, that you'll be filled with courage to continue in faithfulness and following him. So here's the main idea of this prayer. The main idea, if you're taking notes, is that Jesus loves his people, and he has a mission for us to accomplish. Jesus loves his people, and he has a mission for us to accomplish. Three points to our sermon this morning. Number one, Jesus prays for those who believe in him. He prays for those who believe in him. Number two, he prays for them because he loves them. He prays for them because He loves them. And then number three, and finally, He prays for them to be protected and to be sanctified. He prays for them to be protected and to be sanctified. So let me talk about that outline just a bit. Point number one, Jesus prays for those who believe in Him. That's roughly verse six through about halfway of verse nine. Then secondly, he prays for them because he loves them. That's kind of nine through 11. And then point three, he prays for them to be protected and sanctified. That is 11 through 19. So you can kind of see a progression of what's going on there. First you get the who, and then you get the why, and then you get the what. So first you get the who. Who does Jesus pray for? He prays for those who believe in him. Then you get the why. Why does he pray for them? He prays for them because he loves them. And then you get the what. What does he pray for these people whom he loves? He prays that they would be protected and that they would be sanctified. So that's where we're going this morning. So point number one, let's just dive on into it and look at some of these details. Number one, Jesus prays for those who believe in him. That's just super clear in several different places of this section of scripture. If you go one verse out of our section this morning and look at verse 20, it becomes really clear there. I don't ask for these only, but I ask for these things for those who will believe in me through their word. That's who he's praying for, those who believe in him. At the beginning of verse 9, he says, I am praying for them, not for the world. So all right, who's the them? Well, the them there is defined in the verses just prior to verse 9. So in verses 6 through 8, he defines there very, very clearly who the them is in verse 9 for whom he's praying. And put simply, just like in verse 20, it is his people, those who have believed in him. That's who it is in verses six to eight. So let me show you. In verses six to eight, Jesus says several things about the identity of those for whom he is praying. In verse six, if you look there with me, he begins by saying that he revealed God's name to them. So he reveals God's name to his disciples, which means that he manifested God's name to us too as his disciples. That's important because for the ancient Jews, A name wasn't just a name. What he means is, I revealed your character, Father, to all of these people. I revealed God more perfectly than ever before. And if you've seen me, he says in another place, you have seen the Father. Colossians says that he is the image of the invisible God. That's who Jesus is. Again and again in everything that Jesus does and says in his life and in his work, we see the character of God perfectly revealed. It's an incredible thing what Jesus means here when he says, I manifested your name to these people. Well, he goes on and he says a couple of things that identify who he's praying for here. So first of all, if you look in the middle of verse 6, he says that the ones he's praying for are those who are given to Jesus from out of the world. Yours they were, he says, and you gave them to me. It's the same idea that we talked about last week, that the Father gives this kingdom, this nation of people that have been plucked out of the world by grace, out of the sinful, rebellious world, and then they are given as a gift by the Father to the Son, to Jesus. These people are gathered together. around the king as a new nation. That's what he means, that we are given to Jesus out of the world by the Father. And remember why. So that we might glorify the Father and glorify Jesus. Remember that from last week? Second thing he says there is that he's praying for those who kept your words. He says, those are the ones that I'm praying for. I'm praying for those whom you gave me from out of the world and those who have kept your word. So what does that mean? Well, you read on through verses seven and eight. And it turns out that there's a very specific kind of obedience. So it's not just doing things. It's not just keeping God's commandments, looking to the law and doing all of that. It's not just being a good person, doing righteous things or not doing bad things. It's not even talking here about obeying God's law as it was written down in the Mosaic Covenant. Verses 7 and 8, actually, Jesus piles up a bunch of words and phrases that define and explain what this kind of obedience is that he's talking about. So look at verse 7. Verse 7, he's defining what this keeping of the word is. And he says, they are the people who know that everything you have given me is from you. In other words, they know that what Jesus teaches is true. They know that it's coming from God. That's one thing they know, and that's part of keeping his word. And then look at verse eight, because it gets even clearer. They also, he says, received Jesus's words. They took them, and now he says, they know in truth. In other words, they know with truth. certainty. That's what that means. They know certainly that Jesus came from God and they believe that God sent him. They're acknowledging him then to be the promised Messiah that's come from God. That's how Jesus defines that obedience. Jesus says to God, you have given them to me out of the world and the evidence of that is is that they have kept your word, which means that they have acknowledged me to be the Messiah sent from you. So you see how that's a very particular and specific understanding of kept your word. It's not just doing a bunch of good things. It's not even just keeping the law. It's a very specific thing that the Apostle Paul will later even call the obedience of faith. It's to have faith, trust, reliance on Jesus, that He really is who He says He is and that He can really do what He says He can do in saving sinners eternally. Now, I want you to notice a couple of things about this because these are the people for whom Christ is praying for here, right? I pray for them, He says. First of all, I want you to see here that Jesus holds up for us without really any tension at all, there's no trouble in his mind at all, he holds up for us both divine sovereignty in salvation and human responsibility in salvation. So there is something that God does first and prior, and then because of what God does, we then respond, we do something. You see that? You see the logic there? Our salvation, Jesus says, it comes first because God in his grace has plucked us from out of the sinful, rebellious world and has given us as a gift to Jesus. And then because of that, we keep his word. We respond in faith. I think that's very important. You get a hold of divine sovereignty in salvation and human responsibility in salvation. You get both of those ingrained deep into your heart. And it will make you a person both of deep humility and energetic action, right? Striving. Why action? It'll make you a person of striving and of energetic action because you understand that divine sovereignty, the fact that God is going to pluck people out of the sinful, rebellious world, it doesn't mean that we as believers get to just sort of sit on the couch and eat potato chips while God does that work and we just watch him do it. If you think that, that's a huge, misunderstanding of what divine sovereignty really is. Because in the Bible, when God says, I'm going to save that person right there, I'm going to pluck that sinner out of the world and give them faith, he doesn't just ordain the end of that. He also ordains the means. He ordains how that's going to happen. And you know how he's ordained that to happen? Through the witness of his people. And if you knew, for instance, that God had decided that you were going to win the gold medal in the Olympics in the 100-meter dash—I don't think anybody's in danger of doing that here—but let's just say you're going to win the gold medal in the Olympics in the 100-meter dash. It comes down from heaven. You're going to win that medal. Does that mean that you can just sit on the couch, not even go to the Olympics and just figure that the thing's gonna be mailed to you by FedEx? No, what that would mean is not only has heaven ordained that you're gonna win that gold medal, but heaven's also ordained that you're gonna do a whole lot of practicing, a whole lot of running in order to compete in that race and win that medal. Same thing with evangelism, same thing with people being called out of the world and into faith in Christ. It's not just the end that is ordained by God, it's also the means by which that end is going to happen. And that's the witness of God's people, the taking of the gospel out to the ends of the earth. And so the fact that God is sovereign over salvation, it makes us a people of striving, of energetic action, because we know that God's sovereign purposes will not fail. Far from making us passive, God's sovereignty makes us highly active. This mission that we're on to take the gospel to the nations, it cannot and it will not fail. It will succeed, certainly. Understanding divine sovereignty and human responsibility makes us a people of action. But it also makes us a people of humility, of deep humility, right? Because if we understand that our salvation, planned and determined by God when we could do nothing, we understand that we have nothing to boast about, right? Not one single one of us who is a Christian here is any better than anybody who is not a Christian. We're not morally better, we're not prettier, we're not smarter, we're not more righteous, none of those things. It's just that the Lord, in his grace, 100% unmerited grace, looked down into the pool of rebellion and said, and yet I'm going to save you and you and you and give you to my son. If you ever think that you're gonna stand in front of the throne of God and make any boast whatsoever about what you did, that kind of thing would be completely unfitting for a Christian who understands what salvation really is. You were saved. sheerly because our God is a God of redeeming grace. And he rescued us from out of the world. I mean, you understand God's sovereignty in your salvation. And what it will do is not make you boast, but like the song that we sang last Sunday says, it'll make you fall on your knees and ask, Lord, why was I a guest? Why me? I want you to notice one other thing here. I want you to notice that Jesus in this prayer is quite willing to draw a hard, bright, dividing line right through the middle of humanity. Look at verse nine. It's pretty extraordinary what he says there in verse nine. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me. I mean, those are bracing words, right? I'm not praying for the world. I'm excluding from this prayer and from these blessings that I'm praying for these people over here. I'm excluding them. It's just a remarkable prayer. I mean, imagine if I had come up to this pulpit for that pastoral prayer I prayed a few minutes ago, and I had prayed, Bless us with your presence today, but if there are any here who don't know you, any unbelievers here among us at Dayspring, I'm not praying for them. Whoa. I mean, there's a time, of course, to pray something that applies only to believers. We do that all the time. But it would take some real nerve to stand up here and say it quite that starkly, right? I'm not praying for unbelievers. But that's what Jesus does here. And he couldn't be clearer. There's this great dividing line that runs through humanity, and that dividing line is between those who trust in Jesus and those who don't. So if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, I think Jesus's prayer here, it's a real challenge to you. It's a challenge to make sure that you are on the right side of that bright, hard, dividing line. And I don't know how to be any clearer about it. I mean, on one side of that dividing line, the world that Jesus is not praying for are those who look at Jesus and say, hmm, no. Either I think you are not, in fact, the Messiah, or I just don't really care. It just doesn't make any difference to my life. I'm not interested in what you have to say. And on the other side of that line, the people that he's praying for are the people who say, yes, Jesus, I believe that you are exactly who you say you are. I think you can do what you say that you can do. I have seen you. I've sized you up. And I believe that you are the Son of God and that you are the Savior of the world. And so I am trusting in you to save me. I want to be with you in your kingdom. In other words, they're believers, they're Christians. You know, old Christians used to have this phrase, we don't use it much anymore, but they would talk about closing with Christ. closing with Christ. It's not an utterly unfamiliar idea to us, right? We still talk in business terms sometimes about the closing of a deal, which means that the deal is made, all the terms are accepted, everyone has signed on the dotted line, and boom, now there's a contract, right? Well, the old Christians used to say that there comes a moment in your life when you have to personally close with Christ. Christians are those who have come to that place where they say, I am ready to close with Christ. Some of you may need to do that today, this morning. Like right now, you may need to bow your heart and say, Jesus, I'm with you. I'm depending on you, Jesus, and become a Christian today. and then get baptized, and you join a local church, and you follow Jesus for the rest of your life, and you're in the new heavens and the new earth at the end on that day. That's it. There's a lot in between that, but that's basically it. Jesus prays for those who close with him, for his people. He prays for his disciples, those who trust and depend upon and believe in him for eternal salvation. I pray that's you this morning. Here's point number two. Number two, why does he pray for them? He prays for them because he loves them. Because he loves them. Look in verse nine. Verse nine, Jesus begins to list some of the reasons why he's praying for his disciples. So if you look at the end of verse nine, he says, I'm praying for them for or because they are yours, Father. So these disciples, prior to anything else, they belong to God, and that alone makes them precious. And then Jesus says his people belong not just to God the Father, but also to him, to God the Son. Verse 10, all mine are yours, and yours are mine. And then finally he says he's praying there because he's leaving the world. Verse 11, Jesus is leaving. but the disciples, they are staying, and it's the same way for you and for me, right? We are still here in this fallen, broken, suffering world, and Jesus is not, he's away. Now he's with us in the Holy Spirit, but it's not like Jesus is just sitting up here on the throne. He's in heaven, and we're still here, and physically he's away. Well, if you take all of that, this sense of ownership, God, they are all yours, you have given them to me, and now they are mine, and I'm having to leave them behind in this world as I come back to you in heaven, I think the whole thing can be summed up as a revelation of Jesus's enormous, amazing love for his disciples, and therefore for us. I mean, we, as those who have believed in him, we belong to him. He claims us as his own, and he dearly, dearly loves us. And that's just a mind-blowing, incredible thought, isn't it? That there is a king. A God who created the universe, who has been enthroned in heaven, however that works. A risen human person enthroned over the universe, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, reigning over every particular thing that happens in the whole universe. And yet that King of Kings, that Lord of Lords, loves you. He loves you. It's an incredible thought. And that's exactly what the Bible teaches. David prays in the psalm that we read together earlier, what is man that you are mindful of him at all? When I consider the work of your hands, when I see the stars, when I consider the planets flung into space, when I think about all the galaxies, What is man in this little bitty speck of a little bitty galaxy on the edge of the unknown universe? What is man that you are mindful of him at all? What is the son of man that you should care for him? And yet the prophet Zechariah says that the Lord actually rejoices over his people with singing, rejoices over his people with singing. I mean, think about that, the God of the universe sitting on his throne, looking down on this little gathering of, you know, 30, 40 people, whatever it is, and singing in exultation because we're here. That's just an incredible thought. And you see this all over the New Testament, too. In the life of Jesus, it's not just an abstract theological thing. You read the New Testament, you see Jesus loving people over and over and over again. I mean, think about Jesus going to Lazarus's tomb, his friend of many years who had died. And Jesus knows that he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead. But what does he do first? he weeps because his friend Lazarus has had to experience death. He loved him. Think about Jesus approaching Jerusalem in the triumph of entry and right in the middle of it, Luke tells us, with all the crowd pressing around him in the middle of it, when he sees Jerusalem, his heart breaks and he cries and weeps over Jerusalem because he knows that she's about to be destroyed. Think about him putting his fingers on the eyes of a blind man. Think about him taking the hand of a lame man lying on a pallet, pulling him up and telling him to walk again. Think about him sitting down on the little bed next to a little girl who's died and putting his hand on her brow and whispering into her ear, little girl, wake up. Think about the rich young ruler who rejected Jesus, but Mark's gospel tells us that Jesus loved him. Think about the king of kings and the Lord of lords inviting his 12 disciples, including Judas, remember, and then kneeling down in front of them and washing their feet. Think about him hanging on the cross in the middle of all the blood and the tears and the awfulness of it, and saying to that criminal, that insurrectionist on the cross next to him, today I'm going to take you with me to paradise. Think about him enthroned above the universe rejoicing over his people, protecting his people as we march through this world of hardship and difficulty and persecution and even death and swords and hunger and poverty and all of it, watching over us. And then imagine him standing up from the throne one day very soon and saying to the head angel, sound the trumpet, I'm gonna go get them. And then imagine yourself one day falling down in front of his feet on your knees and him putting his finger under your chin and lifting up your head and looking into your eyes and saying to you, well done, good and faithful servant. And you'll say, Jesus, I am not the one who was faithful. You were. You were. I mean, what do you do with love like that? What do you do with it? I mean, I'll tell you what you do. You rejoice in it. And you take comfort in it. You let it wash over you and motivate you to live joyfully in a way that honors this one who loves you so much. And you know you're about to go through a lot over this next week. You just are. I mean, it's not that I know anything that you don't know. It's just that you are. That's the way life works. You're going to go through a lot this week. Well, let this thought of Jesus loving you pervade your whole week, your job, your family, your struggle with sin. Let it encourage you to loosen your grip on the things of this world and just lean into him for security. Lean into the one who loves you so dearly. Let it comfort you that on the day when the job falls through or the promotion doesn't happen, or the account shrinks, or the F comes back on the paper, let it strengthen you when your kids get sick, or your grandparents, or your parent dies. When the world's getting pulled out from under you, let this thought steady you, that Jesus, King of the universe, loves you. That's gonna get you home. It's a simple thought, yet it changes the entire world. So that's why Jesus prays for his disciples, because they are his precious ones, and he loves them. So now to the what. What does he pray for? What does he pray for them? This is point number three, our final point. He prays for them to be protected and sanctified, to be protected and sanctified. There are actually three requests that Jesus makes here. He makes two requests for protection of two different kinds. We'll talk about both of those. And then one request that his disciples, and therefore us again, would be sanctified. So first of all, he makes a request in sort of the second half of verse 11 down through 12. So look at that with me. It starts there with Holy Father. Holy Father. Here's the request. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you've given me. I've guarded them. And not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. So he says, Holy Father, I want you to keep them in your name. In other words, Keep them pressing on. Keep them believing. Keep them faithful. Keep them trusting. Verse 12, he says, he's just straight up about it. He says, Lord, when I was here, Father, when I was with them in the flesh, I kept them in your name, but now I'm leaving them, and so I need you to start doing that work now. That's what he's saying. You keep them in your name. Well, what about this one though, this one that's doomed to destruction? I mean, did Jesus lose Judas? No, he didn't lose him. He wasn't supposed to keep Judas. And Jesus knew right from the very beginning that Judas was never one of those who was given to him by his father. He knew that. He says the scripture had to be fulfilled that this was going to happen. He's thinking there about Psalm 41, 9. Even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared my bread has lifted up his heel against me. The point is that Jesus knew that Judas was going to turn and was going to fall. He didn't lose him because Jesus never had him. He was never one of those that the Father gave to Jesus. He was never a believer in Jesus. But for those who did believe, for those who were given to him by the Father, he succeeded, he says, entirely in protecting them. I kept them in your name. Not one of those that you have given me, Father, will ever fall away. Not one of them will ever be snatched out of my hand. And now he asks the Father to keep them safe. Now you gotta understand, when Jesus prays a prayer for you and for me to be safe, that is not a request that nothing terrible would ever happen to you. That's not what that is. That is a prayer that when terrible things do happen to you and you are shaken to your core, that you will continue clinging to him, that you will continue believing in him, trusting in him through that. That's what that prayer is. I mean, he's already told us, right? A couple of weeks ago we looked at it. In this world, he promises, you will have persecution. You will have tribulation, suffering. So it's not a prayer that tribulation wouldn't come. He's already told us it definitely will. It's that when it does come, you will keep believing. It's an incredible thing to think about, right, that we have the entire Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, committed to one another and to us to bring us safely to Him in the end. I mean, we talk about the perseverance of the saints, and that's true. in a human responsibility sense, but way more in a divine responsibility or a divine sovereignty sense. It's way more the preservation of the saints by God. You and I wouldn't persevere for half a second as believers in Jesus if the Holy Spirit weren't with you, strengthening you and holding you up in place. It's the preservation of the saints. Proverbs 18.10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and they are safe. Jesus' second request here is also for protection, but it's got a slightly different angle to it. So look at verse 14 with me. He says, I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I don't ask," he says, that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. You can see in verse 15 there, I don't ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. You see the sort of the sort of rubric that he's setting up there. He's saying, look, that there are two kinds of people. This is that bright dividing line through humanity again. There are those who are of the world, and then there are those who have been pulled out of the world and are no longer of it. And what Jesus is saying there is, look, if you are in this category of people who are not of the world anymore, because now you are of Christ, right, that's what your whole life is about, the world is gonna hate you because of that. So Lord, he prays, keep them safe, even as the world hates them, that's what he means. And that's what happens when you become a Christian, it's not visible to the eye immediately, but that's what happens. You're plucked out of the world, you're put into the kingdom of light. Paul even talks about us becoming new creatures, right, part of the new creation already. It's almost like when a person becomes a Christian, there's this spark that flames up in their soul because the new creation is born in them. You can't see that, but that's what happens. And because you're a part of a new kingdom, a new world, a new nation, a new humanity, the world will hate you. And Jesus says, Father, I want you to keep them safe, even as the world hates them. Well, that takes us to Jesus's third and final request from his father for his disciples. He asked the father in verses 17 to 19, essentially to set them apart for their mission to the world that he's going to give to them. He hasn't actually given them that mission yet. It's gonna come later, after his resurrection. But he's asking the Father to set them apart for their mission to the world. So look at verse 17. He says, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. and for their sake I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth." That word sanctified, it can be misunderstood because the word holy is often misunderstood. Sanctified means to be holified, to be made holy. Well, the confusion comes because of a lot of people, that word holy has this kind of very simple and really sort of inadequate definition of just being good, right, being a good person. If you're a holy person, you're a good person. If you're sanctified, then you're a good person. person, as opposed to those people who aren't sanctified. And so people will read Jesus's prayer here to mean, you know, Lord, make these people moral, upright, good people, do-gooders, right? Make them ethical. But there's a lot more to the word than that, most fundamentally and importantly. To be holy means to be devoted. So when scripture says that God is holy, that's its most fundamental meaning. It doesn't mean that he's righteous, necessarily. Righteous is a different word. That gets applied to God, too, of course. Holy is not just a synonym for righteous. What it means when the angels are crying out, holy, holy, holy, oh God. is you, O God, are devoted to your name, to your glory, to your purposes. So that's mainly what Jesus means here. Lord, you have taken These people, you've pulled them out of the world, you've made them a new kingdom. I have a mission for them. So sanctify them, cause them to be devoted by your word for this mission that I'm going to send them on. He's getting them ready. He's getting them ready to receive the great commission. He's getting them ready for the day of Pentecost and the launching of the church. Lord, make them devoted to your name, to your glory, so that they're ready to do what I have for them to do." That's what he's praying. And how is all that going to happen? Well, two ways. First, there in verse 17, by God's word, sanctify them in the truth Your word is truth. You can't be much clearer than that. You want to be somebody who's ready and fitted, who's equipped to carry out the mission that God has called you to as a Christian? You get that by studying his word. That's why we do all that we do here at Dayspring. We study his word at such length and so often. We dive into God's word so that we might be equipped for every good work that God has for us to do on this mission. Second, he says that we are sanctified only because our Lord Jesus sanctifies himself. Now, your Bible there probably says consecrated. I'm not sure for what theological reason the ESV used a different word, but it's exactly the same word in Greek. It's hagiadzo. What does it mean? It means he causes himself to be devoted. He's probably here meaning that he's making himself devoted even unto death, right? He's about to die. He's about to go to the cross. And why is he doing that? Well, he says it's for their sake. So you see the logic. We are being made holy, made devoted to God's glory, and prepared for the work only because Jesus himself was devoted to God's glory. So devoted that he laid down his own life for us. And then our whole mission as Christians, our whole lives as Christians, is founded on that fact that Jesus dies for us. So just as our lives as Christians, our life together as a local church ought to be centered on the Bible, so it also ought to be centered on the cross of Jesus Christ. And if we as a congregation, if we as a local church ever find ourselves becoming more interested in something other than the cross of Jesus Christ, we should repent and come back to it. Christians are all about the death and resurrection of Jesus. It's what we sing about. It's what we glory in. We build our lives on that fact. And we know that everything that we've got coming to us, from mission all the way to consummation, is guaranteed and secured by the death of Jesus in our place. So what does all of this do? What does it do? I mean, you've got this prayer of Jesus. He's doubling down on the fact that there's this fallen, rebellious world, and his people have been plucked out of it and given to him as a gift. He's died for them, for their sake, in their place. And now he's got this mission that he's going to send them on. And in the midst of that mission, he prays, Lord, protect them. Protect them. and sanctify them. What does that do? Well, I think that even in the midst of all the difficulty, all the hardships, all the confusions, all the irritations, all the rest of it, it puts something way beyond the clouds, way beyond the smoke and fog that we can look at and see and know that our God is for us and is protecting us and is making us ready for this mission. It gives us courage. It gives us courage. It renews our hearts because we can take our eyes off the ground and put them up there and keep walking, keep fighting, keep proclaiming the glorious gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Let us pray together. Our dear Lord, we thank you and we praise you that you are our Savior and our Redeemer and our King. We thank you that you are even now enthroned in heaven at the right hand of your Father. And even now you pray that your Father would protect us and sanctify us. Our God, we thank you for all of that that we have heard. We thank you with all of our hearts and we pray that you would help us as your adopted children. We pray that you would help us as Christians and as your church to remain faithful to you. Make us a people who want to speak to this dark fallen world around us the glorious truth of the good news of Jesus, that those who put their faith in him will be saved. We pray all of that in the name of Jesus to his honor and glory. Amen. Please stand together. I hope you get an opportunity to greet our visitors and to greet one another. Three quick reminders. First, immediately remember to join me and Adam over here at the red door and welcome Adam into membership here at our local church. And then tonight, there is a conference that is going to be a great blessing to God's people. I encourage you to be there if you're able to make it. Doors open at 4.30. Conference starts at 5. It's at Park Hills Baptist Church, which is just off of Mopac, just west of Mopac and south of the river. Real easy to see. It's right off of Mopac. And then the final thing is that this Wednesday night, it's going to be a great blessing as we meet in here at 630 to talk about God's will and knowing God's will for your life. If you have any questions, come with us. We're going to have plenty of Q&A time afterwards as well. And if you're able to come beforehand, join us for a brown bag supper at 545 this Wednesday. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.