Truth For Life

Alistair Begg: The Bible makes it clear that when God calls us to do his work, he’s not assembling an A-team, looking for the best and the brightest to do the really important work. Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg explains why we don’t have to be perfect to serve or glorify God. Let’s turn in our Bibles to John chapter 17.

The testimony of a disciple of Jesus is not, “I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf and clean up my act.” I’ve decided to get involved in church. I want to get involved in a community. The issue on all these things is all about community, as if community is the answer.

It’s what kind of community that you’re in is the question. Because we want to abide in the word of God. “Who else would you go to?” he says. Who else, they say to him. “There’s nobody else we could go to, because this is what has happened to us.”

The certainty that they express, that the disciples express, is no mere emotional fancy.

The Bible is clear. Jesus told the story, the word of God is sown, and the response to the word of God is various. In some cases, it is instant bloom, followed by instant fade.

Then others, when they hear the word of God, they can’t wait to get out at the final hymn because there is a scratching at their ears and they fear it might be God himself calling them to himself. And the Devil says, “Get out while you can. Get out fast.”

Those are those amongst the stones where the seed fell. They had a little bit of a movement, but it was gone.

And then the others who along the journey of life choked, choked by riches and by selfish preoccupations, and so on.

The Bible is very, very clear. Do you believe?

Would you tell your friend at work that you have come to know that God is the living, loving, seeking, saving God?

You see, if you’re a disciple, you belong, you were chosen from eternity, you believe what the Bible says, and you behave in line with your believing.

So, Jesus is praying for his disciples. Secondly, you will notice, and we’ve only made it to verse nine, at the beginning, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world.” It’s interesting that he says that, isn’t it? “I am not praying for the world. I am praying for them.”

Now, we need to understand a lot more than we’re going to understand in what I’m just about to share with you. But we need to understand the way in which the world is described.

First of all, the world that God made in its perfection is a world that is in rebellion against God. It has turned its back on God. Romans chapter one.

It knows by conscience and by creation that there is an amazing God. But it says, “No, no, no, we don’t want to believe that.” “Why don’t you believe it?” “Because I’m a rebel.”

And that’s why the story of conversion, for example, we could go to lots of verses, but let’s just, for example, Ephesians, Ephesians two, when Paul is describing what has happened to these people in coming to Christ, he says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. You once lived, that was the world you lived in.”

And some of you could stand up right now, if we had this kind of operation, instead of saying, “I agree with that entirely. I did live in that world. I was committed to that world. But now I have believed and have come to know.”

So when Jesus says he is not praying for the world, clearly the world can only be prayed for.

Only to the end that some who now belong to the world might be awakened and abandon the world and find themselves included with those who’ve been chosen out of the world.

Now, I read first John two, and I’m going back to it again. I do apologize for so many cross references. But if you take notes, you can just make a note and go back and see if it’s actually there in in the Bible when I say it. It’s always exciting.

Yes, it’s actually there. I when I turn it up, I say, “Oh, I hope what I wrote in my notes is true.”

Well, there we go. Do not love the world. Don’t love it.

Well, what is Jesus saying? That he doesn’t pray for the world. We know that from the cross, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

We know in John chapter three and verse sixteen that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. So we know that God loves the world.

We know that Jesus says in John chapter twelve that he didn’t come to judge the world, he didn’t come to blame. The only reason that he came was to save, to seek and to save what was lost. And indeed, as we read on in chapter seventeen, as we continue in our study, we’re going to see that Jesus in his prayer anticipates that the world will be reached through those for whom he prays. So if you, if you’re in seventeen, you can just look down, for example, at verse twenty-one or so. Maybe twenty-three. “I pray that they may all be one, just as you, Father, in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world might believe that you have sent me.”

“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you have loved me.”

But the distinction is absolutely clear. The world is to be reached through those for whom Jesus prays.

And what we need to understand is this, that the idea, which is a prevalent idea, the notion of God as a kind of vague, benign deity who wants everything to go really well for everybody in the world, is not an unfamiliar notion, but it’s to be found nowhere in the Bible.

Because what Jesus is realizing in his prayer is that there is a particular relationship of intimacy with those for whom Jesus prays.

And the Father’s intimate relationship with you as a disciple this morning is an intimate relationship. I’ve always loved John chapter fourteen since I found it. I don’t know where I was when I found it. But John fourteen and and twenty-one, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them,” incidentally, we’re not kept by our obedience.

Our obedience proves that we’re being kept. “Whoever has my commands and and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

“These things I have spoken to you while I’m still with you. And the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and he will make his home with you.”

Well, let’s go to our third observation. Jesus is praying for his disciples, he’s not praying for the world. Jesus is glorified in his disciples.

“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they belong to you. Now listen, all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”

Lensky, the Lutheran commentator, says, “In words of utmost simplicity, yet profound beyond human thought, Jesus declares that everything in the universe belongs to him and to the Father.”

Everything. Whatever belongs to one belongs to the other. Look at what he says. “All mine is yours.”

Well, we understand that. We would say that all that we have belongs to you. All mine is yours.

But then he says, “And yours are mine.”

It I’m not I’m not going to go to to John chapter five. I’m not going to give you another cross reference, but I’ll just tell you, you might want to look there.

For Jesus to declare that glory has come to me through the disciples is absolutely amazing.

It’s as profound a notion as the idea that everything that belongs to the Father belongs to Jesus. It’s one thing to say all I have is yours, but to say all that is yours is mine.

No creature can say that with reference to God. No creature. No mere man.

Everybody could say to God, all that I have is yours. But who can say to God, all that yours, all that mine is, is yours too? Bruce Milne says that it is a Christological claim of extraordinary reach. And it is.

But it’s equally amazing that Jesus says of these disciples, “I am glorified in them.”

Now, you know, we’ve been talking about speaking proleptically, and Jesus and he’s going to do it again in a moment where he says, “I am no longer in the world.” He’s still in the world. He’s speaking proleptically. And it may be that when he says, “I am glorified in them,” again, he speaks proleptically. It’s not really now, but it will be then in all of its fullness.

I don’t think we have to go there. I think we’ll leave it just exactly as it is.

“I am glorified in them.” Well, they haven’t exactly distinguished themselves to this point, have they?

We saw that last time. They stuttered, they stumbled, they struggled to understand what Jesus was saying, but they were still following him.

Let’s be honest, that might be the average week for some of us this past week.

It wasn’t a strong march towards the finish. There was a little stuttering, a little stumbling along the way.

But we still know, we still believe, we still trust, we still have the compass set north.

They stuttered, stumbled. They didn’t distinguish themselves. But maybe that’s the actual point.

Maybe that’s the point.

You remember the Old Testament where Gideon is threshing in a winepress, whatever that really looks like? He was, well, he was he was doing something that should be a big event in a very small way because of the surrounding nations that were opposing him. The world around him was not conducive to his his personal pilgrimage.

And then the angel of the Lord appears to him and says to him, “The Lord is with you, oh, mighty man of valor.”

Now, Gideon, if we could see this in video, would have gone looking for somebody else in the room.

Because he responds to the angel of the Lord by saying, “I am involved in the weakest of clans, and I am the least in all of my father’s house. And you show up and announce to me that I am apparently a mighty man of valor.”

But in himself he isn’t. And neither am I. And neither are you.

When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he’s very clear about himself. He came, he says, his preaching wasn’t what you would call stellar. He came in weakness and in fear and a little bit of trembling. If people had seen him, they would have said, “Well, he writes really good stuff, but I’m not sure that I want to listen to him for a long time.”

And then, having been dismissive of his own position, he then goes on to take on the congregation. You remember what he says?

Think about yourselves, he said. Not many of you were from noble families. Not many of you were wise by worldly standards.

Not many of you were powerful. But God chose foolish people to shame the wise, weak people to shame the strong, low and despised people to be able to bring to nothing the things that are.

Why? So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

He doesn’t share his glory.

If you or I set out to be glorified, we are in immense danger.

But Jesus, in his masterful kindness, in the provision of his Spirit, is able to look down on this congregation this morning and say, “Father, I am glorified in them.”

Because of his work within us, so that we might live to the praise of his glory.

Finally, and just very finally, notice that Jesus then asks the Father to keep them in his name.

Jesus is about to leave. That means they’re no longer going to be enjoying his physical presence, and they’re no longer going to be in his company. They’re no longer going to be able to seek his counsel in the way that they’ve done for these past three years.

And so he says, “Holy Father.” It’s the only time, actually, that this designation is used of the Father in all of the Gospels.

Perhaps it is because he’s speaking about how they are not of the world and they’re out from the world, the world in its wickedness, but you, Father, in all of your holiness, the transcendence of who God is, in his holiness. And yet, Father, the intimacy of him in his love for us.

“Holy Father, keep them in your name.”

That’s why we sang a couple of Psalms this morning in this way, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and they’re safe.”

Father, he essentially says in the words of the old farmer’s prayer from Scotland, “Father, keep them kept. I’m no longer in the world. I’m out of here.”

But they’re here. I’m leaving, they’re staying. I’m coming to you, Father. Keep them in your name, the name that you’ve given me.

Aware of the activity of the evil one, which he’s going to mention down in verse fifteen. Keep them, Father, loyal to the truth, as embodied in the name that you’ve given to me.

Fill their minds, shape their understanding, direct their conduct.

And we hear that, and we realize that it doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

When Paul writes to Timothy at the end of I think chapter four, he says to Timothy, he says, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on your hearers.”

A close watch.

You see, there is a sense, and and you get it in Jude, remember that, where in Jude it says, “Keep yourself in the love of God.”

Well, that’s something I’m supposed to do.

But how does it finish with a doxology? “Now unto him who is able to keep you.”

But he doesn’t keep us in a vacuum.

We don’t read our Bibles to get points. We go to the map in order to find our way through life. We don’t read our Bibles to satisfy our curiosity. We read our Bibles because it is food for our souls.

Those who are his disciples, for whom he prays, keep his word.

Now we’ll come back to this. But you will notice that his desire for their protection is in order that they might be united. That they might be one. He says, “Even as we are one.”

I just need to say a word about that, and we will come back to it. But what is what Jesus is praying here is not a request for something to be created.

But rather to be cultivated, to be displayed, to be enjoyed.

How can you say that? Because all believers are already one in Christ.

Chosen from the foundation of the world, entrusted to Jesus, brought to living faith. We are united in Christ. We might say whether you like it or not.

This is your brother sitting next to you. This is your sister, and so on.

And so he says, “I want you to make sure,” and incidentally, in the Apostle’s Creed, we always we talk about this, we affirm this, the Una Sancta, the communion of the saints. We said it last week, “We believe in the communion of the saints.” In other words, we believe that all God’s people throughout the entire world, no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak, they are, we are all invisibly one in Christ.

Now, should that find visible expression? Of course, in various ways, and to that we’ll come.

But keep them. They’re already one. May they live out their oneness.

So that others will come to find who Jesus is, why Jesus came, what Jesus does.

So that others might come to belong, to believe, to behave.

Back to that thing that I started with. The the Sunday Assembly USA, which fascinatingly came from London.

The person representing that said, “We have a steady stream of folks constantly coming to give us a try because we’re offering something novel.”

That many have lost.

Novelty.

I love to tell the story of unseen things above. And when in scenes of glory, we sing the new new song, it’ll be the same old story that we have loved so long.

No novelty. Security. Kept in Christ.

Safe, safe.

You remember when your dad said, “Go on, you can jump, I’ve got you.”

Or when your mom said, “No, I won’t drown you in the bath. I will hold your head.” Maybe you don’t remember that. I didn’t think my mother would drown me, but I didn’t want my head under the water. She just put her hand under my head and kept me.

What a what a kind of intimacy that the Father knows, the end from the beginning, all the details, all the steps and stumbles.

If you’re not a disciple today, today would be a great day to respond to Jesus’ invitation to come to him.

Bob Lapeen: You’re listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. Alistair returns shortly to close today’s program.

Here at Truth For Life, we are passionate about introducing others to Jesus and explaining his gift of salvation. As we look ahead to Easter and celebrating the power of the cross. We want to encourage you to join us in sharing the Gospel by handing out copies of Alistair’s new tract titled, “Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?”

Those unfamiliar with the Bible and God’s plan for our redemption are prompted in this tract to consider that the reason why the world feels broken is because it is.

The tract explains that God made the world good, but sin made it bad, that’s why it’s broken. The good news is that Jesus makes it new, and one day when he returns, it’ll be made perfect.

Again, the title is “Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?” You can buy five for a dollar, or packs of twenty-five for just five dollars. They’re available for purchase online at truthforlife.org/tract.

Now, here’s Alistair to close today’s program.

Alistair Begg: Our Father, we thank you for the Bible. We pray that the truth of your word may find settled place in our lives. That those of us who are seeking after Christ may find in him a friend, a Savior, a Lord, a King. We pray that that our sense of belonging in Jesus may become increasingly precious to us, and that the things that we believe, despite the challenges that come on a daily basis from all kinds of quarters, may simply secure us not because of our initiative, but because of yours.

That you found us even when some of us weren’t looking for you. And you promise to keep us. And in this promise we rest, and in Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Bob Lapeen: I’m Bob Lapeen. Thanks for studying the Bible with us today. What did Jesus mean when he prayed for his disciples, “Father, keep them in your name”? Tomorrow, we’ll explore the answer and find out why it’s significant for us as believers today.

The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life.

Where the learning is for living.