Truth For Life

Guest (Male): In Jesus' high priestly prayer found in the Gospel of John, he prayed for his disciples: "Father, keep them in your name." What did he mean by that? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg explores the answer and helps us understand why it's significant for us as believers today. We're in John chapter 17.

Alistair Begg: Jesus' departure is so near that he can actually use the present tense to describe it. And the disciples are to be left alone in what is essentially a cold, wicked world. He's been preparing them for this before, but certainly at the beginning of chapter 14, where he sits with them and he says, "Now listen, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." And then he goes on to explain the wonder of all that will unfold in the glory when, gathered into the presence of Jesus, that which is anticipated will then be enjoyed. All of that by way of preparation.

And now he addresses his Father: "Holy Father." Notice the way the sentence goes: "And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you." There's a period there in English. That's the end of that statement. Then, "Holy Father" begins his address. God the Holy One, transcendent deity. Father, the expression of his personal intimacy. He who dwells in unapproachable light is actually approachable in Jesus.

And he realizes that this wicked world that he's leaving these guys behind in is such that the holiness of the Father is to be the holiness of their lives so that they might shine as lights in the darkness. And since that world is a cold and a difficult world, he needs them—he wants them—to know that what they have is a Father like no other Father. That's why when the disciples were concerned about prayer earlier on in the ministry, he says to them, "Now listen, when you pray, pray like this: 'Our Father, Our Father.'" Now you see, that was staggering for these people, even when he adds, "and hallowed be your name."

Because as we've learned all the way along, God's name is the revelation of his character, in much the same way that in other parts of the world, as I think we've said on every occasion, often names are given in order to express either a present character or a desired character, not just to distinguish between Tom and Bill. And so when we think about the name of God, all those Old Testament names are ultimately encapsulated in the name that is above every name. El Shaddai: What is it—what are we saying in El Shaddai? We're saying you are the Lord God Almighty, you are the all-sufficient God. El Elyon: You are the most high God. Adonai: You are Master and you are Lord. "Holy Father, keep them in your name."

"This is a cold and wicked world I'm leaving them in. They need to know who you are." That's who he addresses. He is addressing himself to the Father. This is beyond our ability to fully fathom, isn't it? That somehow or another, God speaks to God. That within the framework of the Trinity, the Father is in the receiving position of the cries of his Son, whom he has known from all eternity, with whom he is co-equal. "Holy Father, keep them, keep them."

Now you see, this is an amazing thing because remember, for the Jew, the orthodox Jewish person even to this day, they will not take the name of God upon their lips. Jesus breaks that bond, doesn't he? In fact, in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, what does he say? "Abba, Father." A monotheistic Jew like Saul of Tarsus, who denied the name of Jesus, who had no interest in it, in fact was opposed to it entirely—by the time he writes Romans in chapter 8, what is he telling us? He says you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby you call him, "Abba, Father. You're my Father." And in Galatians 4, he does the same thing. When the fullness of time has come, God sent forth his Son, whereby we address him in this way.

Well, there's more there than we can spend time on, but notice that the one that he addresses is the Holy Father, and the request that he makes is straightforward. They're going to scatter concern for their own physical safety. Jesus is concerned for their spiritual unity. Notice that is exactly what he prays: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, in order that being kept they may be united, united in such a way that it is expressive of the union that I have with you and with the Holy Spirit from all of eternity."

An essential union. It can't be duplicated in the experience of the children of God. This is unique, but used as the picture of that for which he prays. It's powerful. In other words, it's a union that is close, intimate, unbroken. It's a unity of mind, it's a unity of will, it's a unity of opinion, it's a unity of feeling. It is a unity. And Jesus is not requesting something that the Father is reluctant to do.

The concern, God's concern for us and about us as his children, supersedes our greatest concerns for ourselves. What we need to know in some sense more than anything else is not only that we have a Father, but that the Father knows everything about us and loves us, and his concern for us extends from all eternity to eternity and all the journey in between. Are you convinced of the love of God for you? That his concern about you, his interest in you, his desires for you, supersede anything that we may long for in ourselves?

Jesus is not asking for something that the Father is unwilling to bestow. And not only do we actually see the intimacy between the Father and the Son, but we see the harmony—that they are both, if I may say so reverently, they're singing from the same sheet of music. That's why he goes on to say, "I'm asking you to keep them." Then verse 12: "Well, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me." And what Jesus is saying here in verse 12 is, "I'm asking you, Father, to keep them, as you know I'm about to make a move here. I have kept them. I kept my eye on them. I guarded them."

Of course he did. Remember he says to Peter, "Satan has desired to sift you as wheat," but I have prayed for you. And it's not only in the singular, incidentally, in that verse. He is speaking not only of Peter, but he is speaking of the entire group. "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Also, he kept them by keeping them on the right track, by making sure that the things that they thought were important were the things that were important. It's easy for us to get that completely wrong, just as the disciples did.

I think it's very important—I hope you do, too—that we keep in mind that the disciples were in very many ways just like us. In what sense? Frail, prone to sin, unexceptional, ordinary, sometimes impulsive, sometimes skeptical, often ignorant, and often excited about things they shouldn't be excited about at all. It's not hard for me to find myself in that picture. I hope you see yourself there, too. When we reflect upon our lives, we realize the keeping power of God. That he keeps us. He keeps us on a moment-by-moment basis. He keeps us when we don't even know we're being kept.

The reason that you and I are here today, brothers and sisters in Christ, is because Jesus prays for you. He continues to intercede. We have an advocate with the Father, that we are actually included in this prayer as disciples. They were kept, but notice Judas was lost. "I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost, but the son of destruction has been lost." Now, I'm not going to delay on this, but we cannot step over it, nor should we. It is clear that Judas was a friend, but he wasn't a member of the family. A friend, but not a member of the family.

When it says that this took place in the fulfillment of Scripture, it is more than likely that the reference is to the 41st Psalm, which in due course, if you make a note of it, you can check and make sure that it's there. But in Psalm 41, we read: "All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. They say a deadly thing is poured out on him; he'll not rise again from where he lies." Here we go, verse 9: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

Now you would then want to fast-forward to the 13th chapter of John and be reminded of what we discover there when, in the 18th verse, Jesus says, "I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the Scripture will be fulfilled: 'He who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me.' I'm telling you now, before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may actually believe that I am he." And this is one of the great mysteries, isn't it?

And this we need to be very clear about: the fact that the apostasy of Judas was predicted in no way relieves him of the decisions that he made. Every choice he made, every decision that he made, was his own choice. He acted freely and therefore is responsible for each of his decisions. God used Judas, the evil of Judas, to bring about his purpose. Because it was the purpose of God from all of eternity that Jesus Christ would be crushed and would bear the punishment for sin.

And in the unfolding drama of that, God, having no part in evil himself at all, sweeps into the unfolding drama of his eternal redemptive purposes even the evil activities of those who opposed him. Bishop Ryle, I think, helped me as well as anyone by recognizing that this is not an exception of one who was and therefore he fell away from it, but rather he wasn't and therefore he never continued. Listen to Ryle. He says, "Those whom you gave to me..." this is he's paraphrasing what Jesus is saying. "Those whom you gave to me I have kept, and not one of them has been lost."

"But there is one man who is lost, even Judas, the son of perdition. Not one who was ever given to me, but one whom long ago I declared to be a devil, a man whose hardened heart fitted him for destruction." And in 18—if you go forward a chapter—18 and verse 9, Jesus says categorically, "This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.'" So none that were given to the Father were lost, nor one, nor could any be lost. The one who was lost was a friend, but not a member of the family.

This is a reminder to us that nothing and no one defeats the divine purposes of God. There are verses in the Bible that we want to take to ourselves and hug them, put them on a pillow and secure it to ourselves and fall asleep in the late afternoon. But here's a verse that makes us tremble, should make us tremble. After all, Judas was part of the group. Judas was present to hear the sermons. Judas participated in all of the events. And yet Judas was lost. The application is clear. You join the church because you think there's acceptance in the church. You get baptized because you think it's a good thing to do. No, we see there is only one way.

Part of the problem in dealing with this for us at this point in history is because the idea of eternal destiny is pretty well out of the window. The thought forms of contemporary culture suggest that there is really nothing to worry about because everything will continue as it was and so on. But if you look up the word "perdition" in the Oxford English Dictionary, this is what it says: "Perdition is a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unrepentant person passes after death." Sinful and unrepentant.

That's why in the Book of Common Prayer, we say, "Save Thou, Lord, them that are penitent," who are resting entirely on what God has done. Unregenerate people by and large do not call God Father. Do you? You say, "Well, are we going to finish on this dreadfully solemn note?" Well, there's another one coming, but I'll save that for another day. We can build up to it. Because immediately in verse 14, he's going to remind the Father, as if he had to, that the world has hated these people. So not only are they preserved and united, but they're also hated.

But let's finish on verse 13 with just a word or two. "But now I'm coming to you, and these things I speak in the world in their hearing, so that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." We know that in Jesus there is life and life more abundant—John 10:10. In chapter 15 and verse 11, he is concerned that they might know the fullness of joy. What is this joy? What is it? It's a peculiar sense of comfort. It's a peculiar sense of comfort that is known only in Jesus and in nobody else.

There's not a psychologist can create this joy in you. There's not a medicine that will give this joy to you. Only Jesus. It's his joy. It's not something you get off a shelf; you get it with Jesus. "My joy in them." My joy fulfilled. What was his joy? "I delight to do your will, O God." "Who for the joy set before him" went straight to the cross. There's no peace, no joy, no thrill like walking in his will. There isn't. There can't be. God's way is always best. And so he says, "Make sure, Father, that they have my joy fulfilled in them."

This amazingness. Because you see, happiness is just a spontaneous response to temporary events. This is something very different. When Peter prays eventually and writes to the people experiencing great hardship and suffering, he says, "Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him; though you do not now see him, you believe in him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory." Wow. That is something different from happiness for sure. Let me tell you five things that are true of joy, and I'm just going to read them to you so I don't take longer than I should.

Joy is experienced when my conscience accuses me and I know that Jesus the Son of God has forgiven me. Joy is experienced when I'm aware of my failures, but I know that my sin has been cleansed and I have been given the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joy is experienced when life disappoints me and I disappoint myself, but I know that God is bringing me day by day towards a heavenly home where nothing will ever spoil, fade, or perish. Fourthly, joy is experienced when I feel weak but I remember that he is mighty and holds me in his powerful hand.

Joy is experienced when my outer body is wasting away, but I know that inwardly I'm being renewed day by day until I stand before him in an entirely different new glorified body. It was, I think, like Labor Day weekend—and I told you this before and with this I will finish. It was Labor Day weekend, maybe, and at a conference out in California at a camp called Mount Hermon, a lady came to me at the end of the talk and she said, "I want to tell you a true story."

She said, "A friend of mine was suffering from brain cancer and the impact of its treatments. He had a solid relationship with Jesus. And indeed his relationship with Jesus and his joy was such that the duty nurse, in assessing him in the morning, in writing into his chart, wrote as a critical comment: 'Mr. X is inappropriately joyful.'" And the lady who gave this to me said, "Since then, this has become one of my goals in Jesus: to become inappropriately joyful."

Go back out into this gloomy world in which we all live—a cold, dark, frightening world—in the awareness of the fact that the Father keeps, that Jesus keeps, for the purpose of not only preservation but unity and so that his joy might fill us up and flow through us. Solid joys, lasting treasure are only known in Jesus. Father, thank you for your word. Help us to process all of these various things. Help us to hear from you, to trust in you, to be increasingly made like your Son, Jesus. And we see ourselves in these men surely—frail, ordinary, asking crazy questions—but how good you are to us, how gracious. You keep us kept. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. In addition to the daily Bible teaching you hear on Truth For Life, we love to carefully select books to recommend to you—books that will help you understand the Bible and help you grow in your relationship with God. And today we're recommending a book titled Praying the Bible. It addresses a problem most of us experience at some point in our lives: our prayers become uninspired or repetitive or we become disengaged.

The book Praying the Bible shows you how to pray prayers using words from Scripture to help you commune with God in a way that is deeply meaningful and draws you into a more intimate fellowship with him. The author explains that the Bible provides heartfelt words and themes to guide your prayers, particularly in the book of Psalms. He teaches you how to use the Scripture as a basis for your prayers so that you are aligning your heart with the heart of God.

Praying the Bible is a short, easy-to-follow book that offers encouragement and guidance. It will deepen and energize your prayer life. Ask for your copy today when you make a donation to support the Bible teaching ministry of Truth For Life. You can give your gift online at truthforlife.org/donate. Thanks for listening. The Bible teaches that if we love and follow Jesus, we'll be better prepared for a battle. Tomorrow we'll consider why the unbelieving world is so provoked by biblical truth and Christian conviction. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.