KEPT IN THE WORLD

JOHN 17:11-12

MARCH 23, 1997

 

Everyone likes to feel secure.  This is true in our relationships, our finances, our jobs, and even in our political views.  While security is valuable in all these areas, there is no security that brings greater delight than a security in our relationship to Jesus Christ.

 

Baptists have long been identified with a belief in the eternal security of our salvation through Jesus Christ.  This is a doctrine we have held high, even in the face of criticism and scorn by other groups.  Though this has been our hallmark, I'm afraid that familiarity sometimes breeds contempt.  Too many have taken this doctrine for granted but have not taken the time to understand its meaning.  Let me explain.

 

Typically, you have most people who join Baptist churches making professions of faith while they are children.  Usually this comes during Vacation Bible School or a so-called revival service.  Upon that profession, those individuals are told that they do not need to doubt their salvation.  They may be asked to sign a card or put a note and date in their Bible of the day of their profession.  These become instruments that they are told to turn to if they are doubting their salvation.  When in doubt, simply look at the date and signature and rest assured that on that particular day, their salvation was secured.

 

This practice--and unfortunately, a common one--has led multitudes of people into a non-biblical type of assurance in their salvation.  It is an assurance based on something external that really has nothing to do with salvation at all.  Rather than an inner witness of the Spirit or the evidence of spiritual reality in a person's life, they fall back on a signature or a particular service or even a particular prayer.  I would hasten to point out that some of these people are indeed saved but are not utilizing the God-given means of assurance.  Others of this number are lost and because they have been given a false assurance, they turn their minds away from the gospel, thinking they are no longer in need of it.

 

All of these, whether saved or not, claim to believe in eternal security.  Even some who appear to be immersed in worldly living or who appear to be under the sway of the devil or who appear to have no concern for spiritual matters state that they believe in eternal security.  This treasured doctrine has been abused so that many use it for a license to sin and live selfishly.  They think, 'Hey, if I'm saved for eternity, what does it matter how I live?'  But I would point out to you that this is a far cry from the proper understanding of this doctrine.

 

The early Southern Baptist theologian, James P. Boyce, in his Abstract of Theology, explains this doctrine as follows:

The doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints teaches that those who are effectually called of God to the exercise of genuine faith in Christ will certainly persevere unto final salvation....This fact is taught explicitly in the word of God, which sets it forth as due to the purpose and power of God and the grace which he bestows, and not to any excellence or power in the believer....In so doing, however, he [i.e., God] does not act independently of their co-operation, but leads them unto salvation through their own perseverance in faith and holiness [pp. 425-426].


While there are many other passages that treat this doctrine at greater length, our text shows us the basis of the doctrine of eternal security or as it is better known, the perseverance of the saints or the preservation of the saints.  In following the progress of John 17, it can be seen that there are certain ones that the Father has given to the Son.  This is very clearly the truth that before the foundation of the world, God chose some out of the world to receive the good pleasure of the saving work of Christ.  Jesus declares that these are the ones whom the Father has given to Him.  

 

Those whom the Father has given to Him, Jesus Christ has redeemed, having accomplished the work the Father sent Him to do.  Part of the glory of John 17 is recognizing that Jesus views His work as accomplished.  The whole redemptive work of bringing into righteousness and sonship those who have been at enmity with God, is held up as finished through Christ. 

 

Now, in the words of our text, we see that what Jesus has done in every believer has been secured for eternity.  What Jesus has begun in us will be completed ultimately when we stand glorified before the throne of God.  But for this to happen, we must be preserved from all the forces that work against that perfecting work of Christ in us.  While Jesus was in the world, He kept His disciples from falling away.  He was their security for eternity.  In our text He states that He was going to the Father, so it was necessary for Someone else to take over the responsibility of preserving the disciples so that they might persevere in the faith.  That responsibility has been entrusted to the Father.  We are kept by the Father in this world.

 

What does this mean, to be kept in the world?

 

I.  Why we need to be kept

 

Could Jesus not just leave us to ourselves and have confidence that we would not deny the faith nor fall away as apostates?  I believe it is important for us to understand the reason behind this doctrine, for then we will have a greater appreciation and delight in it.  Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name....While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished."

 

1.  Value of the deposit

 

When we speak of eternal security or preservation of the saints, we are referring to God exercising the appropriate power and giving the measure of grace to maintain what He has done in us.  If a person merely makes a profession of faith but has not been truly born of God, then there is nothing to secure.  Many claim an eternal security over empty hearts!  Nothing has been deposited in their lives by the Holy Spirit.  The internal vault of their souls are empty, void of any Spirit-borne life.  It would be rather useless to maintain security over an empty vault!

 

Paul expressed this idea in II Timothy 1:12, 14.  "For I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted [Gk., deposited] to Him until that day....Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted [again, deposited] to you."  You will notice that Paul deals both with God's preservation of the believer and with the believer himself being actively involved in this whole work by the Holy Spirit.  This is perseverance.  What has been deposited in the believer's life is the precious gift of eternal life through the gospel of Christ (John 17:3).  What the believer has entrusted to God is his own soul, life, and being for all eternity.  Can anything have more value than the soul of man fitted for eternity through Christ?

 

2.  Internal weaknesses

 

We must be kept due to our own weaknesses.  When the Lord saved us, He did not at the same time perfect us.  He continues to work grace in us each day, shaping us in the image of Christ, bringing us to that point of perfection when we stand before His throne.  But until that time, we are full of imperfections and weaknesses.  We have a new nature in Christ.  We have new desires.  We have a new righteousness imputed to us and working out of us in our daily lives.  We have a new love for others.  We have a new passion for the Word of God and the things of God.  Yet, with all of these new things we are still not perfect.  We are still on the road to the Celestial City, as Bunyan expressed it.  We have not arrived (Philippians 3:9-13).

 

Our own natural tendency is toward weakness.  The only good within us is that which the Lord has deposited within us.  There are so many warnings and exhortations in Scripture for continuing on in the faith.  That is why we must never concede to the idea that Christians are to live in some mysterious, automatic pilot condition that never exerts the least energy.  We must battle with our old tendencies to sin, the tendencies which had been our mind-set until we were converted.  Those patterns are still present.  That is why we are exhorted to "be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Rom. 12:1-2).  The Christian life is not an effortless life!  Paul said of himself, "Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (I Cor. 9:26-27).  

 

Consider the eleven believing disciples who followed Christ.  Had any of them arrived spiritually?  You look at the tendencies in every one of them and it is almost discouraging!  Had Christ not prayed for Peter, his faith would have failed (Luke 22:31-34).  Thomas was full of doubts, not even believing the word of the other disciples concerning the resurrection of Christ.  John and James were hot-heads who were nicknamed, Sons of Thunder.  They were ready to call fire down from heaven on anyone who did not respond properly to Christ.  Their egos were big so that they seemed to be more interested in occupying seats in heaven than living in humble obedience.  They all fled the scene at Jesus' arrest.  But none of them left the faith!  Jesus Christ kept them in the world and He entrusted that job of keeping them to the Father upon His ascension.

 

Again I turn to Dr. Boyce for a fitting description of our condition and need for God's keeping power.

Indeed, such is stated to be the weakness of man that, if left to himself, he would assuredly fall, against the danger of which he is constantly warned; a danger to which even the best instructed and most sanctified are liable, and which is evidenced by the sins which are committed, which are often of a most heinous character, sometimes extending to actual denial of the faith, and backsliding from God; showing that but for God's mercy and grace, final apostasy would occur.  But, from the danger thus due to himself he is rescued by the power  and grace of God, who, by his watchful preservation, keeps guard over his unworthy children, preventing their total estrangement from him, and bringing them finally unto the salvation he has designed for them.  [p. 426]


3.  External influences

 

Apart from our own personal weaknesses and tendencies, we have the external influences that would rob us of our faith, if possible, and take us to hell.  We are warned about not loving the world nor the things in the world.  Such a love is devoid of God (cf. I John 2:15-17).  Yet, the world parades its enticements before the eyes and ears of Christians, trying to lure us into apostasy or a falling away from Christ.  There are some who succumb, who verify that their faith was not true.  They prove by their failure to persevere that their faith had a fatal flaw.  Those sad words of Paul to Timothy, "For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica" (II Tim. 4:10), show one who had every opportunity of truly following Jesus Christ, yet the pull of the world was too much for him.  He had been involved in the whole work of ministry, he had witnessed the good hand of God, yet he turned away from the faith and embraced the world with a passion.  The soil of his heart was full of thorns and briars so that the seed of the gospel was choked out and unfruitful (Matthew 13:22).

 

Add to this the assaults of the adversary, the devil.  At every turn the adversary tries to usurp the Lord's place as Prophet, Priest, and King in our lives.  He entices us to deny and denounce the gospel, to believe something other than the truth that is in Christ.  He tricks us into trusting in our own righteousness rather than the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  He deceives us into thinking that we can run our own lives and follow our own path, rather than that of our King.  My brethren, we cannot be smug at this point.  Unless the Lord maintains His keeping grace upon our lives, we would all abandon Jesus Christ, turn from His cross, and follow our own designs!  That is the deceitfulness of our own hearts to do such a thing.  But it is the compassion and power of our great Sovereign to keep us for Himself.

 

II. Who will keep us

 

We must be kept because of the value of the divine deposit in our lives and our own weakness coupled with the influences about us.  But we cannot keep ourselves, though we are to seek, by the Holy Spirit's power, to persevere in the faith.  Yet, we are weak and incapable of accomplishing what must be done for us to be sustained.  So, we must depend upon the Lord God to keep us. 

 

1.  Faithfulness of Christ

 

Jesus Christ kept His disciples while He was in the world.  "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."  Notice what Jesus stated, for in it you will see His great faithfulness to those He redeems.

 

First, the ones Jesus kept were those "which Thou hast given Me."  It was elect of God, those chosen before the foundation of the world and entrusted to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, whom He kept.  It is important to see this because our Lord makes a clear distinction within this same verse.  He kept the eleven disciples.  He did not keep Judas Iscariot because Judas Iscariot was never given to Christ by the Father.  There was nothing to keep!

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the late pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, points out that if He had said that He kept all the ones the Father had given Him except the son of perdition, then it would imply a failure on the part of Jesus Christ.  There are no exceptions to the keeping power of Jesus Christ.  Those He saves, He keeps for eternity [Safe in the World, 124-127].  Instead, He kept all those the Father gave Him but distinct from them was Judas Iscariot, who was reserved for destruction.

 

So, the question must be asked, 'Was Judas Iscariot a believer who fell?'  If that is the case, then we could not depend upon the faithfulness of Christ to keep us.  Judas walked closely with Christ and was intimately involved with everything Jesus did for a period of three years!  The Gospels are very clear that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas Iscariot was not a believer and that he would betray Christ.  Our Lord told the disciples, "'Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?'  Now He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him" (John 6:70-71).  Judas was chosen so that the plan of God might be fulfilled.  And I believe that He also shows us in the choosing of Judas, that we need not be surprised along the way in the church when Judas's arise.  If that first band of followers of Christ had a Judas, you can be sure that more will follow after.

 

Jesus calls Judas "the son of perdition," which is a Hebraism that implies he was characterized by destruction or damnation.  His whole life was bent on a destiny with damnation.  There was never any saving work in his heart.  Though he participated with the disciples in all they did and perhaps even performed miracles, he never knew the saving work of Jesus Christ.  He gave outward appearance of being a believer, but his heart was corrupt, filled with greed and a lust for materialism.  John even comments that he was a "thief" who pilfered the money box of the disciples (John 12:6).  The only other time this term, "son of perdition or destruction" is used is in reference to the coming man of lawlessness or anti-Christ, as we typically call him (II Thes. 2:3-4).  So, the point is very clear:  Jesus keeps all of those given to Him by the Father.

 

Secondly, you will notice that He uses two words to describe His keeping power.  "I was keeping them in Thy name;...and I guarded them."  While there are similarities in these words there are shades of distinction that we must see.  As the one who "keeps" His disciples, Jesus acts as a Shepherd, who constantly observes his sheep.  His eyes are on His own.  He knows precisely what they need and He is ever ready to apply the grace and strength necessary to keep them pressing on in the faith.  Think of how often, as Jesus walked with His disciples, that He brought up subjects to teach them and apply His grace in their lives.  He spoke of humility, service, obedience, faithfulness, et.al., all with a view to keeping His disciples walking in fellowship with the Godhead.  He who keeps us constantly applies the Word of God to us along with the grace to obey.  Perhaps we could say that the keeping applies more to the internal work in a believer's life than anything else.  It is Christ supplying what is deficient in us due to our weaknesses, so that we might persevere in the faith.

 

But He also "guarded" the disciples.  The word is used often in the New Testament.  For instance, John uses it in his first epistle, "My little children, guard yourselves from idols" (5:21).  It is an implication that there are those things that would threaten and harm the believer for which he must be on guard.  Paul uses it to describe the sense of the Lord protecting us from the harm of those who would seek to pervert and destroy us:  "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect [guard] you from the evil one" (II Thess. 3:3).  When the enemy came lurking in the shadows to attack the disciples, Jesus Christ guarded them.  Without Peter even bringing up the subject, Jesus warned him of an imminent attack by the devil, but that He had prayed for Peter so that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:31-33).

 

We can conclude that Jesus did a marvelous and thorough job of keeping and guarding those who were His own!  He that was faithful with the disciples continues in faithfulness to those who have followed after them.

 

2.  Entrusting us to the Father

 

Since Jesus would not be bodily present with the disciples any longer, "And I am no more in the world," yet the disciples themselves "are in the world, and I come to Thee," Jesus made sure they would be secured forever.  He entrusted the disciples to the Father.  "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are."  He called upon the Father, who is altogether holy, who cannot fail, who remains faithful to keep the disciples in the world.  Just as the disciples were entrusted to the Father, so are we.

 

Jesus had already taught on this subject, but here He reiterates it.  You may recall that time at the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem when our Lord confronted the unbelieving, skeptical Jews gathered about Him, with the truth of God's electing and securing grace.  He told them, "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep."  They were not part of the elect so they persisted in denying Christ and opposing Him.  But our Lord continues, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand" (cf. John 10:25-30).  What a string of affirming statements!  

 

First, His sheep hear His voice.  That is why we insist that Jesus Christ is our Prophet.  He has spoken the truth of God to us so that it penetrates our minds and hearts.  His word, the gospel, becomes light and life to us.

 

Second, He knows His sheep.  He looks in the world, or even in the so-called fold, and He knows who belongs to Him.  This is the knowledge of intimacy and relationship.

 

Third, those whom He knows will truly follow Him.  There is no separation between our salvation and our discipleship (or following).  If you have one, you have the other.  You cannot be saved and not follow Jesus.

 

Fourth, He gives eternal life to those who come to Him as disciples.  Eternal life is His gift, but one that He entrusts only to those who come to Him in faith, abandoning self-trust, and following Him.

 

Fifth, those He gives eternal life shall never perish.  My brethren, that is so clear there is no way to argue around it.  They shall never perish.  Never means 'not at any time', so there are no exceptions to this wonderful truth.

 

Finally, He adds for double measure that no one can "snatch them out of My hand."  That is eternal security!  He holds us firmly in His grasp so that no man nor devil can remove us from the relationship we have with him.  That includes you, as well.  This is "no one without exception."

 

Interestingly, our Lord continues this same vein of security by adding, "My Father, who has given them to Me [John 17:2, 4, 9, 12], is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one."  We are in the doubly secure grip of the Father and Son for all eternity.  That's why Peter states resoundingly of those who are saved, "Who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (I Peter 1:5).  Jude adds, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" (Jude 1:24-25).

 

III. How we are kept

 

There is one final matter we must consider.  How does He keep us?  Twice, our Lord uses the phrase, "in Thy name," to describe the how of His keeping us.  He points to this keeping power bringing us into a oneness that is reflective of the Godhead's oneness.

 

1.  In Thy Name

 

What is meant by the use of "in Thy name" in verses 11-12?  The whole idea of "name" in the Bible does not mean a moniker by which you are called.  It is a reference to the whole person, the character and being of that person.  When we pray in Jesus' name, we are praying with reference to His character that makes our praying possible and with reference to His work that opens the prayer-gates of heaven for us.  We are praying with a consistency of His Word and purpose.

 

Jesus had already stated, "I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world" (v. 6).  We saw that such an act was the unfolding revelation of God to the disciples so that they came to understand Who God is, what He desired of them, and how He had provided for their redemption as sinners.  As the disciples saw the character of God they saw their own spiritual deadness and need of God's mercy in Christ.  They saw His holiness and righteousness that was satisfied only in Jesus Christ.  Upon this "manifestation," they committed themselves in faith to Jesus Christ alone.

 

Now, how are we kept in the name of the Lord?  We are kept by His power working in us and working for us: both within and without, as we saw previously.  But to be kept "in Thy name," points us to a constant sense of security in the revelation of God.  We are held secure for all of life and eternity by the revelation of God to us.  Our assurance is strengthened when we recognize who this great God really is and how He is ever faithful to keep His promises, that He is true to His character.  When we rest in His righteousness rather than our own, we find our assurance strengthened.  When we see that while we were helpless to save ourselves, He has worked savingly on our behalf through Christ, we are emboldened in our faith.  It is God, who has revealed Himself as Faithful, Sovereign, the Almighty, who keeps us.  It is this same God who is declared to be our Salvation, our Rock of Refuge, our Shield and Defender, our Shepherd, who keeps us.

 

2.  Unto oneness

 

The keeping power of God in our lives is not simply measures taken to ensure that we get to heaven.  It is that, indeed, but it has a very present dimension as well.  "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are."  God's keeping work in us is of such a nature that it brings us into a relationship of oneness, that we might be a reflection of the radiance of the Godhead.

 

The whole idea of eternal preservation can be watered-down if we only think of it as God trying to hang on to us so that we finally make it to heaven.  Instead, this prayer shows us that the work going on in us has present-tense realities.  His keeping power is supplying a constant flow of grace and strength into our lives so that we might live in obedience to Christ.  What happens when we do this?  We are drawn into oneness with each other.  

 

The Puritan preacher, George Newton, wrote, "There is no possibility of having peace, unless God himself bestow it; unless he bow the heavens and come down, and work it in the hearts of his people.  It is beyond the power of any creature to keep the saints themselves in unity and peace, unless God himself do it" [George Newton on John 17, 207-208].  With all of our pride, selfishness, and stubbornness we find ourselves at odds with one another.  But the sweet working of eternal preservation which applies a constant supply of divine grace, works in us so that we grow to love and delight in one another.  We find joy in being with the saints!  We find that we are happiest when we are most in unity.  I would call this, the surprise gift of eternal preservation.  God so works in us that we too work on those disciplines and graces that are necessary for perseverance in the faith.  "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  He supplies the grace and we go into action, cooperating with what He is doing to bring us to the Celestial City.  The overflow of this divine work that results in human work is unity in the Body of Christ, a stunning reflection of the glories of the Godhead.

 

Disunity in the church can be seen in two things.  First, when tares are among the wheat or goats among the sheep, the tares or goats are not receiving preserving grace which moves us into unity.  Therefore, try as they might, there can be no unity apart from grace given.  Second, as God is working in preserving grace in our lives, when we fail to be cooperative in our spiritual disciplines and graces, then we are slighting the graces which have come to us.  We cause disunity by such disobedience.  

 

Conclusion

 

My friend, do you know the grace of God working in you and outside of you to keep you for Himself and to bring you to unity with the Body?  This is a grace reserved only for those who have come to Christ with true repentance and faith.  He preserves those whom He saves.  He has saved those whom He preserves, who will themselves persevere in the faith because of the grace and strength He gives.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

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