[0:00] And just a wee word to the young people before we move on. It says in the Bible that there is a time for everything under heaven.
[0:10] And that there's a season for every activity, for everything that happens. God has put an order in everything. That's why he set the sun, the center, and he has given us the moon and the stars to give light at night.
[0:27] And everything is beautifully put in order. He's given laws, like for instance gravity. Sure, we all know what gravity is, what goes up has to come back.
[0:40] There are all these different laws. And he has put an order into everything. Say for instance, you were to fall asleep. We know the story of Rupan Winkle, the man who slept for years and years.
[0:53] But supposing it was possible that you could sleep, you could be kept. Supposing somebody went into a coma. And then he woke up from the coma absolutely fine.
[1:04] They didn't have a watch. A watch will tell us the time of the day. A calendar will tell us the time of the month. But supposing we didn't have a watch or we didn't have a calendar.
[1:16] Do you know, we could still have an idea what time of year it was. Because we have our seasons. If we looked out and we saw little buds on the trees, little flowers beginning to grow, we'd say to ourselves, ah, it must be spring.
[1:34] If we looked out and it was really beautiful and there were butterflies floating about and it was warm, we'd say to ourselves, ah, it must be the summer. If we looked out and you saw the leaves and the trees are beginning to turn golden and brown, beginning to fall off, you'd say to yourself, ah, it must be autumn.
[1:56] Or if you looked out and you saw the snow and it was really cold, you'd say to yourself, it's a winter. And God has set these things, these seasons. In fact, after the flood, he said, there will always be a sowing time and a reaping time.
[2:12] There would always be, like our spring and our summer, always, as long as the world remains, there would be these times. And it's very important that we have God in all these times.
[2:25] We have the seasons in our life. Some of you are in a very young, you're in the very young stage of your life. Some of you are, you need to grow up, you're reaching your teens.
[2:39] Won't be long until you be an adult. And if God spares you, you may not think it won't be long until you be middle-aged. You might think, oh, that's way far away.
[2:52] Tell you, it doesn't take long. God spares you, you're then into old age. We have our seasons, like our spring, our summer, our autumn, our winter, if God spares us.
[3:06] Sometimes that's not how it will be, but for many people that's how it is. And it's very important that just as God has ordered the seasons in the world, that he is there in all the different stages of your life.
[3:22] It's the most important thing of all. So particularly when you're young, you know one of the things you do when you're young? You're always thinking, looking ahead. Yes, you're enjoying, but you're thinking, oh, but this and that, that's ahead.
[3:36] You know the most important thing is to have Jesus ruling your life. And I would ask all of you today to ask Jesus to be king of your life, so that in all the different seasons and all the different stages and times of your life, that Jesus would be king of your life.
[3:56] We're going to sing again from Psalm 17 and sing Psalms. Psalm 17 and sing Psalms, verses 3 to 8.
[4:07] And find that on page 18. Psalm 17. Though you examine me and probe my heart and mind, and though you test me in the night, yet nothing you will find.
[4:24] I said I will not sin in anything I say. From those who practice violence I have kept far away. From every evil path by your word I'm preserved. My feet have held to all your ways, from them I have not sweared.
[4:40] I call on you, O God, for you will answer me. O turn your ear toward my prayer and hear my earnest plea. Display your steadfast love and save with your right hand all those who flee for help to you when foes against them stand.
[4:57] In shadow of your wings hide me in times of strife, and as the apple of your eye preserve and guard my life. Psalm 17, 3 to 8, on page 18.
[5:09] Psalm 17, 3 to 8, on page 18.
[5:39] Psalm 17, 3 to 9, on page 18.
[6:09] Psalm 17, 3 to 9, on page 18.
[6:39] Psalm 17, 4 to 9, on page 18.
[7:09] Towards my prayer and hear my earnest plea. Towards my prayer and hear my earnest plea.
[7:20] It's clear your steadfast love and save with your right hand.
[7:35] Of those who flee for help to you when foes against them stand.
[7:51] In shadow of your ways hide me in times of strife, And as the apple of your right hand.
[8:08] And as the apple of your right, preserve and guard my life.
[8:36] John 17, 3 to 9, on page 18. And as the apple of your right hand. In the end, we'll read from verse 6 to verse 12 there. John 15, first of all, at verse 18.
[8:49] We've looked at this before, but this is Jesus highlighting the hatred of the world towards himself and towards his people.
[9:02] And then we see in John 17 some of Jesus' prayer with regard to his disciples and flows on towards us, that prayer.
[9:15] 15, verse 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
[9:30] Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
[9:43] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.
[9:57] But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.
[10:11] But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause.
[10:22] But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
[10:33] You also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. And then chapter 17, verse 6. I have manifested your name to the people.
[10:46] This is Jesus, of course, in prayer to his Father. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were.
[10:57] And you gave them to me, and 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.
[11:10] 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.
[11:22] I am 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.
[11:33] And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you, Holy Father. 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.
[11:51] 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.
[12:03] That the scripture might be fulfilled. Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his holy word. I'm going to sing again from the Scottish Psalter, Psalm 41.
[12:14] I'm going to sing from verse 9 to the end of the psalm. Psalm 41. From verse 9. So page 262. Verse 9.
[12:35] Very much speaking there of just an example of what Judas did with Jesus. Yea, even mine own familiar friend, on whom I did rely, who ate my bread, even his heel against me lifted high.
[12:49] But, Lord, be merciful to me, and up against me raise, that I may justly them requite according to their ways. By this I know that certainly I favoured them by thee, because my hateful enemy triumphs not over me.
[13:05] But as for me, thou me upholdst in mine integrity, and me before thy countenance thou saidst continually. The Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed forever then, from age to age eternally.
[13:21] Amen, yea, and amen. In these verses, Psalm 41, from verse 9 to the end of the psalm. Amen. Psalm 41.
[13:56] Psalm 42, about 9 to the end of the psalm. Amen. The Lord, be merciful to me, and up against me raise, God.
[14:11] Amen. Amen. Surely exactly. Amen. Amen. Amen. Mendel.
[14:23] But I may just be them required according to their ways.
[14:37] By this I know uncertainly, I've never done like thee.
[14:53] Because my hateful enemy triumphs not over me.
[15:09] God has for me thou be a hold in my integrity.
[15:24] And me before thy countenance thou shalt continue.
[15:39] The Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed forever then.
[15:57] From age to age eternally. Amen. Yea, amen.
[16:17] Let's turn again to John chapter 17. I just want us to look at this section here that we read of the high priestly prayer. Where Jesus says in verse 6, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
[16:34] Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. And so on. Verse 8, 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.
[16:52] Verse 11, 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, and so on.
[17:06] Now, in this section, and a wee bit further on, Jesus is praying here for his disciples, and particularly the apostles, the immediate disciples.
[17:19] Many people look on this prayer as divided into three sections. The first section, Jesus is really praying about himself and his own relationship with his father.
[17:31] And the second section, where Jesus is praying more specifically for his immediate disciples, because they are the ones who are going to go out, and they were going to be the ones who are going to be used for the establishing of the kingdom.
[17:47] See, Apostle Paul, remember how Paul put it, how he said that the kingdom was built on the foundation, the foundation of the church, with Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
[18:01] So the disciples had a particular mission. At that moment, they looked the least likely to be such major players in the establishing of the kingdom.
[18:19] But they were going to be. And so Jesus is praying for them. And so this section, right on, is about his immediate disciples. And then the last section is more about the church in all the ages to come, where we are.
[18:37] However, having said that, some of his prayer for his immediate disciples is relevant to ourselves as well. Because we are all, remember, every person who comes to faith in Jesus Christ is a servant of God.
[18:52] I know we use the term a servant of God in a particular way for somebody who has gone into full-time service for the Lord. But there is a level at which every believer is a servant of the Lord, because we've been saved to serve.
[19:08] We're all serving in different ways. We have different abilities, different gifts, different capacities. We're all serving. So there are, although there are some things that are specifically for that moment, for the disciples, some of it runs on into exactly where we are, even just now.
[19:28] And Jesus here, we see that he's reminding the Father of how the Father has given them, and that's what we see there, the disciples, but also ourselves, to him, that the Father has given them to him.
[19:49] The Father has given the disciples to Christ, and he's also given us to Christ. Now, when the Father gave to Jesus, it wasn't that he was giving something he wanted rid of.
[20:01] He was giving something that was incredibly precious. We saw that, I think, two or three weeks ago, when we looked at the beginning of this chapter, of how Jesus is saying there, since you have given him, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
[20:20] And you have to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. So, we see that the people of God are a present from the Father to the Son, and the Son has died in order to give that eternal life.
[20:39] This is the way we receive the eternal life. So, when the Father gave a people, gave this gift to the Son, it was a gift, not something he wanted rid of.
[20:51] And although he has given, he still owns. And there is a day coming when Jesus will hand back, hand over the kingdom, again to the Father.
[21:03] But in a wonderful way, even although the Father has given to the Son, they still belong to the Father, and to the Son. That's why Jesus in John chapter 10 was talking about the amazing security that a believer has.
[21:19] Remember how he says, when he was talking about him being the good shepherd, he said, you, he said, you're in my Father's hand. And then he says, you are in my hand.
[21:31] So that there's this dual, control, dual holding, where Father and Son have you in their hand. And there is no one that can open the Father's hand or the Son's hand to take you.
[21:45] So it's amazing. This is one of the things that comes through from John's writings, is the tremendous security that the believer has. Now we mustn't mix up this security in thinking that nothing will ever happen to the believer in this world.
[22:00] And that no bad things or sad things, or that even death. This is talking about the security above all of the soul, which is more precious than anything else. If we're simply thinking on a physical security, then we're not getting what Jesus is really talking about.
[22:18] The security of the soul. Because if the soul is safe, then the body will be safe as well. Yes, the body will die. But the body, the dust is even, we're told that the dust is still precious to Christ.
[22:30] He's watching, he's guarding over that. He will, it will be, the body will be raised up again, reunited with the soul. So there is this amazing security given.
[22:40] And that's one of the things that's emphasized over and over and over again here. And then we see the section from verses 7 to 9, that Jesus is showing that all the teaching that he gave was teaching, that was given to him by the Father.
[22:58] Verse 8, For I have given them the words that you gave me. Jesus is showing here, I gave nothing, I taught nothing, I didn't say anything that wasn't given to me by the Father.
[23:12] Jesus was absolutely faithful to his Father all the time. And that is not at the same level, but that has got to always be the role, my role, or whoever preaches, or whoever teaches from the Word.
[23:28] That is, we could almost say the same thing, I have given them the words that you gave me. Now we're not making any, this is not any proud boast, but what we're simply saying here, this is the Word of God.
[23:44] And it is the duty of every person who teaches or preaches to open that Word and to give that Word with all the faithfulness and all the honesty and all the integrity that a person can.
[24:00] Trying to be as faithful to the Word as possible. I do not have the right to come here with my own opinions or my own issues or anything that, any things that might be going on in my mind and use the pulpit as a platform to start talking about these things or to try and slant Scripture in any way to fit in with my own preconceived ideas.
[24:25] The preaching of the Word has to be as faithful as possible to what God's Word, it's God's Word. We do not have the right to take God's Word and say, I want to make it mean something else.
[24:37] We do not have the right to say, you know, I've got an idea about this and an idea about that. That's what I want to talk about. No. It's the Word. We have to be absolutely faithful to this Word.
[24:49] And that's what Jesus is saying. I have been completely faithful. The words that I gave, they weren't my own words. They were the words the Father gave.
[25:00] Now, of course, no preacher or no teacher at any level will ever be able to speak in the way that Jesus did. Because although we, and it is always, and it is always my prayer, Lord, help me never to say anything in the pulpit.
[25:18] But that's wrong. To keep, to keep to the truth. Because it's the most, you know, it's the most serious, the most solemn thing when you're handling God's Word in a public way. That you've got to, you have, you have to be faithful to it.
[25:33] But the great difference with Jesus is that the words that he had, not only did he speak the truth, but his motive behind everything he said was absolutely pure and right.
[25:46] And that's where it separates from us. Because, even although I might have the best intentions, I'm still riddled with sin. Do you know, it's one of the greatest difficulties, one of the greatest challenges that any preacher has is being so aware of their own sin, their own heart, their own uncleanness.
[26:05] And they're saying, how can I? Because you're handling the truth and this is the Word of God. And so there is always this challenge. and so that you're always trying to get yourself spiritually right in a proper frame in order to go and proclaim the truth.
[26:23] So that's one of the great differences between anybody who's teaching or preaching and Jesus is that our hearts are deceitful, our hearts are unclean. Jesus' was pure.
[26:35] Everything he said was purely given. It was from a pure motive. And it was the truth without any wavering whatever. Absolute truth. So this is what Jesus has said.
[26:47] But we also notice something else really quite wonderful here. For he says in verse 8, 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.
[27:01] Now, I really like this because this is where Jesus is highlighting here what has been going on in the lives of the disciples.
[27:13] Jesus is saying here these men are growing. Their knowledge about you, Father, and about me is growing. These are men who have come to understand who I am, where I came from.
[27:29] Now, that's what I like because when you read the lives of the disciples you think, hey, they're not getting it. So often they, you know, the kind of the questions they ask or the statements they make are kind of displaying their ignorance and you say to yourself, they're not, they're not, they're not really grasping what Jesus is about or who Jesus, yes, they knew he was from God but there was so much they didn't at that point know.
[27:56] But Jesus knows full well that the word has gone down into their heart and is beginning to mold and beginning to shape. And so that's why he says they have received them and they've come to know the truth that I have come from you and they have believed.
[28:18] So an awful lot more going on in the disciples' hearts than they realized. And we will see that in time to come. These men, all of a sudden, they begin to blossom and they begin to flourish because the truth has gone down deep into them.
[28:32] And do you know something? Same thing's happening with you and with me. Jesus prayed a little later on and he's asking, Lord, sanctify them through the truth.
[28:43] Your word is the truth. Your word is that truth. So part of Jesus' prayer, if all God willing will come into that next week, we see that Jesus is praying that the word of God will have an impact upon their lives so that they will develop and they will grow and they will mature.
[29:03] And you know, the same thing is happening to you and to me. Sometimes we think, we're not really getting on too well. Sometimes we think, my knowledge is so limited. Have I grown?
[29:15] Yes, you have. If you're a believer here today, you're growing. The Lord's seen to it. And very often, you see, we've often said it, the growth, growth in the Christian is so often downwards and we don't see it.
[29:29] But we are. There's a, there's a steadfastness. We might not have the energy and the zeal of youth, but there's a greater steadfastness, a greater sense of, of growth.
[29:42] It's just, it's a developing, a maturing. When, when, when children are young, normally, that's the age for running around. You see boys and girls and they're running around and when you get older, you say, oh, I wish I had that energy.
[29:57] Wish I could do that. There's a day you used to do that all the time. And so it is spiritually as well when, when people come to faith. There's that kind of zip about it, that kind of dynamic energy.
[30:13] But then when people get older and they grow up, it's the same. There's a sort of, there's a, more a kind of a calmness, a kind of, a maturity development. It's the same spiritually.
[30:24] So we mustn't be thinking that we've got to be zipping about, that we've got this, this new sense of just the wonder, the awe of it all. There will be times when that might be true, that we will, again, be given great new insights and have a little, like it's a little flash of that energy.
[30:41] But the thing is, God has seen to it that we're developing and that we're growing. And that's why it's so important to come to church, to sit under, the word.
[30:53] The word is working, whether you know it or not. It is having a cleansing effect. It is having a developing effect upon you.
[31:03] So that's, that's why it's so important that we come under the word. And then Jesus says in verse 10, I am glorified in them. Now again, you say to yourself, now that seems a strange statement.
[31:17] Glorified in the disciples. Here are men who are just about to run away from him. Men who are about to abandon him in his greatest hour of need. The disciple who was at the forefront of everything is just about to deny him with oaths and curses.
[31:33] And yet Jesus is saying, I am glorified in them. Put the clock a wee bit forward and we see the fulfillment of what Jesus is saying. These very men who had abandoned him and run away from him and left him.
[31:50] Just within, within, under two months. They're there at the very forefront in the public places, in the synagogue. They're preaching, they're teaching.
[32:00] The whole world is listening. Thousands are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. These very men who, two months or less before, are running away, scared.
[32:16] So what Jesus is saying is absolutely true. They are, he is being glorified in them. And Christ, Christ prays for the disciples.
[32:27] I think you were always aware that he was always praying for them. In fact, the night before he chose them. Remember, he spent the whole night in prayer. And he tells us along the way that he prays for them.
[32:38] He told Peter specifically, oh, he says, Peter, I'm really praying for you. So, the disciples afterwards, this would have been, this prayer would have been so precious to them, knowing that they were at the very, very heart of Jesus' prayer.
[32:58] And then in verse 11, Jesus says in two things that he's praying for regarding his disciples. First of all is that they be kept, that they would be kept, kept, and again, they're kept from two main enemies.
[33:12] The first is the world. The world, of course, is this great enemy that the world hates them. Why? Why did the world hate the disciples? Because the world hated Christ.
[33:23] Now, we know it's illogical. It doesn't make sense. If there was any person ever in this world that deserved the world's adoration, it was Jesus Christ.
[33:36] Nobody ever lived like him. There was nobody like him. And yet, after three years of public ministry, they just couldn't wait to put him to death in the most horrific, barbaric, cruel way imaginable.
[33:51] That was what the world thought of Jesus. So, Jesus is saying, if the world persecutes you, don't be surprised, because that's what they did to me.
[34:03] Why does the world hate Jesus? Because, remember, at the very beginning, we go back to it all the time of the fall in the garden. What did Adam and Eve do?
[34:13] They ran away from God. They couldn't bear the purity, the light, the holiness of God. Run away, run away, run away. Because the light and the holiness and the purity of God is a rebuke.
[34:28] And Jesus Christ is a rebuke. Jesus is a statement and a testimony to the human race. You are accountable to God.
[34:39] That's why, that's why people who are atheistic in their thinking are so against the Christian faith. Because the whole realm of accountability is there.
[34:53] If you can remove that level of accountability, then, that's fine. And that's why there is so much anger in atheism, in a lot of atheists, against the Christian faith.
[35:07] Because there is, underneath, right deep down, they're not, they're probably not recognizing it. But God has put a conscience into the heart of every person. A conscience can be deadened, but it's there.
[35:20] And that conscience is screaming out, you're accountable. You're accountable. You're a responsible person. We have to give an account.
[35:32] Of course, we, so many people squash that down and push that down and make out it doesn't exist. God doesn't exist. But, the fact of the matter there is, he does.
[35:44] And every person is going to have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So, there is this hatred in that human heart against Christ. And the only way that that can be displayed in this world is against his followers.
[35:59] And that is why so many people, not everybody, but a lot of people, are so ready to persecute and to hurt, to harm, to do the worst against the Christian.
[36:10] So, Jesus is praying for the disciples and they needed his prayer because it wasn't going to be too long until one of that immediate twelve was going to be beheaded by Herod.
[36:22] And then Herod took Peter and he would have done the same had not Peter been released. And remember how the angel released Peter from the prison the night before his execution. So, Jesus knew the hostility that was going to be there.
[36:36] and then we find, of course, also that Jesus is praying that they be kept from the evil one. That's in verse 15.
[36:48] I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Because we know that the devil is a roaring lion is going about seeking whom he may devour.
[36:59] power. And Jesus knew better than anybody else the force, the power, the cunning, the deceit, the anger, the hatred that's in the heart of the evil one who will do everything that he can to derail and to spoil.
[37:18] And that's why Jesus then goes on the second thing he prays for is for unity. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one.
[37:30] The Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one. The saints in glory, the church triumphant, one. There's no divisions in glory.
[37:43] There's no splits in glory. There is one amazing unity. The church triumphant is one united body forever.
[37:57] Down here splintered all over the place. It's an amazing, amazing thing. But Jesus is praying for this unity that they may be one.
[38:08] And the devil knows that the most dangerous thing to the kingdom of darkness is a united powerful church. A church that is moving together as one is always a threat to the powers of darkness.
[38:25] A church that's divided and splintered up all over the place. Where everybody's falling out with one another, the devil says, oh, don't need to worry about that. It's a poor witness within a community.
[38:39] Because, remember what Jesus said, the predominant mark of discipleship, that you belong to me, is love for one another.
[38:51] And so when a church is at war, then the world will say, forget that. I'm sure that over the history of, over all the years, divisions, breakups, infightings, have caused so, so much damage within communities.
[39:10] Where people have said, well, that's a church, I don't want anything to do with that. Church should be a place where love is demonstrated. Yes, there will be differences. We don't all think the same.
[39:22] We don't all have the same outlook. But that is still, even where we can be divided over particular things, there should still be unity, and that is possible.
[39:35] No reason for people to be falling out. That is not a Christian way. And so this is what Jesus is praying for. Lord, please, Father, that they may be one, that they may be unity.
[39:46] And that was one of the great marks of the New Testament church, was the tremendous unity that is displayed in those early days. Keep them in your name. There's a lot of other things we could say here.
[40:00] I'm just going to move on. And then Jesus says finally in verse 12, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me, and I have guarded them. No shepherd ever watched his sheep more closely than a good shepherd has watched his sheep.
[40:15] And he has guarded them, and he has kept them. sometimes we know the shepherd will suddenly take one of his sheep or one of his lambs home. That causes a lot of distress amongst the sheep, amongst the lambs.
[40:34] But we've always got to realize that the shepherd, the shepherd knows what he's doing, and he sees it from a totally different perspective. If we could see, if we could see where the sheep and the lambs go, it would so help our broken hearts.
[40:51] But here we're still in this world, and it's still difficult. But the Lord is shepherding all the time. And as we said, not one will ever be lost.
[41:03] But Jesus, again, he's talking here of his disciples, and he's saying, I guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction.
[41:15] Now this word, destruction here, can describe both a character and a destiny. And for Judas, that is probably true for both.
[41:26] His character was destruction. It was destructive. And poor Judas didn't realize that at the time. But that's what was underneath, and that destructive character that Jesus saw, of course, came to the fore.
[41:42] power. And it was just going to really manifest itself very soon. And his destiny, it would appear, was also one of destruction.
[41:53] You know, Judas is probably a solemn a case, as you will find in the Bible. Judas was a person who walked with Jesus without preaching. In fact, he was so trusted by the other disciples, he was made treacherous.
[42:08] he had the bag, but we're told he was a thief. Jesus wasn't taken in by him, because Jesus said to them, I have chosen twelve of you, and one of you is a devil.
[42:22] You know, it seems to have sort of bypassed the disciples when Jesus made that comment. But Jesus was seeing right into the heart of Judas. And he was seeing that even although the others weren't seeing anything about him that upset them, they all thought Judas was just one of them.
[42:40] Even when Jesus said, one of you is going to betray me, nobody automatically thought that, oh, that will be Judas. But Jesus knew. Jesus could see right into his heart.
[42:51] And he could see that there were forces and powers lurking there. Some people think that Judas was one of these zealots that really was hoping that Jesus Christ was going to rid the country of Rome and sort of lead the campaign.
[43:08] And when he saw the direction Jesus was going in, you know, he was so disappointed in Jesus and that he was ready to throw in his lot with the powers that be.
[43:21] But I think there was an even greater reason than that, and that was, it's pointed out, his love of money. Thirty pieces of silver. He could get a deal by betraying Jesus.
[43:33] Because remember the soldiers, the powers that be, couldn't get Jesus. Jerusalem was swarming with people. It was the time of the Passover. And Jesus, despite the opposition against him, so many of the people revered him.
[43:47] And we read about that, that they couldn't take him because of the crowd. They didn't know when they could take him, when they could get him. Judas says, I'll get him. I'll lead him to you under the cover of darkness.
[43:58] I'll lead you to him when the people aren't around. So that's how Judas' role, it was so powerful. Jesus, Jesus knew.
[44:12] So the case of Judas is one that should, I think, fill us with fear. That it's possible to be so involved and yet to be so far away. Because we see here, that is not enough to be part of the church.
[44:30] we need to belong to the head of the church. It's not enough even to be involved in serving. We have to make sure that we're actually a servant, that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ.
[44:48] It's not enough just to join with Christians. We need to make sure that we're joined with Christ. That's what's important. it's not important.
[45:00] Whenever we come to something like this, it's always good for us again just to say, Lord, all be merciful to me. I think the reason why the likes of Judas makes us tremble is because sometimes, you know, not just sometimes, often, we realize just how weak we are, how leaden-footed we are, how full of sin we are, the potential for just destruction that's within us.
[45:26] but Judas, I don't believe that Judas, as the devil was working in Judas, I don't think Judas at any moment was saying, oh Lord, help me here, I'm really being tempted.
[45:39] No, Judas wasn't. You see, Judas was quite happy to be given over to sin until afterwards he realized what had happened. But you know, for those whose hearts are right before God, yes, they fear, but that fear is driving them to the Lord and saying, oh Lord, help me, help me Lord, that I won't come short at the end of the day.
[46:01] Lord, I love you. There's nobody else I want but you. It's only the believer that can say that, even although there's times we fear, times we're uncertain. Well, let us make sure then that we can strip everything down.
[46:17] Let us make sure that we are united to Jesus Christ. And if we are, so much of this prayer is still being made. Remember, the answer to this prayer is ongoing.
[46:28] Ongoing. That's a wonder and the beauty of it. Let us pray. Lord, our God, we ask to bless us. We give thanks for the efficacy of this prayer. A prayer that never dies.
[46:40] And a prayer that is still being fulfilled in the experience of the people of God. And even although a lot of this prayer was directed specifically for the disciples, we know that Jesus' prayer has covered us also with regard to unity, with regard to being kept from the world and from the devil.
[47:04] And we ask, O Lord, to watch over us and do us good. Bless our homes and our families and all whom we love. Bless the cavity in the hall afterwards and watch over us in all that we do.
[47:15] Taking away your sin in Jesus' name. Amen. Let us conclude singing in Psalm 23. Psalm 23.
[47:26] And it's from Sing Psalms. Sing the whole psalm. Psalm 23, the whole psalm.
[47:41] The Lord is my shepherd, no one shall I know. He makes me lie down where the green pastures grow. He leads me to rest where the calm waters flow. My wandering steps he brings back to his way.
[47:54] In straight paths of righteousness making me stay. And this he has done his great name to display. Though I walk in death's valley where darkness is near. Because you're with me, no evil I'll fear.
[48:07] Your rod and your staff bring me comfort and cheer. The whole psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. Lord is my shepherd, no one shall I know.
[48:27] He makes me light down where the green pastures grow. He leads me to rest where the calm waters flow.
[48:42] my wandering steps he brings back to his way. In straight paths of righteousness making me stay.
[48:59] And this he has drawn his great name to display. Though I walk in death's valley where darkness is near.
[49:16] Because you are with me, no evil and fear. Your rod and your stuff bring me comfort and cheer.
[49:32] In the sight of Miami meals at table you spread. The oil of rejoicing you pour on my head.
[49:49] My path, all thy roads and angriots shall be fed. God, surely your covenant mercy and grace will follow me closely in all of my ways.
[50:13] I will dwell in the house of the Lord of my name. Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore.
[50:31] Amen.