(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in John chapter 17. The name of the sermon is the glorification of the Son. The glorification of the Son. This is probably not going to be the longest sermon, but we're going to cover every verse here. And let us start here in verse number one where the Bible reads, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. And so Jesus asked to be glorified by the Father at this point. You say, what exactly does that mean? We'll turn to John 12. John 12. You know, what he's talking about is his death. The time is getting close. And when you look at the Gospel of John, a lot of chapters toward the end of the Gospel of John are really not that long of a period of time. It really kind of covers the end of Jesus' life in the last, almost half of the book of John. And so here he mentions in John 17 about the hour has come. Well, notice what it says in John 12, starting at verse 23. And so he mentions about a corner of wheat falling into the ground and dying. And what he's showing is when the hour has come, he's basically saying his time on earth is about over. Okay? He is going to be glorified. He's going to be crucified. He's going to die. Now in verses 23 and 24, as we mentioned when we went through John chapter 12, the symbolic application for us is this, that for us, if we do not die to self, we're going to abide alone. Right. But if we choose to die to self, we are going to bring forth much fruit. Yeah. Okay? Not some fruit, not a little bit, but much fruit. What does it mean to die to self? It basically means you kill off the desires of the flesh. Mm-hmm. Because you have the new man and you have the old man is bleeding. See, the new man desires to read the Bible. The new man desires to pray. The new man desires to go to church. The old man desires to watch TV. The old man desires to listen to the world in music. The old man desires to be lazy and just hang out on Facebook all day instead of reading the word of God. So you've got your choice of those two things. But what is your goal in life? Is your goal in life to just try to please the flesh and be happy in the flesh? If that is your goal in life, the sad reality is you're not going to be that happy. Yeah. The reality is this. If you choose to die to self, you're going to be happier in your life. See, we always have the devil trying to lie to us and make us think, hey, if I just get a little bit lazy, calm it down a little bit, not be so zealous, then maybe I'll be a little bit happier. Here's what we need to understand. The people walking out there, they have a smile on their face and on the inside they're miserable. They're not happy. Look, you're not going to be happy when you're not living for God, especially when you're saved. And for us as believers, if we want to do something with our lives, what do we need to do? We need to die to self. Now, this is something we all need to do. Every single one of us has certain desires in the flesh that we enjoy. A lot of these things are probably the same for us, but there's also things that maybe you enjoy that others don't. Now, these things aren't always necessarily sinful, but they can still waste your time in life. For me personally, my favorite hobby to do, my favorite thing to do if I just have free time would be to play soccer. I love playing soccer. There's nothing inherently sinful about playing soccer. That's not the same as watching television. But one thing that is common is it doesn't profit you in this life. I mean, you might have fun in this life. It's not going to profit you up in heaven. You don't get rewards for being good at soccer. And see, if you want to bear much fruit, you have to kill off the flesh. As much as you can, you kill off the desires of the flesh and choose to live for God. Now, turn back to John 17. Now, don't get me wrong. There's a balance here because honestly, next week my sermon's going to be on, you know, basically relaxing. That's kind of what the theme is in John 18. It talks about Jesus resorting. So Jesus had a place where He often, the Bible says, resorted. And He took time to take a break. I'm not saying you can't have any hobbies. And quite honestly, I think sometimes it's good to have a balance because sometimes you can just burn yourself out, okay? But what I am saying is this, that if you're living your entire life or you just want to gratify the flesh and please the flesh, and whatever you desire you just kind of do, look, you're going to end up living a miserable life. And you will not bring forth much fruit. The more you kill off the flesh, the more fruit you're going to end up bearing. Now, we're going to jump back to verses 2 and 3 here in a little while. Let's jump on to verse number 4. Because He said in verse number 1, He says, Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify you. Now verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Okay? So what Jesus said is, I have finished the work that you gave me. Now, here's what we need to understand. That often in the book of John, He'll say something is finished, okay? That statement comes up a lot. Now, what He says here is, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now, is this all the work that God gave Him to do? No, it's not, because He still had to rise again. He still had to be crucified. His soul still went to hell. But He finished the work on earth that He was given, okay? Now, after this comes His crucifixion. But oftentimes, He mentions something's finished because He's talking about something was finished. That doesn't mean that every single thing was finished that He had to do though. And see, people will try to take this statement later on, It is finished. And they'll basically say, Well, see? Jesus didn't go to hell. It's like, I'm sorry, but it is finished. I don't understand the meaning you're getting out of those three words. I actually just heard a sermon when Pastor Anson was preaching about going back to the Greek and he mentioned the example of it is finished. And if you go back to the Greek, this word finished means so much more than just finished. It implies like lots of things are finished. Like your whole life and everything flashing before your eyes. It's like, no, He's mentioned something specific. Here He says, I have finished the work. He's mentioning something specific but there's still work to be done though. Okay? And obviously the Bible is very clear that Jesus' soul did go to hell after He died. Okay, now turn back to John 15 as we're talking about glorifying. Turn back to John 15. Now you have to understand there's a balance here for the Father to be glorified because nobody's going to get saved except Jesus Christ who died on the cross and be crucified His soul went to hell and then He would rise again after three eighths. That had to take place for anybody to be saved. He had to die. He had to pay for the sins and when He was on earth, He did the will of the Father. Everything the Father wanted done, He did it. Okay, He lived a perfect life and He did that work. Okay? Now it's very important for us to understand that Jesus Christ, the way He died was very specific. He had to die in the manner He did. That fulfills all the Old Testament. All the offerings. Okay? Look, a lamb without blemish is mentioned in the Old Testament. It had to be a lamb that was offered a blood shedding death and then what happened to that offering afterwards? It was burned. A burnt offering. You say, why? Because Jesus died of blood shedding death and then He was... His soul went to hell. Okay? Look, Jesus could not have jumped off a cliff. He couldn't have died at old age. And you say, well obviously we know that. Yeah, but John MacArthur doesn't know that. And John MacArthur is one of the most famous Baptist pastors there is. And he can call himself a Baptist. But then why are you linking up with all those baby baptizers? Like R.C. Sproul. But John MacArthur said it doesn't matter how Jesus died. The point is He died. You know, it doesn't really matter how He died. It's like, well what about all the Old Testament was a blood shedding death? It was very significant. Look, He couldn't have died of old age. It's not like He could have just lived His life and died at 92 years old. And there we go. There's our Savior. No, He had to actually die of blood shedding death as is throughout the Old Testament. And His soul also had to go to hell. You say, why? Because of the fact if we die in our sins, where do we go? To hell. So Jesus was going to pay for our sins. Guess what? He had to go to hell. Many people have died on the cross before. The Romans have killed many people throughout the ages. Many people have been martyred. Many people have been crucified. But there's a difference because Jesus actually went to hell and then three days later He rose up again. And so Jesus had to do that for anybody to be saved. But if we want the Father to be glorified we can't expect that what Jesus did was enough. Now He paid for the sins but in order for the Father to be glorified we've got to bear the fruit, okay? John 15 verse 8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples. Now in this verse you notice there is a prerequisite to being a disciple. Being saved does not make you a disciple. You have to actually bear fruit. And see, you'll find repentant sins preachers who will try to merge the lines and confuse you. Now I remember when I went to a church that was a Calvinist church and I left that church when I found that out and the pastor was bringing up all these verses about being a disciple. And it's like, yeah, that's being a disciple. That's not being saved. See, a disciple is more than being saved. It's actually following what Jesus said. Bearing fruit means you have to actually follow what Jesus said in order to do that. That has nothing to do with salvation though. But here's the thing. If we want the Father to be glorified we must bear fruit, much fruit. That is how He's glorified. And so when it comes to soul winning this is something our church will always be about. It's never going to end. It's always going to be the main focus. Every single year we'll do trips or we go on buses to a long distance away to preach the gospel all day long. We'll have soul winning events. We'll have soul winning several times a week throughout this entire church. It doesn't matter how big we get. It doesn't matter how many ministries we get. We're never going to replace soul winning with a new ministry. Soul winning will always be a part of this church. And as much soul winning as we can do the more the better. Now turn back to John 17. Now as I said, obviously there's a balance. And we're going to talk about that next week about a time to resort. A time to take a rest. We have four official soul winning times at this church. And two of those times are on Saturday so it's not really possible to do both those times. But basically we have soul winning Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now I personally, if people want to go out and do more soul winning Hey, praise the Lord. You know, if people want to go out and say hey, you know, I want to go out you can let me know. And you say I want a map to go then hey, I can give you a map ahead of time. But I don't have soul winning set seven days a week or six days a week because I feel like some people would do it because they just want to serve God as much as they can but I feel like you'd get burnt out. Now look, if you want to do more soul winning that's great. But I don't want to make it where you feel like obligated to man I must go every single day at this time. Because if I was soul winning every single day here and you know, I do a good amount of soul winning like today I went soul winning two hours earlier in the day plus our five p.m. time. But I feel like if I went every single night at six p.m. here some people would go just because we have soul winning every night. And it's like, man, I feel sort of obligated especially if I live near the church. And look, it's great if you do extra soul winning I think that's awesome but I also understand that there's a balance and I do feel like people get burnt out if they do too much. And so if you want to do extra then hey, I want to do more soul winning and so if you want to do extra then hey, I'm happy for that but I also don't want you to feel obligated and end up getting burnt out because what the Bible says is you must be a soul winner. You must read the Bible you must go to church you must pray. When it comes to people in our church that, you know, are soul winners and spending a lot of time out soul winning they do come to church. They do read the Bible they do pray. If they want to do extra you know, that's great but honestly we need a balance in our lives and I know that people can get burnt out you know, I get burnt out sometimes as well. John 17 verse 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now, I want you to notice in verse 5 where it says with thee before the world was. So what we see here is that before the world was guess what? Jesus and the Father the Son and the Father before the world was. Now, doesn't the Bible say all things were made by him? Referencing the Son. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made by him. So we know that the Son was not made by someone else because all things were made by him. Everything was made by him according to the Bible. But before the world was the Bible says that he was with the Father. Now turn back to Genesis 1 actually I don't have this in my notes I'll go back to it myself. But honestly this is pretty clear. So for anyone to try to suggest well, you know, that Jesus wasn't here until the birth, the virgin birth that he became the Son that basically God morphed into the Son that just doesn't line up with John 17 because before the world was he was with the Father. Okay, so we're seeing the Father and we're seeing the Son. Now, Genesis chapter 1 starting at verse number 26 the Bible reads here and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness. So notice the plurality there. God said let us make man in our image. Okay, it's plural. Notice what it says in verse 27. So God created man in his own image and the image of God created he him male and female created he them. So men are made in the image of God it says in verse 27 and he also created both men and women. But notice how it says let us make man in our image then God created man in his own image. Now there's kind of two theories that I know about this verse some people that are heretics are going to tell you that he's talking to angels. And so God is talking to angels and saying hey, let us make man in our image. Here's why that doesn't even make sense in the next verse. Because the next verse says God created man in his own image. It's singular. It's one. It goes from plural to singular. It doesn't go from plural to plural. Our image, own image. So clearly what we're seeing is our image is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and then own image. Why is he saying that? Because there's one God. There's no other way to interpret that. Because if he's talking to angels as a plural, our image then why does it go to singular in the next verse? It does not make sense. The only reason why people believe that is because they don't want to believe in the Trinity because they don't want to understand it. That's right. Now here's a news flash. If you could understand the nature of God like a math problem he wouldn't really be God. Let me give you an example here. Let's say for example I created we're three dimensional in this world. Right? Let's say I created a two dimensional world. Okay? Let's say Dustin was a character in a two dimensional world. Okay? And I created this two dimensional world and I were to put my finger in that two dimensional world. Would he see a three dimensional object? No he wouldn't. You say why? Because it's two dimensional. He can't perceive a third dimension. Okay? He would basically see like a circle. Even though this is not fully a circle. I mean a circle is two dimensional. He's not going to understand a third dimension because he lives in a two dimensional world. Now look, you have to understand God is not a three dimensional character. He's outside of all dimensions. You say why is it that I don't understand where God came from? Because he's outside of time. Yep. It does not make sense to us. Doesn't every kid say to their parents where did God come from? I remember asking that to my parents. Now here's the thing about this. If you want to reject God you've got a bigger problem because where did anything come from? It doesn't logically make sense for there to be a beginning but if there is an almighty God it makes sense that he wouldn't fully comprehend that because he is almighty. He is outside of time and he's creating this world. No it doesn't fully make sense. And so does it fully make sense that you know that the trinity, the father, son and holy ghost? Well I can't say that it just it's two plus two equals four. I believe it and the best example we have is you know that we have a body, soul and spirit and God is three in one. The Bible says you know in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ was fully God and yet he was fully man. It doesn't make sense that he was fully man and fully God either. He wasn't half God and half man. It's not like a Spiderman comic or Avengers comic or whatever where they're like half this and half that. No. Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man. But he's also fully the son of God. You say how do you fully comprehend that? I don't claim to fully comprehend it but what I do know is what the Bible says. The Bible says is God in our image and then he says in his own image which you see the plural and then you see the singular. Now turn to Romans 1 actually. Let me show you one more verse. Romans 1. See there's a big problem when people will not believe stuff until they fully understand it. Now don't get me wrong when it comes to what we believe in it makes logical sense what we believe. God's not asking us to believe in something that's retarded. For example when it comes to being King James only it makes a lot of sense because there was the 54 best translators basically in the world of translation. It's not like God just used a couple people that were illiterate like Mohammed and then all of a sudden it's like well here's our book. It's like well that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. He used a method that actually makes some sense. But notice what it says in Romans 1 verse 20. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead since they are without excuse. And the Bible says that we can see the things that God has made to understand His eternal power and Godhead. That He's always been here. He's from eternity past to eternity in the future. His eternal power and also His Godhead which we'll be referencing here in the Trinity. Now when you look at nature there are a lot of trinities so to speak in nature. Now I understand not all of these examples are perfect. I understand that if we're really trying to think of this theoretically and deeply it's not going to fully come through. But you think of water and water can be in three forms solid, liquid and gas. I understand when you break down that example people that are oneness will be like hey that's oneness. But you know honestly oneness is really not that common with doctrine amongst Christianity. It's a common doctrine in Hinduism. But in terms of Christianity people always just believe there are three that were record having the Father, Lord and Holy Ghost and these three are one. Now the Catholic Church would like to make you think that there's this big debate if the Trinity is true. No there's always a big debate between unsaved people and stupid doctrines. There's not a debate between saved people though. And so we look at that and we say yeah you know solid, liquid and gas water can be in three different forms and you get that. God makes a lot of things in forms of three. The best example is that we have a body soul and spirit. So it's not like God is trying to get us to believe something that just there's no evidence and it's just retarded and it doesn't make any sense. No it makes logical sense. But at the same time we're humans. We're not that smart. We're not going to fully comprehend who God is because he's outside of time. Okay now turn back to John 17. Now we just have to understand that you know that's just the way it's going to be that we're not going to fully comprehend everything. You know a lot of people that are wise in this world that are real good at math and science they just choose to reject the Bible because it doesn't make logical sense to them. They want to understand everything as if it's a math problem. But it's not a math problem. And you're never going to fully understand everything. And I've never understood it because I hate you know philosophical arguments. I think they're a waste of time. They annoy me. I'm like I got a degree in math in college. It's like just give me numbers. But at the same time you know I'm not claiming to just fully comprehend it to be able to solve the problem. But people like all these philosophical arguments and everything like that and those people they never end up getting saved. Because they always want this proof and they're never going to get that proof. It's just something you see what the Bible says and you can't get by faith. But the alternative makes no sense whatsoever. If you want to believe you're billions of years old that's one of the dumbest things you could possibly believe. And look I've never believed. Before I was saved I did not believe in evolution. And I understand I know saved people that used to believe in evolution. But I'll be honest I was just not a student. I was just like you know this just doesn't make sense to me. And you know it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Obviously if you believe in the Bible you're not compatible. But notice what it says going back to John 17. So we see basically Adam mentions the Trinity in these verses in verse number 5 with thee before the world was. Let's go back to verse number 2 though. As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Now turn to John 6. John 6. The album is like that of Field Day when it says thou hast given him. Basically saying you see it's just kind of random you know random regeneration we pick whatever. But you know there's certain people that were given to the Lord. It was based on something. It says in John 6 verse 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him to send me. And this is the Father's will to send me that of all which he hath given me who is nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. So we know as believers that we are eternally secure. Once saved always saved. And I'm going to make sure because I don't want to misquote this. I forgot to list verse 40 in here. Verse 40 makes it clear just by believing. And this is the will of him that sent me. That everyone who seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. So what's the determination of whether or not we're going to be given to Jesus? Whether or not we believe. See there is something that we need to do. It's not a random regeneration. And you say I want to do the will of God. Well the first part to that is just believe on Jesus Christ. Because before you're saved how are you really going to do the will of God? First you need to get saved and then you can follow the steps after that. Now turn back to John 17. And in John 17 the Bible reads in verse 3. And this is life eternal. That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ who now has sinned. And so notice how it says they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ who now has sinned. Now this is kind of implying a difference between the true God and Jesus Christ. Now we know that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And God the Father here is listed as the only true God. That there's only one true God. But notice He is sending Jesus Christ. He's sending somebody. So He's sending the Son. You say are you saying that Jesus is not the true God? Well turn to 1 John 5. In 1 John 5 we'll see what the Bible says. And in 1 John 5 let's look at verse 20. Because remember in John 17 verse 3 it's very clear that God the Father is the only true God. The only true God. 1 John 5.20 And we know that the Son of God has come. Now who's the Son of God? Jesus Christ. No question about it. And hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true even in His Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and eternal life. So in 1 John 5.20 what do we see? We see that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. So there is only one true God and guess what? You say well God the Father is the only true God. What about Jesus? Well Jesus is the only true God as well. Are they the same? Well no they're not the same because the Father sent the Son in John 17. And this just goes back to the fact that look you might not fully comprehend it how Jesus Christ was fully God and yet He is the Son of God. That is what the Bible teaches them. You can deny this when you're looking at Scripture. And if you've ever listened to these arguments people have and everything their whole argument is basically it doesn't make sense to me. I remember one of the people was making a whole point they were like the Trinity never really fully made sense to me. And I said well that's why you didn't believe me. Because even though you're admitting that you saw it in the Bible it's there you say that just doesn't make sense so how could it be? But there are a multitude of verses that show that Jesus is the Son of God. There's a multitude of verses that show that Jesus Christ is God and there's a multitude of verses that show that there's only one God. But yet He's the Son of God. It is what it is. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it. That is what the Bible teaches. Turn back to John 17. Turn back to John 17. Honestly these people that are Christians but oneness they're like Muslims. Because Muslims their whole thing is well it doesn't make sense. So I don't believe. I don't believe in your God. It doesn't make sense. Well it doesn't make sense to me that a prophet was married to a five year old girl. I mean waited till nine to constantly compare. It's like wow. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. They don't believe because it doesn't make sense. Why don't the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ is God? If you've ever talked to a Jehovah's Witness their argument is always it doesn't make sense. Because they'll say how could Jesus be praying to the Father to God if he is God? How can he pray to God if he is God? What are they saying? It doesn't make sense. They're not denying that there's verses that support it. They're saying that doesn't logically make sense. And so they just choose not to believe. But you know what? It is what the Bible teaches. In John 17 verse 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. And so the ones that were given to Jesus they know that these things came from the Father. And so people that are saved they have to actually believe the words of God. As Jesus presented the words of God they have to actually believe it is the Word of God. You can't be saved and believe on Jesus Christ and then you don't believe the Bible. And sometimes when you're preaching the Gospel and I asked somebody this today and he said he did believe the Word of God we didn't end up getting saved. But sometimes you're preaching the Gospel to someone and look if they don't believe the Bible you're wasting your time. Now you can give them a few verses but sometimes you're saying stuff and they're just like yeah yeah I don't believe that. What are they showing? Well I don't really believe the Bible. For all sin it comes short of the glory of God. No I don't think I really sin it comes short of the glory of God. I don't really think I need a savior. Well all liars shall have their part. Well you know I understand one murder equals a murderer I think it takes like a million lies to be a liar. Well it's like that's not very logical. One murder equals murder one lie equals liar. But they say well I don't believe that. I don't believe that. They just don't believe the Bible. They're not willing to believe what the Bible says. And when we preach the Gospel some people are willing to believe the Bible. There's really three groups when we're preaching the Gospel. Those who believe those who reject and then those who either aren't sure or are kind of confused. They don't fully understand. You know there's definitely a lot of people like that. We preach the Gospel. I preach the Gospel three different times I fully went through the Gospel. They only want God saved. You know one of the times the person said he just wasn't sure if he believed. And it's like well at least he heard the Gospel. But you know when it comes to believing you must believe the Bible to be saved. And that's why it's foolish to say that there is no Bible and the word of God is not perfect because if Jesus is perfect God will see the Word of God is perfect. Now notice what it says in verse number 8 Obviously if you're saved you're going to receive the Word of God. Obviously if you're saved you're going to understand that Jesus was sent forth from the Father. So everybody that's saved, guess what? They believe that Jesus was sent. Okay? You have to believe there's a son to be saved because that's the word of believing. It says believe on it doesn't say believe on God and thou shalt be saved. Believe there's one God and thou shalt be saved. It doesn't say that. It says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? Verse number 9 And so what Jesus says is that he doesn't pray for the world. He prays for those that have been given to him, those that are saved, but he doesn't pray for the world. Now honestly when it comes to a lot of churches they spend all their time saying man we need to just pray that somehow God will send revival to these lost people and just pray for the lost and pray for the lost and pray for the lost. That's not really the pattern we see from Jesus in the Bible though. Now I'm not saying it's wrong to pray for somebody to get saved. I mean obviously if you know someone you want to preach the gospel to pray for that person but more so than praying for the lost, you ought to pray for those that are saved. You say why? Because if you're saved that doesn't mean your life is perfect. You're still going to get depressed sometimes. You're still going to have trials in your life and we need to pray for one another. Now when it comes to who I should pray for because there's millions of saved people out there. Honestly the people that you should pray for the most are the people that are in your local church. You say why? This is the church God put you in. Now look I'm not saying I never pray for anyone that's like minded in a movement or whatever. You know obviously if you hear some story and someone's going through a trial you pray for that person. But look I don't spend you know tons of time every single day just praying for each individual member of Faith Board Baptist Church. Or each individual member of Steadfast. Now I know a lot of those people. I've met them. I've got someone in the philosophy. I love a lot of those people and if I know they have a real issue you know yeah I'll definitely pray for them. But there's just too many people. I mean I'm going to literally spend all day just praying for people. And it's like well who should you be praying for the most? Well the people in your local church. You say why? Because this body is fitly joined together and this is where God is placed you. And there's enough you know things that we need to pray for each other about in this room. Now look some people will make it very apparent when they need prayer and some people don't. I personally am usually not really someone who asks for prayer requests. Like at Verity Baptist Church you put in your weekly prayer request. I don't think there was a single time I put my name on it. Some people are open about what they need prayer for. Some people aren't. But I feel like we should honestly, especially as our church is not massive right now, we should try to take time for every single member a little bit each week and pray for them. Even if you don't know anything that they have an issue about you could still pray for them because quite honestly everybody has issues. I can't really think of a stage in my life where everything was perfect. Man just everything is going great. My health is great. The soul has been great. I got lots of money. I'm happy. I mean no one is all of us. We all have something we need prayer about. Quite honestly the pattern in the Bible is do not really pray for unsaved people. I'm not saying we don't do that but honestly more so pray for the people in this room. And quite honestly we need to pray for the people in the room because we're the ones that are going to go out and get saved anyway. Notice what it says in verse 10 Mine are thine and thine are mine and thine are glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father, Keith, through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost with the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now what is he talking about when he says none of them are lost except the son of perdition? Turn to John 6. John 6. So in the Bible you see the terminology of people given to him in terms of the fact they get saved and kept saved forever but there was also the twelve that were given to Jesus. When he says only one of them is lost the son of perdition he's referring to Judas Iscariot. Now notice what it says you have to understand this about Judas. Judas was never saved. He was never believed. It's not that there's this one person throughout history where eternal life just ended because he was so bad. No I mean he was never saved. John 6 verse 70 Jesus answered them have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil. It does not say will become a devil. It says is a devil. There's no question at this time that Judas Iscariot is a reprobate. He is a devil. Now I guess you could argue about whether or not that from the very beginning that he was a reprobate I personally would presume he was at the very beginning because he was specifically chosen for a task and you say well why was Judas Iscariot there for three years if he was a reprobate? Why did he go soul winning if he was a reprobate? Look I've gone soul winning with people that are reprobates that you find out later on that are reprobates. You say well how is it that nobody knew Judas? Because remember when Judas Iscariot when they found out it was Judas Jesus literally says hey it's the person who takes this the one who dips in here and guess what nobody understood. Nobody suspected Judas Iscariot. You say why is it that nobody suspected Judas Iscariot? Well honestly he probably in front of everybody put on a good show. I promise you Judas Iscariot had a really good gospel presentation. You say why? Because if his gospel presentation was terrible everyone would have been said it's Judas. That's the guy that never mentions eternal security. That's the guy who doesn't explain that it's believe alone. That's the guy who is obviously the devil. I always kind of wondered about that. Nobody knew. You say why? Because Judas was probably really smooth with his gospel presentation. You say well he must have left something out. I doubt it. I doubt he left anything out. Because an experienced soul winner can tell if somebody leaves something out. And they went soul winning a lot. If Judas Iscariot always just whoops I forgot to mention eternal security. It would be obvious. I mean it was obvious that he must have been doing a good job. You say was he really getting people saved? Well no he wasn't because he's a corrupt fruit. You say well I don't understand. Well look I've gotten soul winning people that turned out to be devils. And they had good gospel presentations. In fact I can think of someone that you know one of the best gospel presentations I've ever heard turned out to be a devil. Turned out to be a phony. But he was real smooth when he talked. Here's what we need to understand about preaching the gospel. The arguments that we're making when we're explaining the gospel and you just systematically go through it people can't really answer against what you're saying. And quite honestly when we're preaching the gospel people can't argue it at all. It makes perfect sense. But just because it makes perfect sense it doesn't mean that they actually believe it in their heart. Quite honestly all of us are going to pray with some people and it turns out they never really got saved. Because it makes sense and then you're asking them the questions. You know they're like yeah you know that makes sense. Yeah you're right yeah eternal means it lasts forever. Yeah I mean if you become a child of God just as your son's always going to be your son yeah that makes perfect sense. You're always going to be a child of the father but the father disciplines you when you sin. Man that makes perfect sense. It does not mean that you believe it though. Now look obviously we try to be as thorough as possible. We don't want false conversions but if John the Baptist baptized people that were not actually saved then it's going to happen to us as well. That sometimes when we preach the gospel they didn't really get saved. When it comes to someone who's a reprobate or an unsafe person as they preach the gospel nobody's going to get saved. You say well I'm sure they got some people saved. No they didn't. Because they're a corrupt tree. A corrupt fruit and they're not going to bear for someone to actually get saved. They're not going to bring for someone to get saved. Now they might go through all the steps and it might sound good but that person just can't get saved. That's just the way it works. And so Judas is scary and you say man are you saying that Judas is scary? You know he never prayed with anyone. He never had salvation. I'm sure he came back with salvation all the time. But they didn't actually get saved. That's the way it works. And so look this shouldn't be really that shocking to us though because you have to understand that most people that get saved don't come to church. So it's not like every single week Judas Iscariot was bringing people that he said hey I want to be the Lord and someone talks to them and it's like no I don't believe in internal security. No I mean quite honestly they probably didn't bring that many of their converts because it's tough to bring people to church. It's tough to bring people. People don't want to listen. And people don't want to come. That's just the way it is. But I promise you Judas Iscariot put on a great show. And he obviously on the outside didn't really show forth any signs that he was a bad person. Now you can go back in hindsight and look at stuff and often times you can notice things. But when you're in the situation you don't notice them. And what I've found when it comes to people being reprobates is that if you like somebody or you're sort of friends with someone or you hang out with someone you kind of overlook signs when they actually get the juice. Now there's certain people that you know I'm not really too fond of and then all of a sudden I'm like man that guy I wouldn't be shocked if he's a Judas Then there's other people that you might like. You know you have similar hobbies or whatever. You hang out with them. And what ends up happening is you overlook all these red flags. Everybody does that. You know the expression you can't see the forest for the trees. Basically you can't really understand unless you're outside to look at the situation. You know if you're friends with someone you'll overlook things that you wouldn't overlook for someone else because you're friends with that person. And so when it comes to Judas Iscariot I'm sure everybody was friends with him. They hung out with him all the time and there's probably all these red flags but they didn't really notice that. But I promise you Judas Iscariot prayed with a lot of people and he seemed to know the Bible really well. He seemed to be really humble but in reality he was a devil and he was never saved. And so when people bring up to you well Judas Iscariot did he lose his salvation? No he just was never saved. Just because you're there and just because you say the words doesn't mean you're actually saved. You say well how is it that he was with them? Why was he with them? One thing I found over time some people that end up being reprobates before they get religious and get saved so to speak, pretend to get saved they're like these hardened atheists or people that hate God and what ends up happening, are they just faking it? No I think the devil actually uses this and he turns them religious and they believe that they're actually saved. But they'll have all these heresy and they'll never really believe and they'll cause a lot of problems. There was someone that was kicked out of dirty God's church that before he was saved he told people his testimony, I used to hate God. It's not very common to hate God. But he said that he hated God and it shouldn't be that shocking well it turns out he was a reprobate because he did end up being one, he ended up being a complete phony. But it's just like some people they just hate God and then what ends up happening? They're not religious overnight. That doesn't necessarily mean they got saved. Maybe the devil is losing them. We cause problems. Now I'm not saying it's like that with Judas, we don't really know. Other people though, and often times people will be at a church and hear the preaching and they kind of think they believe stuff. But they don't really believe. And that happens all the time. Where they think they believe or they're interested, ever learning and never able to come under the knowledge of the truth. We're basically, it's making sense to them but they never fully believe. And there's always those doubts in their minds. They don't really know themselves. They're never fully able to come to the truth. Now go back to John 17. So in terms of Judas Iscariot I don't necessarily know why he was with him. Obviously he was chosen but he was a reprobate at this time in John chapter 6. There's no doubt about that. You don't sit with Jesus for three years and preach the gospel for three years and you're not saved. You're either saved or you're reprobated. I mean even Paul makes that statement except you be reprobated. Basically there comes a point if you were at this church for like two years and you come to the sowing times and you hear all the preaching look, you can't be just unsafe if you come to all the services and go sowing and everything. You're going to reach a point where you either choose to believe or reject. You're not saved for that long of a time. Now quite honestly though in a lot of Baptist churches you can stay just kind of an unsafe, not reprobate for like 20 years. You say why? Because they don't actually teach them anything. See what happens at a church like this you're hearing exactly what the Bible says. And you choose to either believe what the Bible says or you end up hating what the Bible says. And so when you hear preaching against the Sodomites you're either going to believe what the Bible says or you're going to hate it. And people that choose to reject it that don't get saved they just hate and hate and hate and end up just hating God and being a reprobate. That can happen at a normal Baptist church where you just sit there for 20 years because they don't learn anything. And they never even hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. It's always this generic. You know, it's like a relationship with Jesus, man. Salvation is like a relationship. It's like, well yeah, that's not very clear. But if you're clear in your Gospel that hey, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not work against the sins, not change your lifestyle then people are either going to believe that or reject it. If they hear it enough they're going to have to make a choice. John 17 verse 13 And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Verse 14 I have given them that word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Now go to John chapter 3. John 3 The Bible says the world hath hated them. You say, wait a minute. This is the book of John and it's talking about people that are believers of Jesus being hated. You say, I thought that if you were saved then everyone's going to love you. You're going to have peace on every side. Nobody's going to hate you. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches. And this is what it says in the book of John. The Gospel of John. John 3 verse 19 And this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hated the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. And see the Bible says men love darkness. Men, women, people in this world, they love darkness they don't like light. And so you say, why is it that when you're a soul winner you're the person that people hate? Because here's what you have to understand. Look, because the Pentecostals will hate us. The Catholics will hate us. The Baptists will hate us. The Protestants. The Orthodox. Just go down the list. And we're going to be the ones they hate more than anyone. You say, why? Because we're the ones preaching against their sin. That's the reason why. All those religions believe different things but they don't really care. We're the ones who preach hard against being worldly. And see, what happens? Men love darkness rather than light so they hate the person preaching the message. That's what takes place. And you say, why is it that all these Baptist pastors, they hate us? Because of the fact that they love darkness rather than light. Because they're living wicked lifestyles. But they don't want to act like they're living wicked lifestyles. They don't want to just admit, hey, I'm worldly. I sit around all day watching television. I sit around all day. I call myself a Baptist pastor and I listen to just rock music all day. They're not going to admit to you. They're going to say that's not really a sin. Why? Because they love their sin. They love darkness. And see, when it comes to pastors that are not willing to preach against sin you know, honestly, there's a great chance because they're living in it. Because it's really tough to preach against something when you're guilty of that yourself. And quite honestly, these pastors, they love darkness. And you say, why is it that people come to our church? And it's amazing because people come to our church they visit our church and usually they love the sermon. But usually they don't stick around. Now, if they were at some fun center they'd probably stick around. You say, why? Because when you hear preaching against sin even though you're learning and everything like that, you realize, man my sin can't be preached against. They don't stick around at a place like this. Turn back to John 17. John 17. So you say, well, if the world hates us wouldn't it just be better for us to be up in heaven and obviously God doesn't want us to be hated, right? Well, notice what it says in John 17 verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. And see, what the Bible says is He doesn't want us to be out in the world. He wants us to be in a world where we are hated because of the things that we believe. And you know, people like to just avoid the persecution. There's many people even people that have been to our church that are not going to our church now they just decided the persecution was too much. And they didn't want to be hated for what they believe. But here's the thing, what does God want for you? God doesn't want you just to be taken away from that. He wants you to be in persecutions. He wants you to go through trials in life. And look, being hated for what you believe that's just kind of the baby parts of being a Christian. If you're going to be a soul winner you're going to end up being hated. I mean, it's ridiculous the stuff that people... Look, if you're someone, and I never really drank but you know, I know people that used to drink and they quit drinking and their friends get mad at them for not drinking. It's like, why are you upset that they don't drink? In fact, I know people that used to be drunks and they, you know, got staged and they quit drinking and it's like, you know, their friends and family didn't really like them when they were drunk but now they like them even less. They're like, man, I wish you just went back to being a drunk. It's like, it's so stupid. Or, you know, a lady will get saved start reading the Bible, go slowly she starts wearing a skirt, you know, start wearing a dress change the way she's dressed and then people mock you for not wearing pants anymore. It's like, why are you so obsessed with what I do with my life? But they're mad at you and look, you know, it's not something where I have to ask each individually, this happens to you because it just happens to everybody who say they criticize what you believe. It's funny because some people that will criticize you at a moment in their life when they need help spiritually and they need an answer sometimes they'll come to you and say, hey, you know, I had this question, can you help me out? And yet they still they'll still, though, just say, man, I think you're too hard but they'll come to you when they need help and it is what it is. It's just like, well, you know, you think I know the Bible really well, but you think I'm too harsh. And it's like, well, why are you coming to me for advice? But that's just the way it works. But God doesn't want us to avoid this and so, look, you know, the persecution is really not that bad in our world today. You get made fond of by your own Baptist friends. Big deal. Aren't we preaching through the Catholic Church right now in the dark ages? Look, our Roman Catholic friends out there used to kill us. Now, we don't hate them now. I mean, they're not part of that now, but look, you know, people used to be killed for what they killed. Nothing happens to us today. Somebody makes fun of you, big deal. It's not the end of the world. And we get afraid of, like, everything. When I worked in Maryland, I brought my Bible to work and I just kind of kept to myself. And every day during lunch, I just read my Bible. And, you know, there was someone, and I found this out later on because somebody at work told me, there was someone who tried to get me fired for bringing a Bible to work. They came in and said, it's inappropriate that somebody's bringing a Bible that's offensive. It's like, I didn't even talk to them. Actually, no, I passed that person in the hall a few times. They were always super nice. Just said hello. Like, hi, how are you doing? Because I'm trying to be nice to everyone. They're just like, oh, hello. Like, just really fake, you know. And in reality, they're trying to get me fired or trying to get me not to be able to bring my Bible work. It's like, man, I read the journal on the trip. It's like, what's the big deal with you? But, you know, people love darkness. And they hate the Word of God. That's the truth. But you have to understand that as we live in a day where the world is getting very dark, it's getting very sinful, it's getting very wicked, that we, as the light of the world, we shine brighter in darkness. See, if you were to bring, you know, a lamp in this room right now, it wouldn't really stand out much. I'd say, why? Because we have other lights on. Or if you're going to just turn off all these lights in here but just turn one back on, you really focus on that one light because of the fact it's standing out in darkness. And so when it comes to this world getting dark, look, it's not a bad thing that we live in a dark world and you say, man, this LGBT really frustrates me. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is, but we stand out more during this simple world. Right. And honestly, this is a great time to live because even though sin is around us like never before, we're also able to do so many adventures like never before. Mm-hmm. We're able to do awesome things in today's world. Because we live in a very wicked world, we have the best of the best and the worst of the worst. Mm-hmm. But even when you look at the worst of the worst, we shine brighter during that time period. And honestly, it's willing to give bad money. Maybe not in our lifetime because it's not really bad now, but we'll see. Let's hurry up for the sake of time. Verse 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And so when people say things like, they just get saved through like the truth. Well, the word is true. And nothing else is true. The NIV is not true. These other books are not true. So yeah, you need the word of God. So when the Bible says you're saved through truth, as it mentioned sometimes, it's talking about the word of God because thy word is true is what it's saying. You have to understand, history's not truth. Science is not truth. I mean, I've known things from studying the Bible or reading the Bible and learning, they teach you that the Bible says other ones. Science, you know, whatever you want to call science, I mean, I guess evolution is under science. I mean, science isn't true. Science is falsely so-called, the Bible says. Science isn't true. But God's word is true. Every single word in this book is correct, is accurate. Verse 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself, but they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither I pray for these alone, but we pray for those who are saved. Jesus talks about praying for those that would in doubt believe He gave His name. And so verse number 21. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, are in me and I in thee. That they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou givest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. They may behold my glory which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father. And notice how it says He loves him before the foundation of the world. So once again we're seeing that the Son was there from the beginning. This is the common theme throughout the Bible. It's funny because people that are oneness will kind of bring up like one verse here that's kind of confusing and one verse here. I mean, this is just one chapter. There's been several verses that prove He's here from the beginning. He wasn't created. And so verse 25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known me, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it. The love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. So it's a great chapter in the Word of God. We're getting kind of close to the end of the life of Jesus Christ. And we're looking this week at the glorification of the Son. He's coming to the point where He is going to die. And it's something that, you know, when we go through life, we don't really think about too much. And this doesn't really tie into the sermon too much, but let me just tell you a story that's kind of interesting, you know, close out. I had a good friend of mine who passed away at a young age, you know, when he was 20 years old, but I used to go sowing with him a lot. And, you know, my friend, he could never really take stories regarding blood. Whenever he heard you talk about blood or needles or anything like that, he would literally just pass out. And he had already told me this, like, when I first met him, but I remember I was having, you know, dinner with him at the house, and me, him, and one other guy were just kind of hanging out. And me and my other friend were talking about something, you know, I can't remember. And, you know, we mentioned blood or whatever, and then all of a sudden I just felt like this, something hit my shoulder. And I looked, and he was, like, out, just, like, on my shoulder, just, like, talking about blood a little. What was interesting was that I was interpreted plenty of times, and you could talk about Jesus being, like, crucified and being tortured. He didn't bug him one bit. Actually, because any talk about blood whatsoever always bothered him, but, you know, whenever you talk about Jesus being crucified, it didn't bother him one bit. And, you know, what Jesus did, being crucified, we don't really think about that on a daily basis because it's just something that happened, but it is amazing what he did. You know, he went through that torture for us, and if we're going to have the Father glorified, we need to actually go out there and bear the fruit because he's not going to come down and do it for us. So let's close the Word prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to read a book in the Bible. It's an important book. We're getting towards the end of the life of Jesus Christ and what he did for us. God, help us to love this part of the Bible and know this part of the Bible and realize this is what our lives are about, that he was crucified, that, you know, he was tortured and soul went to hell and he rose again after three days, God. Help us to always remember this. Help soul wanting to always be at the forefront of our ministry here at Verity Baptist Church, God, and even if our lives are not going perfectly, we can still be happy that we're serving you.