Saved, Secured, and Sent! John 17:18-26

Text:  “As Thou (God the Father) hast sent Me (God the Son) into the world (the incarnation), even so have I also sent them (the saved) into the world.”

John 17:18.

Good morning, saved and sent Christian!  The Lord God has revealed His truth unto our hearts; we received faith to believe as His gift - imparted by hearing His Word - and were graciously saved.  However, we are not saved to sit about doing nothing.  We are saved, secured in Christ, and sent out with the Gospel that other precious souls might also be reached and saved - according to the will of the Lord God.  We have a Divine purpose in life.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo (behold, look!) I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.”  (Matthew 28:19-20)

When the risen Christ gave His disciples this instruction, they gladly went out where they were sent to go, preaching the Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for the sins of all nations. 

The first disciples were obedient to Christ and to His commandments. I wonder, are we likewise obedient today?

In today’s selected Bible passage in our Journey In John’s Gospel series, we find a fivefold mention of the concept of being ‘SENT‘. (Vs 18;21;23;25)

The number five is the number of God’s grace, denoting the abundance of God’s richest grace which He created for mankind on day five of His Creation.  (Genesis 1:20:23)

If God the Holy Spirit has seen fit to inspire John to mention the concept of being ‘sent’ five times in such a short passage of Bible verses - then it is certain that we Bible-believers should take special note of such a stated principle.

In verse eighteen of our passage, the Lord Jesus teaches us that God the Eternal Father sent Christ Jesus into the world that He had Created.  He went through the incarnation process; was conceived miraculously in the womb of a virgin; was physically born of that virgin woman; lived a sinless life for thirty-three and a half years; performed many Supernatural miracles; was unjustly sent to a cruel Cross to die; and rose again from the dead because death/Hell could not hold Him, as there was no sin in Him.           (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Christ Jesus, the Son of God, was therefore purposefully SENT by God the Father to accomplish a unique means of Redemption for a God-ordained selection of precious souls.  Hallelujah!  What a God of Sovereign grace!

However, the Eternal purpose of the Lord God does not end there.  God’s Word goes on to teach us that, the One that the Father sent into the world - Christ Jesus - also sent all those whom He saved, and would continue to save, out into the world, that they/we might continue to fulfil the Father’s purpose; the Salvation of other sinner’s souls. 

We are saved and sent out to serve the Living Lord God; not to sit perpetually moribund inside a church building!  Get out there, Christian!

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word (testimony of Salvation in Christ alone).”  (V.20)

“For the promise (of Salvation in Christ Jesus) is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”     (Acts 2:38-47)

Christ Jesus came unto us for to fulfil the Eternal purpose of Almighty God: to be a Holy Sacrifice for the sins of all those whom God preordained to save.  (John 6:37)

When we get gloriously saved by God’s grace, we too are sent out to fulfil the Eternal purpose of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: to reach the yet unsaved elect and lead them to Christ through the preaching of the Gospel.

“And for their sakes I (Christ Jesus) sanctify (set apart for Sacrifice) Myself, that they also might be sanctified (set apart to preach the Gospel) through the truth.”  (V.19)

We preach and teach the Gospel truths from God’s Word; God the Holy Ghost moves on the hearts of those the Father has chosen to receive faith to believe and receive His Son’s Eternal Salvation.  God saves all His elect souls!

We prove our love for Christ by exercising evangelistic love to other elect souls.

Thought:  You and I are saved, and secured - but are we being continually obedient, and allowing ourselves to be sent out?

God Keeps Whom He Saves! John 17:11-17

Text:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for YOU, who are KEPT by the power of God through faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:3-5.

Good morning, saved and Eternally secure Christian!  Not only has the Lord God seen fit to choose you and I for Salvation in Eternity, He has also given us to His dear Son in Eternity; and now keeps us secure for Eternity!  Wow!  Now we can say with complete conviction:  ‘Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!’

We who are currently saved are Eternally secured for Heaven by God.

“My sheep (God’s chosen souls, the elect) hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them Eternal life; and they shall never perish (Spiritually), neither shall any man (not even ourselves!) pluck them out of My hand.“   (John 10:27-28)

Christ’s Prayer:  The Lord Jesus Christ prayed the following prayer for us, His people, whom He came into the world to save:  “…Keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me…”, and God the Son’s prayers are always heard and answered by our wonderful Heavenly Father.  How do we know this?  God’s Word, the Bible, teaches us that it is so.

“…And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.  And I knew that Thou hearest Me ALWAYS; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”  (John 11:41-42)

Christ’s Keeping Power: As the incarnate Son of God, God the Living Son; God in Bodily Form - Christ Jesus had, has, and will always have, Divine and Almighty power over all things.  He is the Creator Lord God, the Lord of Heaven and earth.  Glory to His Almighty Name!  (Philippians 2:8-12)

“And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, ALL power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth.”  (Matthew 28:18)

When God the Father Divinely selected us to save us, in Eternity, ‘…before the foundation of the world…’, His will was to give all those souls whom He chose to His Son, Christ Jesus - that He might, in time, save us by suffering and dying for us on the Cross.  All souls that Christ was given by the Father, He saved, and will save - and when He saves, He Eternally keeps us secure!

“All that the Father giveth (gives, and continues to give) Me shall come unto Me; and him/her that cometh (comes and continually comes) 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 (God the Father) that sent Me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”  (John 6:37-39)

There it is!  We cannot set this truth forth in clearer terms.  We who are saved are Eternally secure in Christ Jesus!  Rejoice in this truth!

“Who shall separate us (born again souls) from the love of Christ?  Tribulation...distress...persecution...famine...nakedness...peril...a sword?  Nay, in all these things were are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death...life...angels...principalities (evil powers)...powers...things present...nor things to come...height...depth...nor any other creature (including ourselves!), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:35-39) 

If YOU are saved, you are Eternally saved.  If you are lost, you are Eternally lost, unless you get saved.  You cannot be saved and lost at the same time!  The two terms ‘saved’ and ‘lost’ are diametrically opposed terms.

Furthermore, IF you are saved - please do not be surprised that the world (the unsaved, the lost) hates you.  If they hated our Lord Jesus, they will hate you and me also.  Being hated by the world is a proof positive of our Salvation!

“I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I (Christ Jesus) am not of the world…keep them from the evil.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them (set them apart) through Thy Truth; Thy Word is Truth.”     (Vs. 14-17) 

With this vital Bible lesson in mind, beloved Christian, rejoice!  For you and I are Eternally secure in Christ, and all because of Calvary.  Hallelujah!  Thanks be to God!

Thought:  We are Eternally saved, safe, and secure in Christ Jesus.

Christ’s Teaching on Election? John 17:1-11

Text:  “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;…)”

Romans 9:11.

          “Therefore (a conclusion) hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth (hardens and continues to harden) (margin: ‘makes stubborn‘).

Romans 9:18.

God morning, Divinely elected Christian!  You and I are saved and Eternally secure today because of a choice Almighty God made in Eternity - (before the foundation of this world) - to redeem us from our vile sins.  God alone is God.  God alone chose whom He would save out of the entire world, and whom He would refuse to save from their sins.  At all times, God alone is Sovereign in the choices He makes.  He speaks, and who can stay His hand?

“But our God is in the Heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.”          (Psalm 115:3)

“IN Whom (Christ Jesus) also we (the elect) have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh ALL THINGS after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.”  (Ephesians 1:11-12)

Oh yes, beloved Christian friend, God alone is God - and His Sovereign will is perfect and all things are done according to His own perfect will.  Amen.  And praise His Holy Name!

Christ’s prayer in John chapter 17 clearly reveals the full Sovereignty of Almighty God in two distinct aspects: God the Father’s Divine Election in Eternity of souls to save; and God the Son’s power to grant Eternal life to all the Father has graciously given Him to save. Hallelujah!  What Eternal grace!

John 17 lifts the veil off Eternity and shows mere mortals such as we things that took place in Eternity - ‘…before the world was…’  What a revelation!

“And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”  (V.5)

God’s Choice: (V.2)  Verse two of our selected Bible reading for today clearly sets forth the truth that the Lord, our Father in Heaven, made an Eternal choice to save particular souls and to give those chosen souls to His dear Son, Christ Jesus, that He might save them, in time, by His Sacrifice on the Cross.

“…that He (God the Son) should give Eternal life to as many as Thou (God the Father) hast given Him.” (John 17:2)

Election: This choice of souls by God the Father, made in Eternity, is repeatedly taught in Scriptures.  For example, see verses 2; 6; 7; 9; 11; 12; 24; of John 17:)

“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.”  (John 17:6)

That a Divine choice was made is further evidenced in verse nine of our selected Bible passage:

“I pray for them (those the Father chose to save); I pray NOT for the world (those whom the Father chose not to save!), but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.  And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them (the redeemed souls).”  (John 17:9-10)

God is Sovereign in all things and especially in the choices He makes!

God’s Power:  In Eternity, God the Father gave God the Son all power to save the souls of those whom God the Father had chosen (elected) to give Him to save.  Verse two again proves this fact:  “As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He (Christ Jesus) should give Eternal life to as many as Thou (God the Father) hast given Him.”  (John 17:2) 

This power to save and to keep for all Eternity is taught even earlier in John’s Gospel account:

“But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe (trust) on His Name; which were born, not of blood (natural human blood), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (supernatural birth).” (John 1:12-13)

“All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out (Christ has power to keep us!).”  (John 6:37)

Thought:  God has the power to make Eternal choice of whom to save, and whom not to save!  If God had not this power, He would not be Supreme God.