In the sermon titled 'Kept by the Power of His Name' by Scott Brown, the focus is on Jesus' prayer in John 17, highlighting the divine conversation between Jesus and the Father. The speaker emphasizes the structure of the prayer, which alternates between revealing information and intercession for the disciples. Jesus prays for the disciples to be kept by the power of God's name, reflecting God's omnipotence and Jesus' faithfulness. The sermon underscores the unity between the Father, the Son, and the disciples, highlighting that this unity is not mere agreement but a deep spiritual connection. Jesus' love is evident as He prays for His disciples' joy, protection from the evil one, and understanding that they are not of the world. The sermon illustrates how Jesus' words and actions are for the disciples' joy and protection, despite the world's hatred. The overarching message is the enduring love and protection Jesus provides to His followers, underscoring the importance of being kept by His name.

Please open your Bibles to John 17. I'll be reading from verse 11 to verse 16 Now I am no longer in the world But these are in the world and I come to you Holy Father keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the Son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for these beautiful words, this prayer that is so powerful and so singular in its character. Thank you for giving it to us to see and to read over and over again as your disciples heard it, and now we're hearing it.

We're so thankful that you've revealed these things to us through this prayer. Amen. Please be seated. So as has become clear to us in this prayer in John 17, we're looking into a divine deliberation between the Father and the Son. There are three parties, the Father who's hearing the prayer, the Son who's praying the prayer, and the disciples who have their ears bent toward that prayer.

Every line in this prayer in John 17 is a window into God's plan for His disciples, and they are overhearing the plan as bystanders, and they're overhearing really a disclosure of the love of God that is in Jesus Christ for them. There are no commands in this prayer, no warnings. There's nothing to do. And I pray that this message will reflect that. This is not a hard-hitting sermon to help you get your act together.

The promises of God are central, and I really pray that this would be thrilling and helpful and comforting to all of us. This prayer took place in one night. All of the things in the upper room discourse took place in probably an 18 or 20 hour period on Thursday night, the night when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, conducted the Lord's Supper, saw the departure and the betrayal of Judas, his final arrest, and as light dawns, the Lord Jesus will be tried and crucified and killed by three o'clock in the afternoon. So all of these chapters are focused on this one very small period of time. A tremendous amount of the Gospel of John is dedicated to this one 24-hour period.

And this prayer is the most complete record of Jesus Christ's intercession for His disciples. And it exudes love. Every line of it exudes the love of God. Jesus' love for His Father, His love for His disciples, God's love for His Son, and their love for all of their children. Now, this is the second part of the prayer the first in the first part Jesus prays for himself in the first five verses.

Remarkably though, when he prays for himself, every single thing that he prays for himself is for the benefit of his disciples. It's very interesting. And then he prays for his disciples, that's the section we're in now. And then there's a third section that comes as he prays for all men. But in the previous verses that we covered the last time we were together, they've already heard, overheard many wonderful things about themselves as bystanders and In those verses he was telling them in lots of different ways you are mine and He says that they have been given to him by the Father, that they have been taken out of the world, that they have actually kept his Word, that they're prayed for, that they belong to him, and that they're actually glorifying him.

So he's already allowed them to overhear all these things, all these thoughts and feelings that he has for them. And so, if the previous section's focus is summarized, as I said, in the word mine, this section is summarized by the word kept, kept by the power of God. And the emphasis here is his keeping, not us keeping ourselves in the love of God. And I'd like to show you sort of the structure and the flow of these verses before we get into them individually. And there really are two parts to this part of the prayer.

There is information that Jesus reveals to his disciples in one verse and then in the next verse there is intercession and he goes back and forth like that. Remember There are bystanders, there are ears hearing. It's like a child listening at a doorway of his parents' conversation. And so first the information that Jesus gives them that he wants to hear about really what has been happening to them and in their lives all along. And this is information that they are hearing.

You know, for kids, it's almost like this. You will end up experiencing what the disciples experienced. Like a father and a mother and a family, your parents are doing certain things, and as you grow up, you'll learn why they're doing them. You won't know why they're doing them all at once when you're young, but you will learn why they are doing them. And this prayer is a little bit like that.

The disciples are learning why things are happening to them and what has happened and the motives of a family. And you might be thinking as a child, I don't know why my father and mother are doing this or that. It's not clear to me, but it will become clear to you. The disciples have been walking with Jesus for three years and there's a lot going on that they didn't understand. And this prayer reveals a lot of that.

So it's a very precious thing and I think his children, the disciples are saying, I get it, I see it, this is amazing. And children will experience that too at some point. And so Jesus is letting his disciples know what he has been doing and what he will do with them. And then the second part of this is he actually prays. So there's information and intercession.

They're hearing information about themselves and the world and Then he makes it particular intercessions. He He actually prays specific intercessory prayers and these are I'm just gonna call them intercessory details that he's asking his father to do and he you know he's asking his father to keep them and unify them and Fulfilled his joy in them and and keep them from the evil ones. So the prayer contains information about what has been happening and intercession for what Jesus is asking his Father to do. That's how this whole prayer flows. Now let's look at the flow of the prayer.

I'm going to read it again and show you how this flows with this prayer here. Now in the first statement he reveals information in verse 11, now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you." He's revealing, Jesus is revealing to His disciples what's happening. And then He makes a particular intercession, Holy Father, keep them through Your name. That's an intercession. Those whom You have given Me that they may be one as we are one.

And then Jesus goes back to this information. Remember, The bystanders are learning something from the prayer. They're learning things. And in verse 12, they learn, "'While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled." This is information.

And then he prays something specific for them, But now I come to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." And so he's revealing to them why he has spoken his words to them. All the things that he ever said to them is for their joy. They just learned that right now. And then he he says in verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world." That he's giving them information. And then he prays a particular intercessory prayer in verse 15.

And I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one." And then he says, and this is in more information, verse 16 concludes with just information, not intercession. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. So do you see what Jesus is doing? He's revealing His love for them through the information and the intercession that He gives to them. So you should see this prayer as both information and intercession.

And so let's begin here. You can see that there are particular things that he wants them to understand, and I have listed six of them. Now in each one of these, the Lord Jesus is really communicating the great doctrines of the Bible. As you can see, the first thing that he is letting them know is that he will keep them through the power of his name. His name.

This is his omnipotence, the doctrine of the omnipotence of God. And then in the second item that I have in the outline here, He will enfold them as one with His Father. This is the unity and the personality of the Father and the Son and their inclusion into their fellowship. And then thirdly, he reminds them of his faithfulness in keeping them up to this point. This is his sustaining grace.

And then next, he fortifies them with his joy through his words. This is the power of the Word of God to increase your joy and then fifthly he He tells them that he is making them hated by the world. This is the hatred of the darkness against the light, the darkness trying to overcome the light, and it won't work. And then he declares that he will keep them from the evil one while they are in the world. This is the authority of God over the devil and his victory over all darkness.

So in this prayer there are also great doctrinal backdrops to each one of the things that is prayed in this prayer. So let's begin with the first one. He will keep them through the power of His name, His name. Holy Father, keep them, keep through Your name those whom You have given me, that they may be one as we are one." So, of course, in this sentence, you know, Jesus is prophesying that he is going to be with his father, and I think that he is anticipating his ascension, that he will leave the world and his disciples will be left in the world. That's the backdrop of it.

And he is praying now, letting them know that he will keep them through the power of his name. He will preserve them according to all that is loaded into the content of his name. This is astounding, frankly. And there are two things that I want us to notice about this. The first is that He is your keeper, and second, how he describes the way that he keeps you.

He says that he will keep you and then he tells you how he's going to keep you and he is your keeper. By the way, the Lord Peter is overhearing this prayer and Peter takes it to heart and he keeps talking about it and when he writes his epistle in first Peter 1 5 He says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you and now the power punch who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, already to be revealed in the last time, kept by the power of God. Peter learned the lesson and now he's communicating it to his, and now we've just read him communicating it to us. We are kept by the power of God. This is what David already said in Psalm 121 David tells us that God keeps us and he never sleeps in keeping us He never doses off at anything that's going on in your life.

He's not asleep and anything going on in your life You might think he's asleep, but he's not asleep David says my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth Behold He who keeps Israel shall not slumber or sleep. God hasn't gone to sleep on you. God doesn't go to sleep on his disciples. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is the shade at your right hand.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. The Lord shall preserve your souls. He is your keeper. That's why Isaiah the prophet declared this very same fact about God. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

David tells Jacob, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go. This has always been God's pattern. He has always kept His children. He will always keep them. He does not go to sleep on them.

He is the keeper of your soul. He is the one that keeps you. And then he describes how he keeps you. By his name. They are kept by his name.

Now, the name, of course we understand when you read this, the name of God or the name of Jesus Christ, what he's referring to is everything that is loaded into the meaning of the Lord God or the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that name is probably most clearly communicated in the name in the Old Testament, the Lord of hosts or Jehovah. In Isaiah 47 verse 4 we read this, the Lord of hosts is His name. He is the Lord of hosts. He it is the Lord of hosts who protects you and who keeps you.

In Jeremiah 50, he's a redeemer. Their redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is his name. In Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3, Isaiah cries out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.

There's no part of this world Where the name of the glory of the Lord of hosts does not rule and reign not one single part Not one single part of your life. He's never asleep. He is the Lord of hosts, you know We are always inadequate. We are always powerless and we need the armies of heaven. We need the Lord of hosts, which is another way to describe the word, the terminology, Lord of hosts is Jehovah himself.

In Jeremiah 11 we're told that the Lord of hosts has victory over all of his enemies. In Isaiah 44 verse 6, we learn that his power outlasts everything. Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me behold your God in Zechariah 4 6 we learn that the Spirit does the work, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says, the Lord of hosts. The Lord does everything. Well, for years I have recited what I call the birthday psalm.

It's Psalm 20. When somebody has a birthday, I typically pull out Psalm 20. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob defend you. May He send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion." And then later on in the psalm in verse 7, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." What Jesus is revealing to his disciples is that their protector is nothing less than the name of God, all of his resources.

And this is his power. God is not a softy, by the way, when it comes to the exercise of his power. The Lord of Hosts, if you look at the Old Testament testimony particularly, he is a warrior and he makes war. In Jeremiah 50 verse 25, we learn that the Lord of Hosts has an armory and his weapons are for indignation against those who hate God and also those who hate the people of God. He says the Lord of hosts has opened his armory.

He has brought out the weapons of his indignation. God doesn't play around with those who hate him. And you never have to worry about the people who hate you, because God hates them more than you do. And that's why he says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. You don't need to do anything.

I'll take care of you. I will protect you. I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Don't fear. In Psalm 29 verses 9 and 10, we learn that He's on His throne, and from His throne He's give strength to His people, which is why we should always have our eyes lifted up to heaven, because we need strength.

The Lord of hosts sat enthroned at the flood and the King sits as and the Lord sits as King forever the Lord will give his strength to his people The Lord of hosts will bless his people with peace. He is on his throne and he gives strength to his people by his Spirit. Maybe you love this song, Jesus name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us. Blessed Redeemer, living Word.

Well, He is keeping His children. And it is a keeping while in the world. He is promising to keep us while we are in the world. We will need a different kind of keeping when we die and go to heaven. You remember when the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Peter, Satan has requested to sift you like wheat.

Then Jesus says, but I prayed for you that your faith may not fail so we will endure tribulation and trouble threats but we are protected by his name keep through your name those whom you have given me." I was reading John Flavel yesterday. If we thoroughly understand and believe what power is in God's hand to defend us, what tenderness is in his heart to help us and what faithfulness is in his promises. Our hearts would be calm, our courage would grow stronger, and our fear would grow weaker. My daughter sent that to me yesterday. What a blessing.

We cannot fail to appreciate the power of God to protect us and how dear we are to God, The value that we have in his eyes and his promises to protect us with his armies, the armies of heaven. You know, I read the other day that 50% of the churches in America have hired security personnel. Now we don't think that's a bad thing, but this we do know. His name will protect us. We're not against equipping people to protect us, but that's all part of, I think, God protecting us.

So he will keep them through the power of his name and then He will enfold them as one with the Father. This is particularly beautiful. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me that they may be one as we are one." He is keeping us so that they as we are one. And he's praying for their enfolding into the name of God. And he prays for a unity that mirrors the unity of the Father and the Son.

They are going to partake, the disciples are going to partake in the same kind of unity that the Father and the Son have. This is remarkable to me. Now his prayer will loop back to this matter of unity. We'll develop this in greater clarity later on. We could spend a lot of time on what this means.

But this is not the unity of the ecumenical movement. Now, this is, You know, the people in the ecumenical movement say we should just remove all divisions and that everyone, you know, is united. But this is a spiritual unity with the Father and the Son. That's what this is. It is not perfect agreement in the Church on every controversial matter.

It's a far deeper unity than that. For example, I can be united with people who hold different views on different matters of life and godliness. The unity that he's talking about here though is the unity of the Father and the Son and the inclusion of Redeemed sinners into that unity It's a spiritual unity with God the Father and his son and That in our inclusion in that unity makes us one So he's talking about something. It's very very remarkable and it is a spiritual unity And it's the unity that we share with all true believers. And we've all experienced that.

There are people that we are one with, even though we don't necessarily agree with them on everything. And it's a very beautiful thing. So he is keeping them for love. The love that exists between the Father and the Son extends to them. They are included in it, which is probably why the apostle Paul said the greatest of these is love.

And then thirdly, he reminds them of his faithfulness in Keeping them up to this point. He's been with them three years, right? So In verse 12 He is he says this while I was with them in the world he's talking to his father. I was with them in the world. I kept them in your name.

Those whom you gave me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition. Now he is telling his father that he has kept them, and he's proven that he will keep them, because he has kept them, and Jesus is documenting evidence that he has preserved them up to this point over the last three years. Jesus wants his disciples to hear that he kept them. It was him that kept them these last three years. From the moment they first met him, he kept them.

And he wants his disciples to know that, that during all of those days in those three years, he was keeping them. And he wants them to know that. Past tense, it's his track record, okay? Jesus wants them to click on his track record. I think it's really important.

Here's why. Has your Savior kept you up to this point in your life? Up to this moment, from the moment He opened your heart to this moment, has He kept you? And don't you think that's evidence enough that he will keep you? Don't you think that all of what he's done for you should destroy your fears for the future?

Don't you think he's proven himself? I wish we could just add up all the years that we're talking about in this room. Hundreds and hundreds of years of God keeping people right here, right here in this room. He has a track record. He's been taking care of you.

And you should just recognize that even though you might be afraid of something out there, He's kept you. He's going to keep keeping you. You know, some of you, He's kept 40 years. You think He's going to stop next year or this year? I don't think so.

And Jesus wants his disciples to just reflect on the evidence of his keeping them. But do you need more evidence? You know, all we can say is, yes, Lord, you have kept me up to this point, but Lord, do you have any idea what's happening right now, what might happen to me, and how scared I am now? That's really not very appropriate, but we do it all the time. What have you done for me lately?

Well, you've already done a lot for me. Is it going to continue? Absolutely. He's always fed you. He's always given you a roof over your head.

He's always supplied you with what you've needed. And by the way, I think pretty much most of you are clothed and in your right mind today. There's a reason you've been kept your whole life. Spurgeon says, trouble shall do me no real harm when the Lord is with me. Rather, it will bring me much benefit, like the fire which clears away the rust, but does not destroy the metal.

And then, fourthly, he fortifies them with his joy through his words. That's verse 13. And now here the Lord, He reveals His motive. He's done this before already in the upper room discourse. You notice how Jesus loops back to things He already mentioned earlier in the discourse.

He does this with many of the issues that he speaks to them in the Upper Room Discourse, but here he reveals his motive for his words. But, now I come to you, " He's speaking to his father, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." The things that he is speaking in the world, he spoke those things so that his children would have his joy fulfilled in them. Okay? Now what things is he talking about that he has been speaking about? It could be this prayer.

It could be, he could be saying, the things I'm speaking in this prayer, I'm speaking for their joy. I'm praying for their... I'm praying so that they will have a greater understanding of my joy. Or he could be talking about everything he said to them. Everything I've said to you is for your joy, for my joy to be resident in you." Jesus is fortifying His disciples with His joy by His words.

Whether it's just the words of this prayer or whether it's all of His words He's spoken to them, The words that he has spoken to them were to incite and preserve their joy. This is what God wants to do in your life. You know, I've never understood why somebody doesn't want to come to Jesus Christ because that's what he wants to do. He wants to increase your joy. He wants to give you the things that you actually really want in life.

And so the disciples are overhearing his motive for what he has been saying. You know, someone says something and you might ask, why did he say that? Well, when Jesus speaks his words, you know why he said it. He said it that his joy might be fulfilled in you. And this is why we should always be in the Word of God.

You know, do you think it could be possible that the people with the greatest joy have the greatest deposit of the Word of God really in their hearts? So his words were not without aim. He spoke for their joy. I think it was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said in one of his books, Causes of Spiritual Depression, he wrote a book called Spiritual Depression, and in that book he talks about the causes of spiritual depression. And he says that lack of believing the truth that Jesus has already spoken to us is often a cause of our spiritual depression, our unhappiness.

And that we expect, we can be expert in the information of the Word of God, but not the strength of the power of the joy that the information is designed to supply you. It's one thing to know the letter, it's another thing to know the spirit of the Word. And so often we read the Word of God, but we don't let it sink in. And we don't meditate on it enough to really increase our joy. We just graze right over it, take the top off, and not really let it move our hearts and really replace our spiritual depression with his joy.

Spending time with it is really important. Meditating on it is really important. Imagine the disciples hearing this, you know, just put yourself in their shoes. They're overhearing. There are 11 of them overhearing this prayer.

And I can imagine them looking at each other and saying, he just said that what he's been talking to us all about is to increase our joy. That's why he's been doing this. And they're learning about him. Now, Hebrews 1.9 says that Jesus was the happiest of all the disciples. He was the happiest man in the crowd.

And nothing could destroy His joy. And now He's telling His Father that everything he ever said was to increase their joy, that it would be fulfilled in them. So the whole prayer is really designed that their joy would be increased with his joy, replacing their joy with his. All of his commands were for our joy, all of his restrictions, all of his corrections, all of his teaching is for our joy. And the Lord Jesus here is revealing to his disciples that he is fighting for their joy.

He's fighting to retrieve them from a spirit of of disconsolation. And It's quite possible that in many cases, and I don't think it's in all cases, but in many cases to be joyless is to reject the Word of God. Now there are often things going on in our lives that might give us a different reason for our sorrows. If you have a spouse or a child who dies, you know, you should not expect yourself to be jumping around. Because there are things that happen in our lives.

But I think in the normal circumstances of life, to be joyless is to reject the word of God. Jerry Bridges says, to be joyless is to dishonor God and to deny his love and his control over our lives. It is practical atheism, he says, practical atheism, to be joyless. Now, we all struggle with this, but what we need to understand here is that what kind of joy is he wanting to replace our joylessness with? It really is the joy of what he has told us in his word, the joy of his promises, the joy of his truth, the joy of his wisdom.

But it's his joy. He speaks of my joy. Now, in this discourse he talks of my peace, my life, and my joy. That's the Christian life. What it means to be a Christian is that there's all constant replacement going on.

He's replacing you with Him. He is in you and He is growing in you and He is sanctifying you and he's replacing the things that make you joyful with the things of his joy. He replaces our pitifully small and fragile joy for his deep and everlasting joy. That's what he means when he says, my joy. Now, if you take away earthly things from a worldly man, you'll take away his joy.

But if you take away earthly things from a follower of Jesus, you increase his joy. And that's why Samuel Rutherford could say, praise God for the hammer, the fire, or the hammer, the file and the furnace. The hammer molds us, the file sharpens us and the fire tempers us. And so in the midst of all of our trials and tribulations, we can have His joy. And then fifthly, he makes them hate it to be hated by the world.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ and his word that causes you to be hated in the world. You should expect it. Verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them. Notice the connection? The word and the hatred are connected.

I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." So how does Jesus Christ separate His children from the world? He separates his children from the world by his word. When they believe his word, they think differently, act differently, talk differently, dress differently. They are different. They are separated from the world But it's his word that makes the separation and make sure It's his word that separates you from the world and not your bad attitude and your selfishness and your meanness and all that kind of stuff.

We can have hatred, the hatred of the world, because we're not being very godly. But what he's saying here is that it's his word that separates them from the world. You know, the Christian's most helpful guidance system, the Christian's most influential force in his way of thinking, the Christian's most comforting thing is what causes Christians to be hated the most. The thing that has helped us the most is the thing that will make us hated the most in the world. The thing that we treasure the most is the thing that will make us unt treasured in the world.

But he gave them his word, which has caused them to be hated. To be ashamed of the Word of God and what it has said is disastrous for the soul of man. To be ashamed of His Word is to have Him be ashamed of us. We should never be ashamed of a single word of God. Every single word of God is a word of love.

Every single word of God is a word of truth. Every single word of God will last forever and everything else will break apart on it. His word is truth. Now in the next verse, in verse 17, we'll learn just the power of His word in us, And it's actually related to this problem of being hated. Because when the Lord is sanctifying you and you're changing, and He's changing you, He's changing the way you think, the way you talk, the way you dress, the way you act, then it draws hatred of the world.

The holier and the happier you get the more hatred you get. And then finally number six he will keep them from the evil one while they are in the world. He'll keep them from the evil one while they are in the world. He'll keep them from the evil one while they are in the world. This is verses 15 and 16.

I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. I'm sure they wanted to go, but that wasn't his plan. His plan was to leave them in the world, just like he has left us in the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. So he's making it clear to them that he's going to keep them in the world and they know what that means.

It's gonna be trouble. It's already been trouble. He's been keeping them through the trouble and a garrison is gonna arrive probably in a few minutes The trouble is just gonna increase And he's saying I'm not gonna take you out of the world. I'm gonna leave you in the world But then he tells them that they will be invincible against the devil. You will be kept from the evil one.

And I believe he's talking about the devil, Satan himself, that great serpent and deceiver of the world, from Satan himself and all of his actions in the world. Jesus wants his disciples to know that he is going to keep them from Satan and what Satan Will cook up to try to deceive them and to try to break up the road before them and try to fill them with lust and everything else. He he's speaking of this external danger that exists because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. John would say that in 1st John. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Okay, now evil forces are emitted from the evil one. That's the way that this works. But they all go back to that serpent of old, that deceiver, the devil. And this is the external danger of the of the wiles of the devil. He is like a roaring lion.

And he is leaving him the world, but he's telling them that they will survive the attacks of the devil. The devil's not stronger than God, and they will not be destroyed by the devil. Don't ever be afraid of the devil. He is a roaring lion but don't you be afraid of him because God is bigger than the devil. You don't ever need to be afraid of the devil.

The devil is under God's control. God restricts the activity of the devil. The devil had to go to God to afflict Job. God wanted to prove how much Job loved him. So he said, go, touch him.

You think he's just in this for the money. He's not in it for the money. He'll love me till the day he dies. You take everything away from him. You take his children.

You take his house. You take his health. And he's going to love me. God wanted to prove that to the devil, so he let him touch Job. It was hard, but the devil did not get the victory over Job the devil was belittled for all eternity in front of everybody now the your greatest enemy is the devil.

It's this evil one. And that's why in the Lord's Prayer, you know, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, taught his disciples to pray, deliver us from the evil one, deliver us from the devil. And so the main point is that God will preserve his children from all the evil as long as they are in the world. God limits the devil. He is a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour.

Let's be very clear about that. Not whom he will devour, whom he may devour. He will not devour anybody unless God allows it, and he won't devour the children of God. He will not devour you. You don't have to worry about that.

God will preserve, he'll either preserve us from it or He will preserve us through it. Have you ever been really tempted and then it foiled, it all fell apart and something just happened in a moment and the evil inclination that you had was foiled, and the Lord was keeping you from evil, and it scared you, and it humbled you. And you know, you know that it was God that was protecting you from that desire, that evil desire. You know it. Lots of people shaking their heads out there.

It happens. This is God protecting his children. David said, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. Psalm 34 19. David said, though I walk in the midst of trouble, you'll revive me.

You'll reach out your hand. You'll stretch forth your mighty hand and save my life." Paul said in these things, we are more than conquerors in Romans 8 37. David In Psalm 23 said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me Your rod and your staff they comfort me the devil's the devil Touched Job skin for skin and God preserved him. And that's the promise that he is making here. He will keep them.

Those who are saved are preserved. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. He is holding you, he is not letting you go, he holds your hand, he holds you in his arms, he puts his hand on your head, that's what the Bible says, and He will preserve you and He will keep you from the evil one. Kept but still hated by the world, And it's caused by the word of God. So this prayer must have been very thrilling to hear, and I hope that over hearing it again today that it's comforting to you and it's helpful.

Helpful. But this is a prayer that shows us so much about the relationship between the Father and the Son and how freely and how spontaneously and personally Jesus Christ lifts his eyes to his Father. The Son is familiar, he is open, he is vulnerable in his incarnation, and he is dependent upon the will of his Father as he is here in this room praying. And Jesus shows himself a friend to his disciples in this prayer. He reflects to them his love for them, that he really is a friend of sinners.

And you know, If this prayer seems odd to you because you're on the outside looking in and you're thinking this prayer doesn't really apply to me because I'm not his. I'm not his disciple. I'm following the world. And hey, the question I have is, do you really, do you really want to stay on that track? And if you don't want that, then maybe God is changing your heart.

And I would just say, why delay? Why delay another day? Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. And if you come, He will keep you by the power of His name. And He is, the Lord Jesus Christ is one with His Father, and He will include you in all of the intimacy and joy of his heavenly experiences.

And he really is a good shepherd. He really is the bread of life. He really is the light of the world. And there is only one name under heaven by which men can be saved, and it is the name of Jesus. And at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.

And I hope that's enough evidence for you to quit serving the devil quit serving yourself and be born again and he you'll find him a compassionate high priest you'll find him such a good counselor, you'll find him a wonderful protector, and you'll find you'll find what Jesus spoke at the very beginning of this discourse. He loved them to the end. And so this is a prayer here that all of us learn about the love of Jesus Christ and the love of the Father toward His children. And one final thing, this is not a one-time prayer of Jesus. It's a prayer that Jesus is always praying for his disciples, and we always need to be reminded of that.

And so we have this morning. Let's pray. Lord, We thank You for Your tender mercies, Your mercies that are new every morning, Your unity with the Father, Your obedience to Him, Your love for Him, His love for You is our love. It's our help, it's our hope. Your name is our strong tower.

We want to be those who run into it and are safe. We thank you for the greatness and the beauties of your name. You have the name that is above all names. We're so glad to gather here in this place to celebrate your name. Amen.