In the sermon titled 'A Prayer To Be Kept From Two Great Dangers,' Jason Dohm discusses Jesus' prayer in John 17:14-16. Jesus prays for his disciples to be protected from two primary dangers: the world and the evil one. The world, representing those outside of Christ, harbors hatred for true disciples, which can manifest not only from non-believers but also from within the body of professing Christians when genuine life transformation occurs. This hatred is a given, and believers are not to be saved from it, but preserved in its midst. The evil one, synonymous with the devil, uses the world to tempt and lead believers astray. Jesus prays not for his disciples to be taken out of the world, but to be kept from these dangers as they are the light of the world. The sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer, urging believers to pray for God's protection against these dangers, reflecting on the realities of spiritual warfare. Additionally, the connection to Psalm 23 is highlighted, illustrating the Lord as a shepherd providing and protecting his flock amidst adversity. The sermon concludes with a call to earnest prayer for oneself and others, recognizing God's willingness and ability to keep his people safe.

Good morning. Our sermon text for today is John, Chapter 17, 14-16. But I'm going to start in nine for context. Please follow along with me. I pray for them.

I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And all mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them 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 one. 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 them.

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. You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is, A Prayer to be Kept from Two Great Dangers.

I think that boils down the three verses that we are in today to the essence of it. Jesus is praying for His disciples to be kept from two great named dangers. Meaning He names the dangers. We are right in the thick of John 17. The whole chapter is a single continuous prayer of the Lord Jesus.

By far it is the longest prayer recorded in the gospels that Jesus prayed. That alone should make us pay attention. God wanted us to have a lengthy prayer of Jesus recorded. It helps us in our prayers and it helps us to know how Jesus Christ is at the right hand of His Father interceding for His people today. How is He interceding for us today?

Well, I think we get a sense of that in John chapter 17. Here's the flow. Here's where this fits in with what Jesus has been praying. In the section that we were looking at two weeks ago, Jesus prayed for His Father to keep His disciples. This is verse 11.

He is entrusting His disciples, who He is leaving in the world into the hands of His Father, into the care of His Father. In the portion that we were in last week, verse 12, Jesus said that He had kept His disciples while He was with them in the world. Now in this week's text, Jesus develops this theme. So the theme in the last two weeks has been the keeping of God of these disciples that have been given to Him by His Father. Now Jesus is developing this theme by praying about two great dangers from which his disciples in every age must be kept.

So I will grant you that Jesus is praying directly for the eleven men, the eleven faithful disciples, But we have a claim on this because these two great dangers are not isolated to these eleven men. These two great dangers are known by anyone who has ever walked with the Lord for any period of time. So this is a prayer for me, I know that for sure. I need to be kept from these two great named dangers. And Jesus is going to name them.

And every disciple and every age needs to be kept from these dangers too. So as we come to our attacks, let's ask the Lord for help. Our God, we are full of joy that The Lord Jesus can save to the uttermost those who come to Him by faith. There is no danger that is greater or can even approach the keeping power that He has and exerts for the preservation of His people, the holding back of His people from harm. I pray that you would press this truth in our hearts today and cause the result of that to just be a happiness in Jesus.

Increase our joy in knowing that we are the subject of affection of God the Father and God the Son, that God the Spirit is in the world keeping us now at their behest. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. So you can see if you've got your handout and you're looking at the two major points of the handouts, there's the first great danger from which his disciples must be kept, and the second great danger from which his disciples must be kept. So the first point is the world. The first great danger from which his disciples must be kept is the world.

Look at verse 14. John 17 verse 14. Jesus is praying, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Jesus just prayed this in verses 7 and 8. Just look back a few verses to 7 and 8.

Jesus prays, Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you, for I have given to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me." So this subject has already been a part of Jesus' prayer. He has already acknowledged in his prayer that the Father has given Jesus words to give to His disciples and that He has effectively given them to these disciples. Now if I give you something, you can treasure it or trash it. You can store it up as an object of great value, or you can throw it immediately away. I have no control over that.

But what is in view here is the giving of the Son of God to those who have been given to Him, to a people which has been given to Him by the Father. So It's not like something that I would give to you that you can treasure or trash. This is talking about the effectual giving, meaning God has a purpose in giving it and he has the power to make sure that it is received and treasured. I can't do that in anything that I give to you. God can do that with something that He gives to you.

That's the sense in which the Word has been given to the disciples. He has determined to give you a saving word and to bring circumstances in your life about so that you will receive it and treasure it, that you will be saved by it and transformed by it. That is what is in view here. When the giving of the Word of God happens in that sense, Jesus having been given words by His Father to give to His disciples, and then Him giving it knowing that He has the power to do what he wants to do with those words. When that happens, there is a corresponding effect.

It draws the hatred of the world. That receiving of a saving, transforming Word attracts the hatred of the Word. Why is that? When the Word of God comes in power, when it comes effectually, When its design is actually fulfilled because an Almighty God is the one who is giving it, when a word comes in power to a person in his or her natural condition, bent against God, intent on self-love and self-worship, then that person becomes convinced that they didn't make themselves, that a God in heaven made them. That a God in heaven has required things of them that they have cast away and they would not be governed by Him.

They become aware of who God is in His holiness and who they are in their unholiness. Then that word presents to them Christ. Presents to them a way out of this great dilemma with an all holy God and a completely defiled person living in rebellion. And then Christ is seen as a remedy for that disease that will kill you. Sin coursing through your veins.

Sin present in your life. And that word demands a response. When God is doing this effectively, when He is calling a person out of the world. That person responds and is saved. That change of state and even the beginnings of that transformation of life condemns the world of rebels.

This is why the receiving of the Word of God attracts the hatred of the world. It draws the hatred of the world. Because when someone comes out of that mass of rebellion to say, I don't want to be a rebel anymore. I want to be loyal to this God who has a claim on my life. Their life then begins to be transformed by the Word of God.

They don't have a heart bent away from those things anymore. They have a heart bent towards those things now and their life begins to change. And the world that works against what the world has been trying to do all along, which is to silence all of that, to make the conscience be quiet. But now there is this person who used to be just like me, who used to have an affection for all the things that I have affections for, but now they are saying, I renounce those affections, and their life begins to change. And that stands in condemnation of them.

That will always draw the hatred of the world. Now remember what we have been saying about the world as we have encountered that term over and over again in the Gospel of John. The distinction Jesus is making is between His genuine disciples and the world of those who are not His. The Distinction is not between religious and irreligious. The distinction is not even between professing Christians and everyone else.

The distinction is between true disciples and all of those who are outside of Christ. So this hatred may not come from out there. Sometimes the most hurtful versions of this hatred come from in here. I don't necessarily mean within these four walls, but I definitely at least mean come from within the body of professing Christians who are fine with us all playing Christianity as long as it doesn't involve Life transformation. You've seen this happen if you've been around a while.

You've seen that there is a body of professing Christians that are fine as long as we play along with magic words about Jesus and about agreeing with the Bible, and it's all fine until it involves life transformation and then there are problems. So if the Word of God takes root in me, by the grace of God, I need to be kept in the face of the hatred of the world. I say kept in the face of the hatred of the world, not from the hatred of the world, because the hatred of the world is a given. We see that in this verse. The hatred of the world is a given.

We are not to be saved from the hatred of the world. We are to be preserved in the midst of the hatred of the world. The hatred of the world is a given. Turn to Psalm 23. You probably haven't memorized, but turn there anyway.

I would think this has to be the most famous Psalm. It is a Psalm of David. As New Testament believers, now we look back at Psalm 23 through the lens of John 10 where Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd. In John 10 he says, I am the Good Shepherd. So we are reading about a Good Shepherd in Psalm 23.

Now Jesus, the Good Shepherd in John 17 is praying things to his people that have a direct connection with what we find in Psalm 23. Follow along as I read. Psalm 23, a Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want He makes me to lie down in green pastures He leads me beside the still waters He restores my soul He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." In Psalm 23 you see a progression. You see a shepherd who has a flock. Obviously God is the shepherd and looking through the lens of John 10 we would even say Jesus is the shepherd of this flock. The sheep are His and He has undertaken to provide for them. They need food, He brings them into green pastures.

They need drink, He brings them beside quiet waters. He leads them in paths of righteousness. This is what Jesus, our Good Shepherd does. When He undertakes to have you as his sheep. He actually leads you in the paths of righteousness.

There is a transformation of life that can't be said of anyone before their believing days. Yes, I was in the path of righteousness and then Jesus put his hand on me. No one has ever said that. It was in the path of unrighteousness and then Jesus put his hands on me and he led me in the paths of righteousness. And well what comes from that?

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies that follows pretty shortly after. This is the keeping of God against the hatred of the world. Is the hatred of the world against you? The whole world against you? Think how few Christians there are compared to the world's population.

How are we to withstand that? How are people led into paths of righteousness that attracts the hatred of the world to withstand such a ratio of those who hate you versus those who are for you. Well, your shepherd sets a table for you, a banquet for you in the presence of your enemies. He keeps you. He keeps leading you into green pastures.

He keeps bringing you beside the still waters or the quiet waters. Why do I need to be kept from the world in my born again condition? I am a new creation in Christ. I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me." Well those things are true. Those aren't the only things that are true.

I ask you to consider James 1.27. You can turn there if you want, but I'm not going to be there long and it's one verse. If you just want to listen, that's fine. James 1.27. James writes this, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

So James is describing pure and undefiled religion in its most basic terms. In other words, you could probably write a book about pure and undefiled religion. James doesn't do that. He boils it down for us into a very brief summary. It says it's two things.

It's visiting widows and orphans in their distress, coming to the aid of the vulnerable, And keeping yourself unspotted by the world, from the world. And to keep oneself unspotted from the world. What is implied here? The world has a defiling effect. Are Christians more than conquerors through those who love them?

Yes they are. Does that mean that the world has lost its defiling effect? No, it does not mean that. James is using figurative language. The world doesn't put literal spots on you.

The world puts figurative spots on you. The stain of sin. The world is alluring you into sin, into compromise, into things that are not fitting for the people of God. The world, this mass of humanity outside of Christ with its institutions and its systems, So people of unbelief and systems of unbelief and institutions of unbelief, I think that's a fair summary of what the world is, has two outlets for its hatreds of the true disciples of Jesus. What are those outlets of hatred?

Well, one is full frontal attack. Just destroy you. If the world can destroy you, the world will destroy you. Just head on destruction. But there is another way to draw you back in, to entice you back in.

This is why Paul says, put off the old man, but put on the new man, because there is an old man that was called out of the world that is very familiar with the enticements of the world. The old man still likes the enticements of the world, and the world will draw upon that. If the world can't kick down the front door to destroy you from the front, the world will sneak around to the back door with its enticements that it knows has a claim on your flesh. You weren't born a Christian. If you're a Christian today, you weren't born a Christian.

You were born again becoming a Christian and the corruptions of your flesh are still there. So there's a hook for the world there. Flip back to chapter 15. We are back in John 17 and I am saying turn the page once to 15 verses 18 and 19. It's a couple of chapters apart, but it's probably only a couple of hours apart in the timeline of Jesus and His disciples.

He taught them at this Last Supper, and now He's praying this after the Last Supper. So it is actually right here in proximity time wise. John 15 verses 18 and 19, Jesus was teaching this to these same disciples. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Jesus chooses believers out of the world. If the world can't destroy these true believers by kicking down the front door, doing it head on, it will present the old enticements. It will sneak in the back door if it can. Oh, brothers and sisters, how we need a strong and faithful God keeping us from the world.

Jesus is praying that they would be kept from the hatred of the world because they need it. I mean, that's all wrapped up in there. Of course He is praying it because they need it. Look again at the stunning statement that Jesus prays in the second half of verse 14. So back in John 17, verse 14, but the second half of it, we find this stunning statement in Jesus' prayer.

They are not of the world. These eleven disciples are not of the world. These true disciples are not of the world. These true disciples are not of the world. Now look at this.

Just as I am not of the world. And then he says exactly the same words in exactly the same order. There's no deviations at all in verse 16. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Genuine believers are joined to Jesus Christ by faith.

They are in union with Jesus Christ by faith. They are one with Jesus Christ by faith. He is the head. We are the body. We are no more of the world than Jesus is.

Now that's hard to imagine because you know all of the world, a love of the world that is still left in the consciousness of a clear seeing, clear thinking believer. You know there is still some of the world left in you. But the truth is, we are no more of the world having been purchased by Christ and cleansed by Christ than the Lord Jesus is. How then can we look back longingly at the world? How unfitting it is for us to long to return to Egypt.

Now you know what I'm talking about. God brought his people out of bondage and slavery. And he was providing for them. There were scary moments, but he was providing food for them, providing water for them, he was keeping them and they were saying, oh for Egypt for the days of our bondage. It's painful to read those sections in the Old Testament.

And yet, if you think about it, you think about your own experience, you know there are times that in the figurative sense you have longed for Egypt. You've wanted to go back to those things that your affections used to be fixed on. How unfitting it is for the Lord's people to long for Egypt. That is the pull of the world. That is the pull of the world on you.

The world hates you. And you know when that's happening that the world is not kicking at the front door. The world is picking the lock at the back door. When you feel those tugs, oh, to go back to the world. Now, what is the solution?

To take genuine disciples out of the world, of course. No, no, it's not that. Jesus says exactly the opposite of that in verse 15. Read again verse 15. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.

In the Old Testament, Moses And Elijah and Jonah prayed that the Lord would kill them. They all prayed for death. It looked like a lost cause for them. The work that God had given them to do. They couldn't see any way for them to do it.

And they just wanted to go and be face to face with Him. God didn't grant that to any of them. Not to Moses. No Moses. No Elijah.

No Jonah. We are the light of the world. Taking us out of the world would be bad for us. Taking us out of the world would be bad for the world. God wants to use us to rescue more.

Think of the instruments in your salvation, the human instruments, the people through whom the grace of God came to you, either in how they lived or what they said or both. What if God had taken them out of the world? How would the gospel have come to you? God wants to transform us to put His power on display. God wants to leave us here and change us from what we used to be into the image of His Son.

That takes a while. With our remaining corruption still here, this side of heaven, that's going to be a slow go in some ways. But He wants to transform us to put His power on display to prove He is a transforming God. Here's what J.C. Ryle says, How could Christ's people do any good in the world if taken away from it immediately after conversion?

How could they exhibit the power of grace and make proof of faith and courage and patience as good soldiers of a crucified Lord? How could they be duly trained for heaven and taught to value the blood and intercession and patience of their Redeemer unless they purchased their experience by suffering. Questions like these admit of only one kind of answer. To abide here in this veil of tears, tried, tempted, assaulted, and yet kept from falling into sin, is the surest plan to promote the sanctification of Christians and to glorify Christ. Amen.

I think he hits the nail on the head there. Taking us out of the world would be bad for us. We wouldn't be conformed into the image of Christ. It wouldn't teach us the value of his blood and his intercession for us, his transforming power. It wouldn't leave us as a light in the world.

Monasticism was a terrible idea in the 500s with Benedict. Benedict was a monk. He really fanned the flames of monasticism in the 500s. I mean, we're in the 2000s now. This is the time in which we live.

I'm talking about the 500s, that early in church history. There was a man who was forwarding the cause of monasticism. What is monasticism? Build a wall around us to keep the world out. Build the wall.

You need a really high wall because you have some of the world left in here in your corruptions. That was always the problem with monasticism. God has never called us to disengage from the world in that way. Yes, to renounce the ways and the affections of the world. Yes, yes, 100 times yes.

Not to wall us out from the world. No, no, 100 times no. Monasticism was a terrible idea in the 500s. It's a terrible idea today. There's a book that has gained some popularity today called the Benedict Option.

It's about Benedict, the monk in the 500s, and it's saying that the church should do this today. Withdraw, pray, work on holiness and then we'll be in a position to engage the world. Friends, that is a fool's errand. The way to become strong is not to renounce the work that God has given us to do in this world. That is simply compromise.

Here again is what J.C. Ryle says. Because the premise of this book of today, the Benedict Option, which has been written within the last decade. That premise was alive in the time of Ryle in the mid 1800s. Listen to what he says.

Eminent holiness, real holiness, the best, deepest holiness is most seen by publicly winning a victory over evil and not by a cowardly desertion of our post in society. Amen. Amen to that. Forget the monasteries. Forget the walls that keep the world out, because you have plenty of the world within, inside the walls.

Our mission is to go out to this world full of darkness. So that was the first great danger from which the disciples must be kept, the world. The second great danger from which the disciples must be kept, the evil one. This reflects how Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 is where we have Jesus' disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray and we have this model prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven and so forth. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 13, Jesus gives as part of this model prayer, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So here we have a close link in Matthew chapter 6 we have the close link between temptation, don't lead us into temptation, and deliverance from the evil one because there is such a close connection there. The evil one is the one bringing temptation into your life, luring you into sin. This rendering deliver us from the evil one, both in Matthew 6 and in John 17, where we have exactly the same words.

This can be translated either evil or the evil one. The King James renders it in both places evil. Most of the modern translations render it evil one, or they render it one way in one spot and another way in another spot. The meaning is either broader or narrower. Either broader, evil, and everything under that category.

You see how broad that is. Or narrower, like the father of evil, this personal demonic force that we know as the devil or Satan. Looking at the New Testament usage of that word, I actually prefer the broader term so I think the King James is better. But in the end it is a distinction with little or no difference. Because The narrower meaning, an evil demonic force known as Satan or the devil who wants to destroy the believer rejoices in the broader meaning and uses all of the tools in his toolbox to bring it about.

So I'm saying whichever way you translate it, you end up in the same spot really. What does Jesus say? To the Jews who were opposing him in John 8, 44, Jesus says, You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of lies.

In John 8, 44, Jesus identifies the devil as a liar. He shows up, presents himself as an angel of light, but really there is murder in his heart. That is a great description of the devil. He presents his ideas not as demonic damning ideas, but he presents himself as an angel of light, as goodness, and yet there is murder in his heart. His intent is to murder you.

What does John say? Listen to 1 John 5 19. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." So now bring that to bear on what Jesus is praying in John 17 that his disciples would be kept from two great dangers the world and the evil one here in 1st John 5 19 John links them together The whole world is under the sway of the evil one. If you were thinking these are two separate categories, the world over here and the devil over here, they're not separate categories at all. The world is under the sway of the wicked one.

He is bringing the tools in his toolbox to bear, to bring evil into the world and the destruction of the Lord's people if he can. What does Paul say? Ephesians 6 verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And then he proceeds to give the whole armor of God so that you can defend yourself against our real enemies, not flesh and blood, not the flesh and blood in the world, But the evil one under whose sway the world is, you need armor for that.

You need the whole armor of God for that. What does Peter say? First Peter 5 verse 8. First Peter 5 verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Right into Christians. Christian, be sober. Christian, be vigilant. You have an enemy that is seeking prey to devour. Oh yes, brothers and sisters, we need to be kept from evil and the evil one, from the evil of the evil one.

His malice for the true disciples of Jesus never sleeps. That's why the hatred of the world never sleeps, because the malice of the evil one under whose sway the whole world is under never sleeps. You have an enemy. He's a liar. He presents himself as an angel of light, but there is murder in his heart.

That's what he wants his dealings with you to be, murder. And he never sleeps. He never tires of devising ways to harm you. Let me conclude this section with words of comfort. Turn to Luke 22.

Luke 22. I want to terrify you and then comfort you. I want to terrify you with the thought that there is a mighty spiritual liar and murderer who never sleeps, tirelessly, relentlessly devising ways to harm you. Devising ways to harm you. Now I want to comfort you in Luke 22, 31 and 32.

Luke 22 beginning at 31 and the Lord said Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. Well, trace it out in time. Trace it out in history. How did Jesus do with his prayers? Was Satan able to sift Peter like wheat?

Well, he surely tempted him, But what is the end of the story? Peter holds his confession to death, to martyrdom. Jesus prayed effectively for Peter. His faith did not fail. And Peter's Jesus is my Jesus.

Peter's Savior is my Savior. Hebrews 7.25. I love Hebrews 7.25. Therefore, He, the Lord Jesus, is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. He's interceding for His disciples in John 17.

They hear it with their own ears. He's at the right hand of the Father, always living to make intercession for His people now. He's interceding for us now. He's pleading that His people's faith will not fail, and So their faith will not fail. Those whom He undertakes to keep, He keeps.

Not because we are strong and faithful, but because He is strong and faithful. No one can snatch us from His hands. Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. This is the life and condition and hope of the believer. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever snatch us from His hand.

That's a line from the song In Christ Alone. I love that song. How should this influence our prayers? If you're taking notes on the handout, we're in the third and final section. How should this influence our prayers?

If you're taking notes on the handout, we're in the third and final section. How should this influence our prayers? So We continue to learn the theology of John 17 because since Jesus is the truth, all of his prayers are just filled with wonderful theology. We don't want to just stop by only learning the theology. We should learn to pray by watching and hearing Him pray.

This should influence our prayers. Let me give you three ways in which this should influence our prayers. Number one, our prayers should reflect the realities we are facing. You don't want to have prayers that are disconnected from reality, do you? I don't.

Our prayers should reflect the realities we are facing. You don't want to have prayers that are disconnected from reality, do you? I don't. Our prayers should reflect the realities we are facing. I heard a man say this one time, and I've never been able to shake it.

I've never been able to forget it. There's a war on act accordingly. I hope you won't be able to forget that either. There is a war on, we do have a tireless enemy who never sleeps, he's on the prowl looking for prey to destroy, you better act accordingly. If that is true, if that is reality, you better maintain an awareness of it.

We cannot afford to be naive about the hatred of the world or the existence and intentions of a mortal adversary. If the world hates you, you better know it and you better pray about it. If you really have, he's really in existence, a mortal adversary, You better know his intentions and you better pray about it. Brethren, we need the keeping power of God to keep us from the hatred of the world, to keep us from the evil one and every tool in his toolbox. We need this all powerful, all faithful God keeping us and it is presuming on the grace of God not to pray for it.

Are you with me? It is presuming on the grace of God. Oh well he's made promises I don't have to pray. Well he's commanded you to pray. So you're presuming on his grace to not pray for it.

Does that mean If you refuse to obey Him and pray, does that mean that He won't keep you? Well, you take your chances. You take your chances. I'll pray. Meet you at the finish line.

If Jesus didn't presume on the grace of His Father, we shouldn't. Is there anything controversial? Do you want to take the other side of that argument? If Jesus didn't presume on the grace of God, but he prays for the keeping of his people, then we shouldn't. If anyone had the right to presume on the grace of his Father to assume the grace of his Father would be Jesus, but he is not doing that, he is praying for me.

He is interceding for me. Number two, Make this a staple of your prayers for yourself. What is a staple? Well, rice is a staple of diet or bread is a staple of diet. It's something you would see at every meal.

A staple is just one of the basic non-negotiables in any category. Our praying to be kept from the world, the hater of the world and the evil one, should be like bread as to meals, or rice is to meals, a staple, an ever present part of. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or deliver us from the evil one. When Jesus gave us a sample prayer, He buried that right in there. He's doing in John 17 what He said we should do in Matthew chapter 6.

It should be like bread to a meal. Our praying to be kept from the hatred of the world and kept from the evil one. Number three, make this a staple of your prayers for your brethren. Who is this us? And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

It's not an individualistic prayer. I do believe I should be praying this for myself but it's given in the model prayer in Matthew 6 as plural. Who's the us? It's clearly the people of God. We should be praying for our brethren that God would keep them from the hatred of the world.

God would keep them from evil and the evil one. Let's pray. Let's pray. God, if you were willing to keep us but not able, we would have no hope. If you were able to keep us but not willing, we would have no hope.

But the scripture set you forth so abundantly as one who is completely willing without any reservation and completely able beyond that, completely committed to the keeping of your people. Oh Lord, How good you are! We praise you! I pray the thought of Peter, Satan asking to sift his wheat, but Jesus interceding and praying that his faith would hold, his faith wouldn't fail, and just seeing how that played out in history, that Peter held his confession of Christ all the way up to and through. Martyrdom would be such an encouragement to our soul.

You undertake to keep, you keep. Thank you for that God. Now we do pray that you would keep us as individuals and as a church from the hatred of the world and from the evil one. We need it. We do have a sense, when we are thinking rightly, we have a sense of how powerless we are.

How would we hold off a world of hatred? How would we hold off this great spiritual demonic person if you are not on our side thank you for being on our side praise you in Jesus name Amen