Let's begin with a prayer. Father, I thank You for this time this morning. I thank You for the message that I prepared this week, Lord. I thank You for Your meeting with me. I pray that You would meet with us again today and that You would send Your Spirit to me to speak the words that You want me to speak and guide my thoughts I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. If everyone wants to open your Bible to Exodus, we're going to be in chapter 28 to begin today. Exodus 28. We're going to read from v. 9. This whole chapter is really about the high priest's garments, the high priest's Robes as they're called and the description of how to design these garments and how to wear them and Those such things so we're gonna begin in verse 9 exodus 28 verse 9 says this is God speaking to Moses about how to design the garments you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel and six of their names on one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree, and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance." There's two, God tells Moses to take two onyx stones, that's a type of stone is onyx, and to engrave on the stones, each stone is supposed to have six names of the sons of Israel. you're supposed to take one stone with six names and put it on his shoulder and take the other stone with the other six names and put it on his other shoulder. And the high priest Aaron is supposed to wear this. He's supposed to wear this as he does his high priestly work. You read later about the the breastplate and the breastplate of the High Priest has 12 stones on it, different kinds of stones, diamonds and other such stones, and each stone represents a son of Israel, and that has that son engraved on each stone. So he's wearing all these names. He's wearing all the names of the people of Israel. his body as he goes and does his high priestly work. Why does he do that? Why does God want him to bear the names of the sons of Israel? Well, verse 12 tells us why. You shall set two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance. These are called the stones of remembrance. What are they remembering? Well, they're remembering that Aaron shall bear the names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. They're remembering the names of the people that are under the covenant. Who's remembering? Is it God? God needs to remember who he's in covenant with? Or is it the high priest who's remembering who he's representing before the Lord? It's both. Both are remembering who the people are. The high priest has to remember who he's representing as he goes before the Lord. It's all about the people. The whole high priesthood is about the people. That's why the high priest office was set up, is to represent the people. What does the high priest do in the Old Covenant? Well, he basically manages the whole temple. He manages all the sacrifices. We read twice a day. Every day, twice a day, he has to go and make sacrifices. He manages the lower priests as they are making sacrifices and doing stuff in the temple. He manages everything that's going on. But the main job of the high priest, the main thing that the high priest is supposed to do, as he wears these garments, he wears the names of the people of Israel. is the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement. The Jewish guys just celebrated this. It's October 11th, I think, October 12th, something like that. It's called Yom Kippur. It's the Day of Atonement. It's the most important day of the year for the Israelites because it's the day that their covenant is renewed with God, basically. And this is the main job of the high priest, is to go and make this important sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. This is his main job. This is the main reason that there's garments, this is the main reason there's all these rules, and the office of the high priest is set up. Turn to Leviticus 16. This is God telling Moses to tell Aaron how to do the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16 verse 11. Aaron shall present the bowl as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bowl as a sin offering for himself. He shall take the censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense, beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle with his finger seven times. So Aaron, he kills a bull and he takes the blood of the bull and he goes into the Holy of Holies. But before he goes into the Holy of Holies, which is a small room at the center of the temple, there's the holy place that's outside the Holy of Holies. And that's where he goes every day to make sacrifices. But there's an inner room. And in this inner room, it's about 10 feet by 10 feet. It's a tiny little room. It's pitch black because there's curtains all over the room. You can't see in there. In that room is the Ark of the Covenant, right? It's got the angels on top of it, and there's a mercy seat in between the angels. And this is where the presence of God is. And so Aaron's supposed to take incense and fill the room with smoke so he can't see the mercy seat, so that he doesn't die. Because if he sees it, he's gonna die, right? and he has to take a bowl, and we read in verse 11, the blood of the bowl is a sin offering for himself and for his family. It's for him. We haven't even gotten to the people yet. This is just for Aaron. Why is he doing this? Why does he need a bowl? Why does he need the smoke? He's doing this because he's not supposed to be in the Holy of Holies. He's not supposed to be there. He's not holy the way that the Lord is holy. He is sinful before a sinless God. And so he has to do these things. He has to cleanse his own sins before he can even go in there rightfully before the Lord and make atonement for the people of Israel. Now, v. 15. Leviticus 16, 15. This is after he's made a sacrifice for himself. "...Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanliness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanliness. Now we see the sacrifice that he actually makes for the people of Israel. He's atoning for the sins of the people of Israel. This is the whole purpose of the high priesthood. This is why God set up the high priesthood, is to make this sacrifice this day, on the day of atonement. This is his whole work. His main purpose is to atone for the sins. He's representing the people before God. He's sprinkling the blood of the goat. so that they can have a temporary blessing. It's a temporary renewal of the covenant with the Lord. He has to make this sacrifice every year, year after year. And in between, He has to make two sacrifices every day, day after day. And yet the high priest, no high priest, has ever truly eternally atoned for a sin in history. Ever. Not one single sin of those was eternally paid for. Because animal blood is not holy enough. Animal blood can't fully atone for sins. It can only partially atone for sins to gain the blessings of the covenant that Moses made with God. And that the Israelites made with God. No high priest ever eternally, perfectly, sufficiently atoned for any sin, except Christ. When we see Christ, we see a high priest who has atoned, who is sufficient. We see Christ and he was chosen by God for this work. Hebrews 4, 5, and 6 are really this whole argument that Christ is a high priest. Hebrews 4, verse 5 tells us, Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him. who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. He was appointed by God. He was chosen for this high priestly work. We're told he's chosen after the order of Melchizedek. He's not after the order of Aaron. He's not a descendant of Aaron. He's after the order of Melchizedek, which means the Lord himself, his father, chose him to atone for the sins of the people. He's a perfect high priest because he has a perfect sacrifice. The high priesthood in the Old Covenant was flawed because the sacrifices were flawed. The sacrifices weren't what the Lord needed to fully forgive the sins of the people. An animal is not enough. Romans 5 tells us, For as one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Sin came into the world by one man, and now we have forgiveness of sin and righteousness coming through another man, a perfect man, a perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 10, verse 11, every high priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice, which can never take away sin. But when Christ had offered for all time, for all time, Single sacrifice for sins. He sat down at the right hand of God waiting From that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet Sat down at the right hand of God waiting for the time that he's glorified Waiting for his glorification for by a single offering. He has perfected for all time those who are being sacrificed We see all time twice in here all of times Jesus is not like the old high priest. Jesus is not like the old covenant priest. He made one sacrifice and sat down. One sacrifice and his work on earth was completed. It's a sufficient sacrifice. It's a perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 4.14, since we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. We have a high priest who has gone into the Holy of Holies. He's worthy to be in heaven. He's passed through the heavens and he didn't need to make a sacrifice like Aaron did with a bull atoning for his own sins so that he can be there. He had the right to be there. Christ had the right to be in heaven. He had the right to pass through the heavens. He never had to take incense and fill up the room with smoke so he doesn't see God. Why? Because he's worthy. Because he's perfect. We talked about this last week that Christ's work is not over. His work on earth is done, but his work in heaven has only begun. His high priestly work. And this is not the work of sacrificing every day. This is the work of representing the people. Representing the people before God. Romans 8.34, who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, the one who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God? indeed is interceding for us that's what he's doing at the right hand of God he's interceding for us he's representing us before the Father verse 35 Romans 8 34 35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ see Christ's priesthood is all about love. It's all about love. This is the key to understanding Christ's priesthood. It's founded in love. It continues in love. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nobody. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ because He is the perfect High Priest. We read that God desires that many sons come to glory. Many sons come to glory. Romans 8.29 Those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. Christ would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified. Look at that progression. Glorification is the end result of all of this. This is what Christ is trying to get us to is the glorification of the saints. Behind that is justification. That's the work that He began in us when He saved us. And we are justified because we're called. And we're called because we're predestined. And we are predestined because Christ loved us before we were saved. While we were still sinners, He loved us. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." Many brothers. God desired for many people to be saved. We read that God so loved the world that He sent His Son. This is an offer made to all. This covenant of salvation, this covenant of true, eternal redemption is an offer made to all people. God wants many sons, many sons. He offers this atonement for everyone, not just the Israelites and not just once a year, but for all time, indiscriminately for everyone. And it's that love It's that love that brings us to glory. And this is the purpose of Christ's priesthood. To bring us to glory. Now let's turn to John 17. John 17 is the high priestly prayer once again. This is after the upper room where Christ has been having a conversation with his disciples. He wants to pray. 17 verse 9, I included this last week in what I talked about, but I love this verse so much, and I think we should be awestruck by it. 17.9, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me. Holy Father, keep them in your name. This is what Jesus prays for as our high priest. That we would be kept, kept in the Father's name. This is a question that I want you to keep in your mind as we work through this. The question is this, can you lose your salvation? Right? Can you lose your salvation? I'm not talking about that you were never a Christian, and you seemingly had faith, and you lost it somehow, and you just walked away from the Lord, but you were never really saved. No, I'm talking about, can you be fully redeemed? Fully sins atoned for? We read that God tells us that He will take our sins and put them as far away from Him as the East is from the West. Can that be true of you? And then you decide to walk away and those sins are reapplied to your account? Reapplied to your soul? That's the question today. Can you lose your salvation? Now, last week we went through verses 6-10. And this section, 6-19, 17 is kind of broken up into these three paragraphs. The first paragraph is Christ praying for himself, praying for his own glory. The second paragraph is really Christ praying for the disciples. But really he's praying for all people because we read in verse 20, he says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe. These things that he's praying for are applied to everyone. Everyone. Everyone whom is taken out of the world and given to Jesus. This is a question we answered last week. Who does Jesus pray for? This is important to understand. What he prays for and why he prays. Who does he pray for? Verse 6, I've manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Those whom you have taken out of the world. I'm praying for them. And then verse 9, I am not praying for the world. I am not praying for the world. Jesus is praying for those who are in the world, but are taken out of it. How does that make sense? Well, he uses the world kind of in a spiritual sense, right? John McArthur says this all the time. The world, when used in the Bible, often means the system of the world. All the sin in the world, right? You're taken out of the sin and the system of the world, but yet you're still in the physical world. This is who Jesus is praying for. And I said last week that we're gonna answer the question this week, what does Jesus pray for? What does he pray for as he intercedes? Well, watch this. Watch as Jesus pleads our case. This is our case before the Father. Verse nine. I'm praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me. Right? For they are yours, those whom you have given me. So the father, the people are in the world. The father takes the people out of the world and he gives them to Jesus. And then verse 10, all that's mine are yours. So Jesus is saying, these people you gave me are also your people. We both lead them. We both own them in a way. And verse 11, and I am no longer in the world. So this is what Jesus is saying. You took these guys out of the world. You gave them to me, and all that I have is yours, and so they're yours as well, and I can't be here for them anymore, because I'm leaving. Father, I'm coming to you, and I need you to take care of them. I need you to take care of them. Holy Father, keep them in your name. This is what Jesus has been telling the disciples, all of the upper room. I'm leaving you. I'm leaving you guys. You need to trust in the father because he's going to keep you you I'm handing you off to the father. I can't be here for you anymore Because I have to go and retain the glory that I had before John 14 16 This is Jesus promising the Holy Spirit 14 16 I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever and I have asked the Father to send you a helper. He's not leaving them with no help. He's not leaving them with no hope. Verse 25, these things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the helper of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. He's telling the disciples that he's leaving. And now he tells the father, the father that he's leaving. Father, I'm leaving you. He's enacting the promise he just gave them. He just promised them that he would pray for the Holy Spirit. Now he's praying for their help. So this is what Jesus asked for when he intercedes for us. He asks that we would be kept in the Father's name. This is Jesus' prayer. Holy Father, keep them. Jesus has an opportunity to pray. He has an opportunity to pray before the disciples. He has an opportunity to have a prayer recorded in the Gospels for us. And what does he want to pray for? He prays for our preservation, that we would be preserved. This is the most important thing to Christ. Look at this. Holy Father. What is it? Verse 11. Holy Father. This term, Holy Father, it's the only time we see this term said by Jesus. It's the only time. This is the only spot in all four Gospels that Jesus says, Holy Father. And I think we should pause and talk about that for a second. It's a special term used in this prayer, and it's really quite a nice term to hear. Holy Father. It's very glorious and very powerful. And as I was thinking about this name that Jesus calls His Father, I was reminded of something. Something kind of sad. Can anybody think of a person on earth today that's referred to as Holy Father? the Pope. The Pope is called Holy Father. They stole this term. They stole this name from God. And they call the Pope Holy Father. What's their emphasis in calling the Pope Holy Father? They're trying to glorify this guy. They're trying to glorify this Pope saying he's holy, which doesn't make any sense because even in their own doctrine, the Pope is not sinless. He's inerrant, which means the office of the Pope. The office, being the Pope, means whatever you say is inerrant. There's no error in what you say. But the person of the Pope is still sinless, and they know that. It doesn't make any sense that he's holy. But they're trying to glorify this Pope as a holy person. That's what they're emphasizing. What is Jesus emphasizing? He's emphasizing God's glory, first of all, and he's also emphasizing the humility of humans. That we are not holy. That's the main thing that's shown to us when we think about the holiness of God is how unholy we are. It's the opposite. It's the opposite of what the Catholics are trying to do with this term. Chapter 17, verse 1, John tells us that Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven. Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven. Jesus positions himself below the Father. On purpose, he positions himself below the Father. Even as he's rightly petitioning the Father, even as he's justly going into the Holy of Holies and petitioning the Father, Jesus doesn't even have the audacity to call himself holy. He is holy, but he's not emphasizing that. The Catholics have a disgusting, twisted view of this term, Holy Father, but yet it's still lovely for us to hear this term, right? It's lovely to hear Jesus say, Holy Father, keep them. Right? Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me. A few weeks ago, two weeks ago really, I was talking about the glory of Christ and I mentioned Calvinism, the doctrines of grace and the five points of Calvinism and how limited atonement is disputed and people don't like the term or the doctrine of limited atonement because it teaches us that God has a plan and God chooses some to save and some not to save. But TULIP is the five points of the Reformation, five points of Calvinism, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. And today we're looking at the P, perseverance of the saints. We don't like that term perseverance, we like the term preservation of the saints, because the saints are being preserved. It's an outside force that keeps the saints saved. And this point, this P in TULIP, this preservation of the saints, answers the question, can you lose your salvation? That's the whole purpose of this doctrinal point, is can you lose your salvation? John Calvin, who's the father of Calvinism, he's often credited with disputing many of the Catholic doctrines. He didn't actually come up with TULIP, but he wrote all kinds of stuff on preservation of the saints. Because the Catholic Church, I'm picking on the Catholics so much today, but the Catholic Church believes that you can lose your salvation. And that was the major church in his day. They believe you can lose your salvation. That's probably why they have so much money, is because they've convinced people that you can lose your salvation. But this idea directly contradicts our passage today, and many of the passages in the Bible. The answer to this question is no, you cannot lose your salvation. If you are truly saved, you will be preserved. to deny the preservation of the saints. To deny that is to deny the sufficiency of Christ. To deny the sufficiency of Christ as our High Priest. To deny the case made in Hebrews 10 that tells us Christ is sufficient to save to the uttermost. It's to deny Hebrews 13.5 where God tells us, I will never leave you or forsake you. It's to deny Christ's love. John 13.1, the first verse in the Upper Room. John tells us, Christ loved them to the end. He loved them to the uttermost. To the full extent of His ability to love is how much He loved them. To deny the preservation of the saints is to deny the sufficiency of Christ, our High Priest, who in John 17, verse 11, calls out to His Father, pleading on our behalf, and asks Him, keep them in Your name. God does not lose any of those whom he has taken out of the world. John 6, 40 is a perfect, perfect verse. My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him, everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. Anyone who looks to the Son and believes on Him will be glorified on the last day. Christ tells us that that is the Father's will, shall have eternal life. God does not lose any of those whom He has taken out of the world. John 17 verse 12 While I was with them I kept them in your name which you have given me This is pretty clearly Jesus talking about the disciples, right? While I was with them Christ Really wasn't with us He was with the disciples physically and so he prays specifically for these disciples all 12 of these men There's 11 in the room now, but all 12 of them, we're told, were taken out of the world. While I was with them, I kept them in your name. Luke 22, this reminds us, perhaps, of Luke 22, where Jesus tells Peter that he's going to deny him. He says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you. that He might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Jesus prays for them constantly. He loves them. And in His absence, Jesus is leaving for a time. The Holy Spirit is not coming. And He doesn't want them to be left alone for one second. And so He prays for the Father, keep them while I am not here. I can't be here for them. I need You to be with them. He hands them off to the Father. He asks the Father to keep them. Father, I kept them. Now it's your turn. So, this question of who is it that actually preserves the saints? Who is it that actually keeps us? Right? Because we're told that We were handed to Jesus, and Jesus kept us, right? And then Jesus handed us back to the Father, but there's also the Spirit who dwells in us, who's helping us. Is it the Father? Is it Jesus? Is it the Holy Spirit, the Helper? Are we passed around to each person of the Trinity, like a rag doll handed off to the Father for a time, and then the Father... No, it's the Trinity. It's all three of them. All three of them have a play in this. All three in unison. John 14, verse 20 is, Jesus tells us, in that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will manifest Myself to him. Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us, and we're told elsewhere that if we love Him and we obey Him, the Father and the Son will make their home in us. We're told that the Spirit dwells in us. It's all three of them. We have the help of all three of them. It's a Trinity effort. It's a Trinity effort to preserve the saints. But Jesus in verse 12 prays specifically for these 12 disciples, specifically for the time that he's leaving them. But verse 12, the end of verse 12, we have a huge warning. We have a huge warning. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost. Jesus kept them, except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. We've already established that nobody can lose their salvation, of course. But what about these guys that seemingly have salvation and end up walking away? What about those who, in Hebrews 6, tells us that those who have tasted the heavenly gift, tasted the heavenly gift, we're even told that they shared to some extent in the Holy Spirit. What about these people? The truth is that they weren't saved in the first place. We know that. They weren't fully atoned for in the first place. Judas, Jesus mentions Judas and Judas is a horribly sad case. Every time I personally read about Judas, it almost brings me to tears because how can someone have that much light? How can someone have that much light, be that close to the actual kingdom of God, be that close to God himself, and yet still walk away? That's a lot of light to have. And then Jesus calls him the Son of Destruction. That is a horrible name. That is a horrible name for Jesus to call you, the Son of Destruction. Why does Jesus mention this? Why does he mention this? Well, he says, son of destruction. Son. He was born for this. He was born for this. He was predestined for destruction. Why does he mention this? Well, because if Jesus said, I haven't lost any of them, all those whom you have given me, I haven't lost one of them, right? Perhaps someone would say, what about Judas? You lost Judas. But notice this. Jesus, not once, prays for Judas. Not once. Not once does he mention any sort of repentance, any sort of restoration at all. He doesn't pray for Judas at all. Even with Peter, Peter denied him, right? And he told him, Jesus told Peter before he denied him, I have prayed for you that you would be restored. Jesus doesn't deal with Judas that way. When Jesus tells Judas, you're going to betray me, he says, go. Go and do it quickly. He doesn't say, oh, come back. I've prayed for your repentance. No, he doesn't pray for him at all. In fact, the only thing he prays for is that he is a son of destruction. That's sad. Why does Jesus not pray for him? Why? because He's part of the world. He's part of those whom Christ doesn't pray for. V. 9, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world. He doesn't pray for glorification for those who are not saved. Luke 9.26, whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. Christ will be ashamed. Ashamed. This is the warning in this verse. That you can have... any of us could have tons of light. Be close to the Kingdom. And even in Hebrews 6, partake of the Spirit in some way. And yet, still be a son of destruction. One who's predestined for destruction. So how can you know if you're one of these? How can you know if you're one of these that are destined for destruction, or if you're one of these who Christ prays for that you would be kept in His name? We read in John 14, verse 21, Christ tells us, Christ tells us how to remain in the love of the Father. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, He it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." We talked about this extensively, that love is always connected with obedience. The way that you know if you truly love the Lord and if He truly loves you is if you obey. It's by your fruit that He knows the plant or the tree. To end, I want to remember Exodus 28 about the stones, the onyx stones and the onyx stones that have the names of Israel written on them, right? And the breastplate that has the names of Israel written on them. These are the, they're called actually, they're actually called the stones of remembrance, right? And the High Priest in the Old Testament would wear these names as He went into the temple, as He went into the Holy of Holies and represented the people before God. Well, we have a High Priest. We have a High Priest who wore His garments, and that was our names. We're told in Isaiah that our names are written on His hands. Our names are written on His hands. And that was His work as our High Priest continues to be. His work as our High Priest, our perfect High Priest. He remembers us as He intercedes for us. He remembers us as He sits at the right hand of the Father. He prays for us. He prays that we would be brought to glory. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for Your Son who came to earth made the perfect sacrifice for our sins that they can be eternally and truthfully atoned for. Lord, I thank you that we can be under the covenant of grace, the covenant of true, full redemption. And I pray, Lord, for any of us here, anybody who may be listening, that they would not be a son of destruction, but rather that they would turn to you and they would accept this gift of salvation, this gift of having a high priest who loves and who brings us to glory. I pray this in your son's name. Amen.