God Knows Our Name

Well, good afternoon, brethren. Once again, glad to see all of you here on this afternoon's service of the Feast of Pentecost. And certainly, I do want to thank all of you, not only for being here, but for, as Mr. Dowd mentioned, being able to help set up and to make things run smoothly during the noontime.

Certainly for all of the additional help in getting things ready, speaking, as well as then being able to all of the music. Really, the music has just been exceptional, so we thank you very much for contributing in that way and for making this a very special holy daytime. We've already covered at least some of the things that we could mention. Mr. Brannon asked me, well, what am I going to cover after they've covered everything else?

And I told him, well, there's plenty of things in the book. Plenty of things that we could cover. But I do want to cover something today that I hope can be of help to us, because the Day of Pentecost, what it means, what it pictures, how it involves us, is really a remarkable holy day. It's a remarkable design that God has created in putting together not only the holy days, but then giving us understanding of how those days picture His plan. And I think most of us are familiar with the fact that this Day of Pentecost, as it originally was observed by the New Testament church in Acts 2.

When you read through Acts 2, and I'm not going to go through all of that today because it's somewhat of a lengthy chapter, but you realize that Acts 2 includes an account of the first Day of Pentecost for the New Testament church. Now, clearly Israel observed the Day of Pentecost prior to that time, and yet for the New Testament church, Jesus told His disciples, come together.

You will be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And clearly that's what happened. A miraculous intervention occurred. People from all over were able to hear and understand, and Peter then was able to preach an inspired sermon. And he told everybody what they needed to do. He told all of them, all of those who would listen to Him, that they just killed Jesus Christ, and they needed to repent.

They needed to repent, and they needed to be baptized, and they needed to be recipients of the Holy Spirit. Now, Mr. Dowd covered some of that this morning about how we have been brought into that relationship with God by going through that process. But I want to focus on an aspect of this that you may have already thought of, but it's certainly something that I have benefited from in thinking about it, because I've been reading, I've been studying and reading the way that Jesus, as He was here on earth, the way that He prayed.

He was here as a human being. Of course, we know He was God in the flesh. He had been God. He had been the Son of God, or He became the Son of God. He had been the Word with the Father from the very beginning. But He came to this earth in many ways to experience what it's like to be like us, to experience what it is to be human. And of course, He was totally successful. He was totally perfect in everything He did. And yet, the way He prayed is a remarkable study.

And I'll just mention to you, you have probably in the back of your Bible, at least some of us have. I know I have in one or two of the Bibles that I use at times. You have a listing of parables of Jesus. Those are pretty easy to go through. You can see what they are. You also have maybe a listing of the miracles of Jesus, which are, I think, even more exciting to be able to read about.

And yet, I've not seen—and I know you can look it up online—but I've not seen, at least in any Bible that I had, a listing of the prayers of Jesus as a human being. But I think that might be a good study for any of us to go through. And it's something that I've been working on and thinking about a lot. And I want to offer some insight into at least a couple of the prayers that Jesus prayed because He was praying—at times, He was praying for God to help Him.

There were times when God clearly asked Him, or He asked the Father to help Him. But what we'll find is that there are times when Jesus is praying for us. He's praying for His disciples. He's praying for those that the Father is going to nurture and bring into a relationship with the Father and the Son. You see this most directly at John 17, and we'll go to that later on in the sermon.

But Jesus is very concerned about each of us. He's concerned about our success. He's concerned about empowering us, even as our special music this afternoon was about the power that's available through the Son of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us.

But I want us to take a look at James 1. We read a little bit of this earlier today. But I want to focus on another verse because here in James 1, James was a son of Mary. He was a half-brother to Jesus Christ. I can't imagine that he was not fully familiar with Jesus, the way He grew up, the way He lived as a younger person, the way He lived as He grew older into a young adulthood.

And then ultimately, He was around Him during the time as He entered into His ministry. But as James wrote this, starting in verse 17 of James 1, he said, Every generous gift of giving with every perfect gift is from above, and it comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Now, I'll tell you, I'm leaving out the new Revised Standard Version, so that may be a little different than what you are reading.

But I think it really makes this clear because he says in verse 18, in fulfillment of His own purpose, he gave us birth by the Word of Truth so that we would become a kind of firstfruits, a kind of firstfruits of His creation, or of all of His creatures. And of course, James is writing this to individuals who were Christians, individuals who were members of the Church of God at that time. And yet he says here in verse 18, in fulfillment of God's divine purpose, He gave us birth by the Word of Truth so that we would become a kind of firstfruits. See, brethren, we have a very special blessing, a very special opportunity, a tremendous privilege, and it's something that has to be internalized by each and every one of us.

We can talk about it as a group, but as we had mentioned earlier today, it comes down to our individual understanding of how God has begun to work with us, about how special our calling is, and about how important it is that we follow through, that we continue, as we had mentioned, to put sin out of our life, to be examining sin in our lives, and putting that out. But the power, the power that we have been given, the power that has been made available to us, is extraordinary in order to succeed.

But as He tells us here, we've become a type of firstfruits. I want to drop on down to verse 21 and say, Therefore rid yourself of all-sortedness and rank-growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that is the power to save your soul. See, here He talks about the Word of God that has been implanted in your mind, in your heart. And that's a very special thing.

You know, here a few weeks ago, I doubt that Mr. Doubt has had time. I know I have not had time since the conference, because we had a conference earlier this month, and the first part of May, I've not had time to go over any of the things that we went over in that conference.

But what we were going over in the conference, and the theme of the conference, was being transformed. Being transformed by the Word of God, and being transformed by the Spirit of God. And so those two elements are crucial to our growth and to our development.

I want to back up, if you will, into the book of Luke, because here in Luke, chapter 10, you see some very important statements that Jesus makes about us. Now, we've had mentioned that we are not the powerful and the wealthy and the mighty of the world, and yet we are very rich toward God. And yet, that's a very special thing that Jesus talks about here in Luke, chapter 10. I want us to look in Luke, chapter 10, because he's talking to his disciples, he's talking to people that he's very familiar with, people he's drawing closer and closer to, people that he loves, people that he is teaching and training, you know, he's watching how they respond. Here in chapter 10, verse 17, the 70, this is talking about the 70 who earlier here in chapter 10, he sent forth to kind of prepare a way for him to come and preach the gospel.

But here in verse 17, it says the 70 returned with joy. They were sent out on a mission, they came back, and they were thrilled. They were absolutely just excited about what it was that they were able to do. They came back, they returned with joy, and they said, Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us. And so they'd experienced something that was remarkable. It was beyond understanding. It wasn't something they could even contemplate in the past, but now as Jesus had sent them out, he had given them some authority, he had given them some power, and they came back excited. They came back thrilled that in your name, even the demons do what we ask. Jesus said in verse 18, and made a very profound statement, and one, of course, that reveals his existence long before coming in the flesh. He said in verse 18, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a bolt of lightning. See, he was saying that I was there long ago.

I was there long before the earth was fashioned for man. I was there before the physical creation. I was there before the spiritual creation that I actually initiated with the Father.

And yet he says, I beheld, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.

And he says, See, in verse 19, I've given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. And so he said, I've given you some authority, and of course that authority is not of yourself. It's actually of my power, of my might, of my name. But he says, he actually warns in verse 20, nevertheless, don't rejoice in that. Don't rejoice that the Spirit submit to you. He said, that's not really what's important. But he says in verse 20, he said, this is important. This is significant. This is meaningful. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

See, he was making a statement to his disciples about how important it was that they were going to be a part of the very first group that God would nurture, and what he would care for, and that he would cause to grow, and that he would empower by his Holy Spirit in order to be the first fruits in the divine family. See, he said, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So I'd like for us to think about, as we go through the sermon, the remainder of this sermon today, I'd like for us to think about, does God the Father really know your name? Does he know your name? Does he know my name? Does he know the name of Joe Dobson?

Does he know the name of Mike Beyer? Does he know the name of Ken Brennan?

I can at least name a few of you out there. I can't see you real well, but I can at least name a few of you. Does God the Father know your name? I think it's important that we think about that, because as we read through this, I think it's going to be obvious that, yes, he does.

Yes, he does. He knows, because he has given us to Jesus Christ. He has given us to be a part of the body that Jesus Christ is the head of. And we have a great deal of power and authority at the head of the church. We have a great deal of authority in Jesus Christ that we can call on.

Again, we do that through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's drop down to verse 21.

This is one of the prayers that Jesus prayed. I told you I would eventually focus on John 17, and I will. But here, I want to go through this section in Luke 10, because it ties together with what I believe probably all of us have understood, or all of us were taught, and we were shown long ago in our Christian lives that we've been drawn to Jesus Christ.

See, John 644 is a verse that I am pretty sure you're familiar with. It talks about us being drawn to Jesus Christ. And I'd like for us to see that the same thing is mentioned here in this verse.

Starting in verse 21, it says, At this same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. See, Jesus had a remarkable relationship with the Father. He had a relationship that was built from not only having been with the Father earlier, but then having come to the earth as a human being, experiencing what it is that we as human beings are going through, experiencing what it is to be human. And yet, he had a very loving, a very nurturing, a very accepting relationship with the Father. He and the Father could talk about anything. They could relate to one another because they were united. They were one. And here he says, starting in verse 21, he says, I thank you, Father.

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things. See, he just told his disciples, you need to rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And he went on to say in talking to his Father, in a sense, praying, he says, Father, I thank you that you have hidden these marvelous spiritual things from the wise and the prudent of the world, and you have revealed them unto babes. You've revealed them unto infants, I think the New King James says.

You've revealed them unto infants. That's what we read and think about when we talk about, well, not many wise men have been called, not many noble, but God has called the weak of the world. That's what Jesus was telling his disciples. Father, you have revealed spiritual things to these very young, maybe we could say immature individuals who need to mature, who need to be completed. But you have called them. He says, Yes, Father, he goes on in verse 21, for Father, such was your gracious will. Or as the New King James says, so it was well pleasing in your sight. See, how far sighted is God? How far sighted does God see down? I guess, you know, he's able to see. He sees what he's planning. He sees what he's going to develop. He sees what he's going to create. He's going to work with some before Jesus intervenes and comes back. And then he's going to work with much larger groups of people. But here he says that the Father has intentionally revealed. He has intentionally revealed the truth of God and an understanding of spiritual things to only a small group of people. He goes on in verse 22 to say, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. And no one knows who the Son is except the Father. Or who the Father is except the Son. See, what does that say in verse 22?

No one knows who the Son is except the Father. What does that mean to you? No one knows the Son except the Father would draw that individual, would draw that person to Jesus Christ.

See, that's exactly what we read over here in John 6, and I want to go to that. But let me finish here, I guess, a little bit with verse 22. It says that no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and yet anyone to whom the Son reveals chooses to reveal it. See, God the Father and Jesus Christ have planned together to draw us to Jesus today, and then to empower us, to strengthen us, to cause us to have the ability to succeed. See, all we have to do, what we have to do is to learn to rely on them. We have to learn to trust them. We have to learn to be thankful to them. And actually, I think it's exciting to even see as you read this, maybe we could go back to Luke chapter 10 verse 2. Because here he was telling his disciples, and I think this again is something that's good to think about. He said to them, the harvest is plentiful. See, he was sending his disciples out to do some work. They were to do the preaching that would, in a sense, precede what Jesus would do when he came.

But he said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.

See, since the harvest is so great, why is it that the laborers are so few?

You know, why is it that we are a very small flock today? Why is it that we really are, in a sense, kind of obscure in this world? Well, the answer to that is that's designed by the Father. He's the one who holds that in his hand. He's the one, and of course, he tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send more laborers. But see, God is the one who's controlling that. And that's what we see when we go on over to John 6. John 6 is an exciting chapter.

It's one of the most thrilling that I am able to read as you understand what it is that Jesus was saying, what it is that he was teaching. Because he was here in this chapter of John 6, he was feeding the masses. He was feeding thousands of people with just a very little bit of bread and fish. And then he was later telling them, he was teaching, when we go on over to verse 41, he was teaching them about the fact that, well, I've just given you something to eat. I've just given you physical food. But what I really want you to understand is that I'm the bread of life.

I'm the true bread. I'm the living bread. I'm the one that you need to relate to, and with my help, you will be able to be a part of the divine family of God. You will be empowered with the Holy Spirit.

You will be able to relate to the Father like we see Jesus relating. Now, clearly, he did that perfectly, and we are all growing in that relationship. And yet what he says, starting in verse 41, the Jews began to complain about what Jesus was saying. They complained about the fact that he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. See, now they complained about it. They couldn't understand it. They couldn't figure out what he was talking about. They understood physical food. They could kind of read about and think about the fact that a manna had been sent from God.

They could kind of relate to that, but they could not relate to who Jesus Christ really was.

They could not understand that at all. It goes on in verse 42. They were saying, isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he say, I've come down from heaven? See, they were simply looking at the physical. They were simply looking at all the limitation of the physical. And yet, clearly, Jesus was saying something much more powerful. And so Jesus answered and said, don't complain about this, or don't complain among yourselves. In verse 44, no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father. I know you're familiar with that statement, but I'm saying it in that way in hopes to make an impact on our minds. No one comes to Jesus Christ unless God the Father knows your name.

He's the one who gives us and brings us to Jesus Christ. He says, no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me. And He says, I will raise that person up on the last day.

If we are relating to our elder brother and we are relating to the Lord and Savior and Redeemer of our lives, well, then we are going to be overcoming. We are going to be improving. We are going to be growing. And we are going to be in His mercy as we come to the last time, as the resurrection occurs. So it's exciting, I think, to see that the Father knows who we are.

And He's concerned about us. He's interested in us. And I think each one of us have to think back to when God started intervening in our lives. When He started intervening in our minds, when we started to be able to think something or know something. Mr. Dowd mentioned earlier today that maybe we thought, well, we were coming into the truth. We were figuring it out. We heard the right voice on the radio or the television, or we read the right magazine.

Well, we did, but it was at the direction of the Father that we could understand it. That we could understand it and that it could have an impact on our lives. And so I think it's exciting to see. It goes on in verse 45. It's written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father is going to come to Me.

See, every individual is going to be a part of the firstfruits that will be changed at the coming of Jesus Christ, who will be introduced into the family of God at that time, who will have grown to be the type of servant, the type of loving, concerned servant that each of us are to grow to be. Well, then we're going to be a part of that family at that time, but that's going to have been initiated by God the Father. It's going to have been initiated by the one who knows our name, the one who is specific in knowing our name, and the one who has drawn us to Jesus, who is able to empower us with His Spirit and with His mind. I'd like for us to drop on down to verse 60 because, you know, Jesus actually continues this thought. Down in verse 60, He continues to explain the significance of what it is that the Father has done in drawing us to Jesus Christ. In verse 60, many of the disciples heard what had been discussed, and of course, Jesus had said some really amazing things. You need to eat my flesh. You need to drink my blood. You know, those are things we often go over at the Passover, and we gain understanding and insight into what Jesus is saying there and how we are to be impacted by that. But here in verse 60, whenever He was talking about things that were really pretty hard to understand, it says, many of the disciples, when they heard this, they said, this teaching is difficult. Who can accept it?

But Jesus, being aware that they were complaining and they didn't understand, He said, does this offend you?

He said, well, verse 62, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?

It's the Spirit that gives life and the flesh. His prophet is nothing.

The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.

See, Jesus said, I have what you need, and the Father who knows your name has drawn you to me.

And then I'm going to help you succeed. I'm going to help you be a servant that's empowered by the Spirit of God to be transformed by God's Word and by God's Spirit. Now, He goes on in verse 64.

He says, among you, there are some who don't believe.

See, I think this is amazing, because today, whenever we preach the Gospel, we are in hopes that people will understand. We're in hopes that people will be drawn by the Father. We're in hopes that people will... and then sometimes we can be discouraged if we don't get too much response. People who listen to Jesus didn't believe either, because the Father had to draw them. And Jesus understood that because He said, Among you, there are some who don't believe, because Jesus knew who from the first were the ones who would not believe and who was the one who would actually betray Him. He clearly knew that among the twelve, Judas resided. That was, of course, to fulfill prophetic statements of the past, and yet He knew what He was doing. He clearly knew who He was working with. He knew who the Father had drawn. And that's why He says in verse 65, He said, For this reason, I've told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father. Again, it's amazing how over and over and over again that He points that out. That our being a part of the Church of God, our being a part of individuals who can relate to Jesus Christ and be able to grow in the divine nature.

You know, that's because of the initiation of the Father. That's because of the drawing of the Father.

That's why He says, For this reason, I've told you, no one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father. And of course, we see in verse 66 kind of a sad commentary, again, even in the life of Jesus. Even in the life of the individual who you will have thought, well, you know, everything He said, people surely should have listened to. Oh, well, they didn't listen to Him either. In verse 66, Because of this, many of His disciples turned back and no longer went with Him. And Jesus said to the twelve, Are you going to leave too? And Simon Peter said, Where would we go, Lord? Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. You are the way. You are the one that we want to embrace. You are the one that the Father has drawn us to. And of course, He went ahead to say in verse 69, You have come, or we have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. And we've come to see who you are. We've come to see what you have to offer, and we want to be empowered by your Spirit. We want to embrace the family, the family of God, God the Father and Jesus Christ, and the power that God enables us to have with the Holy Spirit.

So I think it's amazing as we read through John chapter 6, how much Jesus pointed to the involvement of the Father in drawing any of us to the Church. Again, I think back to 1965, 1966. Some of you are of that vintage as well. Some of you are even an older vintage than that.

Some of you much younger. And yet, all of us had a beginning point, and that beginning point was that the Father drew us to Jesus Christ. And of course, Jesus even mentions this in John 15.

John chapter 15, in talking to His disciples, He said another important statement that we should tie together with this thought of the Father drawing us. He said in John 15, He actually mentions many, many things here in John 15 that we won't have time to cover.

But He says in verse 15 of John 15 that I don't call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the Master is doing. But I've called you friends.

He said, even though I know you are going to become servants, you are going to learn my ways because I am the ultimate servant. I am here to give my life for humanity, and you are going to learn to become servants as I am. But He says, I don't even want to relate to you as a Master and servant. I want to relate to you as a friend. He says, I call you my friends because I've made known to you everything that I've heard from the Father. See, what Jesus was passing on to these that God had drawn to Him, He was going to pass on to things that would help them understand what God the Father is like. What the Father is doing. How, of course, He is working with some, apparently, a few before Jesus intervenes. And then He is going to deal with the mass conversion of the bulk of humanity. He is going to deal with that in the future. But today, He has called us to Jesus Christ by knowing our name. But here He says, in verse 16, very plainly, He says, you can't just choose Me. He says, you did not choose Me, but I have chosen you, and I appoint you to go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask. He says, I want you, you have been drawn by the Father into a unique relationship with the Father and Me, and then you are able then to bear fruit. But see, brethren, that is just not of our selection.

That is because of God's intervention. That is because of His miraculous intervening simply in knowing our name. I want to go on to chapter 17, because I have mentioned that here to you before. And I would imagine that all of you know what John 17 is about. I am going to say that every one of you could in some way think about John 17, because it is a section of scriptures that we read about, that we go through during the time of the Passover, that we often cover. You know, this is information that is recorded in the book of John and nowhere else. It is the only place that it is recorded in the Gospels. This particular prayer, actually what appears to be a lengthy prayer, at least the way it is recorded, a lengthy prayer of Jesus about some very important things.

And yet here in John 17, we see that Jesus, right before He is going to be taken, right before He is going to be betrayed, right before He will be betrayed not only by Judas, but ultimately by all the rest of His disciples.

They are going to turn their back on Him, at least momentarily.

And of course, that was all to be a part of the fulfillment of the prophecies that had been predicted from long ago. But He says, I want to pray to the Father right here before I am taken. I am going to pray and the disciples are going to hear this, and those later that the Father will call the names of the people that the Father will work with and bring to Jesus Christ, they are going to read. They are going to read this prayer.

And I think we should learn to relate to God in the way that Jesus is here. It says in verse 1, that Jesus spoke these words and looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all people to give eternal life to who? He says, glorify the Son, that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom You have given Me. To all the Father has drawn to Jesus Christ. Now that's a phrase I am pointing this out to begin with here, because He says this same statement over and over and over again. And yet, I would say that for the most part, people in general don't understand what this is talking about. They don't understand that it's referring to the names of the people that the Father gives to Jesus Christ.

He says, You have given Me authority to give eternal life to all whom You have given Me.

And He says, this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and that they may know Jesus Christ, whom You sent.

Now here He makes a very direct statement, a very clear statement, but He says, ultimately becoming a part of the family of God, ultimately being given eternal life, is going to come from the intimate relationship that each of us are able to cultivate, because the Father drew us to Jesus Christ, He's given us the Spirit of God, and He then empowers us to relate to God the Father, the only true God, and to Jesus Christ, and get this as far as how He describes Himself, knowing Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. See, that statement implies far more than it, you might just think on the surface. And well, surely Jesus, you know, He was sent by the Father. Well, yes, He was sent by the Father, and yet He points that out in order to reveal even more about what the divine family is all about. See, why was He here? Well, He was here at the direction of the Father. He came as a sacrifice for sin. He came as our Redeemer and Savior. And yet He came, having been God, He was with the Father, He was the Word in the past, He had been with the Father, and yet what did He do? He voluntarily subjected Himself to what the Father asked Him to do.

He and the Father worked out a plan, and that plan was one was going to come. One would be sent to the world. One would be sent to the earth to become human. That individual would be the one we would come to know is Jesus Christ. And of course, He states this, and I think if you read through this, you'll see this, He states this over and over again about the way that He is voluntarily in subjection to His Father. Now, I don't wish to debate or even try to, I don't know that I can, as far as talking about the God family and the Father and the Son. And yet I see that the Son, He says the Father is greater than I am. He says I'm voluntarily doing what the Father asked. I am cooperating. I am fully unified with the Father. And of course, that teaches us a great deal about how much unity does God want us to have? How much does He want us to see in the church of God? The type of union, the type of connectedness? He goes on in chapter 17, verse 6.

Again, this is Jesus' prayer. He's praying to the Father. He's praying about His disciples.

He says, I have made your name known.

To who? I have made your name known to those whom you gave Me out of the world.

So He continues to point out that the Father drew individuals to Jesus Christ.

I have made your name known to those whom you gave Me from the world. They were yours.

And they, or you, have given them to Me.

See, how amazing is that that God the Father, who knows your name, who knows your life, who knows what you were in the past, who knows what you are today, who knows what we can be through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How amazing is it that Jesus is praying in this case for those that the Father had given Him.

And He says, they have kept your word.

If we drop down to verse 9, you see Jesus specifically praying for His disciples then, and later we're going to see for all of us as well. In verse 9, I'm asking on their behalf.

If you hear Jesus is praying on the day before He's going to be brutally beaten and then put to death, He says, I'm praying for these people that you have given Me.

I'm praying for these whom you know their names. I'm praying for them.

I'm not asking on behalf of the world.

So it appears that He wasn't saying, I'm trying to get everybody to believe Me today.

He was saying, I'm praying for these precious individuals that you have drawn to Me, and who through Me are going to be fruitful. They are going to bear fruit. They are going to thrive.

And that power that He's made available to us is the Holy Spirit of God. That was reflected in the first day of Pentecost in the New Testament era, the giving of the Holy Spirit.

So He says, I'm asking on their behalf. I'm not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave Me because they are yours.

See, I'm thankful that the Father knows My name. I'm thankful for what He did in making me aware that I needed a lot of improvement. I needed a lot of changing. I need a lot of development.

And thankfully, He continues to develop. He continues to work with Me and with you.

But brethren, He does know your name. He is on your side. He is going to help us succeed.

We drop down to verse 11. Jesus said, I'm no longer going to be in the world.

They're going to be in the world, and yet I'm coming to you, Father.

I ask that you would protect them in your name. Protect them in your name. Now, we focused on that phrase before. Now, that does have something to do with why we're called the Church of God. That is one indicator, or it's what we ought to be called. He says, protect them in your name. Again, those that you have given Me.

Again, those that the Father has drawn so that they may be one as we are. Now, that section, Mr. Hudson in Kansas City went over this section a little yesterday. He focused on what it is to be one with the Father and with the Son. And that, of course, is what we always are teaching and trying to understand better as we observe the Passover and as we reflect on what the words of Jesus are. But I'm focusing on a little bit different aspect of this because the Father had given these individuals to the Son. And when we drop on down to verse 12, He says, while I was with them, I protected them in your name.

I protected them in your name that you have given Me.

Again, He repeats this over and over and over again that He happens to know who we are.

The Father is very well aware of who He has drawn in this age. And, of course, He covers a lot of additional information. I want to drop down to verse 20. I asked not only on behalf of these, and so He was saying, you know, you are going to call, you are going to draw some right now with Me. I've got somebody by the name of Peter. I've got somebody by the name of John, and I've got somebody by the name of Andrew, and James, and Bartholomew. His disciples were with Him.

Those were names that the Father had given Him. Those were individuals that the Father had called. Were those perfect individuals? Clearly not. You know, they were individuals that were cleanly flawed, like all of us, and yet they were going to be transformed. They were going to be transformed by the drawing of the Father. But He says, I asked not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their Word. And so that, of course, was who He would draw to know Jesus Christ and to fully understand being a part of the divine family of God, being the sons and daughters of God, growing in a divine nature. See, this is what God holds out before us. This is what He wants for us to just desire more than anything. He wants us to realize that I've pulled you to Jesus Christ. And if we go on down to verse 24, in verse 24, He says, Father, I desire that those also whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am and see My glory, which You have given Me, because You love Me before the foundation of the world. Again, throughout this prayer, He continues to talk about those that the Father has given Him, those that the Father, He chooses and draws to Jesus Christ. And brethren, that's the fabulous blessing that we can enjoy, that we can't take credit for it at all. That's the whole thing that you see written about in other places. We cannot take credit for that at all. All we can do is say, thank You. All we can do is say, I praise God for His intervention in my life, for Him drawing me to understand Jesus Christ and how through Jesus Christ and Christ living in us through the power of the Spirit that we can be the firstfruits of a divine family that God is going to grow long beyond Christ's return. We yearn for the day when Christ will return, and clearly we should, because that will change everything, and yet there's even more work to do beyond that.

And yet, the work that God is doing right now is in our lives. It's in the mind and in the heart of each and every one of us. He's transforming us by His Word. That's why it's good to study the Word of God and to look forward to doing that and to get up and desire to do that throughout each day.

He does that, transforming us by His Word and by His Spirit and through the contact that we have with God in our prayers, through the relationship that we have in drawing close to Him. I want to look at only one other verse here before I conclude with the sermon today, but I hope that in going through what we have covered today, that you can see that the Feast of Pentecost, it certainly covers many things. It does specifically talk about why God would call us now. And it does specifically tell us how important we are that God wants to nurture us and help us. And yet, as I've shown, God does know our name. I think it's just fascinating to see what we do here in Luke 22, because in Luke 22 you see one of the disciples that all of us are pretty familiar with. A disciple who was in many ways very forward.

He always had an answer. In many ways, he always would speak up when the others maybe would hold back. Peter would always have something to say. And of course, Peter was the one in John 13 when Christ came to him wanting to wash his feet. He said, well, you're not going to wash my feet. And Jesus said, well, I've got to. I've got to wash your feet because you have been drawn into the family. You have been drawn into the family, and I want to nurture you. And of course, Peter's dialogue with Jesus there is really remarkable. But you also find on a little later here in Luke 22, as Peter is going to be told that even though he may have the very best of intentions, he may be trying his best. He wanted to say the right thing. He wanted to put the right face on. He wanted to do the right thing. And he told Jesus, I'll never forsake you. Of course, we all know that didn't happen. As soon as his feet were at the fire, I don't know who he is. I'm out of here. And of course, he did that. And he did that three times, denying Christ as Christ said he would. And yet, after that, he looked back on that and he remembered what Christ said. He said he knew exactly how weak I am. He knew how much I'd be needing to be helped. And so, what did Jesus do to help Peter?

Well, here in verse 31 of Luke 22, it says, Simon, Simon, listen to me.

Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat. See, here Jesus was telling Peter something that Peter really couldn't fully comprehend. He didn't understand fully the dimension of Satan and how powerful he was and how he had created the deception on this earth. He says Satan has demanded to, or he's asked to sift all of you like wheat. But verse 32 is really significant. He says, I've prayed for you, Peter. I've prayed for you that your own faith would not fail.

See, brethren, I think in many ways, you know, again, following this example of Jesus, you know, we can pray for one another. We can encourage one another.

We probably ought to pray that our faith can be strengthened. You know, whenever we pray for one another, that we can be healed. We often want that. We often need that. Jesus said He prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. And he went ahead to say in verse 32, and once you have turned back or once you have come back, he knew what was going to happen.

He knew Peter was going to fail in the test regarding whether or not he would deny Christ. He knew that was going to happen. But he said, that's not defeat. He says, I've prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And you, once you have turned back, I want you to strengthen your brethren. I want you to help and encourage and uplift and empower the brethren. And of course, that was not only going to be Peter's role, but that often is our role. If we become a servant of God, because God knows our name and He has drawn us to Jesus Christ, well then, He's going to work in us.

He's going to strengthen us. And again, I think it's important to see what it was that Jesus prayed about, because He said, I prayed that your faith would not fail, Peter. He says, I'm going to provide you the help. I'm going to provide you the strength. Are you going to be sinless? No. But are you going to be successful? Yes. You are going to succeed because of the power of God. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, which God has been so wonderfully merciful to us in providing.

So, brethren, as we continue to do our job, continue to do the work of God, as we continue to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is what we've all been called. See, the reason to be in the church is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

That's why we're called now. That's why firstfruits exist, so that we can do the job that God has given His church. And yet, He tells us that He will help us. He will empower us. He will lift us up. He will cause things to occur that are beyond our own ability.

And I think we should certainly thank Him for that. And we should thank Him. Thank Him very much that He knows our name. And that we have a responsibility toward Him to respond in service, to respond in love, and certainly to respond in desiring to do the will of God in every aspect of our lives. You know, all of us are truly blessed that God knows our name. We're blessed that God has been graciously merciful in forgiving us.

We're blessed in being recipient of the Holy Spirit. We're blessed in knowing that Jesus said, I will not forsake you. I will help you. I will always be available. You know, we simply have to cry out for help. We have to ask for help. We have to see that we're weak, and then we can cry out for help. But see, God has provided all of that, and then He's going to ultimately fulfill His purpose for us. This is part of what we covered earlier today. You know, as we grow and mature with the power of the Holy Spirit, the purpose for our life is going to be fulfilled.

God is going to fulfill that purpose. And we simply have to be thankful for that. So, since God does know my name, and since God does know your name, I think that all of us collectively, all of us unitedly, need to be as Jesus was even at the age of 12. See, when Jesus was wandering in the temple, and His parents were looking for Him, even at the age of 12, Jesus knew what He was doing.

He knew why He was here. He knew what His purpose was. And so, God has graciously known our name, and because of that, we all ought to be about our Father's business. And as we do, conclude the work that God has given us to do, although He will truly transform us when Jesus Christ returns to this earth.