John 17:12 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 17:12

Comments

Christ’s prayer gives certainty to us, tremendous certainty. ‘While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,’ with the exception of the son of perdition, who was never saved. ‘That the scripture might be fulfilled’ – eternal life and security, the perseverance of the saints. This is such a comfort to us. Christ prays as a prophet. You have as your Saviour the one who knows all things. He knows perfectly the future plans of the Father. He knows exactly what will happen and take place. His word is all sufficient, it is profound. We have a prophet, a teacher, and a guide who is infallible.He prays as a priest, a mediator. My salvation does not depend upon me. Your salvation does not depend upon you. If we slip and we fall and the enemy comes in and says: There you are, you are a lost soul, you cannot have a hold on Christ. We come to him and we repent and we say, yes, but my eternal security is dependent upon him because he has borne away all my sin and he answers for me. And we return and pledge ourselves to him.He is our priest and he is our King, our ruler and guide. And constantly and daily in life we give ourselves to him and consciously place ourselves under his authority once again and bow the knee to him. We are under him, the King of his people and he will rule us eternally.‘And none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.’ The son of perdition, Judas, could not be kept because he was not saved. You cannot be kept if you are not saved.

Application

Every Christian may fall, every Christian may sadly have a time of backsliding. But supposing there is a Christian who is always backsliding, hardly ever up but always down, like a moth to the light, drawn to worldly things. He does not fall into sin once, and then deeply regret it, and repent of the sin, and strive to have the blessing of God restored. He falls and you pull him up, and the next day down he goes again, and again. What is the explanation? He cannot be kept because he has never been saved, here is the proof. Because yes, we may have sad falls but if we are truly saved, the evidence of our being kept is there. We are disciplined perhaps by the Lord, we are restored and we struggle to serve him. You may go down again, but it will not be an habitual thing if you are truly saved because you are kept by the Lord from true disasters and great falls.

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John 17:12 Commentary and Bible Study