Keep Us from the Evil One

How important is safety to you in life?

How important is safety and security?

And maybe a good way to look at this is what do you do when you don't feel safe and secure?

How do you handle that?

One of the things that really surprised me about getting married, this has been 20 years now that I've I've learned this, is how comfortable my wife is with risking my safety.

I mean, don't get me wrong, like as the guy, I expected that, like in the sense that, yeah, I'm gonna be the man, I'm gonna step up, I'm gonna do anything, I'll protect my family.

I think it's just the ease at which she was like, go and put yourself at risk.

That sort of surprised me.

And it started early.

Week one of our marriage, not like first week.

We were coming back from our honeymoon.

We got married here in Georgia.

This is where Megan is from.

I lived here for a little bit when we met.

Uh, we got married here, we did our honeymoon in Tennessee, but we were living in Kansas City, Missouri.

That's where I was.

She we were I was in school, she was in school, we were both college students, and so we went from our wedding here to our honeymoon, and then we moved into an apartment together up in Kansas City after we got married.

On the way back from our honeymoon to Kansas City, we had to drive through St.

Louis.

And I'm from Missouri.

Anyone else from Missouri, by the way?

And yet, yeah, I didn't expect that many Missouri people.

Missouri's a weird state.

Um, it really is.

It sounds like misery.

Like, think about it.

And I don't think it is, but I'll put it this way: there's two big cities in Missouri, St.

Louis and Kansas City.

Each of those, half of the city, is in another state.

So, Missouri, think about it this way: both of the big cities are trying to leave the state that they're in.

Like, that is that is the state that I'm from, right?

Now, it just so happens that St.

Louis is kind of a rough city in a lot of ways, and it's rougher on the Illinois side than the Missouri side.

Like, St.

Louis, Illinois, at one point in time was the murder capital of the United States of America, rough area.

And we're driving back to Kansas City via St.

Louis, and we were in St.

Louis, Illinois, and at the time my wife was driving.

Megan is a good driver.

She's just an aggressive driver and kind of an angry driver.

We were taking turns.

No, no, no.

I mean, I'm not making fun of her.

She's, let me explain.

So, I don't even care.

We were in St.

Louis, Illinois, and this guy on the highway kind of zooms past us in a somewhat aggressive manner, and my wife was like, oh, jerk.

So she thinks, here's a good idea.

I'll zoom past him and give him a look.

You know, she was like, mmm, just kind of gave him a look, and then that'll that'll teach him, right?

Well, the result of that, and keep in mind, we've been married for five days at this point in time, is that he just follows us forever, and then we pull off on an exit, and he pulls off on the same exit, and then we pull into a gas station.

Guess what gas station he pulls into in St.

Louis, Illinois?

Murray Capital of the United States of America at one point in time, I might add.

And here's Megan at the wheel, and she goes, I need you to get out and pump the gas and make sure this guy doesn't kill us.

And I was like, Well, that us, I feel like it'll be more me than us.

You know, so I got out of the car.

I did like what guys do, like I chest first, kind of like got out like I pump gas and I pump iron.

That's what I do.

And uh and he nothing happened.

Like he just kind of looked at me, I looked at him, and that was it.

That was it.

But it was just, I guess it was five days into our marriage and me realizing, huh, when we're in trouble, she's pretty comfortable with like sending me out.

Good to know.

E even recently, this happened like a month ago.

We were in bed.

You know that thing when you're falling asleep and you're like, you're you're mainly asleep, you're mostly asleep.

You're even starting maybe to have a dream, your brain's doing weird things, but you're sort of still in the real world enough that if something happens in the room you're in, you're kind of aware of it, but not fully.

So I'm laying in bed, I'm almost asleep, I'm there, and I hear a noise, which to me sounds exactly like a rattlesnake.

But I'm half asleep, and so I go, uh, whatever.

Five or six seconds later, can't really tell because I'm in that weird half sleep state.

Megan goes, Did you hear that?

And I kind of came out, I was like, I did hear a sound.

What did it sound like to you?

She said, It sounded like a rattlesnake.

And then I'm like, could there be a rattlesnake in our bedroom?

And I start doing all these thoughts.

I'm like, well, we do we live in Georgia.

Rattlesnakes are native to Georgia.

Um, my boys leave our doors open all the time.

Like we have to tell our boys, when you leave and go out and play in the yard, shut the door.

We live in an area that's got woods around it, and there's a creek really close to our property.

And I'm like, I mean, it's it is it is not impossible.

It'd be weird.

But what was that sound?

And then Megan goes, well, you just can you get out of bed and I don't know what.

Like, end that sentence, can you get out of bed and fight a rattlesnake?

Like, what is the, you know, I don't know what to do with a rattlesnake.

So there's probably not one in our in our in our room, but she's not getting out of bed to help me.

I'll put it that way, right?

There was not like, hey, let's do this together because we're a team.

She's like, same thing as the car.

And so I like get my phone and I'm flashing it around and and I looked for a rattlesnake and didn't find one.

And then came back and she's like, Do you did you find a snake?

I was like, no, I don't think whatever we heard, maybe it was a rattlesnake that was like right outside our window or something.

I don't know.

But I think we're good.

And she's like, Well, do you think or you know?

And I was like, I don't know.

But I didn't, I think we're okay, and I think we'll find out in the next 24 hours for sure.

I'm going back to bed.

You know?

That's just that's part of, I guess that's part of the mayor's thing.

It just wasn't something, I guess I didn't expect it as quickly and as much as it's been.

That I'll I'll go first and put myself in danger.

But it's fine.

That's the way it should be.

We have an interesting relationship with safety as people, even if we live in very safe places relative to the world.

We take extra measures all the time to make sure we're extra safe, right?

A lot of us might have alarm systems in our house and ring doorbells and all kinds of things, and there's nothing wrong with that.

We just have a unique desire as human beings to be safe.

And over the last few weeks, we've been studying this chapter in the book of John.

It's John 17.

We're in a series that we've called What Jesus Wants.

Very interesting chapter.

If you're just joining us, don't worry about it.

Every week kind of stands on its own.

But the idea here is really simple.

Jesus is about to get arrested.

He's about to give up all of his safety and security and go to the cross.

And he knows it.

He knows it.

He's come to peace with that, he's comfortable with that.

In fact, he's just had another prayer where he's kind of wrestled with God the Father saying, Hey, is there another way?

Are we sure?

Are we sure that this is the only way to do this?

Because if there's another way, I'd prefer that.

And then he surrenders and says, But Lord, Father, not my will, but your will.

And he fully commits to the cross.

Not that he was uncommitted, but he's he just reiterates, I'll do it.

So he knows he's going to the cross, he knows what's about to happen to him.

He's in a very unsafe situation, and he decides to pray.

And he prays to the Father, and he prays a prayer that we could never pray.

This is a prayer that only God the Son could pray to God the Father.

But it's fascinating because it's a prayer that's about us and it's for us, it's on our behalf.

Which means that we get a window into what Jesus wants.

This is what Jesus wants our life to be like.

This is what Jesus wants the Father to do in our lives, and we can live in such a way that we actually fulfill Jesus' prayer.

That's a really cool thought, at least for me.

So we've been going through it bit by bit, and it's so layered.

I mean, it's God talking to God.

It's extremely dense and layered and deep.

And so we're not really going at it verse by verse.

We are going through all of it, but it's sort of idea by idea, as comprehensively as makes sense.

And today we're going to be in John chapter 17, verses 9 through 15.

John 17:9–15

We've already covered some of this in the last few weeks, but we're going to look at some different ideas that are presented today.

Verse 9, Jesus says, My prayer is not for the world.

We talked about the world a lot last week, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.

All who are mine belong to you, and you've given them to me, so they bring me glory.

Now I am departing from the world.

They are staying in this world, but I'm coming to you.

Holy Father, you've given me your name.

Now protect them by the power of your name, so they will be united just as we are.

During my time here I protected them by the power of the name you gave me.

I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

Now I am coming to you.

I told them many things while I was with them in this world, so they would be filled with my joy.

I have given them your word, and the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.

So part of what Jesus prays for, part of what he wants for us is safety, security, but a very specific kind of safety.

There's this idea here that God is our keeper.

In fact, that's a phrase that we see very often in Scripture in some older translations of this that are a little bit more word for word.

There's different types of translations of scripture, and we have, they're all phenomenal, not all of them.

There's some really terrible ones, but uh the main ones are phenomenal, but there's word for word, and then there's idea for idea, because sometimes things in the Greek language translate literally in such a way that we read differently than our language works, and so some translations like the New Living will say, hey, this is the idea, this is what that means, and they'll put some extra words there.

Okay, so so the New Living says, keep safe.

Something like the ESV will just say keep.

Just keep them.

Keep them.

There's this idea, we see it often in scripture, that God is a keeper.

In fact, the first time we we come across that word in the Bible is very early.

It's in Genesis chapter 4.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel.

Cain is the older brother, but he's less committed to God.

He's less passionate about pleasing the Lord than his little brother Abel.

That creates conflict and jealousy.

So Cain murders Abel.

And in Genesis chapter 4, verse 9, it says, The Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?

Genesis 4:9

And he said, I do not know.

Am I my brother's keeper?

Or am I my brother's keeper?

Am I supposed to watch out for my brother and take care of him and guard him?

That's the first time we see that word.

Show up, keeper.

Psalm 121 describes God as our keeper.

It's one of the most famous psalms.

It's very short, only eight verses.

Says, I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved.

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade on your right hand, the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil, he will keep your life, the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

God is our keeper.

And this word, which the New Living Translation really accurately adds safety to, keep safe, it's what it means.

It means protector, watcher, guardian, someone who stands guard over you and desires to keep you safe.

And this is where it gets a little interesting.

Because, well, are we safe?

Do we live in a safe world?

Well, we look at the world we live in and say, hey, it's super safe.

And hey, especially if you follow God.

If you follow God, if you're a Jesus follower, you are insured an extra layer of safety.

Well, it depends on it depends on who we're safe from.

It's one of the tensions that we we have, by the way, it's one of the tensions that human beings have always had with God is hey, if you are my keeper, if you are watching over us and guarding us, then why do so many bad things happen to so many good people?

Or we might even say godly people, meaning people who follow God, have given their lives to God, and are doing their best to honor God with everything they do.

We see this in the book of Job, for example.

Job, if you know the story, he's a godly man.

In fact, he's described as the godliest man on the planet.

And then all this calamity happens to him, and he loses children, he loses everything.

And he's wrestling with that.

And in Job chapter 21, this question is asked, and I'm sure many of us have asked at some point in our lives, just maybe in some different wording.

Job 21 · chapter mention

Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?

They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.

Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.

There's a lot of really evil people in the world who seem to be doing great.

Everything seems to be working out for them.

And meanwhile, there's a lot of really good people, a lot of really godly people who struggle.

I've been in this role for 11 years.

I've been at the church for almost 20 now.

And I have seen some of the most passionate followers of Jesus, some of the most devoted and faithful, godly people I have ever known.

Lose children, go through cancer.

In some of those situations, they were they were healed of the cancer and treatment worked or whatever, and some of those situations, not so much.

I remember for me really personally when Susan, who helped start his hands, died of cancer 10 years ago, like that was I mean, God, she gave millions of dollars to start this church.

Shouldn't she be protected from cancer?

Shouldn't that like if you if you give$20 million to start a church to help thousands of people know Jesus, shouldn't that be some type of safety for like, well, that person, everything's gonna go well for them and they're not gonna struggle and nothing bad's ever gonna happen to them?

Like that that rocked me.

I know it did a lot of us who've been here for a very long time.

And so this is a struggle that we've had forever.

Like, hey, why do the wicked do so well and yet so many godly people suffer?

Thankfully, Job doesn't just leave us hanging there.

Job chapter 24 says that they may rise, talking about the wicked, they may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.

Job 24 · chapter mention

They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.

And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all the others, cut off like heads of grain.

And we do see that.

And we've seen a lot of people in pop culture, for example, who were famous, maybe it's actors in Hollywood, something like that, and they're super famous and they're celebrated, and they're at award shows, millions and millions of dollars adoring fans, and then something comes out and you find out, oh, they're a monster.

And they they've done horrible things and have been doing horrible things for a long time, and then all of a sudden, in an instant, they go from everyone's favorite to like gone, and no one's there to help them out.

And so there's a fragility to what we perceive as the safety of evil people in the world.

Like there's a fragility to that.

And we we should be aware of that.

That should encourage us to some degree that not that something bad's gonna happen to someone that's wicked, it's not that we we hope for that, but just to recognize that the people in this world who are evil and who cling to their safety and security based on their wealth or whatever else, that that is not as strong as they think that it is.

And so Job wrestles with this idea.

Hey, aren't the godly supposed to be more safe?

Shouldn't we be more protected and safeguarded from calamity than wicked people?

Why does it not seem like that's the case?

And what we have to understand is that we are more safe.

We are absolutely more protected.

It's just that we're more protected from what we should actually fear and what we often forget to.

We are more protected from the real enemy.

And it's not circumstances and it's it's not even sickness, it's not even death.

We are protected and safe.

We are kept by God from the real enemy, like those who do not know the Lord can never be.

Let's go back to what Jesus says in John 17, verse 15.

John 17:15

The last thing that we read.

I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from what?

From the evil one.

Not just safe, period.

Not just keep them safe.

Make sure no harm befalls them or any of their loved ones in any way.

Keep them healthy and wealthy.

That's not what he says.

Not that God can't do that and doesn't do that, but sure.

No, no, he says, keep them safe from the evil one.

This actually echoes what Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, what we call the Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

He says at the very end, don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

We have an enemy.

Satan is real.

And he's the real enemy, he's the main enemy.

Scripture makes it so clear.

Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12.

Ephesians 6:10–12

A final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on all of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil, for we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in heavenly places.

Now, maybe you're new to the whole Jesus thing and you're like crazy town.

Demons, the devil, spiritual forces in the unseen world.

Is that what we're talking about?

And absolutely we are.

Because that is so real.

And we're taught in scripture that there is evil.

There is an evil one.

And over the course of scripture, it's it's bit by bit revealed and made more clear that we have an enemy, that Satan is our enemy, and he hates us, and he's described as a roaring lion who's prowling, seeking those that he can devour.

Right?

He tempts us, he accuses us.

That's actually his main role is he's our accuser.

To stand before God and say, they don't deserve your love, they don't deserve heaven, that's for sure, because look at all their sin.

We have an enemy.

And there's this overlap in our world between the spiritual and then what we would call the physical or just our day-to-day lives.

The question is how much overlap, and we don't really know.

But there's overlap, and sometimes it's really good.

That's what we would call a miracle.

A miracle is when the supernatural, the good supernatural, invades the natural.

And there's this overlap and amazing things happen.

And sometimes those miracles are absolutely like obvious, and sometimes afterwards we go, is that a miracle?

Can we figure that out?

I'm sure some of you have had experiences like that.

Anyone ever experience a miracle?

Just show of hands, like, yeah, a miracle?

Anybody want to?

You know?

Yeah, of course.

I, you know, I was thinking about that this week.

Some of you know we've been praying a lot, sent several emails, um, about a woman in our church named Monica.

This is kind of a crazy story.

Monica's been part of his hands for, I don't know, 15 years or so, and her kids grew up here, and she and her husband, Darren, an amazing part of our church.

And Monica's had heart issues for a long, long time.

She's has a like a defective heart, essentially.

And she's had surgeries and devices that she's had to wear, and it's it's been really, really hard, very, very serious.

And it got to the point a few weeks ago where Monica needed a heart transplant.

That is her, that was her only option.

Her heart was in a state of failure, and she needs a heart transplant.

And so I stood here and we prayed, and we said, Lord, provide her with that heart transplant.

So I followed up with her husband a few days later, and I said, Hey, how's it going?

And here's what he said.

And we get it, we had just all prayed.

A bunch of people praying, and he said, The doctors up here in Tennessee have determined that she is not a candidate for a heart transplant.

They don't think she can make it.

So we're sending her back to Atlanta for end-of-life care.

And that's different.

And I've looked I've I've been in many hospital rooms in that place.

And so my heart sank a little bit, and I didn't get mad at God because we we can act we ask him for whatever, but death is a part of life.

And so, you know, I reached out to some people here that know him and know his kids, and I said, Hey, this is the situation, we need to kind of shift and start working in this way.

And then I get a text from Darren, her husband, and he says, Hey, you'll never believe this.

This doctor at Emory reached out to us, and I might butcher some of the details, but there's this new treatment.

It's never happened before.

No one's ever undergone this treatment, but it involves a heart and a liver transplant at the exact same time, I imagine from the same donor.

And the idea is that the the liver and the heart that are used to working together can have a better chance of taking and recovery and all of that kind of stuff.

And it's never happened before.

It's a totally hypothetical thing.

This doctor's been developing this brand new procedure, and when they reached out to us and said they want Monica to be the first patient.

Ever to receive it in the history of the world.

And so that happened two days ago.

And right now, Monica is recovering in the hospital.

And I texted, yeah, we can clap for that.

That's it's exciting.

Um, that's a it's an ongoing situation in progress, and obviously a lot of factors there.

But I'm sitting there going, Lord, okay, is that a miracle?

I mean, there's doctors, right?

It's it's not one of those like she just woke up and had a new heart.

But what are the the odds of that?

You know, the this is this has never happened in the history of the world.

A brand new treatment, and this this person is the we've all been praying for, it's the first person ever to receive that in the history of the world.

We'll see what happens, but I'm really excited about that.

We see moments like that, and we're very, I think, comfortable as believers.

We tend to be very comfortable to give God credit for that, to say, yes, the good spiritual can interact with the natural world, and we call that a miracle, and we, or at the very least, we go, God is moving and God is influencing things, and we go, yeah.

Where we're we're less comfortable often is the other side of that.

Talking about when the evil spiritual stuff sort of comes in and affects things.

And look, there's a whole spectrum.

There's people who are really skeptical of that, and they're like, that's crazy.

And then there's people, if we're honest, and some of us may be that person, or we have been, and we should at least be aware, that take it a little far, and it becomes this point of superstition, and it gets to the point where, like, if your Wi-Fi is down, that is Satan himself.

Like Satan, he's messing with your Wi-Fi.

I'm not saying Satan can't mess with your Wi-Fi, I'm just saying that wouldn't be my first go-to.

If I'm at home and the, you know, the show I'm watching is buffering, I'm not gonna be like that devil.

Uh, you know.

But hey, I don't know.

The point is, there's an overlap, and we don't know how much, but we know it's it's not nothing.

Jesus in his ministry, I'm a Jesus follower.

So what Jesus thinks and believes should influence what I think and believe more than anything else.

Jesus talked about demons, he talked about Satan, he talked to Satan, he talked to demons, he cast demons out of people.

And so we have an enemy, Satan, he's evil.

There are unseen spiritual forces that are at work trying to come against us, and Jesus prays that we would be kept safe by the power of the name of our God, by his authority, by his glory, by his who he is, is what that essentially means, that we would be kept safe from the evil one.

And let me just say, that is a safety that the world can't offer.

You cannot buy something to put on your front door that protects you from the evil one.

It doesn't work like that.

There's no company out there selling, well, there honestly there probably is a company selling spiritual safety equipment, you know?

Put a little sign in your yard.

This house is protected by the Holy Spirit.

Um but the world, the world can promise you all kinds of safety, financial safety and security, physical safety and security.

Security for your possessions, security for this, for that, a more safe car, whatever.

The world can promise you safety and security when it comes to this temporary life, but it cannot promise you safety and security from the evil one for a big reason.

Much of this world operates in partnership with the evil one.

It's not a conspiracy theory, by the way.

John 12, 31, Jesus says this the time for judging this world has come when Satan, the ruler of this world, that's interesting, will be cast out.

Jesus describes Satan as the ruler of this world.

Now, what world is he talking about?

He's not talking about the universe, he's talking about like our our world, the cultures of this world.

In fact, when Jesus was tempted, he was offered by Satan power over all the kingdoms of the earth.

The reason Satan could offer him that is because Satan had the authority to offer that.

He had that much influence.

2 Corinthians chapter 4.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Satan, who is the God of this world, lowercase g.

But still, the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

They're unable to see the glorious light of the good news.

They don't understand the message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

The God of this world.

Now that that's that's interesting.

And that's Jesus.

This is scripture, it's not some crazy person on TV.

But we see that, right?

Like we have to see that.

We have to see how much influence Satan has in the world.

We have to see how corrupt and how corruptible people are.

And we see it in all kinds of different ways, right?

There could be like a, let's say there's a young artist, a singer, and and and this is like, you're gonna think he's talking about so-and-so.

I'm like talking about a bunch of people, because this is a very common story.

And at the outset of their career, they're they're innocent, and their songs are fairly innocent.

And they even maybe talk about God and talk about good things in life, but then as they get more and more famous and more and more successful, it becomes like filthier and darker and just different, and all of a sudden, and this is a person, by the way, who has amassed an incredible amount of influence, especially even with young people, and then by the time they're at this certain point, it's like their values are completely contradictory to the person that they started out as.

That happens in every sphere of life.

Satan has a lot of influence in this world.

And the reason he has a lot of influence is because we give it to him.

If you want to go really deep dive theological on this, you go to Genesis.

When God creates the world, who does he put in charge of this earth?

Who does he give authority to?

Sorry.

I was it's us.

I was like, you don't know if that's a rhetorical question or not.

No, it's us.

He gives it to us.

He creates the world and he says, rule and reign.

He tells us to rule and reign.

But then very early in the story, who do we hand our authority to?

Who do we obey?

We obey the enemy.

Like we we abdicate our authority and we follow him.

If you follow someone, if you obey someone, you are you are submitting to their authority.

From the outset of this world, we as people have handed the authority that we have and we've let it be under the influence of our enemy, and so we live in a world where here's where we're at.

Our God is greater than our enemy.

That is clear.

Greater is he who is in me than he that is in this world.

That is in Scripture.

But our enemy has influence.

God has defeated the enemy.

Satan has been defeated.

He has.

He's been defeated.

Scripture speaks to this so often.

We could look at, uh let's go to Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 through 15.

Colossians 2:13–15

It says that you were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away, and then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all of our sins.

He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.

He disarmed them.

See, Satan can't accuse you if you've given your life to Jesus.

He has nothing to accuse you of.

When he points the finger at you and tries to tell God the Father that you don't belong, yeah, you're covered by the blood of Jesus.

You have the righteousness of Jesus that covers you completely.

He has nothing to accuse you of.

He's been disarmed of his accusations.

He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15.

Hebrews 2:14

Because God's children are human beings, made of flesh and blood, the Son also became flesh and blood.

For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil who had, past tense, the power of death.

Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Satan has been defeated by Jesus, but here we are, we live in this world where he has influence over this world, he has control over all kinds of things, and we see that, and we see a lot of evil in the world, and it's terrible, and yet here we are, and we live in this world.

We haven't been taken out of the world.

Jesus didn't pray for us to be taken out of the world, but apparently we are safeguarded and secure from the enemy, even though he's in this world and he's been defeated, but he's still here, and what's going on?

It's kind of a mess.

But here's what you have to know.

Here's what we have to know.

God is our keeper.

He has you.

So even if even if Satan has influence and even control of aspects of the world, as scripture suggests, he doesn't have you.

You don't belong to him.

You are, in Satan's eyes, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, you are a lost soul.

Because you have been found by Jesus Christ.

And Proverbs 32, chapter, or well, chapter 32, verse 7 says, finders keepers, losers, weepers.

It does.

There is no Proverbs 32.

That's a joke my family and I have.

Anytime our kids are arguing in the car, there's some colloquial saying that'll settle an argument.

I'll quote Proverbs 32.

And I'll be like, hey, Proverbs 32, 9, you snooze, you lose.

Alright, come on, guys, here we go.

If my kids are fighting over what seat they want in the car, and the one who's in last wants a seat and it's taken, I'm like, hey, Proverbs 32.

You know, Proverbs 32, 10, dibs, it's there.

They've never checked to double check that, but you know.

No, like, but the truth is, you've been found.

And so Jesus, he prays here in the garden.

He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He says, protect them by the power of your name from the evil one.

Satan does not have you.

He can try to make you think he does, he can try to make you think that you're powerless and oh my gosh, and he has all this influence in the world, and look at the darkness and look at the corruption and blah, blah, blah.

One day Jesus will come back and deal with all of that.

But right now, he has you and he is your keeper.

And that means you are never powerless to the influence of the enemy, ever.

Because in Satan's eyes, he's been disarmed when it comes to you.

He has no authority over you.

Unless, of course, you want to give him some.

And I wouldn't recommend doing that.

See, we we we have to understand that for Jesus, this is what matters most.

In fact, worship team, you guys can make your way out.

We'll wrap up.

You know, Jesus could have prayed for safety from the world at large.

And maybe some of us would be like, I would prefer that.

I would, you know, Satan, yeah, yeah, yeah, but like, it'd be great if I was just safe.

Why couldn't it just be everything?

Why couldn't it be all of it?

Jesus actually said, uh, because of me, you'll have many troubles in this world.

But Jesus always prioritizes what's eternal.

We often don't.

In fact, my wife challenged me on this as I prepared this week.

We were talking about this topic, and she's like, How often are your prayers for eternal things versus very temporary things?

And I was like, I don't like that question.

Uh how often are your prayers for eternal things, you know?

I'm like, how often do we pray?

And by the way, there's nothing wrong with praying for temporary things.

We're actually told in scripture, there's no guilt for that.

We are told in scripture to bring all of our requests to God.

He cares about everything, he cares about your children, he cares about their baseball games, he may not care as much as you do about their baseball games, but he cares.

Uh no, no, he cares.

He cares.

He does.

No, truly, he cares about everything.

But what Megan was getting at is very often that's where we stop.

So we pray for the temporary, we pray for the right here, the right now.

And sometimes that's all we can think about.

But Jesus always sees beyond that.

So great example of that.

Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

You're probably familiar with this story if you've been in church for long.

If not, it's a great story.

Get ready.

Jesus climbed into a boat, went back across the lake to his own town, and some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat.

Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, Be encouraged, my child, your sins are forgiven.

But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, that's blasphemy.

Does he think he's God?

And he did.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?

Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or stand up and walk?

So I'll prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.

And then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.

And the man jumped up and went home.

Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen and they praised God for giving humans such authority.

Now, this is one of those stories where either Jesus has really bad social skills or he knows something that we don't.

You know, like this paralyzed man is lowered in front of him, a man who cannot walk, and Jesus says, Ah, I get it.

Your sins are forgiven.

It's like, cool.

Also, I would like to walk.

You know what I mean?

Like, what does Jesus not recognize the situation?

And actually, it gets more nuanced than that, because in their society and their culture, they were taught that physical ailments were deeply connected with sin and spiritual things.

But but Jesus starts with the spiritual.

He starts there with what's eternal.

Because what good is it to have four limbs that work and a heart and a soul that's destined for destruction?

What good is that?

Like, what good is it if you're the most physically fit and healthy person on the earth, but your heart and your spirit are dead because they haven't been resurrected and brought to life by the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you?

What good is that?

That is a temporary victory.

I mean, Jesus put it this way himself, Matthew 16, 26 sums it up as good as anyone could.

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Is anything worth more than your soul?

Is anything worth more?

No, it's not, which is by the way, why people who have all the safety and security in the world when it comes to temporary things, all the wealth, all of that, often freak out when they face death.

And they would trade all of it for life, for security of what really matters ultimately.

And that is security that Jesus has won for us.

He has freed us from the power of the enemy.

Yeah, the enemy can still mess with us, the enemy can still try to discourage us and divide us, to make us suspicious of one another and to get us fixated on things that we shouldn't be fixated on, but he can't make us.

You see the difference?

He can try to influence you and you can partner with him and give in to that influence, but he can't make you do anything.

He can't make you do a thing because he has no power over you.

In fact, scripture speaks to this.

It says, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.

God is faithful.

He will never allow, he will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.

When you're tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Satan can tempt you, but he can't make you.

And even in the greatest temptations you face, you can be like, you know what?

Nah.

Not doing it, not going along, not participating.

When you see this world and you get discouraged and afraid because you think it's oh, it's all out of control, it's all crazy.

Nah.

All this is gonna pass away.

All of this passes away.

But what is eternal is the kingdom that Jesus Christ has started on this world, and you're part of it.

If you've given your life to him, if you've put your faith in Jesus, you're part of that kingdom, it's not going anywhere.

So fear not.

You are safe.

You're just safe from what's most important, what's most dangerous.

You're safe from the evil one.

We still go through hard things, we still struggle.

And man, when we do, does it hurt?

Like when you experience challenges and all that kind of stuff, and it hurts.

And listen to the words of Paul.

See if you relate.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we're not crushed.

Why?

Because we belong to Jesus.

We're perplexed, but we're not driven to despair.

We're hunted down but never abandoned by God.

We get knocked down, but we're not destroyed.

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.

So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

We continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith that the psalmist had when he said, I believed in God, so I spoke.

We know that the God who raised Jesus, our Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.

All of this is for your benefit.

As God's grace reaches more and more people, there'll be great thanksgiving.

God will receive more and more glory.

That is why we never give up.

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day, for our present troubles are small and won't last very long.

Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.

So we don't look at the troubles we can see now, rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen, for the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

You have been chosen, loved, and saved by Jesus.

That's right, we can give him glory and praise for that.

And because of that, because of that, you are safe.

Are you safe when your wife asks you to get out of the car?

And he's St.

Louis?

No, no.

But you are truly safe because Jesus prayed that you would be protected by the power of the name of our God.

And so take heart, never lose hope.

Nothing to be afraid of in this world, nothing that can really hurt you.

You have been found by Jesus, and he keeps you.

In fact, I'll leave us with one final scripture, and we'll take Lord's Supper together.

John 10, 27 through 30.

My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

No one can snatch them away from me.

For my father has given them to me, he's more powerful than anyone else.

No one can snatch them from the Father's hands, the Father and I are one.

This this idea is that we are in the hands of Jesus, and Jesus is in the hands of the Father, and so you are like double protected, double held.

He is your keeper, and you are safe from the evil one.

So live like it.

Live boldly, passionately, be aggressive, go after it in life.

Don't get discouraged, don't fret.

And when things happen to you, when setbacks happen, when struggles happen like they happen to everybody, move forward.

So what?

Is that the best that the world can do?

That should be our attitude because I have the living Spirit of God inside of me, and He protects me from what matters most by the power of His name, and I belong to Him, and I will live forever with Him, and so I'm gonna keep going all the time.

That's how we should live.

Let's take Lord's supper.

Alright.

Little cup with bread and juice.

When you were on the way in this morning, you passed the table in the pitch black dark of the back of our room.

Uh, which by the way, we're working on a solution for that.

Um, but you know, you can grab one if you want to and take part in this.

The bread represents the body of Jesus, and the blood represents, or the juice represents his blood.

I go back to Genesis chapter 4, and it says in Genesis 4, this is Cain talking, what, am I my brother's keeper?

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Jesus is described as many things, and he is many things to us as followers of him.

He's our Savior, he's our Lord, he's our God, he's our King, He's our friend.

But we're actually told in Scripture that He was the firstborn of those to be resurrected from the dead, and that we are co-heirs with Christ.

We've been adopted into the family of God, that's the book of Romans.

We've been adopted into his family.

God is now our Father, just like He's the Father, because Jesus is the firstborn of the resurrected, what does that make Jesus?

His big brother.

And if God the Father were to ask Jesus about us, Jesus, unlike Cain, would say, Oh, I am their keeper.

I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper.

I keep them, I watch over them, and even when they struggle, and even when they go through immensely difficult things, I am by their side, I never leave them, I am with them, I will empower them, I will equip them, and I will get them through because I am their keeper.

Jesus gave everything.

He's the opposite of Cain.

Cain took his brother's life because he wasn't his brother's keeper.

Jesus gave us his life because he is ours.

So let's thank him for that very thing.

So, Father God, we thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to die on the cross as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.

And Jesus, we thank you for giving your life for us.

We thank you for keeping us safe from our enemy.

We need you, Jesus, to remind us of that, that you're with us.

That when we struggle, when we're pressed, when we feel like we're about to be crushed, we don't give in to despair because greater is He that is in us than He that is in this world.

You are God, you're our King.

And we live right now as strangers in a world that has so much influence by our enemy, but he doesn't own us.

You freed us from that with your death and our faith in you.

Thank you, Lord.

Let's take the breath.

Now the Jews.

That it cried out to him and demanded justice.

And Jesus, your blood, cries out to the Father.

Your spilled blood cries out to the Father as well.

But what it demands is grace and forgiveness and mercy and unity with you.

And because of that, you are our Father, God, you are our Father, and you protect us from the evil one.

So as we take this, we thank you for that, Lord.

Help us live this out.

Protect us from temptation.

Don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

It's in your name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.