The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 3, 1984. The title is, Kept by God, and the scripture reference is the Gospel of John, chapter 17, verses 1 through 11. If you thought that when you became a Christian all your troubles would be over, either you were very badly instructed, or your heart and your mind simply refused to receive part of the instruction that you were given. Often we fail to get that straight. Often it's the fault of the preacher or the evangelist or a very eager friend, a well-meaning friend who wants to have you trust Christ so much that he paints a picture of unbroken joy and blessing and somehow just neglects to include the fact that there is a costliness to discipleship.

Or the fact that though Jesus does promise to go with us, it may very well be through the valley of the shadow of death. the fact that He promises to prepare a table before us, it may be in the presence of our enemies. The fact that He promises there will be streams in the desert presupposes there's a desert.

You can understand the eagerness of your friend or the preacher. He knows that if you trust Christ, your deepest need is going to be met. Your deepest need is going to be met.

Your sins are going to be forgiven. You receive new life from God. You have the promise, the assurance of heaven for all eternity.

And so those other things pale into a kind of an insignificance. But it's sort of like going to the dentist and he says, Open wide, this isn't going to hurt a bit. Now you know that's a lie.

Right, Walt? No. In comparison to the good that this is going to do for you, it's not going to hurt very much. But it is going to hurt.

The dentist has to drill into that tooth to get the decay out. and God does exactly the same thing with our souls you see I come to Jesus just as I am that's right just as I am oh Lord I come but he doesn't leave me that way he starts cleaning out a little here straightening out a little there chopping some of this off adding some of that I'm under new management and he starts rebuilding. I wonder if you meant it when you said, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my life. Did you mean it? He thought you did.

And he took that very seriously. I'd put it to you this way. If you were perfect, you would not need to come to Christ.

and if you have come to Christ it simply proves you're not perfect and if you're not perfect that means he wants to change you and change is painful but the bottom line is that that pain is therefore good and salutary if you'll allow God to accomplish his purposes in you through it and in the midst of it so if you are someone who has had the gospel presented to you in a way that never made that clear i would i would beg you i would urge you to try to find it in your heart to forgive the person who has misled you we really only wanted the very best for you but we may not have said it right. There is a cost. There is sometimes a pain.

There is change. Sometimes we can see the reason. Sometimes we can't see the reason. But I'm interested that Jesus spent at least as much time, maybe more time, seeming to discourage people following Him than encouraging them.

Have you noticed that? He says, count the cost. Do you have enough to go the distance.

Don't start building a tower unless you know you can finish it. Don't march off to war unless there's at least a reasonable hope that you might win. Don't call me Lord, Lord unless you're prepared to do everything I tell you to.

Take up your cross and die daily to yourself, to your family, to your friendships, to your possessions, to your hopes and dreams and aspirations and to your right to have your own opinion on the subject. He says, leave the dead to bury the dead. Don't put your hand to the plow and look back.

In fact, cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, chop off your foot if it offends you. Better to enter heaven maimed than with your whole body to be cast into hell. And unless you're prepared to do these things, then don't even try to follow me because you'll never make it.

Count the cost. I don't know if your experience would bear this out, but it seems to me that at the very beginning of our relationship with Christ, He gives us all kinds of encouragement. And our prayers are answered more wondrously than we ever dared to imagine.

And things that were great problems to us suddenly seem to disappear. And that goes on for about a day and a half. And all of a sudden, I'm up against it again.

What's happening here? And I look at myself and I find it seems to me I'm getting worse. I can't tell you the number of people that have come in to see me weeks or months after giving their lives to Christ, and they say, I'm getting worse.

The truth of the matter is, they really aren't. But two things are happening simultaneously. Number one, their standards are suddenly much higher than they ever were before. And number two, God is working to convict them of sins that previously they were very comfortable with.

And the fact that it feels like they're getting worse is really a very positive sign that God is at work. But sometimes there's external pressure as well. And just when I thought it was so neat to know God because He's going to just straighten my path before me, I come right up against an obstacle.

Frustration. confusion people that ought to just be thrilled with what a lovely person I'm becoming start dumping all over me Peter writes don't be surprised don't be surprised at the ordeal that comes upon you this is part of the package don't be surprised, and yet we are surprised. There is so much teaching going around that becoming a Christian is a guarantee to prosperity and unbroken blessing.

Peter says, don't be surprised at the ordeal. Part of the package. It may be an internal ordeal because the Holy Spirit is at work prompting me to see some things that need changing, and He's not going to let me get comfortable until I make some changes.

or it may be an external ordeal of very trying circumstances in which God is allowing these things to bombard us to shape us into the character of His Son. Don't be surprised. God's taking you seriously when you say, I want my life to belong to you.

Alright? and I'm going to reshape it. Thou art the potter and I am the clay and you can do with me as you like.

Some reshaping here. Bob Shuler, who was here a couple of weeks ago as part of the Cho Conference, has a wonderful phrase, the title of one of his books, Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do. But don't misunderstand that.

He's not talking about a worldly toughness where we tough it out. We get bitter, we get hard, we get aloof, we get defensive, we retaliate, or we look on people with condescension and superiority. Those are some of the ways that the world would understand toughness, but that's not what Scripture means at all.

Toughness biblically is the toughness of the character of Christ, which is willing to go to a cross, still trusting God and still loving those who put Him there. That's tough. that's tender only the truly tender can be truly tough only the truly tough can be tender and Jesus high priestly prayer I'm not praying for the world he says I'm praying for those whom you have given me and he goes on to say and for those who will come to believe through their word.

He's praying for you. Facing crucifixion the next day. His moment of greatest need.

He's praying for you and He's praying for me. And here's what He prays. Here's the first thing on the agenda.

Father, keep them. Keep them. I kept them while I was among them, but now I'm going back to be with you.

Father, keep them whom you have given to me. put those two passages together. He is not praying.

Father, keep them from the ordeal. Father, keep them in the midst of it. Keep them in the midst of ordeal so that they don't defect, so that they don't become disheartened, discouraged, so that they don't lose their faith.

Keep them in the midst of ordeal. There are people sitting here this morning who are in the midst of ghastly ordeal. I know some of them.

Others, I don't know anything about what they're facing. But there's no question about it. How do you react to ordeal?

Bitterness? Anger? You want to strike back?

Do you pity yourself? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?

Maybe you didn't do anything to deserve it. Jesus didn't deserve a cross. But God allowed it to happen to Him because out of the greatest miscarriage of justice came the greatest blessing in the history of the world.

Can you think of anybody who's gone through a terrible divorce? And they were relatively speaking the innocent party. Nobody's ever fully innocent, but relatively speaking, they were the innocent party.

Have you ever seen good come out of that? I think of so many people. You wouldn't have wished that on them.

That was a horror and a tragedy. And yet, out of that, they began to trust God in a new way. They began to find Him giving them strengths that they never had previously.

They became fuller persons, and God began to use it in ministry to others. Have you ever seen that? Have you ever seen God take terrible illness and turn it into blessing?

The question is, am I going to allow him to take adversity in my circumstances and use it for good? That does not say the adversity itself is a good thing. But he'll use it for good.

We know that in all things God works together for good. To those who love him and are called according to his purposes. It doesn't say all things are good.

But in all things He works for good. If you'll allow Him to. The first thing is don't be surprised.

Don't be surprised. There will be ordeal. Peter says it's a fiery ordeal.

Don't be surprised. That's part of the package. Then allow God to do with that what He wills in your life.

So when you come up against it, I'd urge you to ask three questions. First question, is there anything that I've done to bring this upon myself? The book of Hebrews says that God is like a loving Father in whom He loves, He rebukes and chastens.

It may be that I am guilty and God is loving me enough to have me deal with the consequences of what I've done so that I'll stop doing it or I'll make it right or at least I'll repent. Maybe I can't make it right. but at least I'll repent.

Have I done anything to bring this upon myself? And if so, Lord, what do you want me to do to change that? Secondly, is there anything good here for which I can praise God?

Is there anything? It may not be but I bet you if you ask God He'll show you something good. Or potentially good.

You'll begin to get a little glimpse of what He might be doing in allowing this to come into your life. Can you praise Him for that? Maybe all you can do is praise Him that it isn't worse than it is.

Praise Him for that. But instead of turning that into bitterness and self-pity, I turn it into praise. Thank You, Lord.

Thank You that You're in the midst of this horror. thank you that in the midst of this terrible situation you are walking with me and I can learn to know you more deeply the Lord God that we're talking about is enthroned on the praises of his people and the second question is is there anything that I can praise him for and the third question is do I dare to trust God to work out his purposes even when I don't see what He's up to. Even when it doesn't make any sense, I don't understand it, and I don't feel much like it.

But I choose to trust Him that He has not abdicated the throne of the universe, He has not let go of the tiller of the ship, He's still got me in the palm of His hand, and He knows what He's doing. And I choose to trust Him to turn it into blessing. Father, keep them.

Not from the ordeal, but in the midst of it. To the praise of Christ's name. Amen.

Amen.