The following Scripture is Lord Jesus' prayer just before He was delivered up to be crucified. In it He points to the idea of ownership of one group of servants that originally belonged to The Father, which The Father gave to Him, these being Christ's Apostles. Then Jesus mentions a second group that believe on Him through the preaching of The Gospel by His Apostles. Thus with this, Jesus made a distinction between those 'chosen' vs. those 'called'...
John 17:1-23
17 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee:
2 As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
That 2nd verse some go too far with, claiming that all who have believed on Jesus Christ in this world will remain in the Faith. God's Word, especially Apostles Paul and Peter, revealed that some believers had, and will fall away from the Faith. So this above is not meant as some 'once saved, always saved' doctrine of men. Stay in the Faith to be one of those given to Christ.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.
The Greek for "sent" is the word apostello. It's where the word 'apostle' comes from. To be sent, means to be in the office of Apostle, for Jesus also was sent by The Father directly.
4 I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Qwn self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word.
Who might those be, that first belonged to The Father, and then He gave them to Lord Jesus? Those are about His 'chosen' "very elect" sent ones, Christ's Apostles. They keep God's Word as written. In Revelation 3, Lord Jesus even commended on those of the Church of Philadelphia because they kept His Word. Jesus had no rebuke for them.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee.
8 For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.
10 And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine Own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.
12 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, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Lord Jesus is speaking of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him to the Priests and Pharisees. Judas was originally a 'chosen' sent one, but then he did not keep the Faith, but fell away because of greed, which this was prophesied of in the Old Testament prophets. Hebrews 6 reveals what happens to one given proof of the gifts of the world to come, but then turns away from Christ.
13 And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Jesus is speaking of His 'chosen' very elect, His Apostles that were 'sent' into this world also. They represent Christ's leadership structure here on earth, as they were first in preaching The Gospel to wherever they were sent.
17 Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.
18 As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word;
Now in the 20th verse above, Lord Jesus is pointing to a second group of servants. These are believers that convert to Him through His Apostle's preaching of The Gospel. These represent the 'called'. And these can... fall away, because they do not represent the 'chosen' sent "very elect" office of an apostle. Not all are apostles, like Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12.
But Christ's desire is that ALL... believers on Him become part of His elect... that we all become one in Him and in The Father...
21 That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
22 And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:
23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.
KJV
This means that as long we stay in the Faith, and do not become apostates falling away, then we are counted as one body of Christ's very elect.
So what will you do brethren with this coming pseudo-Christ which Jesus warned about in Matthew 24:23-26 that is soon to appear upon the world scene for the end of this world, proclaiming to be The Christ? We already know per Jesus that His "very elect" chosen ones that are sent today will not fall away to that coming false-Christ. But what about those of us who are 'called' only, and represent the majority of Christian believers today? We must keep His Word and stay in the Faith when tested by that coming false-Messiah, even to the death if delivered up like Jesus forewarned in Mark 13 and Revelation 2 to the Church of Smyrna.
