with me now in God's Word to John's Gospel, the 17th chapter, John 17 and verse 18. Let us hear the Word of God. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Thus far, the Word of God. Let us pray. Oh Lord, our God, the God who lives forever, the God who has spoken through your son, the God who continues to speak through your son, through the preaching of the word. Father, we thank you that we have your word preserved and in our own tongue. We thank you that we have the Holy Spirit within us. And Lord, as we gather to worship you, continuing in our worship, the preaching of the word, we pray that Christ be lifted up and exalted. Lord, grant us understanding of our Redeemer and what he's accomplished and even how he unfolds us to carry on his work in the world today. Lord, bless now your people, we pray, as you exalt your name. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I'll ask you a question. Those of you who are believers, Christians, why did God save you? What was the reason that he did this? Was it to keep you out of hell? Was it to bring you to heaven? Was it so that your sins would be forgiven? Did God save you so that you could be adopted as his child? While all of these statements are true, these questions, the reality they imply, they are true. They're not the chief reason why God saves sinners. God saves sinners for His own glory. This is why God has sent His Son. It was out of His love that He sent His Son into the world to save sinners, so that those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ should not perish, but have eternal life. From the time of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden to this very moment, God has been carrying out a plan of salvation, His plan to bring image bearers, male and female, back into relationship with Him, God did this because it brings Him glory. From the very beginning, right after Adam's sin, God announced that there would be a seed of the woman. Even as the woman was present, hearing these words, that there would be a seed of the woman who would come and crush our foe. From the beginning, God announced that it would be His Son born of a woman who would defeat sin and Satan and bring people back out of the world of sin and misery and back into relationship with Him. Jesus, the Son of God, came in the flesh. So we've been hearing in John's Gospel that He is God come in the flesh, that we believe in this, we would have life in His name. Jesus came, God incarnate. He came from heaven. He came on a mission of redemption. He came to secure salvation for all those whom the Father had given to Him. These are some of the things we've been reviewing even as we hear Jesus pray. Now Jesus is in the business of sending his message of grace and mercy and the salvation through faith in Christ alone into the world. Jesus continues to be on mission in the world, continues through the church. It is being completed by those in the world who are redeemed. Jesus was sent by the Father and now as we hear Jesus pray in this text, he has sent us as His sent ones into the world proclaiming this Good News. We go to our nation as messengers of the Good News. We are called to walk under Christ to share the Good News. Today we're going to look at the fountain or the foundation of the Good News. Jesus who has sanctified Himself and then how He sanctified those who believe and then He sends us out to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We're going to use four main headings. There's a correction to your worship guide. That's my fault, not the one who prepared the worship guide. We have four main heads. Jesus sanctified for us. Jesus declares our mission. Jesus was sent by the Father. And then finally, we'll consider that this mission, our mission, what's been entrusted to the church is essential. It is an essential thing that we do. Begin then with Jesus sanctified for us. In verse 19, Jesus prays, for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Sanctified. We've talked about this word before. It's to take something that is ordinary and set it apart. It's to take what is ordinary for a holy use. We see that in the Old Testament with a tabernacle. God gave instruction to Moses for its construction. And then as it was built, then God instructed Moses how to take these ordinary things, sanctify them, set in the part for Holy use in the worship of God. Jesus has prayed to the father that he would keep his people safe from the world. We saw this even just last week because he says, we're not of the world. So therefore, He should have us kept. Jesus says we're not of the world just as He is not of the world. And here you have this picture of sanctification. We've been taken out of the world and we've been set apart in Christ unto God. We've been set apart from ordinary to a particular service to be the people of God as a church in the world doing the will of God. This apostle John who's a human author led along by the Holy Spirit that wrote this gospel account. This John is also the human author that Jesus gave a revelation to, the revelation, the final and closing book of the inspired scriptures. In the opening of Revelation, the first two chapters, second two chapters, chapters two and three, we find Jesus sending letters to the seven churches. These letters ring with a clarity that Jesus cares about holiness and purity in his church. That is, we have been brought out of the world, we've been brought unto him as he has redeemed us. We're to live differently than the world. He cares about purity of doctrine. We find that in these letters. And he cares about moral purity amongst the members of the church. The seven churches were being pressed on every side by the world, their own flesh, and the devil, all seeking to get at the churches and her members to compromise them, to undermine them, to sidetrack them, to derail them from the mission that Christ had given to them. It is to those and only to those who overcome that Jesus promises then to eat from the tree of life. This is one of the statements. If you looked at particularly the letters correcting, rebuking churches that are in the air, Jesus says at the end of each of those, to him who overcomes and then There are various promises. One of those is to eat from the tree of life. We'll find that tree of life in heaven. There it is that we will eat of it. And he goes on to say that those who overcome will not be hurt by the second death, which is the judgment of God when the ungodly are cast into the lake of fire. We see from Paul's letters that some of these churches were letters or churches that Paul wrote to. But as you look at the particular letters in Revelation, you see they were plagued and threatened. They were in danger of compromise. They had compromise. Indeed, there's these ever-present threats that they experienced that are our own experience. The loss of their first love. Persecution. Embracing materialism and sexual immorality in one of the churches and in other churches. A toleration of false teachers leading to sexual immorality and ultimately leading to idolatry. Worshipping other gods. Another danger is having a name of being alive while being dead. Religious formalism, going through the motions and yet having no heart in it. The church of Laodicea was warned for being lukewarm with respect to the things of Christ so that Jesus would spew them out of his mouth because they were so objectionable. Now when we consider, Jesus says, for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified. Jesus is praying that as his people we would be sanctified. He is sanctified. He is set apart as our Redeemer. And ultimately we see him go to the cross to secure salvation, to deliver us from the bondage of sin and that we would live As to the glory of God, as He is sanctified, we are called to be sanctified. As He is holy, we are called to be holy. Living lives for the glory of God. The seven churches do not heed the warnings. I've heard of various ministers in my day, our day, and in other times who have visited that region of Asia Minor, and you go to the sites where these seven churches were in, they are no more. Jesus came as He said He would. He removed the candlestick, the lampstand. He took out of there, from their midst, the preaching of the word. The minister of the gospel was taken away from them, and they perished. And those churches are no more. So we see Jesus being set apart, particularly we hear in his prayer, he says, I sanctify myself. There's a number of ways that Jesus sanctifies himself. records, I think also we find Mark and Luke do, Matthew and Luke particularly, the occasion when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. Those who were coming out to John were coming out for a baptism of repentance from sin. And Jesus comes to John and John says, it's not right that I should do this. I should be baptized rather by you. But you see, John was of the priestly household. And Jesus came to him not for a baptism from sin, not because Jesus needed to repent. He came to John to be anointed, that he would have waters poured on him, setting him apart as Messiah. And indeed, we see that God does that. God makes it clear that what John is doing in the formality that God had ordained with the setting apart of prophets and priests and kings in the Old Testament, that indeed Jesus is remarkable. For the Father announces from heaven, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Jesus was set apart. He begins his ministry. And throughout his ministry, he has lived this set apart life, a sanctified life. Another word we could use, a consecrated life. It's the idea of we have office bearers in our midst. We have elders and deacons. These men have been set apart. They have been consecrated. And we do this according to what God has given in the New Testament with the laying on of hands in prayer. Jesus was set apart. came to fulfill that which was prophesied. We are, this morning in our reading through and brief exposition of Isaiah, we've come right to it. The last two verses of Isaiah 52, introducing Christ. Introducing the one who would redeem us. And we see as Isaiah continues to prophesy concerning the Lord's, that is our covenant faithful God's suffering servant, what does he say about Jesus What does he say about this one who will serve him? Here we hear what it is that Jesus has been set apart to. I sanctify myself. Jesus, as he's praying, is at the hour of that sanctifying. What is it Isaiah says of that? It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor. of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, He made intercession for the transgressors. Here we hear these activities, these priestly undertakings that Christ undertook as He set Himself aside, sent by the Father, embracing what He was sent to do, set Himself apart, sanctified Himself, even unto death, bearing the sins of many. And this, Christ sanctified Himself so that indeed we may be sanctified. Here we see this Jesus who is righteous. He's the very righteousness of God. He is fully God and fully man. And as God, He comes in the flesh. God incarnate. It's where we begin in John's Gospel. We have the coming of the Living Word. He who is God, who is very God and with God. And by Him all things were made. As we've heard throughout John's Gospel, Jesus is the visible representation of the Father. We want to know what the Father's doing? We look at what Jesus was doing, because He only did the will of the Father. We want to know what the Word of God is? We listen to Jesus, because Jesus declared He only says what He hears His Father saying. In all these things, Jesus has set Himself apart, wholly, completely giving Himself to the service of God. It is for this reason that the Son of God came down to earth, that He might bring the children of Adam up to God who lives in heaven. To do this, then, Jesus accomplished that which the blood of bulls and rams and goats and lambs could never do. Jesus' blood atones for sin. The blood of all those animals in the sacrificial system, the host, innumerable count of hosts that were taken up to the tabernacle and then taken up to the temple, all of it showed with the bringing of the sacrifice over and over again. that that blood was not sufficient. Jesus came and once for all offered Himself up as a sacrifice. His blood atones for sin. His blood cleanses from guilt and the stain of sin. As a substitute for sinners, Jesus spilled His blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Jesus sanctified Himself. that we might be sanctified. As Jesus prayed that night with the 11 who remained with him, he would have them to understand this. The things that are unfolding, they do not understand. But after they are accomplished, then they come to understand. You even see that in the Gospels, that they didn't understand. And then afterwards, then they remembered what he said. And then they understood, because he had given them the Holy Spirit to teach them all these things. As Jesus was praying this prayer that we've been considering, he was mere hours from becoming the sin bearer. He would be condemned as guilty. In the eyes of men, out of jealousy, out of malice, they put him to death. But he became the sin bearer. As God imputed to Christ our sins, he did stand guilty. It was led away like a lamb to the slaughter. And there he was lifted up on a cross. And on that cross, he suffered the wrath of God for sinners to pay the penalty, to pay their debt, to fully satisfied the justice of God. Yes, Jesus sanctified himself for their sakes, for our sakes. This is the blessed hope of the gospel. Without Christ, where would we be? We would perish forevermore. Jesus was faithful. Jesus sanctified himself. Jesus walked out all that the Father had given him to do. Thus the promise is, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. These are the justified ones. And all those who are justified are also sanctified ones. Because of Christ's sanctification, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved and they shall be sanctified. That's really our focus. We then come to the next point. in this declares our mission. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified. We are called to holiness. We are called to sanctification. What do we set apart to? We're set apart from sin. We're brought out of the world, but we're set apart to something. We're set apart, like Christ, for service to the Father. We're to obey the Father. We're supposed to do the will of the Father. As I said in the introduction, God saves sinners to serve Him, to live lives for His own glory. And by the salvation that Jesus gives, we as sinners are set free from self-serving, from living as gods unto ourselves. That was the temptation of Satan in the garden. You can be God. You don't need God. And indeed, we're surrounded by the mass of humanity that believes they can live unto themselves. But we have been set free from that to live lives to the glory of God, to live lives yielded to the Father, obeying the Father. We're reminded of this every week, aren't we? We hear the law of God, the picture of the character of God. What is it to be holy? And we're reminded that though we are in Christ, declared Righteous and in Christ seeking to live holy lives Yet we still miss the mark But we have a Redeemer and thus we are concerned about it We we come to confess our sin knowing he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin that we would keep on walking in this walk of holiness to the glory of God our Consecration our being set apart goes back even before when we were saved it goes back to to when Christ died. But it goes back even before that. We heard earlier in Jesus' prayer, verse six, of how God has appointed us for salvation. That God has, before the foundation of the earth, he has set apart, he has elected sinners for salvation to be partakers of his marvelous grace. But he also then, at that moment, setting us apart to be redeemed, he set us apart to live for his glory. We are sanctified. consecrated by God's appointment before the foundation of the earth. We see this principle as God calls Jeremiah, the very opening of Jeremiah. God says to this man whom he's called and appointed to be a prophet, Jeremiah writes, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Do you get that? Before I formed you in the womb. He was not yet, but yet God knew. that he would be. And God had decreed that he would be. And before he was even formed in the womb, God knew him. And before you were born, God says to him, I sanctified you. I set you apart for salvation, to be justified by faith. But God goes on, for this particular man, I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Here's his consecration. All before he was, God did this. Jeremiah's sanctification was also tied to that moment when Christ would accomplish his work on the cross. God appointed him before the foundation of the earth. God appointed him and was sanctified in Christ's work. And then Jeremiah is sanctified at that moment when God calls him. He is set apart then to the office of prophet. This is true for all who believe. So we've seen in verse 6, Jesus prayed, I have manifest your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. We too were set apart for salvation in Christ before the foundation of the earth. We too were set apart by Christ. When he sanctified himself in his work at the cross, we too were sanctified. He bore our names on his hand. He took our sins to the cross. He paid our penalty. as the Father poured out His wrath. But then we also are sanctified when Jesus calls us. At that moment, hearing the general call of the Gospel, when the Spirit makes it particular for us, the effectual call as the Holy Spirit prevails upon our hearts, we are then set apart. We're justified, and on the very heels of justification comes sanctification, and a call to continued sanctification. That's what we're talking about here, As theologians refer to it, definitive sanctification and progressive sanctification. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are justified by faith. We stand just now before God by God's just declaration, that being united to Christ, our sins are forgiven and we are just. We are declared righteous by God. And in that we're sanctified. We have Christ's holiness becomes ours, definitive, definite, at a definite and specific time, sanctification. But from this grows progressive salvation. It's an ongoing process without our lives. And thus when Jesus prays, I, for their sake, I have sanctified myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Brothers and sisters, we are to brace this work of growing in holiness. Progressive salvation involves us yielding to the Father. It's why we need to know the law. It's why we need to depend upon the Spirit. We need to walk in the light of God. Coram Deo, as I'm sure many of you heard, before the face of God, we're to live our lives to the glory of God. It is from this definitive sanctification that our progressive sanctification flows. It's not a dependent upon ourselves. We are Walking out what God has begun in us and so we no longer prior practicing sin This is what John writes early in his first letter They don't keep on sinning because we're new creatures in Christ He does not say the language often comes across as you never sin, but the verbs there are active on go We don't keep on sinning because God is at work in us. He's a giving us the Holy Spirit, as Paul says, that by the Holy Spirit we would put to death the deeds of the flesh so that we would live to the glory of God. And so it is this progressive salvation is a daily denying of our flesh, the lust of the flesh. It's a daily taking of our cross and dying as we follow Christ. Isn't this what Jesus declared in Luke 9, 23? If any man would come after me, that is to be his disciple, to follow Christ, if anyone would come after me, Let him deny himself daily taking up his cross. What happens on a cross? A death. Who is to take it up? He says, let him take up his cross daily. We are daily to die to self. It's a daily denying of our flesh. You see, God has redeemed our inner man, and it is there the Holy Spirit is at work in us. Our flesh is still not glorified, and we must deny the flesh. We must put to death the desires of the flesh, the deeds of the flesh, so that we will live. This is our responsibility before God. It is for this reason Jesus sanctified himself that we may be sanctified. He's broken the power of sin. Not only has he paid the penalty for our sin, but he has broken the power of sin. We don't live under the dominion and the mastery of sin anymore. We live under the rulership and the mastery of Christ. Thus Jesus is both the author and the finisher of this growth in holiness. Just as Jesus consecrated Himself to obey God the Father, all those who are sanctified by Him are also set apart for service and obedience to God. Now, I want to make a distinction. Our calling, this sanctification, is not like Jesus in this respect. Jesus alone was set apart to be the Savior of sinners. Our sanctification does not include that. But ours is like Jesus in that we too are called to obey the Father in all that he has commanded us to do in the scriptures. Our life is to be a life of obedience and service to God and holiness. Make some applications before we move on. Jesus came to proclaim God's good news of salvation in himself. I will remind you again, the whole of the scriptures All 66 books are the good news. It is the declaration of God. That is what the definition of good news is. It's a declaration of God that we receive, and we're to live it, we're to know it. Jesus is Savior, and not only did He purchase salvation for the children of Adam, but Jesus also proclaims this salvation to the nations. We're going to see that Jesus commissions and commands these men to go out to the nations, first in Jerusalem, Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And this commission continues on in the church. Thus we too are called and commanded to go proclaiming the good news, God's good news of salvation to the children of Adam. That they also would come to know the salvation that Christ has secured as he sanctified himself. This is what Jesus declared at the end of Matthew's gospel before his ascension. I'm going to translate the verb there literally. As you are going out into the world, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Jesus says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth. How is it that Jesus is with us? By his Holy Spirit, whom he sends. What has he called on the church to do? to make disciples. And what do we do in making disciples? We're teaching them the good news. We're teaching them the whole counsel of God. This is what has been entrusted to us. And so our ministry as a church is to continue the ministry of Jesus. It's to continue the ministry that was then carried on in that next generation or in that first generation through the apostles, and then through the churches that were planted and established under Christ, by Christ, through their faithful obedience. Some of us are called to carry this disciple-making work out in the workplace. Some, a few, are called to carry out this gospel disciple-making ministry as ministers of the gospel. And some are called to carry out this disciple-making ministry in the home. You parents, you've been sanctified by Christ to make disciples of your children, to teach them the whole counsel of God. Open the scriptures, read to them, read with them as it's appropriate for the age, but carry them on and on so that over the course of time as they grow in understanding, they will have grown up hearing all of the scriptures, not once, not twice, but regularly and frequently again and again, answering their questions as their abilities grow, bring them along to understand more and more. In doing this, we're doing the will of the Father. We are obeying the Father under Christ and after the pattern of Christ. And that brings us to the third point that's tied in with this. Jesus in verse 18 says, as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. You see the parallelism here? Jesus says, as you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. As I have sanctified myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. It's marvelous what God has done. Jesus was sent, and so we are sent. But notice how Jesus says it. As you sent me, I also have sent them. What does it mean? Very important that we look at this. It's not just to say, you know, Jesus was sent out of the world, we're going to go out of the world. How is it that Jesus was sent? What is the manner of his being sent? The sending of Jesus began with the apostles, and it continues as the church is built upon the foundation of Christ. Charles Spurgeon addresses this question. What's unique? What is it that we learn by Jesus is as you sent me, I also have sent them. And Charles Spurgeon gives us four principles that we learn from Christ then that would apply to us. And really this point, this third point this morning is application. Yes, we're gonna hear about Christ, how he was sent, but then how we should apply it in our own lives. The first one, Jesus came into the world in subjection to the will of the Father. We look at verse 4. Jesus said, I have glorified you on earth and I have finished the work which you have given me to do. We have spoken about this throughout John's Gospel. How Jesus, who is the Son of God, as the incarnate God, as Jesus the man, was subjected to his Father. He was in submission to his Father. And thus we have the submission of the Son as Redeemer in the work of salvation. I think I've told you before, we often refer to this theologian's talk about the economic submission, the economic work of God carried out in salvation. And in that work, Jesus is yielded to the Son. We've seen that all through the gospel. And we've mentioned this. And so we understand this, that Jesus, as the Son of God, as our Redeemer, is submitted to his Father. Concerning being the Son of God, He remains equal with the Father in power and glory. There's no changing in the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity. There's no changing of the deity of Christ. His subordination is not as the Son of God in His deity. His subordination to the Father, His submission to the Father is as the Redeemer, as Jesus, God incarnate. And so in His human nature, He submits to His Father. He obeys the Father. He did all that he saw his father doing and he spoke all that he heard his father speaking. As a second Adam, Jesus accomplished all that God had commanded. He fully obeyed God. And so what we learn here is that we must also fully obey God, our father, and all that he has spoken in his word. And as we mentioned before, in order to do that, we must know the Word. We need to be under the preaching of the Word. We need to meditate upon the Word. We need to be reading the Word in order that we would understand all that the Father has spoken. We too must submit to God and yield all our being to serve in the God who has saved us. We're no longer our own master. Jesus is. Here's the reality. The world doesn't believe this, but the reality is you're either serving Satan Believing you're serving yourself, doing your own will, but ultimately serving Satan, or you're serving God. And what Jesus does, he delivers us out from the bondage and servitude to Satan and brings us under his dominion and his reign. And his burden is easy, his yoke is light. And this is what God has called us. Don't try to run after and master your own life. Submit to the Father and serve Christ. And in this, we find out that as Jesus was sent, into the world to obey the Father, we also are sent into the world to obey the Father. Secondly, as the children of the Father in Christ, we are called to labor, not comfort. I don't misunderstand. I'm not saying We're just to labor with the world and give them no comfort. No, this is for us. We are called to labor. We are not here for a life of easy. We are not here to find comfort in this world. And what are we seeing in the life of Jesus? He's always about his father's business. Sometimes he prays through the night. When was the last time we did that? It's difficult. That's hard work. When have we been up like Jesus? He was up early in the morning before his disciples and they wake up and they didn't see him. They go look for him and they learned his pattern. Jesus was about the father's business and he labored much and he was laboring so much in doing the will of the father that we could find that he was able to fall asleep in a boat. You ever slept in the bow of a boat? I did when I was a little boy. The only reason I did is because we had boat cushions. It's a hard haul. to lay against. And Jesus is asleep on a boat because He's weary in His humanity. He's weary because He's laboring. He's not here for comfort. He says, I did not come to be served. I came to serve. Let that be our mantra as well. We also see that Jesus was oppressed, hunted, harassed, and eventually He died on a cross. My brothers and sisters, we too are called to service. We're not greater than our master. Jesus has made that clear. We must not make it our claim that we deserve comfort. Now, just let me qualify this. It is appropriate. We are but men. It is appropriate for seasons of rest and refreshment so that we can carry on our labors. We do not have, we are not who Christ was. But even in times when we're not able to break away for rest, The Holy Spirit sustains us. Sometimes you know, parents, you know that being faithful and obedient, doing that which is your responsibility, it can be a difficult and challenging season in your life. And the Lord sustains us. How much more do we see this in Jesus' life? As he gave himself, he spent himself. We see Paul talking about that as well. As you read the accounts of all that endured, Paul, as an apostle, did not live a life of comfort. He lived a life of labor. That's what Jesus did. We're called. to live a life of labor, not of comfort. Think about the parables that Jesus told. You find the lazy servant. The master's gone off, left the chief steward in charge. My master doesn't come for a while. He lives the life of ease, drunkenness, abusing the other servants. He's looking for comfort. What happened when the master came? The parable that Jesus told him, he said, you worthless servant. He was cast into outer darkness. You think about the parable of the talents. Who was the one in those parables who received judgment? The one who was given a talent and did nothing with it. We have been blessed with so much and it is our responsibility to labor on. Paul writes of writing and laboring while it is yet the day that we'd be about the father's business to rescue the perishing. We are to work while it is yet day, for the night comes when men shall work no more." And then, brothers and sisters, we will enter into the saints' everlasting rest. It is in heaven that we rest. It is there that we find our retirement. But even as what we know a little bit about heaven, we'll still have responsibilities. We'll have work, but it will not be laborious. There will be no sweating of the brow. There will be no weeping and crying. It'll be a blessed place. But while we're here, we learn from Jesus. We are to labor. Thirdly, like Jesus, we must defer the timing of glory. Jesus deferred the timing of His glory. He's pressing on. He's going to the cross. As He's come to the earth, He willingly hid or veiled His deity as God by His humanity while He walked upon the earth, accomplishing the will of the Father. The cross lay in Jesus' path so that he could secure salvation for his people. Too often we grow weary when we want to give up and be absent from here to be present with the Lord. Jesus endured far more than we can imagine, yet he pressed on until his work on earth was done. But even as we saw in the opening of the prayer, the time has come. He's on the threshold that he would be glorified. But remember when we dealt with that in the opening verses? When He talks about, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may also glorify you. How is it that Jesus did that? What is He praying about there? He's talking about the cross. He's talking about laying down His life that He would be glorified and that He would glorify the Father. And it is then that the crown comes. It is then and after that that He ascends to the right hand of the Father, where He even now rules and reigns over the nations. Brothers and sisters, there is a time when we will be glorified. Paul makes that clear in Romans 8. That's the culmination of the work that God has begun in us. We will be glorified when Jesus comes again, both in body and in soul. But until then, we must press on. We must defer the timing of glory. It will come in the fullness of time. Spurgeon says, we must not sigh for heaven while so much is to be done on earth. The rest of glory will come soon, but just now we have to do with the work of grace. As long as we're here on earth, we have responsibilities. There's people dying all around us. It's not a time to look for glory for ourselves, even as we heard in the previous one. It's not a time for rest. We must be diligent. We must press on to carry the good news of the gospel to those who are perishing. Fourthly, we learn from Jesus, we must be willing to accept shame and disgrace. who has to be willing to accept shame and disgrace. We will be humbled as servants of Christ. We will also be humiliated at the hands of the world. A world that hates Jesus and therefore will hate us for Jesus' sake. This is the path that is before us as we will walk that straight and narrow path to heaven. Jesus talks about it. It's a straight and narrow path. Few are those who find it. Broad is the way that leads to destruction, And so we're going in a contrary manner. We're going against the flow and indeed, we must be ready to accept shame and disgrace. Spurgeon says, one final quote from him, expect to be misunderstood, misrepresented, belied, ridiculed, and so forth. For so was the sent one of the father. As the father sent his son into the world, which was sure to treat him ill, so he has sent you into the world, which will treat you in the same manner, if indeed you are like your Lord. That brings us to our fourth and final point. Our mission is essential. We're called to be diligent. We're called to be busy. We're called to labor on. It's not a time for rest. It's not a time for glory. We have been sent into the world to make disciples, teaching them all things that God has commanded us. Jesus sends us on a mission. We were sent to those. We're just making a mistake out of life. We just sent to people that just they're confused. They don't understand things. We are sent to a people who are perishing. What awaits them is beyond comprehension. And what do we have to offer them? a gospel that is beyond comprehension as well. Though we understand it in part, we don't understand it in the full. There are those all around us, as Jesus said in John 3.18, they are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. We've talked about this before. There's only two category of people in the world. Those who are in Christ, by faith in those who are not. Those who are in Christ have an eternal destination that is beyond comprehension. Those who are without Christ, they too have an eternal destination that is also without comprehension. And the two are beyond polar poles apart. There can be no more stark contrast between what awaits those who are in Christ and those who are without Christ. And my friends, those of the world are bound for hell because they do not believe. They are sinners already. They are condemned already. And we have the gospel. We have the good news. We have the message of life. Christ and Him crucified, the only hope of glory. We're so lazy, careless. We have been sent. As the Father sent the Son, He sends us. The church Corporately as well as individually we are sent to make disciples We're to go and to proclaim the gospel to those who are perishing We really comprehended what awaits them We would be diligent. We would be animated. I know some of you are engaged Hopefully all of you are engaged in some way or shape or form making disciples What is the disciple of Christ Someone who's making a disciple for Christ. You want to ask yourself, am I a disciple? Then ask the question, am I making a disciple for Christ? And if indeed you're making a disciple for Christ, perhaps disciples, then you too are a disciple of Christ. There's no place for indifference. There's no place for doing nothing. We have been sent by Christ into the world to make disciples. You remember Jesus told the parable that there were those who were invited to come to the wedding feast and They had excuses, well, I bought a field, I'm getting married and all these things. And Jesus told the servants of the parable were sent out by the master of the house, go out into highways and hedges and compel them to come in. Are we compelling others to come in? Where's the banquet set here on the earth? I'm not talking about the wedding feast of the land, that's yet to come. But where is the foreshadowing of that? Where do we see that which is to come portray? It's right here. It's right where we are right now. in the presence of God for worship. And Jesus, that parable is telling us, go out, compel them to come in, sound the alarm, warn them, encourage them, exhort them. Yes, it begins by building relationships. getting to be known by them, that they would listen to us. But also it begins with back where we're talking about our obedient living, that we live a holy life, that they will say, there's something about you that's different. There's something that's unique about, why do you live as you do? Why do you speak as you do? Or maybe they're not asking, but then we begin to be winsome and to woo them and to compel them to come. When they see our living, they say, there's something you have that is attractive. I don't know what it is. But tell me more. Will we be silent or will we speak? God is sovereign and his truth will spur us up and out into the world. If God can use a Jonah. Talk about a reluctant prophet. Indeed he used Jonah. God also spoke through an ass to Balaam. If God can do that, brothers and sisters, I hope you're not a Jonah. And I don't believe you're an ass. God can use you to carry the gospel to the world. Are you flawed? Are you imperfect? Will you stutter? Will you stammer? Are there things you still don't understand? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. But you know what? He says, go. My spirit goes with you. Go. Trust me. Be confident in me. Be bold in me. People are perishing. Rescue the perishing. Look at how the book of Jude, the little letter of Jude closes out. Look at those that are perishing. Make a distinction. Rescue them from the fire even while hating the garment defiled by the flesh. For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the promise. And how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Or whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear Him without a preacher? Yes. The ordinary means, the primary means by which God to convert sinners is under the preaching of the word. But we need to compel people to come in. And even as we as a congregation are exploring ways to reach the community around us, we have an opportunity to work together. You've heard the session say, we have this group of people. We want you to join a group of people. Not necessarily to be the ones that go, but let's explore ways, how can we reach? In the multitude of counselors, there's wisdom. Each of you will have different ideas than the others. Join in this effort that the elders have invited you to. How can we reach the world around us, our Jerusalem and our Judea? We have an opportunity so that we might compel them to come in. We've seen in verse six that God the Father is elected for his son of people. And in verse 13, it is said that Jesus was coming to the Father. I'm going to call this a catalyst. Some of you kids have done science enough that you know A catalyst is something you add that makes something happen. Well, the catalyst is Jesus going to the Father. And He still has a church to build, and He's going to do that through His people. And thus then we come to verse 18 and 19. In verse 18 we find this commission. As I have been sent, I sent you. And all this is rooted and built on the fact that Jesus has sanctified Himself. He's been set apart so that we can be set apart. Today we've learned from Jesus' prayer that He was sanctified. so that we would be sanctified. That Jesus was sent from the Father, and now he sends us out to the nations. And our mission is critical. It is essential. For if we do not speak, how will they hear? Our mission is to declare the gospel. Christ builds the church. It is our responsibility. And I quote my dear friend, I'm thankful I'm calling for him, Dr. Harry Reeder. Time and time, if you listen to this podcast, you've heard what I'm about to say. We are to be on mission. and on message and in ministry. That's what's been given to us, the church. That's what shows up in Jesus' prayer. The opportunities are all around us. And if we truly believe that people are perishing in sin and will spend an eternity in hell, if we truly believe that Jesus can save them, then how can we be silent? How can we be idle? We will go. We must go. We're compelled to go. We're commanded to go. And we can go with a confidence in Christ. who saves sinners. Amen. Lord, our God, bless us to be on mission and on message and in ministry, to be about our Father's work under Christ, full of the Holy Spirit, bold and confident and trusting outcome to you, for you are the God who takes crooked sticks and strikes straight blows. Lord, we are crooked sticks. Use us to strike blows on hearts with the goodness of the gospel. and bring in all those appointed for salvation. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.