I'll take my text in verse 18 of chapter 17 as we've been looking at selected passages beginning in John 15 and moving through Jesus' farewell discourse. In verse 18, Jesus speaks. As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." Jesus is praying to God the Father on behalf of the apostles who were with Him. If we turn that to the first person, we will title the message, Even So Send I You. He said those words in John 20 verse 21, even so send I you. Now Jesus is referring specifically to the apostles as the foundational gifts of the church. The Holy Comforter would come to them and through their preaching and through their writing they would give us the words that Jesus spoke and things they couldn't bear at the time that the Holy Spirit would bring to their mind in remembrance things concerning the future, things that Jesus had not yet said, and things that He had said, they wrote, they spoke, and we have them on our laps here this morning. So we can take the application to the apostles and expand it to the church today, because Jesus says in verse 20, "...neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on Me through their word." So we could say we are sent, not as apostles, but as sinners redeemed by grace, gifted by the Holy Spirit, which abides in us to engage, to speak the words of Jesus to a world that hates, to a world that is, without Christ, to a world that Jesus says some would believe on Him through their word. So we're going to look at four things particularly beginning in verse 13 through 20 or 21 that Jesus will say they're going to need. as his ambassadors. Things he prays for, things they will need as he sends them into the world and will expand, of course, to say these are things we need in 2021 to be sent as we are, sent where you are, sent in this community, sent in the workplace, in the places where we are today to engage the culture with truth. The first thing is in verse 13, is what the phrase actually means. And these things I speak in the world so that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. What they're going to need is His joy. They will need His joy to be sent into the world. What is that and why is that? And why will you need His joy fulfilled in you if we're going to be sent into the world in a similar way as the apostles? Now you will remember this is not the first time Jesus mentions this subject. John 15, 11, these things I speak that they may have my joy in them and their joy would be full, that it would remain, that it would be present. Or in verse 24 of John 16, ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. He even said, no man taketh this joy from you. And now once again, Jesus is coming and He's praying so that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. So they need this joy in order to be sent. Why? Because hatred is coming. Hatred is going to threaten. Hatred could tempt them if they lose the joy of Jesus, totally and finally, to depart from the mission. So they need the joy of Christ to stay on mission and to keep engaging a world that will be opposing them with hatred. So look at verse 2, we'll see something about what Jesus means when he says, I'm coming to you, and my coming to you will be the means of bringing my joy to them. He would say in verse 1 rather, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son, so that thy Son also may glorify thee. So the prayer of Jesus first on his own behalf is, glorify the Son, and in so doing, God would then be bringing glory to Himself. So, this is a prayer where Jesus is making God at the center. He prays for Himself, bring glory to the Son, and in doing that, Jesus is praying that the Father would be hallowed, that the Father would be glorified. How? Verse 2. as thou, or just as thou hast given Him power over all flesh, so that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Jesus has been given universal dominion and sovereignty. Matthew 11, 28. All things have been delivered unto Me, unto My Father, or by My Father. Jesus has been given universal dominion and sovereignty and rule over everything. and He's been given universal authority over all flesh. Why? So that He should give eternal life to as many as God had given to Him in the covenant of grace. All that the Father gives to Him, comes to Him. He secures the salvation as as many as God has given to Him, and thereby He secures His joy for them. Why? Because He's coming to God. Verse 13, I am coming to you so that my joy might be fulfilled in them. How is He coming? He's coming through crucifixion. He's coming through death. Many of the things that they don't yet understand, Jesus is going to the Father by means of a horrible crucifixion. What will He accomplish when He gives eternal life to as many as God has given Him? Verse 3, and this is it, this is life eternal. that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." What is life eternal? What is it? Is it just to live forever? Is it just life going on perpetually, eternally, forever and ever? That might not be so good. Life eternal, defined by Jesus Christ, is to know the only true and living God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom he sent for that purpose. Jesus says, I'm coming to you to give them eternal life, to redeem them from all iniquity, so that they would know you, and thereby knowing you by faith, they will have my joy. Because what is the joy of Christ? It is the knowing eternally of the Father and the Father of the Son. John 10, 15, Jesus said these words. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep." Meaning this, the reason he's coming and laying down his life for as many as God gave him, the sheep, his sheep, is so that they would be caught up into the security, the contentment, and the love of knowing the love between God the Father and God the Son. So Jesus says in verse 16 of John 10 this, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring." How is He bringing them? Through the cross. Where is He bringing them? Into the knowledge of eternal life. What is He doing that for? So that His joy may be secured on your behalf. Jesus has purchased your everlasting joy in knowing God the Father forever. And we know Him now. by faith in the Son of God. So when Jesus says, I'm coming to you in verse 13, so that my joy might be fulfilled in them, he means a coming, a knowing, an enjoying God as the bread of life, John 6.35. As the living water, John chapter 4. As the light of the world, John chapter 12. All the images of Jesus Christ, who is God, that we find in the Gospel of John, that our coming to Him in that way, or our believing on Him, is that we never thirst because He's the living water. We never hunger because He's the bread of life. We never are in darkness because He's the light of the world. And so all these images in John are designed to tell us something about faith and knowing God in such a way that we experience God the Son as treasure, bread, life, thirst quenching water, and joy. Joy. Why do we need this? Because without this joy, the hatred of the world will move us away from the mission and ultimately away from God the Father. This is the design of the wicked one. This is what he's after. So where is our joy today? If we're in the world and we are pursuing the joy of the world, how can we then be sent into the world to engage, to love, to confront, to speak a gospel that they hate without the grace of God? That my joy might be fulfilled in them. So it comes through the cross, and it comes by a knowing who God is in Christ by faith, But then joy is also a root, the Bible will tell us, that keeps us going when persecution and hatred come. Joy, we could say, is a kind of root of endurance. Now look at verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. That phrase can mean for his name, by his name, but contextually, the idea is I kept them trusting in your name. because that's how we're preserved in Christ Jesus. "...I kept them in Your name, those that Thou gavest Me, I have kept them, and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition, Judas Iscariot, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Now Jesus is doing a couple of things here. First, He wants the apostles and us to know He didn't fail in his tasks. He said in John chapter 6 four times, I will lose nothing but raise him up in the last day. Well now he acknowledges that one is lost who is at the sun of perdition. Jesus didn't lose him because he was never found. The scripture foretold in the Psalms of this event Jesus spoken in John chapter 6 when he says, Have not I chosen you? One of you is a devil. He wants us to know he did not fail in the task that all that the Father gave him will come to him and he will secure their everlasting salvation. The son of perdition is lost. But let's apply this to the joy of Christ. Why didn't he endure? Just about three years and he had enough. Because the joy of Judas was not the joy of Christ. It was the joy of seeing what Jesus could bring to Judas or the gain that Judas was after because he held the bag. He was the appointed treasurer. I wonder how he got into that position. Judas Iscariot. When he saw Jesus and His miracles and His power, he only saw Him for the gain he could secure from Jesus, not the gain of who Jesus is. He could not say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Because for Judas to live was the gain of what Christ could bring, and death was no gain at all. We see this also concerning what Jesus says in Matthew 13 verse 20, the seed that was sown in the stony places, the shallow ground. Jesus said, those that receive the seed in stony places are those that hear the word and they have no root. They do it for a while, like Judas Iscariot, but then, afterward, when persecution and tribulation arises because of the word, by and by, they've had enough. They leave. Now he first says they received the word and in with joy. Immediately with joy. But there's no root for stability. There's no root to keep them when the hatred and persecution and tribulation comes. So what happens? The superficial joy that they have disappears and they're gone. They apostatize as the word offended. Now if the word brought the joy, why didn't the word sustain the joy? Because like Judas, the joy that they immediately experienced was the idea that this Messiah could bring them the gain that they wanted. And when that gain was lost, when the persecution and tribulation came, and it was apparent there's no gain being in this group called Christianity, they depart just like Judas Iscariot. But to have a deep-rooted connection with Jesus, and I don't mean a deep understanding of things of the Bible, but a root called faith that produces joy, means what? When tribulation and persecution arises, which it will for the apostles, when the hatred comes, what is going to sustain them and make them stable? It's faith in God that produces the joy of Christ, that keeps them moving. in persecution and tribulation. That's what the writer of Hebrew tells us in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6. The whole letter is about the issue of not going backwards to the joy of Moses and Jerusalem and the law, but to the joy of Christ for which they were faltering. So he says, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm to the end. Stable to the end. What gives stability to the end? The end for which Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith brings us, certainly. It's the rejoicing that comes from hoping in Christ. That was Jesus' own joy, wasn't it, in Hebrews 12, 3? "...who for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross." Hebrews chapter 6, "...this hope is an anchor of the soul." What hope? The hope set before you, which is the joy set before Christ. It anchors the soul, both sure and steadfast. What is going to anchor the apostles? when the hatred comes, and the persecution, and the tribulation. It's the root of endurance, of faith in Christ that produces rejoicing about a future hope, a future expectation that will be delivered by Christ Himself, because He's going to the Father. If we lose this hope, what happens? Whatever we are expecting to deliver on our hope of gain from the world, just that much we compromise and we disengage because the world's holding on to our joy. How can you confront the very entity that holds your joy? You cannot and you will not. But if you have a joy that no man takes from you, then that joy will sustain you, because no man can take it from you. How is it that men took away the joy of Judas Iscariot, or the joy of those that hear the word and have no root? Because their joy was not seeing Christ again and no man takes it from you, as he says in John 16, it was again the joy of seeing Christ and the gain he could bring me." In other words, it wasn't seeing and knowing Christ as eternal life, the bread and the living water, it was knowing him as the man that could bring them the gain of this world. It was a prosperity kind of gospel even when Jesus was on the earth. That's why they departed and walked with him no more, because he would not bring them the bread that they wanted without working, in John chapter 6. We need His joy to continue and to persevere against the hatred of the world. The good news is, He says, I am coming to them so that they may have it. And if you have faith in Christ, so you have it. So it is, and so He secured it for us. The next thing that we'll need, that they'll need in connection with that joy, and this is how this joy comes, is in verse 14. I have given them Thy Word. They will need His Word in order to confront the hatred of the world, in order to be sent into the world and continue when the tribulation and the hatred comes, they're going to need His Word. It is the Word of Christ that is the source of this joy, is it not? And that's what the parable was just telling us. They received the Word with a kind of superficial joy, because they had no root. And when the Word brought persecution, they left. But for the Christian, the true, the Word gives us a deep-rooted kind of spiritual joy. And when we embrace that Word, and we speak that Word, and we're opposed on behalf of that Word, then the Word sustains us. It's what tells us about our hope. It's how we know God. So let's look at what Jesus says that when we have this Word, what it brings in verse 14. And the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Now the evil can be taken abstractly, such as evil in general, but most agree it's referring to the evil one. The wicked one, as Jesus often does in John, or as John does in 1 John chapter 5, "...the whole world lieth in wickedness, or under the sway of the wicked one, the ruler of the darkness of this world, the prince of the power of the air." He's not praying that they would be removed out of the world, but that they would be preserved and kept from the wicked one. Now why is that? Because we need his word to speak his word. The many reasons God gives us his word, one is clear in this chapter for the apostles and for the church today, that there will be those that will believe on them through their word. And that's the word we have today, the gospel. So we need the word to be sent into the world because we are ministers, we're servants, we're ambassadors of Christ with the word of the gospel. That's the word we speak. And so God gave Jesus his words, he gave the words to the apostles, and so we have these words today. In verse 6, Jesus tells us at the center of this word. Again, it's singular. Sometimes he uses the word plural, sometimes singular. Verse 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 name? No, thy word. The Word which Jesus gave them that they kept was the Word of the self-disclosure of God's name and who Jesus Christ is that He sent. That's the Word they kept. Now if you look at the Bible, the apostles were not that great at keeping the Word. And there was pride, there was strife, and there were many ways which they didn't keep it. until the coming of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit gave him this boldness. What does Jesus mean? They've observed it, they've kept it. They kept the revelation of God's name, John 6, 66. Many of his disciples walked with him no more. Jesus turns to these men and says what? Will you go away also? What does Peter say? Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we are sure that you are Christ, the Son of the living God. That's the word they kept, that's the word they treasured, that is what Jesus is referring to. The manifestation of the name of God. They embraced it, they received it, they believed it, they treasured it, they kept it. That's the word that they needed to take to the world. Now what is the threat here? When the Word is spoken, the world hates, and the threat is twofold that Jesus addresses. The first one is we withdraw from the world. Have you ever thought about doing that in 2021? Disengagement, retreat. Let's go buy a cottage on the Mediterranean Sea. We'll live out there and fish and surf and ski, and we'll just avoid this hated stuff. I mean, who wants that? Jesus says, I'm not praying that they would be taken out of the world, or even it means away from the world, but they would be kept from the evil one, which means He's sending them into it with a message that will bring hate. Beloved, we're not to be disengaged in 2021. I know the temptation is great. We're not to withdraw or to retreat. We are sent. not with a militant attitude, not with a militaristic attitude, but with a meek and gentle attitude. We are sent to bear witness to the truth. The threat is our comforts that we've enjoyed, our conveniences, and our safety might tempt us to disengage. And that's a real threat, isn't it? A real temptation. A natural response to hatred. If not, to counter the hatred with hatred, and evil with evil, the natural response is disengagement. There's great losses to be incurred, right? I don't want to be hurt. I don't want to be disliked. I don't want them to take my stuff. And yet that's what's going to happen to the Apostles. There's a very thin line we have to walk when it comes to our safety, isn't it? Safety is a good thing. Safety is a right thing. How do we know? when safety has become an idol. 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter would say to the suffering saints, But who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? In general, people usually don't harm you for doing good things. But, and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you. There is the possibility, and it was happening in that day. Not to all of them, but to those that God willed would suffer, according to Peter. Happy are you, be not afraid, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the reason of the hope that is within you, with meekness or gentleness, and fear, having a good conscience, meaning the evil speaking against you is not because you deserve it, you have a good conscience in your lifestyle. Now, if you're to be ready to answer, then you're answering people in the world in which you are in that world. And if you're ready to answer, that means you're ready to give a defense. Not to defend yourself, but give a defense of Christianity, because they've seen your hope, and they ask questions about that hope, either in an inquiring way, or a way that they want to speak evil of you. Either way, as soon as you answer, what happens? Your safety is gone. You just opened yourself up. Either to someone embracing you because they love the same gospel, that would be good. Or to someone hating you. Right? If you're ready to answer, the implications are, you will give the answer. And when you do, you just lost all safety. Safety can easily become an idol. How do we navigate when we've crossed that barrier? Whenever our safety moves us to disobey the Christ, then we are idolaters at that moment. Right? Whenever my safety is put in a position of supremacy over what Christ has clearly commanded me, then I am putting my safety, I'm putting my trust in my own safety above my trust of Jesus. And He'll take care of me when I give an answer, or when I obey, or when I do what Jesus says. You see this navigation taking place in the book of Acts chapter 8. Saul of Tarsus was persecuting, and to be safe they left. I mean, if you want to be a Jewish Christian, you don't want to live in Jerusalem anyway. That's a hotbed of persecution. They left and they fled. Well, how do we know this is not disobedience in the fleeing itself? Because in Acts chapter 8 it says, they went everywhere speaking, preaching the Word. If safety is my idol, I'm not saying anything. That's why I got persecuted in Jerusalem. I'm going to keep my mouth shut and I'm withdrawing and I'm going to find some nice cozy corner of the earth and camp out there and not say anything. So we know that safety is a good thing as long as it's not an idol thing. And when it becomes an idol thing, my safety trumps my obedience to Christ. And I do not say that's always an easy channel to navigate. It's not. But it's the channel we're navigating now in 2021, isn't it? But we must be ready to answer because we've been sent into the world. So Jesus says, I'm not praying that you take them away from the world. I'm sending them right into the middle of it. Now the next threat is to be confused with the world. So he repeats the statement. They are not of the world, verse 16, even as I am not of the world. Why does he repeat that? To emphasize, although he's sending you into the world, we're not to be confused with the world. And that has largely been the problem with Christianity in America, hasn't it? I mean, friend, who is a Christian? How do you identify a Christian? Judas Iscariot looked like a Christian. The apostles said, when Jesus said, one of you will betray me, they didn't say, we knew it was Judas. They said, is it I? How could they not pick out the fake Christian in the crowd? Because they couldn't. Until the pressure came. And he made himself known. When things are confused, we don't know the difference between the fake Christian and the real Christian. The fake church and the real church. And largely, it's not our task to go about trying to find that out. But Jesus wants us to know because that's how we get duped. 2021 may be the year where the confusion starts to lift and there's greater clarity in Christianity. As people start to align themselves, you know why? The cost is too great to keep faking it. That's what it was for Judas. He was just too great to keep faking it. He's after the money, he sees his gain is lost, the pressure in Jerusalem is increasing, so he gets his money and he runs. Nobody's going to fake that which brings tribulation and persecution. So clarity, likely. will be what we see more of in 2021. So I echo the words of an email I got. 2021 will be greater challenges, but it'll be better for the church. It's better when there's clarity. It's better. when the light that's shining is visibly clear and not confused. So Jesus says, yes, I'm sending you into the world. I don't want you to be withdrawn from the world, but you're not to be confused with the world. Why? They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. We've had a watered down gospel in America, a gospel that compromises. Well, that day may be ending because of persecution and tribulation. Jesus told the apostles in John 16, When He shall come, the Spirit of truth, He shall convince or reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now how is the Holy Spirit going to do that? The preceding verse, Jesus said, I'm sending Him to you, and He will reprove the world. Do you catch that? It's expedient that I go, for if I not go, the Spirit of truth cannot come, but if I go, He'll come and I'll send Him to you. And He will reprove the world of sin through you." That's what He means. That's how He's going to do it. Tell someone they're a sinner today. You'll be loving them, but they will hate you for it. In the sexual revolution and gender revolution that we live in, Your answer is, friend, that's sin. What you lust after, what you love, and what you want is a sin against God. And unless you turn, the wrath of God is abiding on you. And see the response in a 2021 America. The lines are dividing very clearly. And that's a good thing. of sin because they don't believe on me, which means what? To come to saving faith, you've got to know sin, or there's no faith in Christ. That's what He does through us. He convinces people of sin, but what happens to watered-down gospel? Just believe? Well, just believe it. What about sin? No, just believe it. And you've got people that are part of churches, they joined churches, and they brought all the sin with them because nobody told them that they needed to repent. Think about that. Have we left out that part of the message? Oh, by the way, you've got to repent. What does that mean? You've got to stop loving what you love. You've got to stop doing what you do. You've got to stop desiring what you desire and turn to Christ. They'll hate you for it. The battle is between what they love and what we love. It's what we value and what they value. See, we are not of the world, which means we love the Word. And we love the God of that Word. It's a manifestation of His name. That's what we love. They hate the Word because they hate the manifestation of God. and they're in opposition to God. You're bringing them the manifestation of God. Repent is the only way to get into the kingdom. You don't enter it without faith and repentance. Of sin, because they don't believe on me, which means they repent, they trust. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more. What do they believe? Jesus was raised from the dead, He's right on their behalf, and now judgment for the prince of this world is judged. What does that mean? When they repent and confess Christ and turn to His righteousness, the dominion of the Prince is gone. He's been cast out. He's not gone, and temptation's not gone, and struggle's not gone, but His dominion. He's been cast out, Jesus says. How does the Holy Spirit do that? Yes, He must give new birth, but Jesus says He's going to do it through you. Your Word. Your gospel. I'm sending Him to you, and when He comes, He's going to convince the world, the world that hates us, that world. And they, some of them, like you, are going to believe through your word. The confusion is lifting, and that's a good thing. So Jesus tells us we need His joy, we need His Word. The Word is what brings that joy, but the Word is what we speak because we're giving our joy to others. See, the world opposes us, and we oppose the world, in a sense, with love. That's how we're opposing them. We're bringing them the love of God. And they hate us for it. But Jesus says some are going to believe. All that's been given to the Son will come to Christ. We're just broadcasting the Word, and Jesus brings them. He says, I must bring them. If I don't, I'm a failure. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. He will not be discouraged, nor will He fail. Isaiah 42, the suffering servant. So we need His joy, we need His Word, and we need to engage instead of withdraw, but not be confused with the world. We don't value what they value. We look like them in many respects. We may wear similar clothing, drive the same cars, work in the same places, live in the same kind of houses, but at the core fundamental of our being, we don't love what they love. They love sin. We don't love it. We do it and struggle with it. We don't love it. That's the fundamental core. So when you bring them the love of Christ in the Word, they're going to hate you because they don't love that. We know when the Holy Spirit comes, it changes everything. That they may glorify God in the day of visitation. So the apostles are going to need His Word. That's why they're going to be hated because they're going to take the Word and speak the truth in love. But they need to take the Word because if they don't, they're just taking their own ideas. their own language, their own ways, their own behavior, their own selves to the world and what does that do? Why would the world be attracted to what they already have? Now think about that. If I'm so confused with the world and so pulled into it, What is compelling about anything I say or do when they can look at me and say, well, I know he's a Christian, but he's even a preacher. But I got everything he's got. I mean, look at the guy. He does everything we do. He loves everything we love. Why would I go and hear about his God? They would not. And so what's different is that you've been chosen. That's why you're not part of the world. It's not something you just decided. You've been called affectionately and you've been given a love for the display of the manifestation of God's name in Christ. And now we're taking the aroma of that to the world. We're not perfect. There's much repentance still for us to do, but that's the mission. Even so send I you. Third, they will need His sanctification. Look in verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Sanctification there, the word means to be set apart. So they're not of the world, even as Jesus is not of the world. And Jesus says, I sanctify myself. Now he doesn't mean that in the sense that we're sanctified, because he doesn't move from sinfulness to holiness, he is holy. He means he sets himself apart for the work that God gave him. He's just as determined to do it as God was to give it to him. And what does that work as the high priest here? as this is often referred to as the high priestly prayer. He is both the one offering the sacrifice and He is the sacrifice being offered. And He's doing that. Why? That they also might be sanctified, set apart through the truth and with the truth. We need His sanctification, His being set apart, which He did. at the cross, and from that, like the vine to the branches of John 15, we are being sanctified through the truth. We must be people of the truth. It's not just the truth we're bringing to people as if we don't need it, it's the truth that is making us holy. That's what's transforming us into the kind of people God calls us to be. That's what they're seeing. as we're sent into the world. They're seeing something that the vine is doing for us and through us. Now as we've seen so many times in the Bible, the second time Jesus mentions the word sanctified on behalf of the disciples, it's perfect tense, completed past, never to be repeated. But the first time he mentions it, it's present tense, something that keeps going. So, we are sanctified in Christ Jesus, like the church at Corinth. Unto them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. You are emphatically a saint, a hagios, a holy one. And it's complete, it's done, it's forever finished, it's forever settled. But you are being sanctified, present tense. You are becoming what you are in Christ. And so as we confront the world, we're not confronting them with saying, well, look what I've done. This is all you have to do. It's look at what the sanctification of Christ on my behalf is producing in me. It's what it's doing for me. So we're not bringing to them something that we don't need. We're bringing what we desperately need. And that's how we minister to one another, isn't it, brothers and sisters? Even in our families. We don't talk down to one another like, this is what you need. We talk in humility, this is what I need. I'm just bringing you what I need, which is the Word. I need Christ and I need to be more like Him. And I need to be more of what Christ has already made me to be in position before God the Father, which is holy or sanctified. Now what you need to see is that this sanctification is the means of being kept from the wicked one, the devil. Notice how Jesus says it in verse 17. sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth, keep them from the evil one, verse 15, how? Sanctify them, that's the means, that's how he preserves us, and do it through truth. How much do we need truth then? Paul prays this way, remember in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24 when he says this, and the God of peace sanctify you wholly, This means complete to the end. And then he prays on the basis of that reality. And I pray that God would preserve, why didn't he say sanctify? The God of peace sanctify you wholly, so I'm going to pray that He sanctify you. No, I'm praying that He preserve you, because that's how He preserves us, through sanctifying us. I pray God would preserve your whole soul, spirit, and body blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you who will also do it." What did He call you to experience? eternal life and to arrive in glory. He called you, the calling ensures the glory. Nothing can pluck you. Nothing can take you from the hand of Christ. Nothing can take your joy from you. He will do it, what? He will preserve you or He will sanctify you. So from calling to glory, the aim of God in your preservation is to sanctify you with the truth. That's how He does it. So if I ask you, are you being sanctified? You ask yourself, am I in the truth? Let me say that again. If I ask you, are you being sanctified? You have to ask yourself, how much is truth a part of my life? And there you have your answer. Now that's not my answer. So if that feels painful to you, that's not my answer. That's what the Bible tells us. So they need his sanctification, which means they need his truth. not just for the world, but for themselves. How then are we set apart by truth? How then are we sanctified by His sanctification, His cross work, His redemption? How does it keep coming to us? Romans 12, 2 speaks this very well, doesn't it? Be not conformed to this world, how can you be sent into the world in which you're being conformed to it. You cannot. I'm just like everybody else. My witness has no credibility. I can start talking about truth, but then people probably under the breath say, what's this guy talking about? He loves everything I do. He does everything I do. He's going to tell me about truth? That's not very compelling. Be not conformed to this world because we can be. That's the point. We can be. We have been. And probably now we're struggling not to be, right? Be not conformed to this world. Don't be shaped by the pattern of this world. Don't conform yourself to the fashion of this world. What is that? They don't love God, they love creation. It's a way of thinking. or as Paul says next, a way of thinking. But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now there's the key. How do we keep from being conformed and shaped after the pattern of the world? We need to think differently. We need to feel differently. We need to desire differently. We need to emote differently. Because God commands that too, right? How does that happen? We're renewed in our minds. It's not just purely thinking, it's the will and the affections, and that's what the mind gives shape to. See, we don't want to walk in the vanity of our minds, in the vanity of the Gentiles, or the world. Their understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God. They don't know God, they're alienated from God. Through the ignorance that is in them, they don't know God. Because of the blindness of their heart, they're blind to the glory of God. They don't know Him. They're blind. They're ignorant. They're alienated. They don't know His life. They don't know Him as treasure. They don't know Him as joy. Don't walk like that. That's vanity. That's futility. That's nothingness. That will get them nowhere. But you have been given a renewed mind. So don't be conformed to that, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may see or prove. See, I like the word see, not because I made it up, because the word means to test with a view of approving or seeing it. That you could see the good and perfect will of God. You see it as treasure, as gold. If you're thinking, I don't see it that way. I used to see it that way, but I don't now. Sanctify them through thy truth. There could be a very simple explanation. The reason you're being conformed to the world is because you're not renewing the mind with truth, and therefore you're sent into the world, but you can't confront the world because we love the things they love. Now beloved, I don't mean we do everything different than they do. We work, we use the same English language. There are many similarities. The dividing point is we love the truth of the manifestation of God. They hate it. That love gives shape to our words, our actions, our thinking. But it won't if we're not renewed. See, sometimes we think, I'm born again, I believe, so I could go a year without renewing and I'd still be the same as I was. You won't. You will backslide. You cannot be static. You cannot be neutral. You will grow numb to the things of God. You will not treasure God. You will treasure the world and you will be drawn into the world. That's the reality of Scripture. So Jesus says, I've sent you into the world. Don't disengage. Don't become confused. Rest in my sanctification on your behalf. This is what I did for you. I gave you the knowledge of God. Now, go to the truth. Go to the truth. And lastly, they will need to be one. This is an amazing statement. Of course, he applies it to us too. Verse 20, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they may all be one. as thou, Father, art in me and I in them. That's verse 21. So why is he praying for those that will believe on him through their word? So that they would be one. So they're going to need to be one with God. And what is this oneness? It's oneness in purpose. That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. That's the first thing. You're sent into the world. We want the world, people out of the world, to believe that God sent His Son, Jesus, like you believe, and to come to faith. What will contribute to that? Our oneness. That they may be one as we are one. Are we one? Is there any oneness here? Is the question we should all ask ourselves. Now think about it. Whatever this oneness is, and we'll hopefully see in just a minute, When we're confused with the world and drawn into the world and treasure what the world treasures, you can't be one. It's impossible. And the whole body gets distracted with the oneness of self. And the world again looks at the church and says, why would I go there? Why would I listen to you? You're just as much the individual as I am. that they may be one, that the world may believe that you sent me. Now he changes the wording just a bit to further express what he means. Verse 23, I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one, that is we're growing to maturity in one, and that the world may know that thou has sent me, there it is with this added expansion, and has loved them as thou has loved me. Think about that. That the world may believe that you sent me and that the world may believe that you sent me and the very love that you reserved for the Son is in them. That you're loving them like you love me. How would that be known? The world would look at the church and see and believe that the Christians are caught up into the very love of God, secure, content, and fulfilled. Because that's the love that God has for Jesus. What's Jesus' experience of the eternal love of God? He is satisfied. He's content. He's fulfilled. He's secure. for the world to look at the church and say, those people are satisfied, they're content, they're secure, they're fulfilled. But how would they see that? What would they see? By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. Finish it in your minds. That you have love one for another. I'm drawn into the world. I love myself. I'll go to church. I'll be there for an hour. I'm not going to do anything else because I treasure myself and I'm after the world. And they see a disjointed body that's not one. But when the love of God is coming and we're experiencing Christ's oneness for the love that God has for the Son, we're experiencing it, we're growing in that, we're being sanctified and experiencing it, we're being made perfect in one, what happens? The world looks, God opens the eyes, and they believe that Jesus sent the Son because they see that the church is caught up. into the love of God, and it's being expressed by willing self-sacrifice, one to another, because of the joy that they have in the Word of God, for which they are bringing to the world. Isn't that amazing? No wonder Jesus says in verse 26, I have declared unto them thy name, the manifestation, the word that you gave me, and will declare it, so that the love with which thou hast loved me might be in them, and I in them. When the world sees this love in you, they don't see something on your face because sometimes we're just not smiling, are we? We're hurting. When they look at us and see that I have on a tie, they're not looking and saying, well, that guy's real joyful. No, what do they see? They see that joy that's doing something they cannot do. A willing self-sacrifice for the good of others. They can't do it. Because when we love ourselves, we need everybody to serve us. They can't do it. They look and say, where does this come from? What is this about? These people are giving their lives for one another in 2021, and they're being hated for it. Where does it come from? Jesus says, I'm coming to you. It's by the cross. We need His joy. We need His Word. We need His sanctification, meaning what He said there in John 17. And we need His oneness. And when we have it, and we do, it's there, we're growing into being a people content with the love of God in such a way that we can love one another, genuinely. And this sharp contrast will be drawn in the world as there's a realignment of people in our country. The people that say, that's way too much of a high cost, this is where I am. And the people that say, what? For to me to live is Christ and death is my gain. Can you say that? I don't say that we never struggle with that if we're facing death, that we're afraid, but can you say, to live is Christ and to die is gain? Let's pray.