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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.
Even So Send I You
Series John
Has Jesus sent you into the world on a mission? If so, do you have what it takes?
| Sermon ID | 12421172501519 |
| Duration | 55:45 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | John 17:13-21 |
| Language | English |
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