Okay, so good morning to each and everyone here and welcome to in the name of God, first of all, through the word of God. Christ is praying and interceding for us in heaven. And this is what we see in the intercession of Christ. And John 17 is an example of that intercession. So it's something that is continuing to happen. And what is He praying? What is He pleading the Father? That they may be holy as I am holy. We might be holy as He's holy. And how do we get that holiness? How do we grow in our sanctification? And that is the Word of God. It's not sanctification as much as an experience that we get, or like, you know, going up the mountain, And, you know, we got more holier? No. We are becoming like Christ. That is sanctification. We are set apart, that's the meaning of the word sanctification, unto God. As a newborn Christian, our whole view of what is the priority in life, our whole view of the law of God, of sin, of the world has changed. We're not longer following the scheme of this world, the patterns of those around us. And the purpose of sanctification, as I said, is not leaving away from people, no contact with people. Me growing up in Catholicism, I had this understanding of sanctification many times. And the more I get outside of the world, But your Christ is giving us here a balanced view of sanctification. And communion with God, as we'll see in this week and next week especially, should result in a communion with one another. Not separation. Communion with God should change our affection. As we looked this week to John Owen, who was called the Prince of Puritans, he has this little essay, Communion with God. He says, Christ, having given himself to the soul, loves the soul. And the soul, having given itself to Christ, loves him also. Take thereof extraordinary comfort in your Savior first. And then you will be able to love others in the same manner. So you see, we cannot have fellowship with one another. We cannot be able to love others if we don't love God first with all of our hearts, soul and mind. This mutual communion with God through His Word, then therefore the Word is sanctifying us. and we can transform, we are transforming to the likeness of Christ. Think of a married couple as ages pass, they more and more look alike, they more and more fellowship with one another, and that should be the Christian relationship with Christ. The more we fellowship and commune with Christ, the more we will look like Him. And as Christ prays for this Word of God to transform the disciple, to sanctify the disciple, Who wants to read the verses for today? Verses 11 to 19 of John 17. If you have a pew Bible, it's page 757. John 17, verses 11 to 19. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you, Holy Father, protected by your name, that you have given me but protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guard them, and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world, so that they may have my joy completed in them. I have given them your word. The world needed them, because they are not of the world, They are not of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. Amen. So, as we saw, the general petitions of Christ in the previous verses. Now, this is a particular petition of our Savior. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. And that's going to be our focus. And this is the content, in one sense, of the whole prayer of Christ. Not only the disciples have received the Word of God, as we saw last week, proving to be among those who are chosen, the elect people of God, but that same Word, that same salvation, which starts at conversions, now continues to keep them. The same Word of God, which they received, now sanctifies them. We don't start with it and then we leave it. We abide in Him and in His Word. That Word sustains us, preserves us, enables us to persevere until the end. And such perseverance is made possible because of Christ's interceding. He's praying those words to the Father. And those words are eternal, continue to this day for you and me. And therefore we can grow in prayer as we experience more of the likeness of Christ and we grow. Can anyone remind me what was the main idea of this whole chapter 17? We saw it in previous weeks. There's one particular thing that kind of is the common thread of the whole chapter. Anyone remembers? What is Christ praying for? unity, well, that is in our text, and it will be the main focus of next week. There's an overarching goal. God's glory that was the first communion with God definitely that is overarching but the point is he's praying that every aspect the Son of God is praying that every aspect of communion that he has with the Father may be extended to the disciples and they may be extended to all Christians glorify Well, let them know this glory. All that is mine is yours. They are in me and in you. Keep them. They are outside of the world. Send them, sanctify. This will be the focus of today. And then we will see next time love, union, that they may be one, that they may know you. All these aspects. He prays that they may be extended to us. And that is the main common thread. But as we see, Christ is praying that the Word of God may keep the disciples this is our main point, and the second point will be that the Word of God may sanctify the disciples. In verse 11 it says, Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are. So we see that every point that Christ has spoken in the previous chapters to the disciples opening, now He is bringing them back to the Father. And he's praying that through the Word of God, not only he thinks that the disciple have kept the world, but now he's praying that the same Word of God may keep the disciple. Christ is returning to the Father. He actually used the past tense here, so he thinks that it's already happened. He's already going to the Father. But the problem is, if he's going to the Father, the disciples have to face opposition from the world. without the immediate presence of Christ. Even though they are not of the world, as we saw last time, the disciples are still in the world. Think of If I go back to my country, Italy, and I am taking the flight, and I'm landing at the airport, I am in my home. But yet I'm not in my home yet. My home will be when I reach my hometown, and I open the door, and there I am. And that is the condition. In one sense, through salvation, we already have a fit in eternity in our true Home, and we are not of this world, but already, and not yet, in our condition. And that is the condition that we are. Christ has gone, and He knows that we need help. We need strength in our walk. We need His holiness as the only mean through which we can be kept from this world. Through His holiness and grace, He saves us from sin. He separates us from the world. That's the essence of holiness. And He keeps us for Himself. Because of the power of His Word, of His Holy Word, we belong to Him. We are followers, and we remain faithful to this Word. And this is, again, the second petition of the Master. He's praying that this Word may keep them. Verse 12 says, While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. I was with them. He's speaking with the past. He knows that he needs to go away. He kept and guarded the disciple. He prayed for Peter that soon has to betray him. He prays that God will, you know, he will be kept. He's praying for the disciple that he led them step by step to the truth for three years. And now he's also sending them, right? The Word of God also gives missions to them. He knows that the hour of trial is coming. He has lost no one. He has promised that no one will snatch them from the Father's hand. He gave us eternal life. And those are truths that we need to sink in. It's like, think of a postage stamp. They stick to the letter until it gets where it's supposed to go. There is a seal with us. If you're coming tonight, we will talk about the seal of God's love. But again, God has sealed us with this promise and we need to embrace this promise. Some of us may be struggling with assurance of this and we may look to things and experiences of holiness and mystical holiness. No, God has given us his word and we need to claim that promise that no one will snatch us from the Father's hand. But I also know that in this area there is a lot of pretentious Christianity and so we need to guard against the other opposite. of those who are saying, yes, I claim this problem, but it doesn't transform me, it doesn't sanctify me, and the Word of God is not abiding in me, then I need to go back to it and examine other parts of His Word. So our assurance is not founded upon our efforts, upon our capacities, but the fact that we are kept by Christ through His Word. Christ keeps us as He kept the disciples during the earthly ministry, so He keeps those who are His, me and you, to this very moment, and He does so till the end of time. He protects us from apostasy, even if at times we may fail. Remember that we do not believe that Christians can be perfect in this life. We believe that there is a progressive sanctification that takes place in our life. And a true believer will have that progression. But we do not believe in perfectionism. No one will snatch us from his hand. This is the firm foundation that we have. But also verse 14 says, look at verse 14, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Christ has given us His Word. It is a pure gift. The key for our preservation is His Word. And if we have to be kept, what does that mean? That there is a danger and a threat right before us. Otherwise He would not say, I kept them, and pray the Father that He may keep them. And the damage for the disciples is urgent, as you know. Soon Christ will be betrayed. Soon the flock will be scattered. And the world, as you remember from last time, has always a negative connotation in the Gospel of John. The world is the pattern and the system of this evil present age that doesn't receive the Word, that hates the disciple. Christ told them, if the world hates you, know that he hated me before And that was said by Christ a few chapters before, in chapter 15, verse 18. And even John Owen, again, as he deals with this aspect, he says, Christ poured out His life to death, equal to God, and yet brought into the form of a servant, nowhere to lay His head. He pursued Him all of His life with afflictions and persecution, and lastly brought Him under the rod of God. He was crucified for us. Therefore, sin was crucified in the believer. And we continue to put to death sin, and we die to self. And Christ, if He was persecuted by a sinful world, therefore the sinful world will persecute us, because we have the mark of Christ in us. The moment in which we are set apart for Him, The world is wrathful and hates. They see that mark upon us because the world love its own and we are not of the world. Think of the Jews in World War II. They had to go around with that star. And everyone who saw them, right? They saw the mark and they hated them. We are a smell of death to the unbelievers. Because they know that judgment is coming. And we remind them of that judgment. And this is repeated throughout this chapter. Verse 16. Or later on, verse 25, the world does not know the Father. Just as Christ is not of the world, so we are not. The parallel, remember again, is between Christ and the disciple all throughout. And because of our being elect. And then verse 15 says, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. Because of this conflict, Christ is not praying that we somehow be taken away from the world. As I said, this is not some sort of monasticism, that we go up the mountain. And I say, beware of those who see, you know, the ministry of God or anything of this nature as something that I can, you know, just get rid of my problems and I'm going to just focus on God. He doesn't call us from our calling, but in our calling He calls us. We are in but not of the world. And so He's praying that instead He may keep them from the evil. This is the third petition, that He may keep them from the evil. It reminds us of the Lord's Prayer, right? Deliver us from evil. And what is this evil? General evil? No, it's Satan, the evil one, the prince of this world. He's ruling over the unbelievers, and he's the opposite side, and he's the root of of those who are hating us. And so the Son prays the Father that He may keep them from Satan. This Satan who was trying to sift Peter as hay. He was trying to sift him. Right? And he was ready to act, causing people to deny Christ, to scatter the sheep, to strike the shepherd, and now there is the need to protect the flock of God from those attacks. Satan has come to steal and destroy. Christ's first thought, again, is not of his pain and suffering on the cross that he will face, but to the disciples. Because when he is gone, he knows that the evil one will try to tempt him in many ways. Think of the, if you saw the movie Titanic, the commander stands, and he doesn't leave the ship, he just goes all the way to the rudder, and he holds on to it, and he dies there, and he gives it, you know, This is the good shepherd that does not leave the sheep to the last moment. And he's about to give his life for the sheep at the cross. And yet the sheep are not aware. They're sleepy. And you know the story. And so the question we need to ask ourselves is what is the relationship between us and the world? It's not an easy relationship. But we need to have a balance. There are potential extremes, right, before our eyes. What are those potential extremes? Anyone can tell me. Yes. Exactly. And that's not necessarily through monasticism, but even in our daily church, right? We could have that extreme of just complete, yeah. Amen. And what is the other extreme? Because that other extreme is as dangerous. And we see that all the time. syncretism, compromising the gospel, trying to basically look like the world, right? How many try to do that? As much as I can, I want them to feel comfortable, whatever, and it becomes like basically no difference. And that is before our eyes. So, Christ is trying to give us here a balance. And how does imitating Christ entails, what does imitating Christ entails in the way I look out for my brothers and sisters in the church, despite their flaws? We recognize that we're not completely perfect, right? We recognize that we are still struggling with the old nature. We recognize that we are prone to wonder. like the disciples were, and so we pray for one another, like Christ prayed for us, that we may be kept. And we point people back to the Scripture. There is an honor, friends, for a Christian to overcome the world. There's far more honor to do that than to go up the mountain and retreat. I still remember, as a Catholic, I was trying to do that all the time. The more I got myself outside of this world, and the more I was becoming worldly, actually. Because sin was still in me, right? And the point is that Christ alone is the peace and joy that we need to look for, and His Word. and not other things to add in order maybe to enhance my spirituality or spiritual appeals of any sort. Christ is the One and His Word has been given and He delivers us from all of this vexation and troubles and yet in the midst of this dangers, Which means sometimes He doesn't deliver us, sometimes He let us go into seeing worldliness around us, but He keeps us and we remain safe. So we should not desire, oh Lord, I just want to be free from all sort of threat, from all sort of evils. No. You should pray, Lord, even if that comes my way, please keep me. Help me to be focused on the scripture. Help me to be content whatever trial is before me. Because our goal as a church on earth is through our love for one another, we may reflect the unity or will and purpose that God has. This will be the focus of next time. But there is a little unity, however, with worldly Christianity. Remember that. We cannot have that unity because they are not doing the first step. Sanctify them by your word. And then the unity comes, that they may be one So firstly, it takes them out of the world, and then they become one. You see the connection? So it's important that we don't necessarily unite ourselves with that type of worldliness and worldly Christianity. But at the same time, I don't think that we are struggling necessarily with worldliness. And the question is, are we united? And there's harsh splits going on, even among those who are strongly doctrinally in agreement with, for example, the Reformed truth, right? We hear all sort of splits and all little, you know, unloving ways by which we can look at someone else because of a little tiny difference than us. We can have good doctrine, but the question is, where is Allah for one another? I find it always interesting to look at places like Ephesians, where the Ephesians received all the doctrines of predestination, and then in Revelations, they basically forsook their first law. And so we don't want to go that way. Christ's prayer is not asking for prosperity for us, or worldly needs, but sanctification and holiness, friends. is more than just, you know, as I said, separation from what is evil. There is a love. and fruit of the Spirit. We are between heaven and earth. We are not there yet. We are not of the world, but we are still in the world. We are in a transition moment. But we are not still in our heavenly home. We are being taken away from the dominion of Satan, yes, and his kingdom. But in our being in a station somehow, awaiting to go in heaven, we are still in that world. We're not supposed to, because you see, even during the time of formations, there were movements that were wanting to basically, even if they wanted to recover baptism, they just wanted to go outside of the world, and they started to kind of go a little bit on the extremes. And we have the damage of carrying that spirit with us. of not having this balanced view of the relationship with the world, in and not of. And then the second thing that he prays, again, is sanctification from verse 17 to 19. What does it say? It says, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. The fourth petition of the Master. Make them holy in the truth, the truth of Scripture. Take and sanctify them in the sense of separation from the world, as we see in the context, but also actual sanctification. Becoming more like Christ, that our entire personality is governed by the truth of God. As we evangelized in previous days, we encounter a lot of people. And you may encounter people of this nature. They say that they believe in God. They say that they believe in the God of the Bible, but they're actually not obeying the God of the Bible. And the question is, do they have such desire? Do you have such desire to submit yourself to the truth of the Bible, even when it challenges your sin? To be separated, to be used That's what he's praying. I send them. That's what he's saying here, which means sanctification includes mission. It's a sanctification and being set apart for a specific purpose. That's what the prophets of old were separated from. I sanctify, I consecrate you to be a prophet, says the Jeremiah. And so the disciple, they are now consecrated. They're not of the world. And then they have to go into all the world. to preach the gospel. And this is only possible into the truth of the scripture. It's not like the false sanctification that, as I said growing up Catholic, the false sanctification which is not rooted in the scripture. The word, your word is truth. This is where the truth is. This is where sanctification lies. I can't build the cabinet of when I buy a cabinet, but I am unwilling to read the manual of instruction. How many people do that? Impatiently, they buy an IKEA cabinet and say, I don't know how to do this, but I'm not going to read the instruction. Well, that's the same thing. If you try to sanctify yourself without the Scripture, it's going to be of no point. No one can be sanctified, no one can be set apart to be used for the Lord if he doesn't learn first to live in conformity with His Word. And that's why to be worldly is so opposed and negative in the Gospel of John. And verse 18 says again, As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. Who is holier? The one who goes up the mountain or the one who goes into the whole world and be a light? this sanctity, this holiness which brings to mission. And again, in the same parallel between the Father and the Son, sent into this fallen world, so we are sent. The Son is sending the disciple, as you sent me, so I sent you. This sanctification is because of the coming mission to the whole world. Yet as He was persecuted, however, we will be persecuted. We will act like sheep among wolves. We will face hatred, persecution, famine, and that requires a large dose of sanctification, doesn't it? But remember, this sanctification is made possible only through Christ. Look at verse 19. And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. What is he saying? How does Christ sanctify Himself? Does He need sanctification? I thought He was the Son of God, perfect, right? Well, this is referring to the role of Christ, again, as we saw in previous weeks, as our High Priest. He obeys to the mission of the Father. And how does he sanctify himself? Because he takes our sins at the cross. John Owen says, the desert of sin clearly shines in the cross of Christ. Never was sin seen to be more abominably sinful and full of provocation than when the burden of it was upon the shoulders of the Son of God. It's a dreadful thought. should lead us to repentance. It is not enough, says Owen, that we are not guilty before the living God, but we must also have this actual righteousness. Therefore Christ removes our sin, yes, but He also sanctifies us at the cross because His righteousness is given to us. and our sin is given to His. This is the essence of the self-sanctification outlined here by Christ. Only by virtue of the fact that He is God, that is divine nature, because we cannot sanctify by ourselves. Christ has to sanctify on our behalf. Christ is our sanctification. His holiness is transposed to us, and our sin is given on His shoulders. And the purpose is that with this mystical union with Christ, we too may be sanctified in the truth. Him, Christ, being that truth. and Him sanctifying us as we open the pages of Scripture every moment of our life. What is the primary mean of sanctification according to this passage? Christ and His Word. Don't look elsewhere as you struggle with sin. How does sanctification relate to prayer? Everything. Because you're, again, communing with God. Some people have an idea of sanctification that is almost, again, negative. All I'm doing is I'm taking away sin, taking away sin, with my effort, I'm going to just do it. This time I'm not going to sin. Right? Is that what sanctification is? It's not. It is Christ communing with him. You look at his face, you read his word, and you are transformed. And he is the one who is acting as you are acting in sanctification. Many talk a lot of nonsense, I'm sorry, about spirituality and prayer. you know, five easy steps to better yourself, and some sort of sanctification that will lead you to be like Gandhi or Mother Teresa or whatever. But they neglect the only source of truth, which is not having some guru or whatever. The truth exists nowhere but in the scriptures. And Christ Himself is the truth, not only the pure truth without mixture, but the entirety of truth without any deficiency, any imperfection. And while we no longer personally have Christ with us, He left us, He's ascended, He's at the right hand of the Father, because of His Spirit, and because of the written Word, He has entrusted to us His Word. And we have Christ right here. The Word of God will never fail us, and He will be the only ultimate authority of all of our Christian life. The fact that this Word is divine, this Word is, especially of Reformed people, we believe that truth is there in the Scripture, right? But where is the unity that should come from, as we will see next week? Where is the unity that should come from having this acquaintance with the truth of God? According to Jesus, the prayer is that they might be one, right? And sanctification should lead to mission. So where is our mission focus? Where is our going out into the world and bringing the mission? Wherever we are, that we are commissioned And through His setting us apart, we should have a burden for such mission. We are in this world for the praise of God, not for ourselves. He calls us out of darkness into this marvelous light. And among us, unfortunately, some of us have only one kind of communion. And it's not a communion with God. It's a communion with sin, with loss, and with the world. And some people are in the world, and of it, of the world. It's not just, you know, in the world but not of. But how can we expect to experience any communion with God if we are not separate from the world? Either we have a new name, or we do not. Either we have a white stone, as Revelation says, in our hands, or we do not. It is time that we turn to Christ in faith, for those who struggle with this. Christ desires us to participate in this Trinitarian reality of the holiness of God. It is not a desire to somehow become like God, because we will never Ontologically, that's the term that theologians use. It's like we will never become him, but we will be like him. We shall see him as he is. We share as finite creatures. These other aspects of the Trinity, which are economical, which means they are displayed to us, they are His actions, His works, and He desires that we might be holy as He is holy. We will still be persons in heaven, we will not be transformed into some gods like in Pantheism, But we will so dwell with the Father, and so governed by the Holy Spirit, and sin will be taken away. And we will indeed partake into this divine nature in the sense of the glory that He has given us. And the desire is that, as we will see next week hopefully, is that through this holiness, as an active holiness, then we will become one. That we will be one. And that people will see that. People will see not only the unity among us, but the holiness that is among us. Apart from the Word of God, however, we have no perfect unity and harmony. You try to tune musical instruments between each other, and it will never work. But if you bring, they call it diapason in Italy, but it's basically those harmonizers. Yeah, that's it. And if you bring that, and all the instruments are looking at that, and they conform themselves to that, then what is the result? Complete unity. But, sanctification comes first. And how do we get sanctified? Through the Word of God. Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for this. This marvelous prayer that as we approach you and we look at our prayers, we see all the deficiencies, how we lack in all things, Lord, and how we often neglect to realize that all the means of sanctification, all the means of preservation are contained in the promises of God. And we stand on such promises. We stand on Your Word, Lord. And we pray that we will eat this Word like honey to our lips, Lord. And even when it's actually hard to digest, Lord, because of our sin, that You will help us to still seek You in Your Word, diligently, Lord. And we pray that such word will then sanctify us, purify us, purify our mind, first of all, Lord, which is fallen, which is prone to wander. And we pray also, Lord, that you will use this word to then set us apart for your work of mission, Lord, into all the world, and that the people will see a holy nation, a priesthood, Lord, of people who, together, are bringing that light into the world. We ask You that You will be with us in this morning and this day that we consecrate to You, Lord, and fellowship with You. We pray that You will be with us for the rest of the day. In Jesus' name, Amen. If you have any questions, please feel free to approach me, but, again, we need to move on.