Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040523.htm

ADAPTING TO BENEFIT FROM CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR US
Part II: Adapting To Benefit From Christ's Assurances FOR Us
(John 17:1-26 with 16:33)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

When we ACTUALLY HEED God's Word as we taught last week, a big challenge we face is the threat of insecurity and spiritual failure before an errant, hostile secular and religious world:

(1) Last week we learned that Jesus predicted from John 16:33 with John 18:19-20 that we would have tribulation not only from the secular, but even from the errant religious world if we heeded God's Word. Many of us have already known this to be true in our experience, so we may wonder if we will become "disconnected" to fellowship with other believers altogether due to our heeding God's Word when many other BELIEVERS fail to do so to our degree! This leaves us wondering if we may face spiritual "loneliness"!

(2) Compounding this problem is the fact that the secular world is increasingly contrary to Bible-heeding believers. The May 17th, 2004 issue of the USA TODAY paper reveals this as follows:

(a) Cathy Grossman wrote: "People are bombarded . . . [in the media] with images of terror and torture and degradation, in living color, 24/7 . . . [witnessing inhumane acts from recent events in the Middle East] even vicariously, can go beyond the brain, into your body, your whole nervous circuitry.' [Ms. Grossman cited an expert who said]: It can make you feel helpless, that . . . there is no possible response to what's going on.'"

(b) That paper also reported: "Massachusetts becomes the nation's first state to marry gay and lesbian couples today . . ," a move that almost defies imagination when we consider that Massachusetts is where our godly pilgrim forefathers landed in 1620!

(c) Then, another article claimed: "These days, black families are fleeing city schools . . . [Detroit school board chairman William Brooks alluded to] serious middle-class black flight' . . ." We are beyond the "white flight" of the 1960s: now a whole generation of Americans is giving up on the state of education in its inner cities!

So, in VIEW of Christ's claim that we would face trouble from an objecting secular AND ERRANT RELIGIOUS world for heeding God, HOW do we handle the temptation to FEEL INSECURE and HAMSTRUNG from PRODUCTIVE living while we pursue FELLOWSHIP with GOD and HEED His WORD?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "From last week's sermon, I feel VULNERABLE before the big, bad, ERRANT secular AND RELIGIOUS realms that oppose me! How am I supposed to function in view of such a threatening setup?!"
  1. Christ's John 17 WORDS offer ASSURANCES for a STABLE, FRUITFUL LIFE for us while we live in an errant, hostile world:
    1. Jesus claimed we could have peace in Him to offset the tribulation we would receive from the world for heeding His Word, John 16:33.
    2. His John 17 prayer reveals God's assurances FOR us that, if applied, offset fears and failure we may have in being faced by a hostile world:
      1. All of Jesus' words in John 17 reveal assurances for us believers:
        1. 1 John 3:22 teaches one must be right with God to get answers to prayer, and 1 John 5:14-15 claims one must offer prayers that meet God's will for God to answer them in the affirmative!
        2. Well, God the Father in Matthew 17:5-6 said Jesus was both upright and that He did His will, so all Jesus said in His John 17 prayer, be it in a declarative way or as a request, is factual!
      2. Since various opponents we face in heeding Scripture are named in John 17, we may peruse John 17 to see Christ's assurances that supply victory over all our fears and failure as we obey Scripture.
  2. John 17 thus contains Christ's ASSURANCES for us to have a STABLE, FRUITFUL LIFE as we live in a hostile world as follows:
    1. Security One - Nothing HAS to keep us from having God's peace!
      1. In John 17:5, Jesus revealed He would be glorified with the Father, being exalted to the Father's right hand, Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, ftn.
      2. When Christ arrived in heaven, He was given authority over all forces that can trouble believers, be they the devil, demons, or men in the secular or errant religious world, cf. Ephesians 1:19-23!
      3. Thus, by Christ's current heavenly position, He can intervene to keep all such opponents at bay so that we can have peace in Him!
    2. Security Two - Nothing CAN keep us from being eternally saved:
      1. Jesus has been granted power to give eternal life to all who come to know Him and the Father by faith alone, John 17:2-3; 3:16.
      2. Then, once saved, one's salvation is not corruptible by any entity in creation, be it evil spirits, the world or even the believer himself; we are kept saved by the Name, i.e., the very attributes of God Himself, cf. John 17:11-12 KJV; Bible Know. Com., N.T., p. 332.
    3. Security Three - Christ's salvation is true and all others are false:
      1. John 17:6a reveals Jesus manifested the Name, or the Person of God the Father (Ibid.), and John 17:4a,b reveals He did so fully.
      2. The God Jesus revealed is the only true God, cf. John 17:3b.
      3. Thus, no teaching that differs from Christ's can equal His truth about God and salvation (i.e., that of Mormonism's Joseph Smith or Islam's Mohammed or the Jehovah's Witnesses C. T. Russell).
      4. Also, Jesus excels in Personhood all other religious leaders: He is now glorified in Heaven with the same eternal glory He had with the Father as the eternal God before the world existed, Jn. 17:5.
      5. Thus, the salvation offered by Jesus is the only true one, and all differing religious claims by all differing sources are FALSE!
    4. Security Four - Evil spirits and the world itself can not harm our spiritual welfare before God; God HIMSELF sees to it, 17:6, 15!
    5. Security Five - We who heed Scripture will not be left alone in life: God unifies us with all who heed His Word, John 17:6, 11b.
    6. Security Six - God makes us who Heed Him effective disciplers:
      1. The goal of God in securing our salvation is to unify Bible-heeding believers into a single, true, godly unity, John 17:6, 11b.
      2. Then, God's goal in that resulting unity is to use that unity to make the world KNOW the reality of our Christian faith, 17:21b, 23b, and to KNOW God truly loves us as He does Jesus, 17:23c.
      3. Thus, God makes us who heed Him credible heralds of His truth!
    7. Security Seven - When we heed God, it keeps us from experiential sin and its defeat, John 17:6, 15-17 with 1 John 2:14b.
    8. Security Eight - Every believer will have a glorious end to this life: he will enter heaven and see Christ's glory as the eternal God to the believer's reward of his faith in Jesus, John 17:24.
    9. Security Nine - We who heed God will come to have His love in us for God and others, John 17:6, 25-26.
Application: If feeling threatened by an errant, hostile secular and religious world, (1) trust in Christ for salvation from sin to be POSITIONED by GOD'S SALVATION and His ATTRIBUTES for stability and fruitful living. (2) Then, to EXPERIENCE God's STABILITY and FRUITFULNESS in life, HEED His Word and trust HIS John 17 ASSURANCES to find experiential blessing in the midst of an opposing world!

Lesson: By God's OWN ATTRIBUTES, every believer has ACCESS to practical STABILITY and FRUITFUL living THOUGH CONFRONTED by a HOSTILE, ERRANT SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS WORLD: by HEEDING Scripture, every believer WILL EXPERIENCE practical STABILITY and BLESSING NOW though FACED by a hostile world!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 There is a wedding reception to be held this coming Saturday in the pavilion at People's State Forest, and those who will be present are living testimonies to the fifth assurance listed in this sermon -- that of God's work to unify believers who heed the truth.

First of all, the Christian bride who will come to the reception by horse and carriage will be a young woman who three years ago we thought might not live long due to health problems related to several brain surgeries. Yet, by God's grace and two later brain surgery procedures, she is well enough to get married and start a new life.

Second, the bride's mother came from a Christian home, but only due to God's grace. The bride's maternal great grandfather landed in New York City's Ellis Island as an ungodly young immigrant from Sweden. Yet, by God's grace, he heard the gospel from an American preacher and was saved, and attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He then gave the gospel to the Bride's maternal grandfather who in turn raised the bride's mother in a home where she could believe in Christ and in turn impact the Bride to believe in Him.

Third, the bride's father came from a Christian home, but only because of God's grace. Both the bride's paternal grandmother and paternal grandfather came from ungodly homes, but were adopted or fostered by gracious Christians who gave them the gospel to believe.

Fourth, the groom who was saved through faith in Christ by God's grace, on May 17th during the week before his wedding, obtained a good paying job so he could support his new bride, and that as a result of extensive answers to prayer by many believers!

Fifth, the bride will be arriving at the pavilion by horse and carriage much to her personal joy, and that because her father was able to afford it; her father could afford it because the Church where he is employed as its pastor was able by God's grace to deal with a financial crisis it faced the year before and thus keep paying his salary.

Time would fail for us to give the story of God's work in relation to that wedding and its reception. Yet, in the end, our meeting will be the result of the grace of GOD that has united us all in Him!

So, blessing as a Bible-heeding believer in our errant and hostile world is POSSIBLE, but only as a MIRACLE of GOD'S POWER that comes by FAITH! May we heed God's Word and see HIM bless us by His power!