Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060709.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XXXIX: Enjoying God's Parenting In An Evil, Perilous World
H. Part VIII - Rejoicing In God's Blessed Sovereign Agenda For Us
(John 17:1-26)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

A Christian friend has often spoken with me over the years about news of troubling things around him. Unsettling world events, the growth of apostasy that undermines core values in our society and issues in his personal experience on a local basis have often disturbed him. However, at the end of each expressed concern, he has often said, "But I can't forget what you told me about Matthew 16:18 where Jesus said, 'I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' I cling to that promise, and it keeps me going!"

Sometimes, we just need assurance of the fact that God is on the throne of heaven and everything still fits His plan, and today's message out of John 17 does just that!



So, in view of the many spiritual pitfalls we face in this life, what ENCOURAGEMENT does GOD provide for us today out of Christ's High Priestly Prayer in John 17 that He is at work for the SPIRITUAL benefit of us, His people?!



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

Need: "There are so many serious spiritual pitfalls we believers face in life that we can fear the future! Is there encouragement on this?"
  1. Jesus knew His disciples would be prone to spiritual harm from the world, so He revealed God's parental oversight of them, Jn. 13:33:
    1. Satan entered Judas after Jesus gave him the sop and said it meant he would betray Him; yet, the other men stayed vulnerable to defeat in spiritual ignorance regardless of Jesus' revelation, John 13:21-30!
    2. Jesus then said Peter would deny Him (John 13:37-38), and from John 18:1-3, 24-27, we know that this sin would be fueled by Peter's fear of those to whom he would finally realize Judas had betrayed Jesus!
    3. So, knowing the disciples would be vulnerable to spiritual harm in the world as He left for heaven, Jesus spoke of God's parental oversight:
      1. Christ called His disciples "little children" in John 13:33, using the word, teknia, "a diminutive expression [of] . . . affection . . . like a father to his little children;" strikingly, this term appears only here in all of the Gospels, Leon Morris, John (NICNT), p. 632, ftn. 67.
      2. Later in that conversation, Jesus said He would not leave His men "as orphans" ['orphanous] (John 14:18; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 388; Arndt & Ging., Grk.-Eng. Lex. of N. T., 1967, p. 586).
  2. Part of that Divine Parental Oversight ministry was Christ's Great Intercession that shows God's sovereign agenda for believers in view of the many, deep, disastrous spiritual pitfalls they face:
    1. Since Jesus always did the Father's will (John 8:29), His intercession in John 17:1-26 was given in accord with the Father's will.
    2. Now, those who do His will in their lives and who pray in accord with the Father's will have their prayers answered, 1 John 3: 22; 5:14-15.
    3. Thus, the following intercession by Jesus for believers in Church History actually exposes God's Blessed Sovereign Agenda for them:
      1. First, God WOULD glorify [and HAS done so!] His SON by His resurrection and ascension following the cross, John 17:1-5:
        1. Jesus asked that the Father would glorify Him with the glory He had with the Father "before the world existed," John 17:5 ESV.
        2. This glory was Christ's heavenly glory as Eternal God, Jn. 1:1-3.
        3. Well, God answered this prayer by raising Jesus from the dead and enthroning Him in glory at His right hand, Eph. 1:19-23.
      2. Second, God WILL preserve the SPIRITUAL UNITY of TRUE BELIEVERS, John 17:6-13, 20-23:
        1. Jesus asked the Father to preserve believers that they might be spiritually one as Jesus was with the Father, John 17:6-10, 11.
        2. Jesus broadened this request to include not only the original true disciples, but all true believers in Church History, Jn. 17:20-23!
        3. Thus, God will preserve the spiritual unity of true believers down through Church History!
      3. Third, God WILL preserve TRUE BELIEVERS from SATAN'S SPIRITUAL DESTRUCTION, John 17:14-15:
        1. Jesus' request to keep believers from "the evil" (KJV) is better rendered "the evil one" as the NIV has it, John 17:15; cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 332.
        2. Now, Satan tries to destroy believers (Rev. 2:10; 12:10), but Christ's prayer shows God will spiritually preserve true believer's on the earth from Satan's destruction! (1 Jn. 5:18)
      4. Fourth, God WILL SEPARATE TRUE BELIEVERS from evil in the "world" by their exposure to SCRIPTURE, Jn. 17:16-19:
        1. As believers are not of the "world", Jesus asked that they might be "'set apart'" from it by the "truth", 17:16-17a; Ibid., p. 333.
        2. Discerning Jesus' definitions here provides huge applications: (1) by "world," Jesus meant not only the secular realm (John 1:10), but religious circles where Scripture was taught but not actually obeyed, John 7:1-7; 18:20 with Matthew 23:1-3! (2) Then, Jesus defined the "truth" as God's Word, John 17:17b.
        3. Thus, Jesus taught God will separate true believers from evil in both the secular and even profoundly religious but spiritually false realms by the ministry of the Scriptures!
      5. Fifth, God WILL TAKE TRUE BELIEVERS to heaven to behold Christ's eternal divine glory, John 17:24-26.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior from sin to be born into God's spiritual family and enjoy His John 17 oversight, cf. John 1:11-13. (2) As a TRUE believer, may we REST in God's SOVEREIGN AGENDA for US as given in Christ's High Priestly prayer that our JOY may be FULL, cf. John 17:13!

Lesson: We can be SURE that AS (1) God glorified His Son in His resurrection and ascension, (2) He WILL preserve the spiritual unity of true believers, (3) He WILL preserve them from Satan's destruction, (4) He WILL separate them from the evil in the secular and even profoundly religious but false realms by the ministry of God's Word and (5) He WILL take them to heaven to behold Christ's glory!

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

God has long applied Christ's John 17:16-17 request that we be set apart from the "world" by His Word, and here are a few samples:

(1) Back in January of 1972, I transferred from a theological seminary in California to one in Texas. This move in part was due to my resisting the stands the California seminary had STRONGLY taken against theological errors and unbiblical Church unions in Evangelicalism (the "world" in John 7:1-7; 18:20). At the time, God had indicated He was letting me go to the Texas school providing I knew it was not fully upright, insight that had left me feeling uneasy!

(2) This uneasiness persisted for the next 18 years until, in 1990, I was badly injured in a car accident! Why? Minutes before it had happened, I had grumbled to God that I was "just spinning my wheels" since I could not get a gym built at the Church! The structure would have copied the example of a church that had been held up to us in the Texas seminary as a good ministry! So, with confusion and a fear of Almighty God, I stopped pursuing the gym idea! SINCE then, I have become GRATEFUL that God HINDERED me: a gym could have sent us into unbiblical practices to please the masses the gym can attract, a big problem in Evangelicalism now!

(3) In fact, SEVERAL OTHER people connected to our Church have SINCE then -- like me -- been in car accidents that led to their realizing God was using them to point toward holiness!

(4) Since Father's Day, June 18th of this year, I have received word from each of my (young adult) children where each expressed appreciation for his or her rearing relative to our values or stands! As 1 Timothy 3:4-5 reveals an elder knows how to manage the Church by managing his children, God is indicating I MUST KEEP my VALUES and STANDS with YOU as I did with my CHILDREN!

So, as far back as 1972, many of the stands the California Seminary had taken that I had not adopted in the 1 1/2 years I was there I have since been forced to adopt due to God's discipling! Negative prodding by trial and positive encouragements from upright people have corralled me and me with you to get us to where we are today!

Thus, BASED on the past, and in view of the Lord's SOVEREIGN John 17 AGENDA, HE WILL disciple US no matter WHAT occurs in the FUTURE -- we can SAFELY COUNT on it!