Sanctify Them By Thy Truth

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That's about what I was thinking too All right, we have been
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We're actually getting we're actually getting to the point where I I think we might be getting back to the synoptics again someday
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There's only so many verses in John chapter 17, so we can't be in here forever no matter how slowly
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I go So as long as we're making any progress at all we will eventually finish John chapter 17, but It's it's taken a while we were in the middle of the chapter
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Talking about the relationship of the disciples and the world So we'll start reading at verse 16
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John chapter 17 Uh -huh. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world
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Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth as you set me into the world
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I also have sent them into the world for their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth
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I do not ask on behalf of these alone But for those also who believe in me through their word that they may all be one even as you father are in me and I And you that they also may be enough.
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So if the world may believe that you sent me and so we had looked at the
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Prayer, of course, it's the high priestly prayer of Christ in regards to his disciples and we have discussed beforehand the reality of the fact that The initial application of these words is to the disciples themselves we see that very clearly in verse 20
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I do not ask on behalf of these alone But for those also who believe in me through their words, so who are those who believe in me through their word?
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Those would be well everybody but the disciples as far as those who are believers in Christ and we also by the way just in passing unless I forget note
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Something important there are sometimes people today who would say well, you know The gospel writers didn't really see what was coming they didn't see
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The the arising of the church Thought it was to be very short -term thing and yet it seems rather clear that Jesus has in mind in verse 20
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Those later generations those many other generations of those who would believe notice
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Through their word to the testimony that they would give forth to the world. So This is part and parcel of the initial
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Apostolic teaching that there would be a church and that that church would would grow and it would be through the means of the testimony of these disciples that that would take place and Then we we emphasize of course the
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Distinction that is made the number of different ways in which the word world is used in the gospel of John They are not of the world verse 16 even as not
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I am NOT of the world Yet we had also seen that in verse 18 as you sent me into the world
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I also sent them in the world. And so you have all these different ways in which the term world is used by John We are not of the world.
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We do not find our source our happiness our Fulfillment in that which the world can provide just as Jesus did not and in being
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And in making that statement of the distinction of disciples from the world That we then had verse 17 sanctify them in the truth your word is truth and We discussed the fact that this refers to that Setting apart making holy making different the work of the truth in our life when we are seeking to apply it with regularity when we are seeking to Honor the truth.
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We want to know the truth not just a basic Truth, but we recognize once you understand what the gospel is it has ramifications for every aspect of our lives in other words, we would call the the construction and application of a
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Christian worldview That no Christian ever comes to the point where they've got everything figured out
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Every Christian is always in that not only that battle against sin but likewise that battle to live a consistent
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Christian life to apply the entirety of the faith to all of life and So that requires a knowledge of the truth.
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This is why we value the truth. This is why we Defend the truth is because without truth there will be no sanctification.
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There will be no setting apart We have no way of knowing what God's will is we need to know what the truth is and we find that truth in God's Word in the various ways in which that is communicated to us.
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We see your word is truth We know that the words of Christ are in perfect harmony with those the father
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So everything that the Father and the Son reveals to us that is truth It's the spirit that allows us to understand these things.
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So it's a it's a triune operation of the Communication of truth to us and of course then how do we know?
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what What Jesus says, how do we know what the father had said? God has preserved these things for us through the mechanism of Scripture And so there is a number of different ways of describing the
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Word of God in that way But what is descriptive of the Word of God in all of its forms is truth.
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It is true It's not surprising to me that we live in a day Where people will deny that we can ever really know the truth
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When you think about it once man makes himself the center of all things He destroys the only mechanism whereby we can truly say that we know truth
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We are insufficient to function as the ground The fancy term is epistemology the ground of how we know what we know.
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We're too small. We don't live long enough We don't know enough Once you put man in the center
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The ability to know things with with certainty sufficiency comes to an end and It was only when man really recognized that God is the one who defines all things.
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God is the one who Reveals to us what truth is and he is sufficient
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He his word is sufficient to function as the foundation for our knowledge of all things
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It's only within that context That we can have true knowledge
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Man today has been left in a in a vacuum where it's one opinion versus another opinion it's one feeling versus another feeling and really, the reality is you have to be able to claim to know everything to know anything at all anymore and of course
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Secular man does not live consistently with that secular man does say there are certain things we know for certain
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And basically it's his his God science that we know for certain even though They have to admit that the conclusions of their
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God science Can change and do change with regularity and with frequency?
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But that's just the the character of that idol is that it changes its pronouncements with regularity and Woe be to us who would think that there is actually an objective truth that we can know it
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Not that we're smarter than someone else We just happen to be willing to leave our eyes and ears open to listen
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Rather than closing our eyes and ears the very sources that God has given to us and we must understand that the secular worldview
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Closes the very mechanisms that God has given to us or met or by we can truly know the world around us
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That is why secularism robs from mankind His highest aspirations and highest possibilities of accomplishment
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That is why our young people are having stolen from them the true experience of happiness and fulfillment in the ways that God has
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Provided for us in for example an understanding of how he has made us our purpose in this world gender sexuality marriage family, it's all
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Crumbling before our very eyes because the secular worldview has no foundation for maintaining these things and therefore we are losing these things and We are called to be salt and light in the midst of this this crooked and perverse generation
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So Jesus then says verse 18 as you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world
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We have the sending of the father by the sending the son by the father Affirmed once again, and then on the basis of that authority.
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He then sends us into the world so in other words as the son had a
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Prophetic role he is prophet priest and King likewise We are sent into the world with there is a purpose for us again
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Christian salvation is not just a personal thing where you got you got saved now, so everything's everything's good.
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Nothing else really matters There is a reason there is a purpose Whereby we have been saved and we have been sent into the world for a purpose
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And that purpose of course not only is personal in our own experience and that we are being conformed to the image of Christ But likewise he uses us as the mechanism and means by which he communicates the gospel message to the world
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Then we have this very important Verse and verse 19 for their sakes
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I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth now.
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I will Suggest to you that the first portion of verse 19 is
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Specifically in reference to what Christ is about to accomplish on the cross of Calvary That setting himself apart
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Notice What it says in behalf in behalf of them
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I? sanctify myself and If we are correct that that Action in the
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Greek the Greek verb hagiadzo that is found there. I sanctify myself it's followed by a reflexive pronoun and It just reminds me of how many times this happens in the
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New Testament in regards to Christ's Role he for example humbled himself He made himself of no reputation in Philippians chapter 2
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Jesus is not some Passive agent being forced into a role by a power outside of himself
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Even though the father is always seen as the source the son is Likewise presented numerous times as actively involved in laying aside privileges here sanctifying himself
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Does the is the father involved yes the father's involved is the Holy Spirit involved yes,
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I mean That's why I've emphasized so many times the gospel is
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Triune and when we allow the whole of the text to speak to us
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We will see this because we will see the centrality of the father is the one who is is the one
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Sending the one who is the fountainhead of all this will see the centrality of the son And here he he sanctifies himself, and and how does he how does he do this?
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Well by the power of the Holy Spirit the resurrection the resurrection in different places in Acts and the epistles the father who raises up the son and Jesus says
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I take my life back, and then it's the Spirit who does this is spirit who raised him you you cannot look at the gospel without seeing the
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Differing roles that the divine persons play in it and so it is
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When we do not understand the Trinity when we do not understand the triune nature of God of Necessity our view of the gospel will have to be truncated it will have to be simplified to a level beneath New Testament revelation and So if we really want to understand, and if we really want to enter into what the
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New Testament teaches And we have to see that it is the work of the triune God so here for their sakes
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In in their behalf for their sakes I sanctify myself And so there is a it is an amazing thing to to recognize that while the son does what the father?
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has has determined that he is to do he is fulfilling the father's will not my will but thine be done right and So there is clearly the obedience of the son to the father but there is also
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I think here solid biblical ground for that that beautiful hymn that talks about the fact that the
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The son you know if my name is written on his hands My name is graven on his heart in the work of the cross itself that there was a in other words there is a personal deeply intensely personal aspect
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To the giving of the son in behalf of his people upon the cross of Calvary This again.
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I think is important in light of how many people want to turn the cross into a provision of a general
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Amnesty shall we say a a general atonement that creates a
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In some systems a pool of grace that then by the sacraments you get hold of that grace or something like that Or those that would say well the death of Christ makes salvation possible
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It makes it possible for there to be an elect people But we're the ones that that by what we do whether it's faith faith repentance faith friends baptism the list goes on and on We then fill up this nameless faceless group called the elect
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Whatever the the synergistic system that's out there it's impersonal it has to be impersonal and Yet, this is a very very personal statement in behalf of them.
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I sanctify myself and so if this is truly is the setting of himself apart as Not only high priest, but also as the offering as we've seen in the book of Hebrews so many times then this is very much a personal action
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It cannot be turned into some kind of impersonal Faithless nameless group and that is unfortunately.
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I think the result that our synergistic friends Have whether they want to admit it or not
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Whether they want to recognize it or not the intensely personal aspect of substitution taking the place of the elect of God upon the cross of Calvary is lost and If you lose if you've lost it there, you're going to lose it
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Every place else you're going to lose it in every other aspect as well Yes, ma 'am
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Uh -huh different what?
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Uh -huh your church is longer as in meeting.
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Oh, oh, okay That that's longer. Yeah, yeah Okay, so what's
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So you mean in you mean in in this text or Right, right don't know where we're at as far as John chapter 17
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Verse 19 That Yeah, that would that would definitely
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Cause some confusion. Yeah, we're looking at that. So that's I fully understand. Yeah, John chapter 17 verse 19
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Right for their sakes I sanctify myself they may themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
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We're looking at Jesus is prayer. This is right before the cross and so Yeah, I can understand that's given that we've been in this study for a couple of months it might be a little bit difficult to sort of pick up in the middle, but I think it is an important section and Hopefully you'll you'll be able to gain something from that and in the morning service.
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We're in the book of Romans. So we normally work through books and That's what we've been doing and going verse by verse.
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So You can sort of dive in anywhere though There might be some might be some things that I'll mention that definitely come from preceding studies
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But hopefully we'll be able to make it understandable for everybody. And so what Jesus is saying here is that he sanctifies himself and behalf of a specific people this refers to his sacrifice upon the cross and Then it has a purpose
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What I love about the biblical teaching Is its balance?
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notice that Jesus does this and then In the original language you have what's called a
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Hinnah clause There's a purpose there is a there's a reason why
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Jesus does this that they themselves Also may be sanctified in truth Now I've ever thought there
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Believe me when I was in seminary There are a lot of people who thought this was a really cool thing to sort of Play with these these thought games
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But I remember which which class oh, yeah, I remember which class it was now I remember this one professor
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That thought it was really neat that in modern theology There are people who had developed the idea that that God was taking risks
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The God is the risk -taking God And that these were real risks in other words
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God could have failed He could have failed in the mission of Jesus and that when
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Jesus Gives himself man. This is risky business because it might not have accomplished what
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God wanted And I remember sitting there in class going What book are you reading again?
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Where are you getting this from because it seems to me that And of course we understand how they came to this conclusion
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We're talking about folks who don't really believe that the gospel of John is is reflective
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But what Jesus actually taught or believed and things like that and so they sort of take the Bible apart And they're picking and choosing
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I know how they get to where they they got to but if you allow Jesus to speak for himself in the
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New Testament speak for Itself there is a direct relationship Between the action of Christ in sanctifying himself and The result of that being that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth
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Jesus is under Under no illusions that he's going to fail He is under no illusions that his offering of himself is somehow not going to accomplish
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What the Father Son and Spirit intend that sacrifice to accomplish that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth means
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That Jesus recognizes that not only is he going to save Those all those the father's given to him remember
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John chapter 6 John chapter 8 John chapter 10 This has been a theme. We've seen all the way through the gospel of John Not only is that salvation in the ultimate sense going to take place
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But there is the reality that in this life. They are going to be sanctified in truth there is going to be an accomplishment of the
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Father Son and Spirit's desire that the person who repents and believes in Christ will be conformed to his image will be made to be like him and What is the what is the the power through which this comes
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Only in and through the work of Jesus Christ. You've got it. You've got got to be very careful when you think of the
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Spirit of God working in our lives today Just as the
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New Testament makes the connection Between saying that the same spirit who raised
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Jesus from the dead is operational in us So putting that connection together for us that we should never
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Go, well, you know, that's how things were back then but you know The spirits not quite as powerful now.
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No same spirit who raised you from the dead is now operational within us in The same way what the
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Spirit is doing is not some he's not off on his own Doing his own thing.
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It is the continuation of And the application of that one perfect work of Christ That is the very source of how we are
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Sanctified in the truth if Christ had not set himself apart if he had not sanctified himself
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There would be no mechanism for our sanctification we couldn't ever do it on our own and In our sanctification today that is a
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Part of the work of Christ he has You say but but it's the Spirit who's working within us.
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Yeah, but remember what Jesus has said in John chapter 14. I And my father will come and make our abode with them how by the
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Holy Spirit That was
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John chapter 14. I believe it's off top my head. I think it's verse 23. You could say that.
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Yeah We don't go very fast. We're actually supposed to be studying Matthew Mark and Luke Richard well the
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Matthew Mark and Luke together called the synoptic Gospels because they see things together.
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We've actually been studying them, but I Just felt like I had to throw John in there as well
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And so for quite some time we've been doing John 14 15 16 and 17 once we finish 17
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Then I'm going to go back to looking at Matthew Mark and Luke Yeah, yes,
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I normally teach the adult Sunday school class, but I also do a lot of traveling and so we have other teachers to take my place and so And one of the elders right so I also preach
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I won't be preaching this morning though Yes, he is
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Yes, he is We have more than we have we believe in what's called a plurality of elders where you have more than one elder in the church
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Yes, yeah more than one elder right, that's okay, that's all right
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Yeah, I understand Well It's hard to it would be difficult for me to explain why right now
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It's just we believe that the New Testament very clearly teaches that when the Apostles established the local churches
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They said they didn't just put one man in charge of each one when you look the term elder pastors bishops
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Yeah, I I know I know how it works, but Yeah, I understand
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I understand so The day themselves also may be sanctified in truth also.
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There's one other application that I want to make Before we move to verse 20 Because of the fact that immediately following this we have verse 20
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Which extends these promises to us? There's something that we need to see there There are a lot of people in the church today a lot of people in in leadership in the church today that have come to question
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Whether we still can really know the truth I? Think there is a famine amongst ministers of the gospel in what we would even identify as sound churches in confidence that we still possess the
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Word of God and If you don't have confidence that we possess the
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Word of God it can know the truth of God. You're not going to proclaim the truth with any level of confidence or power
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Now part of this is due to the fact that we live in a post -enlightenment age and Part of it is due to the way in which we do
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Christian education We conservatives And there's everything right in this to a point
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We conservatives when we study theology We study what people say who don't believe like we do
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We study what people say who believe like we do too But we don't just limit our exposure to just our little narrow tradition
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We look at what other people say now. It's interesting to me The more liberal the seminar you go into the left.
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That's true. I Can guarantee you that in really liberal seminaries today?
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They don't give any time whatsoever to what we believe they don't care They don't think it has any meaning doesn't have any worth.
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I'm gonna worry about it, but in conservative seminaries. We want to know What the liberals are saying and why they're saying it and so it's it's really a one -way street
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The problem is that we've also Adopted the thinking and this is why
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I said many times the Christian bookstore can be one of the most dangerous places spiritually for a believer
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Why let me let me explain why? Because if we even if you were to walk into Christian books or they just looking for a commentary on the gospel of John for example
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You could find some great commentaries But you could also find and would probably more likely find a lot of really compromised commentaries that Would raise all sorts of issues from a not really consistent biblical worldview and so I'm afraid we have fallen into a trap in a lot of even conservative even amongst conservative publishing houses
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That if you're going to address a text you you've got to tell everybody Everything that there have been said about this text even when it's not edifying or even useful
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The result of this is that a person who graduates from most seminaries today I Saw this happen, and I'll never forget this guy can still see his face to this day.
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I remember this fellow When we started seminary about the same time together And he graduated just before I did
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I think he graduated with a master's degree in confusion
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He really did I mean he came in pretty much understood came in pretty much knowing what to believe he didn't graduate that way and it was a it was a sad thing to observe and to see it really really was and So for a lot of people today for a commentary to be scholarly it has to have 47 ,000 footnotes talking about every possible harebrained interpretation that's ever been offered out there
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I don't I try not to write that way It's great to learn
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From other people it's great to know that there are other perspectives out there But to spend so much of one's time cataloging all these different viewpoints and things like that There's there's only so much time that we can spend really studying the word anyways, and so it seems
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Really like like a waste of time to me the point being this there's a promise here that the truth will continue to be available to all of those who follow after Christ as long as the
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Sun rises and sets as long as Christ continues to build his church
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God's truth would be available and you think about you think about some of the Situations that our brothers and sisters face in the world today
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You think about the 30 ,000 people arrested in North Korea there were 30 ,000
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Christians in North Korea. I mean think about that Somehow the truth even gets there even in the darkest of places
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And That's always the way it's going to be and I I have to keep this in mind because I see so much
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Perversion the truth I see so much heresy. I have to deal with so often that what's the what's the human tendency discuss?
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It's all over with You know it's it's it's over with wait. We've lost the young people or whatever else it might be no
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No, Christ will always be sanctifying his people in truth and No matter how wacky and weird and strange
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The the teachings might get out there Christ sheep hear his voice and That will always be the case and we can have confidence that that's not meant to make us complacent
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That's not meant to make us go. Oh well everything is okay, then We want to be passionate in our defense of the truth, but not up to us
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God's given us a promise and he's gonna He's gonna follow through on that so I do not ask on behalf of these alone
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But for those also who believe in me through their work. What is the purpose of?
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the continuing ministry of The Word of God the church throughout the ages, but to bring people to believe
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Not in some nebulous God concept Once again no matter how hard you try
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You can't get around the fact that in these words
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You do not have any kind of pluralism Pluralism the idea there are many ways to God That that ways you know
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Buddhism Islam Hinduism It almost seems and I know he has his defenders, but it seems that the current bishop of Rome Might have some problems with this too he's made some comments that I'm just wondering if sometime he's not just going to pop right out and Say it because he's made some comments that have led a lot of rather intelligent people to conclude that what he's saying is
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If you're a good atheist you're still going to make it and You're left going
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How does that work You know what what what's going on here?
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Whatever else we say notice for those also who what not just who believe
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But there is this little phrase in me It is belief in Christ and it is the purpose of those of us who are in those generations down the road who have believed through the word of that preceding generation and the preceding generation
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And this is how the church is is is continued down to the ages Believe in me through their word when our word
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No longer forcefully calls people to a unique Faith in Jesus Christ, then we're no longer recipients of these promises
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Sadly there are a bunch of denominations today bunch of denominations that because of societal pressure
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Because the society says we don't want to hear that message We've got you know you got to accept this this and this and and we don't you know we don't we don't like this idea of an exclusive mechanism of Salvation in Christ alone, and you know if you don't want to believe in Jesus.
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That's fine for you, but for you know You can't dance for everybody. That's the way our world speaks.
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That's the way our world thinks But As a result there have been entire denominations who have decided that Believe is enough
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Whatever that might be can't ask the question believe in me through their word the testimony of the followers of Christ must always clearly point those who are listening to The true
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Jesus Christ, not just to some nebulous Christ concept or Christ Consciousness or any of this other weird stuff that's out there
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It needs to be focused upon the Jesus of the scriptures who made claims for himself
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That are very offensive to our society today very offensive and There is a cost
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There is and it's going to get greater in the very near future to be faithful to these words and To not give in and to not compromise.
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There is no question about it, but notice something What's the big push? What's always
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I? Get this all the time If you emphasize truth
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You're gonna what you're gonna divide People you divide people you're so interested in doctrine doctrine.
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Just divide. I just want Jesus How many times you've heard that? Yesterday I did two quick videos posted them in response to a an attack on John MacArthur MacArthur's ministry got a
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Got a question in he did a one minute and 52 second response as I recall
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And of course the Huffington Post when when ballistic as the Huffington Post does every day and I did a couple seven or eight minute videos
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Commenting on the attack upon and they quoted this guy. He's got a new book coming out
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They called this guy, you know going after MacArthur and and basically this whole thing was you know, well
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You just we just need to follow Jesus and not any of these other people
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Which I guess included Paul or something and You know, this is how you have unity
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Unity will only come when you're really just focused on Jesus. That sounds wonderful sounds so pious doesn't it?
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What does that mean? How do you follow Jesus without following what the New Testament says, how do you follow
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Jesus up following what Jesus himself said and Notice the very next phrase
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After believing in him through their word is verse 21 that they may all be one
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What's the only way to be what's the only way for true? Christian unity to exist but for it to exist in the fullness of the light of God's truth and Yet what's the emphasis amongst most people today?
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You create unity By coming up with the least amount of truth upon which we can possibly agree
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Remember in math remember math class When number fractions some of you're going.
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Oh, please no Stop and and when you had to when you had to work with fractions, you had to get them all down and What you use was the
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LCD remember the least common denominator Am I giving am I making any of you twitch right now?
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yeah, I realized that some of you are twitching right now, but the the least common denominator and Unfortunately what most what we're hearing a lot of today is
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That that's the only kind of Christianity that will ever have unity is
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LCD Christianity The least common denominator Christianity where it's like well we believe in God and Jesus and The cross and resurrection, but please don't ask us anything more specifically than that like what any of that really means
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Because then you're gonna find out that we're not nearly as unified as we thought we were and so you've got
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LCD Christianity which really can't answer any of the world's questions cannot produce a Christian worldview cannot have any compelling message
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Cannot offer solutions to anything But that's what we're told we need to be promoting as LCD Christianity And if you don't then you're a you're a divider, and you're a you're you you're just a big meanie
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You're a meanie head that's sort of how it's expressed on the on the internet without saying meanie head
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But that's sort of the same level of maturity Doesn't work The only way to unity the
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Jesus is going to describe here is being sanctified by the truth the only way only way
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Unfortunately with that as the brother looked at his watch right as I was looking at him Was that was that a message to me or just that no no no wasn't a message to me, okay?
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all right, let's uh I Do and but I'm not wearing my glasses so it's not nearly as clear as it normally is so Let's close our time with the word of prayer
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Father we do thank you for the opportunity you've given to us once again to open your word as we go into worship now
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We pray that you would indeed give us understanding of your truth that our worship be pleasing to you
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That you would open our hearts and our minds and that you would be glorified and all that takes place we pray in Christ's name