Protected By God (part 2) - [John 17:6-19]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Well, I don't know about you, but when somebody tells me that they've been praying for me, my first response is, really?

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You're praying for me? Because I just don't, you know, I don't think that I am a worthy object of their prayer, you know.

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I think, not that I don't, I don't know, maybe, you know, maybe some of it is pride, like I don't need your prayers, I don't think that's right.

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Maybe some of it is humility, I don't know. But I just, I'm surprised, and you know, it was like, you know, just a little inside baseball when

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I was talking to Phil Johnson last week, and he said he doesn't think of himself as a celebrity, and I'm like,

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I wanted to say, Phil, if you're not a celebrity, I don't know who is, but I didn't, you know, I mean, to me, he's a celebrity.

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It was fun for us to get to hang out with him a little bit. But when people say that they're praying for me, my first thought is just kind of surprised, and then

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I'm encouraged, and isn't it encouraging to think that other believers are praying for you?

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Now, imagine how encouraging it must have been for the disciples, right?

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As they're sitting in this upper room, and the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for them.

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I think that's great. I think that'd be super encouraging. They've just had this

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Passover dinner. It's actually the introductory feast for the Passover celebration, and this wasn't what they expected.

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They didn't expect for the Lord Jesus to tell them that he was leaving. They didn't expect

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Judas to leave. They didn't expect the foot washing. There were a lot of things they didn't expect. They didn't expect maybe all the instruction they had received that evening, and the challenges, and even

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Jesus telling them, listen, you guys, I love you, but you're about to just desert me.

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I don't think they expected any of that. But if you've ever had, if you've ever been there when somebody prays, and they pray in such a way that you just feel like you've just been ushered, not willingly or eagerly or any other way, but you've just kind of been shoved into the throne room of God and you're directly in his presence because it is such a powerful prayer.

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I remember I had a seminary professor, and when he prayed, it was just like,

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I don't know how to describe it. It was just like the Holy Spirit was just there in full force every single time he prayed.

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And I just think if you've ever heard that sort of prayer, what do you suppose it was like that night with the

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Lord Jesus Christ praying to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit for these men? They had to be encouraged.

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And for us, as we contemplate the words of the Lord Jesus Christ here in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17,

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I want us to think about it this way. If you were to do a complete study of all the prayers of Jesus, it would not be a very long study because typically he goes to the mountains to pray.

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He does this or he does, or they're short prayers. This is by far the longest prayer that we have recorded for us here in scripture.

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I'm certain that he prayed longer. We just don't have the words. And as we read this,

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I think, you know, my own prayers, how often they're focused on me and little incidents in my life or people that I know and things that I'm concerned about, you know, and I think about how much higher and loftier and more

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God focused our prayers ought to be. And as we read this, it's clear, you know, even as he's praying for the disciples, think about what he's praying for them.

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These aren't little things. These are big things that he's asking for. And as we study this prayer of Jesus, I think our thoughts about prayer are elevated.

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Our hearts ought to be encouraged and our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ just grows.

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And make no mistake, there's a lot of this prayer that applies to us. In verse 20, it says,

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I do not ask for these only, the disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

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And that is us. That's every believer in the world. That's every believer throughout all time. Let's read the verses starting in verse nine,

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John chapter 17, verse nine through 19. I am praying for them.

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I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for, they are yours.

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All mine are yours and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them.

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And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you.

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Holy father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one.

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While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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But now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

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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.

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I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

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They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.

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Your word is truth as you sent me into the world. So I have sent them into the world and for their sake,

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I consecrate myself that they may also be sanctified in truth.

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Now, two weeks ago, we looked at two protective principles for believers so that we might have a more effective testimony of the world.

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And this morning, we're going to look at two additional protective principles. But just to review, the first protective principle was

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Jesus prays for the disciples. He prays for their protection. But notice, he does not pray for the world.

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He does not pray for the fallen, the unchosen, the unsaved.

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Jesus had chosen these disciples. He taught them. He prepared them for what was coming.

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And so he specifically prays for them. And he excluded the world, meaning unbelievers.

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This is not because he was indifferent to unbelievers, but because his life and work are pointed toward seeking and saving.

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Say that again. Jesus came. Why? To seek and save that which was lost. He prays for those that he saves.

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And only those chosen by the Father will be saved. If we think about it in a bigger picture, in whom, if we read through Isaiah 53, where it says he will look,

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Jesus will look and he will be satisfied. In whom is he satisfied? Who worships him?

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In whom will he one day be glorified in heaven? It's the elect.

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Back to verse 10 in John 17. All mine are yours and yours are mine. And listen, and I am glorified in them.

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Verse 9, those whom you have given me for they are yours. There's a clear emphasis in scripture on the ones for whom

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Christ died. For the elect, for those chosen by the Father.

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For they will worship him for all time. Second, Jesus prays for the unity of the disciples.

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Second protective principle, he prays for unity. When Jesus was arrested, he was no longer going to be there.

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He was no longer going to be their daily teacher, leader,

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Lord, their protector. He was going to be absent from them. He was going to send the

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Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, he knew that unity would be vital because they were going to face all kinds of persecution, opposition from the government, from religious leaders, just from unbelievers generally.

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If you recall, we looked at Colossians 3. Colossians 3, because of the standard that Jesus said in John 17, 11, that the standard for believers is to be the same unity that the

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Father and the Son have. So we looked at Colossians 3 and how it talked about believers being compassionate, kind, patient, forgiving one another.

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We discussed how our words and attitudes can undermine the very unity that Jesus prayed for.

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And if you can think of a more contradictory thing than this, Jesus praying for the unity of the body of Christ and then the body of Christ going about and undermining his very prayer by gossip and by having the wrong attitude toward one another and being impatient with one another and angry with one another and not forgiving one another.

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And the world is watching. This unbelieving world. Jesus said what? They'll know you by the love you have for one another.

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And when we bite and devour one another, when we bicker and mock one another, we're really making a mockery of the

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Lord's prayer and his command to be known by the love that we have for one another, this unity that we're to have.

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So this morning, again, two additional protective principles that Jesus prayed. The third one,

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Jesus prays for protection from the world and Satan protection from the world and from Satan.

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Look at verse 12. Really, there, as I noted earlier, there's going to be a changing of the guard, as it were.

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Verse 12, while I was with them, the disciples, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.

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I have guarded them. He emphasizes his personal care for the 11.

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In the Greek, he places his personal pronoun in the sentence to underscore his personal involvement.

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It's as if he says, I myself have kept them. I've kept watch over them.

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I've guarded them. And again, at the end of the verse, there's a similar verb. It's a different word, but similar meaning to protect, to take careful measures, to guard, to protect.

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Well, what's he doing? He uses his own personal pronoun in there to emphasize his personal work in protecting them.

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And then he repeats the same idea. Well, repetition again, emphasis.

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Jesus himself guarded, shepherded, watched over them. But he didn't do this physically.

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In other words, he wasn't shielding them with his might or with weaponry or anything like that.

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Well, in what sense was he protecting them, acting as a sentinel or a watchman over them?

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He was protecting them against apostasy, false doctrine, and believing in it, falling for it.

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How? By keeping them in your name, he says. What does it mean?

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We talked about your name and the name of God and what it means. It means all that he is. And so by revealing the truth to them, by showing them who the father was, he was protecting them.

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When they saw him, they saw the father. His works were the father's works. His words were the father's words.

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In other words, Jesus immersed them in the truth of God. They're walking around, as it were, in a bubble of the truth of God.

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It's no small thing that they were called disciples or learners. He was their teacher and he was constantly teaching them.

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They were out of the world in the sense that they were in Christ. They were with him. They were immersed in this truth at all times.

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Now, if you think about their lives, they were raised in non -Christian homes. Obviously, there were no

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Christian homes. They were raised in false teaching. They were surrounded by false teaching. And they were under constant persecution from false teachers, right?

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I mean, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, they're all false teachers. They're all teaching salvation by works.

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You can be right with God by your own works. It's different today because we don't have the religious structures against us.

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We just have the worldly structures, but similar in that sense. But how were they able to withstand this?

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Again, by being submerged, as it were, in the truth of God, being kept in the name of the father.

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Now, notice that Jesus did not fail Judas. You know, he says,

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I kept them all. Well, there's an exception. There's an asterisk. Look at verse 12.

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And not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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Now, we know who the son of destruction is. The son of destruction is Judas Iscariot.

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And maybe more than just, I think, when we were studying it earlier, I think it was probable that Peter and John knew that Jesus kind of let them know it was

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Judas, but the others didn't know. But now maybe as they think about it, well, wait a minute, he kept all of us except for the son of destruction.

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Well, Judas is missing. How is it that Judas was filled by Satan and betrayed the

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Lord? After all, was he not taught all these same things?

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Did he not walk around in the same bubble as it were? Was Jesus not strong enough?

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Did Jesus fail? May it never be.

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Judas was a son of destruction, which is a Hebrew way of saying that he was utterly lost, that he was designated unto perdition.

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And it tells us why. Jesus tells us why, because it was so that the prophecy could be fulfilled, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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Jesus did not keep Judas. Why? Why did he not protect Judas? Because he protected the ones that the father gave him, and the father didn't give him

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Judas. Judas was not one of the elect. Judas was not one of the given ones.

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Judas, in fact, rejected Christ, and that's why he betrayed him. If you think back to John 13, verse 18, when the

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Lord is instituting communion, and he says this, he says to the 12 now,

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I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. There's 12 men in the room.

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I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But the scripture will be fulfilled.

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He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. That's a fulfillment of a

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Psalm of David, Psalm 41. Same words there. Listen, even my close friend in whom

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I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. David writing what would ultimately be fulfilled by Judas Iscariot.

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So Jesus did not fail Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot was marked out for perdition.

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Now notice verse 13, we're going to see that obedience, that is to say, following the Lord, obeying him, brings joy.

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I am coming to you, he's talking about going to the father, and these things

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I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Now again, the disciples are listening to Jesus praying.

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He's praying all these things in the world, which is to say, on the earth, in their presence.

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And there's a purpose clause, so that. The reason he's doing this, so that. Says that they may have, right, the same joy that Jesus has.

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Okay, Jesus is about to do what? He's about to go to the cross. He's about to suffer as no one else ever had or ever will.

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How could he have joy? Well, it's the joy that he expressed in John 15 verse 11.

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So it's based on abiding in the father's love, which is based on obeying him, being obedient to the father.

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If we think about it this way, when are we the most happy? Is it when we're sinning? No, Christians are happiest when they obey the

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Lord. Saw this meme this week on Facebook, what do

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Christians hate the most? Their own sin, right? One of the things that makes us long for heaven is, yes, we're gonna be with the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we're gonna be in glory forever. Yes, heaven's gonna be wonderful to look at and we wonder if there are gonna be dogs and cats and all those kind of things.

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But the greatest joy in heaven is what? Free from the presence of sin.

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Free from the presence of sin in his presence to sin no more.

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Free from sin forever. Show me a

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Christian who is indifferent to his own sin.

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And I'll show you a Christian who is indifferent to the truth. And most likely, a professing

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Christian who is no Christian at all. Christians hate sin.

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They don't love it. They don't wallow in it. They wanna flee from it.

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They wanna be free from it. Obedience brings joy.

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Now in verse 14, notice that the world is your enemy. The world is your enemy. I have given them, in fact, as we just read through John 17, this section in particular, we just see in the world that phrase over and over and over again.

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And in verse 14, he says, 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.

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We think about it, we go, we have a sign over our door as you leave that says, you know, you are entering the mission field.

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Wasn't the world our mission field? Yes. But if we're going to evangelize people, we have to understand this, that unbelievers are not neutral.

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The world is not neutral. The world hates

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Jesus, hated him when he was here, put him to death. The world hates the truth, right?

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They hate the light. They prefer the darkness. Why? Because their deeds are dark. The world hates those who love

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Jesus. They hate those who love the truth. John 15 verses 19 and 20, if you were of the world, that is to say, if you were part of the world system, if you were subjects of Satan, if you were his loyal followers, the world would love you as its own.

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But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Judas left in chapter 13.

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So when he talks about these not being of the world, he doesn't have to worry about excluding Judas.

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He's talking to the 11 men. He says, if you were of the world, well,

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Judas is of the world. It's these 11 who are not. When we think about being of the world or being separated from the world, here's kind of an easy way to think about it.

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What are your thoughts? What are your desires? What are your priorities? What is it that you are trusting in?

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What is it that you are hoping in? If you're hoping in anything other than the

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Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect work, then maybe you are of the world. D .A.

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Carson said this. He says, the world loves its own and the disciples are not of the world, but are of God and his revelation.

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There are only two camps. There isn't kind of a mini, you know, in -between camp. We hear some people say that I think somebody's being drawn.

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Well, maybe they are and maybe they aren't. But right now, they're of the world. And when

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God transforms them, they don't stay sort of in the world and of God.

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There's only one place they can be. They're either of God or of the world. And the world is our spiritual enemy.

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Yes, our mission field, but our spiritual enemy. Notice also that Satan is your enemy. The ruler of this world is your enemy.

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You look at verse 15. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, Jesus says, but that you keep them from the evil one.

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Now, that first part is curious. Why would it even be an issue whether or not the

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Father should take these 11, 11 to heaven, take these? Why would it even be an issue for him whether or not they should be taken?

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He's going to the Father and leaving them behind. I think, again, that we always think about Jesus as God.

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Well, he's their friend also. He's man. And as their friend, I'm sure he didn't like the idea much of leaving them behind.

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And he knew it was going to be hard on them, be better for them to be in glory, but they can't leave yet.

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They have work to do. And we'll see that in a moment. But even just think about Ephesians 2, 19 and 20.

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So then you are no longer, he's writing to believers, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

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Listen, verse 20, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

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Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. They had to lay the foundation for the church.

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John 17, verse 16, they are not of the world just as I am not of the world.

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Again, the separation, the two camps. Jesus says he's not of the world or he says that the disciples are not just as he's not.

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He's identifying with them. And really, when we think about the resurrection of the Lord, when

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Jesus raises from the grave, that is the culmination, the pinnacle of Satan's defeat.

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That's at the moment when he is absolutely defeated. And he would no longer be able,

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Satan that is, no longer be able to harm or even plot against Jesus or his disciples.

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Well no longer against Jesus, but his full fury would be turned against the disciples, right? Jesus is gone.

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Jesus is raised from the dead. That's a big defeat. Well, what does he do now? Well, now he just goes all out after the apostles and his minions,

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Satan's minions, the world that is to say, obey his desires with great joy, afflicting this poor little band of men, be chased around and persecuted.

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But they would remain in the world faithfully proclaiming the gospel sustained by the Holy Spirit and protected by the father, unified in their love for the son of God, all for Jesus, that they wouldn't affect, overcome the world by the power of the

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Holy Spirit is testimony to the power of God to defeat the power of darkness always.

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Hendrickson wrote this, he said, grant that these disciples, this is Jesus, the essence of Jesus prayer, grant that these disciples may not enter the domain of Satan for they definitely do not belong to his domain.

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They are thine, the father's and mine, Jesus. They do not belong to the wicked world.

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They are not worldly. They're chosen there to be protected. And so we praise for their protection against or from the world and from Satan.

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And our fourth principle is Jesus praise for believers to be protected by the truth, protected by the truth.

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Now, this first verse 17, sanctify them in truth, thy word is or your word is truth.

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I just thought about that, especially these days. I think this could be like a 10 part series or something.

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I don't get 10 parts, but we know this verse. We think about this verse.

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We focus on this verse. We think about what it means for us, right? We want to be sanctified in the truth.

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And by that, we mean what? The Bible. But let's back up for a moment.

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Let's think about what we think about when we say sanctify. If I say sanctify to you, then

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I want you to be sanctified. What does that mean? Well, it means that we think about sanctification.

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It means to be conformed into the image of Jesus, daily changed in our thinking and our actions to be more like Christ, right?

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And that's usually good thinking. It's not quite right here.

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The word is agiazo. Okay, when he says, sanctify them, which we would recognize as, you know, making somebody more holy.

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In fact, the exact definition is include a person in the inner circle of what is holy.

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Consecrate them, dedicate them, sanctify them. And what Jesus is calling for is for these 11 men to be set apart, to be consecrated for the father's use, for God's use, for a holy purpose.

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And when we think of your truth, again, we think of the Bible. But what should be quite obvious is that as they sit in the upper room, just having finished eating and they're listening to the

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Lord pray, they don't have the New Testament. They have none of it. Not one word of the

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New Testament has been written. They have the Old Testament, 39 books.

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It's less than the Hebrew because they combine some things, but that's a sad point. They have the

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Old Testament, so is he saying just sanctify them in the Old Testament? Is that his point? No.

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Sanctify them in truth. Well, what was truth? What is truth?

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What did Jesus say? I am the way and the truth.

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Sanctify them in truth means, in this context, immerse them, surround them, fill them with the truth that they have learned from me, that they have seen me do, that they have heard me proclaim.

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Why? Because Jesus had faithfully relayed what the Father told him to. That truth was going to be what they relied on when he left, right?

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Jesus prays that the Father would set them apart in the truth that he lived out before them, that he spoke to them.

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That word was infallible, just as the New Testament is infallible. His life,

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Jesus' life and works, absolutely infallible, impeccable, no error in them.

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It was able to transform these men. And that's what Jesus prayed the Father would do.

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Now, we do not, us, witness the life and ministry of Jesus.

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And by the way, that's one of the reasons why we can't be an apostle, right? We didn't see his ministry.

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We didn't walk with him, we didn't talk with him, and we didn't see the resurrected Lord. Which is why this week when

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I got a friend request on Facebook from somebody who identified as, self -identified, as an apostle,

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I politely declined and then blocked him, which probably wasn't so polite, but I just can't do that.

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I don't have time for apostles. So what do we have?

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You know, when we think sanctify them in truth, what do we think? We think the Bible, 66 books,

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New Testaments. What is the New Testament? It's the apostles and their close associates writing down what?

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The life and work of Jesus Christ and then the applications that flow out of it. That's what it is.

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Jesus spent his time in ministry, yes, instructing them, but also protecting them from falling into apostasy, as I said, verse 12.

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So the revealed word, the Bible, what does it do for us?

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It protects us from apostasy if we rightly understand it. What did

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Jesus, the living word, protect them from? What did he protect the disciples from?

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From the power of Satan and the temptation to fall into sin, the sin that the world so freely offers.

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What does the Bible offer us? The power to consecrate ourselves, to make us fit vessels for the master's use, to allow us to stiff arm, as it were, the powers of Satan and the temptation of the world to fall.

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Let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 2 for a moment. I thought it was time we did a little Awana prep, because Awana's right around the corner.

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2 Timothy chapter 2, starting in verse 15.

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Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

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Right, that's what we want, is to rightly handle things, to understand the word aright.

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But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. This is straight out of today's

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Christianity Today, or out of social media, whatever. This is what we see Christians falling into every single day, and some revealing themselves not to be

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Christians at all. And their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are

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Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

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They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal.

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The Lord knows who are his, those who are his, right? He knows the elect. He knows whom he has chosen.

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He knows who he's protecting. And let everyone who names the name of the

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Lord depart from iniquity. Stay out of the world. Stay out of that world system.

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Don't dive into it. Don't be a follower of Satan. This is consecration.

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This is sanctification, staying out of those things. And listen to why, verse 20.

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Now in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, again consecrated use, some for dishonorable.

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Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use.

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Listen, set apart as holy, that same verb, agiazzo, consecrated, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

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So what is it that keeps us from falling into sin, that keeps us from falling into apostasy?

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It's the word. It's rightly understanding it. By the power of the Holy Spirit, understanding what truth is, staying away from error, staying away from apostasy, not following false teachers and false doctrines.

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Back to John 17. And as you're doing that, let me just, I could go into a lengthy dissertation about scripture, but let me just kind of quickly go over some highlights here.

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It is perfect, Psalm 19, 7 says. It is delightful, Psalm 119, verse 8 says.

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It is inspired, 2 Timothy 3, 16 says. It is more sure than even the greatest experience ever, that is, seeing the glory of the

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Lord revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration, 2 Peter 1, 19 says. It is self -attesting,

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Peter, testifying that the letters of Paul are scripture in 2 Peter 3, 15.

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I could go on and on and on in describing scripture and what we have and the treasure that we've been given there.

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Now show me someone who has swerved from the truth and we read story after story after story about this.

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And I will show you someone who was not immersed in it or did not understand it rightly, and therefore was not transformed by it.

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Sanctify them in truth. Set them apart, keep them separated from the world by the truth.

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Verse 18, we see the commissioning of the apostles. Yes, the commissioning of the apostles.

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What does that mean? We'll see here in a moment. Jesus praying, he says, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

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Here's the symmetry. Jesus sent from the Father's side into the world, right?

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To do what? To seek and find that which was lost. So now

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Jesus sends these 11, these disciples, these apostles into the world, why?

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To proclaim him, to seek and save that which was lost. That verb there, to send, is apostolo, from which we get apostle.

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So when I say it's the commissioning, that's exactly what it is. You sent me, Father, I was your apostle into the world.

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Now I am sending them, they are my apostles. And again, that's why when somebody says,

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I'm an apostle, be my friend on Facebook, I say, no thanks. Jesus decides who his apostles are.

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Human beings don't decide to be his apostle. Finally, look at verse 19, we see the consecration aspect again elevated.

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And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they may be sanctified in truth.

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Same verb, agiazzo, is used in this verse and translated consecrated.

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Well, if we think about Jesus being sanctified, that is to say being made more holy, is that possible?

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No, is the answer, in case you're wondering. He has no sin to put off, right?

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When we think about sanctification, we think put off sin, put on righteousness, right, put off, put on, put off, put on.

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That is the process of sanctification. Well, Jesus Christ has no sin to put off.

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He has no righteousness to put on, why? Because he is the personification of righteousness. He can't sin.

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He doesn't sin. So when he says he's consecrating himself, he's not making himself more holy.

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He's setting himself aside for the Father's use. He is sacrificing himself, which means the cross.

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Why? Well, he tells us why. He uses, again, a hint of clause, a purpose clause. He is giving himself so that the disciples might be sanctified, so that they might be consecrated, so that their sins might be forgiven, so that their sins might be counted to his account.

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His righteousness might be imputed to them, so that they might be qualified for the ministry that he's giving them.

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He laid down his life so that they might be apostles, so that they might do the work of the ministry that they were called to, so that they might be consecrated by God for that work.

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He laid down his life for the sheep, for all who believe. And the same sacrifice is available for you today, if you don't know the

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Lord Jesus Christ. That same forgiveness is available to you right now. Talk about Facebook again for a moment.

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I had a Facebook friend, some of you may have seen it this week, who said to me, he's not a believer, and he said, you know what,

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Steve, if you get to the pearly gates before I do, put in a good word for me with St.

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Peter. What do you say to something like that? I don't know what you say, but here's what

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I said. I said, you don't want me for a mediator, right? You don't want me to go, first of all, it's not going to be

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St. Peter. St. Peter is a wonderful man, but he's not the gatekeeper.

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He's not the one who decides who gets into heaven or not. Jesus is. When you stand before Jesus, the only mediator you want is

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Jesus. You don't want Steve. I don't even know how that would go.

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It would be like, pssh. There is only one mediator,

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I told him, between God and men, and that's the man Christ Jesus, 1

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Timothy 2 .5. And apart from faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, apart from believing that Jesus died for your sins, there is no hope of heaven.

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There's no way you can be good enough. There's no way that anybody can grovel enough for you. You have to have faith in Christ, because he's going to know your sins.

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He's going to know that you're good enough, that you're trying was not good enough. His work is not for the world, but for those who believe in him.

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Not for everybody, for those who believe in him. You must believe in the perfect life, the substitutionary death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, the second person of the

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Trinity, truly God, truly man, trusting him alone. I can't help you.

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Peter can't help you. No one but Christ alone can do such a thing.

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And if you're here this morning and you don't know him, I would beg you, beg you to flee to the cross, to consider the truth claims of scripture about this

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God -man, Jesus Christ, and to trust in him alone. If you don't know him, talk to one of the men here who do, talk to one of the women here who do.

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Hear the gospel and believe the gospel before you leave. Let's pray. Father, as we think about this prayer, as we think about this great intercessor getting ready to leave and praying for these 11 men,

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Father, we are encouraged. Encouraged by the finality of his work, by the sufficiency of his work.

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Having done everything, he now just goes to the cross. Father, we would pray for any who don't know the

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Lord Jesus Christ here this morning, that this would be the very hour when they would think of their own sin, their own unworthiness, and recognize that their own efforts, whatever they try, could never be enough to be perfect, which is your standard.

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Only Jesus Christ was perfect. Trusting in him alone is the only way to get into heaven.

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Father, for those who already know you and are here today, I just pray that you would sanctify them.

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Make them holier day by day, but not just holier for the purpose of being holier, but for your use.

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Make us useful vessels, rightly understanding your word, rightly applying your word, and rightly proclaiming your word to a lost and dying world that really hates you, hates us, but that you use your word to convict, to transform, and to save.