Synoptic Gospels: John 17

If you press forward in John chapter 17, there are a finite number of verses, so we will finish it eventually. But I leave Tuesday for an extended period, so, and then I just discovered a couple days ago the trip I'm doing in December to Ukraine is actually Ukraine and Germany, which will, it'll be interesting to be in Berlin in December.

That'll be, that could be cool, very cool, as in cold, actually. But it will be interesting to maybe visit the Brandenburg Gate during December. That could be, that could be fun. Anyway, not sure what got me off on that.

Jesus’ Self-Sanctification in John 17

John chapter 17, we don't think we completely finished, if you can correct me if I'm wrong, the discussion of Jesus' self-sanctification. That's where I believe we were in verse 19. I thought, I remembered saying there was a little bit more to discuss there.

I remember us discussing verse 18, as you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world in regards to the authority of the Christian mission into the world. And, but then we have this interesting phrase, for their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

And, we may have touched upon it, but some of you might be aware of the interesting interpretational issue that exists between ourselves and most of our Presbyterian brother, not all, but most, in regards to that important text in Hebrews chapter 10.

I know that we're only in Hebrews chapter 13, so you would think that what was said about Hebrews chapter 10 would be fresh upon our minds. But, I recognize that's not necessarily the case. And, you may recall that in chapter 10 verses 26 and following in Hebrews, there is that real difficult section.

Difficult only because it's such a strong warning passage. And, I went through in one of the sermons a fairly lengthy list. I think there were, how many points were there to what Owen had listed? Well, John Owen loved long lists.

17? 17. I was thinking 19, so I was close.

Yeah, it was long.

It was a long list of points that Owen brought up in regards to interpretation of that text and the idea that the one who is sanctified in Hebrews chapter 10 is not the apostate, but is Christ himself, and that the apostate is sinning against the testimony to Christ, not that the apostate himself is the one who has been sanctified, and hence, the blood of the covenant can be broken, and so on and so forth.

And so, we went through an entire list of those things from John Owen. And, one of the texts that he points us back to is here in John 17, 19, because the term to sanctify is hagiazzo. And, hagiazzo means to make holy, to sanctify, to set apart, and is generally used within the context of temple sacrifice, ceremony, and so on and so forth.

And so, there is this statement, in behalf of them, I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. And so, there is a interesting relationship here in verse 17, sanctify them in truth, your word is truth.

And yet, so they might be sanctified in the truth, Jesus has to sanctify himself. Now, note once again the use of reflexive pronoun, I sanctify myself, not I am sanctified by someone else. This is something to make a note of, this is something to keep in mind, how often the reflexive pronoun is used of Jesus' incarnation and self-giving.

Philippians chapter 2, he made himself of no reputation, for example. And so, Jesus is not the unwilling, an unwilling participant here. There is also something very self-giving in regards to the Lord's work.

This is also part of where the idea has been developed over the years, of Christ as High Priest in the book of Hebrews, very plainly set forth. But here is another connection between Hebrews and John 17, and that is the High Priest who is also the sacrifice.

The Lamb standing as a slain, which we saw in the reading of Revelation chapter 5, just a couple Sundays ago. And so, there is, in the words of Jesus, a necessity that Jesus sanctify himself, and then you have substitutionary language.

Kuper alton, Kuper is the same language that is used in, for example, 2 Corinthians 5, in discussing the substitutionary work of Christ. It's the standard substitution language in the New Testament. And so, it's literally, in behalf of them, I sanctify myself.

And so, there is a clear connection being made between those who are united to Christ, those who are in him, and the sacrificial offering that Christ is about to give upon the cross. And so, for their sakes, I sanctify myself.

There is a deep personal intimacy between the one who is offered and those for whom the offering is made. Once again, I know, broken record, I'm sorry, but Repetitio Matera Memoriae, repetition is mother of memory.

And if you remember anything, here is another bit of evidence of the fact that the impersonal, general, nonspecific, and non-perfecting concept of the atonement prevalent in evangelicalism today, being pushed as an absolute necessity by certain elements of the Southern Baptist Convention leadership, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which used to be the largest Southern Baptist seminary, it's not any longer, in Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is headed up by a man who is just absolutely committed to this.

And one of the professors of theology there, Dr. David Allen, a few years ago, about 2008 -2009, started to deal with this issue of atonement, and evidently has learned more about the subject in a few years than people like John Owen could in an entire lifetime, ha ha ha ha ha, and are really pushing hard against the concept of particular redemption.

But one absolutely must recognize that the David Allen perspective that is so common amongst evangelicals requires you to have an atonement that is impersonal, that is ineffective, non-perfecting, and just doesn't fit in the key texts where Jesus and his disciples discuss the actual effect and intention of the atonement in the first place.

Sometimes those of us who are Reformed in our views are a little nervous and maybe even embarrassed by that third point of the tulip. I am not. I am not embarrassed. I love to have the opportunity, because I have seen so many true believers.

Once the ignorance is swept away and the real issues are laid out on the table, filled with appreciation for the perfection of the work of Christ, and the fact that there is a perfect harmony between the Father and the Son and the Spirit and the accomplishment of the glorification of the Godhead and the salvation of God's people, which you do not have in this perspective that is primarily tradition, and primarily based upon a rejection of God's electing grace, and a rejection of God's sovereignty over human affairs.

But that rejection has ramifications. And one of those ramifications is if what Jesus is speaking of here in verse 19 is in fact his self-sacrifice, for their sakes I sanctify myself. Who is to their?

The disciples. Now the rest of us are going to be mentioned in verse 20. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their work. But it is a specific audience. It is a specific group.

We have already seen it in John 10. I do not ask on behalf of the world. For their sakes, those that have been removed from the world. And yet you have people saying you absolutely must believe that the atoning sacrifice of Christ was intended for every single individual who has ever lived.

Well, if that is the case, then Christ's sanctification fails to accomplish any meaningful result in the lives of a large number of people. Now I am not going to figure out what the percentage is because the Bible does not tell us.

But the point is that you have specificity. And you have result that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Now unless you are going to take the, I do not know if any of you saw a couple of months ago.

I responded to an internet Arminian. And there are many of them. I ran across someone sent me a channel last evening on YouTube. It just filled this guy just railing at me. I mean my name is in every other sentence about how evil.

And thankfully his videos have like 27 views. And probably 24 of them are him. So I did not even want to give him any advertising by pointing to it. But you have a lot of those kinds of folks out there.

Well this guy is a little better known. His name is Kerrigan Skelly. And Kerrigan Skelly thought he had come up with the spot on way of defeating Calvinism. And it was through the use of the subjunctive mode.

And he came up with a singular definition of the subjunctive in Greek. And then whenever it is used that means the outcome is in doubt. So in this particular verse you have what is called a Hinnah Clause.

Now in Greek the Hinnah Clause will often express apposition, renaming, purpose, result. Sometimes the theologians sit around arguing forever whether it is purpose or result. And sometimes the shade of meaning is almost indiscernible for some people.

But he just decides that the subjunctive means this and so he just applies it to everything. He does not apply it consistently. And of course anyone who can actually read the language knows that if you were to take his understanding it would turn the language on its head.

But here you have the intention.

Why is it?

For their sakes I sanctify myself. And even in English we can see that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. There are people who go, well see it's the word may. And so this is just a possibility, see, because they might not.

That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about the purpose, the intention of the action that comes right before that, which is I sanctify myself. So Jesus is explaining what's my reason? Why is it that I'm sanctifying myself?

So that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. He is opening the way. Now if you're a man-centered theologian you go, well he opened the way, but you know it's up to us to make it happen. If you're a God-centered theologian you go, well you know something tells me the Son of God offers himself together with the purpose of the Father upon the cross of Calvary.

He's not going to fail in accomplishing what he wants to do. But there are a lot of people that go, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus tries real hard. No, the point is that the offering has a specific audience and a specific result regarding that audience, and that is that they may be sanctified in truth.

There is no way that the elect of God could experience sanctification in the truth apart from the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. So you've got to keep this together with, when we look at verse 17, it says your word is truth.

That word is going to include then, by definition, the proclamation of the centrality of the work of Christ as our mediator and as our sacrifice and as our high priest. It all goes together. If we're seeing anything, it is how Christian truth, again, is one whole.

It is that woven fabric with those beautiful threads woven all through it. And here we have the same thing. For their sakes I sanctify myself. And the result of the self-giving of the Son is that his people are sanctified in the truth.

It's absolutely necessary for us to be sanctified in the truth as a result of Christ's sacrifice, or Christ's sacrifice will not accomplish what the intention of the Father, Son, and Spirit for it was.

That's the power of allowing the scriptures to speak for themselves. Last night we had a fellow pop into our chat channel, and he was troubled because someone had put him onto our sermon audio archives.

And he had been listening to the Hebrews series, and he's like, I really can't argue with this, what this guy named James White is saying, but it's just completely messed up my entire understanding of everything.

They didn't know that I was there, and I started talking to him, and about halfway through the conversation that sort of came out. But, you know, we just walked through John chapter 6, and there were just times when there were just such clear statements, and it was like, but that's not what I've been taught.

It's like, yeah, I know, but who do you want to be taught by? And most of us sitting in this room, we all remember those things, we all remember those experiences, and they're ongoing, thankfully. But when you really just step back and look at this verse and ask, how could anyone have ever come up with the ideas that are so popular today?

That Christ's sacrifice is general in intention, and non-specific in its accomplishment. That there could be a difference between the intention of the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the offering of Christ.

Any of these ideas, when it's just so plain. It once again warns us of the centrality of tradition in the minds of many, and should warn us. We have our own traditions. Those traditions have to be examinable.

We can't become apathetic and comfortable with those traditions. We need to always be testing them in light of Scripture, and making sure that we're listening to everything that it says. So, there is one other promise that is very important, I think, in our day and age.

As I, for example, look at the younger generation and our culture as a whole, I sometimes get depressed as I listen to the now almost purely secular mindset, the millennials, and recognize that when it comes to morality and ethics, man, they just have been crippled by a culture and an educational system that teaches them what to think, not how to think.

And it's very easy for me to become just very discouraged. But the reality is, we have a promise given to us a number of times in Scripture. In the little book of 2 John, there's this promise. And I think we have it implied here as well.

And that is, as long as there are people who are believing in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, they, as a result of the work of Christ, will be sanctified in truth. And there's nothing this world can do about that.

Oh, this world will do everything. It's power. I mean, we know, for example, about what's going on in North Korea. And we think of what's going on. And I saw a video about a city I've actually visited.

I didn't get off the boat. I rarely do. But we went into a city called Namino. I don't know. It's in Canada. And it's supposed to be a real, you know, some Indian name. How am I supposed to remember it?

But Namino, I think, is what it was. Anyways, it was of this city councilman. And they were cancelling this long-held leadership conference. And they were doing it within a couple of days of it happening.

So, you know, costing the sponsors all sorts of money. And the whole reason they were doing it was because, A, Chick-fil-A was involved. And we all know that Chick-fil-A boils children and serves them to people.

At least in this person's mind. And, I mean, the bigotry of these people is just, we are inclusive. But we're the biggest bigots on the planet. And the second reason was that one of the speakers had some Christian background.

And so we can't have people promoting homophobia in our city. So they cancelled it. And I listened to the reasoning on the part of these people. And there wasn't any to listen to. It was pure emotional bigotry.

And this is just across the border. And it's happening in Colorado, too. The, quote-unquote, human rights councils. Predominantly run by leftist wackos who think they're kings. And they absolutely detest God's law.

They detest godliness. And you look at that and you go, How is the truth going to continue to be proclaimed in the future in this type of context? We see what's coming. God sits in the heavens and laughs.

There's a growing, thriving Christian church. In China, there were 30 ,000 Christians to round up in North Korea.

How did that happen?

They don't have any television stations. They don't have any printing presses. Wow, I guess they did it person to person. In other words, despite some of us getting old and curmudgeonly, guess what? Christ is still going to build his church.

And us old curmudgeons need to be reminded of that every once in a while. But the reason that we can be sanctified, set apart in truth, is because of what Christ has done. Speaking of us, here we are in verse 20.

The Oneness of Believers and the Work of the Holy Spirit

Now, just briefly, before we positively listen to the beauty of this language, this kind of text is very frequently abused by our Mormon friends and by our Jehovah's Witness friends and people like that.

Why?

Well, because they see that word one. They say, well, if you believe the Father and the Son are one, that is, they share the one divine being, then that means we're all gods because we're all one as they are one.

That's their abuse of the text. Now, obviously, John isn't even giving consideration to being concerned about how cults 1 ,000, 1 ,500, 1 ,600, 1 ,800 years later could abuse his words. There is nothing in this text about the divinization of human beings or there's nothing in this text that would even begin to overthrow the consistent testimony of the Gospel of John to the special, unique relationship that exists between the Father and the Son.

But remember, sometimes people will get into conversations with these folks, and the conversation will sort of take a break for a few days or something, and they'll come and talk to me. I remember once a brother coming and talking to me here at the church, and he had been talking with a Jehovah's Witness, and as I recall, it was a text in John about the Holy Spirit, and he was saying, you know, how can I refute what he's saying here?

And I said, well, if the only basis of conversation and discussion you have is just the few words of this one text, you can't, because Christian truth is not exhaustively defined by any one group of words in any one text.

So, if what you're looking for is a silver bullet, sometimes there is. I mean, there are some times when a group has come up with an interpretation that is utterly impossible given the grammar of the text.

Okay, that sometimes does happen. But there are times when a group will come up with a possible, plausible, grammatical, syntactical, lexical interpretation of one particular set of words in one particular verse, and you cannot refute that if that's all you've got.

And so, if someone wants to camp on one little text and not listen to everything else, not listen to what the rest of the Gospel of John says or what the rest of the chapter says, the frustrating thing for some people is there's nothing you can do about that.

You cannot substitute brute force for deaf ears. Brute force will not open deaf ears. And the great power and assurance that we have in witnessing is that when the Spirit of God opens heart and mind, there's no power that can close that heart and mind and God's going to accomplish His purpose.

That's our great power. That's our great consolation and confidence. But the flip side of that is, if God doesn't do that, what will be to you if you try to do it without His help? And sometimes that's what we think we can do, and we can't.

And so, there are times when you have to walk away and there are times when the evil mock and they just keep repeating the same thing over and over again. Does it make any sense? No. Is there any truth content to it?

No. Is it frustrating to hear them mocking the truth? It is. I may experience that week after next. I don't know yet. I have a feeling I will. A sudden debate has been scheduled. Sudden debate. Most of my debates are scheduled months out.

But this is scheduled two weeks out with an open theist up in Denver. And I've listened to some of this open theist's arguments. And to say he detests Reformed theology is a major understatement. And so, I don't know.

I hope this isn't the case. But there could be some fairly strong, not strong biblically argumentation, but strong emotional argumentation presented.

We'll see.

What do you do in that type of situation? Well, you can let your emotions take over or you can let the spirit of God take over and focus upon what's true and recognize mockery is not going to impact the elect and it may well have great impact upon the non-elect.

You don't know who they are, so you don't worry about it. That's beyond your control. All you try to do is glorify God and the presentation of his truth. And that's what I'll be doing. So, anyway, positively in verses 20 and 21, what you have is the result of being sanctified in truth is a spiritual, supernatural unity.

It is a unity that is likened to the unity that comes from the mutual indwelling. For those of you who want to write long, cool theological words in your notes, perichoresis, the mutual indwelling of the divine person is perichoresis.

The unity that we are to have is parallel to that. And why would that be? Well, again, what marks the body of Christ? There's only one thing with two manifestations that I can think of in the New Testament.

The body of Christ is marked by the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, but that is only said, according to Paul, by what? By the power of? I stopped a moment to see if anyone was still conscious. Who says Jesus is Lord?

Yes, thank you. The only way you can say Jesus is Lord is by the Holy Spirit. And so, the reason I say these things are related is that it's that confession of faith that marks the body of Christ, but it's the possession of the Spirit of God that is the supernatural unifying element that is present there.

And so, they're really, though you can identify them, you can differentiate between them, they are intimately connected. And so, the oneness that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ is due to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, which has resulted inevitably in the common confession and our bowing the knee to Jesus as Lord.

And so, there is a unity that exists there. Now, sometimes we seem to be doing everything in our power to obscure that unity. There's no question about that. Even looking at the New Testament, you can see all sorts of evidence that there continues to exist amongst Christians this presence of abiding sin and we allow those sins and that sin as a whole to create unnecessary divisions.

And then there are the necessary divisions. And we don't always spend a whole lot of time differentiating much between the necessary and the unnecessary. The unnecessary result from our putting ourselves first, from our not extending grace and mercy.

There is a danger, a clear and present danger amongst Reformed people to unnecessarily divide when it comes to demanding and sometimes starting down the road toward forms of hyper-Calvinism, demanding perfection on the part of the understanding of anyone with whom we would have Christian fellowship.

Now, there's different levels of Christian fellowship too. I often speak in churches where I could not be a member. I've mentioned to Pastor Fry that I often speak in churches where he would probably not stay for the service.

He's talked about walking out a few times due to certain musical styles which are not nearly as offensive to me as they are to him. I obviously have preached in Presbyterian churches. I have preached in Presbyterian churches pastored by men that later in the week I debated.

Within the bounds of love, charity and a common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But they would not want me to be an elder there and vice versa. And of necessity because we have differences on some key issues.

And it would be foolishness to ignore those things when it comes to the leadership of the church. And yet it's also foolishness on the other side for the people to say, ah, those Presbyterians are all on a bobsled to hell because they're a bunch of crypto-Romanists.

You've got that part. I've known Presbyterians that have shipped me off to Hades too. So you've got that kind of imbalance that is out there. And I for one certainly recognize that I have blind spots.

I don't know what they are or I would try to correct them. That's something I need to always be thinking about. But I recognize the work of the Spirit of God in the lives of men and women outside of our strict tradition.

And I worry when I see people become so narrow in their focus as to think that the kingdom of God is pretty much limited to us. At the same time, one must have balance because there is a tremendous amount of nominal Christianity in Western cultures.

There's a tremendous amount of false teaching. And finding the proper balance in recognizing which is which is not an easy thing.

Yes, sir.

I don't know if it's the doctrine or if it's the role of tradition. Because our young people seem to understand it. I mean, a number of you have come up from the Sunday school classes. Warren's taught it to my kids long ago.

And it wasn't like that one Wednesday evening and unfortunately only Josh is here of that group. But I remember one Wednesday evening when I still did the Wednesday night class. I taught the kids who were then about 9, 10, 11-ish.

I taught them the Trinity. I don't think election is... Yeah, I don't think it's hard to understand. I think it's hard to accept. Is that what you're saying?

Okay.

Not someone else or why do it this way? I mean, there's all sorts of different why's that have to be asked. Right now, honestly, I'm not just focusing the comments right now solely upon election. But that obviously is one major dividing area.

But no, I'm just differentiating between understanding what the statement is, understanding how it's consistent with what the Bible says, and then the acceptance of it. I really do think that to accept with proper respect for God's truth requires the work of the Spirit of God.

Because we want to be in control of our own salvation. We want to have that final say. There's no question about that. My basic response...

Yeah, I understand.

My basic response is twofold. A, even if that question wasn't answered, that wouldn't change the fact that it's the truth. But I think the question is answered. I have pointed out the wisdom of one of my professors from long ago, who would not have been known, believe me, as a Calvinist, but who saw this very clearly.

And he said there are basically three possibilities. Either God saves everyone, or God saves no one, or God saves some. And if God saves everyone, then God has no freedom of choice himself, and certain aspects of his character, his attributes, will not be demonstrated.

Specifically, his justice, his holiness, his wrath against sin. If he saves no one, then once again he has no choice, and certain aspects of his character will not be revealed. His love, his mercy, etc.

If he saves a specific, utterly non-deserving people, so that the judgment upon those who are not saved is still just, everyone receives justice, now you have all of his attributes demonstrated, he has freedom, and the ultimate answer to the question of why is found, I believe, in Ephesians 1 .6.

It's all the praise of his glorious grace. Answer back to God. Aren't you glad he didn't? Because if he did, you as the elect today would not exist. He has a certain number that he is going to bring into glory, and if he had wrapped everything up 150 years ago, you and I would not be here to be brought into his presence.

So, if we believe that our name was written upon his hand, if we believe that personal aspect, then he knew when we would be born, when we would live, and the gospel needs to be brought to us, because that's how he chooses to bring his people to himself.

So, that's the reality of that. And when the last of the elect are brought in, God's going to wrap it all up. That seems to be the message. Well, anyway, just some thoughts there at the end on other issues that I really hadn't thought I was going to be getting into, but that's okay.

I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks. You might want to pray that I don't fall off a mountain over the next couple of weeks. I will be climbing on a bike to as high as 14 ,130 feet above sea level, so you might just pray for my sanity over the next couple of weeks.

But I also have that debate in Denver. Do you have any folks in Denver? Any friends up in Denver? Tuesday, July 8th on Open Theism. They're all welcome to attend, and it should be pretty interesting. So, let's close the time.

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your mercy, your grace, and the fact that you have extended that to us. We ask that you would continue to do that in this coming hour, that by your spirit you would open up our hearts and our minds.

We might understand.

We might honor and glorify you. We pray in Christ's name.