Dan Lee
John 17:22-26, For Love and Glory (Part-2)

Jesus prays regarding two kinds of glory. He speaks of glory in the present age for His people’s sanctification. God’s elect grow in conformity to Him as they behold His glory in Christ. Jesus also prays for future glory, that His people behold His full, divine, eternal glory in heaven. We are to behold the glory of God now for our sanctification and the glory of God in the future for our glorification.

Dan Lee
John 17:22-26, For Love and Glory

Jesus concludes His prayer with love and glory. Love is the focus of this sermon. The Lord prays that we would come to experientially know (taste) of the Father’s special love. This is the special love of the Father like His love toward His only begotten Son. Like that love, the Father loved His elect from eternity past and “in love predestined us to adoption as sons.” This is the love which Jesus wants us to savor. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us more and more of this awesome love of God.

Dan Lee
John 17:20-23, Salvation Blessing for the World

Jesus’ prayer reflects the heart of God that seeks salvation blessing for the world. Jesus sees the church as the vehicle by which the elect of God worldwide will come to faith in Him unto salvation. In this first installment on a two part sermon, we explore the facets of the church, our mission, our godliness, and the special love of God toward the elect (next sermon).

Dan Lee
John 17:14-19, A Dangerous Mission

Jesus’ prayer for His disciples is undergirded by the reality of a dangerous mission. He knows we will be hated by the world and targeted by the Devil. As such, we will need divine protection. Hence, He prays, “Keep them from the evil one.” Moreover, we will need to live holy lives if we are to make any meaningful impact for the gospel that reconciles and restored sinners to the holy and righteous Father. Our own lives would have to be sanctified in order for us to be useful to the Lord in leading the rest of His elect to this salvation. Therefore, the Lord prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The word of God that has regenerated us is the same word that will sanctify our lives. May the Holy Spirit through His word evermore conform us to Christ that we would be like Him on earth and make disciples for His honor and glory.

Dan Lee
John 17:9-13, For the Joy of God's Elect

Jesus’ first petition for His disciples is found in these verses. Jesus prays that the Father would keep them in His name. Jesus prays for a special people, His disciples and He does so because He was about to physically leave His disciples. What He would no longer be able to do in His physical absence, He asks the Father to accomplish. May the Lord grant to us a greater work of His Spirit to draw us to walk in Jesus’ ways and thus live with His joy evermore in our hearts.

1 Thessalonians

1 Thess. 5:8-10, The Wrath of God

The wrath of God is what marks the final seven year period of Daniel 9, also known as the tribulation period. This understanding provides the perspective by which we can understand where the Gentile church fits into the plan and the timeline of God in Daniel 9. God’s wrath is meant for His enemies, not His own people. This is confirmed in Revelation 7 where God seals the Jewish remnant to be protected from the onslaught of His judgments during the tribulation period. God also takes up His church to be removed from the world during this period. The church is removed from the earth before the final 70th heptad. The church belongs to the gap between the 69th and the 70th heptads of Daniel 9. All this means the rapture of the church and the commencement of the day of the Lord are imminent. They can occur anytime. The proper response to this news from 1 Thess. 5:8 is this: Be sober. May the Lord evermore wise us up to be sober-minded, always living in the reality of Jesus’ soon return for rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11 The Anticipation of the Church (Part 2)

The believers’ resurrection and the rapture will coincide with another eschatological event: the day of the Lord. Given the total unpredictability of these events, “the day of the Lord” in this text points to the commencement of the tribulation period. All three events converge to abruptly usher in the judgment of God upon this world and the millennial kingdom of Christ thereafter.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11 The Anticipation of the Church

The church is to live in eager anticipation of the coming of her Lord. This is the attitude God wants for His people in this age. In this multipart series, we examine 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thess. 2:1-17 to firmly grasp the next biblical prophecy for the church in God’s eschatological timeline, namely, the believers’ resurrection and the rapture.