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.

Numbers

Numbers 22-24, The Messianic Prophecies of Balaam

The very perplexing figure of Balaam shows that God can use even a wicked pagan priest to speak forth His truth. Unbeknownst to this man, the LORD intended to use him to reinforce His immutable commitment to bless Israel and send the Messiah for our salvation. Balaam’s prophecies show that Jesus is the coming king who will reign supremely over all the nations, crushing all His enemies. They also show that Jesus is the promised seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, who grants the blessing of salvation to all the elect of God.

Numbers 11-36, The Faithful Promises of God

The final section of Numbers weave together threads (topics) of army, land, and law. All of these point us to the faithfulness of God to preserve the people of Israel according to His promise. But that promise fits into the bigger promise of the Savior that goes back to Gen. 3:15 and Gen. 22:18. In the seed of the woman and the seed of Abraham, God will bless all the nations. Israel was a seed of Abraham, and out of Israel will come the one Israelite, the ultimate seed, who will save His people from their sins. This Savior’s mediatorial work is depicted in the man Moses. Moses was a self-sacrificing leader and shepherd for Israel, but he was not their Savior, for he himself was a rebel like them in need of the Savior. The true and ultimate mediator whose work Moses portrayed was the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who truly gave Himself up as a ransom for all who intercedes for His people is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Numbers 11-25, Rebellion

After a period of arduous obedience, we see another side to the people of Israel. They were rebels at heart. Under the veneer of obedience lurked a wicked heart of rebellion. In this study, we consider the examples of rebellion and focus on one incident of rebellion and the unbelief that fueled that rebelliousness among this people. May we examine our own hearts that we not walk in the same example. May we seek Christ daily who is the perfect and sinless Savior who alone can save us from sin and hell.

Numbers 1-10, Obedience

In these chapters of Numbers, we see a rare period of Israel’s history when they obeyed the LORD. This period lasted a couple of months until they left Sinai and began to grumble and doubt God. In the meantime, we once again see Israel’s shortcomings and the resulting hunger for the true dedicated man of God who will fulfill all the will of God and bring about the salvation of His people.