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.

Dan Lee
John 17:6-8, Two Realities of Salvation

Jesus describes the salvation of His disciples from two perspectives, one from heaven and the other from earth. In heaven, salvation was the product of the intratrinitarian transaction between the Father and the Son. On earth salvation was the product of divine revelation through the word of God and the hearty response of faith on the part of believers. The heavenly realities evoke worship, humility, and thanksgiving. The earthly realities compel us to take seriously every word of our Lord Jesus Christ and act upon them by faith.

Dan Lee
John 17:3-5, Salvation for the Glory of God ...

In His prayer, Jesus defines eternal life for our benefit. Contrary to popular belief, eternal life according to the Son of God is a reconciled relationship with God that begins in the present and stretches out to eternity. Jesus also reveals to us that He is the God of eternal glory which is demonstrated through the cross which He was about to bear. In the cross of Christ, the glory of God’s grace shines brilliantly so that all the redeemed and all the angelic host would glorify God forever and ever.

Dan Lee
John 17:1-2, Salvation for the Glory of God

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 begins with a focus on the glory of God. Jesus prays that His impending death will ultimately glorify the Father and that this would come about through the granting (gifting) of eternal life to His elect. What Jesus’ crucifixion puts on display is the glory of God’s grace in salvation.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 27-34, Two Ways to Live

As Moses closes his final message to the children of Israel, he focuses on the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He does so by setting down before them two pathways: the pathway to life, good, and the blessing, and the other pathway to death, evil, and the curse. Along with these options for their future, he reveals to them their future in apostasy, judgment, and even a restoration afterwards. The Pentateuch closes with an allusion to the prophet like Moses to come, the Lord Jesus, who speaks from the LORD and all the people ought to hear. The call to choose life echoes throughout the ages, calling all to be reconciled and restored to God and to enter into His blessing through the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom. 3:10-18, The Gospel (Part 2)

How has man responded to the good and holy God? The bible’s answer is sin. Even though God had only done him good, man turned his back on God and distrusted and disobeyed Him. How did the first man sin against God? How does man sin against God today? How pervasive is in among mankind? These are the questions addressed in this next study of the gospel message. Praise God that He did not respond to man in kind but sent the Savior!

2 Tim. 3:14-17, The Gospel

2 Tim. 3:15 explains that Scripture is able to give wisdom unto salvation through faith in Christ. The good news (“the gospel”) of Jesus Christ is the wisdom found in Scripture which every sinner must believe in order to be saved. In this first installment on the gospel, we answer biblically the first two foundational questions regarding God. “Who created the world?” and “What is God’s character like?” This is the first of four part series on the gospel questions and answers (catechism).

1 Pet. 1:14-19, Five Motivations for Holy Living

Peter gives us a strong encouragement toward Christian holiness which is marked by separation from sin, imitation to God and permeation of this reality in every aspect of our lives. Peter points out in this passage five motivations for holy living: filiation (we are new covenant children of God who obey the Lord from a changed heart), extinction (our former life should never be brought into the present), revelation (this duty of the people of God has been written down by God in Scripture), evaluation (God evaluates our lives with objective and impartial judgment), and calculation (Christ paid the infinite price of ransom for our redemption). May the Lord help us to have the wisdom of the Word of God to daily pursue a life of holiness.

John 8:12, The Light of the World

Jesus is relentless in His purpose to save souls. He has called people to Himself before (7:37-38) and we read of no one who came to Him, but He doesn’t give up. Instead, He continues on with another invitation for sinners to follow Him. He is the light of the world who rescues men from darkness and puts His light of life to reside within them. In this sermon, we also work through the textual critical issue regarding the intervening passage (7:53-8:11), and that the Bible is reliable and that God has not allowed His truth to be lost through the manual copying of manuscripts.

John 7:40-52, Come to Christ (Part 3)

Christ’s call for all is that they come to Him. Souls apart from Christ are thirsty and dry. Their only source of spiritual refreshment is to come to Christ and to be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit (7:38-39). While Christ had made the public call loud and clear, those in the temple did not take heed. We read of no one that they came to Christ. How tragic! In this installment, we consider the remaining four groups marked by their own reaction (or the lack thereof) to Christ’s salvation invitation. Oh how all must come to Christ.