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.

John 9:39-41, Spiritual Blindness

In the first half of this sermon, Pastor Dan exhorts us to be true worshippers. What are we to do if our hearts are cold and apathetic? We listen to the wisdom of Christ who taught us that we work on our hearts by working on our actions. In John 9:39, we see that Christ came into the world to bring a clarifying binary separation between two clear cut spiritual categories: the blind vs. the sighted, the worshipper of Christ vs. the non-worshipper, the one who trusts Christ vs. the one who distrusts Christ. The Lord also came to bring about a binary effect as well: the opening of spiritual eyes and the blinding of spiritual eyes.

John 9:26-38, Jesus is the Holy God

Jesus is the holy God. As the interrogation of the blind man continues, Jesus’ innocence is found to be unassailable and thus the healed man defends His holy character. Jesus is no sinner. As the one whose healing has been enabled by the power of God (not Satan or his demonic spirits), as the man whose prayers are answered, Jesus is rightly perceived as the holy man of God who has been sent from God. In this study, we give attention to the holy character of Jesus in this two part series on Jesus as the holy God.

John 9:8-25, A Witness in the midst of Skeptics

Skeptics surround the man who was healed of his blindness. They question his identity, they question the healing, and they question the character of the Lord who healed him. But the man stands his ground and continues to testify of the truth. In this study, we examine the four tactics of skeptics, the ABCD of Skepticism: Alternate Narrative, Bogus Authority, Character Assassination, and Denial of Facts. May the Lord evermore strengthen our testimony before the skeptics around us to stand firm upon the undeniable truth of God.

John 9:1-7, The Anatomy of the Savior

Our Savior is Jesus, the Messiah, the God who sees (His eyes). He takes note of our plight and He takes action. He is also the Savior who speaks (His mouth). He speaks the truth and leads us to know God’s purposes and calls us to participate in calling sinners to repentance and faith. He is also the Savior who works (with His hands). He literally gets His hands dirty to bring sight to the blind beggar and to tip the first domino that’ll lead this man to a saving faith. Let’s learn of the Savior’s eyes, mouth and hands and learn from Him how we are to live a life that conforms to Him.

John 8:56-59, The Eternality of Christ

The Jews deny Jesus’ claims repeatedly. In response, the Lord clarifies who He truly is, not who He makes Himself out to be (v. 53). Jesus’ response is a stunning statement of the eternal God, who transcends over time, who has entered His world to rescue those who would trust in Him and become His disciples. Christ is the God of eternity. He calls us to trust in Him by following Him and keeping His word. We can find security in the precarious fallen world in which we live.