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.

Psalm 16:1-11, The Divine Joys of a Right Personal Relationship with God (Part 2)

There is no joy apart from God. In this second installment on our studies on divine joys, we again see the joys of God expressed in Psalm 16 and the right personal relationship with God that is the foundation of those joys. I experience divine joys when God is my refuge, my Lord, my treasure, my counselor and my Savior. May the Lord evermore mature us to be like Christ who Himself knew these joys to their fullness!

Psalm 16:1-11, The Divine Joys of a Right Personal Relationship with God

A right personal relationship with God emanates divine joys. In Psalm 16, we hear of a man who knew such joys. in this two week series, we will consider the vital truth in this text: I experience divine joys when God is my Refuge, my Lord, my Treasure, my Counsel and my Savior. May our joy meter read “full” as we rightly and personally relate to the Lord as we ought to and as He deserves.

John 10:31-42, Four Witnesses to Divine Equality

Jesus’ full divine equality with the Father is an undeniable doctrine in Scripture. While some cults mangle this passage to make it mean something other than this, John presents to us four witnesses that confirm divine equality of the Son to the Father: 1) the Jews, 2) the Father, 3) Scripture, and 4) John the Baptist. Jesus is God, Yahweh, the second person of the Holy Trinity. This is what we mean when we speak of Jesus as the Son of God, and this is the faith we endeavor to live out by the power of the Holy Spirit who is at work within us.

John 10:28-30, Jesus' Guarantee of Eternal Security

Jesus, the good shepherd, guarantees eternal security to His people, to His sheep. This comes to them as an eternal gift, with the promise of no condemnation and no separation, underwritten by the singular and supreme power of the triune God. If we belong to Christ, we have nothing to fear but to live courageously by faith in the Lord who has secured for us eternal salvation.

John 10:19-27, Sheep that Belong to Christ

How does a person know that he/she belongs to Christ? How can we know with certainty that we are saved? Jesus answers this question in this passage of John. Jesus speaks pointedly about the character of His sheep, those who belong to Him who possess eternal life (v. 28). Jesus first contrasts these with those who refuse to trust Christ (vv. 25-26) and then positively speaks of His sheep as those who hear His voice, whom He knows, who follow Him (v. 27).

John 10:11-18, Jesus our Self-Sacrificing Shepherd

Jesus is our self-sacrificing shepherd whose motive for self-sacrifice is care and friendship toward His people and the commission He received from the Father. And according to that command of God, Jesus lays down His life (crucifixion) for the sheep so that He may take it up again (resurrection). He is our living Savior who is able to impart life and lead His people as their living and loyal shepherd. He is risen, He is risen indeed!