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.

John 12:41-43, Confess Christ before Men

Genuine believers confess Christ before men. We are full-time Christians, not splitting our time between faith and unbelief, and we are disciples of Christ who are not ashamed of our Lord or His words. May the Holy Spirit encourage and strengthen us to be men, women, and children who boldly confess Christ, accept persecution for Christ, and be driven by our love for the glory of God.

John 12:39-41, The Hardness of Heart

People do not believe because they have a hardened heart. What does Scripture teach regarding this condition of the human heart and what man is to do about it? in this sermon, we explore John’s application of Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the hardening of Israel and how we can think and live rightly with both doctrines of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

John 12:33-36, The Time Is Short

Sometimes we live as though life will just continue forever. In this passage from John 12, Jesus reminds us that the time is short and that we must: 1) stop making excuses, 2) seize the opportunity, and 3) heed God’s warnings, for the purpose of walking and believing in the light, for the purpose of putting into practice the truth of Christ and trusting in Him from the heart. May our God grant to each of us the wisdom to sense the urgency to be faithful disciples who help make more disciples for the glory of God in Christ.

John 12:28-32, The Triumph of Christ

Christ triumphed over Satan. In this remarkable passage, Jesus shows us that through His death on the cross (“lifted up”), He dethrones Satan and redeems sinners from his agenda of sin and separation from God. Through the atoning blood of Christ, all the resources for spiritual victory has been given to us. May we stand guard as soldiers of Christ on high alert, and not tootle along as civilians oblivious to our spiritual enemy.

John 12:27-28, A Portrait of Christ

We kick off 2022 with a portrait of Jesus from this passage from John 12. In this text, Jesus gives Himself as an example of self-denial and commitment to the will of the Father. Jesus is uncompromising, steadfast and worshipful. May we turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face over and over again in 2022. May this text of Scripture give us another portrait to hang on the walls of our minds to behold the glory of the Lord and thus be conformed to His likeness.

John 12:25-26, Whom We Serve and Follow

Christ is whom we serve and follow. As we come to the end of year 2021, we consider how we should evaluate this past year and our lives en toto. The question inevitably arises as to what standard by which we should make this evaluation. In this text of Scripture, Jesus gives us the grid by which we should examine our lives. In two words, the standard is lordship and imitation. How have we honored Jesus as Lord over our lives (“serve Me”) and how have we become more like Him (“follow Me”). May the Holy Spirit grant to us open eyes to see our lives rightly.

John 1:1-14, The Word Became Flesh

“The Word became flesh.” With these simple yet profound words, John begins to show the eternal significance of the Christmas story: the eternal and uncreated Son of God took on humanity, dwelt among ordinary people, and revealed the glory of God in the fullness of His grace and truth. In this sermon, we conclude with the apex of the grace of God in Christ: Shared sonship. Christ shares with us His nearness to the Father and gives us the right to become the children of God (1:12). He does so by paying the ultimate price of the cross to take away our sins as “the Lamb of God” (1:29). Jesus speaks the truth of God and grants to us what we do not deserve, the grace of God in sonship. This is the Christmas story according to the Apostle John.