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.

Matthew 4:12-17, The Blessing of Repentance

All throughout Scripture, God’s call for sinful humanity is repentance. Jesus clearly preached this as did His forerunner John the Baptist. But what does repentance mean? In this sermon, we consider the meaning of this important biblical term and begin our study of the blessing of repentance as Matthew presents the preaching of Jesus in his gospel.

Matthew 4:8-11, The will of God for Man: Live Worshipfully

Jesus worshipped and served His heavenly Father only. The Father was the supreme love and the greatest treasure of His heart. While Satan attempts to stumble Jesus by offering Him what he thinks would entice and allure Him, Jesus maintains His resolve to live His human life as a true worshipper with His heart fixated on His heavenly Father as the singular and supreme object of His love and worship. While sinful humans often keep as our supreme devotion, our desire of approval, security, comfort, power, and/or pleasure, not so the Son of Man. He remains faithful to the end so as to make atonement for our sins to grant to us the remission for our sins and the reconciliation of our souls to the holy God as those restored to Him as His true worshippers.

Matthew 4:5-7, The will of God for Man: Live Dependently

Jesus trusted in His heavenly Father. Thus, He would never patronize God by subjecting Him to a test to confirm His trustworthiness. God is faithful and true and He is the very essence of such attributes. While we may reasonably test countless other things that are uncertain, we do not test the One who Himself is the plumb line of faithfulness and truth. We learn from Jesus that we are not to test God, but instead, we are to trust in Him with all our heart.

Matthew 28:18-20, The Commands of Christ

The purpose of Christ for us is that we be disciples and make disciples. This entails that we know and remember the commands of Christ that we may live by them. This sermon marks the starting point of a season of rigorous Scripture memorization and recitation in our community groups. May we all live as faithful disciples of Christ who are also capable disciple makers for Christ.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Love And Remember

The Shema is the passage we turn to to encourage the Fathers on this Father’s Day. There is only one God who is the triune God, who has been revealed to us in the Son of God incarnate. And the Lord’s calling on our lives is that we love Him, the triune God, with all of all that we are, heart, soul, and might. This love for the Lord is to be expressed in our willing obedience to Him which entails that we remember and keep His word. May the Lord so strengthen the men of our church to be the spiritual leaders who will impact the next generation for His glory and honor.

John 13:18-20, Jesus Is Trustworthy

Jesus is trustworthy. In this passage on Judas’ impending betrayal, the Lord Jesus shows Himself to be the gleaming spiritual leader who can be trusted. He is faithful in His character, He is attentive in His care for His people, and He demonstrates a breadth of wisdom that convinces us that we can and must trust in Him. May we behold His glory from yet another dimension from His Word that we might trust in Him all the more and be conformed to His likeness.