John 17. My grandfather died when I was 25 years old. He was a man who deeply loved the Lord. At the time of his death I was an unbeliever, living for myself, living in sin, but I remember the last conversation I had with my grandpa, and I specifically remember the last prayer I ever heard him pray. He was dying of cancer, his body was wracked with pain, but in the midst of his own pain he wanted to pray for me. His prayer was short, he was out of breath, but it went like this, “Oh Lord, please save my grandson, please set him free from the devil’s kingdom and please make him useful in yours.” And I’m ashamed to say that in my mind I mocked at that prayer, and mocked at that dying man. But in due time God did save me and set me free, He answered my grandpa’s last prayer.

And today we come to Jesus’ last prayer for His disciples, and in the midst of His own pain as He faces death by crucifixion He ministers to His disciples by praying for them. And look at what Jesus’ last prayer was all about: at the end of vs. 11: “…that they may be One, as we are One.” Look at vs. 21, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” End of vs. 22: “²² …that they may be one as we are one.” Vs. 23: “²³ I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity…” So it’s pretty clear that the heart of Jesus Christ is that His people be unified. And we remember reading that God heard and answered Jesus’ prayer, as Acts 4:32 says, “³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” One in heart, one in mind, one in possessions, you just can’t get more unified than that.

But let’s take a second and remind ourselves of what we’ve studied in this chapter. This is our last week in John 17 and it’s important that we remember the context and the content of Jesus’ prayer. So we noticed, first of all, that Jesus prayed about their eternal life. In vs. 3 He says “³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” And we remember that this Word “know” is the word “Ginosko” and it means to become one with.  It is a term of intimate union, which is exactly what vs. 23 is referring to when Jesus says, “I in them, and you in me”. So that our knowing God is described in terms of the most intimate of relationships. And as we know God intimately, that is, we become one with Him spiritually, we have eternal life because we have God’s life.

And then we saw in this chapter that during Jesus’ prayer He commends His disciples for two things: in vs. 6 He says “they have obeyed Your Word” and in vs. 10 He says “they have brought Me glory.” And we took just a second to acknowledge that the disciples He was talking about failed often, they stumbled much, their faith was weak, they just plain got it wrong much of the time. And about those people Jesus said, “they have obeyed your word, they brought Me glory”.

You might know that Hebrews chapter 11 is the hall of faith; it lists a lot of people of faith, most of whom got wrong much of their lives: Moses in his anger threw down the 10 commandments and broke them, later in his anger he disobeyed God by hitting a rock instead of speaking to it, and his anger kept him out of the Promised Land. Rahab had lived as a prostitute, Samson had lust and impurity most of his life, David had been an adulterer and murderer, and on and on it goes, but at the end of Hebrews 11, vs. 39 summarizes their lives and says: “³⁹ These were all commended for their faith…”, and we learn that even weak faith is commendable faith, and we who stumble often and get it wrong are encouraged. Jesus says about His weak, faltering, fearful disciples, and about you and me today: “They obeyed Your Word, they brought Me glory.”

And then we’ve seen in John 17 that Jesus prays for two things for His disciples: in vs. 11 He prays for their protection. He was about to leave and go to His Father and according to vs. 14 He was leaving them in a world that hated them, in vs. 15 a world ruled by the evil one who is described as a roaring lion, and a devouring dragon. If you can picture roaring lions and fire-breathing dragons chasing after helpless men and women you’ll have a picture of what we are up against today, and you’ll know why Jesus prayed for His disciples.

And then we remembered the reason why the world hated them, as vs. 14 says “I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them.” Isn’t it amazing that the very source of our joy is the source of the world’s hatred of us? We see that by comparing vss. 13 and 14. Vs. 13 ¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” The Word brings the disciples of Jesus a full measure of joy, but that same Word brings out the hatred of the world. No wonder He prays for their protection because those who have joy in the Word also have hatred from the world.

But He not only prayed for their protection, in vs. 17-19 Jesus prays for their sanctification, that they would be set apart from the world, that they would live lives of holiness,  that they would be set apart for God’s use. I watched as my wife searched the cabinets for just the right foods to make lunch today. She set apart certain foods for her use in making lunch, so that she could bless the lives of others. And that is what Jesus wants of us; people who are set apart from their sin, set apart from the world to be used by Him in blessing the lives of others. And in His prayer He states the two ways we become sanctified, in vs. 17 it is through the Word, “sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth”, and in vs. 19 it is through the cross: “¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” He meant, “I die for their sin, so that they might die to their sin. I set myself apart to die for them, that they might die with me and live with me.” Sanctification comes through the Word and through the cross.

And now we come to vs. 20, and just like Jesus did in vs. 9 He clarifies Who He is praying for: ²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone (speaking about His 11 disciples). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” He’s not praying only for the disciples who are with Him. No in His minds eye, He sees that the gospel would triumph despite the hatred of the world, and that millions of people down through the ages would read this Book and believe its message of forgiveness, and He prayed for them. He prayed for us. He saw the great harvest of believers who would believe the message. He saw the “travail of His soul”, that is the children of faith who would be born from His death for them. He saw the “spoils of the battle”, that is, people He would save and receive as the victory of His cross. He prayed for you and me. So please notice Jesus’ love for you here. He thought of you before you were born. He prayed for you before you came into existence. You were on His heart in John 17 as He prayed for you, and you were on His heart in John 19 as He died for you, and you were on His heart in John 20 as He rose for you, and you are on His heart as He ever lives to intercede for you. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”

And what is His specific request for you and me, and for His church throughout all time? Look at vs. 21: “²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” He prays for our unity, and He uses the example of the unity He has with His Father, so that the unity you and I are to have is to be a reflection of the unity Jesus and His Father have. Now imagine God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, 3 in 1, and these 3 cannot be separated, they are 1 in essence and 1 in purpose, and that’s how you and I are to be. The only time that union was broken was through sin, as our sin was laid on Jesus He cried out My God my God why have you forsaken Me? Why is our unity broken? A division had come because of sin, and sin is the only thing that will ruin the unity of true believers.

Look with me at the Book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. And in Ephesians 2 Paul devotes a full half of a chapter to the subject of unity. It is an important topic, and Paul says in Ephesians 2:14: ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, Ephesians 2:14-15

Here Paul is taking two historical enemies, Jews and Gentiles and showing how Jesus made them one. See the Jews had God’s Law, the 10 commandments, and in their minds they were different from and better than those “Gentile dogs”, and that Law became a dividing wall of hostility. But when Jesus came He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law through His life, and He removed all the curses of the Law through His death, thereby He destroyed that dividing wall of hostility. Just like the Berlin Wall which was destroyed in 1990 united all of Germany, so Jesus destroyed the wall of hostility when He died. His purpose was to make the two one, to create unity and make peace.

But notice the rest of vs. 21: “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” So I want us to consider the fact today that unity equals testimony. In other words, when we evidence that we are one in Christ, the world is powerfully affected. You know one of the reasons why the church at large is not more effective in reaching the lost today is because of divisions and splinter groups and denominations within the church. Back in 1990, America was involved in the Persian Gulf War. Troops took on the Iraqi forces out in the desert of Kuwait. In those two months, January and February, the USA won an outstanding victory, and had very few casualties. One of the interesting things about that war was that the majority of our troops weren’t injured or killed by the enemy. They were the victims of what is called “friendly fire”. Friendly fire is where you are hit by ammunition from your own troops. In other words, it’s where your own soldiers become your worst enemy. You can’t prepare for it, and you never see it coming. Right now in the church today, we have enemies from outside of us, but we also have enemies from within. The weapons that are used aren’t rifles and missiles. It’s our own words and attitudes. And Nonbelievers avoid some of our churches because they know they’ll be landing in the middle of a war zone. This should not be, when Jesus prayed for our unity to be a testimony to the world, and when Jesus died to make us one. That’s one reason why we are a non-denominational church. We do not take any other title on us than Christian, and we are one with Christians of all denominations.

You’ve probably heard it said that older couples who have been married a long time, and who have so much love for each other, can finish each other’s sentences. The church should be so united in heart and mind, and have so much love for each other, and be so focused on the gospel that we communicate as if we were one man. Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each of them submits. Just like that, you could take one hundred worshipers meeting together, and if each one is looking away to Jesus, they are one in heart. They are in tune with each other. And this is what testifies to the world. Who wants to go to a concert where all the instruments are out of tune? As Psalm 133:1 says, “¹ How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!”

At the end of vs. 21 it says “so that the world will know that You have sent Me.” The world with all their divisions and selfishness and factions will see a totally different people if we are truly one in Christ.

²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: John 17:22

In the Old Testament, God says He will not share His glory with anyone, and yet Christians share in the glory of Jesus. In the Old Testament God did not live in people, the Holy Spirit would come on people but did not live in them, but in the New Testament God lives in us, and therefore we share His glory. The whole purpose of which is that we may be one.

But unity comes with maturity. Look with me at Ephesians 4 and let’s notice how unity is a by-product of maturity:

¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

On the airplane on my way down to Houston last week there was a toddler sitting two rows back who was crying and shouting and demanding its own way. In a sense, that toddler sacrificed unity in the airplane to make sure everybody knew how it felt. And oftentimes immature Christians can sacrifice unity on the altar of their own feelings. Whereas, mature Christians have learned to make unity around Jesus essential. We aim for unity in faith, in our conversation, in our love for Jesus and for each other. This is the prayer of Jesus for us.

And just now I want us to notice something amazing, at the end of vs. 23: “²³ I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

 Is it not unbelievable to consider that God loves you and me just as God loves Jesus Christ? He loves Jesus as His Son, He loves us as His sons. He loves us just as He loves Jesus.

Well how does He love Jesus? I’m going to close with these three ways:

1.      He loves Jesus dearly, as in Jesus is the very heart of God. Listen to what Ephesians 5:1 calls us:  “¹ Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”

2.      He loves Jesus intimately.  This intimacy is expressed in vs. 23 as He is speaking to His father He says, “You in me and I in you.” This is an intimate term, a passion term. The Father loves His Son with a holy passion, and the Father loves His sons with a holy passion. “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son…” (John 3:16). ¹ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1 “¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10. He loves us intimately, just like He loves His Son.

3.      He loves Jesus eternally. Look at the end of vs. 24: “²⁴ …you loved me before the creation of the world.” Eph. 1 says He chose us before the creation of the world. Listen to Jeremiah 31:3 ³ “”I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” He loves us eternally, too.

He loves us dearly, He loves us intimately, and He loves us eternally. And when we are taken up in the love of God for us, and the love of Jesus in our hearts, we are one with each other. We are all tuned to the same tuning fork of Jesus and His love.

An American missionary was traveling across Korea by train. At a busy station an old man boarded and sat across from Him. The man was Korean and he addressed the American in his native tongue. The Missionary responded in the only Korean phrase that he knew which was “I don’t understand”. A few minutes later the Korean tried again, but the missionary could only say ” I DON’T UNDERSTAND” The Korean then tried a third question, and this time the American recognized a familiar word YESU which means JESUS. The American pointed to himself and said YESU, the Old man did the same thing with a smile of delight on His face. The Korean then took out a Bible, and he turned to a page and pointed to a place that he wanted the American to read. Remembering that oriental Bible are written from back to front, the missionary took his own Bible and counted the number of books and chapters from the back to the place that the old man had pointed to . The old man had pointed to Mark 3:35 “Whoever does the will of God is my brother.” The missionary immediately searched for a reply. He counted out and pointed to it in the Korean Bible. It was Psalm 133:1 “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” The Korean man read it and smiled in agreement and for the rest of the journey, these two men, ages apart, cultures apart, countries apart, were brought together in an amazing friendship as they pointed first to one verse and then to another. Their separate Bibles had a common language of the Spirit, and brought an amazing unity.

Jesus prayed for our unity, Jesus died for our unity, let’s live our lives showing that God answered His prayer.

John 17. This is the chapter where Jesus prays for His disciples. It’s an amazing chapter, filled with encouragement for us today, and as Jesus begins His prayer to His Father let’s notice today that He gives two commendations and two requests. He commends them before His Father for keeping God’s Word, and for bringing Jesus glory, and then He prays for their protection and their sanctification. And this is the heart of Jesus’ prayer for us today, to commend our faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, and for bringing Him glory, and to pray for our protection and our sanctification. Two commendations and two requests. Let’s look at this chapter together:

John 17 vs. 6: Jesus says, ⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” And then notice vs. 10 “¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.” Now stop and consider for a moment who Jesus is talking about here. When He says, “they have obeyed your word and brought Me glory” He is speaking about 11 men whose faith was very weak, whose spiritual understanding was very little, and whose hearts were very fearful. I mean, how often have we seen these disciples get it all wrong? How often have we seen them stumble and fall and make a mess of things? The disciples wanted to send children away from Jesus, this was wrong. Philip didn’t pass the test when he was asked “where shall we get food for this crowd?” They didn’t understand about leaven in the bread meaning false teaching of Pharisees. In a storm with Jesus in the boat they all say “we’re all going to die” and Jesus says, “you of little faith.” They didn’t understand why Jesus had to speak in parables and they didn’t understand the parables themselves. Jesus had to rebuke Peter and say “get behind me Satan.” And Peter was about to deny Christ and the disciples would all run away. And yet Jesus says about them, “they have obeyed Your Word and brought Me glory.”

No notice is mentioned of their failures, and faults and stumbles. No, Jesus skips over all that and commends them for their faith, even if it is little. Doesn’t this give us hope? That Jesus sees even weak faith as obedient faith. See Jesus is seeing these disciples through the eyes of love, and love remembers no wrongs. Possibly you’ve heard the phrase, “love is blind”, meaning a person who loves someone else does not even see their faults.

To give you an illustration of this, maybe you will remember what God says about David in the Old Testament. Remember David who committed adultery, David who committed murder? But God gave David repentance and did not count his sins against him, and at the end of David’s life, God says something amazing about David. He says in 1 Kings 14:8 ⁸ David … kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.” What? Doing only what was right? Did God have a bad memory? I mean there is no mention of his sin and failures at all. Just like Jesus could say about these weak and faltering disciples, “they have kept Your Word, and they have brought Me glory” because no record of their wrongs was kept. See the truth is that their wrongs were going to be nailed to His cross, and washed away in His blood, and buried in His tomb. And likewise, all of our sin, and all of our failures and shortcomings are also forgiven and forgotten because of what Jesus did for us.

In essence, that is what Jesus is doing with His disciples. He is viewing them through the cross, and seeing all their sins removed from them, and viewing them as fully clothed in His own righteousness. And He is commending them for their faith, even though it is small.

See vs. 6 should encourage us today also. Anytime we are reminded of our sin, our stumbles, our falls, the times we just plain got it wrong, remember these words, “they have kept your word, they brought me glory” because this is Jesus’ final Word about all believers.

And having commended the disciples before God He now prays for them. But first, He wants to make it very clear exactly who He is praying for. In vs. 9 He says “⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” You can see the heart of Jesus is for the people God had given Him, for the elect who would believe in Him. They are who He prays for and they are who He dies for.  He does not pray for the “world”, meaning those who are not elect: those who are on the broad road that leads to destruction, those who have not put off the old and put on the new, those who have not crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. He’s not praying for them, He’s praying for this “little flock” on the “narrow road” who are “crucified with Christ” and who have risen to newness of life. These are who He is praying for.

And oh how this should bow our hearts in worship right here, and cause us to thank God. What a privilege to be in the group that Jesus prays for. Millions of people pass through this world un-prayed for by Jesus but those who belong to the “little flock” are held up by Jesus to the throne of grace and are prayed for.

He now prays for two things: first, He prays for their protection. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name–the name you gave me–so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11

Jesus had been their Good Shepherd up to this point, and He had helped them in their weaknesses and protected them from evil. But now He was leaving them and going to the Father. And I just want us to notice the deep interest Jesus has in us this morning! He is about to return to the Father in heaven, and so He asks the Father to protect those who are so dear to His heart, those for whom He would bleed and die. It was as if He said: “I know my Father’s heart! He will take good care of them!” Sometimes when I go away on a trip I’ll say to my sons, “I’m going for 5 days, protect these ladies and make sure they are ok.” That’s because I love them and love always protects.

And there is nothing more dear to the heart of Jesus Christ than His people, and He prays for their protection and our protection. And I ask us this morning, have you ever wondered why Jesus is so interested in our protection? This chapter answers that question by telling us that we are the love gift of the Father to His Son. Have you thought about that? You are God’s love gift to His Son. In fact, seven times in this chapter Christ speaks of those whom the Father had “given” Him. Look through these verses with me: verse 2, 6 (twice) 9, 11, 12, 24. Just like the Son is the Father’s love gift to the world, we are the Fathers love gift to His Son. And the Son looks on us today as the precious gift His Father had given Him, and He wants us protected.

In 1689 the Turkish emperor gave His wife the most costly jewel ever found in their country, it was a rare and flawless blue diamond that shone brightly in the daytime and in pitch darkness. It was estimated to be worth over a half million dollars. You know what she did with it? She had a small armory built for that one jewel, and she posted two armed guards to protect it day and night. You see Jesus was given a precious love-gift, all the people down through all the ages who would believe; and He desires to protect us and to never lose one of us. We are worth so much to Him, not because of any value in ourselves, we’re not like that blue diamond, but because God the Father gave us to His Son.

So He asks for their protection, because He is leaving them in the midst of two very powerful enemies. When I was 13-years old I had two horrible bullies in my life: one was an older teen, and this guy was at least 6 feet tall, weighed about 250 pounds with long shaggy hair and a beard, I’m like 5’1 weighing in at 110 pounds, and he would threaten to beat me up as I came home from church, and another one at school who was on the wrestling team, and he always threatened to break my arms and my legs. I hadn’t done anything to these two guys they just for some reason hated me. All Christians have 2 very strong enemies. Look at vs. 14: “¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” The “world” here means those who are opposed to God, those who will not submit to Jesus Christ, those who hate God’s law and rebel against His authority. And the world hates you, believer, because if you are a true Christian your life condemns them. If you are a true Christian Jesus lives in you and they hate Him.

And look at your second enemy in vs. 15: “¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” So our enemy is the devil, here called the evil one, and the evil one hates the Holy One. Revelation 12:17 the church is shown as a woman and says, “¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring–those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Our enemy is a dragon; a fire-breathing, church-hating dragon. And we’re no match for a dragon.

1 Peter 5:8: “⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Last week I watched a video depiction of the lions devouring Christians in the Roman coliseum and it was stunning and frightening. If you email me I’ll give you the link, but parents watch it first to determine if you want your children to see it or not. But these lions circled the Christians, and then literally tore them to pieces, children and all, and that is precisely what our enemy wants to do to us. That’s why we must live our lives being on guard, watching for him.

That is why Jesus prays for our protection because it is needed. We got the world that hates us and the devil that wants to devour us. And what exactly is Jesus praying that God would protect us from? Vs. 11 tells us ¹¹ ..Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name–the name you gave me–so that they may be one as we are one.” He wants to protect us from division. Last week we talked about the devil’s goal is to attack and scatter, He wants to divide and conquer. Jesus prays for our unity. And now I ask, was His prayer answered? Look over with me to the book of Acts chapter 4, and let’s see Jesus prayer answered right in front of our eyes: “³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” And is it not still true that among the real people of God, despite all their minor differences, there is a real, a fundamental, and a blessed, underlying unity — we all believe God’s Word is inspired, the final authority; we all believe in the all-sufficient sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ; we all aim at the glory of God; we all yearn for the time when we will be forever with the Lord. All true believers are one in heart and mind.

So He prays for our protection so that we will maintain unity, and finally He prays for our sanctification so that we will have holiness. He says in vs. 17: “¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” He is praying here that His followers would be set apart from the world, would be different from the world, would be holy like their Father in heaven is holy.

God’s desire is for His people to be holy and set apart from the world. To live differently than the world lives. Ephesians 5 tells us that “…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her?” Why? “…²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

So notice the methods of how Jesus sanctifies us and makes us holy. It’s the Word and the cross. Notice vs. 17: “¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” Now I just want us to notice how the Word sanctifies us, so please turn with me to Psalm 19. And I want us to notice everything that God’s law, or God’s Word does in the lives of people. Specifically notice how God’s Word sanctifies or sets us apart.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. ¹⁰ They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. ¹¹ By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11

So vs. 7 tells us that God’s Word revives the soul, it awakens us, it breathes new life into us. Thereby setting us apart from spiritual apathy, drowsiness, slumber, or even death.

Vs. 7 tells us that God’s Word makes wise the simple, gives understanding and wisdom, thereby setting us apart from being simple, or foolish or unwise.

Vs. 8 tells us God’s Word gives joy to the heart, by filling us with the hope of the gospel. Peter says we have “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Believers are joy-filled, thereby setting us apart from depression, despair, gloominess, sadness. It’s not that we don’t get discouraged or depressed, it’s that the Word is the remedy. That’s why Paul could say, “we are discouraged but not despairing” in the face of all his severe trials and persecution. The world must turn to pills and psychiatrists, we have been taught to turn to God’s Word when we’re not doing well, and He comforts us and restores us and gives joy to our hearts.

Vs. 8 tells us that God’s Word gives light to the eyes, that is understanding, illumination, enlightenment, thereby setting us apart from darkness and error and deception.

According to vs. 11 God’s Word warns us, thereby setting us apart from sin. It warns us to flee from sin and to run straight into the arms of Jesus and exercise faith in Him and commit our lives to Him. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17

And finally, in John 17 He prays that we be sanctified and He tells us exactly how we are sanctified. In vs. 19 He says “¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

And this is a direct reference to His upcoming death, and that through His death we would be truly sanctified, set apart from our sins and from this world. The Father set Him apart, and He set Himself apart from this world, in order to set us apart from our sins.

You know for many years after professing faith in Christ I turned from the cross which I thought was just to get me in the door, and I turned to self-effort to become better. I tried harder, I read more, I prayed more fervently, all hoping to be set apart from my sin.

Please look with me at Galatians chapter 3. The Galatians are doing the same thing, believing that their sanctification, their holiness comes by keeping the Law. And Paul writes to straighten them out and he tells them exactly how we are sanctified. He says in vs. 1: “¹ You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” It’s not self-effort and law-keeping that sets us apart from sin, it’s the cross. The truth is that Jesus’ crucifixion is our crucifixion to sin; He not only died for us but we died in Him.

And how do we experience this crucified life? It’s in vs. 2: “² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” So that what he is saying is that through faith in Jesus we receive the Spirit are saved and sanctified. Looking at Jesus suffering on the cross because of my sin and believing that Jesus suffered and died for me has a way of killing all my wicked passions.

Turn to Matthew chapter 2. I’d like to say “Happy Birthday” this morning. We are two years old as a church this month, and we are taking one week out of our normal study of the Book of John in order to look to the future of our church. In this chapter King Herod has heard that another king has been born, Jesus Christ, and Herod is threatened by the birth of this new king. I love that the infant Jesus can threaten a king, don’t you? So he takes decisive action, and in vs. 16 it says: “¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were, get this now, two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”

See Herod wanted to kill Jesus while He was young, before Jesus could grow up and become a threat to Herod’s kingdom. But of course behind Herod we see the one who was a murderer from the beginning. The devil wanted to kill Jesus in his infancy before he could grow up and damage the kingdom of darkness.

Now look with me at the book of Acts, chapter 8 and we’ll see this same story again, but this time in the early church. The devil tried to kill Jesus in His infancy, and now look how the devil tries to kill the church in its infancy:

^“1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. ² Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” Now the devil’s trying to kill the early church while it is still young.

And the devil has a history of doing this: of trying to kill ministries in their youth, before they can grow and flourish. For example:

·         Pastor John Macarthur has a world-wide radio ministry called “Grace to You. Approximately two years into his ministry, it was his birthday, and the elders called him for a meeting. When he got in to the office the elders informed him that they were joining the mass exodus that were leaving the church, and all 5 elders resigned in one day. But Pastor MacArthur persisted in his ministry, and today he has one of the most fruitful ministries in the entire world.

• Pastor Jim Cymbala from the Brooklyn Tabernacle has a very fruitful Christian ministry. Approximately two years into his ministry, a man and his wife who had moved from North Dakota to be with Jim in ministry, all of a sudden turned against Jim and began to incite the entire congregation against him through gossip and slander; the end result was that the church split and Jim was left with 4 families. Though he was extremely discouraged, Jim did not quit, and today his ministry is worldwide.
• Watchman Nee started a church in Shanghai China in 1922, but 2 years into his ministry he was thrown out of his church by his own coworkers because of his stand for the truth of the Scripture. A number of brothers in the church became a source of suffering to Watchman Nee, due to their dissention, immaturity, stubbornness, ambition for position, and rebelliousness. But Watchman Nee continued serving the Lord and throughout his life he raised up 430 churches spanning 6 countries, and his ministry is now worldwide.

And so the truth is, both in the Scriptures and in the life of new ministries, that the devil seeks to kill and destroy them before they can grow up and do some real damage to his kingdom. And since we are at our 2 year birthday today I want us to see three things from Scripture: 1-What we can expect from the devil. 2-What we can expect from Jesus. And 3-What God expects from us. And we will close today at our wrap up time with an open forum for questions and answers.

So let’s note first of all what we can expect from the devil. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us “we are not ignorant of his schemes”, and that word “schemes” is where we get our English word “schematic.” I remember during the Desert Storm war that General Norman Schwarzkopf put up a schematic of how he planned to win that war. The schematic showed the weak spots of the enemy, the points of attack, the battle plan, etc. Well the devil has a schematic against the church, he has “schemes” against you, a battle plan against the church.

Now let’s look at John chapter 10. Here is what all churches can expect from the devil. Here is how he works: In John10:12 Jesus says, in the middle of the verse, “¹² …the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.” That’s the devil’s scheme: attack, and scatter. Now if you have ever watched a wolf attack a flock, he first circles it looking for those sheep that are lagging behind, that are not keeping up with the flock. And then he attacks the flock, and drags off those who lag behind. The devil’ plan is to attack and scatter.

Please turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25, I want us to see an example of how the devil does this. In this chapter Moses is telling the history of the nation of Israel, and all the things that happened to them as they came out of slavery. And he reminds them of a particular story, in vs. 17 he says, “¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind. They had no fear of God.” How mean is that: attack those that are lagging behind. That’s just cruel. But in the flock of God, those who aren’t keeping up, who aren’t involved and active, those lagging behind have a good chance of getting cut off.

And so, here’s how to not lag behind. Listen up if you don’t want to be wolf food: 1-If at all possible, don’t miss church, as that is where the flock gets food. And by “church” I mean the 10:00 AM prayer time, until 1:00 PM after the wrap-up. It’s all important. If on vacation, go to church where you are. 2-If at all possible, don’t miss Wednesday night Bible study and prayer time as that is where the flock gets fellowship. And finally, 3-actively use the gifts God has given you, and that means male and female; as that’s how the flock flourishes. This is how we don’t lag behind. Food, fellowship, and flourishing. We take in, and we give out. If all we’re doing is showing up for church, that’s better than nothing, but we are lagging behind, and we have a good chance of getting cut off by the devil.

So what can we expect from the devil? He will attack and scatter, and cut of the laggers.  There is a modern-day example of this in Pastor Voddie Bauchum’s Grace Family Church: At about 2 years into his church, one of his elders began going around to people in the church and slandering and stirring up division, and making people mad at Voddie. And when the devil had done his work the elder left and took numerous families with him and the church split. It still hurts to see his website, where once there were 3 elders, now there are 2, because the devil did his work. This is what we can expect as the devil attacks and scatters. And he is good at it.

Well we’ve seen what we can expect from the devil, here’s what we can expect from Jesus: In John 10:11 He says “¹¹ “…The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” A good Shepherd will put himself between his sheep and danger. This is a reference to the cross, when Jesus put Himself between us and danger. Jesus put Himself between us and the Law, and protected us from its condemnation. Jesus put Himself between us and divine judgment, and He was judged instead of us. Jesus put Himself between us and God’s wrath, and God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus, instead of us. Jesus protects His church. He says exactly what Judah said about his brother, Benjamin: “my life for his life” so that the true church of God never needs to worry when persecution comes, when the devil attacks and scatters, because Jesus has secured our eternal safety.

But His protection did not end at the cross, it began there. He rose from the dead and He is the Mighty Defender of His flock today. He died for the church, He rose for the church, and He lives in the church. That’s why Isaiah 43:2 says, “² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

So we’ve seen what to expect from the devil: he wants to attack and scatter. We’ve seen what to expect from Jesus: He saves and protects. And finally what does God expect from us as the devil comes against us? If you see the devil attacking us; that is, someone going around to people and poisoning them against other people, or those lagging behind getting cut off…what should be our response? I just want to give us 3 things from the Bible, and then we’re done:

1.Make every effort to keep unity. Ephesians 4:3: “³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” I’ve seen on National Geographic channel a wolf attacking a flock, and instantly the sheep all squeeze in together. Jesus prays in John 17, “oh Father, may they be brought to complete unity.” Paul prays that God would give the Romans ^5…a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6). You want to know how to glorify God? Be of one heart and one mouth with the visible body of Christ.

When the devil attacks, or when someone clings to an idol and leaves, and tries to take other people with them, the church ought to have a united response. If someone is clinging to an idol, that response ought to be “my friend, please repent, please throw your idol down and come back.”  That one message ought to ring out from everybody in the church. Unity around the truth is what we are after.

2. Have absolutely nothing to do with gossip, or slander. You and I need to be “wood removers.” Proverbs 26:20 “²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.” The instant somebody starts talking to us about somebody else here’s what we do: “Whoa, wait a minute, have you gone to that person and said these things to them?” and if they say “I already did and didn’t get anywhere” our immediate response should be, “well come on, I’ll go with you and we’ll talk with them together.” This is the 2^nd step of Matthew 18. Now you’ll find out what’s really in their heart.

If we’re Christians, we should have absolutely nothing to do with gossip and slander. Now there may be times when the elders of a church must exercise church discipline and if that happens of course they will need to explain why they are doing so. But that’s not what I’m talking about, I’m talking about people getting together and talking bad about other people behind their backs. That’s Satanic, that’s demonic, and that’s how churches divide and separate which is the opposite of the unity that Jesus died to give the church.

So make every effort to keep unity, have nothing to do with gossip, and finally…

3.Discern the situation. And by that I mean discern whether you have a brother who needs to be restored gently (like Galatians 6:1 says), or whether you are dealing with an idolater or a slanderer. You see the Bible tells us to deal differently with these 2 different types of people. An unbeliever, or a brother caught in a trap we give up our lives to show them the gospel and or to rescue them from their trap. But a person who refuses to part with an idol, and who parts with the church instead, should be treated differently, and I want to show us that from the Scriptures today.

Please look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Here’s how the Bible tells us to deal with idolaters and slanderers:

 “⁹ I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people– ¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. ¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

Now this is God’s command for all churches, that they are not to associate with unrepentant idolaters/slanderers/immoral people, not even to eat with them, and that we are supposed to make that judgment. Maybe you’ve never thought this way before, maybe you’ve always said, “judge not lest ye be judged”, but now you see that the church is supposed to judge those inside the church, as to whether they are immoral, or idolaters/slanders,etc. and if they won’t repent, we are to have nothing to do with them, we are not to associate with them, and we are not to even eat with them, we are to expel them, get rid of them. We are to let them go.

And why are we to have nothing to do with them? So that they would miss the fellowship and come back. We want them to understand that their idol has divided them from the fellowship and they will want to repent of it and come back. That’s what 2 Corinthians deals with.

And isn’t this exactly like the gospel? I mean Jesus was covered with our sin, and God judged Him, God sent Him away, God turned His back on Him, so that we might be loved and accepted. And He expects us to treat believers who won’t part with their sin, in that same way.

And so the only remaining question is: how can we tell if someone has an idol that they are not repenting of? It’s pretty easy to tell if they are slanderers, they talk bad about people behind their backs. And sexually immoral and greedy people are always exposed. But how do we know if someone has an idol? Here is a general rule: if I will sin to get it, or if I sin when I can’t get it, then it’s an idol.

Here’s another way to tell if you’re dealing with a brother caught in a trap that we’re to restore gently, or an unrepentant idolater. A brother caught in a trap will be thankful for your efforts, he will welcome your help, he will follow you as you follow Christ, he will not hesitate to do whatever you say he needs to do. He won’t resist you, he won’t argue with you, and he won’t speak about you behind your back. He’s just glad to finally be out of the trap.

An idolater, however, will resist all efforts you put out for him, he will refuse to hear you, he will not follow you, and he will always accuse you of coming to him in the wrong way, he will go look for evidence as to why you’re wrong and why he should keep his idol, and finally, he will leave your fellowship. The reason he is acting like this is because he has an idol that he will not let go of, and so he lets go of the people who know about his idol and runs away from them. Now idols can be anything:

·         A home can be an idol,

·         a car can be an idol.

·         Where you live can be an idol. About every February in Ohio I have to check my heart for idols.

·         Money can be an idol.

·         Success, fame, a job, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs can all be idols if we’re  not willing to give them up.

·         Relationships can be an idol. If planning a marriage to an unbeliever is more important than following Christ, that relationship is an idol.

·         Idolatry has come into the church today in the form of substances, prescription drugs. If you need a substance to “control your behavior”, and without that substance you would be angry and have fits of rage, that substance for you is an idol.

Now some of you know our church has a ministry called Setting Captives Free. And this ministry has worked with around 500,000 people over the past 10 years, about half of those online, and half through our study material. This is what we dedicate our lives to, helping people out of sin traps by God’s grace. And many people get free, but many others march off mad, holding to their idol and blaming others.

And I have to tell you that these people break my heart every time. I feel so much like Jeremiah who said “²¹ Since my people are crushed, I am crushed…” Jeremiah 8:21. It breaks my heart. But we are told to let them go, and have nothing to do with them. And we think, is that really being Jesus to these people? Is that really what Jesus would do?

Well I will close with this story, which you can read in Luke chapter 18. One day a rich young man came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to live forever. He thought he was a pretty good person, he had kept the law all his life, but Jesus put his finger on his idol and said, “give everything you have to the poor and come follow me and you’ll have treasures in heaven.” And the Bible says the rich man “went away sad because he had great wealth.” Instead of parting with his idol he parted with Christ and His followers. And what did Jesus do? He just let him go and turned it into a teaching opportunity, warning about the idolatry of riches.

Now look for just a moment at the cross of Jesus Christ. Do you see Jesus suffering and dying? That right there is our guarantee that He will protect His church. And even though the devil will cut off those who are lagging behind, Jesus will save and protect His church. We are to maintain unity, we are to have nothing to do with gossip, and we are to discern whether we are dealing with a brother caught in a trap, who will be restored gently if we work with him, or if we are dealing with an idolater/slanderer, and if so we are to have nothing to do with them. And this is how all ministries go and grow in the Lord Jesus Christ.