John 17:6-19

Invocation

Holy Father, you who keep and sanctify your people, draw near to us as we come to worship you in your Son by the Spirit. Drive away doubt, and give assurance so that as we renew covenant with you this morning we may be set apart for the work you have called us to. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end, and Amen.

Confession of Sin

James 1:6 ESV

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

James in context is exhorting the people of God to ask him for wisdom, but I want you to think broader, everything we ask of God we must ask in faith. Doubt is the great enemy of faith, whether from our conscious, or the accusations of Satan we go to pray, and doubts creep in that say you are not good enough, you are a sinner, God won’t listen to you, He doesn’t love you, in fact you are his enemy, so why even try to ask him anything. But in our text today, Jesus pray that the Father would keep and sanctify you, both requests are the double-edged sword you must use to defeat doubt. The gospel is a gift and it asks you only to believe, it asks you only to receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation. Doubt says you are a sinner, and so you are, but Christ came to save sinners. So argue back with doubt. I want you to do something different this week. As we confess our sin privately and then corporately I want you to think not of the many sins that have marked your life this past week, but the many times you let doubt overwhelm your faith. For behind every actual sin, is unbelief. Remember sin offers you life and happiness apart from Christ. But sin lies to you, there is only death apart from Christ. So when you sin, you give in to doubt and choose the fleeting pleasures of the world rather than Christ. So confess your lack of faith. Plead with God—”I Believe, help my unbelief!” Let us confess together first silently.

Old Testament Lesson

Deuteronomy 7:6–26 ESV

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. And you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Pastoral Prayer

Holy Father, keep us from all evil; keep our going out and our coming in; keep us from sin and temptation and deliver us from the evil one. Sanctify us in the truth, your word is truth. Cause us to be holy as you are holy, as individuals and as families. May we be set apart for the work that you have called each of us too. Bless our congregation, Father, as we seek to carry out the mission you have given us to gather and perfect the saints, equipping them to order their earthy lives towards their heavenly good. Through the work of the ministry may each one here be equipped to devote themselves fully to you. Strengthen families by equipping husbands and fathers to lead with zeal and humility. Washing their families in the word of God. Make us fruitful, may our children’s children see your glory. Keep our little ones in the faith and from the evil one. The greatest tool for growth you’ve given to the church is the family, but we have seen generations of Children wander away from the faith. Grant perseverance to those saints here who grieve this in their own children, and teach us to lay hold of your covenant promises to us and to our children, so call them out of darkness and bring them back to your Church, the body of Christ. Not only for our church, but for those others we are partnered with in our presbytery and denomination. And all those here in this valley gathered even now to worship you. Knit us together in our shared commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that we may be one, even as you are one.

We are grateful for the current turn in our nations politics, and consider much of this to be an answer to our prayers. But we know Father, that if you do not pour out your Spirit on our nation, calling dead men to life by the gospel all our political wins will only be healing the wound lightly. Continue to give our nation freedom and prosperity, but also give us revival. Continue to equip and empower those who rule over us to rule well. From our president, to our local magistrates.

We give you thanks, Holy Father, that in your good providence you have blessed us financially. Make us good stewards of what have been given and give us wisdom as we seek to use these resources to continue the mission you have given to make disciples of all the nations. So bless our missionaries, those we partner with in such parts of the world as Armenia and Japan and Canada, and other unnamed parts, desperately in need of the gospel. Bless those families who serve faithfully day in and day out, often without the blessings we here in the west so enjoy, not least of which is the presence of family and community. So guard our missionaries and keep them; provide for them, and give them gospel success. Be also with those here in the west we support, for here the field is white unto harvest. Be especially with those in campus ministry. Thank you for men like Colby Benedict and His family, that you have raised up to minister on the campus’ of this valley. Bless and sustain in him. Be with the students, especially those at Wilkes university and Kings college. Strengthen their faith, bless and keep them. Help them to grow in their faith even as they prepare for whatever vocation you have called them too. Be with our brother Jadon as he prepares to work full time with DiscipleMakers, give him success as he fundraisers.

Holy Father, this has been a brutal winter with a great many of us suffering from sickness. This has disrupted much more than just our fellowship, but has hinder our effectiveness in the work you’ve called each of us too. Give us good health. You promise that if we give ear to your commandments and keep your statues then you will put none of the diseases on us that you put on the Egyptians, fo you the LORD are our healer. Be with those sick this morning, or those weakly trying to recover. We ask especially for the Herbert's and Kessler’s both of whom had Mono, and for others who have had the flu or other colds. Bring healing to us. For the sake of your Son. Thank you for the successful surgery of Jenny Brock. continue to give her good recovery and strength. Be with others who deal with chronic, help them in their pain to draw closer to you; that in you they may find joy and strength to persevere until you should return or call them home.

While we confess there does seem to be much work to be done until your will is done on earth as it is in heaven, still we are confident that the good work you have begun in us you will bring to completion. Holy Father hasten the day, and give grace to patiently endure until Christ puts all His enemies under His feet. Holy Father, crush Satan under our feet. As we hear you speak to us this morning through the preaching of your word and in the sacrament turn our hearts to you, and let us see the heart of Christ. Above all we ask that you, holy Father, would answer the prayer of Christ that you would keep us in your name and sanctify us in the truth. For His sake, and for the sake of your glory. For we ask praying just as our Lord taught us to pray...Our Father...

Keep and Sanctify Them.

John 17:6-19

Intro

In 1949, in the comic book Superman #61 the writers of superman story introduce Superman’s greatest weakness–kryptonite. Lois Lane is sent to investigate Swami Riva, a fake psychic who is scamming people. Of course, superman trails her because it could be dangerous. Sure enough, once Swami finds out she’s a reporter, he turns on her and she cried for help. In rushes Superman, who was watching from far away with his x-ray vision and super-hearing. Swami tries to delay him so he can escape through a secret room by claiming to put a hex on him, only it seems to work. Unbeknownst to both of them, it is the jewel fastened on his turban that weakens superman. The rest of the story unravels this strange rock, giving us the origin story both of this rock kryptonite, and the destruction of his home planet Krypton.

Needless to day, Superman needs to make sure no more of this kryptonite falls into the hands of his enemies. For its presence weakens him taking away his super powers. Many heroes, I daresay, have some sort of kryptonite. This plot device keeps the story interesting, otherwise Superman would be undefeatable. Faith’s kryptonite is doubt. It acts like a corrosive, a weakening agent that causes all kinds of problems in the life of the Christian. Arguably, without doubt, faith would be easy. It wouldn’t really be faith. Heidelberg questions #21 asks,

Question 21. What is true faith?

Answer. True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

“An assured confidence…not only to others, but to me also” belongs “remission of sin, everlasting righteousness, and salvation.” That is faith, and doubt is wavering in that belief. Maybe believing it is true, just not true for you, at least at that moment. However, God anticipates the problem of doubt, and gives ample resources through His ordinary means of grace to combat it.

If as I noted last week, Jesus’ prayer is an unveiling of His heart’s desires so that His disciples can hear, and so their faith can be strengthened, then as he continues to pray, what is His hearts desire for you? He asks the Father that he would keep and sanctify you, both which turn out to be exactly what His disciples will need to battle doubt after he has gone.

Preface to second part of prayer.

As I mentioned last week, there are three discernable parts to Jesus prayer. Beginning with his prayer for himself, his prayer for His disciples, and concluding with his prayer for all those who have not yet heard the gospel and believed. As he transitions to pray for His disciples, he prefaces his prayer by laying out the ground of His petitions. These are “the reasons why he is praying for these people as opposed to others, and reasons why the Father should meet His requests.” (Carson, 558). Going back to what we considered last week, Jesus has accomplished the work he came to do. Part of that was making the name of God known to His disciples. Notice Jesus gives two reasons the Father should respond to his requests.

First, they are the ones given to Jesus out of the world. Jesus makes it clear he is “not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (9) Jesus came to seek and save a paricular people, those whom he was given by the Father to save. They belong to Christ, and since they belong to Christ, they also belong to the Father–for they are one.

Second, those unique ones, those chosen and given to Jesus, have received the message of the gospel and believed it. That has been what has separated them from the world. They believe that Jesus has come from God and is God. They saw the signs; they heard his words, and they received them by faith. Certainly it had to be by faith, since their sight would deceive them as it did the world. For Jesus, as the Son of God and promised Christ, looked rather ordinary. Granted, he did and said extraordinary things, but his appearance was ordinary, his origin seemed to be ordinary. I mean, most knew of His parents (at least they thought they did). But Jesus sheep, hear his voice and follow. With the eyes of faith, they see what the blind Pharisees could not.

These become the grounds for Jesus’ first petition, that the Father keeps you.

That the Father keeps you.

When you’re going to leave for a while, you place things or people you care about under the care of someone you trust. If you’re leaving your children, you don’t just leave them alone, nor do you just find a random stranger to watch them. You place them in care of someone you trust. Jesus is leaving, and he wants to ensure that while He is gone, His disciples will be cared for. Again, he is not praying this for His sake, but for ours. We who must remain while he is gone desperately need to hear that although Jesus is gone, we are not alone, that in fact the Father is keeping us while Jesus is gone.

So he prays, Holy Father, keep them in your name (11). But what exactly does Jesus mean by asking the Father to “keep them in your name”? This petition connects back to the reason he has already given for asking the Father to keep them–they belong to God, and they have kept his word. Most often in John’s gospel, when word is used in the singular, it refers to the message of the gospel. That message that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, who came to give His life to save the world. What separated the disciples from the world was their belief in the word Jesus spoke, and their persistent desire to follow him. They have kept His word.

Not at all meaning that they fully understand all that Christ taught, and all they would continue to learn through the Holy Spirit once he was gone. In fact, the disciples have shown a real lack of progress in that sense of keeping the words of Christ. At least when compared with the rapid progress they make post-Pentecost.

Jesus prayer is then that the Father would keep them from departing from the word of gospel, which is his revelation of the Father. Jesus is asking the father to keep them from departing from Jesus’ own revelation of the Father’s name. So first and foremost this is a prayer that the the Father would keep the disciples true to the gospel.

It might sound obvious, but nothing does more damage to your faith then departing from the gospel. This was the problem the Apostle Paul delt with in the Church in Galatia.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Ga 1:6–9).

Now its not just the preacher who needs to beware that he not depart from the gospel, but the hearer too. So often what replaces the gospel is some form of works-righteousness. As in Galatia, where the church is tempted to return to Moses in order to be faithful Christians. For the gospel is unique, in that it overs salvation by faith alone. There is nothing you could do to earn that gift, and even if there was you wouldn’t be able to afford it. Their is something that just doesn’t sit right about that to the natural man.

He thinks, surely there must be something I can do to commend myself to God. He may even make a good show of trying, but he won’t get very far, and usually whatever progress he does make is an inch deep, never touching the heart. This kind of person may put on a show of righteousness, and may be very self-asssured in their righteousness. But under the surface I guarantee you what drives everything they do is the persistence of doubt. And since they can never do enough to feel like they have arrived, they will never have full assurance.

The word Jesus came preaching was the good news that He alone could take away the guilt and shame of sin, and deal with the lack of peace with God by reconciling you to him through His death on the cross. The good news is you don’t need to do anything to receive that gift, he gives it willingly to all those the Father has given to Him to save. Faith is receiving and resting in that gift.

So Jesus prays that the Father keep them in the gospel, which is the surest way to ensure that doubt not get the best of them. Only the solid truth of the will keep you from doubt, will keep you from making shipwreck of the faith.

One of the very practical ways the Father answers this prayer of Jesus’ was by giving us His word. Inspired by the Spirit who as Jesus has already promised would “guide you into all the truth” and take the things of Jesus and “declare them to you.” (Jn. 16:13-14). He would inspire them to write the gospel down so that it could be given to the church and form the basis for its teaching. Along with that he gave other gifts to His church including pastors and elders to help ensure that you remain true to the gospel.

Notice also that it is this shared commitment to the gospel that provides our unity. Jesus asks the father to keep them in your name so that we would have unity just as the Son and Father have unity. Now as students of the reformed tradition, we are may be tempted to define what unites us to narrowly. I recently taught a class at an independent Baptist church on Presbyterian Church government. The pastor and I had significant disagreements on baptism and church government, but we agreed on a whole lot more. I think we need to find more ways that we can unify around mere Christianity then we currently do. Life in the world is hard enough simply because we have God’s word. We should at least try to get along across the aisle with brothers and sisters in Christ who differ on tertiary issues. I know, I know, the problem is what are the tertiary issues? Are not baptism and church government central issues? Yes, I think they are. But I also know that when it comes to me against the world, I have much more in common with a congregational Baptist, then I do with secular atheist.

The reality is, those who Jesus calls out of this world and gives the word of God, the world will hate. Largely because our very presence challenges their assumptions and convicts them of sin. Jesus prays so that His disciples can hear so that they may have His joy fulfilled in them. Which I take to mean that if His petition is answered the Father will preserve you from falling away from the gospel and if you remain in the gospel, then you remain in the love of the Father, obedient to Him and the ‘words’ Jesus taught. You will need to keep that in mind, because Jesus does not promise to remove every obstacle your faith will encounter. Doubts will come; persecution will come; trials will come, for Jesus is not taking us you out of the world. He is praying that the Father keep you while you are in the world.

That the Father sanctifies you.

That’s not all Jesus asks of the Father, closely related Jesus also asks, that the Father “sanctify them in the truth.” To sanctify means to set apart as holy. Holiness is an attribute of God, which is His moral purity and transcendence. It also contains the idea of life and wholeness. God is the fountain of life, he is complete and whole in and of himself (a se). The opposite of holiness is sin, death, and uncleanness. To be holy is to be in the presence of the one who is holiness. God is holy, it’s intrinsic to who he is.

However, we are not intrinsically holy, but must be made holy. That’s what it means to sanctify. To set something or someone apart to be holy. Consecration is another word we use to describe setting someone apart. In John’s gospel, this is sanctify is always used with mission. Sanctify for a task. “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (Jn 17:18). In this case and unique to the Apostles, is the task of bearing witness to Christ. Not at all meaning that you and I are not also called to bear witness, but that the Apostles where unique in the history of redemption, since they bear witness as eyewitnesses, as those who were physically with Jesus throughout his whole ministry (cf. Acts 1:21-22). Their teaching about what they had seen Jesus say and do would form the foundation of the church for ages to come. So they needed the Father to consecrate them for this work, to set them apart as Holy to accomplish God’s mission.

Notice how this sanctifying would take place. Jesus asks the Father that they be sanctified in the truth, further clarifying that by adding, your word is truth. Here we are not wrong to think of scripture, but I think what Jesus has in mind is the word of the Gospel, the message he came to reveal to them, which he is committing to them to take to the world. It is that word which will keep them, and that word will also sanctify them.

The same gospel that justifies is the same gospel that sanctifies. You never really move past the gospel, there’s nothing beyond it. Maturity is not progressing out of that simplistic elements of the gospel but coming to grasp in greater clarity its truth as you learn to live into them. Sanctification, even for mission, is becoming who you are in Christ. Commenting on what it means to do the truth, the theologian Kevin Vanhoozer says,

Disciples do the truth when they follow Jesus’ new reality-depicting words (about the kingdom of God) and, ultimately, the risen Christ himself, the instantiation of this new reality. Disciples are called to follow neither a philosophy, nor a moral code, nor justice, nor inclusiveness, nor even orthodoxy, but the person of Jesus Christ: God’s word made flesh, the image of true God and thus the exemplar of what it is to be truly human. Accept no substitutes! As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it: in discipleship, “Jesus is the only content.” Disciples do the truth, then, by following his way and living out his life: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). This is the truth the disciple sees when peering intently into the mirror of the gospel: the reality of a new self, renewed in the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3:18). It is this new reality of freedom in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13) that is the catalyst of the Christian royal imaginary. To be a disciple is to hear, do, and adore what we see there, in the mirror of Scripture: the lordship of Jesus Christ.

For the sake of sanctifying His disciples, Jesus will sanctify himself. For hours from that prayer, Jesus would be deserted by all His disciples and be led alone to the cross to suffer the wrath of God for sin. Only a spotless lamb will suffice for a sacrifice, only the God-man, the Word-made-flesh, who is intrinsically holy, could stand in your place and satisfy the penalty that hung over your head. Jesus consecrated himself by offering himself up as the spotless lamb of God, so that he could make you holy, too. So that in Him, you might be sanctified in the truth.

Have you ever found it strange that I call you saints? You may look around and think, who is he talking about? I’m no saint. But you are. If you have trusted in Christ having received the word of the Gospel and rest in Him alone for your salvation, then you are holy. Not because of anything you have done, lest you should boast, but because you are united to Christ–the Holy one.

Conclusion

Jesus prays, and as he does, we see his heart’s desire for His people. He asks the Father to keep and sanctify his people while he is gone, just as he had done when he was present with them. Both the keeping and the sanctifying are carried out in your union with Christ. Because you are in the Son the Father will cause you to persevere so that you do not depart from the Word of the gospel. That same gospel which called you out of darkness into the light, will sanctify you for mission. He who called you has made you holy and is making you holy. That life-long process is carried out in your union with Christ, through the renovating work of the Holy Spirit.

It is the truth of the gospel that disarms and defeats doubt. Luther said it better than I can in commenting on Galatians 1:4.

Let us therefore arm ourselves with these and such like sentences of the holy Scripture, that we may be able to answer the devil (accusing us, and saying : Thou art a sinner, and therefore thou art damned) in this sort : Because thou sayest I am a sinner, therefore will I be righteous and saved. Nay (saith the devil) thou shalt be damned. No (say I) for I fly unto Christ, who hath given himself for my sins ; therefore, Satan, thou shalt not prevail against me in that thou goest about to terrify me in setting forth the greatness of my sins, and so to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blaspheming of God. Yea rather, in that thou sayest I am a sinner, thou givest me armour and weapon against thyself, that with thine own sword I may cut thy throat, and tread thee under my feet: for Christ died for sinners…Wherefore, when thou sayest I am a sinner, thou dost not terrify me, but comfort me above measure.

The gospel will keep you and it will sanctify you. Remember and mark this: You begin and end with the Gospel. All the Christian life is carried out in the gospel. You can always spot false gospels because they will over some variation of: begin with the gospel and finish in your own strength. Maturity is not moving beyond the gospel, but grasping and living into its significance more and more. So slay Satan with his own sword, say to doubt, yes I am a sinner, and Christ died to save sinners, so you cannot harm me–the Father keeps and sanctifies me.

And as our Lord prays so also should you. Asking that Father continue to keep you, that he sanctify you in the truth of His word. Not only should you pray that for yourself, but even more for all God’s people. Amen, to that end let us pray.

Holy Father, Keep us in your name? By the word of the gospel enable to persevere amid the world who hates your word. Keep us from departing from the gospel for anything else. Guard our hearts from the creeping doubts and the scheming accusations of Satan. Holy Father, sanctify us in the truth of your word. May we live into the truth of the gospel, that in Christ we are new creations, and the life that we now live we live by faith in the Son of God, who gave His life for us. Set us apart for the work you have called each one of us to. So that as you are holy we also may be holy. Keep us from sin and temptation that will cause us to make shipwreck of the faith. Work in us that which is pleasing in your sight, through Jesus Christ, lamb of God and savior of the world. Amen.

Lord’s Supper Meditation

Saints, those made holy by Christ, here is the gospel. Jesus died so sinners could be made saints. He offers you these signs and seals of His death and your participation in it to remind you of your union with Him. That if with Christ you have died then Jesus prayer is for you yes and amen. Meaning the Father cannot fail to answer it and keep and sanctify you. So come laid hold of his broken and body and shed blood and eat and drink to your continued perseverance and sanctification. May the Spirit of Christ, take the things of Christ and through them bring life to your mortal body so that everyday, Lord’s day to Lord’s day, you resemble more and more the one who consecrated himself so that you may be sanctified. Come to Christ, come saints whether you feel worthy of that title or not, come and celebrate your salvation, and the certain hope that the Father keeps and sanctifies you. Welcome to Christ.

Charge

Jesus’ heart’s desire for you while he is gone is for the Father to keep and sanctify you.

Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.