R286 Search for Meaning

In different times of our life, we find ourselves searching. Today's message from Dr. Wilton is Searching for Meaning. There's the concept of searching for purpose, searching for fulfillment, searching for meaning is today's message. We'll head straight to John 17 as we study God's Word together.

We're connecting online as well at www.tewonline.org. Now, Dr. Wilton. Would you turn with me in your Bibles this morning to John's Gospel Chapter 17, John's Gospel and Chapter 17. It is rather significant that just hours before his experience upon the cross, that Jesus would pray this extraordinary prayer found in John Chapter 17. Now, most of us associate the Lord's Prayer with what Jesus said when his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray.

Jesus put it like this. He said, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's quite correct to associate that with the Lord's Prayer because it is. But there is no doubt that in John Chapter 17, we have a most extraordinary prayer that our Lord Jesus prayed in a most extraordinary moment in time.

Here Jesus was about to fulfill and to consummate his express mission and purpose upon the earth. Right here in John Chapter 17, we have some of the most powerful doctrinal instruction that Jesus could ever give to anybody. I don't make this statement loosely, but I want you to know as a congregation that there is every real sense in which we could spend the next six months in John Chapter 17.

And I would say to you that we wouldn't even scratch the surface. As I have been studying in this passage, it has boggled my mind to discover more and more of the depths of God's grace. Here in John Chapter 17, every utterance, every word that Jesus expresses here falls into that category.

Let me read it for you, John Chapter 17, and I want you to follow with me in your Bibles. After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and he prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority, that word authority, by the way, is the same word for power.

Dunamis, it is the word for power. Therefore, you granted him power or authority over all people that he might give eternal life to those all those who you have given him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Let me pause there for a moment. When Jesus came to earth, he discarded, he left his glory behind. Now there is a sense in which if we were to try and understand what was happening with the Lord Jesus, there is a sense in which as he is about to go back to be with the Father, he is going to be reunited with his glory. We only have had glimpses of his glory during his ministry upon the earth.

Now we're going to see him in all of his glory as the infinite one. Verse six, 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. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you, for I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believe that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, they are yours.

All I have is yours and all you have is mine and glory has come to me through them. 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. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name that you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the scripture would be fulfilled.

Let me pause there again. Here Jesus was talking about Judas Iscariot. You can go back into John chapter six and verse 70, other passages that we have discovered and studied together. What Jesus was saying to his disciples is that there was one among us who looked like us. He spoke like us. He received the benefits of everything that I have given to use those who are closest to me. And yet he was lost. And yet he was lost.

What a tragedy. Verse 13, I'm coming to you now. But I say these things while I'm still in the world so that you may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world any more than I am in the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but rather that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth.

Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. Then Jesus shifts gear again, having prayed for his disciples. He now begins to pray for all believers. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. 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 me even as you have loved me.

Let me pause again. You've heard me speak many times about the importance of church unity. I become more and more convinced, beloved friends, the more I study God's word of the imperative of spiritual unity. And I'm convinced today that one of the major reasons why God has blessed First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is because of the spiritual unity of the men and women and boys and girls in this congregation. Please allow me as your pastor to commend you as a congregation for your faithfulness and for your spiritual unity. One of the greatest tragedies in the world today, my friends, is that the world is seeing the Christian world in a spirit of disunity and disharmony.

I hear all kinds of war stories right throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation. God's word commends and exhorts God's people to be unified around the cross of Christ Jesus. I love you from the bottom of my heart and I commend you today, congregation, for your spirit of unity.

Listen to what he says. Let's go to verse 20 again. 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. Father, I want those here you gave me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me.

I have made known to them, I have declared to them and will continue to make known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts. There's so much in this passage, six lessons that Jesus was trying to share with us in the opening statement.

Let me remind you about them very briefly. Number one, he was trying to remind us that God's timing is perfect. That's right there in verse one.

Father, the time has come. Number two, he was trying to remind us that God's glory is ultimate. Also in verse two, we came to understand that for the Father to glorify the Son is for the Son to glorify the Father.

Why? Because of the indissoluble, indistinguishable relationship that existed between God the Father and God the Son. When Jesus came to this earth, he didn't lay aside his deity. He laid aside his glory and except for brief glimpses of the glory of God, it is only now as he begins to move toward the cross that we begin to understand the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of God's truth.

What a tremendous joy. Number three, he was demonstrating that God's authority has been granted. And we discovered that that word there in verse three is the word for power. We know very clearly that the Lord Jesus had power over fish.

He told them where to swim and which net to jump into. He had power over the beasts. He had power over the fowl of the air. He had power even over the cock, that crew. I mean, you just think about it, that that cock crowed three times in the mind of God at the very split second timing of God.

You don't suppose for one minute, my friend, that God decreed from the portals of heaven that the cock would crow three times at the right moment in the right circumstances, in the right time according to the heartbeat of God's wonderful plan. God's power was intended to be given to the first people who were created. Adam and Eve, Genesis told us that they were created to have dominion and power and yet they failed God and now Jesus Christ right here at the foot of the cross is reminding us that he's going to the cross because the Father has given him power over eternal life.

Power over life and power over death and the ultimate power that God has vested in his Son is the power to change men and women and boys and girls like you and me forever and forever and forever. There was a fourth thing that he told us, that God's position is absolute. That God's position is absolute right there in verse three. Jesus was saying in his prayer that God is not up for grabs. God's not open to debate, folks. You cannot play games with God and I believe that what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples was simply this, that God's position is absolute.

It's beyond debate, it's not open to discussion. He was coming down upon the churches of America and he was saying to them this is one absolute truth that contrary to public opinion you don't need to call a deacons meeting to discuss the absoluteness of the power of God. But there was a fifth thing that Jesus was saying. He was saying that God's work is complete. It's right there in verse four.

I brought you glory on earth by completing the work that you gave me to do. And then finally Jesus was saying that God's Son is now back home with the Father. Right there in verse five. So far we had only been made aware of the incarnate Son.

Now we were becoming aware of the infinite one. What Jesus was saying is that there is a glory that outshines the noonday Son. It's the same glory of the only begotten of the Father. It's that glory before which the shining ones in Isaiah shrank. It is that same glory before which Saul on the road to Damascus fell in the presence of God. It is that same glory before which John the apostle fell prostrate in Revelation chapter one and verse 17. Jesus was saying in his prayer to the Father there is a glory which outshines the noonday Son. And I'm back home glorified, seated at the feast table of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And I want you to know that where I am there you are going to be also. And it's at this juncture that Jesus begins to take us and to delve us into the very mind of God and to the application of the mind of God interpreted through the life of man, through the exercise of man.

Let's look at it briefly. What was Jesus saying as far as mankind is concerned? Number one, that God's servants have been chosen.

Look with me at verse six. Jesus was saying when he began to pray for his disciples, he was saying, I want you to know God's servants have been chosen. 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. What was Jesus saying?

Jesus was saying, my friends, simply this, that these people who serve you and who love you have been given as a special gift from God. What a wonderful thing. It is a great gift and forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the completion of today's message in just a moment. But Dr. Wilson wants me to let you know we're here connecting right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. You know, I've had many people come to me over the years and talk to me about God's call in their life and it's a wonderful thing.

And I guess I will, a little smile on my face and I know that you understand why I'm saying it. But I've said to many a man and woman who have spoken to me about the ministry, that if you are not prepared to rise to the level that God wants you to rise to, if you are not prepared to do what God wants you to do, why don't you go back and become President of the United States of America if that's all you can do? You see friends, when God calls his servants, he tells us that we are called from before the foundation of the world. And there are so many people who say, well then preacher, I can just relax because I have not been called to be a servant. Brother Norman Sanders, may I submit to you, sir, that that's what the Billy Graham training center at the Cove is all about. It's not just for preachers. It's for every man and woman who has been called to be a servant of the gospel. That is every born again believer upon the face of the earth. All of us who have been washed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are called to be the ministers of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has chosen us. Paul put it like this in Corinthians.

He said we become co-laborers together. We become God's ambassadors. Jesus was just reminding his disciples that all of God's servants have been chosen. Number two, he was reminding them that God's provisions are guaranteed. Look with me at verse seven.

Now they know that everything you have given to me comes from you. Jesus was saying in his disciples that God's provisions are guaranteed. Do you know what Jesus was saying when he said that God's provisions are guaranteed? May I out of the profoundest respect of my heart as we look up to God in heaven say, Lord Jesus, thank you that you never let us down. Jesus was saying to his disciples at the foot of the cross, have I ever let you down?

Has God ever let us down? It's a wonderful truth, isn't it? He was saying that God's servants have been chosen. Number two, that God's provisions are guaranteed. But number three, that God's promises must be accepted.

Now we start to meddle with humanity. That God's promises must be accepted. That's right there in verse eight. For I gave them the words you gave me.

Well, let's just stop it right there. See, Jesus didn't stop it right there. He said, I gave them the words that you gave me and guess what?

They accepted them. Perhaps what the Lord Jesus was doing is he was providing us with a glimpse into the exercise of our faith. Faith is the one thing that we struggle with most of all. We struggle with the fact that God said what God said and that God is going to do what God said and we're not prepared to accept it. We say, uh-uh, I want it now. God says, wait, we say, uh-uh, we want it now.

We live in the instant coffee generation. Jesus was saying, listen, they accepted the words that I spoke to them. What a tremendous thought. What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples? He was trying to teach them that God's not in a hurry. That God doesn't operate according to man's timetable. That God's a God of his word, that God's servants have been chosen.

God's provisions are always guaranteed and that God's promises must be accepted. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's not good enough to say you love the Lord Jesus Christ and then not accept his word. That's what faith is. It's accepting his word. That's what makes the body of Christ function.

Have you ever thought about that? If we're not willing to accept one another and trust one another, how do we function as the body of Christ? How do Christians operate? We are the bride of Christ. We are the body of Christ. And Jesus was saying, beginning with our relationship with almighty God, we are inextricably intertwined into the heartbeat, into the blood flow of everything that God is. Therefore, we must accept God and take God at his word. But there's a fourth thing that Jesus was trying to teach us. And it's simply this, that God's instruction is always certain. Look at verse nine. I pray for them. Then he says something interesting.

I struggled with this. He said, I am not praying for the world. Now, wait a minute. This is God. What do you mean he's not praying for the world? Some people have even suggested that right here at the foot of the cross, Jesus was about to reject the world.

No, sir. Jesus was going to the cross because of the world. Jesus was going to the cross because he loves the world. Jesus was going to the cross so that the world might believe and might be saved. But here at this junction, his instruction, his instruction is always certain, my friend.

It's right on the button. You see in verse nine, he says, I'm not praying for the world, but I'm praying for those you have given me. How specific, how specific, how certain is the instruction of Jesus Christ that he would take each one of us created in the image of God and he would feed our souls and he would speak to us and tell us the way we ought to walk. Number five, that God's protection is always sure.

Now, I like this one, that God's protection is always sure. Look at verse 11 with me. Here Jesus said, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world. If you read this syntactically, of course, we've broken it down here in our English translations to try and help us to understand God's Word. And again, I say this respectfully, but it's almost as though the Lord Jesus talking to the Father in heaven was saying, Lord, I'm coming back to be with you and what a grand time this is going to be.

Oh, excuse me, Lord, I forgot something. They are still in the world. You see, this was a time of great panic for the disciples. This was a very disturbing time.

Why? Because Jesus Christ was about to be taken from them. And if you read right here in verse 11, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I'm coming to you.

So what is going to happen to them after I leave? Jesus says it, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name. No other name but the name of Jesus. No other name but the name of the Lord. No other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory and worthy of honor and worthy of power and worthy of praise.

No other name. Going down to verse 15, Jesus elaborates on that. He says, I'm not going to take you out of the world, but I'm going to pray that by my name, you are going to receive protection.

I'm going to guard you. Peter put it like this in 1 Peter. He said that we are guarded or we are garrisoned by the gospel. There is a military fortress that is placed around us that God by his grace has sent his angels to protect us from our difficulties and from the challenges that we face in this world today. But there is a final thing that he says. Number one, that God's servants have been chosen. Number two, that God's provisions are guaranteed. Number three, that God's promises must be accepted. Number four, that God's instruction is always certain. Number five, that God's protection is always sure. Number six, that God's commission is very, very clear.

Look with me at verse 18. As you sent me into the world, so have I sent them into the world. We're all on mission, aren't we?

God is sending us. I pray that you'd open your hearts not just to the teaching of Dr. Wilton, as you've heard today from John 17, but right now as he steps into the studio, you open your heart to what he has to say next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you've given your life to Jesus, as Dr. Wilton prayed a while ago, why don't you call and let us put some free resources in your hands. Our number is 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We would love to connect with you and maybe connect you with great resources like this. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. God gives us so many opportunities to share the gospel. I believe today that America is weeping. Our friends, family, and neighbors are weeping. So what is God saying to us? We are the light of the world. Jesus brings hope. There is warfare, spiritual warfare going on like we've never experienced.

We'd had better wake up, America. We need to encourage one another in times like these. Speaking of encouragement, I have a life-changing ministry resource to send you from a good friend of mine. This month for your gift of support to the encouraging word, The Loneliness Solution, finding meaningful connection in a disconnected world, book by Jackie Eason.

The Loneliness Solution is a great resource to encourage people on how to discover genuine friendships with others. I want you to get a copy for yourself and copies to keep on hand as you go about your day to gift others. You will never know how much a word spoken or a gift given at the right time can change someone's life. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request The Loneliness Solution book for a gift of $15. Thank you for your prayers and continued support of The Encouraging Word as we share the gospel to deliver lost souls from the clutches of darkness around the world. We've got another great message from Dr. Wilton tomorrow as we begin an Experiencing God series. And don't forget, on our website, The Loneliness Solution, a powerful book about breaking free from loneliness, is available at our website, www.tewonline.org. Drop by today. That's tewonline.org.