In this sermon, we continued to unpack Jesus' prayer in John 17. As Jesus prays to the Father, we see a beautiful picture of His earthly ministry and fulfillment of God's will and purpose. Jesus prays for His disciples to be protected by the Father as they face suffering in their ministry. However, the protection that Jesus prays for isn’t to remove the suffering the disciples would face; He prays that the Father would use their suffering to sanctify them while keeping them in His presence. As His disciples today, the same is true for us: As we face trials, we are being sanctified, or set apart, for God. The Gospel meets us in our brokenness and sinful nature and transforms our hearts to be more like Christ and reflect His glory. Despite any difficulties we may face, we can be assured that our sanctification is rooted in the finished work of Christ and always leads to heart transformation.
