Sermon: All Sifted Like Wheat (Part One)

#1769B
Mark Schindler
Given 22-Jun-24; 39 minutes 2024-06-22

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It is interesting to me, not surprising, but just astonishing how great our God is when He puts these messages together like they do. I just marvel at the way He approaches things, or He gives us lessons from different directions as I think you are going to see.

As we begin this sermon today, we will focus on John 14, but we will get a running start by turning to John 13:31. We will begin here because we need to make it clear in our minds this is not a group of randomly connected verses, but one very tightly woven and certain promise that should drive us, even in our most difficult hour. John 13:31 immediately follows after Judas the betrayer’s exit from among them because he would have no part in this sure promise.

John 13:31-32 So, when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, "Now, the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.”

Please hold your finger there and turn forward a few chapters.

John 17:9-13 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world [Satan’s], but these are in the world [Satan’s], and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”

John 17:17-22 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world [Satan’s], I also have sent them into the world [Satan’s]. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”

In verses 20-22 Christ ties us into this, and as we are going to see in a minute, even more tightly than we can imagine. We will be considering that we are all being sifted like wheat, under the same circumstances as Job, while strengthened and empowered to get through this, just as those faithful, who have gone before us.

I realize what we are going through here is very familiar to us, especially following our concentrated focus on these words in the spring holy days. But we need to really appreciate the glorious bond that exists, as a reality in the Body of Christ, so we do not let ourselves be overwhelmed by trials and mistakes! Notice I said mistakes—not outright, consciously consistent betrayal that tramples on the blood of Christ.

Please turn with me back to John 13 where we are going to take a few minutes to consider a couple of time markers that are important. In John 13:31 Christ makes it clear from this point forward what is going to happen is as good as done!

John 13:31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”

In verse 31 the word “now” is #3568 in Strong’s - transliterated nun (noon). This is used 138 times in the Greek, referring to various stages of time. However, as it is used here and in 6 other places it means: present or immediate; henceforth; hereafter from this point on; now means, “at this moment, following what had just come to past; just happened.” In order to help us really grasp the impact of this word we will look at one of the other 6 places where “now” is used in this way within another context.

Please turn with me to Acts 7 and the final parts of Stephen’s defense in truth before the high priest that led to his martyrdom. We will start with the beginning of his defense in Acts 7:1-2, just after Stephen had been accused of blasphemy; then we will drop down to verse 44 as he neared the end of his scriptural account of physical Israel’s faithlessness.

Acts 7:1-3 Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?" And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.'

So Stephen goes through the whole situation with Israel and their history of faithlessness.

Acts 7:44-50 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?'

Turn back with me to the Stephen’s scripture reference from Isaiah 66:1. We will also read the verses not spoken by Stephen, but clearly known by those he stood before as his accusers:

Isaiah 66:1-4 Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist," says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog's neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine's blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."

Now with these verses that were clearly in the minds of Stephen’s accusers, we will turn again to Acts 7.

Acts 7:51-54 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

In verse 52 Stephen told them “now,” at this moment in time, they were those who had chosen the abominations of their own delights rather than trembling at God’s Word. They were the betrayers and murderers! We looked at this because I wanted us to see the emphatic use of that word now! With this in mind, we will turn back to John 13, verse 31.

What Christ was about to tell them was the absolute promise now for all who had been called by the Father to His Son to ensure the glory that had been hidden and was now the reality as far as the Father and Son were concerned.

Please listen now to John 13:31-32, as it is written in the Amplified Bible:

John 13:31-32 (AMP) When he had left [Judas], Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified! [Now He has achieved His glory, His honor, His exaltation!] And God has been glorified through and in Him. And if God is glorified through and in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He will glorify Him at once and not delay.

Brethren, we need to understand Jesus Christ’s perspective on this because if we can truly hold on to this reality, it will prove to be of enormous benefit as we go through the trials of this life. Those who have been called by the Father to His Son into the Body of Christ, now are living in Satan’s world for our perfecting through all the difficulties we face in this alien territory, and with the sure promise of success through Jesus Christ.

Continuing on in John 13, verse 33 with another key:

John 13:33 “Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.”

Here we find the beginning of what was at that very time the reality for physical Israel, as opposed to the reality for the spiritual Israel members of the Body of Christ. Please turn with me to Jesus’ referenced declaration to the Jews—the most significant change He had made possible: the change that only He can and has done to make eternal life a reality.

These are the two places where Jesus Christ made that declaration to the Jews about them not being able to follow Him:

John 7:32-36 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

John 8:13-14 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.”

John 8:21-24 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come." So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?" And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world [Satan’s]; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

II Corinthians 3:4-18 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For, if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Brethren, this is incredible! What could only leave those who kept the letter of the law to die in their sins, now, through Jesus Christ from that moment forward, He is transforming those in the Body of Christ into the same glory shared by the Father and the Word! However, the “proving ground” is Satan's world with all of its seemingly overwhelming sufferings and trials.

Please turn with me back again to John 13 where we will again read verse 33 but carry it through to verse 35:

John 13:33-35 “Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

The newness of this commandment was not the command, but now (as with all of God’s commands) the ability through Jesus Christ to learn to live as He does for the glory of the God Family from the inside out; no longer to die in this world in our sins, but with the ability to be a living witness for the glory of God in this world; to do something impossible without this sure word and work of Christ.

Brethren, it is important that we fill in some of the details of what was going on here, as Jesus made this remarkable promise of the surety of the shared glory of God within this new commandment before we pick it up again in verse 36. So we will now be turning back to Luke 22 to fill in the details.

Luke 22:24-30 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Brethren, this new commandment was given while this was going on among the disciples. Here in the New King James version verse 24 tells us there was a “dispute” among them, while in the King James version it is more correctly translated as “there was also ‘strife’ among them.” However, even this does not give the true essence of what was going on.

The word “dispute” or “strife” in the Greek is philoneikia (fil-on-i-kee'-ah) #5379 in Strong’s, where it is defined as: quarrelsomeness, that is, a dispute; strife. But when we take a deeper dive into the word it is much more than a mere dispute or quarrel. It is the same mindset that would have the Jews die in their sins.

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines it as an attitude: love of strife; eagerness to contend.

Another word study defines it in the way it is used right here in Luke 22:24: a contention, dispute; literally a love of contention.

The Louw and Nida Greek-English Lexicon defines it as: a readiness or desire to argue; quarrel.

And finally, Vine’s also defines it as: a love of strife.

What we are seeing here is the same ingrained attitude that is in all men in this world that leads to death in their sins. But here, at this point Christ gives them the new commandment, only made new by what He and the Father saw as a reality through their work to bring unity with Them for their glory.

Do you remember what we read back there in II Corinthians 3?

II Corinthians 3:15-17 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Liberty from what brethren? Liberty from the shackles of minds and hearts driven by a self-serving love for contention!

II Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the LORD , are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the LORD.

Liberty is to learn and live as Christ lives with outgoing concern from the inside out; a liberty that He guarantees, if we are willing to learn and live His new commandment that destroys this love of contention. Brethren, how do we know this is guaranteed to work? Because, to Jesus Christ it was already a reality.

We will continue to read on in Luke 22:31-32 and I will read from the Amplified because it makes a point that all of us need to take to heart as we live in Satan’s world, just like Job did.

Luke 22:31-32 (AMP) Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain. But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.

Please note two things here that we should extend all the way to whole of the Body of Christ, living under Jesus Christ’s new commandment that we have been given working from the inside out.

One: God has given all into the trials and troubles of Satan’s world and sifted like wheat to bring the wheat to the perfect harvest product God desires.

Two: Through Jesus Christ’s work (that only He can do while using the imperfect men that He has ordained as His servants in service to the body) all are being established and strengthened together for the glory of God in unity.

Continuing with Peter’s response:

Luke 22:33-34 But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."

Peter very likely was among the disputers and then even after Christ warned him, he did not see the whole picture. This is a good example to all of us, regarding how deeply embedded the love of contention is within us so much so that it drives us to miss the point. And then make terrible mistakes, trusting ourselves rather than our Great God!

As John Ritenbaugh’s signature sermon asked, “Do You See God?” in all the severe circumstances of this world where we are being sifted like wheat? Do we see that it is not by our power and our might that we are going to walk together with Jesus Christ? It is only by His power and might that He will bring the whole Body together creating each one of us now into the image, according to the likeness of Them for Their glory!

Finally getting to John 14, please turn with me to verses 1-6 where I initially intended to spend this whole sermon. But we needed to go through the other first to establish what Christ is responding to:

John 14:1-6 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" [Here is the key:] Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

For lack of time, we are not going to go into the depth of study these verses need, as had initially been the main subject of this sermon. That will have to come on a later date. But we need to end this apparent introduction with just a short overview, as a bit of food for thought.

Jesus Christ assures us here we must not be overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations of this world, which under the same circumstances, but without Him, are burying most in their sins. God has allowed all to be sifted like wheat in this divisive world, but for us with the intent that we are not divided but established and strengthened together, for His glory and a witness to the world! We are not divided by the same love of contention that drives them. But by the new commandment that Jesus Christ now gives, and the liberty to love Him and one another in the same way He loves us.

He tells us not to let ourselves get overwhelmed in this sifting of wheat process. For all intents and purposes it is the same process Job went through in keeping focused in faith on the work the Father and Son are doing within their many mansions.

That word “mansions” in verse John 14:2 is mone (mon-ay') and is only found twice in the New Testament, as an abode, or a mansion. Both are here in John 14. It is here in verse 2 and again in verse 23, where we see it translated as house in the New King James version, but more correctly “abode” in the King James version.

John 14:15-24 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home [abode] with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.”

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

We must not let our hearts be troubled because we are those mansions now, those abodes of the Father and the Son individually. And as we are being sifted like wheat, we are being prepared for very specific spots right now in the Kingdom of God!

Consider again the scripture cited from Isaiah 66:1 by Stephen (to those who claim to seek God but cannot find Him because they are looking to the physical and not to what God really desires), because Isaiah 66:1-2 is really what John 14:1-6 is all about—the working reality in this world where we are all being sifted like wheat!

Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist," says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

Now let us finish up, looking again to Jesus’ prayer to His Father that was just as sure for all of us, as it was for Peter:

John 17:6-11 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”

John 17:14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

John 17:17-21 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Brethren, we are the living temples of God! We are the many mansions in the Family of God, as the Father and Son see it. We are living witnesses for the glory of God through the perfecting work of Jesus Christ, while being sifted like wheat in Satan’s world—for our perfecting!

So let not our hearts be troubled by the sifting process of our lives in Satan’s world. Jesus Christ is preparing us for the exact spot we need to be together in the Family of God in perfect unity under Christ’s new command.

MS/rwu/drm