Sanctified in Truth

If you have your Bible with you, go ahead and open up to John 17:6-19 and this is the longest section of Scripture that we will be looking at this weekend. There are a lot of things that we could cover in these verses but I am going to try and limit it to 3 important realities that are connected to our Christian lives: 1. The unity we have as believers and how that relates to our unity with Christ. 2. Our place in the world. 3. The importance of our sanctification. I mentioned earlier today that we could divide Christ’s prayer in John 17 into 3 distinct sections and here in this middle section His prayer at first concerns His immediate disciples but the application of that prayer reaches beyond that initial group of followers. The 3 realities that we are about to look at tonight are just as important to us as 21st century Christians as it was to these 1st century Christians. Let’s open up in prayer and then we will dive into these verses because we do have a lot that we need to get throught. John 17:6-19

John 17:6–19 ESV

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

The Unity of Believers

Let’s look first at the unity of believers and I want to look at it quickly from 2 perspectives: a vertical perspective and a horizontal perspective.

Vertical Unity

Let’s quickly talk about vertical unity. The most important relationship that you can have is not the relationship you have with your parents, with your siblings, with your spouse or future spouse, the most important relationship that you can have, that you need to have, is with your Heavenly Father. That’s not to say those other relationships aren’t important. It is to stress just how critical it is for you to be united with the God of the universe. Your restored relationship with God is the most important relationship in your life. Your being united together is the most important thing in the world. If you are not united to your Heavenly Father and He to you, the horizontal relationships of your life ultimately will do very little. In this prayer, Jesus stresses the unity that exists between Him and God the Father and it is a perfect unity and it is a perfect example of how we should live with one another but that is not what I want to draw attention to in these verses, as important as that reality is. Jesus begins verses 6-10 by stressing the restored relationship that exists for His followers between them and the Lord. This entire chapter is also a chapter of giving. 17 times in this chapter alone, the word give is used in some form and I say this because these verses that we just read stress the reality that Christ gave Himself, gave His life, the Father gives the Son, the Son gives the Word, to His people so that His people would be reconciled and united with their Heavenly Father. It is because we as Christians are united to God that we can be united with one another. It is because our relationship with God is changed that our lives with one another is changed.

Horizontal Unity

Let’s spend a little more time talking about our unity to one another. What do we even mean by unity? I guess the cheap answer is that we are united together and as Christians, we are united in a way that we had never been before because we are brought together by a shared faith. We are united not because we bring ourselves together but because Christ Himself brings us together in His Body, the Church. Jesus says in verse 11, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” This unity is so important because the world will know that we are Christians by our fruit. The world will know we are Christians by the way we love one another, the way we serve one another, the way that we worship the Lord together. All these things should be painfully obvious to the world because we are different from the rest of the world. Christ stresses this in verse 9 when He says that He is not praying for the world but for those whom the Father had given Him because they belong to the Father so we clearly see that Christians are different and cared for I guess you could say differently than anyone else. Christ understands that we are imperfect people and as imperfect people, we need a lot of prayer. We need to be united together because it is a terrible thing for blood-bought Christians to go to war with each other, especially over petty things. J.C. Ryle said, “As long as we have Christ and a good conscience, let us patiently hold on our way, follow the things that make for peace, and strive to promote unity. It was not for nothing that our Lord prayed so fervently that His people might be ‘one.’” Paul says in Romans 12:16-18

Romans 12:16–18 ESV

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I love how Paul says, “if possible.” He understands our human nature. It’s hard to live perfectly peaceful with imperfect people. Yet at the very same time, Paul says this so that we as Christians know that we are not to tolerate sin. We can’t let sin run rampant in the Church so we as Christians have a responsibility to strive for holiness in all we do. We are to be a holy people, the called out ones, those that are sanctified according to God’s Word. John Murray said, “The responsibility for discord must to no extent be traceable to failure on our part to do all that is compatible with holiness, truth, and right. Peaceableness of disposition and behavior is a virtue to be cultivated in our relations with all men; there is no circumstance in which our efforts to preserve and promote peace may be suspended. On the other hand, we may never be at peace with sin and error.” As Christians we are to hold each other accountable and we are to pursue not just individual righteousness but a corporeal or righteousness of the whole. One bad egg can ruin the whole bunch and the same is true of the church. One speck of sin unchecked can damage the entire group. Jesus stresses the need for us to be united together and that unity begins with the unity that we have with our Lord and Savior. If Christ is not your Savior, these people around you are not your brothers. If you are a Christian, it is your responsibility to love your brothers and sisters in the faith. It is your responsibility to pursue your own holiness so that you may help them in theirs. We are brothers in arms. It is us against the world. It is us against the Kingdom of darkness and if all we are going to do is beat each other up from the inside, the outside is going to have its way with us. If you are a Christian, it is your God-given responsibility to love your brothers and sisters. Christ Himself, at the moment when He needed encouragement the most, still desired almost above all else that you and I would be united and at peace with one another. Is the Church important? Is it important for you to be in church and with other believers? You bet it is! It’s so important that Christ prayed multiple times that we would be united together. Let’s turn now to our place in this world because some of what we are talking about right now is going to roll into tomorrow morning.

Our Place in the World

What is the Christian’s place in this world? Once again, we’ll talk about this from 2 perspectives because I believe Christ addresses to elements of us as Christians being in this world. The first envolves our physical lives in this world. Paul says in Romans 14:8 “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Life and death are in the hands of our sovereign God. Charles Spurgeon said, “If we die, it is not by chance but because God takes us out of the world. Believers fall asleep in Jesus neither before nor after the predestined time. No disease or accident can cut short their lives, and it would not be possible to prolong their existence beyond the time appointed by the Lord. Our lives are entirely in the keeping of our loving Father. The prayer of Jesus recognizes His Father’s sovereignty, but we ourselves must also recognize that we are entirely in God’s hands. He can take us out of the world, or he can keep us in the world and preserve us from evil.” Your life and your death are in the hands of the Sovereign God of all things. I don’t know if it is necessarily great theology but I have often said that I’m invincible until God tells me I’m not. Unless God says otherwise, unless Christ first returns, all of us in here will die one day. Sorry to say it, but it is true. Death comes to everyone. Yet even that reality we can find comfort in as Christians because death for us is just a gateway to glory. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:53-57

1 Corinthians 15:53–57 ESV

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our lives and our deaths are held perfectly in the hands of God. He cares as much about you in your life as He does in your death and His sovereign hand is over both. What we also see in our passage in John 17 is that God’s desire for us is not for us to be immediately removed from this world the moment we are saved and while there are several reasons why we as Christians should remain, there is one specific reason that we as Christians need to be on this earth that I want us to look at. It is our God-given duty as Christians to remain in this world as proclaimers of the Gospel. God leaves us in this world to give Him glory and to show others His glory. The world needs missions, the world needs preachers and proclaimers and quite simply, the world needs Christians. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “God sent the Son into the world to preach the truth and to present the Gospel and to make a way of salvation and now, as He is going out of the world, He is sending them into it and leaving the message with them. They are going to be the preachers, in their lives as well as with their words- they are going to represent Him. Therefore they cannot ask to be taken out of the world because they are being sent there to perform this specific task.” We are here so that we may preach the Gospel but now let’s look at the second perspective. The second perspective involves something that we talked about a little over a week ago at YC and that is that we as Christians are to be in the world but not of the world. What does it mean for us to be in the world but not of it? It means that we are simply passing through. We are like Israel on its way to the Promised Land. We live here but this is not our ultimate location or final resting place. We live in the world but we are not consumed by the things that the world holds dear. We do not see this life as the place of ultimate gain but we see it as the doorway into the next. It also means that we are not consummed by sinful, earthly passions. We as Christians are called to be separate from the world. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9-12

1 Peter 2:9–12 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

We are in the culture but not of it, we are in a fallen world and a dark world but we stand out as those who have been redeemed and have been brought into His marvelous light. If you want to be a Christian in this world, you are going to have to stand out and you should stand out like a sore thumb. Our identity is in Christ and just as He was not of the world, we are to follow in His footsteps and be not of the world. Now this does not mean that everything in the world is bad. This doesn’t mean that we are to just be people that live under a rock totally void to the things that happen on this planet. We should feel for the lost, we should desire to see others impacted by the love of God. And to be honest, there is still a tremendous beauty to this fallen world. God has created a beautiful world for us and there are so many elements to it that give us a peek behind the curtain as to what Heaven will be like. We see it in creation and I would argue from this perspective too that we all have had moments that have felt absolutely perfect. Maybe it was just for a moment, maybe a day, or a week, but there are moments in our lives that have felt absolutely perfect. Or there have been moments in our lives where we look back and say something like, “That was a perfect day.” I have had a few of those moments in my life. I have moments when a certain song comes on while I’m driving and the temperature is just right and a certain memory flashes in my head and I think, “That day was perfect.” But the reality is that even that perfect feeling moment was shrouded in imperfection. In those moments, as good as they were, they still don’t touch on what is awaiting us. One day we really will be in the presence of perfection and that feeling of perfection will never end. You know the line in Amazing Grace that goes, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.”? That’s the reality for us as believers. ten thousand years into a perfect eternity as we behold He that is forever and always perfect, ten thousand years we will have not even scratched the surface. With all that in mind, how then do we live with the reality that we are not of the world? It’s easy to just say it but practically, what are the steps that we need to take to not be of the world and solely be in it? Christ gives the answer to that in verses 17-19 so let’s read them again.

The Importance of Sanctification

Jesus says in John 17:17-19

John 17:17–19 (ESV)

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

How do we as Christians stand out from this world? How do we live in the world without being consummed by it? Sanctification. Who remembers what sanctification is? Sanctification is the act of us being set apart, it is our progression into a deeper degree of holiness so to speak. It is the act of being made holy. It is our becoming more conformed to the image of Christ and it is something that is never completed in this lifetime. Sanctification is so important for us that Paul directly equates it with what God’s will for our lives is in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Our justification is the initial saving work done by God that is once and for all while our sanctification is a cooperation between Believer and Spirit that takes the entire course of our lives to grow in our righteousness. It is not something that we are solely responsible for but is something that the Spirit comes alongside with to lead us. How do we live in the world without being of the world? It involves a greater conformity to Christ through sanctification. This is what Jesus prays for! He prays that each and every Christian would be sanctified in the truth. Jesus prays that as His followers are sent into the world that we would be sanctified in the truth. And what is this truth? He is truth, the Word of God is truth, the Gospel is truth. If you want to live holy lives in this world, you need to have your heart, mind, eyes, and soul set to the Lord Himself. Now you might say to yourself, “To live like that sounds impossible. How can I do it even though I still make mistakes?” By looking first to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. What does Jesus says in John 17:19 “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Jesus consecrated Himself! He was set apart! He went to the cross and lived a perfect life so that you and I would not have to. Thomas Manton, a great Puritan preacher said, “Christ was so set upon his passion that he called Peter Satan for contradicting it, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offence to me.’ When Jonah saw the storm he said, ‘Cast me into the sea;’ this storm was raised for his own sake; but when Christ saw the misery of mankind he said, Let it come on me. We raised the storm, Christ was cast in to allay it; as if a prince, passing by an execution, should take the malefactor’s chains and suffer in his stead. Christ bore our sorrows; he would have this work in no other hands but his own. His earnestness to partake of the last passover shows his willingness; he had such a desire to see his body on the cross, that Judas seemed too slow.” Christ says, “Look at the world and then look at me. See the love I have for you and the length that I went to have you.” When you see that love for what it is and you know Jesus as He really is, suddenly living a life for the glory of God is no longer seen as a chore but as a joy. We live to be like Him because He lived to die for us. He became like us so that we would be like Him and when you keep that in mind, sanctification, while sometimes a struggle, no longer seems like something that is totally unthinkable or out of reach. With that in mind, let’s pray that the Lord would sanctify us and that we would strive with all of our might to be made more like Him.