Sanctification

Read

John 17:10–19 ESV

10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 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. 12 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. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 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. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

The mission of Christ is to depart the earth upon the perfect completion of His divine mission…

As a proclamation of His victory over sin and death on behalf of His people.

The mission of Christ for His people is to deliver them from the dominion/citizenship of the domain of darkness…

And deliver them into the citizenship of His eternal kingdom.

While the thought of being left in a world that opposes us, hates us, despises what and who we represent as Ambassadors of Christ…

While that thought can be troubling and at times a little overwhelming…

We have the comfort of knowing that Christ promises to keep us…

And, He has prayed to the Father that the Father would keep us, as well.

You’ll remember from the last sermon in this passage…

Jesus prays to the Father to keep them…

keep = to cause a state/position to continue.

Then Jesus qualifies the keeping…

Which qualifies what Christ has been doing while physically present…

And, what the Father will continue to do in Christ’s physical absence.

The qualification is…

in His name = keep them in loyalty to you.

So, we have the promise of God that He will keep His own NC people in a reconciled position with Him…

Only blessings flow from God to us.

And, He will keep us loyal to Him by His power.

These are all NC promises.

This morning I want us to continue in Christ’s prayer and start by looking at v.17 specifically...

John 17:17 ESV

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

This is such a powerful prayer request…

And, at the same time, such a powerful promise from God to Christ’s bride.

So, I want to start by explaining…

The Basics of Sanctification

The word sanctify comes from the word holy.

At its most basic level of meaning, holy is almost an adjective for God.

He is transcendent, distinct, and separate from his creation.

So we read that the angels cry unceasingly in his presence, ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’

From that, what the Bible teaches is that people and things that are reserved for Him are also called holy.

So things in the OT temple, and even priests were all sanctified, set apart for sacred duty, and reserved for God.

So, when we speak biblically of the sanctification of a person unto God in the NC…

We speak of the being set apart by God in election.

All those whom are the Father’s He gives to the Son to redeem, and He will lose none.

We speak of being set apart for the work of the HS in regeneration.

We speak of the work of regeneration being the impetus/the cause for faith in Christ.

We speak of the being set apart for the work of sanctification…

In which we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

We speak of being set apart for the work of glorification, which encompasses all that precedes and the final work of true life.

Romans 8:29–30 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

So, to be holy, as God is holy…means…

It is the transformation of the person into such likeness that we only do what God wants and hate all that God hates.

This is the goal of our salvation.

The completion of this goal is not completed in this fallen world in our fallen bodies.

We are just like what the Apostle Paul proclaims…

In need of deliverance from our bodies of death…

In which we do the things that we don’t want to do.

And, we don’t do what we want to do.

And, what is it that we want to do since the regenaritive work of the HS?

Obey God perfectly.

Agree with Him wholeheartedly.

Praise Him unashamedly.

Glorify and enjoy Him to the fullest extent.

This complete transformation will ultimately be fulfilled in the glorification of the saints in glory when we receive immortal bodies at the consummation.

When we will be stripped of all fallen remains and clothed over with glorified bodies and fully transformed in every aspect.

So, the most basic understanding of being sanctified is being set apart wholly to God, for the purpose of:

Election

Justification

Sanctification

Glorification

But, in the prayer of Christ in John 17, we see not only the work of the Father and the Son in the setting apart of the elect…

But, we see the keeping of the elect in such a state forevermore.

And, we’ve covered that in the previous sermons.

But, I also want us to see what Christ says about the means of such sanctification.

John 17:17 ESV

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Sanctification through the Word

The means, or medium, or instrument in which God has ordained to sanctify us is the written word of God.

Which we know to be described as the Holy Scripture and described as being used by the HS…

As the weapon the HS uses to transform us.

So, the written word of God is not the source, nor the power, but the instrument.

An illustration that may be helpful is a water pipe:

The pipe is not the water.

The pipe is not the source of the water.

The pipe does not contain the qualities of the water.

The pipe is not the power that brings the water.

The pipe is, however, the instrument in which the water is carried to you.

Similarly we can speak of the written word of God:

The written word is not the power behind our sanctification.

The written word is not the source of our sanctification.

The written word by itself is not the cause of our sanctification.

But, the written word of God is the means that God has ordained to use to sanctify us.

In the explanation of the Apostle Paul regarding the necessity of the written word of God being preached…

Paul states…

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Colossians 1:9–10 ESV

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

So, the written word of God, as the weapon of the HS, is what God uses to set us apart in:

Justification

One must hear the gospel in order to believe upon Christ and be saved.

the gospel is contained in the written word of God.

Sanctification

We learn what the will of the Lord is for us from the written word of God…

in order to know how to live in a way that pleases the Lord.

So, when we read Christ pray…

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth

We recognize this as establishing a fundamental connection between God’s word and the believer’s moral and spiritual transformation.

This is not merely a hearing of the written word of God and giving an intellectual assent to it’s propositions.

This is a recognition and conviction that the written word of God is what the HS uses to reshape the believer’s character and conduct.

A faith without transformation is a dead, non-saving faith.

And, so if the HS uses the preached written word of God…

Then we naturally understand why God gives to the church as a whole, and to each individual local expression of the church…

The Admonition to the Church for the Preached Word of God

Paul instructs Timothy to the pattern of, and the churches being established to the pattern of this…

2 Timothy 4:1–2 ESV

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word…

Why?

Because the written word preached has an affect on us…

It does something to us, as believers…

2 Timothy 4:2 ESV

2 …reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

How does it have this affect on us?

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

God uses the Word preached to specifically apply His truth to the soul of each individual believer.

This does not mean “different meanings” for the text.

There is only one meaning, but there is a myriad of applications.

And, you may need an application that is different than I need because of:

Different circumstances.

Different ways in which is God using us.

Different personalities.

Different plans for us for future use.

The preached word of God functions as spiritual nourishment through which the HS administers growth and strength to our souls.

It is God’s purpose to sanctify the elect through His word in fulfillment of Christ’s prayer…

—> Which is the will of God.

Now, that brings me to another very important aspect of sanctification…

What is happening in our sanctification?

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth

God’s truth, the written word of God, when received into the soul and made active by the indwelling Spirit, invariably produces holiness.

Holiness emerges as the Spirit applies God’s word to the conscience and will.

The Spirit employs Scripture to generate faith and foster spiritual maturation, making it indispensable for ongoing transformation.

Scripture serves as the rule governing sanctification.

IOW, God’s Word provides the sole standard by which the condition of hearts, thoughts, words, and deeds should be governed.

only God has the authority to bind your conscience

you should only allow God’s word to bind your conscience

As the Spirit works through Scripture to cultivate the dispositions it both promises and requires.

this is the giving of the work of Christ to those who believe upon Him, so they can become like Him.

the application of the NC promises to Christ’s NC people.

Now, we need to understand, the sanctifying work remains fundamentally God’s initiative.

Yet, at the same time believers must assume an active role by obeying God’s Word, following His will, and surrendering to His Spirit.

We actively participate in the grace of God to sanctify us.

Sanctification is Never Disconnected from the Holy Spirit’s Power in Applying the Benefits of Christ to His bride

Holiness in human beings depends entirely on God’s creative action.

God alone is the author of sanctification as the eternal fountain of all holiness.

To imagine we can sanctify ourselves is to proudly abandon our principal dependence upon him.

—> Which is sin, not holiness.

The written word is not an independent force but God’s appointed instrument.

Sanctification is only by God’s own power.

Sanctification can only be accomplished through his grace and for his glory…

—> according to His divinely ordained proportions.

Let’s think about this...

So, when we think about:

our Christian life

our sanctification

our security in Christ

our being brought to the finish line by the grace of God

We should remember…

We are not set apart to God and for God for some neutral, arbitrary purpose...

We are set apart by God, to God, and for God to glorify God through word and deed.

Eph. 2:10 to walk in good works.

God works in us, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

Here in John 17, we read Christ’s prayer for the Father to…

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth

Christ prays the will of God according to the divinely ordained will and means.

We have security in that God keeps us…

And, that He will complete the good work He started.

And, the Scripture is so vital to the Christian life that we are exhorted to not forsake the assembling of one another…

But, rather attend, gather, and let the word of God stir us to love and good works.

A spiritually healthy church/person continuously hears Scripture and is continually reshaped by it, composed of individual Christians who are perpetually washed in the Word and sanctified by God’s truth by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Closing Prayer