Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to the portion we considered somewhat this morning in the
Gospel according to St. John chapter 17 and reading from
verse 17 through 18 and 19. John 17 reading from verse 17
through 18 and 19. Christ prays to his Father, sanctify
them through thy truth thy word is truth as thou hast sent me
into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and
for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. I try then to say something with
regards to this prayer of Christ for the sanctification of his
people. Trying to say something with
regards to this great truth, this doctrine of sanctification,
and how difficult a subject it is in many ways. One thinks of
that work by one of the Puritans, Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery. sanctification and there is a
mystery here and the Lord Jesus is that one who we see praying
that it might please the father to to sanctify to sanctify his
disciples he's praying very much for them we try to begin to open
up the words of our text in its context and in the context of
this prayer we see that there are three parts at least to the
prayer how Christ begins in the first part from verse 1 through
5 to pray concerning himself and this work that the Father
had committed to him in the eternal covenant. As he turns from addressing
His disciples in the previous three chapters. We read these
words by Jesus and then He lifted up His eyes to heaven and from
talking to many begins to speak to God, to His Father. Father,
the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. And so we praise concerning this
work Again at verse 5, And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with
Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before
the world was. He's about to enter into that
remarkable aspect of the work. He's not only one who is obedient
in life, fulfilling all righteousness, honoring, magnifying the Lord
by obedience to every commandment, every statute, every precept,
But he's going to make the great atoning sacrifice, going to suffer
that punishment that the Lord demands of the transgressor.
He's going to die the just for the unjust. And in this is his
glory. And this is what he asks of the
Father. Glorify Thou me with Thine own self. When? Now, he says. Now, O Father. Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
So he prays, concerning himself the work that is yet to be completed. And then at verse 60, he prays
really more specifically for those that the Father had given
to him, his disciples. And he's praying for them from
that sixth verse really, right through to the end of verse 19. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them thee, and they have kept thy word.
And so he continues to pray, as I say, right through to the
end of that 19th verse. And then in the last verses,
from verse 20, To the end we find him praying for those who
will come to faith in Christ by the ministry of those whom
the Father had given to him in the course of his earthly ministry. Verse twenty, Neither pray I
for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And so he prays.
really for all who shall ever come to saving faith. The words that we are considering,
as I said this morning, 17, 18 and 19 conclude that part of
his prayer where he is asking more specifically in terms of
those who were his immediate disciples, those who were to
serve him as his apostles. and we looked at the doctrine
really in terms principally of those men and how their sanctification
is in Christ, how their sanctification is also in the Word of God, it's
in God incarnate, it's in not only the word incarnate but
it's in the word that God gives us here in holy scripture sanctify
them through thy truth thy word is truth as thou hast sent me
into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and
for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth well as we come again to look at the words
tonight. I want to speak more particularly
about this sanctification is desired not only for those who
were his immediate disciples but if any are to be sanctified
they must have part in this prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
we look at the truth of it I want us to recognize that blessed
truth that the whole church of course by the church we mean
the whole company of the election of grace it's built upon the
apostles and prophets and Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone
so some of the principles that we try to bring out this morning
they don't just apply to those who were the followers of the
Lord when he was here upon the earth, but they apply to all
those who would be followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus. But looking at the verses, I
want to deal with the doctrine of sanctification in terms of
the doctrine of God, because it is all the work of God, however
we might consider it. We cannot sanctify ourselves
It is the work of God. This is why Christ prays to his
Father for it, requesting it for his people. And so to think
of it in terms of the three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, we might say that the Father is that one
who is the moving cause of sanctification. and the Lord Jesus Christ is
the meritorious cause and the Holy Ghost is the efficient
cause but it is a work of God as all of salvation every aspect
of salvation of course is rooted in the doctrine of God as I said
many a time we are Trinitarian in our doctrine all true Christians
this may boast The truths from nature never learn that Father,
Son and Holy Ghost to save our souls are all concerns. And so that truth must hold for
this doctrine as for any other doctrine. First of all then God
the Father. Christ is addressing the Father. How many times does He use the
word Father? I think six times in all. It
begins, doesn't it, there in verse 1, Father, the hour is
come. Or when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law. The hour
is come, but He addresses the Father, and so He does again
at verse 5 Now, O Father, glorify Thou mercy. Verse 11, Holy Father, He says,
keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. And then later, verse 21, that
they all may be one as Thou, Father, art in me and I, Indeed,
that they also may be one in us. Verse 24, he says, Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
And then, verse 25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast
sent me six times six times then he addresses the father and he addresses him in verse
11 as the holy father and here of course in the text he is praying
concerning the holiness the sanctification of his people. I remarked this
morning that trying to define exactly what sanctification
is we have to take account that the words the verb to sanctify
is actually derived from the Greek noun for holy or holiness
that's the root of the word so we're to think here very much
in terms of holiness, holiness sanctification literally to to
set someone apart or to set something apart for a holy use to consecrate
it all the vessels in the tabernacle were to be consecrated in that
sense, set apart As we said this morning, the priests of Aaron
were all consecrated, sanctified, set apart. Not only the priests,
but we observed that was also true of the prophets. We see
it in the case of Jeremiah, there in Jeremiah 1 verse 5, God knew
him in his mother's belly. God knew him before he was brought
forth and sanctified him. and ordained him to be a prophet
to the nations. There is then this idea of setting
a thing apart, separating it to a holy use, to the service
of God. There is holiness very much then
in the words, to sanctify. And how is the Lord Jesus sanctified? he says doesn't he in verse 19
for their sakes I sanctify myself well we know that he was in that
sense sanctified in that he was set apart from all eternity in
the councils of the Trinity in the great covenant of redemption
and the he makes mention of it there he said this morning in
chapter 10 and verse 36 speaking to the Jews say ye of him whom
the father hath sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemous
because I said I am the son of God who was the one who had sent
him into the world the father sent him when the fullness of
the time was come God sent forth his son but God had sanctified
him the father had set him apart He is the father's elect, his
first elect, all my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, he says,
in whom my soul delighteth. He is set apart to his office
as that one who is going to be the mediator of the new covenant,
the savior of sinners. I don't want to repeat things
that I was saying earlier, but I did try to draw that distinction
between the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of sanctification.
They're two great doctrines, of course, but there is a difference.
In justification, as we know, it's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus. You remember that life that he
lived of complete and perfect obedience to every commandment,
honoring, magnifying the law by a life that was sinless, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And in the great
doctrine of justification, that righteousness of Christ is imputed. It's reckoned to that sinner
whose faith is placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. In that sense we might say, I
know it's a strong word, it's an alien righteousness, it's
not their own righteousness, it's another's righteousness.
But that righteousness is accounted to them, imputed to them. But with sanctification there
is a difference. It speaks of holiness, as we've
said, and in sanctification, what does God do? He imparts sanctification. It's
not imputed. It's imparted, and we remarked
this morning how in a sense it does begin with regeneration,
a new birth. Because that sinner who is born
again is now partaker of a new nature. If in him I'm being Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a partaker of the divine
nature now. And that seed, that holy seed,
cannot see him. And so there is that conflict
between the old nature and the new nature of which the apostle
speaks in Romans chapter 7. The thinking of Christ and how
He is the, or speaking really of God the Father as that one
who is the moving, the moving course of the sanctification
of the sinner. It's God's will, isn't it? It's
God's will that lies behind the sanctification of the sinner.
those words that we read in that fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. This is the will of God, Paul
writes, even your sanctification. It's what God has willed and
so the Lord Jesus Christ here, as he comes and prays, is making
requests in accordance with the eternal will of the Father. And
of course, he is party to that will of God when we think in
terms of the doctrine of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The will of God is there in each
of the divine persons. But he is Christ now as that
one who has come to do the will of the Father, who has come now
in the outworking of the Covenant, and he is the servant of God.
and he is fulfilling his office as a priest and he is praying
for his people and what does he do? He prays to the Father
for their sanctification. That is the request that he makes
so clearly in the words of our text this evening. They are those that the Father
had given to him. They are the children spoken
of in Hebrews 2 but remember the context there in that second
chapter of Hebrews those who are the children given to him
are also spoken of as those who are are sanctified and they're
sanctified in him remember the language that the Apostle makes
use of in describing those whom Christ has come to save. It's a great passage that we
have in that second chapter. In verse 9 he says, We see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace
of God should taste death for every man. And then we have a
description of who is meant by every man. The Arminian might
say, well look, it says quite clearly that by the grace of
God, the Lord Jesus tasted death. He died for every man. That is
every individual that ever lived upon the face of the earth. It
says it, every man. That's how the Arminian reads
the verse. But we say, wait. Does he not define who every
man is? don't we have to look at the context and then in the
verses that follow we have the description of every man it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through suffering so every man is now many sons and
then verse 11 both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. So those who are many sons are
also the sanctified, those who have been set apart to holiness
of life, they are brethren. And then verse 12 saying I will
declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee and again I will put my trust in him and
again behold I and the children which God hath given me so they
are not only brethren they are also children but this is the
description of every man in these following verses and how remarkable
it is they are the sanctified they are the brethren they are
the sons they are the children And all this, all this rooted
and grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ tasting death. All our sanctification, you see,
ultimately is rooted in Him. This is the will of the Father.
Even your sanctification, but that sanctification is very much
in Christ. He is the meritorious cause. And so, turning to that in the
second place, God the Son, the meritorious cause, it is merits. It is merits. Of Him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Or the Lord Jesus Christ, how
was he sanctified, these people? Well, we're told, aren't we,
Hebrews 10 verse 10, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. Sanctified through the offering
of himself. There's the cause. Christ's sacrifice,
Christ's precious blood, again Hebrews 13, 12, Jesus also that
he might sanctify the people with his blood suffered without
the gates. We remarked this morning how
those priests of Aaron were set apart and sanctified
through blood. That's what it says there in
the book of Exodus, where God makes choice of Aaron and his
sons and there are the sacrifices that are to be offered. There's
to be the shedding of blood and the application of the blood.
It's all part of their consecration. But believers in the New Testament,
and we believe, don't we, in the priesthood of all believers,
it's not the blood of bulls and of goats. No, it's the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're told. Hebrews 9 and verses 13
and 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ purge your consciences from all dead works to serve
the living God? All that precious blood that
was shed, it's there to consecrate God's people to the service of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to the service of God himself. Now that
lovely little benediction at the end of Hebrews 13, remember
we sometimes employ it, make use of it when we come to celebrate
that Holy Supper of the Lord. May the God of peace have brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. make
you perfect in every good work to do His will working in you
that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory the blood of the everlasting
covenant make you perfect in every good work oh it's the Lord
Jesus Christ who is the meritorious cause the moving cause is the
Father, the will of the Father That's why Christ prays to the
Father. But it's Christ himself. And how does Christ sanctify
himself in order to the sanctification of his people? I sanctify myself,
he says, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. We know that in In one sense, he needed not to
sanctify himself in terms of making himself holy. That nature,
that human nature that was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin
womb of Mary was the holy thing. It was holy, free from every
taint of original sin. and that holy thing joined to
the eternal son of God that holy thing that shall be born of thee
shall be called the son of God he's the eternal son of course
when we think of him in relation to God the father in the doctrine
of the Godhead but there in time he becomes the son of man when
he takes to himself a human nature And that life that he lives is
holy and harmless and undefiled and he's separate from sinners.
He's the only truly sinless man that ever lived, Adam. Eve, they
were created sinless, but Adam and Eve fell and sinned. But
Eve is one who could never sin. He could never sin, he never
did sin. How does he sanctify himself?
Well, he sanctifies himself, as we said this morning, by his
devotedness to the work that the Father had given him to do. When he comes to that work, he
is the Great High Priest who makes the offering. But he is
not only the Great High Priest who makes the offering, he is
the offering itself, is he not? He is the Lamb of God. slain
from the foundation of the world. But he's not only the priest,
the high priest and the sacrifice, he's also the altar. In the Old
Testament, the animals that were offered
there at the tabernacle and then in the temple were offered upon
the brazen altar. and it was the altar that sanctified
the gifts. The Lord Jesus himself says as
much to the Jews, where there is greater the gift, or the altar
that sanctifies the gifts. And Christ himself is not only
the sacrifice, he's the altar. And how is he the altar? Well,
we referred this morning to that remarkable verse in Hebrews 9 which speaks of the Eternal Spirit,
who through the Eternal Spirit, speaking of Christ, through the
Eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot to God. And there's much debate, discussion
amongst the commentators and expositors over what the significance
is of that word eternal spirit and Dr. Owen in his great work
on the epistle to the Hebrews says that the eternal spirit
there is principally a reference to the divine nature in Christ it's who he is as God manifest
in the flesh that sanctifies the offering how he is supported as it were
as he accomplishes this great work he is making one sacrifice
for sins forever he is going to satisfy the divine justice
on behalf of a people beyond number, beyond telling, a multitude and he is sustained, he is sanctified
there by His very divine nature. We have it then
in the words or the lines of the hymn, divinities indwelling,
raised, sustained him till nature was dead. Always sanctified,
you see, the offering. That precious blood that is so
necessary to our sanctification. that he might sanctify his people
with his blood he suffered and he suffered there without the
gates of Jerusalem he suffered there on the mount called Golgotha
the place of a skull that's where he suffers the church of God
which he had purchased with his own blood Christ is that one
then who is truly the meritorious cause the Father Is the moving
cause of sanctification, God the Son as manifest in the flesh,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, He is the meritorious cause,
and then God the Holy Ghost? Is He not the efficient cause? Is He not the one who makes these
things a blessed reality in the souls of sinners? There's the
will of the Father behind it all. there's a work that the
Son accomplishes in the fullness of the time but then there must
be that application the gracious work of the Spirit, the experience
of those who come to enjoy the blessings of salvation, the blessing
of sanctification and again writing to the Thessalonians we could
have read there in the second chapter of that first epistle
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Sanctification. Sanctification of the Spirit,
how? Through belief of the truth. Sanctified him through thy truth,
praise Christ. Thy words is truth. And then again at the end of
verse 19, that they might be sanctified through the truth. What does all of this mean? Well, consider for a while just how
it is that the Spirit does work this sanctification in the souls
of sinners. I want to mention two things.
First of all, He does it by means of their experiences in the world. When the Lord saves his people, when there is that gracious work
of the Spirit and they're sanctified, they're born again, and that's
the beginning of their sanctification in a certain sense, God doesn't immediately take
them to himself, does he? They're left in the world, and
in the world, what do they have to endure? Well, there are trials
and troubles. conflicts, many temptations, tribulations. What does the Lord say in the
course of His prayer? Verse 18, As thou hast sent me
into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Previous to that, previous to
our text he says at verse 15 I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil they are not of the world even as I am not of
the world well they are in the world and what a world it is
all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of
the eyes the pride of life which is not of the father but is of
the world and the world that lies in wickedness lies in the
wicked one he is the prince of the power of the air the spirit
that worketh in all the children of disobedience we are told and
now the world continually militates against the believer the believer
has in himself an old nature and It's not just that there's
fighting without, there are fears within. He feels he's going to
be ensnared by his old nature and by the temptations of Satan.
And what is the believer's experience then? He is continually being
cast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Continually cast upon Christ.
Well, what does the Lord say immediately previous to this
prayer? in verse 33 of chapter 16 these
things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace
in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome
the world and this overcoming is all part and parcel surely
of the believer's sanctification as he grows in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And now, in all of this conflict,
this conflict with the world, with Satan, with indwelling sin,
in all this conflict, where does he find his comforts? He finds
them surely in the Word of God. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. Oh, what a comfort is there in
Scripture as it sets before us the wonder of the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in all the Scriptures. He's
everywhere, isn't he? Search the Scriptures. Christ
says, they testify of me. And we want to discover something
more and more concerning the person, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Think of the language of the
hymn, it's not in Gadsby strangely, that hymn on scripture by William
Cooper, the Spirit breathes upon the Word and brings the truth
to light. Precepts and promises afford
a sanctifying light. We want all of God's Word, we
want the promises, yes, what encouragement, but we don't despise
the precepts, we're not going to be partial. We must not be
partial in the Word of God. We need the promises. But we
need the precepts. And we read that concluding chapter
there in 1 Thessalonians and see there as so often in those
various epistles Paul gives exhortation upon exhortation. What is he
doing? He's using the imperative. He's setting commandments forth
really. That's what he's doing. The exhortations are words of
command. is telling Christians how they
are to live their lives it's as simple as that really isn't
it? practical instruction I don't want to read the whole
section again but you can read it for yourselves from verse 11 right through to
the end gracious words, the words of
commands. Christians, if they really embrace
the truths, the great doctrines of the gospel, the promises of
the everlasting covenant, they'll also delight in all those holy
precepts and exhortations. Oh, we need three things, don't
we? We need the promises, we need the precepts, or the commandments
and we need prayer and how he prays there the apostle
at the end of that epistle in verse 23 the very God of peace
sanctify you holy and I pray God your whole spirit and soul
and body are preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ Paul prays, Christ prays Christ Christ we can't sanctify
ourselves it is the work of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit sanctify
them through thy truth thy word is truth as thou hast sent me
into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and
for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth and observe what the Lord is saying in this
last 19th verse he sanctifies himself in order there's a relationship
between his sanctification and the sanctification of his people
in order that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Oh God teach us in daily a complete
and utter dependence upon Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that as it is
written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Amen.