Let us turn once again to the
Word of God here in Holy Scripture and I want this morning to direct
you to words that we find in the 17th chapter of the Gospel
according to Saint John. John 17, we were considering
verses in this part on Thursday evening as we met for prayer
And we considered something of this remarkable prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ, his high priestly prayer. The chapter, of course,
is completely taken up with the content of this prayer. And on Thursday, we were considering
those words in verses nine and 10, where the Lord says in prayer
to his Father concerning his disciples, I pray for them, I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,
for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. Christ is that one, of course,
the great high priest of his people. He has not only made
sacrifice for them, but as a priest he prays. Now he has entered
heaven itself where he ever lives to make intercession. Well we
turn again to this remarkable 17th chapter here in the Gospel
and I want us to turn today to words that we find later in the
chapter of verse 17 through 18 and 19. Turning then to this
text this morning in John 17 verse 17 through 18 and 19 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 of course the theme here in these three
verses is that of sanctification we have Christ's prayer for the
sanctification of his people part of this great high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus and what we have in this part really
is the Lord very much praying for his disciples in a sense
in the opening five verses we might say he prays more particularly
for himself but then at verse 6 he begins to pray for these
who are his disciples, his followers he says at verse 6 I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world thine
they were and they gave us them me and they have kept thy word
and so he continues to pray for them through the following verses
really until we come to the words that I've read for our text this
morning because after that at verse 20 following we might say
he prays more generally now, he prays for those who will come
to believe in him through the ministry of these disciples. Verse 20 he says neither pray
I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word. So He continues then to pray
for others besides those favoured disciples. But the words that
we're to consider are really the closing section of that portion
where he's been praying most particularly for these who are
his disciples. Sanctify them through thy truth.
thy word is truth as they were 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
he's praying then that as they go into the world they'll not
only be preserved and kept safe in the world but he also prays
that they might be kept separate from the world that they might
be a people who are pure and holy he prays for their sanctification
and as he is praying for the disciples yet we recognize surely
that as he goes on to say at verse 20 he is also mindful of
those who will come to faith through their ministry We know,
don't we, that the church is built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. And so, whilst the text, we might
say in particular, concerns those first disciples, there is a more
general application. But we must begin by looking
at the way in which the Lord is setting these men apart. and
setting them apart really for that ministry of going into the
worlds with the words of God and in relation to that ministry
he very much prays in for their sanctification and the manner
of that sanctification and I want us to consider it in two aspects
firstly to see their sanctification in relation to the Lord Jesus
Christ himself And then in the second place, to see that sanctification
in relation to the Word of God, to the Scriptures of truth. In
other words, in a sense, to see it, their sanctification in terms
of their relation to Him who is the Incarnate Word, Christ,
and then to see it also in relation to the Word of God that we have
in Scripture, the truth. that the Lord speaks of. He says
in the text, 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. First of all then, the sanctification
in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, We begin, of course,
by trying to define what we mean by sanctification or sanctify. It's a word that is derived from
the Greek word for holy. So, sanctification has to do
with holiness. That's quite evident. But it's
good to mark the difference between what we mean by sanctification
And what we mean by justification is two great theological words
that we find scattered, of course, throughout God's Word, and particularly
here in the New Testament. I remember our dear friend, the
late Sidney Norton, saying on several occasions, it's easier
to preach on the doctrine of justification than it is to preach
on the doctrine of sanctification. And I think that is true. We
have some understanding of what justification is. I trust we
also have some understanding of what sanctification is, but
it's not easy to define when we think of justification. And
it is that great truth that was rediscovered in particular at
the time of the Protestant Reformation, associated of course very much
with the ministry of Martin Luther, how that poor Romish monk And
the terrible conviction of sin was brought to see that his justification,
his standing before God, was nothing to do with anything in
himself or of himself. It was all in the Lord Jesus
Christ and the righteousness of Christ. Justification is a
judicial term. Justification really has to do
with the law courts, we might say. We see that quite clearly
in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 25, the work of the judges. They
are to justify the innocent or to justify the righteous or to
declare that they are righteous or innocent. That's their task. They are to condemn the wicked
but they are to justify, to declare the righteousness of those who
are innocent. Well, we are all of course in
a state of nature and in that state of nature with those who
are worthy only of condemnation. We sinned in Adam, we were conceived
in sin, we were shaped in iniquity, we have sinned in our own persons.
We are not righteous, we are sinners. But when we think of
justification in terms of the Gospel, it's an alien righteousness
that we need. It's the righteousness of another,
it's the righteousness of Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness,
and it's by faith that we come to experience that great blessing,
to know that we have a righteousness, and our righteousness now, if
we're believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is there, where Christ
is, our righteousness is in heaven. Our righteousness is bordered
before the very throne of God. Well, that's justification. But
what of sanctification? In justification, that righteousness
is imputed to us. It's Christ's righteousness,
but it's reckoned over to us, it's accounted to us. But when
we speak of sanctification, which as I said, is related to the
word holiness, it's not that we think now in terms of the
imputation, it's more the imparting, the impartation. In sanctification
our sins have been purged away, washed away, and holiness is
imparted to the believer. And it all begins, of course,
in the great work of regeneration, when the sinner is born again. If any man be in Christ Jesus,
he's a new creature, he's a new creation. All things have passed
away. by that new birth he's now a
partaker of the divine nature to use the language of Peter
he's a partaker of the divine nature he has a new nature he's
renewed in the knowledge of him that first created him God made
man in his own image after his own likeness but that image has
been disfigured that image is lost in the new birth that person
born again of the Spirit of God renewed in knowledge of Him that
created him partaker of the divine nature and John says in his first
epistle whosoever is born of God does not commit sin because
his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born
of God he has this new nature which is a holy nature that cannot
sin, he still has an old nature and that is a dreadful conflict
that the believer so often feels that of which Paul speaks so
clearly in the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans
where he speaks of the old man and the new man and the good
that he would I do not he says and the evil that I would not
that I do and he feels it, the wretchedness of his sin but when
we think then of sanctification we have to think in terms of
that new nature where the sinner is born again and is partaker
of the divine nature and yet there's the old nature and there's
a conflict between each of these but then with regards to defining
this word we must step back another step really and recognize that
the basic meaning of the word to sanctify is really to set
apart to set apart for holy usage that's how the word is repeatedly
used in scripture We see it in the Old Testament
with regards to the office of the priest. They were sanctified,
they were consecrated, they were set apart to the service of God
in the tabernacle and then in the temple. But it's interesting,
isn't it? Because here the Lord Jesus speaks
of himself being sanctified What does he say in the first
part of verse 19? For their sakes, he says, I sanctify
myself. Now, did the Lord Jesus Christ
in any sense need to be purified? Did the Lord Jesus Christ need
to make himself holy? We know that what was conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the virgin womb of Mary was that Holy Thing
the human nature with a sinless human nature now joined mysteriously
to the Eternal Son of God that Holy Thing that shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God and then we're told aren't
we how that even throughout all his life He's holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. You're wrong to think of sanctification
in Christ in terms of him making himself holy. He's holy in birth,
he's holy in life. He's altogether holy. Surely
when we think of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of His sanctification,
we are to think more especially in terms of the way in which
He is set apart. And He is set apart to a particular
work. He is set apart as a priest.
As I said, we have the consecration of the priest of the Old Testament,
the priest of Aaron. We read of it there in Exodus
chapter 29 in some detail, all that was entailed, all that was
involved when the Lord God separates Aaron and his sons to that office
of the priesthood. They are consecrated. They are
sanctified to that great work. And the Lord Jesus Christ also
is set apart. We read that portion in in Hebrews
5 where we have mention of him being a priest after the order
of Melchizedek. He set apart to his priestly
office just as those Aaronic priests were set apart to their
priestly office. Verse 4 of that chapter, No man
taketh this unto himself but he that is called of God as was
Aaron. so also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest but he that said unto him thou
art my son today have I begotten thee quoting from Psalm 2 as
he said also in another place thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek quoting from Psalm 110 he is the eternal
son of God but he is also that one who in
the eternal purpose of God was set apart to be a priest after
the order of Melchizedek and to do a far greater priestly
work than ever was done by the priest of Aaron even when he
comes to make the one sacrifice for sins forever. But then when
we think of offices and those who are set apart to offices
it was not only the priests that were set apart but also the prophets
of the Old Testament. They are very much set apart. Jeremiah, for example, there
at the beginning of the book of the prophet, we read the words
of God to him in verse 5 of chapter 1, Before I formed thee in the
belly, I knew them. And before they came as forth
out of the womb, I sanctified them. In other words, I set thee
apart and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. And the Lord
Jesus is that one who is set apart in all of his offices,
as priest, as prophet, and as king. He's set apart and is that
one who is sent by the Father in the fullness of the time to
do a specific work. This is part and parcel of his
sanctification as he says to the Jews who were about to stone
him there at the end of John chapter 10 verse 36 say of him
whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world thou
blest famous because I said unto thee I am the Son of God clearly
here When the Lord speaks of himself and says he is sanctified
he immediately repeats that in a sense and says the one who
is sanctified, set apart, is the one who is sent. This is
the Lord's sanctification then. He is that one who is set apart. And that is very much part and
parcel of the meaning and the significance of the word to sanctify. for their sakes he says I sanctify
myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth
their sanctification their setting apart that of these men who are
his disciples and his apostles is bound up with his own sanctification and when the Lord is speaking
in that portion at the end of chapter 10 where he speaks of
being sanctified and set apart, we see that very much in terms
of course of the outworking of the covenant. And throughout
this prayer the Lord Jesus is very much aware of that covenant
and his relationship to the Father in that covenant. He and the
Father together with the Holy Spirit had entered into counsel,
the great covenant of redemption, in which, before the foundation
of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ is that One who will come
in the fullness of the time to do all that is necessary for
the salvation of the sinners, those who fell in Adam, those
who are to be redeemed by that precious blood that Christ would
shed He's speaking then very much in the words of our text
in terms of that covenant from all eternity He was sanctified
from all eternity He was set apart and so in the appointed
time the Father would send the Son the father has sanctified him,
he's setting him apart. But how? How did Christ actually
sanctify himself? You see what he says here in
verse 19, I sanctify myself. He didn't set himself apart,
he's parted to the covenant, but in the covenant it is the
father who as it were sets the son apart
to be a servant behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom
my soul delighteth how did Christ sanctify himself? well in a sense
he sanctifies himself by the total devotion that he has to
the work that the father has given him to accomplish here
upon the earth And that work, of course, is to submit to the
Holy Lord of God. That law that the sinner has
transgressed, he will submit to it. And he will obey it. He'll obey it in life, he'll
obey it in death. He's obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. In his life, he will obey every
commandment, every precept. he will fulfill all righteousness
he will honor the law, he will magnify the law then with regards
to obedience to every commandment but in his death he will also
honor and magnify that self-same law in terms of all his dreadful
penalties because he has come to redeem his people and he will
pay the ransom price that the law demands for that redemption
he will suffer he will bleed he will die the just for the
unjust to bring the sinners to God and when we think of Christ
in his high priestly work we have his high priestly prayer
here he's a praying priest but he was also a sacrificing priest
And now, by his great devotion to that work, obedience even
to the death of the cross, we see him sanctifying himself. Remember, he's not only the priest,
he's also, of course, the sacrifice. But he's not only the sacrifice,
he's also the altar. What is it that sanctifies the
sacrifice? All these things are there in
the Old Testament in type and figures, aren't they? There was
an altar there where the priests were to make the sacrifices,
the burnt offerings, the sin offerings, the trespass offerings,
a brazen altar. And it was that altar that sanctified
the sacrifices. The Lord Jesus makes that quite
clear speaking to the Jews here in Matthew 23 and verse 19. He
says where there is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies
the gift. And it's quite clear that it's
not the gift, it's not the sacrifice, it's the altar. that sanctifies
the gift and Christ offered himself as a sacrifice he offers his very person and
who is this person? this is that one who has man
is also God he is the God man one person and yet in that one
person two natures and that is the person that dies here upon
the cross what a mystery What a mystery there is in the dying
of the Lord Jesus as there is a mystery in his birth. How can
this be? How is it possible? He's never
anything less than God and yet there upon the cross he gives
himself as the great sacrifice. But out there we also see the
significance of the divine nature in the offering up of himself.
the divine nature is that that sanctifies the offering that
makes it holy Hebrews 9 and verse 14 we read through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spots unto God remarkable statement through
the eternal spirit and when one consults the commentators, the
learned men who have studied the passage and tried to understand
what is meant by that. How did he make that sacrifice
through the Eternal Spirit? And some would say, well, we
have to think in terms of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Well, the Spirit of God is there, of course. That's the truth,
but there's a greater truth than that there. Dr. John Owen, the great Puritan
divine, he recognizes that there, that term, the Eternal Spirit,
as reference to the spirit of Christ in terms of his divine
nature he offers himself and it is that divine nature that
is sanctifying the offering making it so significant an offering
because the one who is suffering and bleeding and dying is God-man here is his deity you see He
had those lines in the hymn we sometimes sing, 159 divinities,
indwelling rays, sustained him till nature was dead. Oh, he is not only the sacrifice
and the priest, he is also the altar that sanctifies that offering
that is being made. And it's in who Christ is, that
we see the great virtue of that precious blood that was shed
upon Calvary, the efficacy of it, to cleanse the sinner from
all his sins. Those priests of the Old Testament When they were set apart, when
they were consecrated and sanctified, and we have the detail there
in Exodus 29, the whole chapter is dealing with these men and
what must be done in order to them taking up the holy office
of priesthood. And there were to be sacrifices,
a bullock, and two rams, and then the blood of one of those
rams is to be taken and is to be put upon the priests as their
sanctification. Now, sanctified by blood in that
sense, verse 20 of Exodus 29. Well, these disciples of the Lord, and his
apostles in particular, that he's praying for in this prayer
they are sanctified of course by better sacrifices than those
of the Old Testament priests they are sanctified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ this is what he's praying for in the
words of the text 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 or they are
sanctified through Christ and his sanctification, his giving
himself wholly to that work to which he was separated in the
eternal covenant of redemption And what is to be the subject
matter of their ministry? What is it that these men are
to preach as the Lord sends them into the world? Well, they are
to preach Christ. And they are to preach Christ
crucified. Isn't this what the Apostle Paul
declares so clearly to those Corinthians? There in 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 23 he says, we He would embrace all the other
apostles with himself, all those early ministers of the gospel,
we preach Christ crucified. And then he repeats himself in
the second chapter, in the second verse, I determined, he says,
to these Corinthians, I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. The great theme then of their
ministry is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood, His righteousness, His
life, His death, His resurrection. All of salvation is there. All
of sanctification is there. They've been set apart to this
ministry. by what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done in sanctifying Himself, in His determination, His total
devotion to that work that the Father had given Him to do, His
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And so, their sanctification is very
much associated with Christ and His sanctification. their sanctification is in His
sanctification. But then we also see it here,
in the second place, in relation to the Word of Truth, to the
Scriptures. He prays in verse 17, Sanctify
them through thy truth, thy words is truth. And then again at the
end of verse 19, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. We might put it this way, Christ
is the meritorious cause of sanctification, but the scripture is the means
whereby that merit is communicated and brought
first to these disciples, then to all those who hear and embrace
their message. the church built upon the foundation
of apostles and prophets and Christ himself the chief cornerstone. But how are we sanctified? How were these men sanctified
by the Scriptures? Well, in order to experience
that sanctification through the Word, of course the Word must
be believed. and rested in it must be truly learned in that
experimental fashion I said that in a sense is that sanctification
that begins with regeneration the new birth remember what Peter
says at the end of that first chapter in his first epistle
being born again not of corruptible but incorruptible he says by
the word of God which liveth and abideth forever and we need
the word of God in order to any sanctification just as these
men needed it Peter gives that exhortation
later in that same first epistle he says as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the world of the word that she may grow
thereby there has to be a growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ there has to be an experience
of these things and these men, these apostles of whom the Lord
is in the first place speaking of and praying for in the words
of our text how they knew these things so personally how the
word came so specifically and so effectually to them and had
its due effect in their lives. The way in which Paul writes
into those churches in Galatia tells them the manner in which
the Lord dealt with him. It was not that he learned these
things as it were second hand from the other apostles. No,
it was very personal. The Lord came to him very specifically.
He says there, doesn't he, in that opening chapter of Galatians,
at verse 10, Do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to
please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ, but I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my conversation
my manner of living in time past, in the Jews' religion out of
beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God and wasted
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals
in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
of my fathers. But, when He pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace,
to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the
heathen immediately. I confer not with flesh and blood."
He doesn't look to men. Oh, he looks to the Lord. It
was the Lord who had separated him, sanctified him. He had an
experience. And that experience was rooted
in the Gospel, in the Word of the grace of God in the Gospel. And he appeals to this time and
again when he's writing to the Philippians. You remember how
he addresses these churches being so instrumental in establishing
gospel churches by means of those various missionary journeys that
he makes that are recorded for us in the Acts of the Apostles
and the Philippi. There was a church established.
And then he writes to them. And what does he say? Philippians
4.9 those things which ye have both learned and received and
heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you
it wasn't just a matter of words he could appeal to the way in
which the Word of God had had an effect upon him he'd had an
experience of the truth of the Word of God and he's not just
a man like Paul it's all these apostles he was John As John
says here in the opening words of that first general epistle,
that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the Word of Life, there was a reality God's Word
had taken hold of these men, taken hold not just of their
minds, but taken hold of their whole personalities. Just as
the Lord in sanctifying himself is that one who is totally devoted
to that work that the father had called him to even to the death of the cross
well these men also are so totally devoted to the Lord Jesus and
to the ministry of his words All the authority, you see, flows
from Christ and from their blessed experience of Christ in their
sanctification. There's never any authority vested
in the person of any individual. I know the Church of Rome likes
to speak of the clergy and the laity. Priestcraft, that's what it really
amounts to. As if the clergy have something that the laity,
the lay people don't have. Not only the Church of Rome,
it's the Church of England also, isn't it? This is the religions of men.
As Baptists, what do we believe? We believe in the priesthood
of all believers. we don't distinguish between
clergy and laity, we say all of those who are justified in
the righteousness of Christ and those who are sanctified by the
Lord Jesus Christ they are those who offer to God spiritual worship
And not only do they offer up psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
in the worship of God, but their lives are devoted to Him. The power belongs to Christ.
All power, He says, all authority is given unto Me in heaven and
in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost. Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end. of the words of the Lord there
at the end of Matthew's gospel, the great commission that he
gives to his apostles. But the power, the authority
is all vested only in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what are these
men to do then? They are to be those who would
faithfully proclaim the Word of God. The sanctification, the
merit of it is in the Word of God incarnate, but the means
whereby these truths are communicated is the Word of God. And so Timothy,
as a young minister, is told, study, to show thy self-approval
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing
the word of truth, that's his charge, from the apostle. What are these men? They are
ministers of the New Testament. or the new covenant that covenant
of which Christ himself is the mediator ministers of the new
testament not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter
killeth but the spirit giveth life as I said only Christ could sanctify
himself no man can sanctify himself What is the Lord doing here?
He is praying to the Father to sanctify them and to sanctify
all those who will believe the message that they are being sent
to proclaim. Verse 20, Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which are believed on me through
their words. We cannot sanctify ourselves. We make a distinction between
justification and sanctification. Yes, we say that with justification
it is that righteousness of Christ outside of ourselves, alien to
us. It's the righteousness of another.
It's imputed. It's reckoned. It's accounted.
We experience the blessing of it by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the difference with sanctification
is there's that blessed imparting. But it's all from Christ. And
it begins with regeneration. They're born again. They're partakers
of the divine nature. They are new creatures in Christ. That seed remains in them. That seed of the new birth That
can never sin, that's the new nature. Or the fearful conflict
between that new nature and the old nature. Now they learn increasingly,
day by day, their complete, their utter dependence upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. Mother Lord willing, I want to
come back to these words of our text again tonight to try to
say a little more with regards to this remarkable doctrine,
the doctrine of sanctification and Christ praying here for the
sanctification of all his people that of course principally we
see him in this portion very much praying for those who were
his first disciples and the apostles 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 as they are sanctified through that truth so they are those
who will go forth as he says in verse 20 I pray not for these alone but for them
also which I believe on me through their words. Oh the Lord be pleasing
to bless these words of truth to us today. Let us conclude
our worship this morning as we sing the hymn 374, the tune is
Haslingdon 544. It's interesting, I think I've
mentioned this several times We're told at the end of the
hymn it was occasioned by the death of Whitefield, a great
18th century evangelist both in England and also in New England. Upon his death, Berridge pens
the words of the hymn that we're about to sing. Send help, O Lord,
we pray, and thy own gospel bless, for godly men decay and faithful
pastors cease. the righteous are removed home,
and scorners rise up in their room. We'll sing from verse 2,
the hymn 374, the tune 544. While Satan's strings are bowed,
and thriving number two, the flocking he's but for a growing
bank and few. O shepherds, do you hear the
angels sing? In devil's locks below, And down
one's petule fire, O'er worldly fruit and grove. Here on which grove,
As in heaven, To stand aloft by sea and land. O Master of Thy power, To make
the gods Thou spread, And thrust the critters o'er With oyster-eggs
the dead We fled to Rome Where Helga's school We played to fight
and conquer ♪ And tears I am still ♪ ♪ And
I, to meet grace, have felled ♪ ♪ A-hold and be-held still
♪ ♪ A-crèche holds still ♪ ♪ The livery in hand ♪ and plenteous
moonlight truth declare. Let holy light advance to the
prophet of the Lord. Let sunbeam light sure rise to
bless the Till Jesus came and recruited
his foes.