Let us turn to John chapter 15. The chapter that we read in the
New Testament. John chapter 15. Our text is
found at verse 3. The words of the Lord Jesus to
His disciples. Now ye are clean through the
words which I have spoken unto you." In John chapter 15 and
verse 3. Now you are clean through the
words which I have spoken unto you. Our theme then is that of
the purifying words. We see here the Lord Jesus Christ
in His prophetic office. He is that one, of course, spoken
of in the Old Testament. Remember the words that we have
there in the 18th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, as God
speaks to his servant Moses concerning the prophet whom the Lord God
himself is to raise up. There, in Deuteronomy chapter
18 and reading at verse 15 the Lord thy God says Moses will
rise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren
like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and then the words are
repeated by God Himself at verse 18, I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words
in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And the prophet being spoken
of is Christ, the Lord. was given by Moses grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ the great prophet of the Lord and
now we see him in these chapters in John particularly chapters
14 and 15 and 16 as he is preaching to his disciples in these discourses
and so here He speaks to them concerning that ministry that
He has exercised and is yet exercising amongst them. Now you are clean
through the words which I have spoken unto you. Remember how
subsequently at the beginning of chapter 17 we see that He
moves as it were from His prophetic ministry to His Priestly ministry,
we're told these words, spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes
to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. These words spake Jesus. He turned from speaking now to
his disciples, and he lifts up his eyes, and he begins to pray
to his Father. And so we have the beginning
of that great high priestly prayer, and there in chapter 17, we see
him more particularly in that office of a praying and interceding
priest. But he's not only a praying priest,
we see also how the Lord Jesus is that one who is a sacrificing
priest. in those following chapters,
chapters 18 and 19. And then of course having accomplished
that great work when he makes the one sacrifice for sins and
descends into the realm of the dead, he is raised again on the
third day, he ascends to heaven and now There in heaven he is
an interceding priest again. There we read in Hebrews 7 how
he is able also to say then to the Ottomans that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He is a priest as well as a prophet. As a prophet then, He speaks
of his office as priest, the purpose of his coming, the sacrifice
he is to make as a king. He is able to apply the benefits
of all that work that he accomplished. We have the threefold office
really of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the He is the prophet,
he is the priest, he is also the king. But tonight we are
particularly concerned with what he says here in this verse in
John 15, where we see him very much as the great prophet, the
great preacher, the prince of all preachers. Never man spake
like this man. And so to the disciples he says,
now you are clean. through the words which I have
spoken unto you, the purifying word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two things I want us to observe.
First of all, to see how his word is very much a separating
word. His word is a separating word. His ministry is a distinctive,
discriminating ministry. You know something of the context
we read through the chapter just now, and in the previous verse
we read of the branches of the vine. And there are those branches
that are fruitless, and there are those that are fruitful.
Now those fruitless branches spoken of at the beginning of
verse 2. Every branch in me, he says,
that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Those branches in the vine that
do bear no fruit at all, they are representative of those who
are but professors they know nothing of the possession of
the grace of God though they make a profession and they appear
to be in the vine yet they are fruitless and they are useless
because their faith is a false faith and we see it of course
represented there in the Old Testament we read that short
chapter in Ezekiel 15, again concerning the type of the vine
tree and its applied to God's ancient people, is it not? At
verse 6 of that chapter, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, As the
vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given
to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and I will set my face against them. They shall go out from
one fire and another fire shall devour them and ye shall know
that I am the Lord when my face is set against them." How God
sets himself against those who have but an empty profession
and know nothing of the reality of these things. It is ever the
way, is it not? Remember how in his ministry
Christ often spoke in terms of parables? And the purpose of
the parables was not to make matters easier to be understood
by the multitudes. No, the parabolic teaching was
that the truth would be concealed from some, whilst it was being
revealed to others. We see that quite clearly there
in the 13th chapter of Matthew. And then he tells, does he not,
the parable of the sower. He goes forth to sow, and he
makes a broad cast with his seed, and it falls on different types
of ground. Some falls on the wayside, some
falls onto stony ground, some falls amongst the thorns, and
some of it, of course, does fall into the good ground that has
been prepared to receive the seed. And the Lord Jesus has
to explain to his disciples, he tells them what the interpretation
of that parable is. Verse 18, Hear ye therefore the
parable of the sower? When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon, or immediately with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he
not root in himself, but dureth for a while. For his faith is
spurious, when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of
the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receiveth seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word, the care of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh
unfruitful these are like unto those fruitless branches in the
vine and then we have that that falls onto the good ground they
hear the word of God, they understand it, they bear fruit and they
bring forth some and 100, some 60 and some 30 fold. But we see quite clearly, do
we not, that all the time there is a distinction, a difference
to be made, but all who receive the Word, receive it with real
profit. there are many whose faith alas
is discovered to be spurious and so we see it as we read of
the ministry of the apostles when we come to read through
the Acts we have mention of certain characters do we not? We read
of a man called Simon Magus there in the in the book of the Acts
in Acts chapter 8 and he appears to be a real convert
we are told of him how he believed in verse 13 of Acts chapter 8
Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued
with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which
were done. But then what do we read subsequently
concerning him? He's taken up, you see, with
these external things, with these miracles. And so he desires that he might
obtain such a gift as that that he is witnessing. Verse 18, when
Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the
Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. saying, Give me also
this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God. to be one who was genuine and
yet though baptized there was nothing of reality it would appear
in that profession of faith that he has made we read also of course
of some such as Demas Paul when he writes to Timothy has to say
Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world oh how
solemn it is you see There are those branches that are fruitless
branches. And so the Lord says it here,
verse 2, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away. Verse 6 If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. Then men gather
them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. that it is the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the ministry of Christ,
the things that he says, the content of his preaching, that
is the cause of this separation. Now ye are clean, he says, through
the word which I have spoken unto you. Now what does he say
previously? If you go back, He is speaking
of Judas Iscariot in chapter 13. He says to Simon Peter there
at verse 10. He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and ye are clean,
but not all. For he knew who should betray
Him. Therefore He said, ye are not
all clean. He is exposing the one who will
betray Him. He is exposing Judas Iscariot. So what does it say subsequently? Well, the Lord points him out
in verse 26. He it is to whom I shall give
a sop when I have dipped it, and when he had dipped the sop,
he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the
sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That
thou doest do quickly. And then we're told later, verse
30, having received the sop, he went out immediately, and
it was night. Oh, they were clean, but not
all, you see. But now what does the Lord say
in our text? Now you are clean. Now are they
clean through the words which I have spoken? It is the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ that make the difference, that distinguish
one from the other. His ministry is ever always such
a discriminating ministry. As I said at the beginning, He
is the Prophet. is the real fulfillment of the
office of the Old Testament prophet. All of those prophets are pointing
up to him who was to come, as he said there in Deuteronomy
chapter 18. And remember the words of Jeremiah
15 and verse 19 where that prophet Jeremiah is reminded what is
the mark of a true prophet if they take forth the precious
from the vile ye shall be as my mouth to separate that that
is precious from that that is vile to make a difference between
that faith that is genuine real God and that that is spurious
and false We know that the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was
clearly a discriminating ministry. We see it time and again, do
we not? Even here in this Gospel of John
in chapter 7. Back in chapter 7 and verse 43,
we're told, so there was a division among the people because of Him,
because of the Lord Jesus. Again, at the end of verse 16,
in chapter 9, and there was a division among
them. And yet again, in chapter 10,
at verse 19, there was a division therefore again among the Jews
for these sayings, his sayings or his person, this is what causes
there to be a division, there are those who will follow him,
there are those who reject him and as it was with the ministry
of the Lord Jesus, so it was also concerning the ministry
of his apostles We see that in the Acts, as we've
said already, we see it in the Epistles of Paul when he writes
to the Corinthians, he says, For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish, to the
one we are the saver of life unto life, to the other the saver
of death unto death. Who is sufficient for these things?
When they preached there was a difference, a distinction to
be made between one and the other. Why? They were handling the Word
of God. And what do we read concerning
that Word of God? It is quick, it's powerful, sharper
than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the thoughts and the intents of the hearts
of men. How God's Word then is ever a
a separating word. And this is what lies behind
the word that we have before us tonight. Now you are clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you. For that word, you see, it separates
one from another. Even in the day of grace the
Lord Jesus is making the separation of course ultimately we know
that it is at his return when he comes again in power and glory
the great day of judgment spoken of in Matthew 25 then he will
make the final separation between the sheep and the goats but there
is in a sense that anticipation of these things for when God's
word comes and it comes you see to cuts and it cuts into our
very hearts It makes us to see and feel something of what we
are. It causes us to see our old nature, our fallen nature.
It exposes to us our sins. We have to be those then who
are called and called out of a sinful world. Those who are
the partakers of a new nature, a divine nature. We have to be
those who are born again by the Spirit of God. And so we see
furthermore in the second place here that this Word is really
a sanctifying Word that the Lord is speaking of. You are clean,
He says, through the Word which I have spoken unto you. Sanctifying Word. Now what are
we to understand by that? Well, the basic meaning of the
word to sanctify is the same as consecrate it's to set the
thing apart and we have it in the Old Testament do we not with
regards to the priestly office Aaron and his sons there are
those special garments that they are to wear like in Exodus chapter
28 where Moses receives all this
instruction and direction concerning the worship of God, the furnishings
of the tabernacle, and the garments that are to be worn by those
who officiate there in the tabernacle. In Exodus 28 verse 40 we read
of garments made for Aaron and his
sons and then verse 41 they shall put them upon Aaron thy brother
and his sons with him and shalt anoint them and consecrate them
and sanctify them that they may minister unto me in the priest's
office as they are clothed and as they are anointed so they
are consecrated and they are sanctified they are those who
are set apart to that office of the priesthood that's the
basic meaning of the word and we never to lose sight of that
now in the prayer that we've already referred to in chapter
17 when we see Christ moving as it were from his prophetic
ministry in those previous chapters 14 and 15 and 16 as he as he
begins to pray as a priest in chapter 17 what is his prayer? well one of the petitions that
we have there in verse 17 is this sanctify them through thy
truth thy word is truth God's word there you are clean through
the words which I have spoken unto you as that great prophet,
as that teacher that has come from God. That's what Nicodemus
recognizes in chapter 3. We know, he says, that what a
teacher comes from God. No man can do these miracles
thou doest except God be with him. Well, as that prophet and
that teacher, what does the Lord Jesus do? He speaks the words
of God. And by those words, he is calling
out and he is separating his people from the world. Or what authority we see in his
earthly ministry, where the word of a king is, there is power,
we're told in the book of Ecclesiastes. Or with what power, with what
authority he preaches. and so there is an effect thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power is the promise that was given to him by God
that promise that is there in the 110th Psalm in the day of his power and now
we're in that day are we not all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth he says go ye therefore and teach all nations
great commission at the end of Matthew's gospel he is that one
who has power he has authority and his people are going to be
a willing people in the day of his power and so as he exercises
his ministry believers are called out and they are separated from
this world this is how we understand the doctrine of the local church
is it not? we don't believe in a territorial
church we don't believe in the idea that you have in a national
church such as here in England or in Scotland where you have
a church that established by law and the country, well in England
it's divided of course into two provinces Canterbury and York
and then those are divided into dioceses each area having a bishop
and then each diocese is divided into a parish and it's as if
the whole of England is one great church the territorial church,
we don't believe that. Because we say that the particular
word that is used throughout the New Testament and translated
as church in our authorized version, interestingly, Tyndale didn't
use that word church, he used the word congregation, where
the AV, which of course was sent out under the auspices of the
king, King James VI of Cotland, James I of England. He insisted
on the word church, but Tyndale and the AV as you know is in
great part Tyndale's version, but not there. Tyndale had congregation. Our authorised version has the
word church, but what does it mean? The Greek word, it's one
of those compound words and it literally means called out to
call out that's what the church is it's a people who have been
called out have been called out of the world they've been called
out by the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ my sheep hear my
voice he says and I know them and they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish they're called
out and they're gathered together in local churches. And that's
what we believe. That's what we believe is the
teaching of the New Testament concerning the church. It's a gathered church. It's
a local church. And it's made up of those who
have been called out. And it is the Lord Jesus who
through the ministry of the Word is calling out his people. That
ministry as it is made effectual in the soul of the sinner by
the work of the Holy Spirit. A great work of sanctification. What does he say there in his
prayer in chapter 17 and verse 14? I have given them
thy word Speaking of his disciples, I have given them thy word, and
the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. By his ministry, you see, they've
been separated and called out of the world. Now, when we think
of this great work of sanctification through the words of God, the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ, We see in Scripture that there
is a threefold sanctification. And that threefold sanctification
involves God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is a sanctification by
God the Father. And we see it in the great eternal
purpose of God. We see it in the doctrine of
predestination and the doctrine of election. Jude, the opening words of that
short epistle of Jude, he speaks to those who are sanctified by
God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and caught. There are the three persons of
the Trinity. They are involved with regards
to these people, these believers that Jude is addressing himself
to in that epistle. They are sanctified by God the
Father. How are they sanctified by God
the Father? They are set apart. Remember what we said at the
beginning with regards to sanctification. We are not to lose sight of the
basic meaning of the words. to sanctify, to consecrate, to
set apart. God the Father set apart a people
from before the foundation of the world and He committed them
into the hands of His Son. That's the covenant, is it not?
That's what we believe. It's revealed to us in Scripture
that there is an eternal covenant and in that covenant the Father
committed to His Son a people whom in the fullness of the time
He would come to save. And what does Jude say? They
are sanctified by God the Father. They are preserved in Jesus Christ. Even when they're born dead in
trespasses and sin. What does John Kemp say? It's
a lovely expression. Preserved in Jesus when? My feet
made haste to hell, and there should I have gone, but thou
dost all things well. or they're preserved in Jesus
Christ, even when they're on regeneration. And then the appointed
time rolls on apace, not to propose, but called by grace, and they're
called, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. And that is the great
work of the Holy Spirit, to call them. But you see, there is a
sanctification, by God the Father, that's what we are saying. They
are sanctified by God the Father. In election they are set apart
to salvation. But then there is also a sanctification
by the Son, by God the Son. What is that? When He comes in
the fullness of the time and purges them. He pays the great
ransom price to the law of God and he purchases his people by
that great sin atoning sacrifice that he makes upon the cross.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 12, Jesus also that he might
sanctify the people suffered without the gate. Well, that's
what he did when he suffered, when he paid the price of their
redemption. He sanctified the people. Again,
in Hebrews 10.14, by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. And so their sanctification is
clearly seen to be in that work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so, when Paul writes to the church at Corinth, remember the end
of the opening chapter, he says, "...to them of Him," that is,
of Christ, "...of Him are ye, or of God the Father are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification." and redemption, that as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Oh, is justification in the Lord
Jesus Christ? It is. It is in Christ. It's the righteousness of Christ
that is imputed to the sinner, that's reckoned to the sinner's
account, that justifies him in the high courts of heaven. But
not only justification, sanctification also is in Christ. Who of God
is made unto us? Sanctification. Sanctification. What does He say in the text?
Now ye are clean through the words which I have spoken unto
you. What was that word? that word
that the Lord Jesus Christ had spoken unto them. Well, it's
what we have recorded, of course, in the previous verses and the
previous chapters. And what is it that he's been
speaking of? He'd been speaking of his death. He'd been speaking
of that that he was yet to accomplish at Jerusalem. He says in chapter 12, and I if I be lifted up from the earth
will draw all men unto me this he said signifying what death
he should die he'd been speaking you see of departing, going away
and when he goes he says he will send them another comforter even
the Holy Spirit but time and again he speaks to them of his
going away to die to offer himself and they don't understand he
says in chapter 13 verse 33 little children yet a little while I
am with you ye shall seek me and as I said unto the Jews whither
I go ye cannot come so now I say to you where is he going oh he
must tread that winepress alone He only is the Saviour of sinners.
He is the one who is going to make that great sacrifice. And
then, having made the sacrifice, He will rise and He will ascend.
Remember chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled, ye 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. How does Christ prepare
that place? By the sacrifice that He is about
to make. These are the things he had been
speaking of. He'd been speaking of that great
work that had been committed to him from the Father. He must
be obedient, not only in life, he must be obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Oh how Christ has redeemed us,
says Paul, redeemed us from the curse of the Lord. He has borne
that terrible punishment. And these are the things He has
spoken of. Now, you are clean through the words which I have
spoken unto you. It is that work of Christ that
is the sanctification of His people. There is then sanctification
by the Father in eternal election, that great doctrine of predestination
when God set apart His people, there is sanctification by and
through the work of the Son when He makes the great sin atoning
sacrifice, and then there is also a sanctification by the
Holy Spirit. And that is the application of
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. how these things must be worked
out in the experiences of those that the Father had given to
the Son. In Ephesians chapter 5, remember
the latter part of that chapter where the Apostle speaks of the
relative duties of husbands and of wives, very practical words
of instruction and direction that are given to the husband
and to the wife, but it's all couched in wonderful doctrinal
language. That's the way with Paul. All
the practice of the believer is rooted in sound truth, in
the glorious doctrines. And so as he speaks of the duty
of the husband, the duty of the wife, he speaks also of Christ.
and the church and he says this Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the Word by the words. Here we have it,
you see. Now you are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. How does He sanctify, how
does He cleanse His bride, the church? With the washing of water
by the words. Christ's death, that sin atoning
blood. That is the word of the Gospel,
is it not? That is the word of the Gospel.
Paul's determination to know nothing amongst those Corinthians
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the Gospel. That's the
word of the Gospel. But the fruits and the effect
of that must be brought into being. And how is that? It is by the inward work of sanctification
of the Spirit. Or do we know anything of the
fruit, of the effect of that work that the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished when He sanctified His people by the sacrifice of
Himself? It must be an application, it
must be brought home to us. It must enter into our soul's
experience. Yes, this is the Word. It's that
Word that speaks to us about Christ. But it's not enough that
that Word is understood in an intellectual sense it must enter
into our very being it must become that engrafted word or that implanted
word that is able to save the soul what do we know of that?
that's the important question we're told there in Titus Titus
chapter 3 and verse 5 according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Well, that's
it you see. That's the experience of sanctification
by the ministry of the Spirit, the washing of regeneration,
the renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit must work. He must come into the sinner's
soul and He must make the application of all that Christ has done.
We have it, as it were, historically, when we think of the work of
Christ. But that that is historical must become experimental, it
must mean something to us. When Paul writes to the church
at Corinth, he's writing of course to a church that is principally
a Gentile church, Those are the Gentiles who have been converted
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he say as he comes
to the end of that epistle, chapter 15 and verse 16? That the offering
up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy
Ghost. It's acceptable as there is that
sanctification by the Holy Ghost. The great work of the Spirit
in making real all that the Father purposed and all that the Son
has purchased by accomplishing His great work all the Spirit
Himself is the One who comes and so God deals with His people
and He doesn't just deal with them at the beginning you see
in that washing of regeneration and that renewing of the Holy
Ghost God's work is a continual work, is it not? what do we read
in the context verse 2 every branch that bare a fruit he purges
it that it may bring forth more fruit God will have his people
to be ever more fruitful as he has sanctified them he will deal
with them and it's interesting that that word purge that verb he purges it is from
the same root as what we have here in verse 3, it's really
the same word He purges it, the Lord says ye are purged all they
are you see, they are those who are made acceptable in the Lord
Jesus Christ but God is teaching His people, God is preparing
His people He's making them ever more fruitful in all the ways
of holiness, be ye holy you see For I am holiness, and without
holiness no man shall see the Lord." Or that we might be those
friends who are truly the Lord, who know what it is to have this
scripture that we're considering tonight accomplished, fulfilled
in our own persons, in our own souls. That we're those who have
truly heard the words of the Lord Jesus. We bear that mark
of His sheep, they know His Word. They know His voice. Now ye are
clean, He says, through the words which I have spoken unto you. Amen.