OK, I'm going to go ahead and
get started. If you would turn with me to John 17. John 17. Joe got us warmed up to some
of the passages I'm going to turn to. So I'm going to try
a little something different this week. So we may be here
15 minutes. We may be here 50. I don't know.
John 17, verses 14 through 17 is what I'm going to read. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from
the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. This is the Lord's prayer. He
is praying to the Father. He's not like us or I when I
pray. I pray at least at times that
I might consume it upon my own lust. That's what James tells
us. He says, you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that
you may consume it upon your own lust. Our Lord did not do
this. The Father always hears the Son. The father always hears us as
well, he always hears his people, but he tells us no sometimes.
But not the son, because the son does not ask him yes. He
always does that which pleases the father. He prays in verse
17 that I want to concentrate on here. Sanctify them through
thy truth, thy word is truth. First of all, Christ is praying
to the Father to sanctify His people through the truth, is
what it says. He's not saying let them sanctify
themselves through the truth. Not much of a sanctifying message
if I have to do it myself, if I have to sanctify myself. He's
not sanctifying them through the preacher who might in fact
preach His word. He is simply asking the Father
to sanctify them through His truth. And that's simple enough,
that's what it says. But I'm afraid there are those
who will and do get the wrong idea when they start to think
about themselves or some fallen man doing this. They also get the wrong idea
about what's being said here about sanctification and other
places in Scripture as it concerns sanctification. So I think it's
quite obvious that I want to talk about sanctification today.
I want to, and I hope that's always true, I want to do this
from Scripture. What does God say about sanctification? And I have five things I want
to go through. Those that are sanctified, sanctified by the
Spirit, sanctified by Christ, woe to those who think anything
less, and sanctified through His word. There are those who Scripture
says are sanctified, Joe. Acts 20, 32 we read, and now
brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified. Paul says he commends them to
God. He is presenting them to God, bringing them before God. He is showing them who God is
and what his word says about him. That which God uses to build
you up, to give you inheritance, not building you up in yourself. The definition of sanctification
is this, to render or acknowledge hallow, or to be hallow or holy. That is dedicated to God. This
is said in the past tense. But we also see this in Jude
1, if you wanna turn over there, Jude 1. Jude 1 and 1. Jude 1. Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified. By God the Father and preserved
in Jesus Christ and called. We can see at least three things
in this verse. First of all, sanctified by God. Not sanctified by ourselves or
by somebody else, sanctified by God. Preserved, that is guarded
from loss or injury in Jesus Christ. Called. again by God. Romans 9 tells us straight out
that it's God that calleth. He calls his people to his truth.
The truth is who Christ is and what Christ has done. Those he
chose. Next, Christ sanctified himself. Verse 19 of our text And for
their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. The meaning is to be holy here.
The only human that could ever do this, sanctify himself. And
there's a good reason why he does this, the last part of the
verse. That they also might be sanctified
through the truth. That's why it's done, he says
it himself. This is important. We have been
shipwrecked from Adam on, all die. But in his gospel, we see
him sanctified by his work. He set himself apart to do the
will of the Father. He said that's the whole reason
he came here was to do that work. But also those who are sanctified
behave a certain way. There is a walk, but not to get
sanctified or to get holy. And I want to go to a verse which
those some rest to their own destruction. 1 Thessalonians
4. 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 3 and
4. I'm just going to read those two. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse
3. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in. sanctification and honor. To be connected to and not to
get sanctified, or how to sanctify oneself, it says how to possess
your vessel. How do we get to this point though?
We cannot and do not do it ourselves. We are sanctified by the Spirit.
Joe just read a verse earlier, but Romans 15 and 16 will see
that. Romans 15 and 16. Romans 15 verse 16, that I should
be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Not offering them up of their
worth or anything good about them, but why? Them being sanctified
by the Holy Ghost. Those that are sanctified before
God are by His Spirit set apart in this world by His Spirit. That's simply what it says. We
read in scripture, come out from among them and be separate. This
is a presenting to God, presenting them for the works He has done,
not of their works or any worth in them or of Paul. This is how
God was pleased to do it. We read this especially in two
passages that you all know, 2 Thessalonians 2.13 and 1 Peter 1.2, and I'm
gonna read 1 Peter. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, and that is unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace
unto you and peace be multiplied. But none of this would be of
any value had there not been, first, Jesus Christ sanctifying
himself, but also his work to sanctify others. So sanctified
by Christ, number three. Sanctified by Christ's faith,
Acts 26, Acts 26. Acts 26 and verse 25 through
27. But he said, X26, yeah. I'm sorry, 15 through
18. 15 through 18. Yep, that looks better. And I
said, this is Paul, or Saul, he's telling the account when
Christ met him, but, and I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said,
I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest, but rise and stand up upon thy
feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make
thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee.
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me." Christ says that. And I think this is a twofold
statement. First, His faith to do the will of the Father, to
come down and pay for the people's sin and die on the cross. But
second, believing Him by that God-given faith that is in Him.
But this Jesus Christ did for His church. Christ sanctified
His church, Ephesians 5, 25 through 27. You all are familiar with
all these. Ephesians 5, verses 25. Ephesians 5, verses 25 through
27. Husbands, love your wives, even
as 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. that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. Again, we see he does it. It's something that he has done,
actually. It says that he may sanctify
it. And how did he do that? He gave
himself. Cause and effect. This is what
God tells us in his word, his truth. Because he did what he
did, when we hear it, when we see it being set apart by his
spirit, we see how we were sanctified. What does the spirit testify
or seal to our heart? Christ shedding his blood, Hebrews
13. Hebrews 13. These are very familiar,
especially this one, because it's been mentioned several times
here by everyone, I think, here lately. These next few places
I'm going to be, Hebrews 13 and verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. He came where we are. Remember
Boaz? He met the nearer of kin at the
gate. And this was done for all time. Hebrews 10, just turn over to
Hebrews 10, if you're there, if you're turning. Hebrews 10
verses 10 through 17. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once, once for
all time. It done the job, got it done.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins. Back in
the Old Testament, you know, they were always offering up
sacrifices all the time, but it never took away one sin. But
this man, Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. So here, that's what the Holy
Ghost witnesses to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds and will I write them. This is the gospel. That the
whole and complete work of salvation is done by Jesus Christ. This
is how we are sanctified by his truth. We see that we have been
sanctified by Christ. But here is a point. Here is
a point in, again, in verse 24 of Hebrews 10. Woe to those who
count Christ's work anything less than what it is. Hebrews
10, 24 through 29. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin, If we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking
for the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace. The law had no give in it, none. Some did not count that law worthy
of anything. Some would even do some of their
own things. They'd offer strange fire. God killed them on the
spot. Even Uzzah, when he put his hand on the ark, God killed
him. But what does this say? How much
more Those were destroyed who did this as it concerned the
law of God. How much more is it to disregard
the work of the son and the accomplishment of the son? No, we hear the gospel,
the record God gave of his son, and by his spirit we rejoice
in and we see that he sanctified us completely. That is how we
are sanctified through his truth. So my last point is sanctified
through his word. When we hear the gospel, we hear
of the goodness of Christ by his faith, him sanctifying himself
and by his blood, sanctifying us forever, what do we see? First Corinthians 1.30. But of
him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And what is that talking about
in 1 Corinthians 1.30? Go back and just look at the
context just a little bit here. 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. So if you go back up to verse
21, we can kind of get a sense of what the context is. For after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,
yet pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. We've already read that God has
chosen us in Christ, and he does that through sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth. And here we see that it
pleased God to save them through the preaching of the gospel.
And then what does that gospel do? What we just read, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. So sanctified through his truth,
back to our text in John 17. What I read, I have given them
thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. 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. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So his word does this. Christ
prayed for this. The gospel tells us who Christ
is and what he has done. Nothing more and nothing less. If you hear anything else, it's
not the gospel. If you have anything else, you
got too much. If you don't have that, you ain't
got enough. But his gospel is enough. He
did that which satiated the wrath of God on my behalf. and it is
enough. We come to know and to see through
His truth the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified that
Christ has sanctified us through His dying and shedding His blood
on that tree. This was a one-time act and that
one-time act did this forever. So what's the conclusion? The
scripture tells us of those who are sanctified, Joe. In fact,
these scriptures are written to those who have been sanctified
by Christ and also set apart by his spirit. No one else is
going to see these things. We are all fallen men and women.
Unless God does something to enlighten us, we won't see it. So as the scripture says, we
are sanctified by his spirit. His Spirit testifying to us through
the preaching of the gospel, not works that we have done or
works that we need to do, but that works which Christ has done. We certainly should do things
to possess our vessel created by God. By His working in us
to will and to do of His good pleasure, we will do that. And
only if He does that. Otherwise we're left to ourselves
and we cannot do it ourselves. But it is this vessel which is
sanctified by Christ, the Spirit then enlightening the soul to
let us know that we are sanctified. We are never told to sanctify
ourselves before God because we cannot do it. What Christ
has done is perfect and it got the job done. So I cannot improve
upon that. Don't belittle or lessen what
the blood of Christ has done. If you count his blood unholy,
that is, it was not a set-apart thing or far above anything else,
and especially if you try to bring in your works to the mix,
you are looking for a sore punishment. And that means a worse punishment.
But our text says, sanctify them through thy truth. Who is the
truth? Jesus Christ says of himself,
I am the truth, the life, and the way. But we also read in
John 1, 1, and I'll end with this with a few statements. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. And we also read that grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. So what do we conclude? tell
me the gospel, the good news of who he is and what he has
done and what he has accomplished. Sanctify me by Christ and his
work. Christ prayed for it. I think
it's okay for us to pray for it. Sanctify us through thy truth. Amen. Dear old God, thank you
for once again allowing us to be here and giving us safe travels
and Others who have been traveling, dear Lord, and thank you, dear
Lord, for allowing us to hear your gospel, dear Lord, to uplift
our souls on everything that you have accomplished for your
people. Forgive us of our sins, dear Lord. There are too many
to even number, dear Lord. Forgive us. All these things
we ask in Christ's name, amen.