Well, I love that Chris loves
that I love pastors, so that's wonderful. The assignment that
has been given to me is sanctified in truth, and as you're aware
of your Bible, there's one text, one passage specifically to which
we would draw our attention, which is John chapter 17. So,
if you would take your Bible and turn with me to John chapter
17, I want us to look specifically at verse 17, which is an extremely
important text on this subject of holiness. I want to read verses
14 through 19 just to give us a sense of the larger context,
but we're going to hone in on verse 17. This is God's inspired, inerrant,
and infallible Word. John 17, beginning in verse 14,
Jesus is praying, and He prays, "'I have given them Your Word,
and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them
out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them in the truth. Your Word is truth. As you have sent Me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes,
I sanctify Myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth."
It was the night of our Lord's arrest. The next day, He will
hang upon a Roman cross, condemned as a common criminal. And before
He enters into the valley of the shadow of death, He looks
upward to heaven with this high priestly prayer of John chapter
17. What we have here is an inner
Trinitarian conversation. as the Son of God appeals to
the Father, and as He prays This is no time to pray for that which
is secondary. It is no time to pray for that
which is superfluous. This is a crucial moment. In
a very short time, our Lord will be in Gethsemane, and He will
be sweating drops of blood as He is yielding Himself afresh
to the will of God. He will stand six trials, three
that are Jewish and three that are Roman, He will then be taken
to Calvary, to Golgotha, where He will be nailed to a cross
and be lifted up to die for the sins of His people. And as He approaches this hour
for which He has come into the world, He turns His heart upward
to the Father in prayer, and He intercedes for that not which
is peripheral, but that which is primary. And among the concerns
that our Lord has for the glory of God in verse 1, and the preservation
of His people throughout this prayer, He focuses in verse 17
on an enormously important subject, and it is important for our conference.
Our Lord prays for the personal holiness of all those who are
true believers. It is the holiness of God that
demands the holiness of His people. A long ago, God said through
the prophet Moses in Leviticus 11 and verse 44, be holy for
I am holy. And in verse 45, you shall be holy for I am holy. It is incumbent upon every true
believer to be pursuing holiness, and those who are not pursuing
holiness are not true believers in the Lord. They may have a
profession of faith, but they do not have the possession of
faith. Holiness marks true believers. In Leviticus 19 and verse 2,
God commands, you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Unless any of us here today think
that this is reserved only for the Old Testament, in 1 Peter
1 and verse 15, Peter takes these very verses out of the Pentateuch
and incorporates them in his New Testament epistle. And in
1 Peter 1 verse 15, Peter writes to the believers who are scattered
abroad, like the Holy One who called you, Be holy. That is an imperative command.
It is incumbent with apostolic authority upon all of our lives
to be holy, to be pursuing the holiness of God as reflected
in our own lives. And then Peter quotes in verse
16, Leviticus, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Personal holiness
is the one overriding desire of God for His people. We learn
from the vision of God in Isaiah chapter 6 that the chief attribute
of God is holiness. In Isaiah 6, in verse 3, the
seraphim around the throne are crying out, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty. Heaven and earth is full of His
glory. The chief attribute of God is
holiness, and the angels are not crying out, love, love, love,
though God is love. The angels are not crying out
even, omniscience, omniscience, omniscience, though God is omniscience. The angels are crying out, that
which most marks God. holiness, that God is transcendent,
that God is majestic, that God is regal and royal, and that
God is a cut above His creatures, that God is unlike us in every
way, if God is holy and He is. What
He requires of you and me more than anything else is our holiness. If God is distinguished first
and foremost, principally and primarily as holy, therefore
as we who are created in the image of God, we must be holy. The psalmist asks the question
in Psalm 24 verse 3, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who may have fellowship with
God? Who may enter into the very presence of God? And the answer
comes from the psalmist, he who has clean hands and a pure heart. We must be washed and made clean
and be pursuing holiness, to have communion with a holy God. The psalmist cries out in Psalm
51, create in me a clean heart, O God. And as Jesus preached
the most famous sermon that has ever been preached in the history
of the world, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called for a heart
religion, a religion of the heart. And he said, blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. In other words, if our
hearts have not been made clean by God, we will never see holy
God. And Jesus went on to emphasize
in Matthew 5 verse 28, everyone who looks at a woman with lust
for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And so we understand, as Jesus
prays in John 17, this call for holiness, this prayer, this intercession
to the Father, sanctify them. In the truth, Your Word is truth. This rises from the pages of
Scripture to the highest level of that which God desires for
His people. So as we look at John 17 and
verse 7, I want to just walk through this very short verse. I want to exegete it. I want to divide it into portions,
and I want us to spend our time looking very carefully at this
one verse, John 17, verse 17. Let me read it again. Sanctify
them in the truth Your Word is truth. And so, as we are considering
the holiness of God in this conference, it is necessary that we consider
our own personal holiness. So, as we look at this text,
there are several things that I want to set before you. Number
one is the prayer for holiness. the prayer for holiness. As Jesus prays, sanctify them. We need to consider what this
word sanctify means. It is a Greek word, hagiazo,
from which the words holy, holiness, sanctification, saints, all those
words come from the same root word. And that root word in the
ancient Semitic language means to cut in order for there to
be a separation. So, as I would take this piece
of paper, I cut it. and there is now a separation.
That's at the heart of what holy means. That's at the heart of
what sanctify them means. It means to set apart, to consecrate. It means to make holy, to purify,
to separate from profane things. It means to cleanse. And so as
Jesus prays to the Father, and remember His prayers are always
answered. He said, Father, I thank You
that You always hear me. He never offered a prayer that
was not answered by the Father. And as He prays, sanctify them. This is a prayer that the Father
answers by the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us. As He prays this, sanctify them,
He is saying, make them holy. Set them apart from the impurities
of this world. Set them apart from their own
lusts. Set them apart unto personal
godliness. Make them holier than what they
presently are experientially, personally, and practically. It is also important to note
that this word sanctify in your Bible is in the imperative mood. When you parse the verb, it is
in the imperative mood. This is a commanding prayer that
Jesus is offering. It's not a suggestion to the
Father. Would you maybe pretty please
sanctify them?" No, it is from the One who is co-equal and co-eternal
to the Father, the Lord Jesus, with imperative. Sanctify them
in the truth. Now, it's important for us to
get a handle on the word sanctify. When you study your Bible, there
are three aspects of sanctification, and we need to give careful thought
to this. Dr. R.C. Sproul used to tell
me several times, must make careful distinctions. Theologians cannot
just mesh everything together as those different truths are
put into an omelet, and they're just all brought together. No,
we need a divider plate, alright? We need to separate out three
distinctions regarding sanctification. If you're a note-taker, write
these down. Number one is positional sanctification. Positional sanctification
happened in your past. It happened the moment you were
regenerated by the Spirit of God. It is never repeated. It
is a one-time act of God to sanctify you, set you apart out of this
evil world system, and set you into the kingdom of God. Let me give you two verses. 1
Corinthians 1 verse 30. By His doing," referring to God,
by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom
from God. That's like the topic sentence
over what follows, or the topic phrase. and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. At the very moment there was,
you were declared the righteousness of God in the forensic act of
justification, and the very moment that the redemptive blood of
Christ was applied to your life, in that split second, you were
sanctified immediately. It is not a second work of grace.
It is not something that happens five years on down the way. No, it happens immediately. You are sanctified, and positionally
you have been taken out of the world, and you have been set
into Christ, and you have been set into the kingdom of God.
That is positional sanctification, and that is true not just of
some believers, it is true of each and every believer. If you
have not been positionally sanctified, you are outside of the kingdom
of heaven. The second verse would be 1 Corinthians 6 and verse
11, another important text. Paul says to the Corinthians,
such were some of you, but you were washed. but you were sanctified,"
notice the verb tense, in the past tense, but you were justified by the Lord in the Spirit of
our God, in the name of the Lord in the Spirit of our God, when
you were washed when you were justified, you were immediately
sanctified. And that began a radical break,
a dramatic break from your old way of life, and you now are
headed in an entirely new direction. You are living in a new kingdom.
You are living in a new realm. So that's positional sanctification. You can write down Hebrews 10
verse 10 also, by this you have been sanctified. That's in the
past. The second aspect of sanctification
is what we call progressive sanctification, and that is in the present. It
is our lifelong pursuit of holiness by which we are becoming increasingly
more and more holy or holier experientially in the reality
of my daily walk." 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2, to the church of God
that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Jesus Christ. And 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3
makes it abundantly clear, for this is the will of God, your
sanctification. And so, there must be progressive,
ongoing growth in personal holiness. Everyone who is positionally
sanctified at the moment of their regeneration will be progressively
pursuing holiness. There are no exceptions to this.
There is no one who is positionally sanctified who will not be progressively
being sanctified by the Spirit of God. That is why the lifelong
carnal Christian is a total myth. That person does not exist. That
is a false theology, because everyone who is positionally
sanctified will be being progressively sanctified. Now third, there
is perfected sanctification. That is future. Positional is
past, progressive is present, perfected is future. and that is our final glorification. That is the consummation of our
sanctification when one day we will be perfectly blameless before
the Lord. And in 1 Thessalonians 3 verse
13, Paul writes, so that He, Jesus Christ, may establish your
hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father. And
really the best text on this is 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse
23, which is in the form of a closing benediction at the end of this
epistle. Paul writes, now may the God
of peace Himself, and that is a reference to God the Father,
by the way, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely,
and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete
without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so ultimately, you and I
will be perfectly sanctified when we are presented without
spot or blemish or any such thing in the very presence of the Father
before the throne of grace. So as Jesus prays, sanctify them. He's not referring to positional
sanctification. That's already occurred in their
life. They have been taken out of the
world and placed into Christ. And it is not referring to perfected
sanctification. It's referring to this progressive
sanctification. And this is what the Savior is
praying for your life and for my life as He is at the right
hand of God the Father and ever lives to make intercession for
us. This is one reason why a believer
will never become an unbeliever. And this is one reason why one
who is truly sanctified will never go back to the world and
live like the world. No, that one will be a dog returning
to his vomit, will be like a pig returning to the mud. That's
not a sheep. That is one who has simply made
some outward indication of faith in Christ, but their true colors
are revealed when they turn their back on the pursuit of godliness
and holiness, and they go back to the muck and the mire of this
world. This emphasis is echoed throughout
the New Testament. that God desires the holiness
of His people because God Himself is holy. In Romans 12 verse 1,
Paul writes, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. An unholy sacrifice is unacceptable
to God. Only as we come as a living and
holy sacrifice will it be, will our lives be acceptable to God. It is critically important. In
2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1, Paul writes, let us cleanse ourselves
from all defilement of flesh. And by the way, this is not an
evangelistic sermon. This is directed to the heart
of every believer. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all defilement of flesh and spirit. perfecting holiness in the fear
of God. You see, it should be – this
should be such a serious matter in our relationship with God,
in the midst of our joy in knowing Him, that we perfect holiness
in the fear of God. We will never perfect holiness
in this lifetime, and this word, perfecting, comes from a Greek
word that really means to ripen or to bring to maturity, that
there would be a development and advancement in our cleanness
of heart and our purity of walk and mouth before the Lord. And this only is right, 2 Timothy
1 verse 9, God saved us and called us with a holy calling. The effectual sovereign call
of God is a call that is a holy calling that calls us into fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ, but it calls us into a holy walk. As Jesus has prayed, sanctify
them. This is a prayer that you and
I should pray for ourselves. God, make me, as Robert Murray
McShane once prayed, as holy as a redeemed sinner can be. This is what you need to pray
for your family, for your children. This is what you should pray
for your pastor, for your church leaders, Lord, sanctify them. Lord, purify them. Lord, make
them as unlike the evil world system and make them as much
like the Lord Jesus Christ as someone can be while they're
still here upon the earth. And let me tell you why this,
why our personal holiness is so important. In Hebrews 12 and
verse 14, Paul, or the writer of Hebrews… Alright, time out. I'm not going on record as saying
that. Now, I will say, I've been in
discussions with Dr. Sproul about this, and he does
feel that Paul was the author of Hebrews. So anyway, so here's the point, or here's the verse, Hebrews
12 verse 14, pursue sanctification without which no one will see
the Lord. You see, you are not just chosen
for heaven, you are chosen for holiness. And you may know that
you're going to heaven by the validation of the sanctifying
work of God the Holy Spirit within you. This is necessary in the life
of everyone who is truly heaven-bound. There are no unsanctified believers. God elevates the importance of
our holiness because God Himself is holy. God is more concerned for your
godliness than for your giftedness. God is more concerned for the
depth of your maturity than the breadth of your ministry. God
is more concerned with who you are than what you do. God is more concerned with your
character than with your career. Holiness in the lives of His
people is of utmost importance. Now, second, that's the prayer
for holiness. Second, I want you to see very
quickly the people of holiness. As we look at verse 17, we've
looked at the first word, sanctify. Please note the second word,
them. Who's the them? For whom is Jesus praying this? And for whom will the Father
answer this prayer? And it will be effectual in their
lives. Well, in verse 9, Jesus said,
I do not pray for the world. Jesus is not interceding for
the non-elect. Jesus is not praying for the
holiness of unbelievers. This is a family prayer. This
is a prayer that Jesus is praying on behalf of those whom the Father
has given to Him. And we don't really have time,
I'm just going to walk us through this rather quickly, but when
you begin in verse 2 and you go all the way through this entire
chapter, this prayer of intercession, we see who the them is. In verse 2, it is those given
by the Father to the Son in sovereign election. They're also found
in verse 6 and verse 9. They are those who are given
eternal life. That is in verses 2 and 3. The
them is those who belong to the Father. That's in verses 6 and
9, and they belong to the Father because the Father chose them
before the foundation of the world and then gave them to the
Son. In verse 6, the them are those
who keep God's Word. You see, obedience to the Word
of God leads to personal holiness, and it is the distinguishing
mark of a true child of God. In verse 8, they are those who
receive the words of Christ with understanding. In verse 10, they
are those who glorify the Son. In verses 11, 12, and 15, they
are those who are kept and preserved in grace by the Father and by
the Son, such that they can never fall away from grace. In verse 14, they are those who
are hated by the world. In verse 16, they are those who
are not of the world. They are in the world, they're
just not of the world. Their boat is in the water, there
should be no water in the boat. This is the people of holiness,
and there are no exceptions to this. And so, it becomes a mark
of assurance of our salvation. Not because we grew up in the
church, not because we walked an aisle and parroted a prayer,
not because we went through a confirmation class, not because we've been
baptized, not because we joined the church. Hell is filled with
people like that. Is their personal holiness being
produced by God the Father in the likeness of God the Son by
the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit in your life? that becomes the authenticating
stamp of God upon His elect. That's the people of holiness. Now, third, the parameters of
holiness. And I need to just very quickly
lay out these parameters. Sanctification, again, the pursuit
of holiness, progressive holiness. as a negative and a positive
component. There is a negative separation
from the evil world system, being caught up in the system. And
there is a separation from the participation in the lusts of
the flesh. This does not speak of the perfection
of our life, it speaks of the direction of our life. We are
being set apart from the defilements and the pollution of sin, and
that involves our mind, our affections, and our will, the whole person. That's the negative. And at the
same time, there is the positive. I am being set apart unto the
things of God experientially. I am growing to love God more
and more. I am growing deeper and deeper
in my walk with Christ. He is becoming more precious
and more real. There is being produced in me
more and more elements. of Christlikeness in my life.
It's not either or, it's both and. If all you have is just
the separation from the negative, then you are a legalist, and
your Christian life is defined by what you don't do. If all you have is the positive,
you are an antinomian or you are one of license. Your Christian
life is defined only by what you perceive you have freedom
to do. But there is no negative separation. It's not either-or, it's both-and.
And true sanctification necessitates a negative denial and a positive
assertion. It necessitates a negative separation
as well as the positive. Now, let me just quickly show
you this. If you would please turn to Ephesians
chapter 4, and this will be worth turning to, Ephesians chapter
4, and what we see how sanctification works in our Christian life.
It's negative-positive, negative-positive, negative-positive, negative-positive. And so in Ephesians chapter 4,
for example, beginning in verse 22, Ephesians is to the right of
the gospel of John. Head east. Verse 22, that in
reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old
self which is being corrupted. This is an ongoing laying aside,
and it comes from a Greek word that literally means to take
off clothing, that you are continually taking off dirty clothes in your
spiritual life, he says, which are being corrupted in accordance
with the lust of deceit, verse 23. and that you by renewing,
that you being renewed in the Spirit of your mind, put on the
new self. So the Christian life is an ongoing
exercise in taking off and putting on, taking off and putting on.
And as long as we are on this earth and pursuing holiness,
we never come to a place where we no longer have to take off
and we no longer have to put on. He goes on to say, for example,
in verse 25, laying aside falsehood, that's the negative. Speak truth,
that's the positive. Verse 26, be angry, that's actually
the positive. Do not sin and let the sun go
down in your anger, that's the negative. Verse 28, Let him who
steals, steal no longer." That's the negative. But rather, he
must labor with his hands. That's the positive. Verse 29,
let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth. That's the negative.
But only such a word is good for edification. That's the positive. Verse 30, do not grieve the Holy
Spirit. Let there be no bitterness, wrath,
or anger. Put away all of that from you."
That's the negative. Verse 32, be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving, etc. That's the positive. I wish I
had time during this session to take us through multiple passages. You can look at Psalm 1. Verses
1 through 3, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the
counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit
in the seat of scoffers, but he is like a tree firmly planted
by streams of water. He meditates on the Word day
and night. There has to be both the negative separation and the
positive separation, the separation away from and the separation
away to. So this leads now to the last
heading I need to set before you, and it's the producing of
holiness. You may say, I'm sold. I'm all in. God is holy. I need to be holy. How may I
realize this in my life? Well, the rest of the verse tells
us that which is primary in sanctification. sanctify them in the truth. Your Word is truth." That little
preposition, in, tells us that the instrument of sanctification
used in the hand of God is the Word of truth. There's a fundamental
principle in life, like produces like, right? Well, only a holy
instrument can produce personal holiness. An unholy instrument
can only produce unholiness. And there's only one holy instrument
that is primary in our sanctification, and it is the ministry of the
Word of truth in the life of the believer. It is what God
uses in our lives to make us more and more like Him. It is the truth about who God
is in His holiness. It is the truth about us, who
we are in our unholiness. It is the truth about Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit who make us holy. The truth is indispensable. The
word truth means reality. It's the way things really are.
Everything else is a distortion, a deception, or a lie, a falsehood. There is only one instrument
in the hands of a loving, holy Father in heaven that will conform
us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, and it is the Word
of truth. there are other secondary means
of truth. For example, Hebrews 12 verse
10, God brings discipline in our lives when we are unholy
so that, as the writer of Hebrews says, we may share in God's holiness. Prayer is a means by which we
are sanctified. Coming to the Lord's table is
a means by which we are sanctified. Corporate worship is a means
by which we are sanctified. There are multiple means, but
what is primary is what Jesus prays here. sanctify them by
the Word." And you can look at it on your own, but the Word
is prominent through this entire prayer. Verse 6, verse 8, verse
12, verse 13, verse 14, verse 19, verse 20, they all speak
of the ministry of the Word of God. There is this golden thread
that is woven through this prayer as Jesus majors on majors. And what is primary? The ministry
of the Word of God in our lives. You see, the Word of God is like
a sharp two-edged sword that pierces the division of soul
and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to judge
the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature
hidden from His sight, for all things are open and laid bare
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. It is the ministry
of the Word of God to fillet us, to open us up. and reveal
what's down in the heart and down in the soul. And then James
1 says the Word of God is like a mirror. We look into a mirror
and we see ourselves for what we truly are. We see our own
spiritual condition, and we see the impurities within us. And
then the Word of God is like a pruning knife in John 15, verse
3, that cuts and removes things from our lives that are unholy. And then the Word of God is like
water that washes away what is unholy. It's like a lamp that
guides us onto the path of holiness. It is like milk that produces
spiritual growth unto holiness. It is like meat that builds up
our spiritual muscles and makes us holy. Psalm 119 verses 9 and
11. How can a young man keep his
way pure? How can an old man keep his way
pure? How can a young woman keep her
way pure? How will an old widow woman keep
her way pure? By keeping it according to Your
Word. Your Word I have hidden in my
heart, that I might not sin against You. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness. My time is gone. I feel your pain. I feel your pain. On October
the 2nd, 1840, a 27-year-old Scottish pastor named Robert
Murray McShane in Dundee, Scotland wrote a letter to a fellow minister
on the European continent, and this is what he wrote, "'Do not
forget the culture of the inner man, I mean of the heart. How
diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every stain he rubs off with
the greatest care. Remember, McShane writes, you
are God's sword, His instrument. I trust a chosen instrument unto
Him to bear His name. and great measure, according
to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will it be
successful? It is not great talents, God
blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus." Let me read that again. It is not great talents, God
blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus, and now the knockout
punch. A holy minister, and we could
say a holy believer, is an awful weapon in the hands of a holy
God. You need to keep your sword clean
and sharp and pure, regardless of what your IQ is. Regardless
of how many degrees you have after your name, God chooses
to work through holy vessels. Sanctify them in the truth. Your Word is truth. Let us pray. Father, for those of us in this
room, this moment, who find ourselves regenerated, born again, You have set us apart from the
world. We're no longer of the world. We're in the world, but
we're not of the world. Father, would You stimulate our personal
advancement in godliness and holiness? As we are at this conference
and studying Your holiness, we're not dissecting a frog in
a laboratory as we would examine intellectually who You are. Lord,
experientially make us like You. As we look upon Your holiness,
may it have a cleansing and conforming effect upon our own lives, knowing
that without the pursuit of holiness, no one will see the Lord. Thank
you for your saving grace that you have made us positionally
holy. We now need your sanctifying
grace, your preserving grace to usher us along yet even more,
because none of us in this room have arrived None of us in this
room have even come close to arriving. May Your holiness be
produced more and more in us. In Jesus' name, amen.