| |
Book: John
 Print ( PC Only )
John 17:17
I. "Sanctify them in Thy truth, Thy word is truth."
A. Having prayed that they may be kept from the evil one, He now
prays that the Father might sanctify them in His truth.
1. The word sanctify is to hallow, or consecrate. It was
to set something apart for God.
a. All of the vessels used in the temple worship
were to be sanctified. i.e. they were not be
used for any other purpose than in the worship
of God. They were never to used for personal
purposes once sanctified to God.
b. The great blaspheme of Belshazzar was to take
the vessels that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzer
had taken from the temple that had been
sanctified and drink wine out of them as he
praised the gods of gold and silver.
2. The firstborn son was to be sanctified to God.
B. The Greek word translated sanctify comes from the root word
hagios which means holy. The idea is to be set apart.
1. He has declared that they are not of this world, now He
is praying that they might be set apart from this
world.
C. The means by which this was to be done was His truth.
1. How does the truth of God's word sanctify us?
a. It causes us to see the emptiness of the world,
and its inability to satisfy our deepest needs.
b. I see that the world has nothing to offer me
but misery and strife. The wisest and perhaps
the wealthiest man whoever lived, after
pursuing satisfaction and happiness in the
world, declared. "Emptiness, emptiness, all is
empty and frustrating."
2. I see through the word the blessings and fulfillment
the people found who consecrated their lives to God.
D. The Greek reads sanctify them in Thy truth rather than as
translated through Thy truth. The word is the element in which
we are being sanctified.
1. In the Old Testament the priests would wash themselves
in water as the agent of sanctification.
2. Also they were sanctified by the blood of the sacrifice
and the anointing oil.
3. God spoke of the tabernacle being sanctified by His
glory.
4. The water, the blood, the oil, the glory of God were
the agents in which they were sanctified.
5. The word of God is the agent in the New Testament
whereby we are set apart from the world. Washed in the
word.
E. We are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and God and our faith in
Jesus.
1. Jesus when He called Paul on the Damascus road told him
that He was sending him to the Gentiles to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light from the
power of Satan to God that they might receive the
forgiveness of sin and an inheritance unto them that
are sanctified by faith in Jesus.
2. Paul writing to the Romans speaks of being sanctified
by the Holy Ghost. 15:16
3. Jude writes to those who are sanctified by God the
Father.
II. "As You have sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into
the world."
A. God sent Jesus into the world that He might reveal the truth
of God to man.
1. We are sent into the world that we might reveal the
truth of God to man.
2. Jesus was sent to be a witness for God.
3. We are being sent that we might be witnesses of God.
4. Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost, so
are we to seek to save those who are lost.
5. Jesus was here as the light of the world, so are we to
be the light of the world.
6. Jesus received the Spirit who anointed Him, filled Him
and guided Him. So are we to be filled, anointed, and
guided by the Spirit.
7. He was ever about His Father's business, so are ever to
be about our Father's business.
B. He had prayed that they might be sanctified by the truth, then
He sent them into the world, but they were to be set apart from
the world into which they were sent.
C. In John's first epistle he declared, "As He is so are we in
this world."
D. To me it is glorious that He has given me His place of
acceptance on high, I am accepted in the beloved. And I have
His place of witness here on the earth.
III. "And for their sakes, I sanctify Myself."
A. Here is no doubt a reference to the cross, "I sanctify Myself."
As the lamb that was set apart for the sacrifice, so He was
setting Himself apart as a sacrifice unto God for the sins of
the world. In Hebrews 13:12 we read that Jesus also that He
might sanctify His own people with His blood, suffered without
the gate.
1. Note that it is for their sakes.
2. He suffered the death on the cross for our sakes.
3. It is through His merit that I can come to the Father.
4. I have nothing to offer to God.
a. It is blasphemous to offer to God the works of
my hands.
b. At best, the motives for my works are
questionable.
c. I do not even know the true motives of my
heart. My heart like yours is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked, who can know
it?
d. My nature is so basically selfish, that I do
not know nor can I discern the real motives for
my finest actions.
e. If I stop to help a little old lady across the
street, am I hoping someone will see me and
think what a fine person I am, or do I hope to
get some reward from her or from God for my
kind action?
5. Thus it is through His merit that He asks the Father to
sanctify them through the truth.
6. Whenever I come to God for anything, I never come to
God on the basis of my merit, but on the basis of the
merit of Jesus Christ who sanctified Himself for me.
|