MARKS OF THE CHURCH:  TRUTH

JOHN 17:17-19

MAY 18, 1997

 

Sanctification.  Some would say that it is just another theological term with little importance to real life.  Others would suggest that it is a secondary experience in the Christian life that is somewhat optional though beneficial.  Still others have the idea that it is part of some mysterious aspect of the Christian life.  What is sanctification all about?  Is it important for us to understand its meaning and dimensions?  Does sanctification affect us in the nitty-gritty of life?

 

The heart of this section of our Lord's high priestly prayer involves our sanctification.  Each mark of the church describes an aspect of sanctification.  Here we see the joining of sanctification and truth.  The whole issue of truth is shown to be much more than affecting mental apprehension.  Truth is stated as the great means of sanctification.  

 

We have been studying how Jesus Christ prayed for us.  In His prayer we find the whole of the Christian life capsuled.  We find that Jesus glorified the Father in His death and resurrection, so that those at enmity with God might be brought into a living, dynamic relationship with Him.  It was on the basis of the work of Christ, not the work of the sinner, that this new relationship has been forged.  The Godhead took the initiative in giving eternal life to those for whom Christ died.  Every believer is now assured that he is kept by the power of God, for Jesus loses none of those  whom He redeems.  In light of this, the redeemed of the Lord are to live distinctly as God's children in this world.  There are particular marks that identify the redeemed or which will characterize their lives.  These marks, in effect, are the evidences of sanctification:  joy, holiness, truth, mission, unity, hope, and love.

 

When I was much younger, I used to hear people talk about an experience of sanctification, as though it was similar to the experience of being saved.  These people separated the act of being saved from a later act of being sanctified.  In their minds, many years could pass the beginning of a person's Christian life before he was sanctified.  Then some never quite made it to the experience of sanctification.  Quite a few of those who held this view equated sanctification with perfection.  If you were sanctified then you had been made perfect.  These are some of the misconceptions about sanctification.  One of Satan's shrewdest devices is to bring confusion to a vital truth so that many will fail to investigate it due to their fear of confusion.  Let's seek to shatter the confusion about sanctification in our study of God's Word today.

 

Every believer is being sanctified. Sanctification should never be thought of as an experience reserved for the few, but the state and progression of the whole body of Christ.  It is not perfection but the process begun at regeneration and justification that carries us to the day of perfection in glorification.  If you are not being sanctified it is because you have never been born of God.  But if you are born of God, you can be assured that you are being sanctified.   Nothing is more important in relationship to our mission and purpose as a church than grasping this matter of our sanctification.

 

What is taking place in sanctification?  How do we cooperate in our sanctification?  How is truth related to sanctification?  Let's consider these questions as we study our text.

 

I.  The Meaning of Sanctification

 

Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth."  The word, sanctify, has its roots in the word "holy."  It is a common term throughout the New Testament and we also see its cognates used throughout the Old Testament as well.  In the Old Testament we find that certain things and certain people were 'sanctified' or 'holy to the Lord'.  The articles in the tabernacle were sanctified.  The sacrifices were sanctified.  And the priests were sanctified.  To describe a vessel as holy, then a man as holy using the same term, tells us something significant about this whole idea of sanctification.  

 

The word has two basic meanings, both of which are implied in our text.  First, it means a 'separation from common use' or a 'separation from the unholy'.  This carries the idea of an item or a person being withdrawn from use by the world or by the unconsecrated.  You may recall the incident of Belshazzar of Babylon using the gold and silver vessels from the temple for his drunken party.  He used that which was holy for an unholy purpose, that of praising other gods.  Judgment struck him immediately as he, an unholy man, dared to use that which was holy for a profane purpose.

 

The second meaning is more positive.  To be sanctified or to be holy is 'to set apart unto the Lord'.  That which is holy is not just withdrawn from profane use, but it is used distinctly for the Lord.  It has a purpose which is to glorify God alone.  Thus the high priest had inscribed on his headress a gold plate with the words, "Holy to the Lord."  It was a constant reminder that this man was to be involved in holy duties, that all his hands touched and all his acts were to bring glory to the Lord.  It reminded him of how he was to live, act, and think each day, as one set apart to the Lord.

 

Now think of these two basic meanings as our Lord prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth."  He prayed for our separation from the world and our being set apart unto the Lord for His glory.  That is really the whole of the Christian life in a few words.  We have been delivered from the world and the devil, having been separated from them through the death of Christ.  We have also been set apart to belong wholly to the Lord, so that you and I can say, "I am His; and He is mine."  Let's consider how sanctification is related to the most important aspects of the Christian faith.

 

1.  Its relation to justification

 

We know that there is a difference between the definition of justification and the definition of sanctification.  Yet both of these terms are intricately interwoven.  As far as distinctions, justification is a legal term.  It has to do with the whole matter of the righteousness of God.  We need to be justified or declared legally righteous because we have no righteousness to commend ourselves to God nor to satisfy the demands of His justice.  Just as Adam's sin was imputed to us, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us who are redeemed.  His righteousness in fulfilling the Law becomes our righteousness, so that in God's eyes we have fulfilled His Law (the active righteousness of Christ).  His righteousness on the cross in satisfying God's just demand of wrath toward sinners was substitutionary, so that the divine wrath has been assuaged through Jesus Christ on our behalf (the passive righteousness of Christ).  Now, through Christ, we are declared righteous before God as if we are as righteous as His Son.  

 

Now the question we must ask is whether or not Jesus Christ justified us only to forgive our sins?  Many people have that concept of the saving work of Christ.  They breathe a sigh of relief that they are forgiven then go right on in their sinning without regard to a relationship to Christ.  Indeed, He does forgive our sins through the shedding of His blood but more than that, He brings us who were at enmity with God into a relationship as sons and daughters of God.  John tells us that not only did Jesus come to forgive but "He appeared in order to take away sins" (I John 3:5).  We are adopted into God's family, now part of His eternal kingdom.  We are in a new relationship to the Godhead.  We are to live wholly unto the glory of God.  We have been saved for His glory and we are to live in such a way that we bring continual glory to his name and the wonder of His grace.  Our whole relationship to sin and this world has been changed.  We cannot live the same way we have always lived.  Sanctification assures us of this.  How can this happen?

 

This is where sanctification is interwoven in a marvelous connection with justification.  Let me simplify this.  While justification deals with our legal standing with God, sanctification addresses our relationship and enjoyment of God.  While justification declares us righteous, sanctification makes us holy.  Justification is instantaneous, while sanctification is ongoing or progressive.  While justification involves an imputed righteousness, sanctification involves an imparted holiness.  In justification we are made to stand.  In sanctification we are made to walk.  Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin and its guilt.  Sanctification delivers us from the power of sin and its pollution.

 

You actually cannot separate these two works of God.  We are sanctified or set apart by the Lord so that the work of Christ might be applied to us.  We are justified so that we might go on in holiness before the Lord.  Paul expresses this in I Corinthians 6:9-11.  He describes the type of sinners that were common in Corinth and states, "And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."  Notice that in this case he mentions sanctification before justification.  Peter does the same thing in his first epistle.  He writes to those "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood" (I Peter 1:1-2).  Again, note the order he gives and the clarifying word that we are sanctified, "that you may obey Jesus Christ,"  which shows a distinct reason for the sanctifying work.

 

There are other occasions where you see this order reversed.  "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness [equivalent to justification in this sense] and sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:30).  The same order is seen in Titus 3:4-8, when Paul speaks of being justified by His grace, then adds, "so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds," to point to the practice of sanctification.  Much damage has been done in evangelical circles by those who press too hard at separating these two works.  You cannot have one without the other is really the emphasis in the epistles.  That flies in the face of those who say you can be justified but then, perhaps, you decide to be sanctified or wholly dedicated to the Lord later.  That is not biblical Christianity!  This really pulls the rug out from under any argument the so-called non-lordship proponents of salvation make.  For when justification occurs you can be sure that sanctification is at work as well!

 

The meanings of these two terms are distinct, but their actual work is vitally connected.  In justification you have the work of Christ alone on behalf of the sinner.  In sanctification you have the work of the Holy Spirit applied to the believer so that it affects his whole attitude, behavior, and practice.  The believer becomes involved in his sanctification by his practice of the Christian life, but only because he has been justified through the righteousness of Christ on his behalf and only because the Holy Spirit is sanctifying him in his inner being.

 

2.  Its relation to the whole Christian life

 

Keep in mind the context of our text.  Jesus has just pointed out that the disciples do not belong to the world just as He Himself does not belong to it.  He asks the Father not to "take them out of the world, but to to keep them from the evil one."  Now He prays, "Sanctify them in the truth."  Sanctification is chiefly concerned with how we can live like Christians while still remaining in the midst of a sinful, rebellious world.  This is where you begin to see the glory of God manifest in His people.  He did not save us just so that we can one day go to heaven.  He saved us that He might conform us to the image of His Son and that He might manifest His Son through each of us.

 

We know that in justification our standing before God is now right, but we also know that we still have sin in our lives.  We are not perfect in our practice.  Our position is fine, but our practice may be weak.  Though we have a renewed nature through regeneration, we still fight the battle of the patterns and habits of the past.  Our minds have the traces of the old man.  We battle with the flesh and its gravitation toward sin.  But there is something radically different about us.  Something within our minds and hearts has been so powerfully affected that our attitude toward sin is different.  Our desire for the things of God and the glory of God is entirely different.  That is because we have been sanctified and we are being sanctified...

 

We have a position of sanctification or holiness before the Lord.  That is inherent in your salvation.  You belong to the Lord.  He set you apart for Himself.  That's why you are called "saints" in the New Testament.  Even at Corinth, where their practice had not caught up with their position, believers were called saints (I Corinthians 1:2).  You are His sheep for whom Christ laid down His life.  Now, by the constant work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, you are being brought more and more into the practice of holiness in your daily walk.

 

This obviously has both negative and positive characteristics.  It is unfortunate that most people view holiness or sanctification only in terms of the negative, i.e., what you are not doing.  It does involve this.  You do refrain from the practice of sin.  You do "flee youthful lusts," "abstain from the very appearance of evil," "walk circumspectly," "abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul" (cf. II Tim. 2:22; I Thes. 5:22; Eph. 5:15; I Pet. 2:11).  We must not hesitate to look at our lives and ask some hard questions.  Am I engaging in habitual sin?  Do I keep giving myself to areas of sin?  Do I go places or engage in certain behavior that always leads me into sin?  Then from a negative perspective, I must stop!  I must draw the line on my behavior and practices for the sake of the Lord.  I must say no to sin.

 

Christian living involves examination.  We must not take for granted that we are always doing everything right before God.  We must not compare ourselves to one another, but to our Example, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We need to pray with the psalmist, "Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me.  Then lead me in the everlasting way" (Psalm 139:23-24).  Do you take the time to examine yourself in light of God's Word and His standards?  My brethren, one reason we make so little impact on this world is because too much of the world is in us.  The world sees too little of Christ in our lives.

 

But sanctification has a positive aspect as well.  When our Lord prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth," He was not just praying about our having the strength to turn away from sin.  He was also praying that we might be enabled by the work of the Spirit and application of the Truth to be strong in the Lord, grow in the Lord, serve the Lord, delight in the Lord, glorify the Lord, et.al.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones expressed it clearly.  "...our main concern should be not so much to limit the power of evil, as to increase the power of godliness" [Sanctified Through the Truth, 18].  He goes on to offer an illustration that I believe will be helpful in understanding what our Lord was praying for us who remain in the world.

The gospel is not primarily concerned to remove the sores of infection, or to put us out of the danger of infection; what the gospel does is to build up our resistance to infection to such a point that it renders us immune to it.  The church is not concerned with trying to destroy the infection.  Until our Lord returns again the infection will be there; until Satan is cast into the lake burning with fire, the infection will continue.  You cannot stop it....The Christian is not primarily concerned about that.  The business of the Christian and the church and the gospel is to see that you and I take so much of the pure milk of the word and the strong meat of the word that our resistance is built up to such an extent that we can, as it were, stay in a house of infectious disease, and be absolutely immune.  The germs are there, yes, but we are filled with these anti-bodies that destroy them the moment they attack us [18].


The world is always going to act like the world.  But what we must make sure of as believers is that we do not act like the world.  We are in the world but we are not to be of the world (v. 16).  The work of sanctification continually purges the things of the world from us and continually applies the life of Christ to us.  Consequently, you should be growing in your hatred of sin and your love of godliness.  Brethren, we must not be negligent in this holy pursuit!

 

3.  Its relation to eternity

 

We must also keep in mind that the Lord was preparing the disciples to be with Him for eternity.  They would tread upon the earth a few more years then move on into the glories of perfection before Him, beholding Christ in all of His resplendent glory (v. 24).  His prayer, "Sanctify them in the truth," prepares believers for eternity.

 

I am amazed at the number of people who have no delight in worship, no interest in prayer, no love for the Word, and no enjoyment of the saints, yet they expect to be in heaven!  If they make it, they will be miserable folks!  You can be assured that those who will one day be in heaven are being fitted with heaven in their hearts in this life.  That is the work of sanctification.  We are being introduced to the eternal delights of holiness, purity, joy, love, and unity which will be our constant experience in heaven.  If you have no interest in these things it is because you have never known Christ savingly.  You must awaken to this reality and seek Christ for His saving mercy!

 

I believe we would all agree that heaven is the place of an open, liberated relationship to God.  There will be no encumbrances internally or externally.  We will "see Him as He is."  We will commune with Him and serve Him with perfect motivation and ability.  Does Christ save us, then put us into a holding pattern until we get to heaven?  Certainly not!  He saves us then begins to put the joys and delights of eternity in our hearts so that we will be prepared for heaven.

 

That's why Paul could pray for the Ephesian believers, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him....that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe" (Ephesians 1:17-19).  There's no casual Christianity in that prayer.  It is an unfolding of the glories of knowing Christ, the same kind of glories that will be ours without measure in heaven.  Sanctification gets us ready for heaven.

 

We also are directed through the work of sanctification to live as citizens of another kingdom.   Jesus' praying was for His disciples to live clearly as believers in the midst of an unbelieving world.  "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," so they were to live like it.  Along that same idea, Paul tells us that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20), and then goes on in that same epistle of Philippians and essentially says, 'so live like it'.  That is what is happening in sanctification.  We are being so separated from the world and set apart unto the Lord that we live as those who belong to a heavenly realm, a kingdom that never ends.  

 

Now please understand, I am not suggesting that we act as though we do not care about this world.  On the contrary, we will have a greater care for the people in this world if we live as though our citizenship is in heaven.  Remember, our salvation began in heaven before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  Our desire is to see others with us in heaven before the throne of God!  Nor am I suggesting that we live like a bunch of odd-balls who cannot carry on a normal conversation nor function in society.  That's the realm of monasticism, not biblical Christianity.  This was brought home to me quite vividly during our mission trip to Kiev, Ukraine last year.  We visited the catacombs or underground tombs that were located under a Russian Orthodox Church complex.  Someone pointed to a small door, perhaps three-and-one-half feet tall, with a little curtain covering its window, to say that an old monk stayed there.  He had nothing to do with the world.  He lived in the darkness of the catacombs, hiding behind that door but doing no good to the world outside.  That is a far-cry from the kind of Christianity we are exhorted to live!  Our Lord plants His kingdom-people right in the middle of the kingdom of darkness so that our lives and lips might declare the radiant light of the gospel and serve as a testimony of the glory of God's grace.

 

In sanctification, God "is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  He is doing that in this world, right in the midst of all the activities of life.  He so affects our desires that we seek to labor for His glory in the Christian life.  We will seek to know Him because He gives us such a desire.  We will seek to obey Him because He has planted that desire in us in the new nature.  We will seek to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ in all our behavior because He gives us a satisfaction with nothing less than being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

 

Conclusion of part I

 

Here is the amazing thing.  The same God who justified us is still working every moment in our lives to sanctify us in all our thoughts, behavior, speech, and deeds.  While justification was His solitary work with no contribution from us, sanctification is a different issue.  Yes, He sanctifies us, but He uses our study of the Word, our meditation upon the Word, our examination of ourselves in light of the Word, and our application of the truth of the Word to our daily lives to progress us in our sanctification.  There is no room for laziness or undiscipline when it comes to our sanctification.  

 

We will look next week, Lord willing, at the certainty of sanctification due to the prayer of Christ for us and His provision which He speaks of in verse 19.  Then we will consider the means of sanctification that our Lord prays about, "Sanctify them in the truth."  We will look at this truth and seek to understand what Christ meant by that prayer.

 

In the meanwhile, let's give thought to our sanctification.  Are you making progress in your sanctification?  Is there evidence that you are being sanctified?  Remember, that is the evidence of a true Christian.  Are you living like you belong to another kingdom, the kingdom of our Lord?  Do you live with the consciousness that your citizenship is in heaven?    We are not interested in nominal or typical Christianity.  Our desire is that we might live as those who have put on Jesus Christ and made no provision for the flesh (Romans 13:14).  Let's set our hearts on such a walk with Christ.

 

Part II (5/25/97)

 

II. The Certainty of Sanctification

 

            1.  Prayer of Christ

 

            2.  Provision of Christ

 

III. The Means of Sanctification

 

            1.  Within the realm of truth

 

            2.  Through the revelation of truth

 

            3.  By the application of truth

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