John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. I. THE NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION — inasmuch as — 1. It forms part of salvation which is not merely deliverance from sin and its punishment, but deliverance from its power and dominion, to a resemblance of the Divine nature. 2. It is corresponding to the Divine character. There is no view of God more evident than that He is a God of holiness; that sin is that abominable thing which He bates. 3. God commands it. This is to be found in every part of the Divine record. 4. It evidences our faith and union to Christ. Faith without purity is vain. 5. It is for the advancement of God's glory and the interests of Christ's kingdom. It is not to be expected that anything but a holy Christian can be beneficial. 6. It is necessary for the peace of our minds. Without purity there can be no peace. 7. It qualifies us for the heavenly kingdom, We must be like God if we would enjoy a hereafter. II. SANCTIFICATION TO BE REAL MUST BE — 1. Universal. It must extend to the whole man, to the thoughts, words, and actions, to the affections and desires of the heart, and to the outward conduct. It is not for us to say, I am partly sanctified. The work of the Spirit of God is not confined to this part or that, but the whole man is brought into subjection to Christ. 2. Progressive. It proceeds from small beginnings to a great increase. It is just like a grain of mustard seed, scarcely perceptible at first, but it goes on till it becomes a great tree. It is thus that it operates on the heart and mind; upon the whole outward, as well as upon the whole inward man. III. SANCTIFICATION IS GOD'S WORK. We cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. It is His work, not merely at the commencement: the Great Artificer must be at the laying of the foundation stone; and not only so, but superintending and assisting to the close, from the first to the last, through all the intermediate steps, till we arrive at the fulness of the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus — till we be translated into the world of purity, where no sin is to be found. This is shown by God's Word, and the experience of the people of God. They know that their own efforts are fruitless and unavailing unless God be with them. IV. GOD SANCTIFIES BY THE TRUTH. The truth has a tendency to sanctify — 1. By the discoveries it makes to us. Where there is ignorance of Divine things there cannot be much purity. It reveals — (1) God's character in a way fitted to solemnize the mind. (2) The whole truth of our fallen and lost condition, and responsibility, and weakness, and guilt, and condemnation. (3) The all-sufficiency of Christ, and His finished salvation. (4) The Spirit — His sanctifying influences, and of the means of our being brought under their power. (5) That the pure in heart alone shall see God, and that without holiness no man shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Now no thinking being can ponder all this without feeling something of the influence that these truths are fitted to produce. 2. By the motives it presents to us. It appeals — (1) To our sense of right. (2) To our ambition for dignity. (3) To our fears. (4) To our hopes. (5) To our gratitude. (6) To our love. 3. By the examples it exhibits to us. It was customary with the ancient philosophers to have the walls of their schools adorned with the images of the illustrious in former times, that in contemplating them their disciples might be led to admire their originals, and be stimulated by their exertions and attainments, and led to transcribe the graces by which they were adorned into their own characters. And we have recorded in the pages of inspiration the lives of several of God's people for the same reason.Conclusion: 1. Are we using this word for the purpose of sanctification? 2. What degree of sanctification do you possess? (T. Brown, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. |
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