They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (iii) Sanctify them through thy truth (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord may help, I will again direct your attention to the Gospel according to John, the 17th chapter and the 17th verse.

[0:11] The Gospel according to John, the 17th chapter and the 17th verse. Sanctify them through thy truth.

[0:24] Thy word is truth. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. We have already noticed in looking at this subject of the great care of the Holy Ghost to teach the people of God those things that shall show them that they are a separated people unto God.

[1:02] And that separation is a separation within by the teaching of the Spirit of God.

[1:13] And the teaching is of those things about which the world knows nothing and cannot know anything because they are spiritually discerned.

[1:23] Sanctify them through thy truth. Sanctify them through thy word. This prayer of our Lord sets before us the deep love that he had to his church.

[1:41] And maybe at times we could look upon that death as being the topmost stone, so to speak, the acme of his love expressed.

[2:02] Christ. But when you look at this 17th chapter of John and this wonderful prayer, you can also see and feel, if your eyes are opened and mine too, the deep love that the Lord Jesus had in his heart and in his heart was opened and in his heart was opened and in his heart was opened and in his heart throughout all ages.

[2:29] And therefore, it is because of this love that he expresses this holy desire, sanctify them through thy truth.

[2:40] This is a great mark, a distinctive mark, for the people of God to search after.

[2:52] Are we sanctified by the Spirit of God in answer to this prayer through the truth of God?

[3:02] How do we feel when sometimes we may dwell upon the resurrection, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ?

[3:20] And then, how do we feel when we think upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? There is, indeed, a reception in the natural mind which is entirely carnal and never brings forth any worship to God.

[3:43] But there is also a spiritual revelation when that is given.

[3:53] It produces holiness in the soul and a separation from everything else.

[4:05] Never to be forgotten are those moments rich in blessing when before the cross we stand.

[4:16] Such moments are precious because they are not everyday experiences. But this is one means by which we shall know the meaning of this word, sanctify them through thy truth.

[4:39] However much the power of the enemy and the strength of the carnal mind and the attractions of the world might have done all they can, separately or together, to gather us up with them.

[5:03] Yet, let the Spirit of God sanctify us through the truth. When we look at Christ, when we think upon his crucifixion and also upon his resurrection, and our very soul will truly feel to be upon holy ground and we shall be separated from all those that oppose.

[5:39] And this is separation of the right kind. We may have many suggestions from all sorts of quarters which are entirely legal and are contained in thou shalt and thou shalt not.

[6:02] But the sanctification of the Spirit through thy truth will not ask you in these terms, thou shalt not and thou shalt because the feeling of the love of Christ in the power of the beauty of holiness now felt in the soul will give you but one desire and that is to listen to what Christ says.

[6:43] Will it be any hardship to you when the love of Christ is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost to listen to what the Lord will say and hope to follow that?

[7:01] This is a rare religion but it is a right religion and blessed are those people who are favoured to know just a little of the effect of the work of God in the soul as the Father sends forth his Spirit in answer to this prayer of his Son Jesus Christ sanctify them through thy truth.

[7:35] The chapter that we read is a wonderful chapter and how it sets forth what we read a little farther down in this 17th chapter of John and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

[8:03] Now the spiritual mind the sanctified mind looking upon Jesus reading this 19th chapter of John will be moved in those times of favour and be moved to such an extent that it will absorb them and they will want nothing else and it will be a sad moment when as it were the power of the spirit seems to withdraw from them and thus we may view Christ and the blessedness of dwelling with him and if we are with him in his sufferings we shall certainly be with him in his exaltation and in his exaltation we may go along with the poet when he says heaven is that holy happy place where sin no more defiles where

[9:17] Jesus shows his lovely face and looks and loves and smiles and therefore since the Lord gives earnest of heaven in the soul may be in our in an answer to this prayer in some of our cases we have been sanctified by the teaching of the spirit through the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ when he looked and his look was that of love and how transcendently joyous is that experience of being raised above this present earthly sea to dwell with Christ we may not be able to speak of being caught up to the third heaven as

[10:25] Paul was but we may be able to speak of being caught up and what I say I speak from my personal experience and I can assure you that it is a great blessing an overwhelming blessing and something to be cherished something which can never be forgotten something which when we think upon it will cause us to marvel at the glory of God manifested in Christ sanctify them through thy truth a blessing it is when the cross of Christ is made precious to us when the power of the resurrection is felt in our hearts so it is much more than the wonderful work of

[11:28] God in raising Jesus Christ from the dead physically that was a wonderful work but to have that work come into your soul in such a way that you're completely sanctified that your whole soul is made holy that you're completely separated from the world outside indeed such moments are precious even if such moments are rare and such moments are truly blessed sanctify them through thy truth we lead on from there to consider the finished work of Christ there is nothing left for other people of God to do in respect to their redemption they need to believe but those that are sanctified are believers and they believe because they are sanctified through the truth the truth is set before them brought into their soul with a holy environment which at least for that time will separate them from everything else and everybody else but

[13:01] Christ it is finished is perhaps the most wonderful and soul satisfying and we may perhaps say soul reviving statement in the whole of the scriptures where would you have been and where should I have been if those words had been absent from the scriptures what an opportunity would Satan have had to have suggested ah but Christ did his work he did as much as he could but it wasn't finished Satan could never say that because almighty God sighed human breath the Lord of life experienced death and when that was accomplished the work that his father came to do was finished his father gave him to do was finished and this will be a time of gracious experience an answer to the

[14:19] Lord's prayer here sanctify them through thy truth you see that is when the truth is brought into our soul and makes us feel what holiness is makes us feel what separation to Christ is it is finished hell great and glorious is this work that is finished by Christ and Christ alone in finishing his work and his work was a work of holiness he was completely victorious he overcame the power of sin the power of the devil the power of the grave he overcame every power and brought forth judgment under victory and as the spirit of God may lead us in accordance with this word sanctify them through thy truth it is finished will be a complete answer to all the accusations and temptations of your adversary of the devil what temptations have any of you had today are you afraid that when you come to the end of your journey that there will be a lack there will be no lack if your hope is in

[16:03] Christ Jesus because your hope is a good one and reposes in the work of Christ his finished work his acceptable work when the Lord Jesus spoke those words it was a word to all it was spoken declaration heard by his father received by his father heard by some that stood around and heard throughout the subsequent generations through the record that is made in the scriptures of truth now many times have we read these words and that will be conspicuous that time when this glorious truth of the

[17:07] Lord's finished work is made special so that it makes you feel the blessedness of holiness and you're no longer poor I can't be poor if Christ be mine and that revelation of truth will be a blessing which can never be counterfeited and it will be a blessing of so much richness that your whole soul will be taken up by it sanctify them through thy truth when the Lord died upon Calvary there were those disciples as you well know that were greatly disturbed by the event his disciples had forsaken him and fled but it does appear from what we read that there were some that stood by the cross when the

[18:28] Lord Jesus was upon it but there were those that were dispirited there were those that feared they were deceived there were those that were cast down there were those that were confused there were those that perhaps having felt the blessedness of that personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ had now come into a place where everything seemed to be wrong sanctify them through thy truth then it was that the Lord appeared unto those two on the road to Emmaus and here they were sanctified through this through the truth confused as they were troubled as they were yet the

[19:38] Lord Jesus began to speak to them and the whole atmosphere became holy and the whole atmosphere created a separation from everything else we read that Jesus went with them and as he went with them he asked the question and then answered it ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into his glory beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself and father in the chapter we read of their own testimony did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures and this prayer of

[20:42] Jesus sanctify them through thy truth was being wonderfully demonstrated maybe you thought of the wonder of that occasion when the Lord spoke and opened to them the scriptures in such a clear way but have you thought of the holiness of that situation and the separation of that situation situation and the cleaving to Christ which that situation brought forth and then what can we say about ourselves have we been dispirited have we been in affliction have we been in sorrow have we been in distress have we feared that we've been completely deceived and that our hope is perish from the Lord when suddenly suddenly maybe unexpectedly the light shines into our prison upon our bed the glory of the

[21:56] Lord is revealed the preciousness of his sufferings are shown forth and furthermore the personal witness is given that Christ is risen from the dead now it was not a matter of discussion how differently do we read of the appearing of Jesus Christ to these two disciples from what would have been the case if he had been a man there was no handshaking there was no question of warm welcoming on an earthly standard or plain but as he took bread and blessed it so they knew him and he vanished out of their sight nothing fleshly was allowed to invalidate this glorious scene nothing fleshly and is it not so have you found it so in your experience when

[23:20] God has performed this word sanctify them through thy truth that when Jesus was revealed oh so soon he vanished out of your sight but the mark was left and the truth was embedded in the soul and the remembrance did not our heart burn within us was not quickly forgotten sanctify them through thy truth if we take this one step further God sanctifies his people through the truth in connection with his ascension into glory and his intercession if we are sinners there will certainly be days perhaps some days more than others in our feelings when we need an intercessor now it's not always what we have done or what we have not done as far as other people can see but it is what we have felt or what we have not felt in respect to our love to Jesus

[24:56] Christ and that has seemed to create a barrier so that we have said how shall I approach unto the most high and then the Lord sanctifies his people through the truth that there is an intercessor that there is one who has shed his blood and can bring you nigh you nigh to him and him nigh to you and this will be a place of holiness and a place of separation in the soul separated unto Christ through the truth the truth that there is one in heaven that can take up your case can take up mine it is a blessed truth to know that the

[26:06] Lord has ascended upon high the psalmist goes on to say this having led captivity captive and received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them now if those few words for the rebellious also should seem to pick us out and as it were separate us entirely alone then it is a truth which will sanctify the people of God as their faith looks to one who when he ascended up on high he received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also and the purpose of this is that the

[27:07] Lord God might dwell among them we refer back to the Old Testament scriptures which you'll find again and again the Lord saying that they were a stiff necked people that they were filled with rebellion that they were unwilling to be obedient to the Lord's commandments repentance but then there were some that believed there were some that repented even though there were some that obviously were hardened in their spirit still and those that repented repented because of the goodness of God shown to them in sanctifying them through the truth that there was one who lived and the sacrifices which were presented set before their view before their faith one that lived now those things speak to us in the present day their faith may not have been so clear yet their faith was directed to the same spot as ours is today they looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed what a holy place what a separated place is that when we look unto him

[28:52] I looked for hell he gave me heaven and their faces were not ashamed because our risen Christ our ascended saviour received gifts for me a righteousness that could be given to them salvation and atonement which could always be applied by the spirit of God to blot out their sins now this matter of blotting out our sins is not a matter to be lightly regarded it will be again sanctifying them through thy truth when we have some understanding of the spiritual meaning of sins being blotted out blotted out by the shed blood of Christ and you know the word of God always uses the right words and blotted out is a very strong expression it means that search as you may you will never be able to find a trace of those sins it will be a holy place a place of worship a place of separation where

[30:43] God sanctifies you through the truth and that truth has the effect of enabling you to believe the spirit of God gives you the faith of Jesus Christ to believe that this is very true my sins are blotted out oh what a work of God is set before us here what a truth of God is made known to the children of God not just in the letter but in reality now these things are in God's hand these blessings come to the people of God in his time you cannot hurry them you cannot work yourself into a situation where they will come because we always have to remember and this is another point whereby the people of God are sanctified through the truth of

[31:43] God that all things are by grace by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is by the grace of God now grace speaks to us grace of the wonderful mercy of God have you thought about the mercy of God have you experienced the mercy of God have you worshipped God because of the mercy of God so that your very soul has been upon holy ground and you felt overwhelmed with the what the mercy of God means it is true that in one sense the mercy of God is shown to all but in a very special sense it is known in the hearts of the people of God and the poet expresses it very well when he says dissolved by thy mercy

[32:51] I sink to the ground and weep to the praise of the mercy I found and if you've been there you will know that this word is being worked out in your experience sanctify them through thy truth thy mercy my God is the theme of my song the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue what a sacred place we shall be in when that is the very feeling of our soul will it not cause us to feel that this is holy ground will it not separate us even from everybody else sometimes even from the godly themselves because it is a question of keeping holy day with god and god alone sanctify them through thy truth we may say that truth abides nowhere else but in god any other so called truth may be watered down it may be truth so far and yet when another aspect which has not been mentioned is taken into account what we have been told is not the truth it is truth so far it is not a lie in that sense but we haven't heard the whole matter now in the word of god we have not the truth so far but the truth in its completeness the truth in respect to our lost condition and also the truth in respect to the father's love the son's love and the love of the holy ghost now in the last part of this verse we read thy word is truth this will be fortified and enhanced in our view when we remember the opening words of this gospel of john in the beginning was the word capital w and the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with god all things were made by him without him was not anything made that wasn't made in him was life and the life was the light of man now when we look at this word this word thy word is truth we may look at it upon these two points it has life in it and it has light in it now has the word of god be made over to you in such a way that it has life in it and it has light in it we read

[36:29] I think it is in this gospel the words that I speak they are spirit and they are life and the words that Jesus spoke were always words of truth thy word is truth and everything that is spoken by god today will be according to this word of truth the scriptures of truth the holy bible if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them and how we need then to find the support for all our experiences in the word of god there are some experiences which can be traditional and have no foundation in the word of god we may hear of others may we say amongst the pentecostal movement who speak of experiences but they're not in the word of god the word of god has no such support for them they may say ah but there's so much life but not the life that is in the word of god such may say that they have light but not the light that is in the word of god well now what is the life and what is the light that is contained in thy word is truth well it is contained in this that the lord himself is the living god thy word is truth the living god and the people of god are a living people referred to as the living in

[38:49] Jerusalem we have the testimony of Hezekiah when he said the living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day why did he do that because of this first of all he had been sanctified through thy truth brought face to face with reality and in being brought face to face with reality he knew this to be also real thy word is truth now what god has said oh hell we may doubt it sometimes but eventually the people of god will prove that it is life and it comes with a very powerful application into the soul so that we have to say it was true i did not believe it i rejected it i refused to accept it but thy word is truth and now it has come into my soul as a lively word that god is holy and that god will not be played about with and that god will be feared and that god will be had in reverence of all them that are about him carnal natures are such so wicked so vile so rebellious as to rise up in open rebellion sometimes and say i will not but thy word is truth you can find a character in the scriptures that said i will not but then that word became a living word and that word became a word that was full of light and after a while the life began to move and after a while the light began to penetrate so that we re concerning that man afterwards he repented and went now that was because of the word of truth that was because he felt the living power of the word go work today in my vineyard and he felt the light in that word so that it moved him moved him to repentance moved him to sorrow of heart moved him to a willingness to follow the

[41:52] Lord Jesus and this therefore may be said to have its application in respect to all the commandments of God there is a tendency in us all to pick and choose and to say yes that commandment appeals to me I will follow it that commandment has no appeal I reject it how will you overcome that matter how will you be delivered from such a situation if you're God's child then you're included in the words of this verse sanctify them through thy truth the spirit of God brings your soul into a holy place into a separated place unto himself when he comes down in his great condescension in just the same way as he did in the days of

[43:00] Isaiah come now and let us reason together and though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow and though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool is it possible that suddenly there descends upon you a realization of the depth of your sin the evil of your sin the rebellion of your sin and we should not forget what the scriptures say and here is life when it comes into your soul by the spirit of God and here is light rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft now in a moment person may be struck down by just the application of that word from the scriptures which speaks in this way it's a lively word because it's a lively word it's a penetrating word and as it's a penetrating word so it brings light with it and the sinner will say

[44:26] I've sinned oh I've sinned how can my sin be put away then it is that this prayer of Jesus will be answered sanctified and through thy truth send thy spirit down to say now come now do not be distressed do not be overwhelmed there is yet a way whereby you can be saved even though your sin is so dreadful your rebellion is so deep and so great there is still a way whereby you can be saved so come now and let us reason together reason together now this is not argument this is not to be understood as a fleshly debate but it is to be understood as the spirit of God taking of the things of Jesus and showing them unto the needy sinner the sinner who said

[45:32] I've sinned against light and knowledge what shall I do now where shall I go oh will the flee to escape the justice due to me come unto me or ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest this is the truth of the gospel in simple terms you see sometimes we may be tempted by the devil to say well there's so much to be learned and you don't know anything well that penetrates because there is a sense of which is true certainly compared with what there is to be known well what we do know seems to be so small but you'll see this is the basic truth from which all other truth will gradually develop and be fully understood and enjoyed in glory itself when the soul says now what shall I do where shall I go and the word comes from heaven and what a sanctifying word it is what a holy spot it is and what a separating spot it is when you want nothing no one else but Christ come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest now in the presence of the

[47:06] Lord there is a sense of peace the Lord said my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid