 The title of our sermon this morning is set apart for safekeeping set apart for safekeeping and we are in part two So we're working through this text in John chapter 17 verses 11 through 19 as we come this morning specifically to verse 14 in this paragraph We are now as the Lord is praying considering the Lord's second petition That the people of God the disciples here specifically but all of those that would believe in Christ through their word That they would be sanctified. He prays in verse 17 sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth as we consider this issue of sanctification and the Lord's prayer here We consider that the church is called to be separate From the world and I was reminded of a quote in thinking through this It was an anonymous quote somebody once said that I came looking for the church in the world And what I found was the world in the church We can say that that's true today, isn't it? We see that tragedy all over The world not just our country but all over the world Went looking for the church in the world and what I found was the world in the church You can go place to place to place in our day and age and never find the church in the world The professing church in the world, but what are genuine disciples doing? They're out witnessing for christ They're sharing the gospel. They're witnesses for christ. They're living holy lives. They're a good example on the job a good example in their schools We are to be separate from the world Not of the world and yet you and I are still in the world and we're in the world for a purpose for a mission We're going to talk about that today. He says of the church the Lord says of the church In first peter chapter 2 verse 9 you are a chosen generation A royal priesthood a holy nation His own special people right Sanctified to himself called out of the world to himself You and I are his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness Into his marvelous light Paul says in first chrithians chapter 6 verse 9 and following He says do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals Nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners None of them will inherit the kingdom of god and he says to you and I if you're in christ Such were Some of you but you were washed You were Sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of our god That's just not speaking of the church as this nebulous group of Indistinguishable members speaking of you and I as members of the church individual believers specific believers We are to be set apart to god. We're to be set apart to god in holiness We're to be set apart to god in our thought in our thinking in our In our lives and the way that we live we're to be set apart to god in our heart We're to be set apart to god in holiness. We're to be set apart to god in mission in purpose We're to be set apart to god to one another. We have responsibilities to one another We are set apart to god within the church. We're to be set apart from to god from from the world. This is the responsibility of each member of the church, each individual disciple, each individual Christian. This is the will of God for you, your sanctification. As the Bible says, you've been separated. Now we are to separate ourselves and we pursue that separation by His truth. So now as we come to John chapter 17, again the setting, right? We're going to dig into these subjects today and talk about them more in detail through the Lord's prayer here in John chapter 17. As the Lord walks along together with His disciples, both the tragedy and the triumph of the cross are imminently before Him, right? He's walking in the shadow of the cross. He knows what lies immediately ahead. He'll soon spend some heart-wrenching time in prayer right in the Garden of Gethsemane pouring out His heart to God about that. He knows that the agony He faces is a painful part of the path that He takes to glorify the Father and redeem to Himself His bride and for the restoration of the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. With the thought of that grand purpose in mind, right? The ultimate result of that in mind. He prays in John chapter 17 verse 1, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You. Now His focus then quickly shifts to these 11 men, His disciples, that He loves and He's about to leave. In verses 6 through 10, He narrows the scope of His prayer to His disciples. Now in verse 20 though, He says that this is also a prayer for all those that would believe in Him through their word, through the word of these disciples, and so He has in mind also all those through the centuries that would come to believe in Christ through the word of His apostles through His disciples. This group is a special group. They were chosen in eternity past out of the world as a love gift from the Father to the Son, and the Son prays for this group now. He says, I'm not praying for the world, but I'm praying specifically for those you have given me out of the world. As the Lord prays now in John chapter 17, we get to listen in, so to speak, as He comes to verse 11, and He makes the first of two petitions to God the Father for them. In verse 11, the Lord prays, now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given me that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost except the Son of perdition, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. And we're told in Scripture, aren't we, that we're to cast our cares upon God because God cares for us? That's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing right here in John chapter 17. He knows that the Father cares for Him. He knows that God the Father cares for His own. Those whom He has given the Son out of the world from eternity past. And so now the Son prays, casting His care for them in the lap of the Father. He's about to leave them. And this is a hostile world, right? This is a hateful world. And the Lord Jesus Christ is about to leave them, depart from them. And the same mission that will end His life will end their lives. So the Lord prays for them, Father, keep them, protect them, stand guard over them, right? Preserve them in the faith as they labor in the gospel and preserve them to the end they might be saved. They're not going to make it in their own strength. They won't make it in their own power. They're not going to make it according to their own wisdom. They can't preserve themselves, right? You and I can't preserve ourselves. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. And so He prays to God the Father, I commit them into your care, right? Again, I lay them in your lap, Father. Keep them through your name, through your power. So now as we come to John chapter 17 verse 14, the second of these two petitions, these two prayer requests in this section of John 17, the second of these two petitions comes into the Lord's focus, into the Lord's concern here. And He says in verse 14, He says, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they're not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. So second point on your notes now, we are as His people. If you're in Christ, you are as one of those who is chosen out of the world from eternity past, you are sanctified by His truth. We, His people, are sanctified by His truth. His church, His bride is sanctified by His truth. This is the Lord's second petition for His disciples. But as we work through the text, you'll see how closely this second petition, sanctify them by your truth, we'll see how closely related that petition is to His first petition, keep them through your name. If you look at verse 15, verse 15, that keeping doesn't involve taking them out of the world. It doesn't involve putting them in a protective bubble, sequestering them off from the world. There are no monasteries or convents in scripture, right? This is not sequestering them off from the world. This is leaving them in the world. And so the keeping of God's people then, that keeping takes place in the context of the world. This sanctification that He's praying for takes place in the context of the world. And all of that, that keeping, involves God sanctifying His people to Himself. We are God's people. If you're in Christ through repentance and faith, then you are a part of the bride of Christ. You are of God's people. And as such, you're kept by the power of God. And that being kept in being kept, we are sanctified to Him. Now let's talk about that for a moment, okay? There are three basic ways to understand sanctification. And all of those ways, specifically the first two, are important if we're to understand or properly apply our text here in John chapter 17. The first biblical use and the most common use of the word sanctify, or sanctification, means to set apart to God. You're going to dedicate or consecrate, devote something or someone to God for God's use, right? It means setting apart. It's the first use of that word and the more common use of that word in the Bible. So people or things can be set apart to God for God's use. We see that in Scripture, right? People are set apart to God. We see things set apart to God, utensils in the tabernacle, right? A mountain set apart for God's use. We see people set apart or devoted to God's use. Those things that are set apart or dedicated to God are said to be holy. They are said to be holy. They are set apart to serve a holy purpose that God intends. But that's called definitive or positional sanctification. Definitive or positional sanctification. You are set apart, right? To God for God's use, for God's purposes. With regard to God's people, this is a one-time decisive act. Often that act is considered to be simultaneous with your salvation, right? Simultaneous with calling, simultaneous with regeneration or justification, simultaneous with God's effectual call. You could say now, though thinking about that, right? Couldn't you, that God's people in alignment with our text in John chapter 17 are set apart in eternity past, right? Set apart from the world in eternity past by God's gift of this people to his Son. We certainly see that referenced in our text. These people, those who are called, are a special chosen people set apart from the Father for the Son. Second, the second use of this word sanctification or sanctify means that as God sets us apart to himself from the world to be his own special people and because we are set apart to him, God says you shall be holy because I am holy, right? So because we are set apart as holy unto God, we must be made holy. The first sense could be referred to as positional. This would be practical. That is a one-time decisive act. This sense of the word sanctification is referring to a progressive work, something that takes place by a process over time. Martin O. Jones said this. He says we are not only regarded as holy, we are made holy and obviously we are made holy because that is how we are regarded. So in positional sanctification, definitive sanctification, you are regarded by God as holy, set apart to him for his use. In progressive sanctification, it is the process or the work of God by which you are made holy and you are made holy because he is holy and he regards you as holy and has called you to be holy, right? So the second understanding of this word sanctification refers to the progressive process in which God using means makes us more and more holy, makes us more and more like Christ and that's progressive sanctification. Third is ultimate sanctification which is coincident to our glorification, not the concern of our text today. That's what theologians would refer to as the third aspect or the third consideration with respect to sanctification. Let me give you an example of this in a text of scripture. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Now it's important to understand this as we get into the text so that we know what the Lord is praying for here in John 17. One example of many in scripture is in Ephesians chapter 5 and look down with me at verse 25. So Ephesians 5 verse 25. Now here Paul says verse 25, husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her so that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish. If you look at verse 25 there now the purpose or the aim of Christ's sacrificial love the purpose of him giving himself is shown in the three purposes given in the text right. The first comes in verse 26 so that he might sanctify her right. So Christ loving the church giving himself for the church is then shown in these three purpose clauses the first in verse 26 that he might sanctify her the second at the beginning of verse 27 right that he might present her to himself in glory and the third at the end of verse 27 that she should be holy and without blemish. So look with me at verse 26 the first verse 26 is referring to our first understanding of sanctification right this positional or definitive sanctification being set apart for his service. Here specifically in Ephesians chapter 5 it's in reference to the church the same reference isn't it in John chapter 17 when he says those whom you have given me out of the world that defines the church right those who have been given to him from out of the world really the same as the reference here in Ephesians 5 to the church this is the people of God and it's the people of God in their exclusive and dedicated relationship to God. We don't have time to get into the grammar but if you look at verse 26 the cleansing here is part of that initial sanctifying for you Greek guys it's a participle follows the main verb both of them are heiress and so the participle is indicating the the means of the main verb Christ died verse 26 for the church in order to make her holy by cleansing her that's what it's saying there do you see how does he do that by removing her sin he cleanses her by removing her sin that happens by the word washing of water by the word that's the word of the gospel in John chapter 17 verse 14 it refers to the word that they've been given right i have given them your word the gospel here is that word the gospel is the word of love that binds the bridegroom to his bride so there that first verse 26 that first clause dealing with that positional sanctification right that determinative definitive sanctification next look at verse 27 in the first part of verse 27 there now this is our third sense ultimate sanctification ultimate or sanctification or glorification is represented in verse 27 there by presenting her to himself a glorious church you know the church on earth often thought of her seen as in rags or tatters but god will make her glorious right he will present her to himself a glorious church a bride in splendor now despised and rejected right but god's loving intention through the work of christ and the work of his spirit and sanctification is to make us spiritually beautiful and in verse 27 you see there the next sense of the word sanctification that we are to be holy and without blemish that happens that holy and without blemish happens through progressive sanctification until one day we will be glorified so here's sanctification okay in one sense we're set apart to god as god's people that setting apart is one sense of that word sanctification the second part is after having been set apart we are made holy by god by work of god and that is progressive takes place over time such that at the end when we are fully and finally glorified is ultimate sanctification we are like christ because we shall see him as he is right that's sanctification in three aspects of sanctification and notice in Ephesians chapter five that christ died the end of verse 25 he gave himself for her for three these three aspects of sanctification take place to accomplish all three if christ died to accomplish all three and you can take it to the bank that all three will happen christ gets what he pays for right so so many today so many today profess christ and they look just like the world professing christians all over the place who don't have a heart for god they're not growing in maturity they're not growing in his word they're not becoming more and more like christ they're acting more and more like the world professing christians that don't follow him professing christians that don't obey him right if you are saved then you will be sanctified right if you're in christ your sanctification your obedience your growth in grace your growth in the faith your maturity has been purchased for you by christ christ gave himself for his church his bride if you're in christ he gave himself for you so that you could be made holy so that he one day would present you to himself holy and without blemish right in splendor and he is working that out in you if you're in christ now sometimes that sanctification looks small there are times when you may think to yourself man i've i've i've grown like a weed the last six months i feel great about my christian life there are other times that you'll look at your growth and it's difficult for you to see but if you're in christ you will be sanctified there's none of this this false theology right of someone who says i'm saved and then they live decades of their life and there's nothing going on right oh but he that began a good work and you were sure to complete it yeah he's sure to complete it after you've been saved gotta read your bibles and notice too in Ephesians chapter five husbands just to make this point you are to give yourself in love as a means of your wife's sanctification in this respect right as a means of this sanctifying work in your spouse so back in john chapter 17 we see in one text and there are many one text specifically there those three aspects or understandings of sanctification right now back in john chapter 17 the lord refers to these same sanctifying purposes in our text here in john chapter 17 he prays in verse 11 right that god the father would keep them keep those whom the father has given him from out of the world that keeping that protecting that standing guard over is for the purpose that his own would be sanctified right keep them and sanctify them in other words preserve them in the faith mature them in the faith and one day i will raise them up at the last day and they'll be presented to him in glory do you see all those purposes in the lord's mind as he prays this prayer in john 17 now let's unpack this beginning at verse 14 and as we work through the text beginning in verse 14 keep in mind particularly the first two meanings of sanctification one positional the other practical right one definitive one progressive i want you to see in this text we're going to see that we are sanctified by his word we are sanctified as his witness and we are sanctified through his work so the concern of our lord now as he prays in john 17 through our text is our sanctification and as we look at our text we're going to see our sanctification from the perspective of his word our witness and his work right his word our witness and his work first verse 14 we are sanctified by his word by his word look at verse 14 with me here the lord prays i've given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as i am not of the world i do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one they are not of the world just as i am not of the world now he begins verse 14 and follow along with me now think he says in verse 14 i've given them your word i have given them right the greek verb there is in the perfect tense it's completed it's done i have done this it's done now what is the result what's the result the result of him giving these people his word is that now they are set apart from the world to christ they're not of the world the lord says in verse 14 just as i am not of the world so what's been being referred to here is our first understanding or the first sense of sanctification which is that positional sanctification definitive sanctification we are set apart to god or to christ by his word we're set apart by his word flip the page back and look at john 13 john 13 a couple of pages to the left and look at verse six and if you remember as we work through this text they're in the upper room and the lord is about to wash their feet right in just a glorious text john 13 look at verse six so the lord he's got the the basin in his hands he's got the towel girded around his waist and he comes to peter he came to simon peter verse six and peter said to him lord are you washing my feet and jesus answered and said to him what i am doing you do not understand now but you will know after this that peter said to him you shall never wash my feet and jesus answered him if i do not wash you you have no part with me what the lord is talking about there is cleansing right is salvation if i don't wash you if i don't forgive you of your sins you have no part with me simon peter gets it verse nine so simon peter said to him lord not my feet only then but also my hands and my head and jesus said to him he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean and you are clean but not all of you for he knew who would betray him therefore he said you are not all clean this is both of you think about in terms of sanctification this is both positional and practical right think through this with me the lord says to peter you're clean it's positional sanctification you know in sense you've been saved but the one who is clean still needs to wash his feet right we get muddied up in this world we still have sin and we need to be made holy so we see in john 13 an example of both positional or definitive sanctification and this idea of progressive sanctification flip the page to the right and look at john 15 john chapter 15 if you notice peter clean because of the word that was spoken to him john 15 look at verse one the lord says i am the true vine my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit you are already clean because of the word which i have spoken to you that's the word of the gospel that's the the word of god a word from christ to his disciples they are genuinely saved men he's saying you're already clean because of the word which i've spoken to you abide in me and i and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me unless you abide in christ you can't bear the fruit of progressive sanctification you see both a positional aspect of this right the positional sense you are clean because of the word that i've spoken to you now abide in me because apart from me you cannot bear fruit you see so now flip the page again back in john chapter 17 john chapter 17 so when he says in verse 14 john chapter 17 verse 14 i have given them your word this is the word through which we have been separated from the world to christ you see you have been set apart from the world to christ by virtue of this word it's the word that he has given us it's the word by which christ has already made us clean this is positional sanctification because of that word right believers are set apart to christ set apart to god they're set apart from the world and then now what happens verse 14 and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as i am not of the world so what happened what's the result of us being set apart by the word which he's spoken to us the world hates us hates christians the world has hated them because they're not of the world just as he is not of the world let me give you another example of this go back to Ephesians Ephesians chapter five Ephesians chapter five hang in there keep turning Ephesians chapter five i want to understand this doctrine we have been set apart to christ by the word which was spoken to us the word of the gospel the word of his love right his love for his own Ephesians chapter five look at verse three verse three paul says but fornication all uncleanness or covetousness all this filth this sin right let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks this is practical sanctification this is the process a work of god by which we are made holy don't let these things even be named among us among you that word all of this happens by means of his word right by means of his word the spirit of god with the word of god making you holy that word by which we are initially sanctified set apart to god that word puts down roots in the heart of a genuine christian and it transforms them from the inside out right that same word puts down roots and bears fruit look at verse five for this you know for this you know that no fornicator no unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of christ and god in other words that word by which we were set apart to god is that word that plants deep roots in our heart bears fruit such that you put off uncleanness you put off covetousness you put off fornication because you know this verse five that no fornicator no unclean person no covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of christ and god in other words god's word transforms the genuine christian if there's not any and there's not been any radical transformation in your desires in your heart in your mind right some of you have grown up in a church or grown up in church all your life right you've grown up in families that are moral and they be growing up you were moral but if you are genuinely saved the spirit of god indwells you god in his covenant says i'm going to take out that heart of stone that sinful heart that heart that desires to have its own way i'm going to take out that hard stony heart i'm going to replace it with a heart of flesh and i'm going to buy my spirit i'm going to cause you to keep my statutes and my judgments from the heart i'm going to transform your heart i'm going to give you a new nature i'm going to transform your mind i'm going to transform your emotions i'm going to transform your desires i'm going to transform everything about you and i'm going to make you what i want you to be because you can't do it for yourself i'm going to do it for you so the person that is genuinely saved is in the process of being remade by god in that way so that one who says i'm in christ i'm going to go to heaven when i die who is still in bitterness still in anger still in drunkenness still in drugs right still in sexual immorality and there's been no brokenness there's been no breaking of that pattern in their life there's been no radical transformation of their desires radical transformation of their thoughts radical transformation of their hearts and their natures radical change in their disposition toward the things of christ away from the things of this world you can be sure there's been no salvation right this work is guaranteed by the work of christ he sanctifies himself so that we who are to him can be sanctified ourselves you know this right you know this no fornicator verse five no unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of christ and god don't let anyone deceive you remember witnessing to a man from this text and all of these words described him fornicator unclean covetous idolater but he had it in his mind that we're all sinners we're all sinners i sin i'm a human being god forgives us what god does don't let anyone deceive you with empty words because of these things the wrath of god comes upon the sons of disobedience you must be set apart from these things to god you must be set apart from the world to christ your heart needs to be changed you need to be set apart you need to be sanctified you need to be washed you need to be cleansed he says in verse seven therefore do not be partakers with them listen you are not of this world don't be worldly verse eight you were once darkness but now you are light in the lord you've been set apart you've been made clean now you are to be clean right be clean he says in verse eight walk as children of light for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth finding out what is acceptable to the lord and listen verse 11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret you can have no fellowship with darkness right you're no longer of the darkness you're of the light if you're in christ now you're not taken out of the world you're not taken out of the world so what is to be your interaction with the world is to be evangelistic it's to be light to them it's to be light for christ don't compromise you're no longer sons of disobedience like the world you are no longer partakers with the world you used to be darkness like the world now you are light to the world now you live differently than they do you walk as a child of light you don't have fellowship with them any longer in that sense you rather expose them and you expose them through evangelism and listen when that happens when that happens the world is shamed the world is shamed the world loves its own but you are no longer of the world and now because you expose their evil deeds the world hates you as it hated christ do you see why the world hates christians you're in christ you're a new creation if you're in christ you're a new creation your values have changed your goals have changed your interests have changed your concerns have changed your activities have changed your desires have changed your likes have changed your dislikes have changed right your character has changed your disposition has changed your hearts been changed having been sanctified by his word. You are now being sanctified by his word. Makes sense? And the world in that circumstance, back in John 17, in that circumstance, the world is offended at you. The world is offended at you. If you're in Christ, the world is offended at you. And we can use the world the same way, right? This nebulous thing, the world. What's meant by that? People. People. That means your mother is offended at you because you're not the same that you used to be. And you talked to her about the gospel and she got offended, right? Your father becomes offended with you. He considers you a fanatic in the way that you follow Christ because he doesn't follow Christ the same way. Your sister is offended. Your brother is offended. Physical brother. Physical sister. Brother and sister according to the flesh. Your husband is offended at you. Your wife. Wife doesn't want to follow you because you love Christ. Husband won't go with you to church because you want to follow Christ and he doesn't. He won't compromise with the truth and you will. Friends. Not your friends anymore. And they're offended at you. They're offended at what you value. They're offended because they they're rebuked by your presence when they want to go in the way of worldly things and do sinful stuff. Coworkers offended you, offended at you. So now you work hard. You stand up for what's right. You don't compromise. And who else is offended with you is false professing Christians. Oftentimes the most vehement offense comes from those people. Your very presence is a rebuke. It exposes them, right? It exposes their hypocrisy, causes offense. It causes them to be defensive, doesn't it? You annoy them and they respond with intolerance toward you. That's the cardinal sin, right? It's intolerance. And yet they are so intolerant of you. And all of that because they won't submit themselves to that word by which they profess to be sanctified. Maybe you're sitting here this morning, you're offended right now. You know, when someone, when a genuine Christian, when a genuine Christian is corrected by the word of God, how does a genuine Christian respond? With humility, with conviction, right? With repentance. They respond with repentance. But when someone who is hard-hearted, not a genuine Christian, when they're corrected by the word of God, how do they respond? With defensiveness, with hostility, with anger, with bitterness, with, you know, you, if you think about it as a Christian, you carry with you the healing balm of the gospel. But in you carrying that with you, it is salt in the depraved wounds of this world. And they hate it. They hate it. And if you think about that, and again, with respect to our text in John chapter 17, you should be concerned if you're not experiencing the world's hatred. If the world didn't hate you and mock you. I love the story of John Wesley preaching through towns and cities as he went. Everywhere he went, he was getting eggs thrown at him and tomatoes thrown at him, getting persecuted. Everywhere he went, he was on his horse, riding out of town, and he realized that the last couple of preaching engagements that he had, he hadn't had anything thrown at him. And so what was Wesley's response? Immediately, out of fear and concern, he gets off his horse and begins to pray, you know, Lord, have I been compromising in some way? Am I not serving you faithfully? Why isn't that I have not been persecuted? The last couple of stops in a farmer overhearing his prayer, they prayed out loud in those days, overhearing his prayer, picked up a rock and threw it at him. So it says in Wesley's memoirs that he thanked the Lord and got right back on his horse and kept going. And mind you too, it's not that the world hates you because you're a jerk. The world hates you because of your witness for Christ. So back in John 17, the Lord now continues to pray in verse 15, right? Considering that truth of sanctification, Lord continues to pray in John 17 verse 15. He says, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but rather that you should keep them from the evil one. You should keep them from the evil one. Hebrews says, the book of Hebrews, says that Jesus goes to the cross so that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. So this devil, the evil one in verse 15, is a defeated foe, but that defeated foe can still do harm. He still prowls around and seeks right now whom he can devour. Have any of you ever stepped on a dead bee and been stung? Yeah. You can drag a shark onto your boat, but then you got a shark on your boat, right? Victory's been won. You got him on the boat, but now you got to deal with a shark on your boat. This is, he is a defeated foe, but the devil can still do harm, right? So let's think about the beginning of verse 15 now. What's the significance of the Lord's clarification at the beginning of verse 15? I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. He prays that they should be kept while they're in the world. He prays that they should be protected from the evil one, but he makes a point to clarify, I don't pray that you should take them out of the world. Now why is that? It's because you being sanctified or being set apart to God have been set apart to a divine purpose. This is extremely important in understanding our text, right? Explicit in the definition of sanctification is the intention of holy use. In other words, you've not just been set apart. You've been set apart for a purpose, for a divine intention. You've been set apart for a divine purpose, right? Second Timothy, chapter two, verse 20, Paul says this. He says, in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also vessels of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. In other words, now being set apart, now being sanctified, you have a purpose. Ephesians chapter two, verse 10, Rick had quoted that this morning. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, right? So now, think with me again. By virtue of our sanctification, by virtue of the word that was given to us, we are to be like Christ, verse 16. We are not of the world, just as he is not of the world, you see? Just as Christ sanctified himself and is not of this world, he was sent here on a mission. Therefore, in the same way, God's intention is not to take us out of the world upon our salvation because we not only have been sanctified, we've been sanctified with a purpose. We'll see this more clearly as we come to John chapter 20, verse 21, where Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I also send you, right? That's coming. Now, we're still looking. We look at our text in John 17. We're still looking at this understanding of our sanctification introduced by verse 14 when the Lord says that he has given them your word. We've seen how this sanctification is primarily positional, right? Definitive sanctification set apart, but we've also seen how God's word is used as a means of our progressive sanctification. We are progressively sanctified by or through the work of the Spirit with God's word. And also we've seen how both definitive and progressive sanctification impacts our relationship to the world, right? So then in verses 15 and 16 now, we're introduced to the fact that sanctification involves holy purpose or holy use, a holy mission in this hostile world. All of that, right? So now if you think about the definition of sanctification, the purpose for which we are sanctified, all of that meaning is loaded, front-loaded in the Lord's mind now as he prays and brings his petition to God the Father in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. All of that, that petition loaded with all of that meaning in verse 17. Literally it says there, sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. God's truth is both that word of the gospel that was preached to us by which we are set apart and it's the means of God applied by the Spirit of God toward our progressive sanctification, our being made holy, made more like Christ, right? God's word, think about God's word here, sanctify them by your truth. Your word, God's word is truth. God's word is that sanctifying, purifying discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts according to Hebrews chapter 4. It's the mirror that exposes our condition before God according to James chapter 1. It's the lamp to our feet, the light to our path in Psalm 119. It reproves us, it corrects us, it trains us and equips us in 2 Timothy chapter 3. It's the pure milk by which we grow, able to build us up, gives us an inheritance among all those who are sanctified in Acts chapter 20 verse 32. The word of God restores the soul, makes wise the simple, gladdens the heart, enlightens the eyes, warns of danger, and inflames our hope, right? That's the word of God in sanctifying the believer. Secondly, though, it's the content of our faith. The word of God represents the redemptive revelation of God, the content of our faith, to which we have been delivered. We have been set apart to that content, set apart to that faith, all with the purpose that we would be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work. In other words, in thinking about sanctification this way, and this is just really important to apply the text right, sanctification involves a dedication to duty. It involves a consecration to God for God's use. We are sanctified for mission. Now, most specifically, when you think of sanctification, when something is sanctified, it's thought about in terms of sacrifice. If something was sanctified to God, you sacrificed that thing to him. When someone sanctified to God, they sacrifice all of their desires, all of their wishes, all of who they are, is sacrificed to God for his service. Let me give you a couple of examples of that. The first is in Romans chapter 12. Listen to this in verse one. Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. You are sanctifying yourself to God. You present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 4, the end of his life, his life is coming to an end, and he says, I've been poured out as a drink offering. In other words, my life has been poured out as a sanctified sacrifice to God. Paul gave his life as a living sacrifice. Let me give you an example. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 15. You will go there quickly. Deuteronomy chapter 15. Hang in there with me. Just to give you an example of what I'm talking about here. Deuteronomy 15, look at verse 19. And as Moses is, you know, giving the log in here, he says in verse 19, all of the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock, you shall sanctify to the Lord your God. It means sacrifice. It means sacrifice, right? All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock, you shall sanctify or sacrifice to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not, there it is, sacrifice it to the Lord your God. What is awesome about the parallel of this text to the Lord's church is that in Christ you have no defect. In Christ I have no defect. You're made holy. That's that positional definitive sanctification. In Christ you are perfected. You are righteous. You are clothed in his righteousness. He says you may eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour down on the ground like water. Thinking of that, turn to Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah chapter one, in Christ all your defects are done away with. All your sin forgiven. You have the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to your account. Look at Jeremiah chapter one and look down at verse four. This is when Jeremiah was called as a prophet. It says in verse four, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. In other words, Jeremiah sanctified was due to a way with all of his desires, what he might do with his own life. He was sanctified to God. God had plans for Jeremiah and he sanctified Jeremiah with a purpose. He said, verse six, then I said, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a youth. But the Lord said to me, Do not say I am a youth, for you shall go to all whom I send you. And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord, set apart for a purpose. Sanctification then, back in John 17, is a consecration. And that consecration, that dedication is according to the truth of God. And that's the sanctification or the consecration or the dedication of a genuine disciple to serve him in his mission, even to a sacrificial death poured out as a drink offering, so to speak. If you're a genuine Christian, if you say you're a Christian, this is what you've been set apart to. This is what you've been set apart to. Not simply set apart. You're set apart to holy use. This is the work in which you are to involve yourself as a disciple of Christ. Back in John 17, look at verse 18. We're sanctified by his word. Secondly, we are sanctified as his witness. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. The Lord commissions them as his messengers, as his evangelists, as his witnesses to continue his work in this world. You and I cannot be silent. It's always difficult with time. In verse 19, the Lord enters in to this work that he has been sanctified or set apart to do, so that we also may be sanctified. Not that the Lord Jesus Christ needed to be more holy. That is blasphemy. He was set apart. This refers, verse 19 refers to him being set apart for his own people on divine mission, so that or with the purpose that his own, those whom the Father gave him out of the world, would also be sanctified by his truth. He was set apart to divine mission. You and I set apart to divine mission, to divine work. If you look at verse 17, verse 17 is the means of our sanctification by his truth, right? His word is truth. Verse 18, the mission of our sanctification. And the Lord says, lo, I'm with you even to the end of the age. We're to pursue sanctification to our mission, even to the point of sacrifice. Jesus Christ did that by the sacrifice of himself once for all. Jesus Christ set himself apart to the Father's will to save sinners. He set himself apart. When he set himself apart to the Father's will, he set himself apart to the cross. Brother or sister, when you came to Christ, counting the cost, considering what following Christ would mean, you were not only set apart to God, but you were set apart to take up your cross, to deny yourself, to follow him. His sanctification, verse 19, necessary for ours. So he prays, Father, keep them, keep them in this purpose, keep them in this mission, keep them in this witness until I raise them up at the last day. Lord, pray, sanctify them, Father, by your truth. Your word is truth. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this text of scripture. Thank you, Lord, that in Christ, because of Christ and for his sake, Lord, you have sanctified or set apart your people in him. Thank you, Lord, that we are no longer of this world, but Lord, we are in it. And so we come to you in accord with our Lord's prayer here and ask, Lord, that you would preserve us, protect us, help us, Lord, by your spirit, that cause us, Lord, to be faithful, to do all that you've commanded, to abide in your word, to keep your commandments, to love you from the heart. Continue, Lord, to sanctify us, conform us into the image of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and help us, Lord, to be faithful witnesses to you. But we know that this world is a hostile and hateful place for where we trust you and we depend upon you and we know, Lord, that when you are finished with us, you'll take us home. We look forward to that day. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.