Steven Lawson: Sanctified in Truth

[Applause] well I love that Chris loves that I love pastors so that's that's wonderful the assignment that has been given to me is sanctified in truth and as you're aware of your Bible there's one text one passage specifically to which we would draw our attention which is John chapter 17 so if you would take your Bible and turn with me to John chapter 17 I want us to look specifically at verse 17 which is an extremely important text on the subject of holiness I want to read verses 14 through 19 just to give us a sense of the larger context but we're going to hone in on verse 17 this is God's inspired inerrant and infallible word john 17 beginning in verse 14 Jesus is praying and he prays I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world even as I am NOT of the world I do not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one they are not of the world even as I am NOT of the world sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth as you have sent me into the world I also have sent them into the world for their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth it was the night of our Lord's arrest the next day he will hang upon a Roman cross condemned as a common criminal and before he enters into the valley of the shadow of death he looks upward to heaven with this high priestly prayer of John chapter 17 what we have here is an inner Trinitarian conversation as the Son of God appeals to the father and as he prays this is no time to pray for that which is secondary it is no time to pray for that which is superfluous this is a crucial moment in a very short time our Lord will be in Gethsemane and he will be sweating drops of blood as he is yielding himself afresh to the will of God he will stand six trials three that are Jewish and three that are Roman he will then be taken to Calvary took all Gaza where he will be nailed to a cross and be lifted up to die for the sins of his people and as he approaches this hour for which he has come into the world he turns his heart upward to the Father in prayer then he intercedes for that not which is peripheral but that which is primary and among the concerns that our Lord has for the glory of God in verse one and the preservation of his people throughout this prayer he focuses in verse 17 on an enormous Lee important subject and it is important for our Congress are Lord praised for the personal holiness of all those who are true believers it is the holiness of God that demands the holiness of his people long ago God said through the prophet Moses in Leviticus 11 in verse 44 be holy for I am holy and in verse 45 you shall be holy for I am holy it is incumbent upon every true believer to be pursuing holiness in those who are not pursuing holiness are not true believers in the Lord they may have a profession of faith but they do not have the possession of faith holiness marks true believers in Leviticus 19 in verse 2 God commands you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy unless any of us here today think that this is reserved only for the Old Testament in 1st Peter 1 in verse 15 Peter takes these very verses out of the Pentateuch and incorporates them in his New Testament epistle and in 1st Peter 1 verse 15 Peter writes to the believers who are scattered abroad like the Holy One who called you be holy that is an imperative command it is incumbent with with apostolic authority upon all of our lives to be holy to be pursuing the holiness of God as reflected in our own lives and then Peter quotes in verse 16 leviticus you shall be holy for I am holy personal holiness is the one over writing desire of God for his people we learn from the vision of God and I say a chapter 6 that the chief attribute of God is holiness in Isaiah 6 in verse 3 the Seraphim around the throne are crying out holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty heaven and earth is full of his glory the chief attribute of God is holiness and the angels are not crying out love love love though God is love and the angels are not crying out even omniscience omniscience omniscience though God is omniscience God the angels are crying out that which most marks God holiness that God is transcendent that God is majestic that God is regal and roil and that God is a cut above his creatures that God is unlike us in in every way if God is holy and he is what he requires of you and me more than anything else is our holiness if God has distinguished first and foremost principally and primarily as holy therefore as we who are created in the image of God we must be holy the psalmist asks the question in Psalm 24 verse 3 who may ascend into the hill of the Lord who may have fellowship with God who may enter into the very presence of God and the answer comes from the from the psalmist he who has clean hands and a pure heart we must be washed and made clean and be pursuing holiness to have communion with a holy God the psalmist cries out in Psalm 51 create in me a clean heart O God and as Jesus preached the most famous sermon that has ever been preached in the history of the world the Sermon on the Mount Jesus called for a heart religion a religion of the heart and he said blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God in other words if our hearts have not been made clean by God we will never see holy God and Jesus went on to emphasize in Matthew 5 verse 20 way 28 everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart and so we understand as Jesus prays in John 17 this this call for holiness this prayer this intercession to the father sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth that this this rises from the pages of Scripture to the highest level of that which God's desires for his people so as we look at John 17 and and in verse 7 I want to just walk through this very short verse I want to I want to exegete it I want to divide it into portions and I want us to spend our time looking very carefully at this one verse John 17 verse 17 let me read it again sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth and so as we are considering the holiness of God in this conference it is necessary that we consider our own personal holiness sometimes we look at this text and there are several things that I want to set before you number one is the prayer for holiness the prayer for holiness as Jesus prays sanctify them we need to consider what this word sanctify means it is a a Greek word oz Oh from which the words holy holiness sanctification saints all those words come from the same root word and that root word in the ancient Semitic language means to cut in order for there to be a separation so as I would take this piece of paper I cut it and there is now a separation that's at the heart of what Holi means that's at the heart of what sanctified them means it means to to set apart to consecrate it means to to make holy to purify to separate from profane things means to cleanse and so as Jesus prays to the Father and remember his prayers are always answered he said father I thank you that you always hear me he never offered a prayer that was not answered by the Father and as he prays sanctify them this is a prayer that the father answers by the Ministry of the Holy Spirit within us as he prays to sanctify them he is saying make them holy sent them apart from the impurities of this world set them apart from their own lusts set them apart unto personal godliness make them holier than what they presently are experientially personally and practically it is also important to note that this word sanctify in your Bible is in the imperative mood when you parse the verb it is in the imperative mood this is a commanding prayer that Jesus is is offering it's not a suggestion to the Father would you maybe pretty please sanctify them no it is from the one who is co-equal and coeternal to the Father the Lord Jesus with imperative sanctify them in the truth now it's important for us to get a handle on the word sanctify when you study your Bible there are three excess sanctification and we need to give careful thought to this dr. RC sprawl used to tell me several times theologians must make careful distinctions as theologians cannot just mesh everything together as those different truths are put into an omelet and they're just all brought together no we need a divider plate all right we need to separate out three distinctions regarding sanctification if you're a note-taker write these down number one is positional sanctification positional sanctification happened in your past it happened the moment you were regenerated by the Spirit of God it is never repeated it is a one-time act of God to sanctify you set you apart out of this evil world system and set you into the kingdom of God let me give you two verses first Corinthians 1 verse 30 by his doing referring to God by his doing you are in christ jesus who became to us wisdom from god that's like the topic sentence over what follows or the topic phrase and righteousness and sanctification and redemption at the very moment there was you were declared the righteousness of God in the forensic act of justification and the very moment that the redemptive blood of Christ was applied to your life in that split-second you were sanctified immediately it is not a second work of grace it is not something that happens five years on down the way no it happens immediately you are sanctified and positionally you have been taken out of the world and you have been set into Christ and you have been set into the kingdom of God that is positional sanctification and that is true not just of some believers it is true of each and every believer if you have not been positionally sanctified you are outside of the kingdom of heaven the second verse would be 1st Corinthians 6 in verse 11 another important text Paul says to the Corinthians such were some of you but you were washed but you were sanctified notice the verb tense in the past tense but you were justified by the Lord in the spirit of our God in the name of the Lord in the spirit of our God when you were washed when you were justified you were immediately sanctified and that began a radical break a dramatic break from your old way of life and you now are headed in an entirely new direction you are living in a new kingdom you are living in a new realm so this positional sanctification you can write down Hebrews 10 verse 10 also by this you have been sanctified that's in the past the second aspect of sanctification is what we call progressive sanctification and that is in the present it is our life long pursuit of holiness by which we are becoming increasingly more and more holy or holier experientially in the reality of my daily walk first Corinthians 1 verse 2 to the Church of God that is in Corinth to those sanctified in Jesus Christ at first Thessalonians 4 verse 3 makes it abundantly clear for this is the will of God your sanctification and so there needs there must be progressive ongoing growth in personal holiness everyone who has positionally sanctified at the moment of their regeneration will be progressively pursuing holiness there there are no exceptions to this and there is no one who has positionally sanctified who will not be progressively being sanctified by the Spirit of God that is why the lifelong carnal Christian is a total myth that person does not exist that is a false theology because everyone who has positionally sanctified will be being progressively sanctified now third there is perfected sanctification that is future positional is past progressive is present perfected is future and that is our final glorification that is the consummation of our sanctification when one day we will be perfectly blameless before the Lord and at first Thessalonians 3 verse 13 Paul writes so that he kisses Christ may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father and really the best text on this is 1st Thessalonians 5 in verse 23 which is in the form of a closing benediction at the end of this epistle Paul writes now may the God of peace himself and that is a reference to God the Father by the way now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Jesus Christ and so ultimately you and I will be perfectly sanctified when we are presented without spot or blemish or any such thing in the very presence of the Father before the throne of grace so as Jesus prays sanctify them he's not referring to positional sanctification that's already occurred in their life they have been taken out of the world and placed into Christ and it is not referring to perfected sanctification it's referring to this progressive sanctification and this is what the Savior is praying for your life and for my life as he is at the right hand of God the Father and ever lives to make intercession for us this is one reason why a believer will never become an unbeliever and this is one reason why one who is truly sanctified will never go back to to the world and live like the world no that one will be a dog returning to his vomit will be like a pig returning to the mud that's not a sheep that that is one who has simply made some outward indication of faith in Christ but their true colors are revealed when they turn their back on the pursuit of godliness and holiness and they go back to the muck and the mire of this world this emphasis is echoed throughout the New Testament that God desires the holiness of his people because God Himself is holy in Romans 12 verse 1 Paul writes I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God and unholy sacrifice is unacceptable to God only as we come and as a living and whole sacrifice will it be will our lives be acceptable to God it is critically important in 2nd Corinthians 7 and verse 1 Paul writes let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and by the way he's referred this is not an evangelistic sermon this is directed to the heart of every believer let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God you see it should be this should be such a serious matter in our relationship with God in the midst of our joy in knowing him that we perfect holiness in the fear of God we will never perfect holiness in this lifetime and this that this word perfecting comes from a Greek word that really means to ripen or to bring to maturity that that there would be a development and advancement in our cleanness of heart and our purity of walk and mouth before the Lord and this only is right 2nd Timothy 1 verse 9 God saved us and called us with a holy calling the effectual sovereign call of God is a call that is a holy calling that calls us into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ but it calls us into a holy walk as Jesus has prayed sanctify them this is a prayer that you and I should pray for ourselves God make me as Robert Marie McShane once prayed as holy as a redeemed sinner can be this is what you need to pray for your family for your children this is what you should pray for your pastor for your church leaders Lord's sanctify them Lord purify them Lord make them is unlike the evil world system and make them as much like the Lord Jesus Christ as someone can be while they're still here upon the earth let me tell you why this why our personal holiness is so important in Hebrews 12 and verse 14 Paul or the writer of Hebrews all right timeout I'm not going on record as saying that now I will say I've been in discussions with dr. sprawl about this and and he does feel that Paul was the author of Hebrews so anyway so here's the point here's the verse Hebrews 12 verse 14 pursue sanctification without which no one will see the Lord you see you are not just chosen for heaven you are chosen for holiness and you may know that you're going to heaven by the validation of the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit within you this is necessary in the life of everyone who is truly heaven bound there are no unsanctified believers so therefore god elevates the importance of our holiness because God Himself is holy God is more concerned for your godliness than for your giftedness God is more concerned for the depth of your maturity than the breadth of your ministry God is more concerned with who you are than what you do God is more concerned with your character than with your career holiness in the lives of his people is of utmost importance now second that's the prayer for holiness second I want you to see very quickly the people of holiness as we look at verse 17 we've looked at the first word sanctify please note the second word them is that them for whom is Jesus praying this and for whom will the father answer this prayer and it will be effectual in their lives well in verse 9 Jesus said I do not pray for the world Jesus is not interceding for the non elect Jesus is not praying for the holiness of unbelievers this is a family prayer this is a prayer that Jesus is praying on behalf of those and the father has given to him and we don't really have time I'm just going to walk us through this rather quickly but when you begin in verse 2 and you go all the way through this entire chapter this prayer of intercession we see who that them is in verse 2 it is those given by the father to the son in sovereign election they're also found in verse 6 and verse 9 they are those who are given eternal life that is in verses two and three that them is those who belong to the Father that's in verses 6 and 9 and they belong to the father because the father chose them before the foundation of the world and then gave them to the son in verse 6 that them are those who keep God's Word you see obedience to the Word of God leads to personal holiness and it is the distinguishing mark of a true child of of God in verse 8 they are those who receive the words of Christ with understanding in verse 10 they are those who glorify the son in verses 11 12 and 15 they are those are kept and preserved in grace by the Father and by the son such that they can never fall away from from grace in verse 14 they are those who are hated by the world in verse 16 they are those who are not of the world you see they are in the world they're just not of the world their boat is in the water there should be no water in the boat this is the people of holiness and there are no exceptions to this and so it becomes a mark of assurance of our salvation not because we grew up in the church now because we walked in Isle and paired in a prayer not because we went through a confirmation class not because we've been baptized not because we joined the church hell is filled with people like that is their personal holiness being produced by God the Father in the likeness of God the son by the Ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit in your life that becomes the authenticating stamp of God upon his elect that's the people of holiness now third the parameters of holiness and I I need to just very quickly lay out these parameters sanctification again the pursuit of holiness progressive holiness has a negative and a positive component there is a negative separation from the evil world system being caught up in the system and there's a separation from the the participation in the lusts of the flesh does not speak of the perfection of our life it speaks of the direction of our life we are we are being set apart from the defilements and the pollution of sin and that involves our mind our affections and our will the whole person that's the negative and at the same time there is the positive I am being set apart unto the things of God experientially I am growing to love God more and more I'm growing deeper and deeper in my walk with Christ he is becoming more precious and more real there is being produced in me more and more elements of Christlikeness in my life it's not either/or it's both an if all you have is just the separation from the negative then you you are a legalist and your Christian life is defined by what you don't do if all you have is the positive you are an antinomian or you are one of license your Christian life is defined only by what you perceive you have freedom to do but there is no negative separation it's not either/or it's both an and true sanctification necessitates a negative denial and a positive assertion it necessitates a negative separation as well as the positive now let me just quickly show you this if you would please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and and this will be worth turning to Ephesians chapter 4 and what we see how sanctification works in our Christian life it's negative positive negative positive negative positive negative positive and so in Ephesians chapter 4 for example beginning in verse 22 Ephesians is to the right of Gospel of John head east verse 22 that in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted this is an ongoing laying aside and it comes from a greek word that literally means to take off clothing that you are continually taking off dirty clothes in in your spiritual life he says which are being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit verse 23 and that you by renewing that you being renewed in the spirit of your mind put on the new self so the Christian life is an ongoing exercise in taking off and putting on taking off and putting on and as long as we are on this earth and pursuing holiness we never come to a place where we no longer have to take off and we no longer have to put on he he goes on to say for example in verse 25 laying aside falsehood that's the negative speak truth that's the positive verse 26 be angry that's actually the positive do not sin and let the Sun go down on your anger that's the negative verse 28 let him who steal steal no longer that's the negative but rather he must labor with his hands that's the positive verse 29 I let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth that's the negative but only such a word is good for edification that's the positive verse 30 do not grieve the Holy Spirit let there be no bitterness wrath or anger put away all of that from you that's the negative verse 32 be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving excetera that's the positive I wish I had time during this session to take us through multiple passages you can look at Psalm 1 verses 1 through 3 how blessed is the man is does not walk in the counsel the wicked understand in the path of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers but he is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water he meditates on the word day and night there has to be both the negative separation and the positive separation the separation away from and the separation away too so this leads now to the last heading I need I need to set before you and it's the producing of holiness you may say I'm sold I'm all in God is holy I need to be holy how may I realize this in my life well the rest of the verse tells us that which is primary in sanctification sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth that a little preposition in tells us that the instrument of sanctification used in the hand of God is the word of truth there's a fundamental principle in life like produces like right well only a holy instrument can produce personal holiness an unholy instrument can only produce unholiness and there's only one holy instrument that is primary in our sanctification and it is the Ministry of the word of truth in the life of the believer it is what God uses in our lives to make us more and more like him it is the truth about who God is in his holiness it is the truth about us who we are in our unholiness it is the truth about Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit who make us holy the truth is in to spin and the word truth means reality it's the way things really are everything else is a distortion a deception or a lie a falsehood there is only one instrument in the hands of a loving Holy Father in heaven that will conform us into the image of his son Jesus Christ and it is the word of truth there are other secondary means of truth for example Hebrews 12 verse 10 God brings discipline in our lives when we are unholy so that as the writer of Hebrews says we may share in God's holiness a prayer is a means by which we are sanctified coming to the lord's table as a means by which we are sanctified corporate worship as a means by which we are sanctified there are multiple means but what is primary is what Jesus prays here sanctify them by the word and you can look at it on your own but the word is prominent through this entire prayer verse 6 verse 8 verse 12 verse 13 verse 14 verse 19 verse 20 they they all speak of the Ministry of the word of God there's this golden thread that is woven through this prayer as Jesus majors on Major's and what is primary the ministry of the word of God in our lives you see the word of God is like a sharp two-edged sword that pierces as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart there's no creature hidden from his sight for all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do it is the Ministry of the word of God to fillet us to open us up and reveal what's down in the heart and down in the soul and then James 1 says the Word of God is like a mirror we look into a mirror and we see ourselves for what we truly are we see our own spiritual condition and we see the impurities within us and then the Word of God is like a pruning knife in John 15 verse 3 that cuts and removes things from our lives that are unholy and then the Word of God is like water that washes away what is unholy it's like a lamp that guides us onto the path of holiness it is like milk that produces spiritual growth unto holiness it is like meat that builds up our spiritual muscles and makes us holy psalm 119 verses 9 and 11 how can a young man keep his way pure how can an old man keep his way pure how can a young woman keep her way pure how will an old widowed woman keep her way pure by keeping it according to your word your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you second Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness my time is is gone I feel your pain [Laughter] I feel your pain on October the 2nd 1840 a 27 year old Scottish pastor named Robert Murray McShane and Dundee Scotland wrote a letter to a fellow minister on the European continent and this is what he wrote do not forget the culture of the inner man I mean of the heart how diligently the Calvary officer keeps his saber clean and sharp every stain he rubs off with the greatest care remember McShane writes you are god's sword his instrument i trust a chosen instrument unto unto him to bear his name in great measure according to the purity and perfections of the instrument will it be successful it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus let me read that again it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus and now the knockout punch a holy minister and we could say a holy believer it's an awful weapon in the hands of a holy God you need to keep your sword clean and sharp and pure regardless of what your IQ is regardless of how many degrees you have after your name God chooses to work through holy vessels sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth let us pray father for those of us in this room this moment who find ourselves regenerated born again you have set us apart from the world we're no longer of the world we're in the world but we're not of the world father would you stimulate our personal advancement and godliness and holiness as we are at this conference in studying your holiness we're not dissecting a frog in a laboratory as we would examine intellectually who you are Lord experientially make us like you as we look upon your holiness may it have a cleansing and conforming effect upon our own lives knowing that without the pursuit of holiness no one will see the Lord thank you for your saving grace that you have made us positionally holy we now need your sanctifying grace your preserving grace to usher us along yet even more because none of us in this room have arrived none of us in this room have even come close to arriving may your holiness be produced more and more in us in Jesus name Amen [Applause]

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

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Keywords: steven lawson, dr lawson, sanctification, christian truth, john 17:17, ligonier, ligonier conference, ligonier ministries, ligcon, ligonier conference 2019, lawson, steve lawson, reformed theology, reformation theology, theology, reformed, sanctified, truth, what is truth?, epistemology, steven, bible, the bible, god's word, thy word is truth, sanctified in truth, in truth, christ, christian, jesus, steven j lawson, christianity, god, jesus christ, he is holy, god sanctifies, gospel

Id: mPn2sheCo6s

Length: 46min 35sec (2795 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2019