Some Thoughts on John 17 — Carlton C. McLeod

Jesus' Prayer for Sanctification Through the Word

Good morning. Today I wanted to read a passage of scripture to you that was in my reading the other morning and just really really struck me. It comes from John chapter 17 verses 14 through 17 and the Bible says, I have the King James here with me today, so the Bible says it this way, I've given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

The High Priestly Prayer and the Goodness of God's Word

Of course these are the words of the Lord Jesus in his high priestly prayer to his father. I had the opportunity to listen last night to one of my favorite preachers on YouTube, Zach Poonen, and he talked about, he was mentioning that one of his greatest desires as a shepherd is for the people that he leads to see the word of God and embrace the word of God as good for them as opposed to the commands of God seeming burdensome.

He said every precept of God, he wanted every precept of God to be such that the people would embrace it, the minds of the people be such that they would embrace every precept of God and see those words as for their good.

And it struck me because that's exactly how I feel. That is exactly how I feel. I want that for me. I want that for my wife and children. I certainly want that for the church that I have the privilege to serve.

Sanctification Through the Spirit and the Truth

And then in my reading yesterday, this verse, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Friends, I wanted to just take a moment to say today that if we can learn to see the word of God, every precept of God, every principle, every pattern as for our good, then there's this wonderful sanctification via both the spirit and the truth of the word that happens.

The Consequences of Rejecting God's Word

But I also want to say that when we don't see the word of God as true, and when we blaspheme or revile the word of God, because it says something that we don't like or something like that, then there's a measure of grace and a measure of sanctification that is stripped away from the word.

When we can't see it like little children, we can't embrace it like the admonishments of a good dad to his children, then there's a measure of the power of the word to sanctify us. Listen, why do we have literally a few hundred thousand churches and sermons being preached all the time and we're less sanctified?

Christian Distinctiveness and the Witness of Believers

We look like the world, we act like the world, we sound like the world, and we think that's good when in fact our light is very dim. You can't tell a Christian from anybody else, truly. Our lives don't look like living epistles learned and read by all men.

But that's because the truth of scripture, particularly in the areas that we don't like in 2016, but that's because the truth of scripture, we're not allowing him to sanctify us. We don't see segments of the word as true.

Childlike Faith in Scripture's Transforming Power

Whoever's watching this, I really just want to admonish you to open up the Bible like a child going to his father or her father and allow this truth of the word of God to sanctify you. I pray to sanctify them through thy truth.

Thy word is truth. I hope you're blessed today. I hope you study the word of God today, and I hope you let the scriptures set you apart or sanctify you for the Lord's own glory. Until next time.