JOHN 17:9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.
14 I have 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. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Who was Jesus praying for here? The disciples! It’s a great prayer that He left them with.....Jesus said that He had given them God’s Word.....and because of this the world hates them. You think the world hates Christians these days? Jesus also affirms that they/we are not of this world either.
Notice that Jesus said in vs 9 that He wasn’t praying for the world....just for those that God had given Him. Remember the scripture we used last week....no one comes to the Son lest he is drawn by the Father? (John 6:44) It’s not that Jesus didn’t care for the people of the world....He loves everybody....but He is responsible for those that the Father has given Him.
And He was worried about them. Here He was about to leave them, and He knew what a terrible time they were about to have. Let’s don’t forget that Jesus not only loved these men with the agape love of God, but He also literally lived with them for about 3 yrs. He not only had a strong spiritual bond, but a strong bond with them in His fleshly body. Jesus knew that all these disciples except for John would die horrible deaths and be martyred for His names sake.
But Jesus didn’t pray that they be spared their fates...He simply prayed that God would keep them from the evil one. Keep them from the sin that is in the world. Let them stand strong whenever their souls were being tested. Isn’t it nice to know that Jesus prays intercession prayer for you too?
Vs 16 says that we are not of this world....we’re only passing through...In Hebrews 11 (faith chapter) the Bible talks about great men of faith....Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and even Sara (a woman of faith). Vs 13 of that chapter says "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." They realized they were "strangers" on this earth.
Let me show you some more of that in Hebrews 11:14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
If they had been mindful of the world, they may have returned it says. But they desired a better country, a heavenly one. One that God has prepared for them...and us...praise God! But I want to get to my point here....Jesus says we’re not of this world..then He says "sanctify them by your truth" and we know it goes on to say "thy Word is truth". But when I was reading this, I caught something that I hadn’t caught before. Look at vs 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Now Jesus, the man who knew no sin, was saying that He was sanctifying Himself for their sakes. I had always thought that sanctification was the act of freeing yourself from sin and purifying your life. But Jesus had no sin....so I had to go study on this!
The first thing that we need is a proper meaning of the word "sanctify". We talk about it a lot in church, don’t we? We need to know it’s meaning! Here’s what Merriam-Webster dictionary says about the word "sanctify": 1: to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use : consecrate 2: to free from sin : purify 3 a: to impart or impute sacredness, inviolability, or respect to b: to give moral or social sanction 4: to make productive of holiness or piety There are a few words here that we recognize, aren’t there? Even the #4 definition says in Deut 5:12 that we should sanctify a day! How can you sanctify a day? But I want to look at all these definitions...I believe that Jesus was talking about all these definitions. Let’s look at them one at a time. 1: to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use : consecrate Jesus wants us to separate from the world...JOHN 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Listen, you gotta live in this world....but you don’t have to be a part of it. You are just strangers here, remember? You shouldn’t feel too much at home here anyway.....the world hates you! Nobody should want to stay where they are hated! That’s why some weaker Christians give up the fight..they want to be liked here on earth. We need to accept that we are just strangers here, passing through to an eternal life in heaven! 2: to free from sin : purify To be free from sin...WOW! 2 COR 6:17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. It takes a little effort on your part to be sanctified. Sometimes that unclean thing might look pretty good. Touch not and I will receive you says the Lord..... 3 a: to impart or impute sacredness, inviolability, or respect to b: to give moral or social sanction What does all that mean? It means we need to respect God as holy and sacred. He is our Master and He tells us in LEV 19:2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. ALL the congregation ...and you are grafted into that children of Israel thing, you know! Are you living a holy life? You should be! Respect the name of Jesus by living as He were walking beside you everyday. He is! Do you know what it means to sanction something? They talk about "sanctions" on countries sometimes, don’t they. It simply means restrictions. We all need to have restrictions that we go by, don’t we? Sanction your life to conform to His holiness. 4: to make productive of holiness or piety All of these definitions help to sanctify us little by little every day. To consecrate, purify, and to sanction our lives mean we are in the process of sanctification. So how important is sanctification? Jesus thought it important enough that He sanctified Himself so that "they also may be sanctified by the truth." Vs 17 says Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. Now you say " preach’a...they didn’t have the Bible in those days"...well, yes, they did have the OT scriptures, but when the Jesus says "thy word is truth", He is not just talking about the written word, although that is certainly part of it. He is also talking about the Word....the Word that you’re getting right now...the Word that you get whenever you come together as God’s people and have church. That’s the only place you can be with people who are strangers like you! Church! Lord knows, a lot of us are strange! A peculiar people, I believe the Bible says! Why do we need all this sanctification? What does it do for us? EPH 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Where did God live in Moses’ time? The temple. As a matter of fact, only a priest could go into God’s presence in the holy of holies, and he had to be "purified" or yes, sanctified. In those days, even when a priest went through the motions of cleansing and sanctifying, they had to have little bells on his robe and a rope around his waist. Getting sanctified was VERY important to him! He might not have gotten sanctified good enough, and God would smite him down. God cannot and will not tolerate sin of any kind or form! Good news! That’s the definition of gospel, by the way....Hebrews 7:26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Once and for all! This is why Jesus sanctified Himself...so His followers could be sanctified! Sanctification keeps us from sin...and Jesus intercedes for us with the Father when we do mess up...1 JOHN 2: 1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And this advocate, or priest doesn’t need any rope around His waist. He is sanctified and holy. He is set apart, free from sin, sanctioned, and well....sanctified so you can be too! How? By His word, His truth....His blood! We have to use every tool at our disposal to sanctify our lives. Sin separates us from God and anything that separates you from God is sin! If you love something more than you love Him...well, remember....the Lord your God is a jealous God! Besides, what could be so important down here...you’re just a stranger headed for a permanent home in heaven. Don’t trample the blood of Jesus. It is way too precious! Live a life of sanctification. Pay attention to it, strive for it! It will be worth it all!
