OPEN: Down in Kentucky, our nation has a very special place designed to protect our gold supply. Do you know what it’s called? (Fort Knox).
That’s where our nation keeps most of our gold.
But more than gold has been stored there over the years. Ft. Knox has also held the Magna Carta, the Gutenberg Bible, the English crown jewels as well as the gold reserves of several countries. And on December 26, 1941, the nation stored the original U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence—until they were moved to Washington D.C on October 1, 1944, where they’ve been on display ever since.
Now, why is Fort Knox such a good place to store valuables?
Because it’s quite literally a fortress.
It was built to be impossible for anybody to get inside of.
It is constructed of granite, steel, and concrete (some say that there’s more steel in the vault than gold). The vault is made of steel plates, steel beams, and steel cylinders. Steel bands wrap around everything, and then concrete encases it all. The vault door alone weighs more than 20 tons.
And getting inside without authorization is impossible. Even the president of the United States doesn't have the combination to the vault. To open the door, several staffers must EACH dial separate combinations known only to them.
On the outside, there’s a sentry posted at the entrance gate and guard box at each corner of the building. THEN, there an imposing steel fence surrounds the whole property. In addition I could tell you all about the high-tech protective devices in the building, but the government agency told me that if I did that… I'd have to kill you.
The point of this illustration is this:
The more valuable an item is the more trouble folks will go to to protect it
I also want you to notice:
• Ft. Knox protects our gold supply by locking it away.
• It separates it from mankind by walls made of steel and concrete.
• And it is guarded by soldiers who have instruction to shoot to kill.
It’s not a friendly place to be if you don’t belong there.
Keep that in mind for a moment as we look at our text for this morning.
Jesus prayed “…Father, PROTECT them by the power of your name— the name you gave me— so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I PROTECTED them and kept them safe by that name you gave me… My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you PROTECT them from the evil one.” John 17:11-12 & 15
As Jesus was praying to the Father, the main focus was that we would be protected. Jesus wanted the Father to shelter us, especially from the evil one.
So now, how would God go about defending us? I mean…
• Does He lock us away from the rest of the world?
• Does He surround us with walls of steel and concrete?
• Does He set up armed guards all around us to protect us from the evil one?
Well, yes… and… no.
Notice what Jesus says in verse 15:
“My prayer is NOT that you take them out of the world…” John 17:15
Jesus did not want the Father to lock us away from the rest of the world
Now, back in the Old Testament God did do that with the Israelites.
Genesis tells us that God went to a great deal of trouble to send the people of Israel down to Egypt during the days of Joseph. Granted there were on 70 or so of them at the time. But once Jacob and his sons moved down to Egypt, they were given a special land called “the land of Goshen”. And that’s where they lived for the next 430 years or so.
Israel was literally isolated from the rest of the world. God arranged for Israel to be walled off from the rest of the world - to be sheltered from the influence of paganism and the outside world. And they even had a very limited contact with their Egyptian hosts because the Egyptians were vegetarians and the Israelites were meat eaters.
God created a cultural barrier from those two peoples. Israel ended up being largely untouched by pagan influences of the day. Thus, when God had Moses lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Israel was emotionally and mentally different than any of their neighbors. They were prepared to be the people of God - and of Him only.
Now, God could have done that with us.
Once we were baptized into Christ, God could have whisked us away to some isolated and exotic land.
I’d personally opt for the Caribbean myself.
But it would be wonderful for God to take us immediately away from this world with all its temptations and lusts. Some tropical paradise where we could just sing praises the rest of our lives. But that’s not what God had in mind.
Jesus prayed that we NOT be taken “out of the world.”
Jesus prayed that we NOT be physically isolated from the people around us.
As Christians, God intended us to live IN this world… but not OF this world. As Peter wrote that we live “as aliens and strangers in the world.” 1 Peter 2:11
We live IN this world, but not OF it.
Jesus called us to “the salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”.
God saves us to make us missionaries to the world in which we live.
God has entrusted a very special ministry once we’re saved.
But there is a danger in that.
The danger is that we might become like our neighbors.
There are way too many Christians who watch the same R rated and X rated movies the rest of the world watches. They read the same questionable books and listen to music that glorifies immorality and sin… just like everyone else.
The danger for Christians is that since we live IN the world, we might become like the world and think like the world.
Paul warns us “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.” Ephesians 4:17-20
So, if that’s a danger.
If we are tempted to be like the world around us.
And God isn’t going to lock us away from this temptation.
How does God protect us as Jesus prayed in John 17?
Answer: He sanctifies us.
Sanctification is a $20 word that means “being set apart”
For example, the people back in the sound booth are “sanctified”. They are set apart from the rest of us. The kids in Jr. Church are “sanctified.” When I’m up here on the stage preaching, I’m sanctified. Anyone who is separated from the rest of us is “set apart” – they are sanctified.
That’s all sanctification means.
But as simple as that may sound it’s a powerful tool that God has given to us to be protected. Sanctification, the setting ourselves apart from the rest of the world while living IN the world, allows us to be God’s servants to those around us.
Now, you might ask – how does sanctification work?
ILLUS: How many of you drove to church this morning?
Your car is a wonderful thing. It helps you go to church, the grocery store, a friend’s house, or just for a drive in the country. Your vehicle gives you almost total freedom to go anywhere and do anything. I don’t care what make, model or year your vehicle may be – it is a wondrous invention.
But driving a car can also be very dangerous.
The force of your car running head on into a tree at speeds of 55 to 65 mph has roughly the same effect on your body as if you were to fall out of a 6th or 7th story window to the ground.
They tell me it’s not the fall that kills you… it’s that sudden stop.
Over the years, manufacturers have created ways to protect you from this kind of danger. What kind of devices does your car have that can at least minimize the danger of a serious car crash?
• Seatbelts
• Air bags
• Bumpers
• Designs of the chassis that allow the front of your car to absorb most of the impact.
And on top of all that, you are literally encased in a metal box that contains all those protections and that metal box literally “sanctifies” you while you drive down the road.
You are “set apart” from the rest of the world. You are IN the world, but not OF it while you are in your car.
That is what “sanctification” does for us.
When God sanctifies us, He “sets us apart” from the dangers of this world.
And when God sanctifies us this way… we are free to live IN this world, but not OF it.
We’re not locked away in a closet somewhere.
We’re not walled off from the people around us that need to know about love of Jesus.
We are free to be God’s servants in a lost and damaged world.
Now, how does God sanctify us?
Well, there are several things God does to “sanctify” us.
• We are “sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:16
• We are “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 1:2
• And when we become saved, we are added to His church and that sets us apart – sanctifies us – as well.
But the one thing I want to focus on this morning is what Jesus says in verse 17:
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17
Sanctify them with the Word?
What Word would that be? (get a response from the audience)
That’s right – the Scriptures. The book you hold in your hands.
The Bible is God’s tool to help us be set apart from the world.
Paul wrote “… everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4
And he told Timothy: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17
Thus, when we study and embrace God’s word into our lives it teaches us and gives us hope. And we become equipped for every good work.
But how can the Bible do all that? The Bible is able to do that because it is the Word of God. It is God’s truth for us. “Your Word is TRUTH” said Jesus
Now, in our passage this morning, Jesus tell us that God’s Word sanctifies us. It protects us. And that was what David wrote about when he said:
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11
And in Psalm119:9, David wrote:
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”
By studying and knowing this book, you keep your way pure, and you are enabled to deal with your sin.
When we use it correctly, the Bible becomes a sanctifying shield for our hearts.
ILLUS: During the Vietnam War, a man visited a Christian bookstore. There on the shelf was a New Testament with this title: the "Soldier's Shield". It was like any other New Testament, except it this one had a plate of stainless steel sewn into the back cover.
Bible companies have sold Bible’s like that ever since at least WWII (we showed a picture of a Bible case from WWII that held the words: “May This Keep You Safe From Harm” - http://www.pinterest.com/pin/293719206917550383/)
The idea was, that if a soldier carried his special New Testament in his left front shirt pocket, then God's Word would protect his heart a that fatal bullet. Only God knows how many lives were saved from death because of that Bible.
But would that “Soldier’s Shield” been useful if he’d put it in his back pocket? If he’d left it in his footlocker, or carried in his knapsack? Of course not. The only time that Bible would have protected the his heart would have been if the soldier placed it in his shirt pocket.
In the same way, the Bible can only protect our hearts from sin and help us keep our way pure if we put God’s Word INSIDE of our hearts. If we make so much a part of our lives that it’s truth protects us from the false thinking of this world.
God’s word is TRUTH.
You need to be so familiar with God’s truth that you know it and believe it and live your life by its counsel.
Now, by contrast, if you don’t guard your heart with God’s Word, you’ll be prone to be influenced by the lies of this world. And if you hear those lies often enough, you’ll start to believe what the world believes.
ILLUS: Just as an example, how many of you know someone who believes that the words “the separation of church and state” are found in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, or any of the other founding documents? (not many raised their hands).
That’s good. Because that phrase isn’t anywhere in those documents!
Now the New Media believes that it’s there.
The congress believes that it’s there.
The Supreme Court believes that it’s there.
The President of the United States believes that its there.
But it’s not.
It’s a lie!
The phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson, but he never intended his words to imply that the the church should be walled off from influencing government. He used that phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Church to assure them that there was a Constitutional wall that prohibited the nation from imposing its will upon the churches.
But groups like the ACLU and “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” have repeated the mantra of "separation of church and state" (implying that it meant that the church should never be allowed to impose itself on government or public schools, etc.) for so long that many people believe the phrase is in the Constitution.
But that is a lie. It is not the truth.
ILLUS: I once visited with some relatives, and the wife became very irritated with me when I told her that this phrase wasn’t in any of the founding documents. When I came down for breakfast the next morning, she’d left out a book opened to a page that quoted the 1st Amendment which says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” and felt she had proved her point.
But history defies that interpretation.
Two days after he wrote these words, Jefferson rode his horse down Pennsylvania Ave to attend worship services that were being held in the House of Representatives. In fact, the House of Representatives hosted several different denominations in the chambers for nearly 70 years until the mid-1800s. When Jefferson became President, he even loaned out the Treasury building to one congregation for worship because there weren’t sufficient buildings in D.C. for worship at the time.
So, this lie has been repeated so often and so strenuously that it has taken over our government and led to the slow but steady erosion of our rights as Americans. That’s what happens when you hear a lie often enough – it changes your life for the worse.
But (by contrast) if you hear the TRUTH often enough – especially God’s truth – then you begin to believe the words of life. The words of God’s wisdom. The words that will give you life… and life more abundantly.
When Jesus said “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17) Jesus was saying that the Scriptures are not only true but they have the power to protect you and give you life in a dying world.
CLOSE: October 21st, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and the 6 men in the plane with him crashed into the Pacific Ocean. They managed to get out before their plane sank, and they soon found themselves drifting on the ocean in 3 rafts with no water and only 4 oranges.
One of those in the rafts was by Lieutenant James Whittaker. In his book “We Thought We Heard The Angels Sing, he told of how they survived.
He said they tied their boats together and drifted day after day without food or water. They became delirious under the relentless sun and they constantly saw the fins of sharks that circled their rafts.
It seemed impossible for them to survive, but one of the men, Private Johnny Bartek was a dedicated Christian who always carried a little New Testament with him. And there, in the middle of the Pacific, Bartek had his devotions. It wasn’t very private and the other six men wanted to know what he was doing. When he explained to them about his daily Bible reading and prayer they asked him why they couldn’t all share in that.
And so the men began having daily devotions together and started with Gospel of Matthew. When they came to 6:31-34 the words there immediately became their inspiration, and prayer. They recited the words: “What shall we eat?” “What shall we drink?” “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
And then, a remarkable series of miracles started happening. Just when they were near starvation, for example, a bird landed on Rickenbacker’s head. They grabbed it, carved it up for food, and used its innards for fishing bait. Just when they were near death by thirst, a cloud would drift over and fill their raft with water. Day after day as they read these verses, prayed, and claimed these promises God somehow sent food and water, sometimes even a fish jumping into their raft.
For 21 days they drifted under the blazing sun in the middle of the Pacific. And because of what he saw God do in response to their Bible reading and prayer Lieutenant James Whittaker, the author of the book, gave his life to Jesus Christ.
He later wrote: "I don’t think there was a man of us who didn’t thank God for that little khaki covered book," he said. "It led us to prayer and prayer led us to safety."
Jesus said: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17
