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Or you could turn with me in 
your Bibles to John's gospel. We're in John 17, the high priestly 
prayer of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So John 17, the 
focus primarily will be verses 17 to 19, but I do wanna read 
beginning in verse six. So John's Gospel, John 17, beginning 
in verse 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you 
have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them 
to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known that 
all things which you have given me are from you. For I have given 
to them the words which you have given me, and they have received 
them, and have known surely that I came forth from you, and they 
have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray 
for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they 
are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am 
glorified in them. 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, or excuse 
me, those whom you gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost 
except the son of perdition, 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. 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. 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. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in Heaven, we thank You for the Lord's Day. We thank You for 
the blessings that You have poured out on us in the Gospel of our 
salvation. We pray that the Holy Spirit, 
who gave us the Word, would guide us now and help us to see the 
glory of Jesus Christ in this high priestly prayer. We thank 
You for that priestly office and for what He does in terms 
of intercession and ultimately His sacrifice on behalf of guilty 
sinners. We ask that you would forgive 
us now of all of our transgression of your law. We know the apostle 
tells us to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel, and yet 
we say with the hymn writer, we say with scripture, that we 
are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. 
We thank you for that loving kindness we sang of in Psalm 
103. We thank you that in the gospel 
you take our sin and you cast it away. We thank you that there 
is forgiveness with you that you may be feared, and so cleanse 
us even now. And God, we pray for any and 
all here that are dead in those trespasses and sins, that you 
would awaken them, cause them to see themselves before a holy 
God, and may they as well see this holy Savior that is the 
one who forgives and the one who gives a righteousness that 
avails with you. We ask these things now in the 
name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, 
as we come to this particular section, we remember the upper 
room discourse or the farewell discourse in chapters 13 to 16, 
where Jesus addresses the disciples, the apostles prior to his ascension 
on high back to his father. And he speaks of that departure 
over and over and over again in the gospel record. Well, here, 
before he goes to Gethsemane, he prays. And we call this a 
high priestly prayer, much because of what we'll see in verse 19. Notice what Jesus says there. 
It says, and for their sakes, I sanctify myself. I'll try and 
explain that when we get there, but that is the priestly office 
of the Savior on behalf of his people. So he gives them the 
upper room discourse. He's going to be turned over 
to the godless and the god-haters to be delivered up to be crucified. 
But before that, he's going to pray. And this prayer didn't 
take a long time. It's taking us a long time to 
work our way through it because it's rich theologically. In terms 
of time frame, upper room, prayer, and then he goes to Gethsemane 
and there he's arrested and brought before Pilate and then delivered 
up to crucifixion. So the time frame isn't long. 
It isn't hours upon hours. All things are moving very quickly 
now in the Passion Week of our Lord Jesus. Well, last time we 
considered the first petition of our Lord for the apostles 
specifically. He prayed for their protection. 
He prayed for their protection. Notice he speaks of his own preservation 
of them. While I am with them in the world, 
I have kept them. There has been no harm that has 
come to them except the son of perdition. This was prophesied. 
This is according to scripture. And so he commends them to the 
father. And this is very helpful and beneficial for them because 
he's telling the disciples that he's going to depart to be with 
the father. So his physical absence could 
mean some scary things for them. So he asks the father to continue 
to protect them while they are on earth. And here he prays that 
the father would sanctify them. So verses 17 to 19, we see the 
sanctification of the apostles. And again, I'll try and explain 
what he's doing and what he is saying here. But I want to consider 
two things, the sanctification of the apostles properly in verse 
17. And then secondly, the mission 
of the apostles in verses 18 and 19. Remember, he's preparing 
these men. for his absence. He's preparing 
these men for his ascension on high. They are going to be those 
who take the gospel into the then known world to preach, to 
make disciples, to found churches. And in fact, New Testament documents 
tell us that they are foundational in terms of the church. Christ, 
of course, is the chief cornerstone, but in 1 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 
chapter two and verse 20, we see that the apostles played 
a foundational role in the beginning of the church. So first, let 
us notice what he prays in verse 17 under the sanctification of 
the apostles. The petition is simple. It's 
just two quick words. He says, sanctify them. And then 
we're going to see what by your truth means in just a moment. 
So the instrument of their sanctification is the truth. And then he further 
identifies that truth as the word of God. But what does he 
mean by sanctify them? Let me give you two dictionary 
definitions here. Set aside something or make it 
suitable for ritual purposes to consecrate or to dedicate. 
Include a person in the inner circle of what is holy, both 
in cultic and moral associations of the word. Consecrate, dedicate, 
sanctify. So you see that mindset, or that 
understanding, rather, is to consecrate, dedicate, to set 
them apart. The Old Testament cultic mindset, 
and by cultic there, I don't mean Jehovah's Witness, I mean 
the religious apparatus that was Old Covenant Israel. So in 
the cult there, you had things that were consecrated, or dedicated, 
or sanctified, set apart for use in the Lord's house, for 
instance. The utensils that would be employed 
in the Lord's tabernacle or in the temple, those would be consecrated. 
They'd be set apart. They would be sanctified from 
a common to a holy use. Same with the priests. The priests 
were consecrated. They were dedicated. They were 
set apart. And our priest here is praying 
for the disciples that they be consecrated, that they be dedicated, 
that they be set apart for the specific task at hand. He is 
commending them to the Father so that the Father is able to 
use them for that particular purpose. So the mission specifically 
will be specified in verse 18b. He's going to send them into 
the world as consecrated, dedicated, set-apart people for a particular 
function in the service of God Most High. And I think there's 
a close connection between the petitions that Jesus prays for 
the apostles. He prays for their protection 
and he prays for their sanctification. Notice specifically in terms 
of protection in verse 15, I do not pray that you should take 
them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the 
evil one. So protection has as its mind 
or as its definition, protection from the evil one. But not only 
are they to be protected from the evil one, they're not only 
supposed to be on guard from the evil one, they're to be consecrated 
for usefulness to the Holy One. They're to be dedicated, they're 
to be set aside so that they can function in the capacity 
that Christ is going to send them out to make disciples, to 
baptize disciples, to make churches with those disciples, then to 
write to those churches that are made up of disciples the 
New Testament documents, and then perpetuate that glorious 
mission throughout the ages. So Christ wants his apostles 
to be protected from the evil one, but set apart specifically 
for service to the holy one. Now, in terms of the preservation, 
he speaks of that. In terms of the protection, he 
speaks of that. In terms of sanctification, he 
is doing that here. So notice, in two brief petitions, 
Jesus pretty much comprehends all the needs that the apostles 
are going to have. He's not praying for their food, 
for their shelter, for their clothing, and I'm not suggesting 
it's wrong to do that, but he is praying for them with reference 
to what they are commissioned to do to go into the Roman Empire, 
to go into Jewish synagogues, to go throughout the world and 
proclaim Christ and Him crucified. What is it they're going to need? 
They're going to need protection from the evil one and consecration 
unto the holy one. So those two brief petitions 
summarily comprehend basically everything that the apostles 
are going to need in terms of their mission and in terms of 
their usefulness in the hand of the master. Now in terms of 
that keeping from the evil one and consecration to the holy 
one, with reference to the devil, they are set apart from him. 
They are, as that word sanctify has as its kind of primary meaning, 
to be set apart. They're set apart from the devil. 
They are contrary to the evil one. Remember Jesus' dispute 
with the religious leaders in John chapter 8. He says, you 
are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father 
you want to do. Well, the apostles are not like 
that. They are not of their father, the devil. They are not contrary 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not wanting to kill 
the Lord Jesus Christ. So thus far, Christ has preserved 
them from the evil one. Thus far, He has commended His 
Father to protect them from the evil one. And this sanctification 
of this consecration or dedication is going to make them or indicate 
that they're contrary to the evil one. As well, they are consecrated 
for Christ, that master-servant paradigm. And as well, they are 
filled with the Holy Spirit to undergo the task that the Lord 
Jesus gives to them. So notice, he then says, what 
is the true, or what is the means by which this sanctification 
comes? Sanctify them by thy truth. Not just by an immediate snap 
of divine finger power. He doesn't just say, you know, 
make them holy here right now. No, sanctify them by thy truth. Sanctify them by the use of means. Sanctify them, transform them 
to be sure, but again, not a divine snap of the fingers such that 
they come out of some machine and they're now automatically, 
specifically, and only ever pure. No, the means or the instrument 
is the truth. The prayer is not a prayer for 
an immediate transformation, but rather a due use of the ordinary 
means. The prayer is one for God's blessing 
upon that use of means, the instrumentality of truth. Whatever he means, 
he's going to further define it for us in a moment, but here 
right now, sanctify them by thy truth. The prayer contains the 
request of the Father, but the prayer as well expresses to the 
hearers, the apostles, the very means or instrument that they're 
going to need for that sanctification. So he says, protect them. I don't 
want you to take them out of the world, verse 10, but rather 
protect them while they're in the world such that they don't 
fall prey to the evil one. I want you to sanctify them, 
Father, not with this immediate transformation that all of a 
sudden they're brand new sort of radiant beings who glow only 
light. No, that's not it. Sanctify them 
by thy truth. And we need to learn that in 
this particular context, he is speaking particularly to his 
apostles, but we need to hear this language. Sanctification 
doesn't come by magic. Sanctification doesn't come by 
hocus-pocus. Sanctification doesn't come with 
a price. I mean, it comes with a price. 
If you're actually holy, you're gonna be persecuted for the Lord 
Jesus Christ. It's not like you can buy it. 
You don't go to the pastor, you can't go to a priest and say, 
give me 10 units of holiness and I'll give you 100 bucks or 
whatever the going rate for holiness units happens to be. It's not 
like that. How, as God's people, do we get 
further conformed under the image of his son? You've probably heard 
this before. Read your Bible. Come to Bible 
study. Come to church. Be where scriptures 
opened up. Be where the Word of God is proclaimed. 
Be where the Word of God is taught. You want to be like your Savior? 
You've got to have the truth. He prays, sanctify them by thy 
truth. It's not a magical process that 
goes on. The prayer is focused on God's 
truth and sanctification. Before he further defines and 
says, thy word is truth, let's just pretend for a moment that 
he doesn't say, thy word is truth, and think about what he says 
here, sanctify them by thy truth. Sanctify them by the Lord Jesus 
Christ. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that Word 
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, 
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. And that one further goes on to identify himself as 
the way, the truth, and the life. Father, sanctify them by their 
knowledge of me. Sanctify them by their understanding 
of me. As well, sanctify them by the 
truth of the Spirit of truth. In John 14, John 15, and John 
16, the Lord Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit 
of truth. So again, he's gonna go on to 
say, thy word is truth, and there I take it as incarnate word, 
the Lord Jesus, but as well written word, and we'll look at that 
in just a moment. But the spirit of truth is necessary. So if, 
or as he prays, sanctify them by thy truth, what is it that 
they're hearing that they most definitely need? They need the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They need the Lord God 
of truth. They need the Son, who is truth. 
They need the Spirit, who is truth. Yet not three truths, 
one truth. So that's what they see is going 
to be absolutely crucial to their sanctification, to their having 
been set apart, to their consecration or dedication for the ministry 
that the Lord Jesus has entrusted to them. Now notice, well before 
notice, Cyril of Alexandria made the observation. He's not stretching 
that. Oh, come on, unheard of and superhuman? Yeah, 12 men go out into the 
Roman Empire, go into the unbelieving synagogues. The unbelieving synagogues, 
you're going to preach the Jesus that they rejected, the Jesus 
that they resisted, the Jesus that they shouted out, crucify 
him, crucify him. We see in the book of Acts how 
that goes over in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. 
They deliver him up to the Roman magistrate to get him off their 
backs, but as well to the Roman Empire. And as I've explained 
before, at this time, the Roman Empire looked at Christianity, 
or would a bit later, once you get to the book of Acts, as something 
of a subset of Judaism. Now, it's not, but that's how 
the Roman Empire looked at it. And for the most part, the Jews 
were left alone to do their own religious thing. So initially 
in the Roman Empire, the Christians were left alone to do their own 
thing. If you read the book of Acts, the first enemy of the 
church is unbelieving Israel. They deliver up the apostles 
to the Roman magistrate, and very often the Roman magistrate 
is saying, why are you telling us this? I shared this recently 
in, I think it was the Saturday morning class, or one of the 
teaching opportunities in the church. Galileo in Acts 18, he 
says, this is a theological debate between you guys. Why would you 
involve us in this? I think he said it probably a 
little nicer than what I'm saying it, but that's the essence of 
the gist. Now as time went on in the empire, there was an increasing 
opposition to the church. Remember Nero? Nero burns the 
city down and he blames the Christians. They were a great scapegoat trying 
to pass the buck. But when you think about 12 men, 
going in to do this. It is unheard of, and it is superhuman, 
and there were those who responded, these men are turning the world 
upside down. So Cyril is right when he speaks 
of this as a superhuman sort of a thing. He says, if their 
minds were not sealed by participation in the Spirit and empowered by 
Him to carry out an unheard of and superhuman command, as they 
were led easily by the light of the Spirit to perfect knowledge 
of the divinely inspired Scripture and the holy dogmas of the church. 
In other words, sanctify them by thy truth will cast them onto 
the truth, the Lord God of truth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
But then Jesus goes on to further delineate and says, your word 
is truth. Again, a reference to Jesus, 
the word became flesh that says of himself that he is truth. 
We might move out a little bit further and understand that in 
the upper room, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit is going 
to teach that. The Holy Spirit, in fact, he 
says in 16, that it's to your advantage that I go away. Imagine 
that. You've grown to love the Savior. 
You've grown to be, you know, just in awe of the Savior. And 
he tells you it's to your advantage that I go away? You'd probably 
think, wait a minute, Lord, I don't want you to go away. I can't 
see how that will be advantageous to me should you go away. But 
he says it will be. Why? because I'm going to send 
another Comforter. I'm going to send the Spirit 
of Truth, and He's going to take these things and teach you, and 
He's going to remind you, and He's going to bring to remembrance 
all that I have said. You need the ministry of the 
Holy Spirit, basically, as He says in the Upper Room Discourse. 
And so they are cast now upon that Word that is going to bring 
them great hope, great comfort, but it's going to be the very 
nature of their ministry. The Spirit of the living God 
is going to bring to their remembrance all the things that Jesus had 
taught. He's gonna help them understand the Old Testament. 
Remember Jesus in John 5 rebukes the unbelieving Jews and he says, 
you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal 
life. But these are they which testify of me. And then he says 
in John 5, continuing that same context, you should listen to 
Moses. Why? Because Moses wrote about 
me. Brethren, these 12, or 11 at 
this point, are finding their way, they're learning to be sure, 
but the day of Pentecost and fulfillment of Joel 2 and the 
promise of the Spirit in a very powerful measure is going to 
set their minds on a proper path of a Christocentric, that means 
Christ-centered interpretation of Old Testament texts. Right? They need that. They need to 
see how everything spoken in the Old Testament was about the 
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not suggesting they're not 
getting it here. I'm not suggesting that they're 
dullards here or that they're fools here. But on the day of 
Pentecost, when the Spirit comes, The emphasis isn't upon tongue 
speaking. The emphasis is that Christ, 
at the right hand of the Father, is enthroned on high, and in 
accordance with the prophetic scripture, has poured out this 
Holy Spirit that then enables the apostles to preach and teach 
with a Christ-centered emphasis, and then to pen the pages of 
the New Testament. Jesus says, sanctify them by 
thy truth, thy word is truth. So when these apostles go about 
and preach and teach, some of them will write. And when they 
write, they're writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 
And so what Jesus prays here is that everything about them 
in terms of this consecration, this dedication, this setting 
apartness, It has to come through the instrumentality of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It has to come through the instrumentality 
of those divine scriptures. Those scriptures in the Old Testament 
which promised and anticipated the Lord Jesus. Those scriptures 
of the New Testament that are going to show the fulfillment 
and the explanation of those scriptures. In other words, sanctify 
them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. Gil says the 
gospel is here meant, and is so called on account of its original. 
It comes from the God of truth. And because of the concern which 
Christ, who is the truth, has in it, He being the author, preacher, 
and sum and substance of it, and because the Spirit of truth 
has dictated it, leads into it, qualifies men to preach it, and 
makes it effectual, and because it contains all truth necessary 
to salvation, and nothing but truth, and particularly that 
eminent truth, salvation alone by Christ. Now, this is the means 
both of the beginning and increasing and carrying on the work of sanctification 
in the hearts of God's people, as well as of an experimental 
knowledge of it. And an increase of that knowledge 
does more and more qualify the ministers of it for their ministerial 
work and service, which seems here chiefly designed. So Gill 
says, generally speaking, this is what all of us are dependent 
upon for any growth and sanctification. But specifically with reference 
to apostles and those who would come later in the church in the 
office of elder, whose task primarily is to teach, how do they get 
from point A to point B? They go to speaking school? They 
figure out how to manipulate crowds? They figure out how to 
work people. No, they're devoted to a study 
of God's truth. They grow in the grace and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If the 
apostolic ministry was absolutely connected to the truth, then 
why would we think church ministry subsequent to that should be 
given to entertainment, should be given to group therapy, should 
be given to whatever else it is versus an exposition and application 
of God's holy truth. Sanctify them, not by experience. Sanctify them, not by feeling. 
Sanctify them, not by the warm fuzzies. Sanctify them by thy 
truth. And brethren, one of the concerns 
that some have seen in our day is that we search out the feelings. We search out the experience. 
We search out everything other than the truth. Maybe we should 
listen to Jesus here. Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. You wanna 
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, 
Jesus Christ? Get more truth in you. You want to be further 
conformed unto the image of His beloved Son? Get more truth in 
you. I'm not sure why this is such 
a difficult thing in the context of church life. If you want to 
get into shape, you have to change the way that you eat. If you 
want to get into shape, you have to pick up heavy things and put 
them down again. If you wanna get in shape, you have to get 
your cardiovascular system moving. It's pretty obvious and pretty 
common. And yet we've got people in the 
church, I don't know why I'm not growing. Can I offer a suggestion? Can I make a recommendation? 
It's very simple, read your Bible. Don't miss church. Don't miss 
Bible study. Why? I don't get it. I don't 
understand it. It's a perplexing thing. We get 
it in the natural arena in terms of putting on good weight and 
taking off bad weight. It's a simple, formulaic, algorithmic 
sort of an approach. Don't eat junk and run around 
the block a few times. Pretty simple. How is it for 
us in growth and grace? Don't eat junk and run around 
the block a few times, reading your Bible while you do it. Sanctify 
them by thy truth, thy word is truth. Notice secondly, the mission 
of the apostles in verses 18 and 19. After this prayer for 
protection and sanctification, he now gets into the crux. Verse 
18, as you sent me into the world. Now brethren, we're not gonna 
spend a lot of time on this phrase because we've spent a lot of 
time on this phrase. This is the phrase that is the 
very confines of the book. The Word became flesh and dwelled 
among us. We're met with that in the prologue. And why did the Word come? He 
came to His own. His own received Him not, but 
those who received Him, to those He gave the right to be the children 
of God. So in the prologue itself, we've 
got the identification of the Word, He's God, God the Son. We've got the mission of the 
Word, He came to His own, His own received Him not, but as 
many as did receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children 
of God. And we see the very nature of the Word. He became flesh 
and He dwelt among us. He's spoken of it as recently 
as John 16. Notice in verse 28, I came forth 
from the Father. I think that's eternal generation. 
And have come into the world. That's the incarnation. Again, 
I leave the world and go to the Father. So there's been no shortage 
of times where Jesus has referred to what he does in 18a. As you 
sent me into the world. Now note this connection. Note 
the inextricable link here. I also have sent them into the 
world. The petition for protection and 
not extraction from the world is here flashed out, right? Go back to verse 15. I do not 
pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you 
should keep them from the evil one. Why does he pray that they're 
not extracted from the world and immediately present with 
God? Because He's going to send them 
into the world. He's going to send them on this 
mission. Just as the Father sent the Son, so the Son sends the 
Apostles. And why does the Son send the 
Apostles? I've already referred to it. To make disciples. To baptize those disciples made. 
To plant churches with those disciples. to encourage them, 
to meet with them, to Sabbath rest with them as a foretaste 
of that eternal rest that is awaiting for us. All of the purposes 
that you see in the New Testament scriptures for the church, Jesus 
sends the apostles to initiate that task. So notice verse 18, 
as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the 
world. Now, he then goes on to speak 
of the preparation of the apostles. Notice what he says in verse 
19. Again, just that sort of definitional statement from earlier. 
To set aside something or make it suitable for ritual purposes, 
to consecrate, dedicate. to include a person in the inner 
circle of what is holy, both in cultic and moral associations 
of the word, consecrate, dedicate, sanctify. Isn't that interesting? Jesus predicates their sanctification. He predicates their mission to 
the world on his own sanctification. Now brethren, he's not praying 
here for a growth in holiness. He's praying about what he's 
gonna do when that hour comes. He's talking about being a priest. 
He sanctified himself so that we are sanctified. There are passages that indicate 
this is the meaning here. And again, this is why I think 
it's called the high priestly prayer, or one of the reasons, 
because of what he says here. And for their sakes, I sanctify 
myself. Remember the priest in the Old 
Testament? He didn't just wander into the 
tabernacle and he didn't just wander into the temple. There 
was a consecration procedure. There were washings, there were, 
you know, sacrifices, there were, you know, means to employ such 
that he could go in in an authorized way. When he tries to do that 
in an unauthorized way, God kills him, in the case of Nadab and 
Abihu. They offer up strange fire, according to Leviticus 
10, in a context, by the way, where Leviticus 1-6 describes, 
defines, and delineates what kind of sacrifices you're supposed 
to bring into the presence of the Holy God. And then in chapter 
9, Israel does it correctly. Fire comes down out of heaven 
and consumes the sacrifice, and God is pleased, and the people 
rejoice. So why these men on the heels of that take strange 
fire, profane fire, and offer it up to the Lord, I don't know. 
But God killed them as a result. They weren't sanctified. They 
were dirty priests. They were not operating according 
to God's holy law. They were not built or they were 
not working with that legislation that was built into the system. 
You don't just wander into the presence of God. And that's what 
I suspect they did. There's some debate about this, 
but I think they tried to go into the Holy of Holies. They 
weren't supposed to go into the Holy of Holies. That was a one 
time by the high priest a year sort of a thing. I say that because 
the Day of Atonement legislation in Leviticus 16 gives a nod back 
to Nadab and Abihu. So some suggest, and I think 
they're right, that Nadab and Abihu tried to go into the Holy 
of Holies in an unauthorized way with profane fire. The bottom 
line is, is that they did not obey God, so God killed them. 
They were not sanctified for that particular purpose or use. 
So Jesus' sanctification in verse 19 is not his prayer for more 
holiness, on His part. I'm not suggesting that according 
to His humanity that, well, I am suggesting that. He was holy, 
harmless, and undefiled. This is the sanctification of 
our Savior as priest. Notice in John 10. John 10, same 
language used of Christ, or by Christ, of Himself. Notice in 
John 10 at verse 36, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified 
and sent in the world? You are blaspheming because I 
said I am the Son of God. Turn to the book of Hebrews where 
I think this comes out very clearly as well. The sanctification of 
Jesus that he refers to in John 17, 19 has to do with the arrival 
of the hour and his functioning as the priest. He is the sacrifice. He is the sacrificer. He is consecrated 
to this task. He is set apart for it. He is 
dedicated as the high priest. Notice in Hebrews chapter 1. 
First, there's a reference to Psalm 45. Notice in Hebrews 1 
at verse 6. I'm sorry, verse nine. Verse 
nine, you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, therefore 
God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more 
than your companions. That's Psalm 45, seven. And I 
think the anointing there goes along with this priestly office 
of the Savior, marked out, set apart, consecrated, dedicated 
for the specific task of redemption. Turn over to Hebrews nine, Hebrews 
chapter nine. So the sanctification of our 
Lord that he is speaking of in John 17, 19 is the very foundation 
for the setting apart, the consecration or dedication of these apostles, 
both to redemption and to their particular work of preaching 
redemption. Notice in Hebrews 9, 14, how 
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal 
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God." See that connection? Because of Jesus' sanctification, 
setting apart for this priestly activity, the people of God are 
sanctified or washed or cleansed as a result. Turn over to Hebrews 
chapter 10. This passage, I think, is misunderstood 
by some who teach that Arminianism must be true because it sounds 
like somebody was in the covenant and they lost their salvation. 
That's not what Hebrews 10 is teaching. Hebrews 10, 29, of 
how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought 
worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the 
blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing? 
People make that he a he like us. It's Jesus. Jesus is the he in verse 29. Look at it again. Of how much 
worse punishment do you suppose will he, the sinner, the reprobate, 
the apostate in this context, be thought worthy who has trampled 
underfoot or trampled the son of God underfoot, counted the 
blood of the covenant by which the son of God was sanctified, 
a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace. Christ's 
sanctification there. calling him a failure, calling 
him unclean, calling him a son of a liar, whatever it is, it 
is Jesus who is set apart for that particular priestly activity. 
Our confession in chapter eight, paragraph three, the Lord Jesus 
in his human nature, thus united to the divine in the person of 
the son was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure. 
That's his point here in John 17, 19. And for their sakes, 
I sanctify myself. That brings us to conclude here 
at verse 19. The sanctification of the apostles 
is founded upon the priestly office of Jesus. I hope you get 
that connection because we're going to extend it in just a 
moment when we get to some thoughts about how this applies to all 
of us. Just know that if it applies to the apostles as unique, special 
individuals that God used in the history of the church, it 
extends to us as not as unique, not as special individuals in 
the history of the church. But we can't lose sight of the 
fact that these are apostles. These are men that are being 
equipped to go into the world and to turn it upside down for 
Jesus. These are men that are being called upon to receive 
the Holy Spirit, to go preach from place to place to place 
to place, and then to take pen to paper and write the very word 
of the living and true God. There's a unique status that 
these men possess. And Jesus is telling them why 
or how they may be sanctified. It is as a result of the finished 
work of our blessed Savior. I have several texts that you 
can see in the New Testament, that use of sanctified, set apart, 
consecrate, dedicate, whatever, however we want to define it, 
as it applies specifically to believers in Christ. As it applies 
specifically to believers. Why are we sanctified? It's because 
of the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. Life, 
death, and resurrection of our Lord. We're not sanctified because 
we're good. We're not sanctified because 
we're holy. We're not sanctified because 
of something in us. We're sanctified because of the 
finished work of Jesus Christ on behalf of guilty, vile, helpless 
sinners. Remember, he says, I do not pray 
for the world, but I pray for those whom you have given me 
out of the world. They're not a select bunch that 
got themselves out of the world. They were chosen by God in his 
grace for salvation. And that salvation comes as a 
result of the sanctifying work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the 
cross at Calvary. He is speaking of his priesthood. 
The apostles are set apart by redemption for, or rather for 
redemption by the truth. And the apostles are set apart 
for the ministry by the truth. Notice in John 20, John 20, specifically 
at verse 21, This is as formal a commissioning 
ceremony as we have in Matthew 28. Here we have John 20, 21. So Jesus said to them, again, 
peace to you. As the father has sent me, I 
also send you. Brethren, you have to see something 
unique about the place of the apostles in language like this. 
As the father has sent me, so I've sent you. I mean, that passage is not for 
you when you go down the street and you hand out a tract to somebody. 
I mean, it is kind of. But it's kind of not. These apostles 
were unique men. These apostles were unique individuals 
in redemptive history for a specific task. And Jesus commissions them 
to go do his ministry. Peace to you. As the Father has 
sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he 
breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. 
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you 
retain the sins of any, they are retained. So we've got this 
breathing of the Spirit upon these men. And then we turn to 
the book of Acts, in Acts chapter two, and what happens in verses 
one to four? We've got this mighty, rushing 
wind come down upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're 
commissioned by Christ, and that's predicated not on their specialness, 
not on their snowflakeness, not on their ingenuity, not on their 
intellect, but on the sanctification of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
prophet, priest, and king who went to the cross for them. The ministry of the apostles, 
they're saved by God's grace through belief in the truth. 
They're consecrated for God's use by belief in the truth. And I want to argue now, finally, 
that that's their primary purpose in the New Testament. That's easy, right? What are 
they supposed to do after Jesus ascends on high, leads captivity 
captive? What are they supposed to do? They're supposed to go 
preach. Pretty simple, right? And then they're supposed to 
take pen to paper and write down what it looks like for the church 
in the absence of the apostles. Kind of like what Jesus is doing 
here, I'm gonna be absent physically from you. Never spiritually. 
He's always with them. He tells them in John 14, 18, 
I will come to you. I will not leave you as orphans. 
Again, for them, having seen him for three years and not seeing 
him now, probably took a little while to connect the dots that, 
yeah, he's with us. But the way that Jesus is preparing those 
disciples is the way that those disciples prepare the church. 
Oh, I don't know. Say, for instance, 1 Timothy 
3, 1 to 7. Titus chapter one, five to nine, specifically verse 
nine, with special emphasis on the use of the truth, both in 
the edification of the saints and the refutation of heretics. Where did the church go wrong? Why entertainment? Why self-help-ism? Why, you know, the polished guru 
standing in front of everybody, sipping his latte and just giving 
you a few helpful thoughts to navigate the week. That's not 
what the apostles left in terms of their legacy to the church. 
They had been sanctified, set apart, consecrated, devoted by 
the sanctification of Jesus, the high priest who was cut off 
for his people and their sins. and they told us as the church 
what is requisite. How do we evade the clarity of 
a 2 Timothy chapter four? Preach the word, not preach experiences, 
not preach feelings, not preach emotions, not preach self-help, 
not preach just principles for happy living here on earth. Preach 
the truth, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, 
convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering. That's a 
big order, but a pretty simple one, isn't it? Not entertain, 
not hold therapy sessions, not emotionalism, not what's happened. Where'd we go astray? Jesus does 
for the apostles, the apostles do for the church, and we're 
in a day and age where a lot of people, thankfully, that's 
changing. Thankfully, there's some good 
stuff happening. I'm not Eeyore from Winnie the 
Pooh, always the dark cloud. I'm a happy guy, very happy guy, 
trust me. There are things that are happening 
in a positive direction, but there's also lulls. There's also 
dips. And those lulls and dips are 
usually connected with a failure to get one's mind wrapped around 
a very simple proposition in scripture, sanctify them by thy 
truth, thy word is truth. It's a failure to get one's mind 
wrapped around a very simple process outlined in 1 Timothy 
3, one to seven, on how to identify men who function as elders in 
the church or Titus chapter one, verses five to nine. It's always 
amazed me the connection that you have with 1 Timothy 3 and 
the qualifications for elders. On the one hand, Acts 20, on 
the other hand, Revelation 2. What happens in Acts 20? The 
Apostle Paul addresses those Ephesian elders. And the Apostle 
Paul warns those Ephesian elders that from among yourselves, men 
will rise up. They'll be like savage wolves, 
not sparing the flock. Why are they gonna do that, Paul? 
Because they wanna make a name for themselves. So you get that 
Acts 20 situation, then you've got the qualifications for eldership 
in 1 Timothy 3, which is Timothy's in Ephesus. You have this Acts 
20 sort of announcement that some from among you, Ephesian 
elders, are gonna become savage wolves. And then you've got the 
first Timothy chapter three, Timothy and Ephesus. Then you've 
got Revelation chapter two. That first church of the seven 
churches of Asia Minor. If I ask you the question, how 
do you identify, how do you know the church in Ephesus in Revelation 
two? Well, they're the ones that lost their first love, man. Yeah, 
they did. But you know what they got right? 
And I think, at least practically, personally, I doubt I could prove 
it, but my feeling is, my emotional train, is that they were so caught 
up with what they were doing that it was difficult to have 
a heart on fire in terms of devotion to Jesus Christ. He's not saying 
they're apostates. He's not saying you're dead to 
me. He's not saying you've become goats. You're reprobate. You've 
lost your first love. Well, what was it that was occupying 
them? You tested those who said they 
were apostles and were not. That's commendable. Just like 
Jesus. I've lost none of them except 
the son of perdition. The apostolic ministry was so 
important to our Lord Jesus Christ that he had to get the goat from 
out among them. He had to get the reprobate out 
from among them, because those 11 men, blood-bought by that 
priest, filled with that Holy Spirit, with that mission before 
them to go and preach, to make disciples, and to plant churches, 
that is such a valuable task. You have to look at a Judas sometime 
and say, you know what? It ain't for you. Just like the 
church in Ephesus learned, they learned to test those who said 
they were apostles and were not. So they rejected them, they refused 
them, they cast them out. John Calvin makes this observation 
concerning Titus chapter one, verse nine. That's the passage 
wherein the elder must be capable with the word. He says, this 
is the chief gift in a bishop who is elected principally for 
the sake of teaching. For the church cannot be governed 
in any other way than by that word. He wishes that a bishop 
should hold it fast, so as not only to be well instructed in 
it, but to be constant in maintaining it." That's crucial. Listen to Spurgeon as he's addressing 
his students at the pastor's college. He says, brethren, if 
you are not theologians, you are in your pastorates just nothing 
at all. You may be fine rhetoricians 
and be rich in Polish sentences, but without knowledge of the 
gospel and aptness to teach it, you are but a sounding brass 
and a tinkling cymbal. He's right. That doesn't make 
you a bad guy. It doesn't make you a sinful 
guy. Doesn't make you a monstrous 
guy. It just makes you an unqualified 
guy for church eldership. It's not a sin to be unqualified 
for church eldership. I mean, there could be sins as 
to why you're not qualified for church eldership, but not everybody's 
going to be an elder. but the ones who are elders are 
under that mandate of 1 Timothy 3, 2, they must be able to teach, 
but he's so nice, but he can't teach. He's got really good feelings, 
but he can't teach. He's full of emotion, but he 
can't teach. Do you see the point? Father, protect them from the 
evil one in the world. Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy 
word is truth for their usefulness in the world. And then those 
men inspired by the Holy Spirit, not inspired the way we get inspired 
when we look at a sunrise, but God breathed through them. And 
they said, this is a mark in the church throughout the ages. It's an emphasis on the truth. 
How does Paul describe the church in 1 Timothy chapter 3? 1 Timothy 
chapter 3, the church of God, which is what? The pillar and 
the ground of the experience? The pillar and the ground of 
the feeling? The pillar and the ground of 
the sappy, you know, musical displays? The pillar and the 
ground of, you know, a therapy session? No, it's the pillar 
and the ground of what? It's the truth. That is the marching 
order. That is the instruction. That 
is the governing principle in our religion. May God bless, 
strengthen, and encourage our church, the churches in our association, 
and any churches that may ever think to join our association 
with this commitment to the truth. And if you're not a believer 
here this morning, I want to tell you about this Jesus in 
his priestly work. A priest is the sort of a fellow 
in the Old Testament that would go to God on behalf of others. Kind of a neat concept. The prophet 
came from God to others and let them have it. The priest goes 
to God on behalf of others. And the priest does two things 
for them. He intercedes, or he prays for them, and he makes 
sacrifice for them. You say, well, why do I need 
sacrifice? Because you're a sinner. See, 
the Bible teaches that without the shedding of blood, there 
is no remission. You say, well, that seems odd. 
No, God's holy. He's righteous. He's just. He 
must punish sin. The Bible everywhere tells us 
that. But the way of atonement, the way of reconciliation is 
through blood. That's why in that Old Testament 
setting, there was legislation concerning the various sacrifices 
that one was to bring to the tabernacle or the temple in order 
to get right with God. All those things pointed forward 
to who John calls the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 
the world. He is the sacrifice. He is the 
priest. He is the victim. He is the offerer. He is the yea and amen of God 
Most High. Everything that guilty sinners 
need, He has it. He brings forgiveness through 
His blood, that life of absolute perfect righteousness is given 
to those who believe. So the things that you and I 
need, we need forgiveness, because God is angry with the wicked 
every day. That's not been mitigated. You can't say, well, that's the 
Old Testament. That's the New Testament. That's every expression 
you'll ever have. God is angry with the wicked 
every day. We need forgiveness. But we also need to be clothed 
in a robe of righteousness. Our brother's going to preach 
on that tonight from Galatians chapter 2, the doctrine of justification 
by faith. What happens when I believe on 
Jesus? My sins are forgiven and I receive that robe of righteousness 
by which now I get to enter into the presence of God. There's 
nothing greater. There's nothing better. There's 
no better position. There's no better place, no better 
hope than that. And that's what Christ gives 
us in the gospel of salvation. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for our Lord 
Jesus, that great high priest who did what earthly priests 
in the old covenant couldn't do. What the blood of bulls and 
cows And sheep, that could not atone for sin, but it pointed 
forward to that Lamb who does take away the sin of the world. 
And we rejoice in that. We praise you for it. And we 
ask for this church, that you would protect us from the evil 
one, that you would sanctify us by your truth. And we pray 
that in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.