Our Lord’s Prayer for His People’s Sanctification A Sermon

Our Lord's Prayer for His People's Sanctification

A Sermon

(No. 1890)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, March 7th, 1886, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At [3]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."–John 17:17.

OUR LORD JESUS prayed much for his people while he was here on earth.
He made Peter the special subject of his intercession when he knew that
he was in extraordinary danger. The midnight wrestlings of the Son of
man were for his people. In the sacred record, however, much more space
is taken up by our Lord's intercessions as he nears the end of his
labors. After the closing supper, his public preaching work being
ended, and nothing remaining to be done but to die, he gave himself
wholly unto prayer. He was not again to instruct the multitude, nor to
heal the sick, and in the interval which remained, before he should lay
down his life, he girded himself for special intercession. He poured
out his soul in life before he poured it out unto death.

In this wonderful prayer, our Lord, as our great High Priest, appears
to enter upon that perpetual office of intercession which he is now
exercising at the right hand of the Father. Our Lord ever seemed, in
the eagerness of his love, to be anticipating his work. Before he was
set apart for his life-work, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him,
he must needs be about his Father's business; before he finally
suffered at the hands of cruel men, he had a baptism to be baptized
with, and he was straitened till it was accomplished; before he
actually died, he was covered with a bloody sweat, and was exceeding
sorrowful even unto death; and in this case, before he in person
entered within the veil, he made intercession for us. He never tarries
when the good of his people calls for him. His love hath wings as well
as feet: it is true of him evermore, "He rode upon a cherub, and did
fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." O beloved, what a
friend we have in Jesus! so willing, so speedy to do for us all that we
need. Oh that we could imitate him in this, and be quick of
understanding to perceive our line of service, and eager of heart to
enter upon it.

This chapter, which ought to be universally known as the Lord's Prayer,
may be called the holy of holies of the word of God. Here we are
admitted to that secret place where the Son of God speaks with the
Father in closest fellowship of love. Here we look into the heart of
Jesus, as he sets out in order his desires and requests before his
Father on our behalf. Here inspiration lifts her veil, and we behold
truth face to face. Our text lies somewhere near the middle of the
prayer; it is the heart of it. Our Lord's desire for the sanctification
of his people pervades the whole prayer; but it is gathered up,
declared, and intensified in the one sentence that I have read to you:
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." How invaluable
must the blessing of sanctification be when our Lord, in the highest
reach of his intercession, cries: "Sanctify them!" In sight of his
passion, on the night before his death, our Savior lifts his eyes to
the great Father, and cries in his most plaintive tones, "Father,
sanctify them." The place whereon we stand is holy ground, and the
subject whereof we speak demands our solemn thought. Come, Holy Spirit,
and teach us the full meaning of this prayer for holiness!

First, I call your attention to what it is the Savior asks–"sanctify
them;" and then, for whom he asks it–it is for those whom his Father
had given him. Thirdly, we shall note of whom he asks it: he asks this
sanctification of God the Father himself, for he alone it is who can
sanctify his people. Lastly, we will enquire how is this blessing to be
wrought?–"Sanctify them through thy truth;" and our Lord adds an
explanatory sentence, which was a confession of his own faith towards
the word of the Lord, and an instruction to our faith in the same
matter. "Thy word is truth."

I. At the beginning, then, consider WHAT HE ASKED. What is this
inestimable blessing which our Savior so earnestly requests at the
Father's hand? He first prays, "Holy Father, keep them;" and again,
"Keep them from the evil;" but this negative blessing of preservation
from evil is not enough: he seeks for them positive holiness, and
therefore he cries, "sanctify them." The word is one of considerable
range of meaning: I am not able to follow it through all its shades,
but one or two must suffice.

It means, first, dedicate them to thy service; for such must be the
meaning of the word further down, when we read, "For their sakes I
sanctify myself." In the Lord's case it cannot mean purification from
sin, because our Savior was undefiled; his nature was unblemished by
sin, and his actions were unspotted. No eye of man, nor glance of
fiend, could discover fault in him, and the search of God only resulted
in the declaration that in him God was well pleased. Our Lord's
sanctification was his consecration to the fulfillment of the Divine
purpose, his absorption in the will of the Father. "Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God." In this sense our interceding Lord asks that all his
people may by the Father be ordained and consecrated unto holy service.
The prayer means, "Father, consecrate them to thine own self; let them
be temples for thine indwelling, instruments for thy use." Under Jewish
law the tribe of Levi was chosen out of the twelve, and ordained to the
service of the Lord, instead of the firstborn, of whom the Lord had
said, "All the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine: on the day
that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for
myself." (Numbers 8:17.) Out of the tribe of Levi one family was taken
and dedicated to the priesthood. Aaron and his sons are said to have
been sanctified. (Leviticus 8:30.) A certain tent was sanctified to the
service of God, and hence it became a sanctuary; and the vessels that
were therein, whether they were greater, like the altar, and the holy
table, and the ark of the covenant, or whether they were of less
degree, like the bowls and the snuff-dishes of the candlestick, were
all dedicated or sanctified. (Numbers 7:1.) None of these things could
be used for any other purpose than the service of Jehovah. In his
courts there was a holy fire, a holy bread, and a holy oil. The holy
anointing oil, for instance, was reserved for sacred uses. "Upon man's
flesh it shall not be poured;" and again, "Whosoever shall make like
unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people."
These sanctified things were reserved for holy purposes, and any other
use of them was strictly forbidden. Bullocks and lambs and sheep and
turtle-doves, and so forth, were given by devout offerers, brought to
the holy place, and dedicated unto God; henceforth they belonged to
God, and must be presented at his altar. This is one part of the
meaning of our Lord's prayer. He would have each of us consecrated unto
the Lord, designated and ordained for divine purposes. We are not the
world's, else might we be ambitious; we are not Satan's, else might we
be covetous; we are not our own, else might we be selfish. We are
bought with a price, and hence we are his by whom the price is paid. We
belong to Jesus, and he presents us to his Father, and begs him to
accept us and sanctify us to his own purposes. Do we not most heartily
concur in this dedication? Do we not cry, "Father, sanctify us to thy
service?" I am sure we do if we have realized our redeemed condition.

Beloved brethren, if the sprinkling of the blood, of which we spake
last Sabbath-day, has really taken effect upon us, we belong, from this
time forth, unto him that died for us, and rose again. We regard
ourselves as God's men, the liveried servants of the great King–that
livery the robe of righteousness. We were as sheep going astray, but we
have now returned unto the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls; and
henceforth we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. If any
should ask, "To whom belongest thou?" we answer, "I belong to Christ."
If any enquire, "What is thine occupation?" we reply with Jonah, "I
fear God." We are not now at our own disposal, neither can we hire
ourselves out to inferior objects, mercenary aims, or selfish
ambitions; for we are engaged by solemn contract to the service of our
God. We have lifted up our hand unto the Lord, and we cannot draw back.
Neither do we wish to withdraw from the delightful compact and
covenant; we desire to keep it even unto the end. We seek no liberty to
sin, nor license for self; rather do we cry, "Bind the sacrifice with
cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Sanctify us, O Lord. Let us
know, and let all the world know, that we are thine, because we belong
to Christ."

In addition to this, those who belonged to God, and were dedicated to
his service, were set apart and separated from others. There was a
special service for the setting-apart of priests; certain rites were
performed at the sanctifying of dedicated places and vessels. You
remember with what solemn service the Tabernacle was set up, and with
what pomp of devotion the Temple itself was set apart for the divine
service. The Sabbath-day, which the Lord hath sanctified, is set apart
from the rest of time. To man it is a dies non, because it is the
Lord's-day. The Lord would have those who are dedicated to him to be
separated from the rest of mankind. For this purpose he brought Abraham
from Ur of the Chaldees, and Israel out of Egypt. "The people shall
dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." The Lord
saith of his chosen, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall
shew forth my praise." Before long this secret purpose is followed by
the open call: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate; touch not
the unclean thing, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my
sons and daughters." The church of Christ is to be a chaste virgin,
wholly set apart for the Lord Christ: his own words concerning his
people are these, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world."

By the election of grace from before the foundation of the world this
distinction commences, and the names are written in heaven. Thereupon
follows a redemption peculiar and special, as it is written; "These
were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the
Lamb." This redemption is followed by effectual calling wherein men are
made to come forth from the old world into the kingdom of Christ. This
is attended with regeneration, in which they receive a new life, and so
become as much distinguished from their fellow-men as the living are
from the dead. This separating work is further carried on in what is
commonly known as sanctification, whereby the man of God is removed
farther and farther from all fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, and is changed from glory unto glory, into an ever-growing
likeness of his Lord, who was "holy, harmless, undefiled separate from
sinners."

Those who are sanctified in this sense have ceased to be unequally
yoked together with unbelievers; they have ceased to run with the
multitude to do evil; they are not conformed to this present evil
world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. The more
assuredly this is true of them the better. There are some, in these
apostate days, who think that the church cannot do better than to come
down to the world to learn her ways, follow her maxims, and acquire her
"culture." In fact, the notion is that the world is to be conquered by
our conforming to it. This is as contrary to Scripture as the light is
to the darkness. The more distinct the line between him that feareth
God and him that feareth him not, the better all round. It will be a
black day when the sun itself is turned into darkness. When the salt
has lost its savor, and no longer opposes putrefaction, the world will
rot with a vengeance. That text is still true, "Ye are of God, little
children, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one." The seed of the
woman knows no terms with the serpent brood but continual war. Our Lord
saith that in this matter he came not to send peace on the earth, but a
sword. "Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hateth you." If the church seeks to
cultivate the friendship of the world, she has this message from the
Holy Ghost by the pen of the apostle James: "Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God." He charges all who would please the world with the black
and filthy crime of spiritual adultery. The heart which ought to be
given to Christ and purity must not wander forth wantonly to woo the
defiled and polluted things of this present evil world. Separation from
the world is Christ's prayer for us.

Put these two things together, dedication to God and separation unto
him, and you are nearing the meaning of the prayer. But, mark you, it
is not all separation that is meant; for, as I told you in the reading
there are some who "separate themselves," and yet are sensual, not
having the Spirit. Separation for separation's sake savours rather of
Babel than of Jerusalem. It is one thing to separate from the world,
and another thing to be separate from the church. Where we believe that
there is living faith in Jesus, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost,
we are not called to division, but to unity. For actual and manifest
sin we must separate ourselves from offender–; but we err if we carry
on this separation where it is not authorized by the word of God. The
Corinthians and Galatians were far from being perfect in life, and they
had made many mistakes in doctrine, yea, even upon vital points; but
inasmuch as they were truly in Christ, Paul did not command any to come
out of those churches, and to be separate therefrom; but he exhorted
them to prove each man his own work, and he labored to bring them all
back to the one and only gospel, and to a clearer knowledge of it. We
are to be faithful to truth; but we are not to be of a contentious
spirit, separating ourselves from those who are living members of the
one and indivisible body of Christ. To promote the unity of the church,
by creating new divisions, is not wise. Cultivate at once the love of
the truth and the love of the brethren. The body of Christ will not be
perfected by being rent. Truth should be the companion of love. If we
heartily love even those who are in some measure in error, but who
possess the life of God in their souls, we shall be the more likely to
set them right. Separation from the world is a solemn duty, indeed it
is the hard point, the crux and burden of our religion. It is not easy
to be filled with love to men and yet for God's sake, and even for
their own sake, to be separated from them. The Lord teach us this.

At the same time, this word "sanctification" means what is commonly
understood by it, namely, the making of the people of God holy.
"Sanctify them," that is, work in them a pure and holy character.
"Lord, make thy people holy," should be our daily prayer. I want you to
notice that this word here used in the Greek is not that which is
rendered "Purify;" but it has another shade of meaning. Had it meant
"purify," it would hardly have been used in reference to our Lord as it
is in the next verse.

It has a higher meaning than that. O brethren, if you are called
Christians, there must be no room for doubt as to the fact that you are
purged from the common sins and ordinary transgressions of mankind,
else are you manifestly liars unto God, and deceivers of your own
souls. They that are not moral, they that are not honest, they that are
not kind, they that are not truthful, are far from the kingdom. How can
these be the children of God who are not even decent children of men?
Thus we judge, and rightly judge, that the life of God cannot be in
that man's soul who abides wilfully in any known sin, and takes
pleasure therein. No; purification is not all. We will take it for
granted that you who profess to be Christians have escaped from the
foul pollution of lust and falsehood; if you have not done so, humble
yourselves before God, and be ashamed; for you need the very beginnings
of grace. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." But
sanctification is something more than mere morality and respectability;
it is not only deliverance from the common sins of men, but also from
the hardness, deadness, and carnality of nature: it is deliverance from
that which is of the flesh at its very best, and admittance into that
which is spiritual and divine. That which is carnal cometh not into
communion with the spiritual kingdom or Christ: we need that the
spiritual nature should rise above that which is merely natural. This
is our prayer–Lord, spiritualize us; elevate us; make us to dwell in
communion with God; make us to know him whom flesh and blood cannot
reveal or discern. May the Spirit of the living God have full
sovereignty over us and perfect in us the will of the Lord, for this is
to be sanctified.

Sanctification is a higher word than purification; for it includes that
word and vastly more: it is not sufficient to be negatively clean; we
need to be adorned with all the virtues. If ye be merely moral, how
does your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? If ye
pay your lawful debts, give alms to the poor, and observe the rites of
your religion, what do ye more than others whom ye yourselves reckon to
be in error?

Children of God should exhibit the love of God, they should be filled
with zeal for his glory, they should live generous, unselfish lives,
they should walk with God, and commune with the Most High. Ours should
be a purpose and an aim far higher than the best of the unregenerate
can understand. We ought to reach unto a life and a kingdom of which
the mass of mankind know nothing, and care less. Now, I am afraid that
this spiritual sense of the prayer is one that is often forgotten. Oh
that God's Holy Spirit might make us to know it by experimentally
feeling it in ourselves! May "Holiness to the Lord" be written across
the brow of our consecrated humanity!

Beloved, this prayer of our Lord is most necessary, for without
sanctification how can we be saved, since it is written, "Without
holiness no man shall see the Lord?" How can we be saved from sin if
sin has still dominion over us? If we are not living holy, godly,
spiritual lives, how can we say that we are redeemed from the power of
evil?

Without sanctification we shall be unfit for service. Our Lord Jesus
contemplated the sending of each one of us into the world even as the
Father sent him into the world; but how can he give a mission to
unsanctified men and women? Must not the vessels of the Lord be clean?

Without sanctification we cannot enjoy the innermost sweets of our holy
faith. The unsanctified are full of doubts and fears; and what wonder?
The unsanctified often say of the outward exercise of religion, "What a
weariness it is!" and no wonder, for they know not the internal joys of
it, having never learned to delight themselves in God. If they walk not
in the light of the Lord's countenance, how can they know the heaven
below which comes of true godliness? Oh, it is a prayer that needs to
be prayed for me, for you, for this church, and for the whole church of
God! "Father, sanctify them through thy truth."

II. Now I want you to notice, in the second place, FOR WHOM THIS PRAYER
WAS OFFERED. It was not offered for the world outside. It would not be
a suitable prayer for those who are dead in sin. Our Lord referred to
the company of men and women who were already saved, of whom he said
that they had kept God's Word: "Thine they were, and thou gavest them
me." They were therefore sanctified already in the sense of being
consecrated and set apart for holy purposes; and they were also
sanctified in a measure already in the sense of being made holy in
character; for the immediate disciples of our Lord, with all their
errors and deficiencies, were holy men. It was for the apostles that
Jesus thus prayed; so that we may be sure that the most eminent saints
need still to have this prayer offered for them: "Sanctify them through
thy truth." Though, my sisters, you may be Deborahs, worthy to be
called mothers in Israel, yet you need to be made more holy. Though, my
brethren, you may be true fathers in God, of whom the Scripture saith
truly that we have "not many," yet you still need that Jesus should
pray for you: "Sanctify them through thy truth."

These chosen ones were sanctified, but only to a degree. Justification
is perfect the moment it is received, but sanctification is a matter of
growth. He that is justified, is justified once for all by the perfect
work of Jesus, but he that is sanctified by Christ Jesus must grow up
in all things into him who is the Head. To make us holy is a life work,
and for it we should seek the divine operation every hour; for "he that
hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God." We would rise to the
utmost pitch of holy living, and never content ourselves with present
attainments. Those who are most pure and honorable have yet their
shortcomings and errors to mourn over. When the Lord turns the light
strong upon us, we soon see the spots upon our raiment; it is indeed
when we walk in the light as God is in the light that we see most our
need of the cleansing blood of Jesus. If we have done well, to God be
the glory of it; but we might have done better. If we have loved much,
to God's grace be the praise; but we ought to have loved more. If we
have believed, and believed steadfastly, we ought to have believed to a
far higher degree in our Almighty Friend. We are still below our
capacities; there is a something yet beyond us. O ye sanctified ones,
it is for you that Jesus prays that the Father may still sanctify you.

I want you to notice more particularly that these believers for whom
our Lord prayed were to be the preachers and teachers of their own and
succeeding generations. These were the handful of seed-corn out of
which would grow the church of the future, whose harvest would gladden
all lands. To prepare them to be sent out as Christ's missionaries they
must be sanctified. How shall a holy God send out unholy messengers? An
unsanctified minister is an unsent minister. An unholy missionary is a
pest to the tribe he visits; an unholy teacher in a school is an injury
rather than a blessing to the class he conducts. Only in proportion as
you are sanctified unto God can you hope for the power of the Holy
Spirit to rest on you, and to work with you, so as to bring others to
the Savior's feet. How much may each of us have been hampered and
hindered by want of holiness! God will not use unclean instruments;
nay, he will not even have his holy vessels borne by unclean hands. "To
the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?" A
whole host may be defeated because of one Achan in the camp; and this
is our constant fear. Holiness is an essential qualificatian to a man's
fitness for being used of the Lord God for the extension of his
kingdom; hence our Lord's prayer for his apostles and other workers:
"Holy Father, sanctify them."

Furthermore, our Lord Jesus Christ was about to pray "that they all
might be one;" and for this desirable result holiness is needed. Why
are we not one? Sin is the great dividing element. The perfectly holy
would be perfectly united. The more saintly men are, the more they love
their Lord and one another; and thus they come into closer union with
each other. Our errors and our sins are roots of bitterness which
spring up and trouble us, and many are defiled. Our infirmities of
judgment are aggravated by our imperfections of character, and our
walking at a distance from our God; and these breed coldness and
lukewarmness, out of which grow disunion and division, sects and
heresies. If we were all abiding in Christ to the full, we should abide
in union with each other and with God, and our Lord's great prayer for
the unity of his church would be fulfilled.

Moreover, our Lord finished his most comprehensive prayer by a petition
that we might all be with him–with him where he is, that we may behold
his glory. Full sanctification is essential to this. Shall the
unsanctified dwell with Christ in heaven? Shall unholy eyes behold his
glory? It cannot be. How can we participate in the splendor and
triumphs of the exalted head if we are not members of his body? and how
can a holy head have impure and dishonest members? No, brethren, we
must be holy, for Christ is holy. Uprightness of walk and cleanness of
heart are absolutely requisite for the purposes of Christian life,
whether here or hereafter. Those who live in sin are the servants of
sin; only those who are renewed by the Holy Ghost unto truth, and
holiness, and love, can hope to be partakers of holy joys and heavenly
bliss.

III. I am compelled by shortness of time to be brief upon each point;
but I must dwell for a little upon the third subject of consideration,
which is this–TO WHOM THIS PRAYER IS DIRECTED. "Sanctify them through
thy truth." No one can sanctify a soul but Almighty God, the great
Father of spirits. He who made us must also make us holy, or we shall
never attain that character. Our dear Savior calls the great God "Holy
Father" in this prayer, and it is the part of the holy God to create
holiness; while a holy Father can only be the Father of holy children,
for like begets like. To you that believe in Jesus he gives power to
become the sons of God, and a part of that power lies in becoming holy
according to the manner and character of our Father who is in heaven.
As we are holy, so do we bear the image of that Lord from heaven who,
as the second man, is the firstborn to whom the many brethren are
conformed. The holy Father in heaven will own those as his children
upon earth who are holy. The very nature of God should encourage us in
our prayers for holiness; for he will not be slow to work in us to will
and to do according to his perfect will.

Beloved, this sanctification is a work of God from its earliest stage.
We go astray of ourselves, but we never return to the great Shepherd
apart from his divine drawings. Regeneration, in which sanctification
begins, is wholly the work of the Spirit of God. Our first discovery of
wrong, and our first pang of penitence, are the work of divine grace.
Every thought of holiness, and every desire after purity, must come
from the Lord alone, for we are by nature wedded to iniquity. So also
the ultimate conquest of sin in us, and the making us perfectly like to
our Lord, must be entirely the work of the Lord God, who makes all
things new, since we have no power to carry on so great a work of
ourselves. This is a creation; can we create? This is a resurrection;
can we raise the dead? Our degenerate nature can rot into a still direr
putrefaction, but it can never return to purity or sweeten itself into
perfection; this is of God and God alone. Sanctification is as much the
work of God as the making of the heavens and the earth. Who is
sufficient for these things? We go not even a step in sanctification in
our own strength; whatever we think we advance of ourselves is but a
fictitious progress which will lead to bitter disappointment. Real
sanctification is entirely from first to last the work of the Spirit of
the blessed God, whom the Father hath sent forth that he might sanctify
his chosen ones. See, then, what a great thing sanctification is, and
how necessary it is that our Lord should pray unto his Father,
"Sanctify them through thy truth."

The truth alone will not sanctify a man. We may maintain an orthodox
creed, and it is highly important that we should do so, but if it does
not touch our heart and influence our character, what is the value of
our orthodoxy? It is not the doctrine which of itself sanctifies, but
the Father sanctifies by means of the doctrine. The truth is the
element in which we are made to live in order to holiness. Falsehood
leads to sin, truth leads to holiness; but there is a lying spirit, and
there is also the Spirit of truth, and by these the error and the truth
are used as means to an end. Truth must be applied with spiritual power
to the mind, the conscience, and the heart, or else a man may receive
the truth, and yet hold it in unrighteousness. I believe this to be the
crowning work of God in man, that his people should be perfectly
delivered from evil. He elected them that they might be a peculiar
people, zealous for good works; he ransomed them that he might redeem
them from all iniquity, and purify them unto himself; he effectually
calls them to a high and holy vocation, even to virtue and true
holiness.

Every work of the Spirit of God upon the new nature aims at the
purification, the consecration, the perfecting of those whom God in
love has taken to be his own. Yea, more; all the events of Providence
around us work towards that one end: for this our joys and our sorrows,
for this our pains of body and griefs of heart, for this our losses and
our crosses–all these are sacred medicines by which we are cured of
the disease of nature, and prepared for the enjoyment of perfect
spiritual health. All that befalls us on our road to heaven is meant to
fit us for our journey's end. Our way through the wilderness is meant
to try us, and to prove us, that our evils may be discovered, repented
of, and overcome, and that thus we may be without fault before the
throne at the last. We are being educated for the skies, meetened for
the assembly of the perfect. It doth not yet appear what we shall be;
but we are struggling up towards it; and we know that when Jesus shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We are
rising: by hard wrestling, and long watching, and patient waiting, we
are rising into holiness. These tribulations thresh our wheat and get
the chaff away, these afflictions consume our dross and tin to make the
gold more pure. All things work together for good to them that love
God; and the net result of them all will be the presenting of the
chosen unto God, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Thus I have reminded you that the prayer for sanctification is offered
to the divine Father, and this leads us to look out of ourselves and
wholly, to our God. Do not set about the work of sanctification
yourselves, as if you could perform it alone. Do not imagine that
holiness will necessarily follow because you listen to an earnest
preacher, or unite in sacred worship. My brethren, God himself must
work within you; the Holy Ghost must inhabit you; and this can only
come to you by faith in the Lord Jesus. Believe in him for your
sanctification, even as you have believed for your pardon and
justification. He alone can bestow sanctification upon you; for this is
the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

IV. This is a great subject, and I have but short time; so I have, in
the last place, to notice with much brevity HOW SANCTIFICATION IS TO BE
WROUGHT IN BELIEVERS, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth. "Beloved, observe how God has joined holiness and truth
together. There has been a tendency of late to divide truth of doctrine
from truth of precept. Men say that Christianity is a life and not a
creed: this is a part truth, and very near akin to a lie. Christianity
is a life which grows out of truth. Jesus Christ is the way and the
truth as well as the life, and he is not properly received except he is
accepted in that threefold character.

No holy life will be produced in us by the belief of falsehood.
Sanctification in visible character comes out of edification in the
inner faith of the heart, or otherwise it is a mere shell. Good works
are the fruit of true faith, and true faith is a sincere belief of the
truth. Every truth leads towards holiness; every error of doctrine,
directly or indirectly, leads to sin. A twist of the understanding will
inevitably bring a contortion of the life sooner or later. The straight
line of truth drawn on the heart will produce a direct course of
gracious walking in the life. Do not imagine that you can live on
spiritual carrion and yet be in fine moral health, or that you can
drink down poisonous error and yet lift up a face without spot before
God. Even God himself only sanctifies us by the truth. Only that
teaching will sanctify you which is taken from God's word, that
teaching which is not true, nor the truth of God, cannot sanctify you.
Error may puff you up, it may even make you think that you are
sanctified; but there is a very serious difference between boasting of
sanctification and being sanctified, and a very grave difference
between setting up to be superior to others and being really accepted
before God. Believe me, God works sanctification in us by the truth,
and by nothing else.

But what is the truth? There is the point. Is the truth that which I
imagine to be revealed to me by some private communication? Am I to
fancy that I enjoy some special revelation, and am I to order my life
by voices, dreams, and impressions? Brethren, fall not into this common
delusion. God's word to us is in Holy Scripture. All the truth that
sanctifies men is in God's Word. Do not listen to those who cry, "Lo
here!" and "Lo there!" I am plucked by the sleeve almost every day by
crazy persons and pretenders who have revelations. One man tells me
that God has sent a message to me by him; and I reply, "No, sir, the
Lord knows where I dwell, and he is so near to me that he would not
need to send to me by you." Another man announces in God's name a dogma
which, on the face of it, is a lie against the Holy Ghost. He says the
Spirit of God told him so-and-so; but we know that the Holy Ghost never
contradicts himself. If your imaginary revelation is not according to
this Word, it has no weight with us; and if it is according to this
Word, it is no new thing. Brethren, this Bible is enough if the Lord
does but use it, and quicken it by his Spirit in our hearts. Truth is
neither your opinion, nor mine; your message, nor mine. Jesus says,
"Thy word is truth." That which sanctifies men is not only truth, but
it is the particular truth which is revealed in God's Word–"Thy word
is truth." What a blessing it is that all the truth that is necessary
to sanctify us is revealed in the Word of God, so that we have not to
expend our energies upon discovering truth, but may, to our far greater
profit, use revealed truth for its divine ends and purposes! There will
be no more revelations; no more are needed. The canon is fixed and
complete, and he that adds to it shall have added to him the plagues
that are written in this Book. What need of more when here is enough
for every practical purpose? "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word
is truth."

This being so, the truth which it is needful for us to receive is
evidently fixed. You cannot change Holy Scripture. You may arrive more
and more accurately at the original text; but for all practical
purposes the text we have is correct enough, and our old Authorized
Version is a sound one. Scripture itself cannot be broken; we cannot
take from it nor add to it. The Lord has never re-written nor revised
his Word, nor will he ever do so. Our teachings are full of errors, but
the Spirit mistaketh not. We have the "Retractations": of Augustine,
but there are no retractations with prophets and apostles. The faith
has been delivered once for all to the saints, and it standeth fast for
ever. "Thy word is truth." The Scripture alone is absolute truth,
essential truth, decisive truth, authoritative truth, undiluted truth,
eternal, everlasting truth. Truth given us in the word of God is that
which is to sanctify all believers to the end of time: God will use it
to that end.

Learn, then, my brothers, how earnestly you ought to search the
Scriptures! See, my sisters, how studiously you should read this Book
of God! If this is the truth, and the truth with which God sanctifies
us, let us learn it, hold it, and stand fast in it. To him that gave us
the Book let us pledge ourselves never to depart from his testimonies.
To us, at any rate, God's word is truth. "But they argue differently in
the schools!" Let them argue. "But oratory with its flowery speech
speaketh otherwise!" Let it speak: words are but air and tongues but
clay. O God, "thy word is truth." "But philosophers have contradicted
it!" Let them contradict it. Who are they? God's word is truth: we will
go no farther while the world stands. But then let us be equally firm
in our conviction that we do not know the truth aright unless it makes
us holy. We do not hold truth in a true way unless it leads us to a
true life. If you use the back of a knife it will not cut: truth hath
its handle and its blade; see that you use it properly. You can make
pure water kill a man; you must use every good thing aright or it will
not be good. The truth, when fully used, will daily destroy sin,
nourish grace, suggest noble desires, and urge to holy acts. O sirs, I
do pray that we may by our lives adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. Some do not so. I say this to our shame and to my own
hourly sorrow.

The one point of failure to be most deeply regretted would be a failure
in the holiness of our church members. If you yourselves act as others
do, what witness do you bear? If your families are not graciously
ordered; if your business is not conducted upon principles of the
strictest integrity; if your speech is questionable as to purity or
truthfulness; if your lives are open to serious rebuke–how can God
accept you or send a blessing on the Church to which you belong? It is
all falsehood and deceit to talk about your being the people of God
when even men of the world shame you. Your faith in the Lord Jesus must
operate upon your lives to make you faithful and true, it must check
you here, and excite you there; it must keep you back from this, and
drive you on to that; it must constantly operate upon thought and
speech and act, or else you know nothing of its saving power. How can I
speak more distinctly and emphatically? Do not come to me with your
experiences, and your convictions, and your professions, unless you
sanctify the name of God in your lives. O brethren, we had better quit
our professions if we do not live up to them. In the name of him who
breathed this prayer just before his face was encrimsoned with the
bloody sweat, let us cry mightily unto the Father, "Sanctify us through
thy truth, thy Word is truth." As a people, we have stuck unto the Word
of the Lord, but are we practically obeying it? We have determined as a
congregation to keep the old ways; and I, for one, as the minister, am
solemnly bound to the old faith. Oh that we might commend it by our
holiness! Nothing is truth to me but this one Book, this infallibly
inspired writing of the Spirit of God. It is incumbent upon us to show
the hallowed influence of this Book. The vows of God are on us, that by
our godly lives we should show forth his praises who has brought us out
of darkness into his marvellous light. This Bible is our treasure. We
prize each leaf of it. Let us bind it in the best fashion, in the best
morocco of a clear, intelligent faith; then let us put a golden clasp
upon it, and gild its edges by a life of love, and truth, and purity,
and zeal. Thus shall we commend the volume to those who have never
looked within its pages. Brethren, the sacred roll, with its seven
seals, must not be held in hands defiled and polluted; but with clean
hands and pure heart we must hold it forth and publish it among men.
God help us so to do for Jesus' sake! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–John 17.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–107 (Song I.), 649, 645.