I'd like to take just a moment and confess to you that it has been a hard week for me. And I think the Lord is bringing to my mind certain things. There are a lot of struggles and wrestlings that go on in my life, but the thing that brings me the most grief, and the thing that I'm struggling with the most, I have to confess, brothers and sisters, is my pride. It continues to be the nagging influence in my life, in my flesh. And my brother's exhortation this morning was very good for me. We've been addressing this issue also in our Tuesday night studies, which has been convicting for me as well. And I believe I need to confess to all of you that I am a proudful man. There is so much pride in my life. There is so much self involved in so much of my thinking. And I do believe I have been boastful in this congregation. I ask your forgiveness for this. I have been overly sensitive. I take things too personally. I jump in to defend myself way too much. And I know specifically there are certain of you that I sin against more than others. And I publicly confess this and ask for your forgiveness, Chad Roach, Bill Roach, Todd Strosser. These are the men I work most closely with. They see me, and my wife as well. They see me, they understand my sin, I think, better than I do sometimes. But brothers, I ask, sister, I ask your forgiveness. I am a proud man, and I know it has affected our relationships at points. It certainly has affected my thinking and my conversation and my work. So I publicly ask for you all to forgive me for my pride. I take so many things so personally. And I know I do so because I am number one in my own estimation. And I'm so ashamed of that. I confess it to God. I know it's such a dreadful sin. In the presence of God, I just feel so undone that I have even at points throughout this last week, considered myself to be more important than God in my thinking. So I ask your forgiveness. I ask God his forgiveness. I did this this morning during that time of confession. I thank you, Brother Josh, for bringing that exhortation. I think that was a well-spoken theme for my life, and I'm very ashamed of my sin. I've asked forgiveness of God, and I ask forgiveness of you. and I hope that God will restore and redeem much of my life and my ministry at this church. So I ask your forgiveness. Thank you. Thank you. It has disturbed our ministry and our relationships, I know, to some extent. Brother, I love you. You hear that? You hear that, don't you? I love you, Chad. God sets us free from these things. I'm not bound by this. Amen, amen, amen. My sister, you can do that with one sister. Amen. Praise the Lord. We are not bound to our sins. Amen. This is not inevitable for me. This is not inevitable for you. And this is the thing that gets in the way so often of our relationships and our ministries. Amen. Hallelujah. There is forgiveness with God that He might be praised. Amen. Please turn in your Bibles to John 17. John 17. This morning I'd like to read beginning with verse 17 down through 21. So let's stand together. Now hear the words of Jesus, our Lord, as he prays to his Father. In John 17, verse 17, 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. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, and the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me. And everybody said, amen. Please be seated. Here in the prayer that Jesus brings in John 17 to his father reveals the heart of our Savior Jesus. We enter into the sanctified territory of the mind of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. We have insight into the heart of God in this prayer, and as Jesus is God with us, we have this wonderful opportunity to understand the mind and the heart of God. This is a tremendous privilege, brothers and sisters, as we enter into this chapter, and you see the red letters here. This is the words of Jesus. Now, we're not saying that's the only and most important element of the word, but it does give us tremendous insights into the things that matter most. We need to know what is it that matters more than anything else. And if you were to boil down the prayer, what would you find but that Jesus has a passion and a commitment to the glory of God? And on top of that, Jesus desires the unity of the body. Even as He understands the unity of His Father and Himself, He has experienced that through the eons of eternity, and now He wants to see something like this represented in the body of Christ, in the church itself. So that is the heart of this prayer. But this morning I'm going to look at verse 17, and really mainly at verse 17. where Jesus says, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. So I want to ask three simple questions this morning, just three simple questions. The first one is, what is sanctification? Secondly, what is truth? And thirdly, what is it to be sanctified by the truth? So those three questions. First question, what is sanctification? Sanctification. What is sanctification? What is it that Jesus desires here? That we be sanctified. He's speaking of His elect. He's speaking of His church. He isn't praying for the world. He's not praying for those who have no part in Him. He's speaking to His disciples. He's not speaking about Judas. He's speaking about the 11 that are still with Him. And Jesus is praying for them that God the Father would sanctify them by the truth. Jesus wants sanctification. Jesus wants us to be sanctified. He doesn't want just some thin-coated forgiveness, but Jesus wants us to be cleansed, to be clean, to be alive instead of dead in trespasses and sins. This is the mind of Christ here. Look at Ephesians 5 and verse 5. And you get the answer to the question, why did Jesus die on the cross? It's a great question. Why did Jesus die on the cross? It shows up in 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 as well. So we're going to look at very specific passages as to why Jesus died. Ephesians 5 and verse 5 says, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Now why did he do that? Why did he love the church and give himself for the church? Follow it through there brothers, sisters. Ephesians 5, 25, 26 now. In order that he might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by the word. that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. See, Jesus wants a bride that is beautiful in her white garments. Jesus wants a polished up, cleansed up bride for himself. This is the goal of all of the work that he has done on this earth. This is the plan of redemption from all eternity, Ephesians 5, 27. He wants to present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. Also 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 through 5. He says, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That's a pretty clear definition or description of sanctification. If you're looking for one this morning, Jesus is seeking our sanctification. What does he really want from us? And that is to stop sinning. In this case, sexual immorality, that's the example used there in 1 Thessalonians 4. God wants, God wills it, God purposes it. This is the thing that God wants, is our sanctification. that we would abstain from sexual immorality. I think the reason why he brings up sexual immorality is because it is so common. It doesn't matter where you go. It doesn't matter what church you speak to. It doesn't matter what nation, what tribe. There's always this problem of sexual immorality. Everybody knows what this is, very common sin. So that's what the Apostle Paul uses here for the church at Thessalonica. He says God wants an end to this. He wants an end to sexual immorality in your life. Sanctification is very simply to stop sinning. God wants an end of sin in our lives. We are not involved in sinning in our thoughts and our words and our deeds. This is what he's bound and determined to accomplish through the sacrifice of his son, the Lord Jesus, and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, God wants an end to sin. Now, sanctification can be two things, and the word is used in two different ways. In verse 19, Jesus says, I sanctify myself. Does that mean that Jesus is sinning? No, the word sanctification can mean two things. On the one hand, it can be to set apart as special and clean, that is, that which is already clean, to set apart something that is already clean, and that's why Jesus sets himself apart and has been set apart by God for a ministry So there is this set-apart as special and clean, and there is also that definition of sanctify, which is to actually clean something up. So it could be to set something apart that has already been cleaned, or already is clean, or it is to clean something that is not clean right now. but to be cleaning it up, that is the sanctification process. So sanctification for us, brothers and sisters, is the regenerating and the renewing work in the whole man that is accomplished in our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit of God in which we are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. So it is that process in our lives where there is a perceptible change in your life and in my life. It is a change that occurs in the whole man from the inside out. It's not just sort of this external polishing up that these world religions are so accomplished at doing, but it's this whole man It's the taking the brush to the very inside, you know, like a bottle brush, and working it from the inside, and then working it on all the way out to the outside. That's what sanctification is. That's what God is doing in our lives. And I sense this in my own life as well. God has cleaned me up over the years. I am not the same person I was in 1995 or back in 1997. Some of you knew me back in 1995. And I'm not the same man that I was in 1995. Sometimes I wonder if I was a Christian in 1995. I wonder if I was a Christian in 2005. I wonder if I was a Christian in 2010 at times. Well, that's because, you know, God is working on me. And I'm guessing that's the same way it is with many of you. God is working on you. I'm ashamed of what I was back in 2005. I was such a shameful person back in 2005, but what was I yesterday as well? Amen? This is what God is doing in our lives. He's cleaning us up. He's sanctifying us by His grace and by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. God is cleansing us. He's cleansing and He's cleansing. He's opening our eyes to see what we really were and what we really are doing and what we are really thinking. He does that by His Spirit. He works in us at 2 o'clock in the morning till 5 in the morning when you're wrestling over those issues and you finally get to that thing that so characterizes part of your thought processes. As He does in my life, He does it in your life. He's constantly waking us up and opening our eyes to seeing who we are so we can confess our sins and He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness as well as to forgive us. So, brothers and sisters, this is God's salvation in our lives. Salvation without sanctification is not salvation. And the last century, so many brothers have worked hard to bring out this issue. Bonhoeffer's book on the cost of discipleship, he mentions this cheap grace that so began to characterize German evangelicalism and German Christianity in the early part of the 20th century. Sick of the cheap grace, he spoke of it. John MacArthur in the 1980s spoke on The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel according to Jesus, which he insisted must include a lordship salvation. Well, this cheap gospel is something I think we still see around us. I like to call it the Walmart fall apart gospel. That cheapy piece of furniture that you paid $48 for, that if you had gone off to the Amish whatever, furniture store, you would have probably picked up a piece of furniture that would have lasted about 247 years, instead you've got Walmart fall apart. And that's the kind of gospel that seems to be so attractive today. It doesn't have the power to make alive. It doesn't have the power to change from the inside out. And we learn from recent books that have been written by evangelicals what's not so amazing about grace. And so as you study modern American theologies and you realize what's not so amazing about grace, you know that it is that gospel that always waters down the law of God. It always externalizes obedience and works into a thin-coated moralism. It always separates justification and sanctification and therefore fluctuates between the ditches of antinomianism and legalism. It always emphasizes men's works instead of God's works and thereby takes us back to relying upon our own strength. It's always faithless. It's always obliterating our identity in Christ and backing us into a merit system. It always separates the amazing redemptive work of God in our minds from the works that we, quote, have to do. It always discourages us from sanctification. And the end result is a religion where there isn't any real true spiritual growth. There isn't any real true sanctification. There aren't real good works that are pleasing to God, and the slave woman always turns out to be less fruitful than the free woman, always. Now, it's all of that. It always, always minimizes the power of grace to save us from the power and the corruption of sin. Now, this is the cheapie grace that none of us should really want to have a piece of. Let's cast out the slave woman. Let's cast out the cheap grace and reject it all. Throw it away. Don't entertain any of it in your minds. And this kind of thing, this cheap grace, has been insidious. I think it's heartbreaking. I think it's unspeakably disappointing. Because it is a representation of the glorious gospel, but in a bad way. It is an inglorious gospel, but pretends to be the glorious gospel. And so it's a sick thing. It's a horrible thing. It should make you want to throw up. when you read of this cheap grace that doesn't really accomplish anything. Throw it away. It's a very bad Rolex watch made in Vietnam. It's cheap. It's bad. It's a bad lookalike. And it creeps into every kind of church. Reformed churches, absolutely. Reformed literature, absolutely. Absolutely, those claiming to be reformed. We've seen it from time to time creep into some of the biblical counseling movements. Even in the last five years. It's there in the Baptist churches, it's there in the Pentecostal churches, the Presbyterian churches, the Church of Christ. But a gospel that doesn't have the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit of God Engaging in our lives. Making us look more and more like Christ. And more and more of a contrast between ourselves and the world. From the inside out. Not a contrast in terms of dress and hairstyle. That's again where the cheap grace goes. That's where the cheap gospel goes. It's always externalizing. Separating justification and sanctification. Watering down the law of God. Emphasizing man's works instead of God's works. Obliterating our identity in Christ, which always backs ourselves into a merit system as application appears anywhere in the teaching. It always separates the amazing redemptive work of God in our minds from our own works and the works that we have to do. This is the false gospel. This is the cheap grace. And it's not worth anything. Throw it into the garbage. But insist on the real thing, brothers and sisters. Insist on the gospel that doesn't separate out justification from sanctification, retains the distinct but not separate relationship in the teaching. Now, it's one thing to do it in the formulation in your mind. And some say, you know, I've got it in question 77, larger catechism. It's a whole different matter. to live it that way, to preach it that way, to insist on the unity of the gospel as presented in the Bible itself. That's question number one. What is sanctification? It is the work of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, getting us to stop sinning. That's it. And sanctification absolutely is part of the Christian message and the Christian life. Number two. Second question, what is truth? We are sanctified by the truth. That's what our Lord is giving us here in John 17. So the second question that we want to ask ourselves this morning, what is truth? What is truth? So you think about the word truth for a moment. The word that comes to my mind is anchor. It's an anchor. If you're just pulling out some pictorial word to help us to understand what it is, truth is an anchor. It anchors us. It gives us that sense that there is something absolute that you can hold to in the storms of life. Let me give you a few other biblical definitions, descriptions of truth. Here we go. Truth is not a lie. Truth is always truth. Truth is something you can hang your hat on. You can sit on it. You can stand on it. Truth is light. That means you can walk in it and you won't bump into things and hurt yourself. Truth is the way to freedom. Truth establishes our way. It prioritizes our life. It sets us on the right course. Truth is the way of life and the way to life. Truth is Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Truth is not man's teaching. Truth is not man's rationalism. Truth is not man's enlightenment coming out of the 18th century that couldn't really submit itself to God's thoughts, but resisted God, and eventually resulted in the 19th century cults that demolished the doctrine of the Trinity. Truth is God's understanding of the world and everything. God's eternal wisdom that cannot be broken. That is truth. So, you say, why am I not sanctified? And I'm gonna come back to this a couple of times, because there are times in my life, and I'm sure there are times in your life where you're thinking to yourself, I just, I'm not there. I have been waiting for my sanctification, my change, to stop sinning in this area of my life or that area of my life? Why am I not sanctified? That question comes to us, doesn't it? And I think the answer, one answer is this, we cannot be sanctified by that which is not truth. So this puts it in the negative, doesn't it? So step back for a second and ask yourself, is there any non-truth that I am subjecting myself to? See, we don't have time for that which is not truth. And I'm coming to the point in my life, and I hope you are as well, where when you're considering things that are not truthful in your mind, or when you're subjecting yourself to inputs that are not truthful, you finally come to the conclusion, you know what, I don't have time for this. I cannot submit myself to this atmosphere or this environment or this conversation that doesn't involve the truth. I'm done with it. If it's not the truth, I'm out of here. So let me ask you this. What percentage of the inputs in your life, what percentage of your conversations is surmising? guesses, opinions, uncertainties, or just mere scientific hypotheses that people are tossing back and forth at each other. What percentage of your inputs do not consist of truth? We simply can't afford the time to listen to the devil's lies. As Christians, we must refuse to deal with that which is not truth. We can't give it 10 seconds Time yourself. You're working on an idea, a doubtful idea that came to you just out of the blue, a surmising about something or somebody. Do you have 10 seconds for that? Will you take 10 seconds of your life to invest in that? Brothers and sisters, let's commit not to do that. The devil is the father of lies. And my wife and I are getting into the habit of asking ourselves and each other the question, are you sure? When the conversation comes up, I think this or that may be the case. Are you sure? Isn't that good? Three words, write them down in your notes. They're not in the notes we handed out, but write them down. Are you sure? Question mark. Ask yourself, are you sure? Are you basing your ideas, your thinking upon that which you are not sure of? Are you absolutely sure or are you basing your thinking on that which is not sure? We just don't have time for the uncertain, guesses, opinions, and the uncertainties of men. And I'm telling you, 99.999% of conversations, Facebook, Twitter, and the rest, seems to me to be surmisings. Just empty surmisings. Granted, Brother Neil throws a Bible verse under a bird from time to time. Okay, thank you, brother. We've got some truth getting out there. I understand there are exceptions to this rule, so I'm not shutting down Facebook for you. I'm just saying so much of our world is like whatever I feel that Tenuous, really tenuous. The entire zeitgeist is uncertain of everything. It's not even worth putting a second into any of that. We must be rooted and grounded in truth, brothers and sisters, that we would no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. It's just my heart, my desire, my prayer for our congregation that we be far more rooted I'm far more matured. Because we're going to get to this in the following weeks. If we're not mature, we will not be united. And the lack of unity in this body is directly connected to our lack of rooting. Our lack of truth. It's both and. The maturity that happens is the maturity of truth that winds up into a maturity in the unity itself. We grow up together as a united body. And so, we need to grow in the area of truth. We're sanctified by the truth. Now what is truth? The truth is the entire word of God. Now I'm going to give you what has been the greatest revelation of all of my ministry. And it is the greatest regret of my ministry. I look back at the first 13 years of my ministry, And I feel bad for the people that were under me, that were listening to me on a Sunday. Because I had so many things wrong. Now I know I still have so many things wrong. So again, looking back and seeing what God is doing in my life, I find that the Lord has opened up my concept of truth to better understand it. And to better, hopefully by God's grace, present it and teach it. When Jesus said, sanctify them by their truth, your truth, your word is truth, he's not saying, get out in front of the congregation and just start yelling, flee fornication. That somehow if we just bring this application, this, what's wrong with you people? Why are you gossiping all the time? Why are you dipping into fornication? Why are you, what's wrong with you? Flee fornication, flee fornication, flee fornication, amen. Now let's close the service. See, this sort of bare application that so constitutes so much of our thinking is not just right. It is not commands and applications separated out from everything else. Truth is what? This is the biggest revelation in my life, in my teaching ministry. Truth is the whole, the whole of the word of God. Truth is the whole of the core of the work of God, the identity of who we are in Jesus, and the commands of God, and the applications and exhortations that show up at the ends of the epistles. And it is one. It is a oneness. There is a bodiness to it, not to be. In any way, in your mind, in my mind, in the mind of any teacher that teaches at this pulpit until I die, It is not to be separated. Truth is God and His work, the identity of who we are in Jesus, and then the application, the will of God communicated to our lives. That's the truth. And it must be a one. And I apologize publicly for at least 13 years of ministry in which there was too much separation. and too much application, and not a oneness in the message itself. Now, there are those who say, forget application, we're going into the indicative and we're just gonna tell the story and tell you who you are in Jesus. And then there's those who flip over into application, and then there's the rest of us who separate it. I just didn't know it. I never learned it. I never really heard it until I started studying the Bible and the epistles. I mean, study it. I mean, putting aside all the structures and the approaches I had heard and said, no, what does the Word say? And this revolutionized, reformed my thinking, brothers and sisters, and I hope it does yours as well. It's the whole picture that matters. Now the reason I handed out the notes is because I wanted you to see every epistle pretty much in the way it's presented. The way the apostles present it is perfect. It's amazing. And I had never seen what is in your notes until about a month ago. And I couldn't believe that I missed it. I couldn't believe I missed it. In all of my years of ministry, all of my years in the Word, I missed it. Now some of you may say, this is the most obvious thing in the Word of God. And I can't believe our pastor missed it. I did. I'm sorry. I ask your forgiveness, I do. I just missed the wholeness of the message, I missed it. Follow along. Remember, God's work, our identity, God's will for our lives. The connection between application in the epistles is absolutely airtight to our identity. If you separate identity from application, you're done for. You're done for. It's over. You've got the wrong religion. At least to the extent that you do that. Look at all these examples. I thought, I saw, I knew it was in Romans 6. That's where I started. And then I asked myself the question, I wonder if the other apostles figured this one out. And guess what? They did. Listen, follow along in your notes. This is amazing. This is the most amazing revelation I have received in 20 years of ministry, in studying the word. Listen, listen, Romans 6, 11. Reckon yourself to be dead to sin. What's that? Identity, position, that's where you are. You are dead to sin, you're alive to God. Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal body. Air tight. You're dead to sin. Now you are empowered to not let sin reign in your mortal body. You get it? You say, yeah, that's in Romans, but it's nowhere else in the New Testament. It's everywhere in the New Testament. This is the way they structure the epistles in the New Testament. It's the way they're structuring the message. First Corinthians 611, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified. You are in a new position now. Your bodies are members of Christ. That's 1 Corinthians 6. Now remember, most of the first parts of these epistles are full of God's work and God's gospel and the things that Jesus has done for us. We typically call that doctrine. It's all doctrine. But it's the indicative of what God is doing in his work in salvation. But at the point that we enter into the discussion on what we are to do. What do you get here, brothers and sisters? What do you get in Romans 6 before we get to what you should do in Romans 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, on into chapter 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, et cetera, et cetera. It's identity, let not therefore sin reign in your mortal bodies. 1 Corinthians 6, 11, your bodies are members of Christ, therefore flee fornication and glorify God in your body. Identity application 2nd Corinthians 614 what concord has light with darkness Who are you what are you what's your identity what is it somebody look at that verse and tell me what it is Somebody tell me what it is Light Your light You are light You get that? You are light in the Lord. Therefore, walk as children of light. Identity moves to application. You go directly to application, you're back to false religions. Ephesians 5.18, sorry, Galatians 4.7, you are sons, you are no longer a slave. Then verse 9, therefore, don't turn to beggarly elements. Through love, serve one another. How about Ephesians? Ephesians 5.18, you are light in the Lord, therefore walk as children of light. And then what do we get after that? Husbands love your wives, wives submit to your husbands, children obey your parents and the Lord, but not until you're told your identity. Not until you have meditated on your identity for 17 hours. Not until you realize who you are. Don't you dare go to application. Don't you dare go to, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, until you've studied your identity. Every single epistle, look at Philippians 3.9, and be found in Him. And be found in Him. Our citizenship's in heaven. Verse 20, therefore, stand fast in the Lord. Chapter four, rejoice, be anxious for nothing, and so forth. People are sitting around going, I'm trying to be anxious for nothing, I'm trying to be, I just can't. Do you know who you are first? Do you know who you are first? Don't you dare try until you know who you are. All the way through. Colossians 3.1, you were raised with Christ. Therefore seek those things that are above. Verse three, you died and your life is hidden with Christ. Therefore put to death your members which are in the earth. Fornication, et cetera, et cetera. Why? Well, because you were raised with Christ and you died in Christ and your life is hidden in him. First Thessalonians 5.5, isn't this amazing? It's every epistle, it's every one. How many of you noticed this and had your own list at home somewhere in some diary? How many of you noticed this? Good, thank you brother. This is amazing, look at 1 Thessalonians 5.5, you are all sons of life, therefore let us not sleep, let us watch and be sober. Hebrews 12.5, the exhortation which speaks to you, speaks to you as to sons. Remember that whole section in the first part of Hebrews 12 is all about your sonship and then we move on to what? The rest of the application in the word. Chapters 1 through 11 is straight doctrine, what God has done in Jesus. Chapter 12, sonship, adoption, who you are in Jesus. Then we're going to get on to the exhortation and the rest. Therefore strengthen the hands that hang down, pursue peace and so forth. 1 Peter 1.23, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, therefore lay aside malice and all deceit. 1 Peter 2.24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. By whose stripes you are healed, therefore, likewise, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands. Chapter 3, verse 1. Move on. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Therefore give all diligence to add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and self-control and so forth. 1 John 2 5, we are in him. We ought to walk as he walked. Verse six, very next verse. 1 John 3 2, beloved now we are the children of God. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself. Application. 2 John 2, the truth abides in us. And I found you children walking the truth. Well, that's almost every epistle, with the exception of maybe one or two. You gotta get this. This is the truth. You will not be sanctified unless you receive the truth. What is the truth? Jesus died on the cross. You died with him. Now rise up and walk in newness of life. That's the truth. And nobody is going to stand up and tell you guys to flee fornication. Nobody can stand up here and tell you guys to stop gossiping, start loving each other until they've told you who you are in Jesus and what he did on the cross. Amen. Praise the Lord. Well, let's move on to the third question. How is it we're sanctified by the truth? That's the final question as we wrap up the message. How is it that we're sanctified by the truth? We've looked at the truth, we've looked at what sanctification is, but how is it we're sanctified by the truth? Well, first of all, it's God who does the sanctifying because Jesus is praying to God, God the Father. He's praying to God the Father, sanctify them by the truth. Because God is the one who works in us both the will and to do of His good pleasure. We're not going to work out our salvation until we have been worked in. God has to work in us if we're going to work out. That's why Jesus prays to the Father, that the Father would do the work of sanctification, and He does it by the Spirit of God. And this is the will of God, even our sanctification. That's 1 Thessalonians 4. Are you struggling in any part of your life? Are you struggling in your thought life? Is anybody struggling in your thought life? Are you struggling in your thought life? How many of you are sick and tired of sin? You say, I'm just not sanctified in my life yet, and it bugs the living daylights out of me. What do you do? Pray to God. Pray to God. Jesus did. Will you pray? Jesus prayed that God would sanctify us. Let me ask you this, if it's the will of God that we be sanctified, if Jesus would pray that we would be sanctified, what do you think? Think he could pull it off? Then why don't you pray for it? Because the word says if you pray that this mountain, Pike's Peak, be removed to Fort Collins, And believe me, getting me to love somebody is bigger than moving Pike's Peak to Fort Collins. Do you all agree with that? Getting me to not look at a woman to lust after her in my heart, and that applies to any man in here, is as hard as moving Pike's Peak to Fort Collins. But let me ask you this, do you have the faith to pray that prayer? Do you have the faith to pray that prayer? Knowing that it is the will of God. When you pray a prayer of faith, you've got to know it's the will of God. And if it's the will of God, and you're praying with a mustard seed of faith, the word of God gives us this assurance that we will get the prayer answered. That mountain will move to Fort Collins. It absolutely will. So the challenge, brothers and sisters, is for you to pray in faith. I'm already convinced Jesus is praying for you. I'm convinced God's will is that you be sanctified, but I'm also convinced that prayer is one means by which this is accomplished. Okay, that's number one. Number one, God does the sanctifying work in your life, that you will work out your salvation with fear and trembling. But what does God use for the sanctifying of your soul and your life? He uses the truth, the word, the spirit. In John 15 three, our Lord Jesus told us that we are already clean because of the word that he has spoken to us. But how does this happen? Well, if you look at Psalm one, And you look at John 15. It's the abiding in Christ and it's the words of Christ abiding in us that accomplishes this. Now again, this happens by the Father's working in us. But there is a working out that happens in our lives, in your life and my life, by abiding in the word. This is how we become that tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. This is how it happens. It's the abiding in the riverbed. The abiding with the waters by the creek, seeping into the roots through the dirt by the waterbed. It's abiding in the word that brings us about. John 8, 31, Jesus told the Jews who believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. You may wonder sometimes why your elders are eager to see you leaning into the worship, leaning into the word, consistent in church attendance. Should they be concerned about that? What do you think? Should we just say, well, whatever. People are people. Should we be concerned that there is a consistency about your abiding in the word? Should there be a concern on our part that you be in the word on a daily basis? That family worship be regular in your homes? Should that be a concern? Yes, of course that's a concern. Because we want to see you growing in Christ. Now again, we know there needs to be the working of the Father, the working of the Spirit in your life, just with that commitment to it. How in the world will these people be committed to this regular involvement in the preaching of the Word and the reading of the Word throughout the week? Well, by the work of the Spirit of God in your lives. But again, we press it upon you that this is the application phase. As you are in Christ, as your identity in Christ is one of light, is one of being children of God, then receive the Word of God. And it has to last longer than the final amen in the service. It seems like we wander away so quickly. It doesn't simmer. The truth doesn't marinate as it should. The truth must be as familiar as the belt on your pants, the watch on your wrist, the glasses on your face, and the iPhone in your pocket. What is the cause of the constant tossing to and fro, the ebb and flow and so forth? I think it's the lack of rooting In the truth, the words of Jesus must abide in us. They must nestle deep. This involves meditating on the word of God day and night. Don't often make applications, but this morning I'd like to suggest two hours a day in the word. One hour personally. The other hour in more of a corporate setting, whether it be a Bible study in the church or a Bible study in your home, either way. I'd recommend two hours a day for the next three months. If any of you are concerned, it's just not a lot of growth going on. Is there the abiding in the word? So, you know, experiment with this. Now, it may not be an hour. You may want to set it for 45 minutes or half an hour. I don't care. But I would encourage you to think about a new way of life starting tomorrow. As you are in Christ and as you have a desire for Christ, and a love for his word and his love for his church and a love for his people, would you consider spending two hours a day in the word and try it for three months as an experiment and see if that might contribute to your growth? How many of you are scientists or engineers? Scientists or engineers? I am one. Do you guys ever experiment with stuff? You guys ever try things? Well, computer programs, I guess you try a computer program, it doesn't work, you have to go back and do it again. But we try things, don't we? We try them out to see if it works. Is it okay to experiment with this? I mean, try it out. Try it out, experiment. What about two hours a day? You say, well, I'd have to set aside other priorities in my life. That may have to happen. All right. So abide in the truth. Also, let me close with this. Also, doing the truth is a very important part of this spiritual growth. Turn to 1 Peter 1 and look at verse 22. I'm gonna spend the rest of the last few minutes in this passage. So I'd encourage you to turn there. 1 Peter 1, 22 and 23. Let's just end here this morning, because this ties in almost directly to what Jesus tells us in John 17. 1 Peter 1, 22. Now, 1 Peter 1.22, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. We referred to that earlier, but remember, the whole exhortation, the whole encouragement is rooted in the fact that you are a seed incorruptible, and you have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you are walking in newness of life, and you are capable of doing this. So identity precedes the application, so keep that in mind. But remember where this is going. You have purified your souls. That is sanctification. By what? By reading the Bible. Is that what it says? Is that what it says? You have sanctified, you have purified your souls by reading the Bible. Is that what it says? What does it say? Everybody say it together. Obeying the truth. Obeying the truth. This is how sanctification happens in our lives. It's by obeying the truth. And he gives an example of applying this obedience of the truth by sincere love of the brethren, loving one another fervently with a pure heart. As many of you know, I'm very concerned about religious conservatism. Conservatives, I believe, are abandoning the faith as fast as liberals are. And that's why I'm concerned about conservatives, religious conservatives. Many of us have grown up with it, and so it kind of freaks me out. Because, I mean, this is my wheelhouse, as some of you put it. It's my wheelhouse, where I've been, I understand this. And it scares me. Biblically appropriate way it makes me apprehensive makes me watchful. So here is the threefold Demonstration of religious conservatism and I granted I just make up the term I don't know you can make up your own term if you want, but it's just something I'm aware of and I've got a little term I've developed for it's called religious conservatism Now it's the conservative but it's the conservative that does three things one. He opposes the fruits but waters the roots and He's all upset about gender confusion in the kindergarten classrooms. I mean, he stomps and he yells and he blogs and he writes as congressman. He's clipping roots, fruits, while he's watering the roots. Okay, so he's got his hose in his right hand, watering the roots while he clips the fruits. Is the problem in the public schools gender confusion? Or is it the lack of the fear of God and the worship of God and the love of God with heart, soul, mind, and strength? And we can talk about many other examples. Secondly, so he opposes the fruits, but he waters the roots. Secondly, he stands against the antithesis. So just like the church in Ephesus, and I preached on this before, He knows what he's against. And he's characterized by what he's against. Have any of you be tempted to just harp on things you're against every day? Okay. The temptation is there, I understand. But thirdly, the religious conservative has a head knowledge concerning the thesis. That is, he hates evolution. He knows he's against materialistic macroevolution, and he preaches against it with everything he has, and he also believes in the thesis, that is creation, with a head knowledge. With a head knowledge. So he says, I'm against evolution, and I'm for creation. Because I've got all the evidences for creation. Big deal, big deal. The question is, is there praise and worship and love for God in the chemistry laboratory? Is the wise PhD conservative Christian creationist on his knees saying, to God be the glory, great things he has done, singing the praises of God all day long in his chemistry laboratory. Is that where his heart is? If there's no heart for worship anywhere for the conservative, whether it's the chemistry laboratory or Sunday, it's just an opinion. It's head knowledge. It's an argument against somebody else's argument. That's all it is. The same thing applies to pro-life and everything else. The question is, has this produced a true love of God? An awestruck worship and praise for God. If God created the world, this isn't some abstract academic point, it's a highly personal point. To make it an abstract academic point is to abandon the truth itself. God created you. God created me. God is intimately concerned about you. God is intimately concerned about me. God is powerful. God is holy. God is the judge of the world. Yes, man ruined the world by sin, but God is righteous. And God sent His Son as a Savior to redeem the world because He's not going to walk away from the mess. That's the whole thing involved with this one piece. The thesis is larger than, I'm a creationist, you're an evolutionist, you're going to hell. It's a bigger picture. The truth is bigger, it's wider. There's more involved here, and it has serious personal implications in your life and my life. Head knowledge is not enough. Because according to the apostle in 1 Corinthians 8, head knowledge pops up, but love always edifies. See, some people say, that doesn't really apply to any of these conservative issues. It does, because the whole context in 1 Corinthians 8 is what? Some were dabbling in the ideology and the idolatry and the food offered to idols of the day. It's no different than evolution, no different than abortion, no different than the issues of the day. These were just the issues of their day. Now we have the issues of our day. And what does Paul say? It's very curious. He goes right to the conservatives. I know you conservatives are not gonna go to the idolatry. Oh, you're such nice conservatives. Nice conservatives, nice conservatives. Don't you understand what he's saying? Head knowledge pops up, but love always edifies. Truth must always lead to love. If it leads to more and more divisions between conservatives, then we didn't know the truth. And see, I think this is why our tiny little reformed churches, our tiny little conservative churches are splitting themselves into infinity. Now that may be an exaggeration, but we tend to want to do that kind of thing. Because head knowledge pops up, but love is what edifies. Do you know what love is? Love is such a distant concept to us. I don't think we always know what it is. I don't think we always understand it. We sing songs about love to Christ, more love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee, but we really don't know what it is. It sounds beautiful. It sounds like a beautiful song. And whoever wrote it must have had something beautiful in mind. Isn't this what some of us think sometimes when we've seen these hymns? I'm prodding you a little bit because I can relate to this somewhat. It sounds like a really neat thing, doesn't it? Doesn't love sound like a very neat thing to you? Well, what is it? Well, Peter says three things. We're sanctified by obeying the truth. which includes love, which involves love. Sincere love, fervent love, and pure love. Sincere love's not hypocritical love. You know, it's easy to fake love. We're trying to love somebody and we always wanna think, what's in this thing for me? We like somebody else's Facebook, and we want somebody to like us back. You know what I'm talking about, right? But sincere love. And so with everything in us, we want to go after that half-hearted, superficial, sappy love that doesn't really bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. Come on, guys. There's a lot here for all of us. Every single person here, our hearts need to be crying out to God to help us to love with a sincere love. Not a half-hearted love, not a temporary love, but a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, a fervent love, hearts of compassion. As our brother encouraged us, weeping with those who weep, you weep at the pain in the face of your brother or sister. They've been through a hard week. There's been at least three or four brothers and sisters in this congregation, I know, been through a hard week. Really hard week. One of the hardest weeks so far in the last year or two. Okay, you look into the face of your brother or sister that's been through pain, and do you weep? Do you weep? Is your heart going out to your brothers and sisters? Is your heart really hurting for them? I mean, come on, be honest. Be honest, I'm pushing on you a little bit. Is your love poured out? Are you weeping? Is your heart just aching? Is it breaking for your brothers and sisters in this congregation? Do your hearts just yearn to be with them? Just yearn to be with them? And do you rejoice for what God is doing in their lives? Sincere love, fervent love, pure love, undiluted love. I can hear people wincing as I speak this. And I think I can hear you yearning as well, that you'd yearn to receive something as foreign as this. It's so desired there'd be a love for God and a love for each other that's so much above the paltry little self-infected love that we show to each other now and then. But here's the good news, Jesus wants this more than anything else. Jesus wants this more than anything else. Is this what you want more than anything else? Let me close with a challenge. Love your brothers and sisters, receive them. And as the Holy Spirit is in you, As much as you are able to love, be part of the body. Receive your brothers as Jesus has received you. There is a tendency with all of us to move to the outskirts of the body, always kind of pulling away from it and not really wanting to lean in more to love the brothers and sisters. And as one person pulls back a little bit, others are encouraged to do the same thing. And so this builds on each other. Person A leans out. Person B doesn't lean in anymore. This is the destruction of the body. This is the destruction of the love that Jesus wants in the body. So I really want to challenge you I don't care how much it hurts. I want to challenge you to lean in. Somebody has to prime the pump if love is even going to get started in the body. I pray there will be a whole new beginning that's going to come out of John 17. The prayer of Jesus, and the prayer of these elders, and the passionate prayer of everybody in this congregation. Crying out to God for the heart of Jesus. In the love of the body, leaning in unlike any time you've ever leaned in anywhere before. Leaning in. not pulling back, leaning in more and more, because Jesus wants this more than anything else in your life and my life. I wanna challenge you to lay down your lives for your brothers and sisters. You can do it here, you can do it on the mission field. Either way, that's all right. Do it here, do it somewhere else, but lay down your life Don't just give up your opinions and your pride and your right to be right and your avoidance of your hurt feelings. No, your life. Brothers and sisters, your life. As Jesus laid down his life for you, will you lay down your life for your brothers and sisters? This is the will of Jesus. This is the prayer of Jesus. We joke a little bit about how people in some churches run out within 30 seconds after the final Amen. We were talking about this last week a little bit. And there's just not much relational life. But let me say this, the church is not just some horizontal fellowship where we relate to each other by common shallow interests. knitting, motorcycle clubs, homeschooling, until we get irritated with each other. That's not the church. The church also must not be some place where you hear a shallow message, watch a professional band, or a professional speaker, and then you walk out two minutes after the final amen. And the church is not merely a place where you hear the same theologically structured message that we've all agreed upon for the last 500 years, week in and week out, without any real living exhortations or rebukes, and then you walk out 30 seconds after the final amen. That's not the church. What is the real church? What is a real church? The church is a context for love to operate, and where love really does operate. This is the number one defining characteristic of the church. We are loved by God, we've been saved by the grace of God, and we love each other. So let's lean into a context in which love can operate. Now again, it's not as simplistic as sticking around the foyer. That's too simplistic. There's a thousand other applications for this. So let's not go there. The church is a place where we exercise 25 one another's, we get into each other's hair, We get through conflicts. We overlook perceived faults. We overlook real faults. On occasion, we lovingly confront a little bit. We confess sins. We forgive one another. We have stronger relationships and love for each other, even more so after the conflicts. The church is a place of conflict. Absolutely. If we don't get into a church where there's a conflict, we're not going to church yet. We absolutely need to have conflicts such that we have the opportunity to forgive each other 490 times. The church has to become a place in which relationships are such that we can have conflict and work through them and then develop stronger relationships over time. And so by faith, we sail into the conflicts with confidence, not with fear because We are filled with the Holy Spirit of God because Jesus has resolved the biggest conflict in all of the universe. Amen? He's taking care of the big one. We can go into any kind of a conflict. No fear. No fear. We fly into the back cave of conflict. No big deal. Filled with humility. Filled with the Spirit. Filled with love. And ready to die. To literally lay down our lives for each other. To literally be killed by a brother or a sister in the church. We are impenetrable to conflict, to hurt feelings, a bad hair day for a brother or a sister. It's just not gonna affect the body. Why? Because this is the definition of a body. This is what it is to be a church. So love is going to cover a million sins today. And we're ready for tomorrow. And next week, and the week after this, my encouragement is don't pull back. Don't be so paranoid of hurting each other's feelings. Take at least a six-inch step forward. Not a six-foot step forward. Sometimes in pride. Now see, here's what I'm saying. You move forward into relationship. You lean in a little bit. Now, there are some who just jump right in, and then they're unable, they have insufficient love to handle the increased closeness and intimacy. So be careful. Say, don't be proud about this. But move in, take the six-inch baby step forward into relationship if love allows you to do so. And if you don't have love, that can handle six inches. Then what do you do? Pray for it. And then take the step. Because this is the greatest desire in the heart of God for this congregation. That the members would love each other. That's why Jesus died on the cross. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Father in heaven, oh God, we're so thankful for the love of Christ. We're so thankful for your love. Father, that you got involved. I mean, really involved. Jesus, you got so involved that you became a man for us. You mixed your blood with ours. And then you died and gave your blood for us. Now, Father, give us the faith to step in, to be a body, to love each other. Father, you've willed it. Your Son prays for it. He prays for us right now. It will happen. We know that it will happen in this church. Because we have prayed in faith, and we know that this is your will, and we know, Father, that the Son has prayed for us. This is your heart, Father. More love for each other, to lay down our lives for each other in this congregation. Oh God, we pray for a miracle, and we know it will happen today. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, as we come to the Lord's table, I'd like to read from Luke 14. I have a few comments on it, but I do want to read from Luke 14 as we come to the table and remember the sacrifice our Lord gave to us of himself on the cross. Luke 14, 15. This is the parable of the great supper. Listen. Now, when one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then he said to him, a certain man gave a great supper and invited many and sent his servant at suppertime to say to those who were invited, come for all things are now ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground. I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused. Another said, I bought five yokes of oxen. I am going to test them out. I ask you to have me excused. So another said, I've married a wife and therefore I can't come. So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. And the servant said, Master, it is done as you have commanded. And still there is room. Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of these men who were invited shall taste my supper. Well, brothers and sisters, Why wouldn't these people come to the supper? We just read this last night in family worship and I was struck by this parable as an important application to all of us. Why wouldn't these guys go to this great supper provided by the master? The reason is they didn't consider it to be an honor. They didn't consider it to be an honor to come to church. and to take the Lord's Supper. They just didn't see it as an honor, that this is a great honor. So I don't have much to say. I think they thought too much of themselves and everything they were doing, and all the projects they had going on for themselves, and they didn't really think very highly of this Master. Well, what can we say? It's an honor to be here. It is a great honor to be at this table. If Jesus says, this is my table, you are communing with me in my body, in my blood. If Jesus says, this is my table, this is a remembrance of my sacrifice on the cross for you. See, this master in the parable, really, he didn't give his life for everybody, but our king has sacrificed his own life that we would have life, that we would be healed, and that the blind would regain their sight. And so the blind have come this morning. The deaf are here. The dead are here as well. We've been raised from the grave. We've had our sight returned to us. We can now hear the Word of God and respond with joy. And so, the King has given us all of this, and now He's given us a meal. What a privilege. What a privilege. He offers His life to us and invites us to His table. This is a great honor to be here. So consider it an honor, brothers and sisters, a great honor to be at the table of the King, our King Jesus. Amen. Our Father in heaven, O God, we are privileged. We are beggars. We are beggars, but now sons. Wow. Amen.