1. John 17 contains our Lord's high priestly prayer. In verses 17-19, our Lord refers to our sanctification.
2. In Matthew 23:18, our Lord said that the altar in the temple sanctifies the gift that is on the altar, but in relation to men and women this is the only time that our Lord ever actually used the word "sanctify."
3. In John 10:36, our Lord spoke of Himself as One "whom the Father hath sanctified."
4. But here in John 17, we have the only place in which our Lord ever spoke about sanctification in relation to men other than Himself (17:17, 19).
5. "Sanctify them through thy truth; Thy word is truth... that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:17, 19).
6. I have divided my exposition into three parts:

1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SANCTIFIED?
2. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SANCTIFIED BY TRUTH?
3. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN -- THY WORD IS TRUTH?

I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SANCTIFIED?

1. As I go out knocking on doors I often ask people, "Are you saved?" Every now and then, some one (usually a woman) will reply, "Yes, I am saved, sanctified, and full of the Holy Ghost!"
2. But I have observed that oftentimes they do not understand Biblical sanctification. We need to go to the Bible for our understanding of sanctification, not to various church teachings and traditions.
3. According to the Bible, "sanctified" means "holy." This is the Holy Bible! It is set apart from all other books.
4. As he lay on his deathbed, Sir Walter Scott cried out, "Bring me the Book." "What book?" his son-in-law asked, "You have thousands of books." "There is but one Book," said Sir Walter Scott. "Bring me the Bible."
5. The Bible teaches that there are many different kinds of spirits. For example, the Bible warns us of seducing spirits and unclean spirits.
6. But Christians are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
7. Exodus 20:8 says, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (fourth commandment). This means "sanctified" because the same Hebrews word translated "holy" is translated "sanctified" 108 times in the Old Testament. The words are used interchangeably in Scripture.
8. Genesis 2:3 says, "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
9. To be sanctified literally means "to be set apart" for special use or purpose. In the Old Testament, the sabbath was set apart from the other six days.
10. God said to the Israelites, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work" (Ex. 20:9, 10).
11. Today, the Lord's Day is set apart for Christians for rest and worship.
12. Eric Liddell was one of the fastest men in England and a British record-holder for the 100-meter race. He was scheduled to run the 100-meter race in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. But when he found out that the race would be held on Sunday he refused to do it. The lords and dukes and princes of Great Britain were upset with him but he held his ground. Instead he trained for the 400-meter race, which was to be held on a different day.
13. The day of the race a stranger handed him a piece of paper which read, “Them that honor Me I will honor” (I Sam. 2:30). Eric Liddell was greatly encouraged and went on to win the race, setting a new world’s record. He went on to become a missionary to China and died in a Japanese internment camp in 1945. We need young men and women like Eric Liddell!
14. In Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, he tells a story of a pastor who was ordered to read a proclamation issued by King Charles I, instructing the people to play sports on Sundays.
15. To his congregation's horror and amazement, he read the royal edict in church Sunday morning, which many other preachers refused to do. But after reading the proclamation, he read Exodus 20:8-11 and then added these words: “Brethren, I have laid before you the commandment of your king and the Commandment of your God. I leave it to you to judge which of the two ought rather to be observed.”
16. Leviticus 27:30 says the tithe...is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD." Like the Lord's Day, it is set apart by God and for God.
17. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated "to sanctify" means to dedicate something to God for a solemn purpose. We see this all throughout Leviticus 27.
18. Leviticus 27:14 says, "And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD..."
19. Leviticus 27:16 says, "And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession . . ."
20. This means to dedicate a house or a field or the tithe, is to separate them unto the Lord because they belong to God.
21. Then that which was common or ordinary, for example an ordinary house or an ordinary field, is now devoted and yielded to God.
22. Coming into the New Testament, we see the same idea. Men and women who are sanctified, are set apart for God.
23. First Peter 1:15 and 16 says, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
24. Here the Greek word for "holy" is the adjective of which this word "sanctify" is the verb. Because "sanctified" means "holy."
25. So when our Lord prayed to God the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," He was praying, "Make them holy them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
26. Bible-reading (and Bible-obeying) people are sanctified.
27. First Peter 2:9 says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy (sanctified, set apart) nation, a peculiar people ("God's property"); that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God."
28. Sanctification has three aspects -- positional and progressive and final.
29. All those who are "in Christ" (saved) are positionally sanctified on the basis of our union with Christ. According to the New Testament, all believers are "saints." All believers are positionally "sanctified."
30. First Corinthians 1:2 says, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints..."
31. Corinth was a very wicked city, and the church at Corinth had serious problems with carnality. First Corinthians 6:11 says, "And such were some of you (they were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, etc.): but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
32. This is positional sanctification. The Christians at Corinth were sanctified positionally. All Christians are sanctified by the Holy Spirit the moment they are saved.
33. Second Thessalonians 2:13 and I Peter 1:2 refer to the "sanctification of the Spirit."
34. Progressive sanctification refers to sanctification as experienced by the believer. Second Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
35. The potential for growth is in every believer. Some grow more healthy and more rapidly because they read the Bible and obey the Bible and are more eager to grow (cf. Rom. 12:1, 2).
36. Progressive sanctification depends on submitting and obeying to God.
37. The final aspect of sanctification in the life of the believer is "ultimate" sanctification or "glorification."
38. First John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
39. This is the doctrine of sanctification.

II. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SANCTIFIED BY TRUTH?

1. Albert Barnes said, "Truth is a representation of things as they are...To see things as they are is to see God to be infinitely lovely and pure; his commands to be reasonable and just; heaven to be holy and desirable; his service to be easy, and religion pleasant, and sin odious; to see that life is short, that death is near; that the pride, pomp, pleasures, wealth, and honors of this world are of little value, and that it is of infinite importance to be prepared to enter on the eternal state of being. He that sees all this, or that looks on things as they are, will desire to be holy. He will make it his great object to live near to God and to glorify his name. In the sanctification of the soul God makes use of all truth, or of everything fitted to make a representation of things as they are to the mind. His Word states that and no more; His Spirit and His Providence do it. The earth and the heavens, the seasons, the sunshine and the rain, are all fitted to teach us his goodness and power, and lead us to him. His daily mercies tend to the same end, and afflictions have the same design. Our own sickness teaches us that we are soon to die. The death of a friend teaches us the instability of all earthly comforts, and the necessity of seeking better joys. All these things are fitted to make just representations to the mind, and thus to sanctify the soul. As the Christian is constantly amid these objects, so he should be constantly growing in grace, and daily and hourly gaining new and deeper impressions of the great truths of religion."
2. As Christians we need to be honest at all times. Most people today are liars. The Bible says all liars shall be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Rev. 21:8).
3. Lying has become acceptable to most people today. I believe America is under the judgment of God because we are a nation of liars.
4. A book was published during Bill Clinton's presidency -- No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton. Now his wife is doing most of the lying (Benghazi, etc.).
5. We are very close to seeing a fulfillment of II Thessalonians 2:11 -- "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."
6. Second Thessalonians 2:10 says this judgment will come, "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
7. In John 8, we see that the Pharisees were contradicting our Lord. Our Lord said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
8. That is a wonderful statement, and a wonderful promise -- "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
9. But the Pharisees disagreed, and said to Jesus, "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true" (John 8:13).
10. They continued to disagree with Him, and continued to criticize Him, until finally our Lord said to them, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth..." (John 8:44).
11. Notice the emphasis on the truth of God's Word (8:44-47).
12. This is why our Lord prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." We are surrounded by liars, but God is true, and His Word is truth.
13. Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).
14. Jesus is Truth. He said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
15. Getting back to John 17, our Lord prayed in verse 15, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (literally the evil one)."
16. The word "keep" means to "guard." How does our Lord keep us or guard us from the evil one? Through "truth" (17:17-19).
17. Faced with demonic delusion, and Satanic error, and diabolical strategy, the only sure way we can be delivered from the errors of the wicked one are by the truth of God's Word!
18. "Thy word is truth" (17:17).
19. The Koran is not truth. The book of Mormon is not truth. The literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses is not truth. The doctrines and superstitions of the Roman Catholic Church are not truth.
20. Revelation 12:9 says Satan has deceived the whole world.
21. Just watch the television or listen to the radio or read a newspaper or listen to a college professor or a politician or an entertainer, and you will understand what the Bible means when it says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (II Cor. 4:3, 4).
22. The devil blinds the minds of men. The devil deceives men. The only protection we have is the Word of God. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).

III. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN -- THY WORD IS TRUTH?

1. The other day I received two nasty letters. One was in response to one of our tracts that someone had put in his door. The other letter was in response to an interview I recently did with Newsday.
2. The first letter writer ignored the Word of God, and the second writer attacked the Word of God. Both men are in trouble with the Lord because the Bible is God's infallible, inerrant Word.
3. We are not to ignore it or attack it. We are to read it and we are to obey it! James 1:22 says, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
4. Psalm 138:2 says, "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
5. Psalm 119:130 says, "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."
6. W. E. Gladstone, one of England's greatest Premiers, referred to the Bible as "the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture."
7. The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
   ’Mid the raging storms of time;
   Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
   And they glow with a light sublime.

          The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
          It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
          I will plant my feet on its firm foundation, 
          For the Bible stands.

          The Bible stands like a mountain towering
          Far above the works of men;
          Its truth by none ever was refuted,
          And destroy it they never can.

          The Bible stands and it will forever,
          When the world has passed away;
          By inspiration it has been given,
          All its precepts I will obey.

          The Bible stands every test we give it,
          For its Author is divine;
          By grace alone I expect to live it,
          And to prove and to make it mine.   -- Haldor Lillenas

8. Voltaire, the famous French infidel, boasted that in one hundred years Christianity would disappear, and there would be no more Bibles in France. Soon Voltaire died screaming as he slipped off into eternity, but the Bible has not passed away. Furthermore, Voltaire's printing press was used to print Bibles, and Voltaire's house became a depot for the Geneva Bible Society.
9. J.C. Ryle, the great 19th century preacher, said:

• There is an extraordinary depth, fullness, and richness in the contents of the Bible, which is supernatural and above man.
• There is an extraordinary unity and harmony in the contents of the Bible, which is supernatural and above man.
• There is an extraordinary wisdom, sublimity, and majesty in the style of the Bible, which is above man.
• There is an extraordinary accuracy in the facts and statements of the Bible, which is supernatural and above man.
• There is in the Bible an extraordinary suitableness to the spiritual wants of all mankind.
• The Bible has had a most extraordinary effect on the condition of those nations in which it has been known, taught, and read.

10. Notice, J.C. Ryle said the Bible has had a most extraordinary effect on the condition of those nations in which it has been known, taught, and read -- USA and England immediately come to mind.
11. But that Biblical foundation is just about gone in Great Britain, and it is just about gone here in America.
12. Psalm 11:3 says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
13. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (17:17). In John 17:8, our Lord says, "For I have given unto them, the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them..."
14. Then again in verse 14, our Lord says, "I have given them thy word." The Word of God is communicated to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. "Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth."
15. Several times in the Scriptures we see the Bible referred to as "the word of truth" -- in Psalm 119:43, and in Colossians 1:5, and in II Timothy 2:15.
16. Ephesians 1:13 says, "after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."
17. This is how God saves us and keeps us and sanctifies us.
18. First Thessalonians 2:13 says, "Ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
19. James 1:18 says, "Of his own will begat he us (give birth to us) with the word of truth." "Being born again...by the word of God" (I Peter 1:23).
20. When John Knox, the great Scottish preacher, was on his deathbed, his wife asked him, “What would you like me to read?” He replied, “Read where I first put my anchor down, in the seventeenth chapter of John.”

CONCLUSION:

1. We need to get back to the Bible, back to Bible preaching, back to Bible reading, and back to Bible obeying.
2. America has gone so far into sin, that there are only two alternatives left: revival or ruin.
3. We need a genuine, heaven-sent, Holy Spirit revival.
4. We need to get back to genuine Bible Christianity.   That alone can save the day.
5. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).