Sanctified by the Truth
Last week we examined Christ’s statement in John 18:37 that he came to bear witness to the truth. We answered Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” and asserted three biblical truth statements: 1) There is truth, God defines it and reveals it. 2) Because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, the church must be the pillar and buttress of truth. and 3) Because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, we must be sanctified by the truth. We examined the first two statements in detail especially focusing on the church teaching and defending the true gospel, the true nature of God and the true teachings of Scripture. I closed last week’s sermon with three application points: love the truth, defend the truth, and live the truth. Today I want to pick up with: Live the truth and the third truth statement: Because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, we must be sanctified by the truth. We will look at the theological basis for why we must be sanctified by the truth and the practical application of how we are sanctified by the truth.
Theological basis for sanctification by the truth
First let’s look at the theological basis for why we must be sanctified by the truth. Not only did Jesus say in John 18:37 that, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth.” But he went on to say, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” How can we be “of the truth” as Jesus says? Only by God’s sovereign power. In our natural state we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1) and we suppress the truth and exchange the truth of God for a lie (Rom 1:18, 25). It is only by the sovereign work of the Spirit of Truth to regenerate us that we can listen to the truth. When this happens, we no longer are a slave to sin and no longer have to listen to the lies of the flesh. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 8:31-38:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33 They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."
Did you hear that! The truth of the gospel sets us free from the bondage of sin. We no
longer have to serve the flesh and the father of lies, we have been set free to serve the
Lord of truth.
Jesus not only came to set us free from sin by the truth, but he sent the Holy Spirit,
who is also called the Spirit of Truth, as a deposit, or down payment, or guarantee of our inheritance to remain in His house forever. Ephesians 1:14-15 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” God doesn’t just stop with setting us free, Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 12:2 tells us Jesus is not only the founder of our faith, but also the perfecter of our faith. And in Romans 8:29-30 we are told, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” This is sometimes called the golden chain of salvation, each step is inseparably linked. Where did Paul get such confidence to write that God would complete the good work that was begun in us? From the words of Jesus. He knew Jesus had prayed for him and us. When Jesus prays, we can be confident the Father will answer! Listen to the words of His high priestly prayer in John 17:
14 I have given them [those who believe and will believe] your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
The Greek word for sanctify is hagiazo (hag-ee-ad-zo) which means to purify, make holy or consecrate. The Greek scholar Thayer defines it this way, “to separate from profane things and dedicate to God” or “to purify,” specifically in this case “to purify internally by renewing of the soul.” Sanctification, as defined by Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof, is “that gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit by which He purifies the sinner, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.” In other words, when a person comes to a saving knowledge of the true gospel, there should be transformation of their lives. There are many people who say they believe in Jesus and believe that it is true that he died to save them from their sins, and yet there is no change in their lives. There is no sanctification. This should not be the case. When we go on following our own sensual desires, we blaspheme the way of the truth. Speaking of false prophets and teachers, Peter says in 2 Peter 2:2, “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.” If we are not being changed by God’s word, we should examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Listen to Paul’s admonition in 2 Cor 13:3-8:
…He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong--not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.
The truth is, if we are truly in Christ, he is powerful to bring change in our lives. God has chosen us to be sanctified and he has guaranteed it by sending His Spirit to bring about this work by the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” One cannot skip from justification to glorification. There must be sanctification. Justification will lead to sanctification, purity, separation from profane things, and renewal of the soul. And sanctification is inextricably linked to the truth. Jesus said it, “Sanctify them by the truth.” (Jn 17:17) Paul says in Titus 1:1 that knowledge of the truth accords with godliness, a word synonymous with sanctification. And Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:22 that our souls are purified by obedience to the truth. So, the Bible is clear that justification is followed by sanctification. Therefore, because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, we must be sanctified by the truth.
Practical application for sanctification by the truth
Now I’m going to shift from the theological basis for why we must be sanctified by the truth to my second topic—the practical application of how we are sanctified by the truth. We’ll look at two main points:
1) Sanctification requires knowledge of the truth.
2) Sanctification by the truth produces fruit.
Before we look at how does this sanctification by the truth practically occur,
first I want to point out a theological distinction between justification and sanctification. Both are sovereign works by Almighty God in our lives. However, there is a difference. Justification is a one time event that is monergistic. Ergon is Greek for work. This is where we get our words energy and ergonomics. An erg is a unit measurement for work. Mono means one or alone. So when we say justification is monergistic, we mean that it is a work that is done in our lives solely by the Father, through Christ’s atoning blood, by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We do nothing in this process. Sanctification however, is a progressive, life long process that is synergistic. Syn means with. So by saying sanctification is synergistic, we mean that we cooperate with the gracious and sovereign work of the Holy Spirit to produce spiritual fruit in our lives and become conformed more and more to the image of Christ. This synergism is shown in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Sanctification Requires Knowledge of the Truth
So how practically does this sanctification process occur? It’s a process of grace which requires knowledge. Sanctification requires knowledge of the Truth. After we are born again, the Spirit of Truth works in us to produce the fruit of obedience and a love for the truth. How do we know what to obey and where do we find this truth? In God’s word. The most important thing the Spirit uses in our lives to sanctify us is the truth in God’s word. The process of sanctification is not a mystical knowledge that we receive by waiting for a spiritual anointing, but it is an ongoing work of the Spirit illuminating us as we spend time reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on Scripture. God’s word is our primary source for truth. As we read, study and meditate on God’s word we, as Romans 12:2 states, become transformed and renewed in our mind and we are able to test and discern God’s will, what is good, acceptable and perfect. Of course, God does use secondary sources of God’s word such as sermons, books, conferences and other means to sanctify us, but we need to be careful and be like the Bereans, who even though they were hearing Paul teach, they were commended for examining the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true. (Ac 17:11, NIV) Proverbs 23:23 tells us to, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Truth is something worth investing in. It is worth pursuing. It will change our lives.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to think about a number of things that are excellent and worthy of praise, but the first on the list is “whatever is true.” As we think about the truth, we begin to delight it in it and we desire to be obedient to the truth. Here is a good verse to pray from Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” Jesus says in John 14:21 & 23 that whoever loves Him keeps His word and commandments. In the gospels, Jesus says “truly I say to you” 72 times. He’s saying, “I’m speaking the truth. You can trust what I’m saying is true.” Do we listen to what he says? This saying, “Truly I say to you,” is probably most notable in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus covers a lot of ground in the Sermon on the Mount. If we listen to His true teachings, we should be asking ourselves questions like: Do I pay attention to my heart attitude as well as my actions or do I act like a hypocrite? Am I careful about my thoughts and words toward others? Am I pure in thought and action toward those of the opposite sex? Am I true to my word? Am I long suffering toward others? Do I pray for my enemies and those who persecute me? Am I giving, praying, and fasting to please God or to please man? Am I splitting my devotion between God and money or between God and something else? Am I seeking first the kingdom of God, fully trusting God to meet my needs and give me the grace I need for each day? Am I examining myself first to see what I have done to contribute to a conflict I may be in? Am I doing to others as I would have them do to me? Am I seeking to do the will of my heavenly Father? Am I hearing and doing Christ’s words or only hearing them? We should all spend time mediating on the Sermon on the Mount, asking the Holy Spirit to empower us to follow these true teachings of Christ. As we begin to live out true authentic lives, we become salt and light to the world and when the world sees our good works, our heavenly Father is glorified. (Mt 5:16) In John’s gospel, chapter 3, verse 21, Jesus tells us, “whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” In other words, we live out our chief purpose: to bring glory to God.
Sanctification by the Truth Produces Fruit
Not only does, sanctification require a knowledge of the truth, but, sanctification by the truth produces fruit. Ephesians 5:9 says, “for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.” As we learn the truth and walk in obedience to the truth, we begin to bear fruit in the truth. Focusing on a passage in Ephesians 4:17-32, I want to look at three specific areas in which we bear fruit in the truth: our attitude, our speech, and our action. (It’s a long passage so you might want to turn to it.)
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!--21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
First of all, this passage highlights a key principle in sanctification. It’s called the replacement principle. It’s not sufficient just to put away sinful attitudes, speech or actions. If we want to bear fruit we must be sanctified by replacing those sinful patterns with godly attitudes, speech, and actions. Let’s see how it’s explained in this passage. In vv 17-24 we are told to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds,” giving ourselves up to sensuality, greed and every practice of impurity. But instead we are to “be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds…in true righteousness and holiness.” The futility of our minds is to be replaced with a renewed mind. We also see in vv 22-24 we are to put off our old self, which belongs to our former way of life, corrupted with deceitful desires; and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is replaced by the new self. This replacement principle is expressed in different ways in other places in Scripture such as in Rom 6:11 where we are told to, “consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God in Christ” and in 1 Pet 2:24 where we are told, “He himself bore our sins on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Death is replaced with life. Can we make these replacements in our own strength and effort? No, we can only do this by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit and the transforming power of the truth of God’s Word. So a key principle in the sanctification process of bearing fruit is to put away a sinful attitude or behavior from our old nature and replace it with a righteous and holy attitude or behavior of our new nature.
In verses 25-32, Paul goes on to tell us to put away the deceit, corruption and falsehood of our former nature and to put on truth which is in Jesus. He then gives us three examples of this putting off the old and putting on the new of the sanctification process, the three areas I mentioned earlier: our attitude, our speech, and our action.
Bearing Fruit in our Attitude
Paul’s first example involves attitude. We are told to be angry and do not sin. This is difficult! Anger is an emotion God uses for His purposes. When He is angry, He is never out of control and it is always part of His plan which brings Him glory. Anger is an emotion God has also given us. We can allow it to control us, which leads to sin, or with God’s help, we can appropriately direct our anger to deal with the problem that provoked it. God’s anger is always kindled righteously and is an appropriate response. But, because we still wrestle with our fleshly desires, this often does not happen. Our anger is often kindled from our unrighteous thoughts and responses and is often inappropriate. No only that, but our anger (unlike God’s controlled anger) can often fester and lead to destructive sin. So Paul gives us further instruction: He tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. We need to deal with the unresolved anger quickly, that very day. In v 26, Paul is quoting from Psalm 4 which sheds further light by telling us “ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord.” (Ps 4:4-5). If we do not deal with our anger promptly, we can be sure the devil will take the opportunity to tempt us to harvest bitterness. Therefore, Paul tells us in Eph 4:31 to, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.” So when someone does something that angers us, we are to put away the anger and replace it as v 32 instructs us with kindness, tenderness and forgiveness.
Bearing Fruit in our Speech
Sanctification by the truth will bear fruit in our attitudes and sanctification by the truth will bear fruit in our speech. Paul instructs us in Eph 4:25 “Therefore having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another.” As we talked about last week, the church is to be the pillar and buttress of truth in this world and must speak the truth. Here Paul encourages every individual believer, each member of the body of Christ, to speak the truth. We are to put away falsehood and replace lies with the truth. What truth are we to speak? The truth of God’s Word. The best way to speak the truth with our neighbor is to speak God’s word to one another. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” If we speak the truth to one another, we help train one another in righteousness and equip one another to do good work for the kingdom. How are we to speak the truth? In love (Eph 4:15), seeking to build one another up. Eph 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of you mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” We are to replace corrupting talk with gracious speech; truthful words that are useful and fitting to the occasion; words motivated by love with a desire to help our brothers and sisters become more like Christ. We should also have the same attitude as we speak the truth to unbelievers, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet 3:15)
Bearing Fruit in our Action
Sanctification by the truth will bear fruit in our attitudes, in our speech and thirdly, in our actions. In Ephesians 4:29, Paul tells us to put away stealing and replace it with honest work so that we may share with others. We may at first glance think this is an easy one for us because we don’t steal. But let’s look a little deeper. Stealing can take many forms: slothfulness, so work takes longer than it should; showing up late or leaving early; wasting time with idle chatter or activities; using office supplies, computers, or copiers for personal use. How about keeping extra money that was mistakenly given after a transaction or failing to point out that you were undercharged for a product? How about misrepresenting your age or the number in your party to get a cheaper rate on something? These things are stealing from a business. Here’s another, withholding a tithe? This is stealing from God. Listen to Malachi 3:8-10,
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Paul tells us to quit stealing and do honest work. Christians need to have absolute integrity when dealing with others. We should also be exemplary workers. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col 3:23-4) Christians should also be generous. What’s the opposite of stealing? Paul says don’t steal, but rather do honest work so we may share with others. Therefore, the opposite of stealing is not not stealing, it’s sharing. The opposite of taking things from others is giving things to others. As we labor and generate wealth, we should not just keep it all to ourselves, we are to give cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7) and to help those in need. 1 John 3:18-19, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” From these three examples, we clearly see the replacement principle in action in the process of sanctification by the truth which bears fruit in our attitude, our speech, and our actions.
We’ve established that sanctification requires knowledge of the truth and that sanctification by the replacement principle will produce fruit. But it may still not be clear how to actually use the replacement principle. How does this principle work? How do I do it? Or maybe you feel as if you are failing at being sanctified despite a desire to please and glorify God and you wonder why? First, realize it’s usually not easy. It’s a process, which means it will take time. And number two, it takes hard work and discipline. This work and discipline involves something nouthetic counselor, author, and teacher, Lou Priolo calls the gumnazo (goom-nad’-zo) principle (See Priolo, L. The Heart of Anger. pp 61-64) Gumnazo is the Greek word for train or exercise and is where we get such words as gymnasium and gymnastics. Let me read to you an anecdote from Priolo’s Heart of Anger that demonstrates the gumnazo principle. (read pp 61-62) Paul told Timothy to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness.” The word translated train is gumnazo. It is also used in two passages in Hebrews. The first is:
Heb 5:11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained (gumnazo-ed) by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
This passage rebukes the Hebrew believers and should be a warning to us as well. By constant practice or training we should be able to distinguish the evil or falsehood that we are to put off and the good or truth we are to put on. We do this by the power and illumination of the Spirit of Truth as we read, study, memorize and meditate on God’s truth in His word. The second passage in Hebrews sheds further light on this gumnazo principle and gives us hope when we fail and guarantees the fruit that will follow as we persevere.
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained (gumnazo-ed) by it.
In this sanctification process, there is a struggle and we will sometimes stumble. When we do, we need to repent of our sin and receive God’s forgiveness. We need to pray for God’s grace to get back into the race. When we are chastised, we need to thank God for his great love and concern for us and realize that his discipline allows us to share in his holiness and yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. As we look to Jesus the founder of our faith, we can be confident that he is also the perfecter of our faith. Like a master craftsman working with an apprentice, our Master Craftsman is patiently working with us, instructing and correcting us, molding and conforming us into the image of His Son. He will sanctify us by the truth.
In closing let me reiterate that because Christ came to bear witness to the truth we must be sanctified by His truth; and that sanctification requires God’s sovereign grace, it requires a knowledge of the truth, and it will produce fruit as seen in our attitudes, our speech and our actions. 1 John 2:4-6 says, “Whoever says, ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” As Paul prayed for the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 13:8, I pray for myself and our church, that by God’s grace “we [will not] do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”