John 17:17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified through the truth.
God’s word is the means of sanctification for which Jesus
prays. Notice how important God’s word is.
Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and
praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
We are set apart by God inasmuch as we submit to Him
speaking to us through His words in the Bible. I recommend reading Psalm 119 in
its entirety.
Psalm 119:11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee.
There are many things to be said about the word of God and
how important it is. But, one thing is that the word of God prevents a church
from being nothing more than a social club or a political club. Everything that
anyone says that God has laid on their heart can be compared to it to see if
what they say is true but if you do not read or listen to the word of God you
cannot know if you are being lied to or deceived or told the truth.
How many times have your read the Bible through from cover
to cover? If you have been a Christian for ten years and have not read or heard
the Bible read through ten times there is something very wrong. You may be a
great person, a serving Christian with a servant’s heart, even a soul-winner,
but like Martha you may choose to be too busy to fellowship with God.
The Bible should be your standard in all matters of faith,
practice, and doctrine. If reading or listening to the Bible read were a daily
activity it would be difficult to deceive you. Let God speak to you through His
word. God will set you apart for what He wants you to do while you are in this
world through it, not the manic ravings of a celebrity preacher who just wants
a following to glorify himself and to justify his own sin.
As God the Father sent Christ into the world so has Christ
sent His disciples into the world. Christ’s offering of Himself sanctifies the
believer. He is useful to God the Father by His death and resurrection in
drawing men to salvation and by that the follower of Christ is set apart for
His work in the world as part of the body of Christ.
John 17:20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Here is a verse that should give we Gentiles great joy. When
our ancestors were living in pagan debauchery worshipping trees, the sun, the
moon, and the stars, laying our dead on hillsides to be eaten by vultures,
sacrificing human beings to devils, and living worse than animals in some
respects Christ made a prayer for those of us who would believe.
I read, and I don’t have the citation handy, that there is
evidence that missionaries from Antioch, where Christians were first called
such (Acts 11:26), went to what we would call today Northern Italy and even as
far as Wales and Ireland to spread the apostolic faith. This is why there where
congregations in the Cottian Alps of the Piedmont section of Italy, in Wales,
and Ireland who had a more Biblical faith than mainstream Christianity although
we know little about them other than through their “Christian” enemies who
slaughtered them.
Christ prays for those who will believe through the
preaching of the Apostles. He prays that we will be unified in our purpose as
He and the Father are in the same purpose, that people will believe that Christ
came from God the Father. He gave the glory that He received from God the
Father to the believers, that all may be one. And that we may be complete
(perfect as per Colossians 4:12 and finished as per 2Chronicles 8:16) in our
understanding so that the world will know that God the Father loves us as He loved
Jesus Christ.
God the Father loves us as He loved Christ. Ponder that for
a few million years.
John 17:24 ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast
given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy
name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, and I in them.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one being with
three parts. God’s love for Himself, His unity, is shared with us and is to be
exemplified in how the church operates in the world, or at least it is meant to
be that way. Christ’s will is that we be with Him and behold His glory. Before
the creation God loved the Son, as He loves us now.
God, by His foreknowledge, saw who would receive Christ and
chose them also before the foundation of the world.
1Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father...
Ephesians 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ: 4 According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: 5
Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Predestinated, once saved, to the adoption, our physical
resurrection in a glorified body;
Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
The world does not know God. The world has created a version
of God who is weak and distant, someone you call in times of trouble but who
had no part in giving you that trouble. The God the world invented justifies
their power structures, their social classes, their standards, their pride,
their bigotry, and their violent expressions of power. But the Son knows the
Father as they are one being. Now the disciples know the Son came from the
Father.
Christ has declared God the Father to the disciples so that
they can manifest the love the Father has for them and for Christ to a fallen
world, because Christ is in them. This is the key to being a Christian, the
Bible teaches, to manifest Christ, and therefore God, to a lost world.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Only Christ knows God the Father because He is one with God
the Father. Only Christ reveals that knowledge to mankind. All others who claim
to know God or to reveal God to man, whatever religious tradition they come
from, are in error and do not reveal the God who created them. There is only
one way of knowledge and salvation to God.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
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