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known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send
Me" (17: 6-8).
These words insist on the authority of the Scriptures and we dare not ignore them if
our lives are not to be wasted.
Finally let us consider verses 16-19:
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy
truth: Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent
them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth" (17: 16-19).
Sanctification implies a division, a being separate from and being separated to. If we
are to have the help of the Spirit of Truth then we have got to examine all our priorities,
thoughts and as the Scriptures describe it, our `daily conversation'. We have to see that
all these conform to the Lord's spiritual standards. Something of this is sketched in
Philippians 4: 8.
We have to earn our living and move through many sordid avenues of life. We have
to let the light of Christ reflect in our words, life and habits. The Holy Spirit through
prayer will show us the personal application of sanctification to our individual lives.
What we need to remember is that our spiritual growth and understanding of the Bible
will be retarded just as much as we allow into our lives aspects that we know too well are
unacceptable to the Spirit of Christ within us.
No.18.
Chapter 18:
pp. 136 - 139
". . . . . from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works" (II Tim. 3: 15-17).
If we honour the Word of God, as we should, we shall always seek what is the purpose
of a chapter or verse, what message it has to teach and how much of it can apply to
ourselves. This indeed is the substance of the above exhortation. There is however
another purpose of God, and that is to establish this record of His Word from the time of
Adam's creation to the close of the canon of Scripture. God has given us an authoritative
account of world history that impinges on His eternal purpose. Man will be judged in
resurrection as to how he has accepted or refused this record and how he has directed his
life accordingly.
In the chapter (18:) of John's Gospel at which we are now looking we have the
historical record of the trial of the Lord Jesus. There have been those with a legal bent