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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conference, Conference With the Father, Part LXVI, John 17:17 - Lesson 174
Read Verses John 17:15,16, for review: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:17, Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Jesus Christ will send his own into the world to occupy till he come.
How does God keep his own from the evil.
He sanctifies them.
He makes them holy by his word.
God's truth is the separating force.
God's word is the sanctifying force.
By his word he sets his own apart for himself and for his service.
He consecrates them for the task he entrusts to them.
His word will provide the inward purification and will endow them with all the resources they need to carry out that task.
The word of God is practical in that if it is obeyed its truths will keep you from the evil.
Just look at the practical lessons from the book of Proverbs that make one wise and to be wise is to make right choices and those right choices will keep you from evil.
The word of God is light and light allows you to see the evil and depart from the evil.
By saying "Sanctify them through thy truth:" Jesus Christ is not performing some mystical activity, some instant magic, but he knows that the practical outworking of his word in the life of the believer will keep the believer from evil.
He also sets them apart for his blessing.
All people of the world receive the blessings of God but the blessings that he gives only to those who are sanctified are spiritual blessings.
The world cannot know spiritual blessings because they are spiritually discerned.
So the end of God's truth is holiness, sanctification, separation unto him and separation from the world.
And the result of that sanctification is the keeping of his own from the evil one.
So far as the child of God walks according to God's word shall he be kept from evil.
God's Word sanctifies those who obey it.
God's word is the believers only safety.
There is nothing else given to cling to!
Stray from God's word and the believer is nearer the evil. |