Jesus spoke these words before His death praying to the Father that all who would come to believe on Him would have one mind, heart and spirit concerning the truth!
and again... John 17:20-23 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
What we have here is the very essence of what a Christian is! He is a Christian because he is sanctified to the truth! Because of our being sanctified through the truth, there are no variances or schisms between us just as there are none between Jesus and the Father! According to Jesus, we believe the same Gospel, walk after the same Spirit and follow the same Lord and Christ, because we all speak from the same revelation...
Matthew 16:16-17 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Our being sanctified to the truth is not a because of some process we go through but because of a revelation of Christ, the Living Word! Therefore, according to the word of God, the single greatest factor that determines if one is a Christian or not would have to be based on his sanctification to the truth, via the revelation of Christ.
Colossians 1:5-6 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
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.
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
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.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
If he doesn't remain in His word; in other words, if he doesn't obey the same Gospel, or walk after the same Spirit, or follow the same Lord and Christ, then he is NOT sanctified to the truth! Pure and simple.
Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
It is precisely because such a person knows the Grace of God in Truth that they have been saved through God's Grace and sanctified through His word, and that there is no longer any need of doing something in order to remain saved or try to please God any longer. Jesus did all of that through His death and resurrection! Dead men don't speak, only living ones do. In Christ all are made alive, yet the source and power of that life is from Christ alone.
This makes our being sanctified through the truth the one factor that is easily distinguished from the others, because it gives one a sudden, profound and lasting HUNGER and LOVE for the Word - and therefore, the words He speaks.
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus... If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Here is where the Lord makes Himself known and is revealed to the man. Now the believer sees who God is and knows Him, even as he is known. It is obviously clear that in order to have the Love of God making His abode in them one must satisfy the condition of first prooving his love of Christ by continuing in His word, through obeying His voice! This is what it means to be Sanctified through the Truth! This is the Washing, the Purging, the Baptism with the Spirit in order to make a vessel fit for God.
In John 17:17, 21 and Matthew 14:23, Jesus is talking about our being sanctified to the word of God. He is talking about something that was never known and has never existed before. The man who loves Him (thus knows Him); Jesus says, is the man who is Keeping/Obeying His words. Pure and Simple! Such a man (Jesus says in Luke 6:48) can be likened to the man who built his house upon a rock.
This is the man who has seriously sat down and weighed the costs, looking at all the possibilities and implications before he came to the final conclusion if he would obey God and follow Jesus, even to the death! His decision is based on whether or not Jesus is worthy of everything he has or is. Without our having the revelation of Christ and yielding to it, everything else is based upon shifting sand.
1 Corinthians 2:9-14 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In times past the person could care less about sanctified and spiritual matters like being one in the Word - The Truth - as revealed by God. Back then their god was one of many that the intellectuals came up with and could easily live with, usually adhearing to some god who forgives sins without our repenting of them!
Now all of a sudden those who have had a revelation of Christ just can't seem to get enough of Him! Why? Because He is life to them, and because the things given us by God's Spirit can only be spiritually discerned or known.
Such people seek the truth to find it and want MORE of it in order to obey it as well. The truth of God's word is -LIGHT- to them, dispelling the darkness! The Truth of God's Word is -LIFE- to them, dispelling the stench of death! The TRUTH isn't an IT! We are not sanctified to an IT but to GOD, known only by revelation! It is His Spirit that brings it all to light and life! What and who was once completely unknown is now suddenly, and gloriously revealed, and we rejoice in whom and in what we see.
John 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Upon the revelation of Christ, through the reception of the Holy Spirit, one begins to see how vastly good and wonderful God is as never before! He understands it, comprehending this vision of Him in glory! Everything about Him, every facet of Him - His Glory - His Face - His Mercy - His Grace - His Awesomeness - His Holiness - His Purity - His Love - His every essance - is perfect and wonderful in every way!
Once one receives the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of Truth - the person begins to FEAST on the knowledge of God in their spirit or new and spiritual man (i.e. on what they've become in Christ). Before this their spirit was utterly devoid of life. However, since the outpouring of the Spirit into their heart Jesus has become alive, and the seeker seeks to have and know more of the Living Bread that came down from heaven. The person is completely satisfied, yet can never seem to get enough because God is SO GOOD!
Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalms 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Nothing else can satisfy the human spirit but the living God. The man who has become BORN AGAIN is FULL, yet he cannot get enough of Him! As they EAT and DRINK of Him (of His living word) they become filled and fat on the one hand, while on the other they always have room for more, always more. For He is GOOD!
Jesus lays out what our being sanctified/joined to Him through the truth means. This is the negative aspect of His teaching --
Luke 14:26-28 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Which; when the choice to come fully to Him is made, it is immediately followed by the positive aspect of His teaching --
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will Keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
In order to receive the positive aspect of His teaching, one must first fully comply with the negative aspect of it and Keep His sayings! Those who do comply become sanctified through the truth. Thus they are made clean and washed through (complying to, agreeing with, abiding in) the word that Jesus has spoken to them.(John 15:3)
We are not Living Zombies! The Holy Spirit empowers us which makes it possible for us to Keep His words, and makes it possible for us to love and obey all of Jesus' words. However the final choice as well as our day to day choice lays entirely with us. (1 John 5:3)
Many claim Jesus as their Lord, but only those who bow to Him as their Lord by Keeping His words, are those who Love Him, who know the Father and the Son and have the love of God in them! (Luke 6:46 and 1 John 2:3-4)
May God bless you in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Biff & Suzanne
