Joh 17:17 KJV Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Sanctify: (1) To purify; to prepare for divine service, and for partaking of holy things. (2) To separate, ordain and appoint to the work of redemption and the government of the church.
Our sanctification will only come from the Word of God. We will not be cleansed any other way.
Rom 12:2 KJV And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Renew: To renovate; to restore to a former state, or to a good state, after decay or deprivation; to rebuild; to repair.
We are called to transformed from what we were to what God would have us be. He would have us be holy, separate from the world.
2Ti 2:21 KJV If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Purge: To cleanse or purify by separating and carrying off whatever is impure, heterogeneous,foreign or superfluous; as, to purge the body by evacuation; to purge the Augean stable. It is followed by away, of, or off.
"These" in the verse is iniquity, of which we won't purge ourselves of until our mind is changed about. When iniquity is purged it must be replaced by something, or it will return with a vengeance (Matt 12:43-45). That something can only be the Word of God.
Eph 5:25-27 KJV 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
God's will is total eradication of iniquity in us. He will accomplish this end (Num. 23:19). It would be better for us that it is done sooner, than later.
Ps. 97:10a KJV Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.
No man can serve two masters (Matt 6:24). It is impossible for us to love the Lord and not hate evil. The opposite is also (and painfully) true, for the Lord requires that we love Him with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength, and all our souls (Matt 12:30). Where there is not hatred for evil, there is not love for the Lord.
What am I reading? What am I listening to? What am I looking at? What am I meditating on? What am I desiring? Surely, the world's entertainment is almost all evil. Should I not spend time in Bible study and fellowship with my Lord rather than worldly entrainment and fellowship with evil? I cannot be cleansed if, as the pig returns to the mire, I return to evil.
Oh, Lord, create in me a clean heart that yearns for you, and hates evil that Thy word and will be fulfilled, and even that which was prayed for by Thine own Son, the only begotten Son of God, whom though lovest, and who gave Himself a sacrifice for sin, to the end that I would be cleansed, purified, purged, spotless, and without blemish. I am a sinful man, O Lord, and the proof of the passions of heart are laid before Thee every day. Perform the doing of that which Thou hast spoken, and glorify Thine own self in me.
