Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and be One

The way for us to have genuine oneness is by moving out of ourselves and into the Triune God by the sanctification of the Spirit in the truth so that we may be perfected into one and express the Triune God corporately.

Wow, what a fact, that we can move out of ourselves and into the Triune God!

The way for us to be saved and delivered from any factor of division and be brought into the enlarged oneness of the Triune God is sanctification by the word of the truth.

And the truth is simply the Lord Jesus, who Himself said, I am the way and the truth (the reality) and the life (John 14:6).

God is truth, Christ is the truth, and the Spirit is the Spirit of truth; furthermore, the Word of God is truth.

For us to be sanctified by the truth is for us to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God to be delivered from any factor of division and enter into the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ.

This is such a high and profound truth but it can be applied and experienced in such a simple way.

We simply need to come to the Word of God with an open heart and an open spirit to touch the Word and the Spirit as the truth.

The entire Triune God is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is embodied in the Word; when we come to the word of God with an open heart and a turned spirit, we touch the Spirit in the word, and there’s an infusion of the divine element taking place in our being.

The result of our being sanctified, that is, the result of our being separated unto God and saturated with the element of God by being in the truth, is that we are one.

What the Lord prayed for in John 17 is something mysterious and profound: it is the oneness, “that they may be one even as We are one” – such oneness is the enlarged oneness of the Divine Trinity.

In this universe only the Triune God is one: the Father is one with the Son, the Son is one with the Spirit, and the Spirit is one with the Father.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one by being joined together, by being mingled together, and by being incorporated together; the Three of the Godhead are one by living and dwelling in one another in a way that is impossible to separate them.

When One does something, the other two are also involved and are one with Him. When the Son comes to us, He comes with the Father and by the Spirit.

When the Spirit sanctifies us, He imparts Christ into us to bring God into our being.

We are being brought into such an organic and genuine oneness by being sanctified in the truth, and the truth is the Word of God and the Triune God.

Our being sanctified in the truth is for us to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God so that any factor of division would be dealt with and removed and we woul simply be one in a genuine way!

Being Sanctified by the Truth to be Saved from Worldliness, Ambition, Self-Exaltation, and Opinions and Concepts

When we are sanctified through the word of truth, we are spontaneously one; furthermore, we are saved from any factor of division.

There are four main factors of division: worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts.

The first factor of division is worldliness; as long as we love the world in a certain aspect, that aspect of worldliness is a cause of division.

Our love for a particular aspect of the world separates us from the brothers and sisters; such a factor of division, worldliness, is like a wolf.

In John 17 the Lord mentions the world eight times; as long as we love the world, this is a factor of division (John 17:14-16, 18; 1 John 2:15-17; 5:19).

The second factor of division is ambition; ambition is hidden, like a gopher underground, working in a hidden way to cause damage.

We all have ambition, and it undermines us within. What can kill our ambition? Being rebuked or exposed doesn’t work.

But when we contact the Lord through the Word and allow Him to infuse Himself into us, the truth imparted into our being kills our ambition (see Isa. 14:13).

Only by contacting the Lord through the Word and allowing Him to infuse Himself into us so that we may have the truth imparted into our being can our ambition be killed.

Ambitious people cannot be with anyone else because they are competing with everyone.

When Peter wanted to be first, he was competing with all the brothers and was not one with them; when he was a bit more sanctified, the ambition within him was killed, and he could be with all the brothers.

The third cause of division is self-exaltation, which usually accompanies ambition; ambition is within, self-exaltation is without.

Some people are ambitious without exalting themselves, while others are ambitious and are consumed with the desire to have preeminence and to be exalted.

Such self-exaltation is like a serpent, causing division among the saints.

For us to keep the genuine oneness, we must learn not to exalt ourselves; we should be willing to be nobody and to exalt Christ as the only Somebody, for He is the One who has the universal preeminence (see Col. 1:18; 2 Cor. 4:5; 3 John 9-11).

Christ is the only One we exalt; He has the preeminence, He is the Head, and He’s the only Somebody – we are all nobodies, simply members of the Body, and we are truly one.

The fourth factor of division is opinions and concepts; we may not think that this is a factor of division, for we’re all full of opinions and concepts, but these bring in division.

We shouldn’t hold to our opinion but simply pursue the Lord’s goal, which is the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the church (Matt. 16:21-24; cf. Rev. 3:14).

Opinions and concepts come out of ambition and self-exaltation; ambition is the source, self-exaltation comes from ambition, and self-exaltation is embodied in our opinions and concepts.

The only way to be delivered from the factors of division is for us to be sanctified in the word of truth; sanctification in the word of truth delivers us from the factors of division and brings us into genuine oneness.

Lord Jesus, we open our whole being to You to be delivered from any factor of division by being sanctified by the word of truth! Sanctify us in the truth today to deliver us from worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. Shine in us, Lord, and infuse us with Yourself by the word of truth until the love for the world is removed, ambition is exposed and killed, self-exaltation is no longer there, and we drop all our opinions and concepts. Amen, Lord, we love You, we allow You to work Yourself into us, we exalt Christ, and we take Christ as our life and everything! Our goal is simply the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move out of ourselves and into the Triune God to have Genuine Oneness

The oneness the Lord prayed for in John 17 is not for us to be one in our ideas or doctrines; it is the oneness in the Triune God, even the oneness of the Triune God enlarged to include us.

In ourselves we have the four factors of division – worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts; we can’t escape these factors if we stay in the self.

This is why we need to deal with the self as we experience life and grow in life.

For us to be sanctified in the truth is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and to allow Christ to live in us; in this way, we are perfected into one (John 17:21-23).

When we are sanctified in the truth, we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God; no one can make this move – we need to do it, we are responsible to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God.

When we are in ourselves, we are worldly, we are full of ambition, we exalt ourselves, and we’re full of concepts and opinions.

We can’t escape these things if we stay in the self; if we live in the self, we will have jealousy and strife among us (1 Cor. 3:3).

However, the church life is not in the self; the church life is the genuine oneness, and for us to be in this oneness we need to get out of ourselves and into the Triune God.

This is why the Lord Jesus told us that we need to abide in Him and He in us, for apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

He is the vine and we are the branches; we need to remain in Him, abide in Him, and take Him as our life and everything to us.

To remain in Christ means that we move out of ourselves and into Him; the result is that we are one, even as the Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Father, for we are in the Triune God.

For us to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we need to be sanctified in the word of the truth; our sanctification takes place by the Word, which is the truth, and by the Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth.

Every morning we need to come to the Lord in His word; outwardly we touch the Word, but inwardly the Spirit touches us.

By the Word and by the Spirit, both of which are reality, we are sanctified, and when we’re sanctified, we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God for the genuine oneness.

We should not be satisfied with merely reading through the Holy Word for Morning Revival or reading our Bible reading schedule; we need to contact the Lord, be enlivened and revived, and touch the Spirit and let the Spirit touch us.

The more we touch the Word and the more the Spirit touches us, the more we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God.

Once we are out of ourselves, we are sanctified, separated from the factors of division and separated not only unto God but also into God.

When we are sanctified in the truth, the Triune God is being infused into us and we move out of ourselves and into God; this brings us into genuine oneness.

When we are sanctified, we abide in Christ and Christ lives in us; we are in Him and He is in us. To be sanctified is not merely to be separated from the world; it is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God.

The more we touch the Word with our spirit and the more the Spirit touches us, the more we are sanctified, and the more we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God.

Every day we need to make this move out of ourselves and into the Triune God by the sanctifying word of God.

This will cause us to be delivered from all the factors of division and will keep us in the genuine oneness, the enlarged oneness of the Triune God.

Lord Jesus, we come to touch Your word with our spirit and to allow Your Spirit to touch us through the Word so that we may be sanctified. Amen, Lord, sanctify us by the truth so that we may move out of ourselves and into the Triune God. Save us from remaining in the self where we have the world, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. Amen, Lord Jesus, we choose to make the move out of ourselves and into the Triune God so that we may be kept in the genuine oneness. May we make this move day by day, not remaining in the self but abiding in the Lord all the time so that Christ may live in us and we would simply be one!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 2, Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move out of Ourselves and into the Triune God for the Genuine Oneness.
• Recommended further reading: the outline for this week (Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move out of Ourselves and into the Triune God for the Genuine Oneness, here), and, Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move Out of Ourselves for the Oneness (via holdingtotruth here).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Not I, but Christ be honored, loved, exalted, / Not I, but Christ be seen, be known and heard; / Not I, but Christ in every look and action, / Not I, but Christ in every thought and word. / Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. (Hymns #591)
  – Our spirit we must exercise / To take the Word most inwardly, / And then to give the Spirit forth; / The two as one with us should be. / Lord, may Thy Word in me become / The Spirit as my life supply, / And may Thy Spirit in Thy Word / My true expression be thereby. (Hymns #815)
  – Freed within the spirit / From self-will and pride, / From self-love and glory, / All to override…Exercise the spirit / Thus to touch the Lord; / Ever by the spirit / Take Him thru His Word. (Hymns #866)