(Christ--the Way God Makes Man Righteous) 12. Sanctification, Surrender, and Sanctification — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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Thank you, son. A cup of cold water in Jesus' name, huh? A couple of things this morning. I just want to talk to you a little bit this morning about your studies before we move on into some accountability on your studies.

Diligent Study as a Spiritual Discipline

But I just want to encourage you that we are trusting you that you are doing your studies. We kind of have you on your honor. You know, this isn't a regular Bible school. If it was, you would be taking tests every two or three days.

You would be getting grades. You would be getting F's if you didn't do your studies. And if this was a regular Bible school, you would have invested three, four thousand dollars. All of those things work together to motivate people to do their studies.

In other words, why waste my time just sitting in classes and hearing the teacher. I want to get in and dig and get more out of the class. I want to apply myself. But here, the setting is different than that.

But we have you on your honor. You know, that you are digging in. Now, I'm not saying, I know that some of you don't read as fast as others. And I'm not saying that I'm putting you under a law. You have to get everything read.

But I am telling you that you should be putting in those three hours every evening to study. You should be going over definitions while you're driving. And, you know, in your free time, you're doing that.

You shouldn't be texting, phone calls, and games, and all those things. That's not what we're here for. We're here to study. And we're wanting you to taste the fruit and the blessing of digging in deeper.

See, that's the idea of it. But we're putting you under those disciplines so you can taste some things. So, just want to encourage you on that. You know, I know we don't have games planned this weekend.

I don't know if you remembered it, but it's a prayer and fasting weekend. You know, Thursday noon, no food until Sunday noon. But the idea of a little activity on Saturday is just, you know, to get a little energy out and to clear your mind.

It's not, okay, we've got the weekend. It's time to play and skate and, you know, rent the gym and play ball and all that. That's not the idea. The idea is, okay, we know you guys are boys. You've got lots of energy.

Go get some of that energy out. Spend a couple of hours running, sweating, and all of that, breathing hard, heart pumping, and then back to the thing that you're here for. See, you will study better if you get a little exercise.

So, that's our heart in that for you. And I would encourage you to dig in while you have the opportunity. And, again, we're trusting you. Alright, your word for tomorrow is ethics. I want you to read chapter 5 and 6 in that book, Bone of His Bone.

And I want you to read Romans 5, Romans 6, 7, and 8 one time for tomorrow. We're going to be in Romans 6, 7, and 8. So, you read it one time. And I don't mind you doing that for your devotions. I don't mind that as long as you get some meat out of it.

You know, like some of you have shared, that's excellent. In fact, the verse, was it you, Ryan, that shared out of Romans 8? Yeah, we want to say something on that verse today. So, it tickles me when you guys find those nuggets in there ahead of time.

Praise the Lord. 6, 7, and 8. Romans 6, 7, and 8 one time. Alright, I'm getting a little tired. So, please forgive me if my thoughts aren't just quite all together. I think I pushed too hard this weekend.

So, I'm paying for it. Alright, let's have a prayer. Lord, we do love you this morning. And we're so grateful, Father. That we can call you our Father. That you look down upon us in mercy. And called us with a holy calling.

And Lord, you washed us in the blood. And redeemed us back to God. We do thank you, Father, this morning. And we ask you again, Lord, that you would guide our hearts in wisdom. All of us, Lord, fill us with your Spirit today.

That we may be able to see deeply into your heart. Concerning sanctification. In Jesus' name, I ask it. Alright, the title of the message this morning is Sanctification, Surrender, and Sanctification.

Probably not the best title. I didn't give it two hours. So, there's probably a better title for that. Sanctification, Surrender, and Sanctification. You'll understand what that title means a little bit later here in the message.

Sanctification and the Holy Life

But I've not said a lot about sanctification up until this point. And the reason for this is that it has more to do with ongoing salvation than initial. Although it does have to do with initial salvation.

But we now have crossed over on the other side of the initial work. And thus, our focus is changing. And we've got you in Romans 6 and 7 and 8. And we're talking about sanctification and a Spirit-filled life.

And a holy life. And all these kind of things is what we are focusing on through the rest of this week. Because as we said from the beginning, God clearly demands a practical, righteous life out of those He redeems through the death of His Son.

There's no question about that in the Scriptures. Now, there are several Bible words that address this subject of sanctification. But all of them can be traced back to one root word. And that root word is the word holy.

I think you'll find that word about 650 times in the Bible. That root word holy. We will look more closely at this word holy. But first, consider some of the words that flow out of this root word holy.

It's where we get our word hallow. Or hallowed be thy name in the Lord's Prayer. Holiness comes from the root word holy. Consecrate comes from the root word holy. The word saint comes from the root word holy.

And it literally means holy ones. We are called the holy ones. That's what the Spirit of God led the Apostle Paul. That's the word that he used. Holy ones. Paul the Apostle, under the saints at Corinth or Philippi or wherever.

The holy ones. The consecrated ones. The dedicated ones. That's where we get our word saint. Also, the words sanctify and lastly, sanctification. And there are probably a few other lesser ones. Again, these words do not appear often in the New Testament.

Please keep noting that. But, the sanctified, set apart, holy light is all over the New Testament. Again, I see that so beautifully. That God is not focusing on the word, He's focusing on the light. The word that He focuses on is Christ.

All the way through the New Testament. But the light that Christ produces to the sincere who truly walk with Him, is a holy, sanctified, set apart light. That's very clear as you look into the New Testament.

Holiness at the Burning Bush

When you find the word holy in the Bible, again, following the law of first mention in biblical interpretation, the first place the word holy shows up in the Old Testament is in the book of Exodus. At that place where Moses saw the burning bush.

The bush that was on fire but was not consumed. Hallelujah. The bush that was on fire but was not consumed. This intrigued Moses and he turned aside to look at this bush and came near to it. And he heard the voice of God say to him, Moses, your shoes from off of your feet for the ground that you're standing on is holy.

Now, why is it holy? It is holy because God is there. And wherever God is, it becomes holy. Now, that's the first mention of the word holy. Isn't that a beautiful introduction to that word? Isn't God beautiful how He puts His Bible together?

You can go right back to that verse and look at it and study that thing deeply. You'll understand what those 680 other times that the word holy shows up in the Bible. You get your foundation right there.

That's beautiful to me. The definition of sanctification. In simplicity, it means to set apart. Sanctification has a two-fold meaning. It means to be separated unto God, set apart unto God, and separated from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Separation Unto God and From the World

Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, set apart, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

But don't stop there. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or show or express that perfect, holy will of God. That good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This dual concept of being separated unto God and separated from the world is clearly expressed in a portion of Scripture in Leviticus chapter 20. Let me read these words to you. In Leviticus 20, 22 -26, God says these words,.

Ye shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations which I cast out before you. Look at God's heart there. Ye shall inherit their land.

And I will give it unto you to possess it. A land that floweth with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people. You get that? And ye shall be holy unto Me, for I the Lord am holy.

Now, I thought of the verses we've read already there in Ezekiel 36, but again, to note what God says there in Ezekiel 36 in verse 23. He says, And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them.

And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Now, we're back to that verse. We read it, but now we're back to that verse. And we begin to see into the heart of God again what God is after.

God is after a people. God is after you as an individual that you might be His. That you might be His possession. And did not it say in the Scriptures where the Apostle Paul was speaking, I believe in 2 Corinthians 6 there, or maybe it's 1 Corinthians 6, that He says, Don't you know that you were bought with a price?

And you are not your own. You're not your own. You've been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God. And why? God wants to sanctify His great name through your life.

That's what He's after. And that before the heathen that are around you. Be thou an example, young men. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in conversation, in word, in spirit, in attitude, and all of those things, in motivation.

Be thou an example to the believers. Come on! Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to Christ, the King of kings. Listen! God is after you. Are you ready for Him to possess you?

I want us also to remember that God finishes this portion of Scripture in Ezekiel 36 by saying these statements, Ye shall be my people and I will be your God. So there again we see this two-fold concept of a separation unto God and a separation from the world.

And I think sometimes we get that thing mixed up because, you know, it's a little harder to see the separation unto God, but it's a lot easier to see when somebody's not separating from the world. So I think we hammer a bit probably too much on the separation from the world and miss some of the separation to God.

But in truth and reality, you cannot separate yourself truly from that world without separating yourself unto God. The end result is a life that is set apart from this world around us. In it, but not of it.

In it, but not anymore. The use of the word progresses from the Old Testament to the New. This is very interesting. Although God commands His people in Leviticus to be holy, there are hundreds of instances where the word holy is used about things in the Old Testament.

Sanctification of Persons Rather Than Objects

A consecration, a dedication of things to God. That which belongs to Jehovah is holy. If it's a piece of furniture in the tabernacle, it is a holy piece of furniture. If it is a golden goblet that is used in the tabernacle, it becomes a holy goblet.

Anything that is dedicated to Jehovah becomes holy. And that's what you see all the way through the Old Testament. You see that word holy being used about things. And it simply means to separate from worldly use and consecrate it to God.

I mean, a goblet is a goblet, right? You know, a golden vessel is a golden vessel. There's lots of golden vessels in the world in the days when Israel walked upon this earth. There were lots of golden goblets.

But God said, the ones that you're going to use for Me, you shall dedicate to Me. They will belong to Me. They will be for My service, and you will not use them any other way. And if you want to see how serious God is about that, go over there and see what happened to that king who took those vessels, you know, that were vessels out of the house of God, sanctified, set apart for God's use and God's use only, and used them to drink and get drunk in a wicked party over there in Persia or Babylon.

I guess it was the son of King Nebuchadnezzar. He found out real fast. Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. This day the kingdom is divided from you. He found out real fast. Those things were dedicated to God and to His service.

Don't use them for worldly things. Some examples of this would be the tabernacle itself, the furniture, the animals that are offered in sacrifice. Days become holy. Even the firstborn, God says, are sanctified unto Jehovah for His use.

But in all of these examples, we're looking at items. But as you move into the New Testament, the whole use of the word holy takes on, blossoms, blooms into a beautiful understanding that you don't get just looking in the Old.

When you get to the New Testament, which, by the way, you'll find the word holy 180 times in the New Testament, and it's not talking about goblets. It's talking about us. 180 times. The meaning of these words broadens and takes on an ethical meaning as well.

It's not that it's no longer set apart, but this set-apartness has ethical meaning to it. And the reasons for this, I believe, are evident, if you'll think about it. We are not a thing. We are eternal souls made in the image of God.

We are those whom God has set His heart upon that He might redeem us for His special purposes. A whole lot more than a gold goblet in the New Testament. In the New Testament, the emphasis is no longer on objects, but it's on human beings.

There is still the aspect of set-apartness, but this is no mere human operation. This is sanctification. This sanctification is done by God in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son. And because of this supernatural work which takes place, ethics or a holy life is the result.

Remember, anything that God touches becomes holy. And thus, ethics begin to flow out. The holy life is the result. Again, as in other words relating to salvation, I noted this. I found that it is hard, again, to distinguish at times which way the word is being used.

Is it referring to a standing set-apartness? Or is it referring to a life that represents that standing? And again, it seems that you cannot separate those words. They go together. A truly set-apart standing will produce a set-apart life.

Now that is intriguing to me. I know that's all new to you, but I've been studying the Bible for 35 years, and when I find something like that, it just catches my attention and I realize, you can't pull those words apart.

And you can't pull them apart because those words are powerful words. And when you have the standing of set-apartness in God, you will have a life to back it up. And there are plenty of spurious examples of the opposite in our land today.

Those young people that I preached to over the weekend, they had their worship service before I got up to preach. And if you would have went by what they were singing, you would have thought these are dedicated young people.

It's easy to sing words, but when it came time to hear the Word of the Lord and take a good look at my own life and what it's producing, all of a sudden they went like this. You know that expression? You know that body language?

Not always, but you can tell. I mean, I looked around the room. There were a lot of them going like this and looking at me. Oh, praise the Lord. They go together. A truly set-apart standing will produce a set-apart life.

Do you believe that? I'm giving this in a purely biblical sense. I realize that it is often not that way in reality in people's lives, but we're looking at what the Bible says this day. And the reason why there's some gap and inconsistency there is because man has a free will.

And God has ordained that man should choose to follow Him, choose to yield to Him, and thus there is often a gap in the reality because God is waiting on man to choose. And even as we sit here today in this room, there may be some gaps in the reality and it's because man has been made by God a free will being.

And if you think about it, what else could God do than that? What, for robot, brings any glory to God at all? I mean, okay. As much as a rock sitting out there, you can look at the rock and say, God made the rock and amen, that's a nice rock that God made.

Yes, it brings some glory to God. But if God makes a man and gives him a free will, and that man rises up in that free will and says, I'm going to love God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength.

I'm going to give my life to Him every day. That glorifies God. Does it not? So beautiful. Remember the definition that I gave you a few days ago, the definition of perfect holiness when we were looking at God.

It's good to consider it again this morning because though we cannot put that on us here today, we can still get some insight into it for our own lives. Perfect holiness is the absence of all that is evil plus the presence of all of God's holy attributes.

That's perfect holiness. And thus, my dear brethren, holiness is still the same for us also. It is the absence of that which is evil and the presence of that which is right. And God must work that work in our hearts and our lives, sometimes continually, showing us that which is evil so that we can deal with it and gloriously inspiring us to that which is right, that we may yield our hearts to it and do it with all of our heart.

And that is holiness or sanctification. God wants to deliver us from all that is evil and fill us with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter 1. Okay, having looked at the principle a bit, let's go back to Friday's lesson on the salvation of man's soul.

Justification, Redemption, and the Indwelling Spirit

I want to put my diagram on the board again, if you'll let me do that. Maybe I can get it better this time. Not bad. Not bad at all. Praise God! Spirit, soul and body. And by the way, I'm not real dogmatic on this diagram.

I'm not telling you that I see how it is all done. I'm not claiming that. It's just a way to illustrate and help us to understand that some major changes have taken place inside of man and that there are some things that God wants to work out from the inside to the outside in your life and mine.

That is the only reason why I use the illustration. But let's look again briefly at this mighty work of God. When man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is justified. That is that legal act of God declaring a man righteous.

He's free from guilt. He's washed in the blood. He's forgiven. He is also redeemed, bought back, snatched out of the devil's kingdom and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Hallelujah! It's hard to be a teacher with some of this.

At the same time, regeneration takes place. A mighty work of recreation. A new heart is given to man. A baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And man comes out a new creature in Christ Jesus.

From there, he is also filled with the Spirit. An infusion of God, the Holy Ghost, in man's spirit. New heart, new spirit. Holy Spirit put into that new spirit, which has been made alive unto God. Also, reconciliation takes place where the enmity is changed to friendship and there is now that true at-one-ment between God and man again.

And lastly, he is born into a new family. That is, the church. He is baptized into the body of Christ. There is a union with Christ and His people that he knows that he never knew before. Now, having said all of that, let us reason together.

Is that not a set-apartness right there? Is there no sanctification in that very act of salvation? There is. No doubt about it. There is a sanctification from day one. A set-apartness. As we looked at the whole list of those things which God wrought in a man's life, when he believes that saving Word with a repentant heart, God sets him apart.

He becomes a new creature. He is a new creation. He is in Christ. He has been translated out of the devil's kingdom and he is now in Christ's kingdom. He was in Adam. Now he is in Christ and Christ is in him.

He is set apart. But is that all there is to it? There is a verse in 2 Timothy that brings this aspect of set-apartness out very clearly. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. You already looked at it. Brother Jerry admonished you on this verse, but consider it in light of what we're talking about.

Where Paul says to Timothy, who, talking about God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

I see nothing but holy, otherworldly purposes implied in this verse. What about you, brethren? I see nothing but holy, otherworldly purposes in these verses. I mean purposes that are so otherworldly they were planned out by God before the world even began.

How much otherworldly can you get than that? Oh, that God would open our eyes and help us to see that those purposes are holy purposes and they are realized as we walk in that holy set-apartness which was wrought in us in Christ Jesus when He born us again by the Spirit of the Lord.

Sanctification as an Ongoing Work of Surrender

Turn with me to Romans chapter 6. I want you to be focusing there for a while. Sanctification. That's our focus here this morning. There are many different theological views about this subject of sanctification.

Most of the time, the theologians turn to Romans chapter 6 to explain, prove, dialogue on their view of sanctification. I'm not sure how deep and how far and broad we want to dialogue on the theologies of sanctification.

But brethren, what I want to leave with us is that there should be a reality. If something happened back there, it's going to do something in my life over here, in my everyday life, every morning, every evening.

My life is not going to be the same as somebody else's life who has not been born again by the Spirit of God. And we're not talking about half-hearted stuff. We're not talking about a quarter of salvation.

We're talking about a transformation that changes a man's motives,.

His desires, his plans, his dreams.

We're talking about a transformation this morning. And when that happens, on the day that he believes that saving word, it's going to live itself out in that man's life. No question about it. Some say that sanctification takes place at salvation.

Some say it's a second work that happens later on. That all this that I explained to you, it happens later on in your Christian life after you get some light and understanding and all of that. Some say it's even a third work, that you get born again, that later on you get filled with the Holy Ghost, and later on you get sanctified and made pure and free, and you never sin again.

There's lots of views on all of that. And sometimes they can get a bit mystical in their views of this. And I'm not discounting the mystical side. By that I simply mean the spiritual side of it where the Spirit of God does a work inside of the heart of a man consequent later than their born-again experience.

I believe in that. But to say that sanctification is a work that takes place down here at a point in time, and after it's done, then I got it. I feel that is a dangerous thing. Very dangerous. And I know people who believe those things and once they, quote, get sanctified, then they relax.

Okay. There's nothing else, you know. I was born again back there. Now I've been sanctified. I've got it, you know. This work has been done. This second work has been done in me. Now I'm free from sin.

Nothing else. What do we do now? I don't believe in that. My view is more practical and down to earth than that. Let me just explain a little. And while I explain, please note, I'm not dogmatic on all the things that happen and how it happens.

Let's be dogmatic on the reality that a truly set-apart position will produce a set-apart life that is without question. Again, going back to the salvation-friendly environment that we set the stage for on Friday.

That salvation-friendly environment sets the stage for surrender, which is part of initial salvation. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, not just our Savior. And so, the salvation-friendly environment sets the stage for surrender and commitment.

This brings the many words of Christ to bear on a seeking soul. If you don't hate your father and mother, you cannot be My disciple. And if you drop yourself down into that salvation-friendly environment of persecution and all those things you know, those things bear right up on the heart.

And some of you in this room, you may have faced things just like that. Some of you had a right. You lost your father and mother. You chose to love God. You had to make those choices when you gave your heart to the Lord Jesus.

That was good! You considered being born again. Immediately you thought, I'll lose everything I have if I... Those hurt. I remember Brother Emmanuel Esh on his knees many, many years ago when he was wrestling out salvation on his knees.

You know what he wrestled with? He was a farmer. And he liked farming. It was a blessed life to him. And he knew, if I do this, I'm going to lose my farm. And forth. But Lord, I'm a farmer. I lose my farm.

Finally, he just laid the whole thing on the altar. He said, God, You can have the farm! I want salvation! I want peace with God! Whoosh! Transformation in Emmanuel Esh's life. You know what? That good beginning has affected that fanatic until this day.

Amen? So, it brings the many words of Christ to bear on a seeking soul. There is surrender in this believing. We believe into Christ, losing our life in Him. The mighty work of salvation takes place. That is a sanctification which we've already proven.

This saved man, this new creature in Christ Jesus, is commanded to continue to believe. We talked about that yesterday, standing on the chair. He is commanded to continue to believe. And he is clearly commanded to yield, and surrender, and give up, and deny himself, etc. every day.

This brings about a process of sanctification that continues all the way to the end. And all who yield to this command, this process of sanctification, are conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And that's where God wants to make you like His Son.

Again, a salvation-friendly environment. Remember, in the book of Acts, they didn't just get born again in that salvation-friendly environment. They lived in that environment, and so did the early Anabaptists.

And so did the church in China, the persecuted church in China. And so did the dear Romanian brethren when there was persecution there, and in Russia also. They didn't just make their decision in light of the persecution.

They lived there every day that way, not knowing if this is my last day. Now, that kind of salvation-friendly environment deepens, inspires, and speeds up this sanctification process whereby God conforms us into the image of His Son.

There can be sanctification experiences in the midst of that. By that I mean a crisis. When you think about it, talk about crises. You're two years old in the Lord. You make a choice to go to a meeting.

They catch you at that meeting. You're going to go before the magistrates tomorrow, and that magistrate's going to tell you you'll never see your wife and your children again unless you repent of being at this meeting and all of that.

Now he's got a decision to make. Amen? I mean, it puts sanctification right down on the lower shelf, right where the rubber meets the road, doesn't it? Not too much mystical in that, is there? However, that guy gets back in his cell in the middle of the night, and he wrestles that thing through with God, and yes, he makes his choice.

I am going to stand for God. And guess what? The Spirit of God comes upon him. And yes, he is set apart in a deeper way by the Spirit of God through the decision that he just made. He's going to stand for God no matter what happens to him or his wife or his children.

So sometimes there are crises experiences in this life, this process of sanctification. But let's not make that the rule. See? It's much more practical than that. All of this explained is given from the perspective of man's responsibility.

There is the mystical, the spiritual aspect of all of this also. Christ does now live in me. And only as I abide in Him can all of this happen. But I must yield to Him in that abiding. That's man's side.

That's God's side. Those are the choices that I need to make. You see how those work together? God moves upon a man. A man yields to God. Salvation takes place. God continues to move upon that man. That man continues to yield to God.

Sanctification takes place. I become more set apart and more set apart unto God and away from this world. God does sanctify His very self in me and my life changes because I yield to the workings of God in my life.

That's how it works. Only as I abide in Him can all of this happen. All the words of Jesus and His life example come in here now again. We can live the way that He lived when He walked in human flesh.

But only as we allow Him to have complete control of our life. Yes, some of the high standards of the Sermon on the Mount, they're high. You might look at them and say, How can I do that? Maybe you related to some of that.

I think it was in chapter 1 of the book that you read. All the things that God wants us to do. And you think, I can't live like that. You're right, you can't live like that. Not in your own strength. Not by yourself.

But a life that is continually yielded to the control of God can live like that. And thus all the words of Jesus come to bear again upon our life. And we have to say it all over again. Except you're willing to forsake all.

Romans 6 and Freedom From Sin

And deny yourself. And pick up the cross. And follow me. You can't be my disciple. It's a life of discipleship. Let's go through Romans chapter 6 a bit. And consider what Paul is saying to us. I think that you will agree, it's very down to earth what Paul is saying.

In Romans chapter 6. He begins by saying, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we continue? Shall we live in sin and live in sin and live in sin? So that we can rejoice and relish in the grace of God?

No! He said in chapter 5 of before that, that grace reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ. Grace doesn't reign through sin. Grace reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ. And so, he's making the plea.