How You May Sanctify Yourself

In these messages we are studying together the theme: The Beauty of Holiness. In our three previous messages we have dealt with three themes that are covered in the previous outlines that we have worked through. The first message our theme was God demands holiness in His people.

In the second message our theme was God has made provision for holiness. And we outlined the nature of that provision in seven aspects: Christ, the cross, the Holy Spirit, the blood of Jesus, the Word of God, our faith, and our works (our actions expressing our faith).

In the previous study, the first study, we saw how this provision works out in our lives in practical experience. How it begins in eternity and is then translated into time. How, in eternity, God the Father foreknows, chooses and predestinates. And then how, in time, the Holy Spirit begins the work of sanctifying. And I suggested that we could split this work of sanctifying up into three aspects: to draw, to separate and to reveal. The Holy Spirit begins to draw us, He begins to separate us out from others and then he brings us to the place where He can reveal to us the truth of Christ and the cross. He brings us to the blood line and as we cross the blood line under the leading of the Holy Spirit, we pass over out of Satan’s territory into God’s territory. And then, of course, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit continues throughout our earthly walk.

Now in our fourth and last study I want to examine with you further the practical application of this teaching. The title of this study is ‘How You May Sanctify Yourself.’ What you can do practically, in response to what God has done and to what God has made available to you. I want to begin by studying the pattern of Jesus. In sanctification, as in every other aspect of the Christian life, Jesus is our perfect example and pattern. Some of you may not be aware that Jesus Himself was sanctified. You’ll find this statement in John 10:36. We’ll read from verse 35. Jesus is discussing with the Jews His claim to be the Son of God. They had disputed and rejected His claim; He substantiates it out of the Old Testament Scriptures and applies these Scriptures to Himself.

Now I do not have time, and it is not necessary, to go into the whole scriptural background of this quotation from the Old Testament. But I just want to move to the statement which He makes in verse 35:

“If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? (KJV)”

Notice the statement there in verse 36: the Father sanctifies the Son, Jesus, and sent Him into the world. This means that the Father chose Jesus, in eternity, for a specific task which no one else in heaven or earth could fulfill. Having chosen Jesus, He sanctified Him, He set Him apart for that task. And having sanctified Him at a given moment in human history, He sent Him into the stream of human history to fulfill that task. So Jesus was the perfect pattern: the Father chose Him, the Father sanctified Him, and the Father sent Him.

Now notice the response of Jesus. Turning on in John’s gospel to chapter 17, Jesus is praying for His disciples. And we’ll read from verse 16 through verse 19. The theme of these verses really is sanctification. Speaking of His disciples, Jesus said this:

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. [And I told you that we could really say thy word is the truth.] As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (KJV)”

Notice that statement of Jesus’ in verse 19, ‘I sanctify myself.’ The Father in eternity had sanctified Jesus and sent Him to fulfill a special task. But sanctification is not complete until the person sanctified responds to the will of God by His own sanctification. The Father had sanctified Jesus; Jesus now says, ‘I sanctify Myself.’ In other words, ‘Acknowledging what the Father’s choice is, recognizing the task which the Father has given Me, I now sanctify Myself. I set Myself apart to the fulfilling of the task which the Father chose Me to do.’ So that there must be a response from the one who is sanctified to the

one who sanctifies. The Father initially sanctified Jesus. But the sanctification of Jesus was not complete until in turn Jesus said of the Father, ‘I now sanctify Myself for the fulfilling of the task for which the Father sanctified Me and sent Me into the world.’

So we can illustrate this by a simple visual diagram which is here. We see the process of sanctification begins with the Father. In John 10:36 the Father sanctifies Jesus. This is what I call the vertical line. Now in turn, Jesus sanctifies Himself to the Father and then to the task to which the Father has sent Him. This principle comes out: that sanctification in our response to God is first to the Father, or the one who sanctifies us, then to the task to which we have been appointed. There is a double reference of sanctification. First to God, second to the task to which God has sent us and which He has chosen us to accomplish. Now sanctification without a task can often end up as a very meaningless religious activity or formula. Sanctification implies two things: a relationship to God and an attitude towards a task. Without the task, the sanctification is not complete.

Now notice that Jesus had this attitude in His relationship to the Father. I want to take some Scriptures here just quickly and see what was involved in the attitude of Jesus towards the Father, the Father’s will, and the task given Him by the Father. Turn, first of all, to Psalm 40:7-8. Now in the cross reference in Hebrews 10:7, these words are applied by the author of Hebrews to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we know that these words apply to Jesus. But I prefer to take them from the book of Psalms because they’re more complete in Psalms than the reference in Hebrews. In Psalms it says this:

“Then said I [and this is the Son speaking], Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me [in God’s eternal purposes and program, there is a part written for me to play], I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (KJV)”

This is the response of the Son to the Father. Discovering the Father’s will in the book He says, ‘In the volume of the book it is written of me: I come to do thy will, I delight to do thy will.’ Let me read those words again.

You see, this is so wonderful because the same book has something written for each of us. Just as it has something written for Jesus, it has something written for you and me. And we’ve got to find what is written in the volume of the book for our lives.

“In the volume of the book it is written of me [recognizing the purpose of God I then respond], I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written within my heart. (KJV)”

Turn on now to the New Testament and let’s consider just three passages quickly from the gospel of John. John 6:38. These all express the relationship of Jesus to the Father in the fulfilling of the Father’s task. John 6:38 Jesus says:

He came specifically to do the will revealed in God’s eternal purposes. The will of God written in the volume of the book which He had discovered and discerned, He said, ‘Lo, I come to do Thy will.’ And He said to the people who were round about Him, ‘I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.’

“And then in John 14:9 Jesus makes this well-known statement to Philip:
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; . . . (KJV)”

In coming to do the Father’s will and in doing the Father’s will, Jesus reveals the Father. This was the way in which He made known the invisible Father to the world; by doing the Father’s will. By fulfilling the Father’s task.

“And then in John 17:4, in relation to this task once again, He says to the Father:
In completing the work assigned to Him by the Father He glorified the Father.”

I want you to see this pattern now in the relationship of the Father to the Son, and then we’ll unfold it in the relationship of Jesus to the disciple. It is exactly parallel. The Father chose Jesus, sanctified Him and sent Him to fulfill a task. Jesus discovered the will of God written in the volume of the book and said, ‘Lo, I come, to do thy will.’ He said, ‘I came from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.’ In doing the Father’s will He was able to say, ‘If you have seen Me doing the Father’s will, you have seen the Father.’ In fulfilling the task He said, ‘I’ve glorified the Father.’

So try to get this pattern: The Father chose, sanctified and sent Jesus. Jesus discovered the Father’s will, came to do it. In doing it He achieved two things: He revealed the Father and He glorified the Father. Now these are the end purposes of sanctification. To reveal and glorify the one who sanctifies.

Now let’s see how this applies to the relationship between Jesus and His disciples. Remaining for a moment in John 17, and this Scripture does not happen to be in your outline but it’s in the Bible fortunately. John 17, we’ll read those verses from 17 through 19 again.

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (KJV)”

Notice the theme here all the way through is sanctification. And in verse 18 Jesus says to the Father, ‘Just as You sent Me into the world, even so, in exactly the same way, have I also sent them [the disciples] into the world. And through fulfilling My will, the disciples will be sanctified as I was sanctified in fulfilling the Father’s will.’ You see there the relationship is a perfect pattern.

Now turn on to John 20:21 and we find this statement of Jesus now not made to the Father, but made directly to the disciples. John 20:21:

“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.  (KJV)”

The relationship is exactly parallel. Now the Father chose, sanctified and sent Jesus for a specific task

which no one else could fulfill. Now Jesus says to the disciples, ‘I have chosen you, and I send you. I sanctify you, and I send you to fulfill a specific task which no one else can fulfill.’ The relationship is exactly the same. Sanctification is to God and to a task. To God first, not to the task first. But to God and then to a task. And without the task, sanctification ends up really as a kind of meaningless ritual or just an empty doctrine.

Now let’s turn to Hebrews 2:11. This is one of those verses where you have to be pretty alert to see the application of it. Hebrews 2:11:

“For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, . . . (KJV)”

Now there are three persons or groups referred to there. The one who sanctifies, those who are sanctified, and the one of whom they all come. And I want you just to think for a moment who is referred to in each case. Who is the one ‘he that sanctifies’? Who is that? Now you’ve got to be careful. It’s either the Father or Jesus, which is it? I don’t hear the right answer . . . It’s Jesus, that’s right. Jesus is the one who sanctifies the disciples. ‘They who are sanctified,’ who are they? The disciples. I was giving this teaching in Pittsburgh in a large Presbyterian church and sitting right in front of me, not in a pew but on the floor, were two little Negro boys, they couldn’t have been older than twelve, the older of them. And I put this question exactly as I put it to you and I said, ‘Who are they that are sanctified?’ And I nearly fell over backwards. Before the question was out of my mouth the little Negro boy popped up and said, ‘The disciples!’ He was then far ahead of the rest of the congregation. He was an unusual child. All right.

Now we are left of ‘the one of whom they all come.’ Who is that? The Father, that’s right. So from the Father comes ‘the one who sanctifies’ and ‘those who are sanctified’ by him. The Father sanctifies the Son, the Son sanctifies the disciples. All proceed from one who is the Father. Therefore the relationship between Jesus and the disciple is exactly parallel to the relationship between the Father and Jesus. The Father chose, sanctified and sent Jesus to fulfill a task. Jesus chooses, sanctifies and sends the disciple to fulfill a task. But the sanctification of Jesus was not complete until He had responded to the

Father’s will and said, ‘I sanctify Myself. Father, You set Me apart, now I set Myself apart to the task which You have revealed to Me.’ And the sanctification of the disciple again is not complete until he in turn says, ‘Jesus, You chose me, You sanctified me, now I sanctify myself, Jesus, to You and to the task which You have for me to do.’

Now to me, that makes sense of sanctification. I tell you, I’ve waded through many, many years of trying to make sense out of this doctrine of sanctification. All I could come up with in most cases was a set of rules. Do not do this, do not do that, do not do the other. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance, don’t swear. I used to tell people when I preached in Copenhagen, ‘There’s a statue in the middle of your city which doesn’t drink, doesn’t dance, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t swear. But it isn’t a Christian. If that’s all that being a Christian is, just go plant a tree because that doesn’t drink, doesn’t dance, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t swear, doesn’t go to movies. Doesn’t wear lipstick or anything else.’ And I have had to plow through this thing for myself to arrive at a plain, clear understanding of what sanctification is. And I believe, by the grace of God, I’ve got that. It’s simple.

The Father chose, sanctified, and sent Jesus for a task. Jesus responded. He said, ‘Father, I’ve sanctified Myself. Now I’m going to fulfill the task.’ And He fulfilled it on the cross. Jesus chooses, sanctifies, sends the disciples for a task. But the disciple has to respond to Jesus as Jesus responded to the Father. The disciple has to turn and say to Jesus, ‘Jesus, I acknowledge You’ve chosen me, I acknowledge You’ve sanctified me and now I sanctify myself for the task to which You have sent me.’

And then in fulfilling the task, the disciple accomplishes for Jesus what Jesus accomplished for the Father. What did Jesus do for the Father? He revealed Him and He glorified Him. Now you, as a disciple, when you discover your task and set yourself apart, first to Jesus, second to the task, as you do the will of Jesus and fulfill the task, you accomplish these two things: you reveal and glorify Jesus. And that is the end purpose of sanctification. It is to reveal and glorify Jesus.

Many times God said, in effect, of His people under the Old Covenant, ‘The heathen will know that I

am God when I am sanctified in you, My people.’ In other words, the purpose of sanctification is the revelation to the world of the one who sanctifies. The Father sanctified Jesus and Jesus, in obeying the Father’s sanctification, revealed the Father to the world. Jesus sanctifies the disciple and the disciple, in obeying the sanctification of Jesus, reveals Jesus to the world. This is the purpose of sanctification. It is not to be different from other people, it is not to be holier, it is not to live by a set of negative rules. It is to reveal and glorify Jesus Christ. But it demands a response from the one who is sanctified. Just as Jesus had to respond to the Father who sanctified Him.

“Let’s read that 11th verse of Hebrews 2 again and I trust now that it will make sense to you.
For both he that sanctifieth [that is Jesus] and they who are sanctified [that is the disciples] are all of one [the Father]: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. (KJV)”

Naturally He’s not ashamed to call them brethren because in fulfilling His will in sanctification they show forth His likeness. They take on the family likeness, they become not just in theory, not just by doctrine, but experientially they live as the children of God. They demonstrate the nature of the Father and His family.

Now I want to go somewhat further into the details of your response to God’s choice. Let me again emphasize that the whole thing does not begin with you. It begins with God. John 15 we have this statement of Jesus. Verse 16:

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: . . . (KJV)”

The choice does not initiate with the disciples, the choice initiates with the Lord Jesus Christ. He chooses us. He ordains us that we should go to fulfill His task. And in fulfilling the task, we bring forth fruit. And as we are moving in fulfillment of His divine purpose, then the Scripture is true:

As you move in the will of God, all frustrations, all hindrances, all frictions disappear. And moving in perfect harmony with the will of God, you accomplish the purpose of God and your prayers offered for the fulfillment of God’s purpose are answered. This is the secret of answered prayer. It’s perfect harmony with the will of God. This is the secret of the earthly life of Jesus. He was never late, He was never early, He was never hurried, He was never worried, He was never at a loss, He never lacked anything. Everything He and His disciples needed was always available. Why? Because He moved in absolute harmony with the will of the Father. And as you and I learn our part and move in harmony with that task to its fulfillment, then, my friends, Romans 8:28 begins to work out.

“. . . all things work together for good to them that love God [that’s not the end of the verse], to them who are the called [that’s not the end of the verse] according to his purpose. (KJV)”

It’s when you’re moving in the purposes of God that everything works together for good. It’s when you’re moving in the purpose of God that whatever you ask the Father in the name of Jesus is done. But the whole secret of this is finding and fulfilling the task of God. You cannot claim the promise of Romans 8:28 when you’re not in harmony with the will of God. When you’re not moving according to His purpose there are many things that will not work together for good to you in the best sense. They may be corrections, they may be discipline, they may be warning, they may be God’s means to bring you into line with His will, but the real harmony, the real working together for good of everything in your life comes only when you are in perfect harmony with the will of God. Then, when God has chosen you and sent you, and you go, you bring forth fruit and that fruit remains. There’s lots and lots of people bringing forth fruit in Christian service that does not remain. Why? Because it wasn’t the fruit that God asked them to bring forth. They didn’t go in obedience to the will of God. They were busy beavers, working on their own projects, trying to do their own thing, volunteering to God; ‘Here I am God, use me, please.’ Jesus didn’t treat His disciples that way. He said, ‘You didn’t choose Me, I chose you.’ And in actual fact, until God chooses you, my friend, there’s nothing you can do about it. All that you do outside the choice of God is just wood, hay and stubble that will be burned up on the day of judgment.

You know what I’ve come to the conclusion? I’ve come to this conclusion: The biggest hindrance to real faith is busy beaver faith. ‘Oh, I’m trying to do it. Lord, see how hard I’m praying? Lord, I’m determined this man shall be healed.’ And as long as you put all that carnal effort and self-will into that thing, real faith is a stranger to you. I hear so many empty utterances about praying in faith, about agreeing in faith. Let’s agree and it’ll be done. And you know perfectly well that lots of times people speak like that it isn’t done. Because there’s more in agreeing than just an intellectual decision; we ought to pray for this brother in the hospital. That agreement is harmony. First of all, harmony with the will of God. Secondly, harmony between those that pray. It’s not an intellectual decision. I have learned that when I can stand back and stop being a busy beaver, doing my own thing, it’s amazing what God can do. I am actually convinced the main reason why the church doesn’t have the faith it should have is it’s so busy doing what God didn’t ask it to do. ‘Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit. And on that basis your fruit shall remain and on that basis whatsoever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.’ But remove that basis and you have no right to those promises.

“Ephesians 2:10, again, the same truth brought out.
For we [believers] are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (KJV)”

We are God’s creation. Dear beloved, if you’re a Christian, don’t criticize yourself. Don’t belittle yourself. Don’t talk all the time about what you can’t do and all your failures. Do you know why? Because you’re criticizing God’s workmanship. It says, ‘We are His workmanship. Shall the things formed say to Him that formed them, ‘Why hast Thou made me thus?’’ It’s not for the clay to tell the potter what to do. He is the potter, we are the clay. He formed us the way He decided we ought to be because He had a purpose in view. ‘We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God before ordained.’ And the word means ‘before the foundation of the world,’ God ordained the work, the good work that you and I were to walk in. We don’t have to decide what we are to be doing. We have to find out what God has chosen us to do.

I was with a fine missionary group overseas in the mission field. And I have never been in so many committee meetings in all my life. In fact, I really became allergic to committee meetings at that time in my life. We would meet and say, ‘What shall we do?’ And I told my good missionary brothers, ‘We stagger out of one crisis just in time to stagger into the next. This cannot be the will of God.’ What’s the problem? Let’s stop trying to decide what we ought to do and find out what God has decided that we should be doing. Let’s stop trying to plan our own lives in ministry and missions. Find out what God decided before the foundation of the world what you’re to be doing. What a relaxation when you realize you don’t have to make the plan. All you have to do is discover the plans that God has already made.

Go back to Psalm 40. ‘In the volume of the book it is written of me.’ Jesus didn’t plan His own life and ministry. He found out what God had planned in the volume of the book and then He said, ‘Lo, I come, to do thy will.’ This is a beautiful secret, friends; God has got something written in the volume of His book just as much for you as He ever had for Jesus. And you will never be truly happy till you find what’s written in the volume of the book for you and you do it. Stop being so busy. Stop being so active. Stop being so good. (Do you mind?) Stop being so spiritual. Come down to earth for a little while. And do it in a practical way. If a thing isn’t practical, I’ll tell you one thing, it’s not spiritual either. If it doesn’t work, God isn’t in it.

All right. Now we come to a little further detail about our response to God’s choice. And I want to turn to Romans 12 and read the first five or six verses. Now you’ll notice that verse 1 contains the word therefore: ‘I beseech you therefore.’ And some of you have heard me say: When you find a therefore in the Bible, you want to find out what it’s there for. In other words, it links up something which has gone before.

Now if you analyze Romans in outline very briefly, you can analyze it this way: The first eight chapters are the basis of Christian doctrine. They’re the systematic, intellectual unfolding of the basic truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then chapters 9-11 are a kind of excursus that deals with God’s dealings with Israel explaining why, for a time, Israel has been set aside and how in due course Israel will

again be reconciled to God. This is such an extraordinary thing that Israel was set aside for a time that Paul found it necessary to write three chapters of Romans explaining this extraordinary situation. Then, at the beginning of chapter 12 we come back following on from the basic foundation that was laid in chapters 1-8, also relating to God’s dealings with Israel. And chapters 12–16 in simple outline contain the practical outworking in our daily experience and living of the spiritual truths of which the foundation has been laid in the previous chapters. That’s why it begins with a therefore. In the light of all that has been said in chapters 1-8 and chapters 9-11 ‘Now,’ God says, ‘here’s your response.’ This is what God expects you to do.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [which have been unfolded in the preceding chapters], that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office [or function]: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us [and so on], . . . (KJV)”

Now I want to trace this in outline for you just a little and I have something here in the visual aid which I believe will help. There are a number of successive, logical steps which Paul unfolds in these verses. Verse 1, the first step, God says, ‘In the light of all that I have done for you, in the light of the truth of the gospel, what is the reasonable response that I require from you?’ The answer is: That you present your body a living sacrifice. Most people would try to begin with the spiritual. God begins with the body. He said, ‘I want your body plus its contents. I want the whole of you: spirit, soul and body. Give me the vessel, and I’ll have the contents.’

And He says, ‘I want your body placed on the altar a living sacrifice.’ Because this is a deliberate contrast with the Old Testament sacrifices where the animal sacrifice was first killed and then placed on the altar. God says, ‘I want you to put your body on My altar just as really as those sacrificial beasts were

placed on the altar under the Old Testament, but I don’t want you killed first.’ That’s the only difference. ‘I want your body presented to Me exactly the same way as the sheep or the ox or whatever else was presented on the altar with this one exception: I don’t want you dead, I want you living.’ But otherwise, the parallel is exact. You are to present your body a living sacrifice acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. I believe you can translate that as, ‘It’s the least you can do in the light of what God has done for you.’ God demands you—your body, your spirit, your mind, your talents, all that you are and all that you have. Place it on the altar.

Now keep your finger there for a moment in Romans 12 and just turn to Matthew 23:19. Here is a beautiful illustration. Jesus is rebuking the Jewish religious leaders for their foolish interpretations of Scripture. And there it said, for one thing, that if you swear by the altar it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to keep your oath. But if you swear by the sacrifice or the gift that’s placed on the altar, then you are bound, you have to keep your oath. This was their foolish application of Scripture. Jesus reproved them and said:

Notice it isn’t the gift that gives value to the altar; it’s the altar that gives value to the gift. The gift doesn’t sanctify the altar; the altar sanctifies the gift that is placed upon it. So when you place your body upon the altar of God, the altar sanctifies the body that is placed upon it. And as long as you remain on the altar, you are sanctified by the altar. But listen, if at any time you take your life off God’s altar, decide to go your own way, do your own thing, please yourself, you break the contact with the altar, you lose your sanctification. It’s the altar that sanctifies the gift that remains upon it. It is not the gift that sanctifies the altar. You have to be grateful to God that He’s willing to accept you. You are not doing God a favor by offering Him your life. God is doing you a favor by accepting your life. And He accepts it not on the basis of what you are, but on the basis of the altar upon which you offer it, which is through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Turn back to Romans now and we’ll go on with this outline. In the second verse, what happens when you place your body on the altar? You are renewed in your mind. Your way of thinking changes. And being renewed and changed in your mental attitudes, your ambitions, your relationships, your evaluations and your standards being changed inwardly in your mind, your whole way of living changes. You are no longer conformed to the world, but you are transformed through this renewing of your mind.

Keep your finger again in Romans for a moment and just look at the pattern of the world’s living as presented in 1 John 2:15–17. Now the first two verses describe the attitude of the carnal man. The 17th verse describes the spirit and the attitude of the man who is on the altar and who has been renewed in his mind through presenting his body on the altar. First John 2:15-17:

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (KJV)”

The carnal mind is taken up with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It’s taken up with things that are temporary, that do not abide, that are transient. They have no real permanent value. But when you’re renewed in your mind and you begin to do the will of God as revealed to your renewed mind, then you abide forever. Isn’t that a beautiful Scripture? Do you want to look at that again? ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.’ Shall I tell you this? When you’re doing God’s will, you’re unsinkable. You’re irresistible. You’re indestructible. Nothing can stand against you. When you’re doing the will of God. How important it is to find the will of God and to do it. How can you find the will of God? Present your body. When you present your body, you’re renewed in your mind. Then when your mind is renewed, verse 3, you can find the will of God. Look now, the latter part of verse 2:

“...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove [that means find out in experience] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (KJV)”

Listen, the old, unrenewed mind cannot find the will of God. Why? Because Paul says in Romans 8

‘the carnal mind is enmity against God.’ God will not reveal His will to the carnal mind. But when you’re renewed in your mind, your mind is changed, then that renewed mind begins to find out in experience what the will of God for your life is. And you’ll find it in three ascending phases. First of all, it’s good. Secondly, it’s acceptable. Thirdly, it’s perfect. When you come into perfect line with the will of God, every detail in your life is completely provided for. Not the slightest detail is omitted in the perfect will of God. But it takes the renewing of your mind to find God’s will. And as you move into God’s will, you do not necessarily move immediately into the perfection of God’s will. At the first it’s good, then it’s acceptable, but in the fulfillment it is perfect.

“All right. Now then, verse 3.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly [or humbly or realistically], according as God hath dealt to every man [a proportion] of faith.”

Now the next thing you discover is that when you begin to do the will of God, God has given you the measure of faith needed to do His will. But God has not given you the measure of faith needed to do something else. As soon as you’ve found the will of God, there is a balance between God’s will and your faith. If a person is always struggling for faith, that’s almost sure proof that they’re not walking in the will of God. Because when you’ve found the will of God you discover God has already deposited in you a measure of faith that is equal to the task that God wants you to do.

See, my wife went out years ago to Israel, to Jerusalem, without any support, from a good home and a good position in Denmark. Started taking in little unwanted girls and brought up altogether about seventy of them with practically no money. The first girl she took in, she had about six dollars in her purse when she took her. She had no crib, she had no bedding, she opened her suitcase, wrapped her in underwear and that’s how she started a children’s home. And sometimes she’d have to be up in the night praying for the children’s breakfast for the next morning.

Well, when my wife and I were planning to get married, I thought to myself, ‘I’m not sure that I’m equal to that kind of life. I really don’t know that I have that kind of faith.’ And the Lord spoke so sweetly to me and He said, ‘You don’t need that kind of faith because I haven’t asked you to live that kind of life. I’ve given you the faith for what I want you to do.’ My wife often says to me, ‘I couldn’t do it today.’ Why not? Because God isn’t asking her today. What God asks you to do He gives you the faith to do. But God doesn’t give you the faith to do something He hasn’t asked you to do. If there’s a continual conflict between your faith and what you’re trying to do, be sure, my dear brother, you’re trying to do the wrong thing. You haven’t found the will of God. And the reason is you haven’t been renewed in your mind. And you know why you haven’t been renewed in your own mind? Because you haven’t put your body on the altar.

“All right. Now then verse 4 and 5:
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (KJV)”

The next thing you discover is that you’re a member of the body; you’ve got a particular place and a particular function. You discover your position in the body. You see, there’s only one place where you can function properly, that’s the place where God has ordained you to be. If God has made you a hand, you’ll be a miserable failure if you try to play the part of a foot. If God has made you an eye, you will never function as an ear. You’ve got to find your place in the body, what member you are, and then, praise the Lord, you’ll function without effort, relaxed, free, unembarrassed. My hand has no problem being a hand. It enjoys being a hand. It can do all the things a hand should do. But if I tell my hand, ‘Now you should be a foot. Put a shoe on and try to walk,’ then there’s going to be no end of problems. Now there’s a lot of hands trying to be feet in the body of Christ at the present time. There’s a lot of eyes trying to be ears. And the reason is that people have not followed the steps laid down in the Word to find their place in the body.

Now one more truth, that’s the 6th verse, ‘Having then gifts . . .’ See, this is where gifts come in. Not at the beginning, but at the end of the line. When you’ve found your place, when you’re doing your job, when you’re fulfilling your function, you know what you discover? The gifts you need are there to do the job. Don’t pray out in the blue, ‘Lord, I want prophecy, or I want healing, or I want interpretation.’ That’s not the way to pray. ‘Lord, show me my place in the body. Show me what You want me to do.’ And I tell you, you’ll hardly have to pray for gifts when you find your place and start to do it. You’ll discover, to your surprise, the gifts are coming into operation. When I got into this ministry of deliverance, two gifts began to operate in me without my even planning it. One was discerning of spirits and the other was the word of knowledge. I remember trying to help a lady in Denver, Colorado, in l964. I sat down beside her on a sofa, there was several other people in the room. She looked at me in a helpless, pitiful way and I felt real compassion in my heart. I said, ‘You need deliverance from—’ and I listed about fifteen spirits. I thought to myself, ‘Where did that come from? How did I know that?’ And I said, ‘That must be the word of knowledge.’ See, I didn’t agonize for five days in fasting and prayer, ‘Lord, give me the word of knowledge.’ I’d gotten to the place where I needed the word of knowledge doing the will of God. And God saw to it that I had the word of knowledge. But that’s the correct order.

Now let’s put it on the outline because time is running out. Here’s your response as outlined in Romans 12:1–6.

First of all, present your body on God’s altar. Now if you’ve never done that I’m going to give you an opportunity to do it at the close of this message. You know if you’ve done it. And if you don’t know, you haven’t done it.

Number two, when you present your body you are then renewed in your mind. You begin to think in entirely different ways. Thinking differently, you live differently. You’re no longer conformed to the world, you’re transformed in your behavior.

To your renewed mind is revealed God’s will. You discover in experience God’s will. Discovering God’s will you also discover that you’ve got the faith needed to do the will of God. God has given you the proportionate faith needed to do His will.

All right. Discovering God’s will you also find your place and function in the body. You find out

what member you are, what function you have.

Finding your function and beginning to do it you find yourself exercising the needed gifts. This is the divine, and it’s the logical order.

I’ll go through it once again very quickly and then we’re going to move on to the close of this message.

“First of all you present your body.
Second, you’re renewed in your mind.
With your renewed mind you discover God’s will.
Discovering God’s will, you discover that you have the faith needed to do God’s will. Discovering God’s will you also find your place and function in the body.
Finding and fulfilling your function, you begin to exercise the needed gifts.”

That’s the way it works. That’s your response to God’s choice. Jesus said, ‘Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.’ When you realize that God has chosen you, then you make that response. Now I’m going to read from my outline because I can’t improve on what I’ve said there. I don’t say nobody could improve but I can’t improve.

As God’s will and purpose are progressively revealed to you, you shape your whole life and conduct to fulfill God’s purpose. This is direction toward the purpose. That’s what makes sanctification meaningful. You become like an athlete. Let me give you just two statements of Paul. Acts 24:16, one of my favorite verses at the present time. Paul says:

“Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. (KJV)”

This requires exercise. It requires application. And then let’s look also at the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul deliberately applies to himself as a minister of Christ the examples and the principles that come from a contestant in athletics. First Corinthians 9:24-27:

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery [in an athletic contest] is temperate [or self-controlled] in all things. (KJV)”

Any person that wants to succeed in athletics has to put himself under very severe continuing discipline.

“Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown [or in modern language a gold medal or a silver medal or a bronze medal]; but we an incorruptible [an eternal medal, a crown of gold]. I therefore [Paul says I apply it to myself] so run not as uncertainly [I know where I’m headed for. I don’t wander from side to side on the track, I don’t wander from lane to lane. I’ve got a mark and I’m pressing toward it]; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: [When I encounter the devil and his forces I aim my blows to hit him where it hurts most. I just don’t lash out wildly with my fists and hope that a blow will land on him. And verse 27:] I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (KJV)”

Listen, here’s the teaching about the body again. Don’t despise and belittle your body. Your body is the vessel of spirit and mind. It’s a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. It’s the temple of the Holy Spirit. You have an obligation to keep that temple in the best possible order. To keep it holy, not to defile it with unclean or excessive habits of any kind. Not to indulge in gluttony or any other thing that defiles and vitiates the temple of God. Paul says, ‘I treat my body like an athlete treats his body. I keep it under; I don’t let it dictate to me.’ Let me tell you this: That the body is a good servant but a fearful master. Never let your body master you. Master your body.

I like the words of my good friend, Don Basham. He says this: ‘My stomach doesn’t tell me when to eat; I tell my stomach when to eat.’ That’s it. Don’t let the body dictate to you. It’s a wonderful thing. David said, ‘I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.’ Never despise the body. The body isn’t evil. It’s good. Treat it that way. Preserve it. Dedicate it to the fulfilling of the task.

God spoke to me about ten years ago, nine years ago. He challenged me, I’d come to a certain level in my Christian experience. He said, ‘Are you satisfied, or do you want to go further?’ And, God forgive me, you know what I said? I said, ‘Lord, if there is anything further, I want to go further.’ God forgive me; I’m embarrassed whenever I think of that. After all, I was a Pentecostal preacher! I was a missionary and God reminded me of all that. He said, ‘Are you satisfied, or do you want to go further?’ ‘Well, Lord, I thought, what could be further?’ But when God said that I said, ‘Lord, if there is anything further, I want to go further.’ The Lord answered me very clearly and He said there are two conditions. First of all, all progress in the Christian life is by faith. If you’re not willing to go forward in faith you cannot go forward. Secondly He said, if you are to fulfill the ministry which I have for you, you will need a strong, healthy body. And you’re putting on too much weight; you better see to that. Very timely advice, I’m grateful. I think it saved me a lot in doctor bills from then until now. God showed me that my body was an integral part of His plan for my life. If I didn’t keep my body in the order that He required, I couldn’t fulfill His plan. See, you’re not three different pieces floating about, loosely linked together. You’re a unit: spirit, soul and body. The body is the vessel and contains the spirit and the soul. God says, ‘Give Me the vessel and its contents. Don’t try to give Me a disembodied spirit or soul. I’m not asking for that. I’m asking for your body on My altar.’ Preserve your body, discipline your body, dedicate your members, yield your members, they’re instruments of righteousness to be yielded unto God.

Let’s look at this pattern of the athlete and then we’ll close. What have I got up here, let me find out. Yes, the pattern of the athlete. An athlete sets himself to succeed in a contest, to jump higher, to run faster, swim faster, dive deeper or whatever it is. What does he do? He applies himself by two things: exercise and discipline. They’re an essential part of Christian living. What does he do? He renounces all that hinders the accomplishment of his special aim. He cultivates all that helps. He discovers the full provision of God and in doing this, he manifests Christ’s likeness. You see, we’ve come back to the beginning of sanctification. When I set myself to do the will of God, when I put my body on the altar, when I place myself as a living sacrifice, when my mind is renewed, I discover the will of God and I set my will and purpose, I discipline my whole being to do God’s will. Then what am I doing? I’m revealing and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who chose me, the one who sanctified me, the one who sent me. Do you want to reveal Jesus? Do you want to glorify Jesus? You can only do it as Jesus revealed and glorified the Father. By finding and doing the Father’s will.

We’ve reached the end of this message. And I would like to challenge each one of you now. I promised God that I would never again just preach a religious lecture, but always give people an opportunity to obey the message that was preached. Today the challenge is clear: Are you willing to present your body a living sacrifice?