What is Your Name?

October 11. 1987 am

Genesis 32:26_28 Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."

"WHAT IS SALVATION?"

This is the third time we have used the same question, "What is Salvation?" We have looked at

  1. God's Sovereignty and Our Free Will: [God Loves Us and Provides Salvation for Us by Grace;] and at the...
  2. Atonement, ["Christ Died for Us."] Today we look at
  3. Sanctification. "[Christ changes us, and makes us like Himself].

There are not "two salvations." Both the crisis of justification and the crisis of entire sanctification are elements of one great salvation. But Wesleyans have historically emphasized the need for a crisis of entire consecration on the part of believers after they have been saved, a crisis which on God's part results in cleansing and empowering and infilling with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing and empowering we call "entire sanctification."

What IS "entire sanctification?"

I. A THEOLOGICAL LOOK AT ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION

"Sanctification" refers the whole of what God does to us and in us to make us like Jesus. GOD WANTS TO CHANGE US INTO HIS LIKENESS; FROM WHAT WE ARE, IN OURSELVES, WITHOUT HIM— TO WHAT WE CAN BE BY HIS INDWELLING PRESENCE, FROM INADEQUACY AND SELFISHNESS TO CHRIST-LIKENESS AND SERVICE.

This life-changing, character-changing grace of God begins the moment we surrender our lives to God, and continues throughout all our lives as we walk with Him by faith; indeed, I believe it continues throughout all eternity! It is a process!

But at a very important point in this walk with God, every believer is challenged to a full and complete consecration, in love, to God, forever. In return God promises 'a renewing of the mind, an infilling, cleansing fullness of His Holy Spirit.' This crisis we call "entire sanctification." It is an all-important crisis within the process of sanctification.

Our Wesleyan definitions of "sanctification" are almost always definitions of "entire sanctification:" (such as)

Dr. E. F. Walker: "Sanctification, in the proper sense, is a work of grace, instantaneously wrought in the person of a believer, subsequent to regeneration, administered by Jesus Christ, through the baptism with the Holy Ghost purifying him from all sin, and perfecting him in divine love."

John Wesley (quoted in Wiley & Culbertson): "Sanctification in the proper sense is an instantaneous deliverance from all sin, and includes an instantaneous power then given always to cleave — to God."

Dr. John W. Goodwin: "Sanctification is a divine work of grace, purifying the believer's heart from indwelling sin. It is subsequent to regeneration, is secured in the atoning blood of Christ, is effected by the baptism with the Holy Ghost, is conditioned on full consecration to God, is received by faith, and includes instantaneous power for service."

Here is a statement of our accepted theology (Wiley) that may make it a little easier to see how different needs are met by justification and sanctification, and help us to distinguish "entire sanctification" from "justification":

  1. Justification in a broad sense has reference to the whole work of Christ wrought for us; Sanctification, the whole work wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.
  2. Justification is a judicial act in the mind of God; Sanctification, a spiritual change wrought in the hearts of men.
  3. Justification is a relative change, that is, a change in relation from condemnation to favor; Sanctification, an inward change from sin to holiness.
  4. Justification secures for us remission of actual sins; Sanctification in its complete sense, cleanses the heart from original sin or inherited depravity.
  5. Justification removes the guilt of sin, Sanctification destroys its power.
  6. Justification makes possible adoption into the family of God; Sanctification restores the image of God.
  7. Justification gives a title to heaven; Sanctification a fitness for heaven.
  8. Justification logically precedes sanctification, which in its initial stage, is concomitant with it.
  9. Justification is an instantaneous and completed act, and therefore does not take place in stages, or by degrees; Sanctification is marked by progressiveness in that partial or initial sanctification occurs at the time of Justification, and entire sanctification occurs subsequent to Justification . Both initial and entire sanctification, however, are instantaneous acts wrought in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit.

II. THE NEED FOR A SECOND CRISIS

We probably need to emphasize and re-emphasize over and over that "sanctification" is both process and crisis; that the process begins when we are justified. We need to say over and over that it continues throughout life. "God isn't done with us yet...." He is never done with us!

But also we need to underscore that there comes a crisis of full surrender when the 'sovereignty question' is settled in a decisive way!

WHY do we need to underscore this second crisis? Because it is our Nazarene tradition? If THAT is the only reason— then let's have courage and dump it!

WHY underscore this second crisis? Because if we don't we will have no reason for separate identity from other evangelicals? If THAT is our reason we had better wake up! Other evangelicals are emphasizing "holiness of heart and life!"

THE REASON (then, that) WE NEED TO EMPHASIZE THE SECOND CRISIS IS THAT THIS IS THE SCRIPTURAL WAY PEOPLE ENTER INTO THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD'S FULLNESS! WE CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS THE SCRIPTURAL TRUTH AND LIFE-CHANGING POWER, THE REALITY OF THIS EXPERIENCE WE CALL "ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION!"

We almost always COME to God for justification for selfish reasons: to escape judgment and penalty for our sins; to receive eternal life; to GET something from God. We are saved as we are "running away from our sins."

But this matter of "entire sanctification" is a matter of STAYING WITH GOD FOR BETTER REASONS! It is a matter of GIVING something to God as best we can! It is a matter of offering Him our love for time and for eternity! It is letting God have us to make us over like Jesus! We are "sanctified wholly" as we are "running toward God with our hunger for more of HIM!"

[Transition: But it is easier to see "second blessing holiness" demonstrated than it is to hear it described and "analyzed" by experts who often confuse rather than clarify:]

III. THE LIFE-CHANGING POWER

There are several powerful scriptural testimonies to the character-changing grace of God's sanctifying power in the lives of believers. One of the very best 'pictures' of the crisis of entire sanctification is found in the story of the patriarch Jacob. [Found in Genesis 32] I happen to believe that the story 'fits' our Wesleyan theology very well, but whatever your theology, the end result was exactly what Jacob needed, and what you and I desperately need.

The end result was a change in the very nature of Jacob. To understand the story of Jacob becoming Israel, we need to understand the deep significance of NAMES here in the Old Testament.

"Jacob" means "heel grasper." He came out of his mother's womb grasping his twin brother's heel. And he kept right on "grasping" from that time on. And in his "grasping" Jacob was a lot like some people I know— a lot like YOU and a lot like ME! And the name was fitting. Jacob was all for Jacob. He was a cheat. He tricked his brother out of his birthright and out of his blessing. You know the story, and if you don't you should read it soon.

On the way from home to Padan-Aram, escaping from his brother and his 'sins,' he had the experience in a dream of a ladder from heaven to earth— at a place he called "Beth-El," the house of God. He was changed— he was different. But he was still Jacob. Note: God met Jacob when he was RUNNING AWAY from his sins.

But perhaps 14 years later, returning home, Jacob met with God in this way:

  1. Jacob was now a very wealthy man. But he was anticipating meeting his twin brother, Esau; and fearing the meeting very much.
  2. The crisis came when Jacob was finally all alone, even though he had become for all purposes a rich man. I am not sure of all the significance of separation as Jacob sent over his herds and flocks and family until he was alone by the Brook Jabbok. But I do know that now this crisis separated him for a time from all his ACQUISITION.
  3. But in the confrontation with God that took place there that night, the life-changing point is reached when God asks Jacob: WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

    "Who ARE you, really?" And Jacob has to own up to the fact that he is a GRASPER! He is a person who lives to ACQUIRE!

    Now it isn't hard to be a GRASPER! Believe me! Things have a way of grasping us! But the one BIG thing Paul tells us about Jesus is this: JESUS WAS NOT A GRASPER! (Philippians 2:5-6) And if we are to be like Jesus, somehow WE have to "let go of things" so they will lose their hold on us. HOW?

    Well— perhaps it starts with answering the question: "What is your name?"

  4. Jacob answers God truthfully: "My name is JACOB!" And God says: "Not any more it isn't! From NOW on your name is: ISRAEL! You are God's man!"
  5. Jacob also asks God: "What is YOUR name!"

    It is sort of audacious, and there is no answer immediately. God is not answerable to any creature, and is beyond what we can grasp.

    But the "name of God" does come to Jacob-Israel. In Genesis 35 it comes: "I AM God Almighty— El Shaddai!— the Nourisher!"

IV. WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION?

Conclusion: Perhaps one answer is: SANCTIFICATION IS GETTING YOUR NAME CHANGED! What is YOUR name this morning?

And what direction are you running?

Are you running AWAY from the results of your sins? If you are— God is waiting to meet you, and forgive you, and save you, and bless you.

But perhaps you are running TOWARD God, with the consciousness that your sins are forgiven— and that you are rich in blessings— but also with the deep awareness that your name is "Jacob!" God can and will 'change your name' from "Jacob" to "Israel" by this second crisis of entire sanctification!

#203 - Ho! Everyone That is Thirsty!