Salvation And Sanctification: Distinctions Kathryn Kuhlman Born Again and Holiness

Well, sir, a lady writes to me and let me see, where does this come from? It comes from Los Angeles. No, it comes from Sacramento. Sacramento, California. And she said, Miss Gorman, I want to be fully consecrated. I try, but fail. There must be more to it than crying. Would it be possible to tell someone how this full consecration comes about? I have struggled. I have worked. I have agonized. But nothing happens. She signs her full name. There's a postscript. Please pray especially that God will give me a good dose of consecration. That's simple. That's down to earth. The same question that literally thousands are asking right now. And so again today. We're going to have another one of those old -fashioned heart -to -heart talks. You know, I've been talking to you about this thing of victorious living, a victorious life. I want you to remember something. If you forget everything else that I might say in the next 20 minutes, remember this one thing. This life is a gift. The victorious life is a gift by the greatest of all givers, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. When I see people agonizing, when I see them struggling, I feel so sorry for them. I'll tell you something truthfully, and I'll make a confession. This thing of sanctification nearly made an infidel out of me when I was not more than 15 years old. I'll just take the lid off of my heart and be perfectly honest with you about these things, because you can't give any more to anyone else than what you have experienced yourself. Now, I believe in sanctification. I believe in holiness. I have to. The Word of God teaches it. But in my stupidity, I didn't understand it, and it almost threw me. Oh, sure, in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Years and years, and it's been years ago. Well, you can imagine how many years ago it has been. Because right after my conversion, I was only about 15 years of age. And how many years ago that's been is, well, I'm not going to tell you. Anyway, I was so hungry for more of God. Oh, beloved, you'll never know. I was so hungry that on the inside, actually, it hurt. You know what I'm talking about? Every part of my being just cried out. I wanted to be sanctified. I wanted to be made holy. I wanted a complete consecration. And they were having a holiness camp meeting, preaching holiness. I was too young to understand most of it. But every time there was an altar call, in the morning session, in the afternoon session, at night, they would give an altar call for those who wanted to be consecrated, those who wanted to be sanctified. The first one down the sawdust trail was a red -headed, freckle -faced teenage girl. And I would kneel down and cry and cry and cry until my eyes were almost swollen shut. Sometimes they did swell completely close. Agonizing, struggling. What happened? Nothing. I... was struggling for something that was a gift and the Lord Jesus Christ was more willing to give to me than I was to receive from him but in my ignorance I didn't know how to receive this gift. A gift is a gift. This victorious life is a gift and it's not to be secured by any struggling or striving or agonizing on our part. It's not a thing to be attained by long and laborious effort. It's not a thing that we can reach gradually by growing more and more like Christ. These things that I'm saying to you right now are most important to you. They're vitally important. And I'm telling you these things so that you don't make the same mistake that I made when I didn't have anyone to teach me. All life comes as a gift. Our physical life, we just receive it. Our spiritual life is the gift of God. Read it. 6th chapter, Romans, the 23rd verse. The life more abundant. And believe me, there is a life that is more abundant. It's a gift. We cannot receive a gift gradually. There may be some hesitation or there may be delay in taking it. There may be a struggle before we are willing to receive it. But a gift... is accepted, not gradually, but in a moment. The victorious life, then, can be received by a definite act. Now watch something. There is, of course, a growth in grace in the man who has been wholly sanctified. A going on to perfection as his capacity increases. Oh, don't think that I don't believe that there is a growth. There is a daily growth. For instance, you'll never know how often I have wondered recently, dear Lord Jesus, you're putting such responsibility on me. There are thousands of doors that are opening everywhere. Why didn't you do this years and years ago? Why? And you know he gives me the same answer. Child of mine, you couldn't have handled it years and years ago. You weren't the mature Christian years and years ago that you are now. You didn't have the deep spiritual experiences years and years ago that you have now. There has been a constant, a continual growth every day and every day. And if there isn't a daily continual growth in your spiritual life, there's something wrong someplace with your relationship between the Lord and yourself. There's your little baby. Maybe at this very moment, that child is just an infant in your arms. Or maybe a child is there crawling near your feet on the rug beside the chair where you're sitting. Now, if that child is a healthy child, if it's a healthy baby, every day there will be a growth in that physical body. Constantly. If it's healthy, if it's strong, if it's nourished properly, if it gets the right food, it'll continue to grow and grow. There's a daily growth. It will not remain a baby for the next 12 years, 5 years, 3 years. And so it is in our spiritual life. Of course, there is a daily, a constant growth. But this life, this life that is more abundant is a gift. And we receive it. Now watch. This life that I am talking about, is in His Son. When we accept the Son as the Lord of all of our being, when we accept Jesus, we say, as our personal Savior, we receive as a gift this life, this life that is eternal. It is something that God does for us, but not only for us, but... in us. That's the reason we become a new creature in Christ Jesus. This is our second birth. The first birth is the physical. That is something that we all have in common. The first birth. The physical birth. But there is a spiritual birth. That's the reason we call it the second birth. The new birth. And Jesus said, ye must be born again. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh. The one thing we all have in common. But that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And when we accept the son as the Lord of all of our being, we receive as a gift. We haven't worked for it. We don't deserve it. It is a gift. the gift of life. It is something that God does in us. It's not a long struggle before surrender. Many a Christian has a terrific struggle before he's willing to yield himself wholly to Christ. But this is before the victorious life begins. Victory begins only when... gruggling ceases. The moment you surrender yourself entirely to Christ, the very moment that you look to him in faith to dwell in your entire heart, that moment he comes and takes control of you. Now this indwelling is quite independent of any feeling on your part. It's independent of any ideas of your own as to how he should manifest his spirit. presence. You must just take him at his word, rest upon his word. That's where trust, that's where confidence enters in. It doesn't rest upon any feeling. It rests upon facts. You may have a wonderful thrill of joy, or you may feel nothing, nothing unusual whatsoever. It is a definite transaction. You take God at his word, a God who has never lied. When you read his promise, when you read God's word, remember something. A God who cannot lie has promised. You take God at his word and you can stake your very life on thus saith the Lord. You trust his word. It's a definite transaction. Whether there's any feeling or not. My goodness, a life. Think of the important transactions that you make daily or that you make during your lifetime. Important transaction. Much is involved. Millions of dollars can be involved. the property that's involved. And yet there may not be any feeling, physical feeling, or any emotion whatsoever. It's there. It's a transaction. Do you know why so many people are still crowding to the altar every time there's an altar call given? Still seeking. for this experience of being born again, it's because they're seeking feeling. They expect some feeling, some great thrill, some great emotional experience. Search the Bible. You'll not find that he promised anything like this. It's a definite transaction. You take him at his word. Now watch it. Every Christian has to decide whether he'll be wholly consecrated to God or whether he'll remain content to live the Christian life on a low level, which is always a powerless one. Always. And a person like that will never receive anything more than his second best, his third best. Don't be satisfied to live this Christian life on its lowest level. When I sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ as a teenage girl, I went into it lock, stock, and barrel. I never did anything halfway. When I was a kid, When I did anything bad, it was all for bad. Oh, my, that's the reason I got so many beatings. Nothing was ever done halfway. Never. I went out for it for everything there was in it. And that's the way I determined to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanted everything he had for me. Let me change that. I continue to want everything that he has for me. It's like that. Now watch. This decision for holiness is a crisis in a Christian's life. There are many who are... Absolutely satisfied just knowing if their sins are forgiven. And that is wonderful. That's glorious. Now, if you feel that that is all that there is for you as a Christian, just to be satisfied that you've been born again and you've received the gift of salvation, then so far as you are concerned, that's all there is for you because you're not... expecting anything more. You're not desiring anything more. And so you just stop. But it doesn't change the fact one iota that the greatest saint that ever lived never received all of God that God had for that one. There is a place that Christ can and does give victory over all known sin not gradually but instantaneously let me give the scripture it's in second corinthians the seventh chapter having therefore these promises let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. There it comes. After this definite step of wholehearted dedication of oneself to God, there comes a lifelong process of sanctification, a going on from strength to strength, from glory to glory. to glory, a process under which the believer becomes more and more conformed to the life and the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. The new birth experience is a gift. It's instantaneous. But when it comes to this thing of consecration and sanctification, it is a marvelous, daily, day -by -day process. A constant and continual growth. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, is not what I have just been talking about. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is instantaneous. Get it? But when you talk about sanctification, my friend, it is not agonizing. It is not struggling. It is not straining. is not torturing yourself. It is as natural a growth, a spiritual growth, as there is a physical growth in a little baby's physical body. I pray that this little heart to heart talk with you today will have meant much in your spiritual growth. God bless you.