Consecration

I admire preachers that have sermons, them all written out and all going, mine's all left me. So I'm just left with a little expression. I was at a conference just a few years back.

And, you know, you get fidgety, you don't know when to get up. And I hate to get up when others are getting up, that can happen too. But at the end of a conference, there were two sisters.

They're godly sisters. I would count them the most godly. They actually affected my life.

And they were leaving just as the conference was coming to a close. So somebody else spoke, I just sat down. And sometimes you feel that you're getting nowhere with your ministry, and you feel a little dry, and you feel, I'll never try it again, never do it again, all this sort of thing.

You don't have that problem? God bless you. And of course, while they were passing me, she threw this little thing into my lap. And I thought I was struggling.

Forty years ago, you ministered on consecration. My life was changed for the Lord. Thank you again for ministering the same.

There are young people coming on. So my ministry will be on consecration. And we're going to look at 1 Corinthians for the first reading, chapter 6. With what we've heard from my dear brother David, I trust this will follow on.

Verse number 18. Flee fornication, every sin that man doeth is without the body, but he that committh fornication sinneth against his own body. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? And you're not your own, for you're bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Romans, please. And chapter 12.

Verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, or it could be translated, which is your intelligent service, or your religious worship, that ye may prove, that be ye 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. Now, there's one more reading we want to touch, and it's in 1 Corinthians 15. It has been touched this morning, so I can't amplify anything that has been said so well today on that subject of resurrection.

But verse number 38. But God giveth it a body, as he hath pleased him, unto every seed his own body. Verse 42.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body, and so forth.

That is all we'll read, and I trust with the help of God with what I've got to say. It's very interesting in the Corinthian letter, and you will know that, I'm sure, that the body is often before us. It's very often mentioned.

And I just want to look at a threefold chord, to say it's not easily broken. So a threefold chord in my mind is, the body has been mentioned as a sanctuary. That is, you're not your own, you're bought with a price, and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So your body is a sanctuary. I want you to notice in Romans chapter 12, your body is a sacrifice. That's the main one in my mind.

And the third one is, your body is a seed. It's going to be sown in death. It's going to be raised in glory.

We must remember that prior to conversion, pre-conversion days, your body was a slave. That is, no matter what it was, whether it be the drinking, whether it be the gambling, whether it be the dancing, whether it be the sports world in the arenas, no matter where we travel, in our unsaved days, even young people, older people, our body is a slave. We were a slave, that we couldn't break the power of sin.

We tried it, we couldn't do it. And I'm sure some can attest here, that myself can attest to, I said when a new year comes, I'm finished with this, I'm finished with that, I'm finished with the other, and we did it for a day. And poor Albert fell a prey again.

Door knocked, off we went again. And I was in slavery to that awful bondage of sin. It held me, it gripped me, it wrapped its fangs around me.

I couldn't break it. Maybe there's someone today in the meeting, and you're in this meeting not saved, and you are a slave to sin. And what you need is the bonds broken.

How blessed when the bonds are all broken and songs of deliverance begin. Every one of us saved, go back to that time when we had that experience, whether young or old or middle aged, when you know what it's like. When the soul is free.

When the chains are broken. When you're in liberty. I told it here, I'm going to tell it again, when we're out in the portage.

There's a little girl there, she was a Hutterite. And some of those Hutterites got saved from the slavery and bondage of recalism. Held in that awful grip.

And of course we were happy to speak, and I wasn't saying anything, I thought, she burst into laughter. Well you don't often get that. I mean, this boy here does it sometimes.

Scott. But you know, you don't often. So I said, what am I saying? What am I saying wrong here? And after the meeting she came over and said, I'm sorry to be like that Mr. Hull.

But you said, you don't realize what it is to be free, do you? She said, I'm free from that Hutterite system. And I said, when you mention liberty and redemption and emancipation, I'm free to praise God. She'd have had it out of loose.

And she's working now in Tim Hortons. You ever get to Tim Hortons? And she was working there, making a little money. And she was singing and she was whistling or whatever.

And humming and the boss was looking out of the window at the back and he's looking at this girl. The others were going around. And he called her in.

He said, please tell me, what makes you happy? She said, I'm free. I've been liberated. He said, could you pass it out to the rest? Yeah.

Oh, my friend. How joyful it is to know that we've been free. Now I know we carry a sinful nature.

And I know we battle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and power. And we always have to curb that wicked thing called the flesh. It's in every one of us.

We'll carry it until the rapture. But at the same time, it should not hinder our progress for God. And if something can be done in this meeting for eternity.

And some lives transformed and changed for God's glory. And they leave the conference a different way. Changed.

I know, maybe you go through life and you go to the meetings. And you carry on and you sing the hymns. And you go through the form of a prayer, that's alright maybe.

But wouldn't it be nice to get a grip that my life can be something for God. That your body now is not your own. You're bought with a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. In other words, there's someone who has taken up the residence within your body that once was a slave. The Holy Spirit.

He's a teacher. I used to wonder. Well, I used to wonder, now looking back.

Why did I not want to... I remember that, well, I shouldn't say that. I was a great man for soccer, as you know. Not saying I was a great soccer player, but a great man for soccer.

And of course, I remember after I got saved, I said, what am I going to do now? Ireland is playing and what am I going to do? Am I going to go into the grandstand and take the hat off and act a fool? Or what am I going to do? You know what I decided to do? No one told me. Take a bundle of tracts and stand outside and give it to the boys to get in. Who taught me that? My father didn't.

The Holy Spirit did. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer. And that's what gives us a tender conscience.

And helps us to understand as we move along life and progress in the things of God. We don't learn overnight. We know we're perfect in Christ.

But in a practical experience, we have to learn daily what we are in ourselves of sinners that fight us in Jesus. And so, we have to let the Holy Spirit... Remember, your body is not your own. Always remember.

He's a resident in your... I think we forgot that. Now, we're not Pentecostals. There's no fear.

But we could do with a little capturing in our hearts. The indweller. The Holy Spirit.

He guides. He comforts. He cheers.

He leads. He fills. He indwells.

Permanently. My father going along, just saved from a Baptist preacher, going along in a train into the city of Belfast. Just saved by the grace of God.

He sits beside a gentleman. My dad at that time, just so full, he was reading the Bible in the train. Way behind it.

And as he's reading, this man says, Oh, it's nice to see you reading the Bible. Well, my father said, I just got saved a short while ago, and I love the Bible. Oh, he said, I'm saved too.

He said, did you get the second blessing yet? My father said, what do you mean? Well, he said, you know, you get a second blessing. You get something else. You have to get baptized in the Spirit.

Well, you know, he said, that's strange. He's only a young Christian. The Spirit teaches.

He said, you know, I was reading the Colossian letter. In Him, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the God. So when I got Christ, I got the Holy Spirit, I got God the Father, and I got the Son.

Thank God for the Teacher. The Holy Spirit indwells, my friend, indwells us. Just want to leave that with you, for I want to get to my second one.

The body is a sanctuary. Nurture that. When you're going to the... I have a laptop.

It's less in my lap than what is in the top. But anyway, I have a laptop. And I go to the laptop and I get in there.

And I know, friend, listen, I know those things pop up. Be honest. Turn my eyes away from beholding vanity.

And there's a trap. With all these new iPods or Peapods, whatever you call them. Oh, the danger! Oh, the danger! Isn't that right? I know three brethren who could have been out in the work of the Lord, but for that.

They got trapped. They lost their bearings. Young believer, learn it.

I know we need it. We're in the modern age. Don't forget.

I know I'm just over middle age. And you who are younger will have to understand I'm trying to bridge the gap between... Listen, I know you need them. I know it's good.

You have to have them. Isn't that right? Troy, isn't it? Listen, learn this. When I go to that laptop or go to that iPad or go to whatever I might have, learn this.

My body is the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. And if I do something that is absolutely contrary to His holiness, I lose my joy in the Lord. Now I want to get to the second one.

The body is the sanctuary. I want you to think, is the body as a sacrifice? You know, brethren, I am inclined to believe, and maybe you'll bear with me and some of my dear brethren may disagree a little in this. That's fine.

We love each other in the Lord and you'll bear with me. There's nothing doctrinally wrong. But I do believe that when a person gets saved, whether it's in young life, they come to a crisis.

Do you follow me? They come to a crisis. I don't know whether you'll come there today. Great if you did.

And you'll come to this crisis. We're not talking about out in the work of the Lord preaching the Gospel. No, not at all.

We're talking just about ordinary Christianity. Genuine Christianity. You'll come to a crisis in life and you'll come to this.

What am I going to do with my life? Am I going to live it for self? I'm going to go to the meetings. I'm going to carry on in the form. Or am I going to learn what it is to pass my whole body, soul, and spirit into the hands of God? I'm no longer my own.

I will lay my life as a living sacrifice upon the altar. I will come to the crisis in life. Murray doesn't mind me repeating this.

I was sitting with my fiancée in a Buckner Gospel Hall at a conference. Just like this. It wasn't many people maybe.

I couldn't tell you what they all spoke on. I do remember a hymn that one brother gave out. And I was sitting beside my fiancée who was a godly girl.

And a man mounted the platform and he took up consecration. I have to admit there, and I don't want to be sentimental, but I couldn't keep the tears back. And as he was ministering, I kept saying to myself and finally I bowed my head and I said, Albert, are you going to waste your life? Are you just going to go along in the stream of life when Christ has done so much for you? And as that man unfolded that, I could tell you his name.

He told me you should always mention my name. His name was Harold Paisley. In fact, he claims me as his convert.

I don't know how. I went to hear him when I was unsaved when I was 18. I heard him once and he said, I think that's where you got saved.

He's a great, great man. There's no better preacher. As far as I'm concerned, in the Gospel, he surpasses them all.

And as he finished that, I remember getting into the old Oxford car, heading home. Say goodbye to my wife, or my fiancée. Get into the car, heading home.

And I just like... I'll not tell you all, but I just pulled the car in and stopped. Your life. What he has done.

What are you going to do? I come to a crisis. I wasn't out in the work, no. But I was in the work.

And I determined in a simple way, and my simple language was, Lord, if you can do anything with me, I place my life, take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. I never forget that.

I've been back to that a number of times. I'm getting back to it now, I hope. Because it goes right through life.

When it is a crisis, it continually happens. A long life. The wife, and the mother, and the grandmother, and the grandfather, and the grandson, and the granddaughter, we all are brought into this picture here.

The body is a sacrifice. The body here is the body, soul, and spirit. It's not just the body you're looking at.

It's the complete person. And of course, the writer so graphically points out as he takes us back into the past and says, remember you were justified by faith. And remember you were redeemed by blood.

Remember you were sanctified by the Spirit. Remember you were bought by the price. And he goes over the different phases of genuine Christianity.

And then he takes you into the glorification. And then he takes you into three... I don't call them... What do they call that? The three... Chapter 9, 10, 11... Parathenical. I think it goes right to Chapter 12.

That's my impression. He's building up and building up what he does with the Gentile and the Jew and what he does with the nation. And finally he says, look, I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.

And so we have the thought of presentation. I don't know what you're going to do after this meeting. Maybe just go along.

Nice to talk to one another. Great Christianity, great fellowship, great warmth and stout and surrounding assemblies. We appreciate it from our hearts.

But we'd like a deeper thing. Digging deep into the very recesses of the being that your soul and your body and your life may be handed over to the blessed God. A presentation.

A presentation. That's a crisis. You know, I want you to notice not only the crisis, but there's a challenge.

There's a challenge in that, isn't there? I'm challenged with all the ministry here that I've heard. I've been sitting listening yesterday and today I'm challenged a bit in Elisha. Isn't it in Elisha? Is that right? Have I got it right? The Irish is okay then.

Elisha. Challenged with all the ministry. Right from the beginning.

Our brother, I can't name them all, but you know something? As I was sitting there, I said to myself, I'd love to raise a hand to young men under 30. Young women. And I said, oh, what potential.

I'm moving on. Now you realise that. I hope I'll realise it more.

I'm not as fit as I used to be. My mind's not as sharp as it used to be. I can't run as fast as I used to run.

I'm wearing down. And so I think, what are you going to do, Albert? Get young men. Put it into their hands.

Put the legacy of truth there. The assembly truth. The truth that you were taught as a young man.

And put within their hearts the tremendous potential to yield everything to God. What God can do with a young man or a young woman that's fully yielded. I'm going to quote here for a moment.

This is a wee bit out of context, maybe. The crisis. The challenge.

There was a woman who went to India. 1967. She was from County Down, Northern Ireland.

She come to Christ in 1883. Landed in India in 1895. Until her death in 1951.

In March 1901, something changed her life. That's what we want. Change lives.

While she was in India, a seven year old girl fled into the compound where that lady was and begged for protection. This little girl of seven uncovered the plot that her father and mother were selling her and the rest of the children into prostitution. To be temple prostitutes.

This girl wrestled with that before God. And she dedicated her life to the rescue of little children. She summed up that she never went back on furlough.

60 years in India. She never asked for a penny. No one knew her needs.

This is what she said. My vow. Young brother, young sister, stop.

Here's what she said. My vow. Whatsoever thou sayest unto me by thy grace, I will do it.

My constraint. Thy love. O Christ, my Lord.

My confidence. Thou art able to keep that which I have committed unto thee against that day. My joy.

To do thy will. O God. My discipline.

That which I would not choose but which thy love appoints. My prayer. Conform myself to thy will.

My motto. Love to live. Live to love.

My portion. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. And so forth.

And my cup. You know, I thought when I read about that, you know who she is. You know who she is.

You sing her hymn. It's in the hymn book there. Amy Carmichael.

What I got out of that, apart from we're not talking about sisters moving into wrong places. That's not what's on my mind. What I'm getting at is this.

There's a challenge in our lives today. You might never meet it again. I don't know.

But come to this. Your life is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. And your life is a sacrifice.

And I trust that you'll understand this is a crisis in this stout this afternoon. It's a challenge. I'm going to tell you more.

It's a cost. Christianity. It's wonderful to be saved.

It's wonderful to breathe God's air. It's wonderful to sing about heaven. It's wonderful to fill our hearts with the Word of God.

But you know, brethren, there is a cost in sisters to Christianity. It's not easy. It's not easy going.

The wind is not always in your back. There are things that you have to face out there. The ridicule of the world.

And even carnal Christians can cut a cross. You need to learn this. No matter what the cost is, I am going to give my life over into the hands of God.

I'm borrowing. I'm borrowing. I heard David Craig.

And I think the world of his ministry. He reached my heart. You know what he said about a young man he took up for a ride, just saved.

Took him up the hills of Scotland. And when they were coming down on their pushbikes, they stopped at a gate, walked over into the field. And David Craig said to the young Christian not long saved, Could I read your thoughts? I'd like to read yours.

And the young man said, What is it, David? David said, Am I looking into the eyes of a young man that's willing to dedicate, consecrate their life to Christ? And he looked at him with tears. He said, David, you have it? And he said, I wouldn't take a million. As that young fellow stretched himself out on the grass.

Then he started to sing, Where the whole realm of nature mine, That where an offering far too small, Love so amazing, so divine, Shall have my heart, my life, my all. That young man used to win the hearts of 2,000 at conferences. You know why? He counted the cost.

Brethren, we're not here. We're just passing through. Life will soon terminate.

We who are older realize it more. You who are younger, you're moving out and you have probably big ambitions out there. Legitimate, maybe, yes, that's fine.

But learn this if you want to count for God in your community, in your assembly, in the surrounding areas, or wherever you travel. When you go on holidays, it will not change. Your life is still a changed life.

Your life is still living for the Christ that died for you. You still remember that yet a crisis and a challenge, and you counted the cost in life. I'll tell you something.

The compensation. You know something? It's the best life. Best life.

I'll tell you, you'll have no regrets about it. Isn't that right? Amidst all the ups and downs and the twists and the turns and the valleys and the hills, we all have them. We learn a long life, but we'll learn this blessed truth.

There's nothing like a yielded life to God. When I see young men, I'm thinking of some now, I would call out their names nearly, when I think of some, and you can see in them that very thing. It throws my heart to see it.

And you hear them pray and you hear them preach, and you see their life, and you say, Oh my dear, I hope they'll soar to higher heights than we who are older. I hope we'll leave a legacy that men and women behind this coming will take up the torch. Murray McShane put it well, live so as to be missed.

He died at 30. Born again at 19 or 20 years of age. Ten years packed for Christ.

Lived a holy life. And that's what he said, a holy minister in the hands of God is a holy weapon. And I tell you, what God's looking in this conference, we're all going to shake hands shortly.

We're going to meet again in the will of God. I hope we'll do this. I want to make my life changed.

I want to give God the best. Not the end of life. I heard people coming to me and say, one man come to me, he said after me, he said, Mr. Hall, you know, I remember coming to a choice when I was about 26 or 27.

And I thought, you know, I'll maybe do that down the road. But he says it never comes. It's now.

Young lives here. In the assembly for God. Learn what it is to count the cost.

And put your best into it. Because you know something? One of these days we're going to say farewell to earth. This body's going to be a seat for the Lord being that come.

It's going to go into the ground. We heard that. Going to come forth transformed and renewed in the absolute glory and glow of Christ.

You know what I'm going to think? When I stand before Him at the judgment seat. See the hands that were wounded. And the feet.

He goes over my record of 56 years. Now there's no tears at the judgment seat. If you think that I disagree with you, let me do that.

But you know something? If we could say anything to the Master, we'd say, Oh, I wish. Oh, I wish I had given Him more. May God grant that this simple little message that, brother, was on my heart.

I hear Him call. Do you hear it? Come, follow Me. That was all.

My earthly gold grew dim. My heart went after Him. I rose and followed.

That was all. Would you not follow? If you heard Him call, I trust that will happen to young folks, older ones, myself included, as we meet the challenge of the body as a sanctuary and the body as a sacrifice that one day will be a seed that will come forth in the glow of Christ. May God bless His Word.