Consecration

In the Phoenix area for approximately seven years, when I wasn't away and had time, I had an arrangement with a homeless place that I would speak there at 4.30, a simple gospel message, and rub shoulders with the folks. So I observed a lot of different people from different walks. And I came to the conclusion with a number of them, and I don't want to be rude, they had a wasted life from what they could have been and they should have been.

And I'll make this statement. It's possible for you or I to have a wasted life from what we could have been or should have been for the Lord Jesus. It's either all for him or it's all for me.

We can't serve two masters at the same time. Romans chapter 12, verse 1. I beseech you, I beg of you, as my Latin teacher would have said, it behooves you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 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. I will read some more verses, but could I just ask a simple question? You're saved by his matchless grace, you rejoice in the riches of his grace, and you appreciate the vastness of so great salvation, which we really can't understand and comprehend very well. Has there ever been a time in your life when you realized that your life is not to be lived for self, but to be lived for himself? You and I have been bought with a price.

We are debtors to God. And so the Apostle Paul is reminding them here, he's saying that if the Lord Jesus is displaced in your life, you're going to have problems in your life. And if the Lord Jesus is displaced in the local assembly, the local assembly is going to have problems there.

You see, what we're looking at here is there's a rival for the throne of your heart. And a rival wants to come along and he wants to disrupt the throne of your heart that should be for the one who loved us and gave himself for us. And so the Apostle Paul here, he's reminding him there, he says, I'm begging you by the mercies of God, I long that you in essence might lay your life on the altar of sacrifice completely for the one who loved you and gave himself for you.

We rejoice on Lord's Day morning of one that was offered, one that was devoted, and one that was yielded. And the Lord is longing that you and I might be willing to say, take me, make me, use me, mold me for thy honor and glory. This event did not occur in my life at salvation.

Some people it does. Fairly early in the 20s I wrestled, what world am I going to live for? Now I know I make a lot of mistakes, but what is your goal set for? Is it to live for Christ? You can't live for the world and have one step in the world, and the other step I'm going to live for the one who died to save me. And so he says, I want you to present your body.

I want you to make it a living sacrifice. The Apostle Paul could say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Life goes by quicker than you ever thought.

Can I embarrass myself? When I was in high school, anybody that was 30 was ancient history, but I've changed my reckoning a little bit on those matters. But I see a number of young ones in the audience today, and I thank God for it. Your life should be lived for the one who died to save you.

Don't worry about the tinsel. Don't worry about the trinkets. I'm the Vietnam generation, and I can remember seeing the picture on the posters.

Uncle Sam wants you. The Lord Jesus wants you. He died for you.

He gave his all for you on the cross at Calvary. How can I do less than give Him my best and live for Him completely after all He's done for me? Reasonable service, the least we could do because of what He has done for us there at the place called Calvary. And then he says, don't be conformed to this world.

I don't want to offend anyone, and I'm probably an odder duck than anyone here, maybe. You can laugh. That doesn't bother me at all.

But you're going to be the odd duck at school, and you're going to be the odd one in the university, and you're going to be the odd one in the shop or in the farm or wherever it's going to be. You're going to be the odd duck. Not because you're odd, but because you're linked with the Savior.

People took note where the Lord Jesus was by His words, by His ways, by His actions, by His miracles. And you and I are read by the world we live in. As Brother Ike mentioned, by your love to one another shall some men know, all men know, ye are my disciples.

And so God is saying here, don't be conformed to this age. Don't let the world's thinking mold your thinking, but let your mind and your heart be saturated by what would be pleasing to the one who loved me and gave Himself for me, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I'm just going to sidetrack for a little section, but not really.

Because oftentimes believers come and they say, how can I know the will of God? I'm going to make one simple statement. The will of God in anyone's life will never contradict the teaching of the Word of God. And when I am on a path that is contrary to the Word of God or leaning on a path that would be contrary to the Word of God, I know it's not the mind and will of God.

Turn over to Exodus, please. Chapter 3. I often say it's a battle to get saved. It's going to take God to save.

But sometimes in the Christian life, there's a battle. Who am I going to live for? How much am I going to be willing to submit to the claims of Christ? Exodus 3 and verse 10, please. Exodus 3 and 10.

Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh. This is Moses being guided by God unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. He was at the backside of the desert.

And the desert place is where we learn God. And the desert place is the place where we can meditate on the Scriptures and grow in the things of God. And God is calling Moses and He says, I've got a major job for you.

I've got a really big task. And Moses in verse 11 said unto God, who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And God says, certainly I'll be with thee. And He gives him a token.

Moses tried to get off the responsibility of what God wanted him to do. Have you ever done that? Won't ask you at the door. But he says, I really don't have the ability to do this.

I think you have the wrong person, Lord. And then as you move a little further, you come to verse 13. He says, I don't know what to say.

I really don't have a message. When God calls you, He will equip you. And when you step out and put Him Lord of all, He will give you the enablement to live for Him.

And Moses in chapter 4, he says, I lack words. Sometimes His face answers His face in water, so the heart of man to man, I'm not really the one to do it. There's somebody far better at it than I am and far more eloquent.

I'm just going to sit down and pray. And God is maybe calling you for whatever it might be. Remember that person at the job you've been wanting to talk to and you haven't yet? Because the chicken gland hasn't been turned off enough? Well, it's essential.

And maybe that neighbor you were going to talk to, but you know they're never going to be in heaven. All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So don't expect a pat on your back from the world.

Don't expect a pat on the back from the ones you work with all the time however you want to develop it. Because you've been redeemed and you're different. And there's one that has claims on you.

Precious blood has been shed. And he says, I want you to live for me 100%. He says, I don't want any rival for the throne of your heart.

Moses, he says, I lack words. He says, I'm lacking confidence when you move a little further down in chapter 4. I'm not the right one. He says, in chapter 5, I've had no success.

If you haven't seen somebody saved in your preaching, don't worry about it. You know what, eventually you will because the Word of God is honored. And dear beloved brethren in the assemblies here, I'm thrilled with the Gospel exercise of the assemblies.

Some series in the West, they say, we won't have a series again because nobody got saved in the last one. We reap in due time if we faint not. It pleases God through the foolishness of preaching what man calls the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

He says, I lack acceptance amongst the people. What was Moses doing? He was just simply giving a number of excuses. You and I are without excuse because there's one, the lovely man of Calvary who gave himself for us.

And he's longing that you might lay down your life on the altar as it were, all for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at chapter 10 of Exodus. You know, the devil is sneaky.

And he wants us to compromise so that we might yield. Chapter 8 for a start. Chapter 8, verse 23.

And I will put a division between My people and thy people. And tomorrow this shall be the sign. The cross divides.

It's because one died for us, laid down his life for us, shed his own precious blood for us, I can't. Others can, but I can't. You come into Nehemiah.

Yet did not I because of the fear of God. The Lord says, I'll put a division. Look at verse 27.

The tactics of the enemy. We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God. Pharaoh says, I'll let you go.

That's good. Good. But look at the requirement.

Ye shall not go very far away. The world says you're an extremist. The world says don't offend people.

Keep the message soft. Don't tell them about judgment. Tell them about the wrath of God.

Just give them a little nugget of love. And all you'll do is warm their heart and send them to hell. The world's tactic is to compromise.

And the Lord Jesus says, I want you to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Chapter 10, verse 7. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? When can we get rid of this Moses? Look at the problems he's bringing and the difficulties. Let the man go that they may serve the Lord their God.

Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh. Verse 8. And he said unto him, Go serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go? Look at Moses' answer.

Top of the class. Moses said we will go with our young, with our old, with our sons, with our daughters. The devil says you go.

You go Wednesday night to the prayer meeting. But let the kids enjoy the hockey field and let them enjoy the basketball field. I had a believer tell me one time, It's good for the kids to have the sports.

I'm not going to get into that. Because they learn how to get along with people. You will learn how to get along with people when you are the people of God and the Bible readings and learning the Word of God.

The more you learn the Word of God, the more you'll know how to get along with people. It's okay. The family will go to remember the Lord, but the children don't go.

We'll go to the prayer meeting and we'll go to the Bible reading and... No, don't leave the children behind. Don't go until they can go. And Moses says, No, no.

We're not going until the whole family goes. Old and young. Verse 24.

And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye serve the Lord your God. Letting them go again. Boy, that's good news to the ears until they heard it a little more.

Only your flocks and your herds are going to stay behind. Moses said, No, it's not going to be that way. We need the flocks and the herds to sacrifice.

Partial obedience is disobedience. And partial truth is no truth. And compromised truth is no truth we find in the Word of God.

So he says, Only let your flocks stay. Verse 26. Our cattle will go with us.

And there's not a hoof that will behind. Moses knew the three-day journey of separation was essential. Moses had conviction.

Moses wasn't willing to compromise. And Moses had character to stand. We sometimes sing, This world is not my home.

I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. But the world can have the tentacles like an octopus.

Chapter 11. Verse 7. And against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Either man or beast.

How that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. There's a difference between you and I that aren't in Christ. Oh, we might be friendly with the neighbors and we help people and all, but there's a great difference.

We've been redeemed. We've been bought with a price. So some of their activities I can't enjoin in.

How's it going at school? Nobody likes to be laughed at. My graduating class was 365. I was one of the odd ducks in the class.

Only a few of us were saved in the whole high school class that I knew of. So the activities, the dances, the sports, I had no interest. My mother said to me, why don't you go to the dances, Johnny? My name's John.

I guess she was mixed up. I says, well, you don't understand, Mom. Those people are not my people.

She thought I was a religious fanatic because I was saved and she wasn't. Have you found out that those people are not your people? And God doth set a difference. Friendship with this world is enmity with God.

Well, turn to Numbers chapter 6, please. You can link that with Romans 12 and 1 quite a bit if you want. Verse 2. Numbers, not Romans.

6 and 2. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when either a man or a woman shall separate themselves to a vow of the Nazarite, my life is going to be set aside for the Lord. He shall separate Himself from wine and strong drink. Earthly joy.

Is my life separated from the joys of this world? It's either He or me that really is occupying our lives, is it not? And He says all the days of your separation you'll eat nothing of the vine or the kernels. There was no razor and the men's hair grew long. They were a marked man, different.

And all the days of His separation, Himself unto the Lord, He shall come at no dead body. Does the Word of God say be ye not unequally yoked together, believer with unbeliever? For what fellowship or communion hath righteousness with unrighteousness? I don't know if I ever mentioned it here before, but there's no evangelistic dating found in the Word of God. What's that? Well, she's a very pretty lady and I think that's just the kind I want to marry.

And so if I can only just get her saved why it's all going to be hunky-dory or he's just a kind of handsome man or whatever, you know what I mean? Wrong foot. Wrong path. Big problems down the road.

Because when He is displaced, we'll have problems in our lives. And when He is displaced, the assembly will have problems. And so, He says not to be with any unclean.

He shall not make him unclean for his father, his mother. This is a very big test in the Christian life. We call it the blood test.

Am I going to compromise for family on what I wouldn't compromise for anyone else? Ought not to be. When we come in the door, we're sinners saved by grace and we be brethren. Doesn't matter society's rank.

Doesn't matter family. We're in the family of God. He says there's one standard.

Not make himself unclean. Turn to Numbers, please. I've got my eyes on my verse 32.

I jotted down a few little notes. I didn't want to be disrespectful while my brethren were speaking. I guess it's okay to do sometimes.

Numbers 32. Verse 1. Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jazzer, the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle.

You brethren that are cattlemen would know what good land is or isn't. I don't know. In New Mexico, it takes about 50 acres to maybe sustain five head.

But look here as it proceeds. Verse 16. And they came near unto him and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones.

Dangerous country when you've got to build a city to protect your children. We ourselves will go ready arm before the children of Israel until we have brought them into their place and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses till the children of Israel had inherited every man his inheritance.

Our inheritance has fallen on this side of Jordan, eastward. They said, We love cattle. And because we love cattle, this is the land we want.

And we're not going to live with the rest of the children of Israel. Could there be something in my life that has become, as we've heard already this afternoon, an idol, that is focusing my heart's affection and drawing me away from affection of the lovely man of Calvary who gave himself for it? It could be business. It could be the old fishing rod or whatever.

Nothing wrong with those things in itself. But when they run out of control, he himself no longer has control. And these men said, Bad country.

When I first moved to Phoenix, I thought it was strange. I'm used to it now, but I don't like it. So many houses with bars on the windows.

I said, You live in prison. And if the house catches on fire, you're going to be trapped. You're going to die in the thing.

Well, they said we'd be broken into otherwise. He says, We're going to build walls to protect our children because we're after cattle. We're after the money.

$2,000 a head at least in the West today. Millions of dollars out in the field. And the Apostle Paul, he says, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

The homeless, God bless them and save them. They've got a wasted life a lot of times. Could I say it? I trust lovingly and kindly, particularly dear younger one here today, don't have a wasted life.

Live that life completely for the one who loved you and gave himself for you. You'll have no regrets. But if you let something else take the throne of your heart other than the Lord Jesus, you will have many a regret at the end of the journey.

I beseech you. I beg of you. Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your body a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind.

God wants you. He gave himself for you. He says there's claims on your life.

My Son laid down His life to give you life and give you abundant life. Might we be sensitive to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit and realize we have only one life to live and only what's lived for the Lord Jesus is of any eternal value.