I would like to ask you to turn to Exodus 28 in the Old Testament. Exodus 28. We will read a few verses there, verses 1 through 3.
And thou shalt take unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty.
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office.
Verse 40, same chapter, verses 40 through 43.
And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and head-tires shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and upon his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest’s office.
And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they go in unto the tent of meeting, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and unto his seed after him.
In the next chapter, Exodus 29, verses 8 and 9:
And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.
And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and bind head-tires on them: and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.
Verses 19 through 22:
And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram.
And thou shalt kill the ram, and thou shalt take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.
And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.
Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right thigh; for it is a ram of consecration.
Verse 26:
And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be thy portion.
And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons.
Now, a different place. If you will turn with me to Numbers 6, again in the Old Testament. I would like to read a different issue, beginning in verse 1 through verse 12, I think—or 13.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself unto the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the kernels even to the husk.
All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy; he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come near to no dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation unto God is upon his head.
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
And if any man die very suddenly beside him, and he defile the head of his separation, then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting: and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body; and he shall hallow his head that same day.
And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a he-lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
Now let us stop there in the Old Testament. Just a few in the New Testament. I would like you to turn to Romans 6—two places from Romans. Maybe it will give this a clearer focus.
Romans 6. We will look at verse 13.
Now, I will read the way I read. I will change a word here in Darby, the way it is in a number of other versions—the 1901 and Young’s Literal—beginning in verse 13:
Neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Verse 16:
Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Verse 19:
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.
And the last verse, Romans 12, verses 1 and 2:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service—or, as it says in the Authorized Version, 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 the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Now let us just commit the Lord’s Word back to Him.
Lord, we know that when we come to the reading of Your Word, we need the Holy Spirit to translate to us the things of the Lord Jesus. We know that is the Spirit’s ministry and no man’s. So we come to You.
We bow the knee to the headship of our Lord Jesus, and we ask You, as we are assembled here this afternoon in Your presence, that You will meet us and open Your Word to us, that we may have understanding and Your Word may find entrance into our very being.
Lord, unless You do that, we are lost. Unless You do that, we will waste time. So we ask You, Lord, to meet us in a real way and cause Your Word to be living to us this morning, as we are assembled here in Your presence.
Once again, we acknowledge from Your Word, as Peter declared, “Thou alone hast the words of eternal life.” So meet us as we are in Your presence, for we ask in Jesus’ name.
Well, I think probably there have been a few hints, at least, where we are headed. The burden that the Lord has laid upon my heart is this word: consecration.
Now, I know some like a more lively title, and I am sorry. Please forgive me. That is the title: Consecration.
But brothers and sisters, I want to say something. Yes, I believe the Lord, in His mercy, has been speaking to us in a very pointed way. I believe the Lord has been drawing us and, just as our brother said, calling us unto Himself and wooing us and speaking to us in a very deliberate and real way.
Whether it is on selling all, or a man’s response to God’s call, or this place of repentance, or this trial of believers—and we even heard before on consecration—or whether it is the gospel and its meaning and its scope, whatever it is, I do believe the Lord is really speaking to us these days.
And brothers and sisters, when the Lord speaks, we ought to listen. And if we cannot take it all in—which, I do not know about you, but I do not take it all in—we ought at least say, “Lord, we have a sense that You are speaking to us. Would You enlarge us in such a way that we could take Your Word in, that it would transform our lives?”
So this is the burden that is on my heart: that we would consecrate ourselves to God. Now, please do not fall asleep. Some of you think, “Well, we have heard that message a thousand times. We have heard it preached again and again, and we do not need this. We have passed that bar, and we are beyond that point.”
Now, I believe, simply speaking, we never get beyond this point. Consecration is the call of God upon His people, and is the thing that He wants of His people right through to the end: a full consecration.
There are three things that are on my heart. I know that does not surprise anybody in this room, but there are three things on my heart:
We need to understand consecration and service, or we will never be able to serve the Lord in a right way. The second thing I think we need to understand is consecration and separation. If there is not some defining separation in the believer’s life, then there is no testimony in the believer’s life.
And then finally—well, look, if we have time—it is a simple thought of consecration and sacrifice. Whenever you look in the Word of God at consecration, it is always, always tied to the word sacrifice. Every place you look.
Now let me make something clear. We may not understand all the words. We may not get it all compartmentalized and get all the language just right, but I believe that the Lord sees the heart. I think that is the whole issue. The Lord looks upon the heart.
And whether we have all the language just right, if the heart is right, then that is consecration. To me, that is the whole sum of this teaching in the Scripture.
I will tell you a story. You may not like the story, but at least it illustrates it to me. There was this dear mother who was pouring out her heart to the Lord in consecration. She was on her knees, asking the Lord to take her whole life, that she could be wholly consecrated to God.
And her little son heard those pleas, those living pleas that were offered up to God. And that little boy was touched. He was moved by the Holy Spirit, and he went into his room, got on his knees, and opened his heart. And he said, “Lord, I want to be constipated unto You.”
And do you think the Lord heard his heart?
It is what is in the heart that matters. It is what is in the heart that matters.
Consecration—I promise you, I will try not to say constipation—is a matter first and foremost of the heart. So may the Lord help us to understand that as we go on.
It is so basic an issue. It is so vital an issue that I do not believe you can fully understand the Christian life without this most basic and most vital issue. It is the aim, in the end, of the Christian life that we would be consecrated, and God would have a people so separated to Himself that they could fulfill His purpose on this earth.
It is interesting to me: when I looked at this word more carefully, if you take most of the versions, the word consecration never occurs in the New Testament. Now, that is shocking.
The words consecrate, consecrates, and consecrated all seem to occur in the Old Testament. Now, if you take the King James Version, it is true in Hebrews 7:28, when it talks about the Lord Jesus, it says, “A Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”
But if you read many of the versions, it is, “Who is perfected for evermore.” And if you read also in the same book, in Hebrews 10:20, it talks about the new and living way which is consecrated for us through the veil. Most of the versions say, “Which is dedicated to us through the veil.”
Now, this caused me to stumble a little bit, because I do have a sense that this word on consecration is vital to New Testament Christianity. It is vital to it. It is basic to it, and you cannot live without it. But why has this word not occurred with greater frequency in the New Testament? It occurs almost always in the Old Testament.
And it seems to me, as I prayed about it, that there seems to be this truth: God illustrates this great principle in the Old Testament, but God demonstrates the reality of it in the New Testament.
It may be cited in the Old Testament, but when you come to the New Testament, it is throughout all the pages. Consecration is always there. It is in everything.
What is spoken of in the Old Testament, its application is really not found until we come into the New Testament. And it is throughout the Book. So that is consecration.
Brother Nee said this, and this helped me. This got me over my hurdle:
However, consecration is one of the most difficult doctrines in the Bible. The doctrines of sanctification and of righteousness are clearly defined in the Word of God, but the teaching on consecration seems to be vaguely taught.
Do you think, then, there is no such thing as consecration? Brothers and sisters, without consecration, we will never live the Christian life.
Well, let us begin with the first point: consecration and service.
It is interesting to me, when you look in the Old Testament—in Exodus 28 and Exodus 29, and the same thing repeated in Leviticus 8—did you see the connection between consecration and service?
Now, that to me speaks volumes, because it says without real consecration, there can be no real service. Do you follow me? Consecration and service, in its first mention, are connected.
Now, I believe we ought to pay attention to first mention. The very first time this issue is brought before us in the Word of God, it makes it very clear that these two things are inseparably linked: consecration and service.
It says in Exodus 28:3, if you want to look at it again:
That they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office.
That you may consecrate him, that he may serve Me as priest. Consecration and service.
He goes on to say in verse 41, “And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them”—and listen to this phrase—“that they may serve Me as priests.”
I hope you get the connection. This is not a far reach. These two things are inseparably linked. We think, when we think of service, we think anybody, everybody. It is a wide-open call: everybody serve.
But I believe if you are really clear about what the Bible teaches, there can be no real service—meaningful service—unless there is consecration behind it. I think that is a simple teaching.
It is interesting to me that in the Old Testament service is very exclusive. I do not know if you noticed this, but it was one man: Aaron. Is that not odd?
Not only was it one man; it was one family: Aaron’s sons. What an exclusive service. These are the only ones that it speaks of to be consecrated.
Now, brothers and sisters, here is where we need to go to the New Testament for clear understanding. In the New Testament, the message is: every believer is a priest.
Every believer is a priest. You know, I think we know that here. I am not sure we live that here, but I think we know that here.
But the teaching of the New Testament is absolutely clear: that is the priesthood of all believers. Now, what is required of a priest? One thing is required of a priest: that he be consecrated, that he may serve as a priest.
When we come to Revelation 1:5–6, John says:
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Every one of us are priests. God has made us. When you look in Revelation 5, when you look at that great scene at the throne of God, it says out of every tribe and every nation, God has called people and He has made them kings and priests to our God.
When you read Peter’s epistles, he says we are a royal priesthood in chapter 2. We are priests. Do we know that?
You did not have to go to priest school to become a priest. You did not have to get a collar to become a priest. It says God has made us priests.
Now, brothers and sisters, the one thing that seems to be important, the one prerequisite for service, seems to be consecration.
Not anyone can serve any way they feel like, bringing anything they like. There needs to be consecration. That needs to be a settled issue.
Do you understand what prerequisite means? I remember all the prerequisites. Everybody who has been through college knows what a prerequisite is. I could not take Calculus II until I took the prerequisite of Calculus I. Could not do it.
I could not take Advanced Concrete Design until I took Concrete Design. It said right there in the book, when I went to sign up for it, what the prerequisite was.
Brothers and sisters, it seems to me that the prerequisite of service is consecration. May the Lord help us to see that.
Romans 12: again, the New Testament application. I do not know if you have considered the whole context of Romans 12, but the whole context of Romans 12 is service in the body of Christ. It talks about the gifts of the members of the body of Christ, the distinctions of those gifts, and how they are to serve. But how does it begin?
It is important to understand how it begins, because that is the prerequisite.
Turn to Romans 12 again. Now read that verse in case you have forgotten:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Did you notice the two things that are connected here? Our service and presenting yourself to God. Did you notice that?
I think if there is one word in the New Testament that says what consecration is, it is that simple word: present. That is what is in Romans 6:13, 16, and 19. That is what is in Romans 12:1. We are to present ourselves to God, and that is consecration.
But then he says, “And that is our reasonable service.” That is the service that flows out of that consecration.
Well, I think I have at least—I hope I have—made my point. If I have not, then you are asleep. Oh, I am not clear. I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
This is the prerequisite for service.
But brothers and sisters, if you go back to Exodus 28, you will see the scope of this call. When it talks about the ram of consecration, it says, “the blood of the ram of consecration.” This was the second ram.
You remember there was, first of all, the sin offering. Then we had the burnt offering, which is the first ram, and then we have the ram—it calls it the second ram—the ram of consecration.
Now, first of all, let me explain what this says. You have to come to Christ. There has to be a sin offering. Without a sin offering, there is no way you can be consecrated or serve God. It is impossible.
The second thing: there must be a burnt offering. And that burnt offering is that sweet-smelling sacrifice, completely consumed, that rises to God. And there is only One that pleases God and makes us acceptable: it is the Lord Jesus.
And then you come to the second ram, and that is the ram of consecration. And it tells Moses to take that ram and slay it, and take the blood and put it on the tip of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the right foot.
Now, I hope you understand the scope of consecration. It needs to be complete. It goes from head to toe. We are to be completely consecrated to God. That is all that speaks to me.
The right ear, the right thumb, and the great toe. This is consecration. It is the scope of it.
You know, sometimes I think we try to give things to God, and we think it pleases Him. “Lord, we will give You fifty dollars a month. We will give You fifteen minutes a day. It is right there in my daytime.” And we say that is consecration.
Consecration is you being given completely to God. Do you see the difference?
There is a story of an old, proud Indian chief. The Lord convicted him mightily. A missionary shared with him the gospel, the glorious gospel, and this old, proud Indian chief came under real conviction from sin.
He came to the missionary and said, “I give to God my wampum.” Now, some of you kids may not know what a wampum even is. Some of you adults may not know what it is. But I grew up on the Western movies, and they would talk about “heap big wampum.” That meant you were loaded. That meant all your money.
He said, “Lord, take this.” And that missionary, in his wisdom, said, “No. Christ will not accept your offering.”
The conviction was so strong. He came back a little later and he said, “Lord, take my rifle. Take the skins. Take everything.” You would think that was consecration, would you not? Sounds like good consecration to me.
That missionary said, “No. Christ cannot accept your offering.”
He was discouraged. Can you imagine? He went away, and the conviction never left him. He came back again and he said, “Lord, take my wife.” You know, some of you might want to offer your wife. “Take my children. Take my house.” Boy, that is consecration.
And the missionary said, “No. Christ will not accept your offering.”
How discouraged he became. He finally bowed his head, and he said, “Lord, take poor Indian too.”
That is consecration. Can you see the difference?
It is not what you offer to God. He is after your ear, so you can hear His Word. He is after your thumb, so all that you do is affected by Him. He is after the toe of your great foot—not literally to cut it off—but that you may walk in His ways.
He is simply after you. That is consecration.
Sometimes we wonder why our service is so weak and ineffectual. I do not know if you ever do, but I do. Sometimes I wonder, “Lord, it seems to be no power, no life.”
I read another story: F. B. Meyer, the great F. B. Meyer. He came to a transitional phase in his ministry. Saints, I do not know about you, but these stories encourage me, because if these great men of God went through these things, there is hope for us—hope for me and hope for you.
He came to a place where he thought his ministry was ineffectual and his service was weak. He was praying and seeking the Lord, and the Lord appeared to him. It was so real, he thought the Lord actually came into the room.
And the Lord simply said to him, “Give Me all the keys to your life.”
And it was so real, he took out a group of keys and held them up. He said, “Lord, here are the keys.” And the Lord said to F. B. Meyer, “Is that all the keys?”
F. B. Meyer said, “There is one small key I have kept for myself.”
And the story goes that F. B. Meyer actually felt like the presence of Christ was withdrawing from him. And that shook this man of God.
And he said, “Lord, here is the last key.”
That is consecration: all the keys. It goes from the ear, it goes to the thumb, and it goes to the right foot.
Now, if we have that kind of consecration, I believe we can serve. “Consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests.” That is the first point.
Well, the second point: consecration and separation. This is the second issue that I think is illustrated in the second real mention of this word consecration in the Old Testament, and it comes from Numbers 6. It is what is known as the Nazirite vow.
Now, Stephen taught years ago. I will never forget what he taught on the Nazirite vow. It arrested me. I never thought—I never heard of the Nazirite vow. I do not know how many of you in this room have heard of the Nazirite vow, or if that is foreign to you.
Well, Numbers 6—and we have already read it—it is a special vow. It says in chapter 6, verses 2 through 3:
If a man or woman have vowed the special vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate themselves to the Lord, he shall separate himself.
Now, do you see the connection?
It is a special vow, and in this special vow, man or woman can make this special vow. It is not exclusive like the priesthood that we read about with Aaron. It is a vow that is open to everybody.
And it could be for a lifetime. We understand Samuel and Samson and John the Baptist were lifetime Nazirites. There are others that may be for thirty days or sixty days. There is a period on that Nazirite vow.
But the bottom line is: what the Nazirite vow means is to consecrate ourselves to God, to separate ourselves to God. The Hebrew root meaning simply means a consecrated one. That is what a Nazirite is.
Now, brothers and sisters, I think it is obvious what the New Testament connection is. The reality that comes out in the New Testament—it is not too far a reach to say that we should all be Nazirites.
We should all be consecrated to God. We should all make that vow of consecration, that vow of dedication, where we give ourselves to God.
Now, do not get hung up on the Old Testament outward things, because none of us would never cut our hair or shave our beard. None of us would ever drink of the fruit of the vine, or even eat the skin of a grape. Do not get hung up about those things. They are to show some real separation.
And none of us would ever come in contact with the dead. Well, we could never go to a meeting probably sometimes, if that were the case. Forgive me. I was treading on thin ice with that.
Do you understand? Consecration and separation, to be redundant, are inseparably linked. Inseparably linked.
Now, I believe for the Christian there must be separation. There must be a distinction. I will never forget, I was talking to a brother one day, and I was explaining to him about another brother. I said, “You know, this brother, he is a dear Christian.” He said to me, “I had no idea.”
Oh, what an embarrassment. Can you imagine when you die, at your funeral, “We had no idea he was a Christian”? There was no evidence. There was no separation. There was no distinction.
But brothers and sisters, that was not the way it was in the early church. In Acts 11:26, it talks of the people of the world—not the believers. It talks of the people of the world seeing the believers, the disciples at Antioch, and they were so touched by their manner of life. They said, “These people are Christlike.”
And it says in Acts 11:26, “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” Now, there is real separation.
I said it, I think, the last time I spoke. It is an old saying, but I think it is full of wisdom: if Christianity were a crime—and it will be—would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Would it? Think, “Lord, what is the testimony? What is my testimony?” Do people say, “He is a good guy, does not cuss, has not left his wife”? Or is there separation that distinguishes us?
The Lord said, “My people will be distinguished by their love.” Well, I think you get the point. This is the second thing with the Nazirite.
It says in Romans 12, first of all, verse 1, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” That is consecration. But then it says, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Now, that is separation.
I think, brothers and sisters, if they cannot tell the difference between us, has the salt lost its savor?
Our testimony is one of separation. You see, we want it both ways. We want to not offend the world, but we want to be the Lord’s.
What did John say in 1 John 2:15? This is a striking word, a striking word:
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.
That is a serious word. There ought to be a difference. There ought to be something that sets us apart.
The other thing about the Nazirite vow: it was completely voluntary. I do not know if you noticed that. No one was compelled to take the Nazirite vow. It is completely voluntary.
I think it is easy to see the parallel to the New Testament. Christ never forces us to consecrate ourselves. It is completely voluntary.
It is, first of all, a response to the love of God. How else can you explain it? Who would give away their all? Who would give themselves head to toe, completely to God? It is a response to the love of God.
There is one brother in our midst—every time he prays, I do not want to embarrass anybody or single out anyone—but every time he prays, he prays about the love of God.
What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 5? I think it is verse 14: “The love of God constraineth us.”
First of all, consecration and separation are voluntary, and they are a response to the overwhelming love of God. Maybe that explains to you why Romans 12:1 did not occur in Romans 1:1.
It looks back over all that God has done in His reconciliation, in His redemption, in His justification, in identification with Christ on the cross, and the inclusion of the believer in His death. He looks back over all these things, and He says, “Therefore, by the mercies of God—or the compassions of God—present yourself a living sacrifice.”
It is a response to the love of God. I wonder if we respond.
But it is not just a response to the love of God. This is where I think, in Western Christianity, we fall down. It is a resignation to the sovereignty of God.
Do you understand the difference? Let me illustrate. You can give away your house to somebody else, and you can put a stipulation on your house that, “I will live there until I die and live however I like.”
You know, you can do that. People do that. I know people have done that. It is already their house; it is already owned by somebody else, but they have made this stipulation that as long as they live, they will live the way they like, and they will live in that house how they like.
I think that gets close to home. You see, we as believers want to retain the right of ownership. And if you really see the mercies of God, you cannot retain the right of ownership. You have to recognize and say to God, like Paul said, “We have been bought with a price.”
Does that speak to you the same way it does me? You see, this is confession, if you will. I like to have it both ways. I want to say He owns me, but I want to live how I want to live while I am in this life, and at the end of this life, I will go be with Him forever.
You see, that is the house analogy. Consecration demands all.
It is a response to the love of God. Only in the Old Testament, the Lord repeats the words that we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and all of our strength. When we come to the New Testament, we are constrained by the love of God. You see the difference?
Well, I pray the Lord will help us see this response and resignation, and I pray the end of it will be that there will be a difference about us. Somebody will get around us and say, “Boy, those people are different.”
And I do not mean weird. You know, some young people do not like the Christian life because they think it is going to make them weird. My kids already think I am weird, so I cannot go any further.
The whole Christian life is a response. And when you respond, and when you give up the right of ownership because you know you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus, when you resign to that, that is separation. And that is the result of consecration.
Well, I know I need to end. Last point: consecration and sacrifice.
I do not know if you noticed it, but everywhere you read, consecration is connected to sacrifice. Everywhere. You cannot have consecration without sacrifice.
Now, brothers and sisters, I think most of us like life without sacrifice. Now, you can admit it. Most of us do. I certainly do. But when you come to this issue of consecration, there is sacrifice.
And when you look at the ram of consecration, it says the fat, those inward parts, and the right shoulder. And then it says the bread and the thin wafer, all combined into a sacrifice. It is put in the priest’s hands, and it is lifted up as a wave offering before God.
Now, that is literally what consecration means. It means the filling of the hand. Now, what are our hands full of?
The fat speaks of the glory of God. The right shoulder speaks of the strength of our Lord Jesus. The wafer, the bread, speaks of the humanity of our Lord Jesus.
What we have to sacrifice to God is not what we give Him. I think that is a wrong conception in Christianity. We offer back to God, we wave as a wave offering to God, what is acceptable to God, which is our Lord Jesus Himself.
Our hands are filled. I think that leads me to another problem in our Western idea of Christianity: our hands are already filled.
Your days are filled. Your nights are filled. Your daytime is filled. Your PalmPilot is filled. There is no room. There is no room.
But real consecration has in it the element of the sacrifice to God of the Lord Jesus.
Well, I hope that is clear. It says in Romans 12:
Present yourselves a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service.
Or your intelligent service, or your intelligent worship. Different versions put it the same way.
Now, the first point: we have nothing to offer but Christ Himself. If you think God is overwhelmed that He has got you to serve Him, you have a wrong concept. All that we offer back is Christ. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
That is what the ram of consecration means. But there is a sacrifice. The priest gives himself to God, and that is what is spoken of in Romans 12:1: “Offer yourself a living sacrifice.” I wonder if we have done that.
Those are pretty strong words. Think of it: a living sacrifice? My first thought, when I first ever read it, was, “This is unreasonable.”
Oh, the wisdom of the Word of God. It says, “Which is your reasonable service.” Do you see the point? It is your reasonable service.
If you really see the Lord Jesus and see all that He has done, and you are constrained by the love of God and resign yourself to that absolute lordship, this is your reasonable service. It is not unreasonable. It is the right thing to do.
And you know, brothers and sisters, this last point about sacrifice helped me as well. Brother Nee said this:
Indeed, we do sacrifice, but there is not a consciousness of sacrifice.
Do you see the difference? There is a difference. If someone is always talking about what they gave up to follow the Lord, they have never apprehended consecration in the first place.
What did Paul say in Philippians? What did he say? “I count all but loss”—but are there stronger words than that? Words that we would not use in the church? “They are but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.” That is real consecration.
Well, may the Lord help us. I hope this is clear.
Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Florence Nightingale—I will tell you another quick story—was asked one time at the end of her life, “What is your secret?” Her life made such a mark. “What is your secret?”
And she simply said this: “Well, I have not kept anything back from God.”
This is consecration. May the Lord speak to us.
Brothers and sisters, I believe the Lord has been speaking to us in these days, really pressing us and calling us to Himself, wooing us to Himself. And I do believe consecration is a part of it.
May the Lord deliver us from all of our misunderstandings, that we could have a real understanding of what consecration is.
Shall we pray?
Lord, we bring back to You these three thoughts. We pray that You would open our eyes to see as You see, and You would constrain us by the love of God and cause us, by the mercies of God, to resign ourselves to Your ownership.
Lord, the joy of which we will never be able to contain all of it. Lord, deliver us from all of our misunderstandings about consecration and cause us to be a people that are really given to You.
Lord, I cannot say what Florence Nightingale said, but Lord, I want to. I want You to be able to say of all of us, “I have not held anything back from God.”
We ask this in Jesus’ name.