"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be
able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come
of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee."
To be able to offer anything to
God is a perfect mystery. Consecration is a miracle of grace.
"All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given
Thee." In these words there are four very precious thoughts
I want to try and make clear to you: -
1. God is the Owner of all, and
gives all to us.
2. We have nothing but what we receive--but
everything we need we may receive from God.
3. It is our privilege and honour
to give back to God what we receive from Him.
4. God has a double joy in His possessions
when he receives back from us what He gave.
And when I apply this to my life--to
my body, to my wealth, property, to my whole being with all its
powers--then I understand what Consecration ought to be.
1. It is the glory of God, and
His very nature, to be always GIVING. God is the owner of
all. There is no power, no riches, no goodness, no love, outside
of God. It is the very nature of God, that He does not live for
Himself, but for His creatures. His is a love that always delights
to give. Here we come to the first step in consecration. I must
see that everything I have is given by Him; I must learn to believe
in God as the great Owner and Giver of all. Let me hold that fast.
I have nothing but what actually and definitely belongs to God.
Just as much as people say, "this money in my purse belongs
to me," so God is the Proprietor of all. It is His and His
only. And it is his life and delight to be always giving. Oh,
take that precious thought--there is nothing that God has that
He does not want to give. It is His nature, and therefore
when God asks you anything, He must give it first Himself, and
He will. Never be afraid whatever God asks; for God only asks
what is His own; what He asks you to give He will first Himself
give you. The Possessor, and Owner, and Giver of all! This is
our God. You can apply this to yourself and your powers to all
you are and have. Study it, believe it, live in it, every day,
every hour, every moment.
2. Just as it is the nature and
glory of God to be always giving, it is the nature and glory
of man to be always receiving. What did God make us for? We
have been made to be each of us a vessel into which God can pour
out His life, His beauty, His happiness, His love. We are created
to be each a receptacle and a reservoir of divine heavenly life
and blessing, just as much as God can put into us. Have we understood
this, that our great work--the object of our creation--is to be
always receiving? If we fully enter into this, it will teach some
precious things. One thing--the utter folly of being proud or
conceited. What an idea! Suppose I were to borrow a very beautiful
dress, and walk about boasting of it as if it were my own, you
might say, "What a fool!" And here it is the Everlasting
God owns everything we have; shall we dare to exalt ourselves
on account of what is all His? Then what a blessed lesson it will
teach us of what our position is! I have to do with a God whose
nature is to be always giving, and mine to be always receiving.
Just as the lock and key fit each other, God the Giver and I the
receiver fit into each other. How often we trouble about things,
and about praying for them, instead of going back to the root
of things, and saying, "Lord, I only crave to be the receptacle
of what the Will of God means for me; of the power and the gifts
and the love and Spirit of God." What can be more simple?
Come as a receptacle--cleansed, emptied and humble. Come,
and then God will delight to give. If I may with reverence say
it, He cannot help Himself; it is His promise, His nature. The
blessing is ever flowing out of Him. You know how water always
flows into the lowest places. If we would but be emptied and low,
nothing but receptacles, what a blessed life we could live! Day
by day just praising Him--Thou givest and I accept. Thou bestowest
and I rejoice to receive. How many tens of thousands of people
have said this morning: "What a beautiful day! Let us throw
open the windows and bring in the sunlight with its warmth and
cheerfulness!" May our hearts learn every moment to drink
in the light and sunshine of God's love.
"Who am I, and what is my people,
that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?
for all things come of Thee, and we have given Thee of Thine own."
3. If God gives all and I receive
all, then the third thought is very simple--I must give all
back again. What a privilege that for the sake of having me
in loving, grateful intercourse with Him, and giving me the happiness
of pleasing and serving Him, the Everlasting God should say, "Come
now, and bring Me back all that I give." And yet people say,
"Oh, but must I give everything back?brother, don't you know
that there is no happiness or blessedness except in giving to
God! David felt it. He said: "Lord, what an unspeakable privilege
it is to be allowed to give that back to Thee which is Thine own!"
Just to receive and then to render back in love to Him as God,
what He gives. Do you know what God needs you for? People say,
"Does not God give us all good gifts to enjoy?" But
do you know that the reality of the enjoyment is in the giving
back? Just look at Jesus--God gave Him a wonderful body. He kept
it holy and gave it as a sacrifice to God. This is the beauty
of having a body. God has given you a soul; this is the beauty
of having a soul--you can give it back to God. People talk about
the difficulty they meet with in having so strong a will. You
never can have too strong a will, but the trouble is we do not
give that strong will up to God, to make it a vessel in which
God can and will pour His Spirit, so as to fit it to do splendid
service for Himself.
We have now had the three thoughts:
God gives all; I receive all; I give up all. Will you do this
now? Will not every heart say, "My God, teach me to give
up everything?" Take your head, your mind with all its power
of speaking, your property, your heart with its affections--the
best and most secret--take gold and silver, everything, and lay
it at God's feet and say, "Lord, here is the covenant between
me and Thee. Thou delightest to give all, and I delight to give
back all." God teach us that. If that simple lesson were
learnt, there would be an end of so much trouble about finding
out the Will of God, and an end of all our holding back, for it
would be written, not upon our foreheads, but across our hearts,
"God can do with me what He pleases; I belong to Him with
all I have." Instead of always saying to God, "Give,
give, give," we should say, "Yes, Lord, Thou dost give,
thou dost love to give, and I love to give back." Try that
life and find out if it is not the very highest life.
4. God gives all, I receive all,
I give all. Now comes the fourth thought: God does so rejoice
in what we give to Him. It is not only I that am the receiver
and the giver, but God is the Giver and the Receiver too, and,
may I say it with reverence, has more pleasure in the receiving
back than even in giving. With our little faith we often thing
they come back to God again all defiled. God says, "No, they
come back beautiful and glorified"; the surrender of the
dear child of His, with his aspirations and thanksgivings, brings
it to God with a new value and beauty. Ah! child of God you do
not know how precious the gift that you bring to your Father,
is in His sight. Have I not seen a mother give a piece of cake,
and the child comes and offers her a piece to share it with her?
How she values the gift! And your God, oh, my friends, your God,
His heart, His Father's heart of love, longs, longs, longs to
have you give Him everything. It is not a demand. It is a demand,
but it is not a demand of a hard Master, it is the call of a loving
Father, who knows that every gift you bring to God will bind you
closer to Himself, and every surrender you make will open your
heart wider to get more of his spiritual gifts. Oh, friends! a
gift to God has in His sight infinite value. It delights Him.
He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. And it brings
unspeakable blessing to you. These are the thoughts our text suggests;
now comes the practical application. What are the lessons? We
here learn what the true dispositions of the Christian life are.
To be and abide in continual
dependence upon God. Become nothing, begin to understand that
you are nothing but an earthen vessel into which God will shine
down the treasure of His love. Blessed is the man who knows what
it is to be nothing, to be just an empty vessel meet for God's
use. Work, the Apostle says, for it is God who worketh in you
to will and to do. Brethren, come and take tonight the place of
deep, deep dependence on God. And then take the place of child-like
trust and expectancy. Count upon your God to do for you everything
that you can desire of Him. Honour God as a God who gives liberally.
Honour God and believe that He asks nothing from you but what
he is going first to give. And then come praise and surrender
and consecration. Praise Him for it! Let every sacrifice to Him
be a thank-offering. What are we going to consecrate? First of
all our lives. There are perhaps men and women--young men and
women--whose hearts are asking, "What do you want me to do--to
say I will be a missionary?" No, indeed, I do not ask you
to do this. Deal with God, and come to Him and say, "Lord
of all, I belong to Thee, I am absolutely at Thy disposal."
Yield up yourselves. There may be many who cannot go as Missionaries,
but oh, come, give up yourselves to God all the same to be consecrated
to the work of His Kingdom. Let us bow down before Him. Let us
give Him all our powers--our head to think for His Kingdom, our
heart to go out in love for men, and however feeble you may be,
come and say: "Lord, here I am, to live and die for Thy Kingdom.
Some talk and pray about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Let them
pray more and believe more. But remember the Holy Spirit came
to fit men to be messengers of the Kingdom, and you cannot expect
to be filled with the Spirit unless you want to live for Christ's
Kingdom. You cannot expect all the love and peace and joy of heaven
to come into your life and be your treasures, unless you give
them up absolutely to the Kingdom of God, and posses and use them
only for Him. It is the soul utterly given up to God that will
receive in its emptying the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Dear
friends we must consecrate not only ourselves--body and soul--but
all we have. Some of you may have children; perhaps you have an
only child, and you dread the very idea of letting it go. Take
care, take care; God deserves your confidence, your love, and
your surrender. I plead with you; take your children and say to
Jesus: "Anything Lord, that pleases Thee." Educate your
children for Jesus. God help you to do it. He may not accept all
of them, but He will accept of the will, and there will be a rich
blessing in your soul for it. Then there is money. When I hear
appeals for money from every Society; when I hear calculations
as to what the Christians of England are spending on pleasure,
and the small amount given for Missions, I say there is something
terrible in it. God's children with so much wealth and comfort,
and giving away so small a portion! God be praised for every exception!
But there are many who give but very little, who never so give
that it costs them something, and they feel it. Oh, friends! our
giving must be in proportion to God's giving. He gives you all.
Let us take it up in our Consecration prayer: "Lord, take
it all, every penny I possess. It is all Thine." Let us often
say "It is all His." You may not know how much you ought
to give. Give up all, put everything in His hands, and He will
teach you if you will wait.
We have heard this precious message
from David's mouth. We Christians of the nineteenth century, have
we learned to know our God who is willing to give everything?
God help us to.
And then the second message. We
have nothing that we do not receive, and we may receive everything
if we are willing to stand before God and take it.
Thirdly. Whatever you have received
from God give it back. It brings a double blessing to your own
soul.
Fourthly. Whatever God receives
back from us comes to Him in Heaven and gives Him infinite joy
and happiness, as he sees His object has been attained. Let us
come in the spirit of David, with the spirit of Jesus Christ in
us. Let us pray our Consecration Prayer. And may the Blessed Spirit
give each of us grace to think and to say the right thing, and
to do what shall be pleasing in the Father's sight.
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