"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.