We sometimes say that in Heaven there is, and ever will be, an
unwavering fulfilment of the highest will of God. But what secures that
condition in Heaven? Do you think it is the absence of a personal
Devil? Not only that--although the hope of it counts for a good deal
with some of us. Do you think it is the absence of wicked surroundings
and temptations from evil men and women? Not only that. Do you think it
is the possession of things that produce unfailing pleasure and
satisfaction? Not only that. It is just the fact that every heart is
confirmed in its perfect acceptance of the Father's will, and is in the
fullest conformity with the holy law of a holy God. There are many
other things that go to make up Heaven, but without that there can be
no Heaven at all.
Did you repeat the Lord's Prayer this morning? If so, you came to that
little sentence, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven'.
Now, I ask you, do you really mean that? Do you honestly want that for
yourselves? Because, unless you can put yourselves in line with that
petition, unless there is a compliance with these words of Peter's, 'Be
ye holy, for I am holy', you can never get that prayer answered.
II
Consecration Complete
_'Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.'_ (Romans xii. 1.)
Surely, amongst those who love God and desire His Kingdom to come,
there can be no difference of opinion with regard to the duty of
whole-hearted consecration to the service of God.
The rightness of God's claims is beyond dispute among His own people;
and so it ought to be recognized as our absolute duty to yield fully to
those claims. The feeling of every professed servant of Christ ought to
be, nay, surely is, 'I am not my own; I am bought with a price: I
should "therefore glorify God in my body and soul, which are God's"'.
Whilst, however, in so many words all this is acknowledged, when it
comes to practically facing the question, with its personal
responsibility, how few there are who respond to the claims of the
Master, rendering Him that out-and-out devotion of which we hear and
speak.
Of a consecration that consists in attending Holiness Meetings, singing
hymns, and uniting in prayers full of the most sublime sentiment, we
have an abundance. With eyes closed and hands upraised, many vow that
henceforth they will live, not unto themselves, but unto Him who died
for them, and rose again; but when the Meetings are over, the
surroundings changed, and the actual duty presents itself, how much of
this consecration is found to be mere sentiment, for 'as the early
cloud and morning dew' so it passeth!
1. Now, let it be understood that _real consecration is a practical
thing_. I have a saying, which cannot be repeated too often--'that
which I give away I no longer have'. If we can only persuade people to
recognize that truth, and make their consecration on these lines,
something practical will follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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