THE CONSECRATED LIFE!

At conversion, the believer receives a justified life. God the Father makes him righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). This righteousness is a gift to the believer (Rom. 5:17). 

This is followed by a consecrated life when the believer acknowledges the Lord’s total ownership of his life. It is only after this step that progressive sanctification can begin.

Therefore, Christ is calling every Christian to a life of complete consecration. Because of the prize He has paid for us, because of what He suffered for us, because of what He is doing for us right now, He is calling us to a life of total consecration.

What is consecration? Consecration is the act of “setting apart” an object or a person to the worship or services of God. It is giving up your will to God.

Total consecration is required in our walk with God. Total consecration speaks of “total commitment of your life to God on the altar as a living sacrifice.”

Consecration is giving up your life and your will totally to Christ without any reservations as a person bought with a price, no longer your own.

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1 Cor. 6:20).

“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men” (1 Cor. 7:23).

True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives, that is, our times and choices to God’s purposes. By so doing we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.

What does consecration involve? Consecration involves being a living and holy sacrifice to God, because this is the only type of sacrifice that God will accept.

God expects that in faithfulness and total surrender, we’ll yield ourselves to Him.

In Exodus 32:29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”

These people have been redeemed from bondage in Egypt. They have been saved from years of toil and slavery. And now, they were being called after they have backslid to repent and come back to the Lord.

Moses has asked them saying, “Who is on the Lord’s side, let him come unto me.” The Levites were the only people that responded, and they gave themselves afresh to the Lord.

Then, Moses said to them, “If you are really giving yourselves to the Lord in gratitude that He has not dealt with you according to the multitude of your sins, consecrate yourselves to the Lord, so that He will bestow a blessing upon you from this very day.”

When the children of Israel were brought out from Egypt, they were faced with the issue of complete consecration to the Lord who has saved them.

Similarly, when you become Born-Again you will be faced with the issue of complete consecration to the Lord who has saved you. Because without complete consecration to the Lord, you will never be able to be sanctified, and without sanctification, you’ll not be able to remain holy, and without holiness you’ll never enter Heaven.

In Exodus 13:1-2 the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, “Sanctify (consecrate) unto Me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.”

Why did the Lord make such a request from the children of Israel?

God said, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:12-13).

All the first born of Egypt had died under judgment, but all the first born of Israel escaped the judgment. All the first born of the beasts in Egypt had died and perished because of the sin of the land. But all the beasts of Israel have been spared from the judgment and the plague because of the mercy and goodness of God.

And now the Lord said, “All those who should have suffered the judgment of death, destruction have been forgiven and delivered so they can serve Me.”

And the same thing the Lord is telling us today, “We should have died in the judgment of God, because the soul that sinneth shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). But the Lord has shown us mercy and called us unto Himself. And because He has redeemed us, He has saved us from slavery and destruction, He has then called us to complete consecration unto Him.

Now consider it: you have been saved, you have been delivered, you have passed from darkness to light, you have passed from death to life, you have tasted of the goodness of the Lord through Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for us, then there is a call upon your life – a call to complete consecration.

At the altar of consecration, the believer yields his life and his will to the Lord.

Apostle Paul spells out the meaning of consecration in Romans 12:1-2, stressing that consecration involves being a living sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your (physical) bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable (pleasing) unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that (1) good, and (2) acceptable, and (3) perfect, will of God.”

When sacrificing an animal according to God’s law, a priest would kill the animal, cut it in pieces, and place it on the altar. God wants us to offer ourselves, not animals, as living sacrifices — daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting all our energy and resources at His disposal and trusting Him to guide us. We do this out of gratitude because of all He has done for us.

Apostle Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, because of the sacrifice Christ made for us, I plead with you that this is what you should do.” Looking at the mercies the Lord had shown to you, I beseech you therefore, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto the Lord.

God wants us to consecrate ourselves and present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice.

In the Old Testament, people will bring a sacrifice to the Lord. They sacrifice that animal to the Lord. They then place it on the altar of sacrifice.

In the New Testament, you are no longer bringing animals to the Lord. You are bringing your body to the Lord and you have to place it on the altar of sacrifice.

In the Old Testament, they don’t place part of the animal on the altar of sacrifice. They present the whole animal to the Lord. Similarly, in the New Testament, you are required to present your whole body on the altar of sacrifice to God.

The Old Testament people bring their sacrifice to the Lord alive. A dead animal cannot be presented to the Lord. You must present that sacrifice to the Lord when it is still alive, and you must present that sacrifice complete to the Lord.

Jesus Christ presented Himself a living sacrifice on the altar of sacrifice to God the Father. You too are required to present your whole body a living sacrifice to God the Father.

What does it mean when the Bible says, “I present my body to the Lord?” You are saying I present my body, my intellect to the Lord. But your intellect, your body, must be holy before it can be accepted by the Lord.

I will not fill my mind with pollutions and pornography. I present my hands to the Lord, and these hands will do things that will bring glory to God. I present my feet to the Lord. The places I will walk to are places that will glorify God. I will not walk to shrines. I will not walk to bars. I will not walk to the houses of harlots. I am presenting my tongue to the Lord. That little member that causes great havoc to my hearers. And I will speak encouragement to my hearers. I present my genitals to the Lord. It must not misbehave. I present my body a living sacrifice unto the Lord which is my reasonable service.

It is the members of our bodies that are used to commit sin and therefore, must be presented to the Lord.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6:12).

Romans 6:13, 19 says, “Neither yield ye your members (the members of your body) as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God….19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity (weakness) of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity (in the past); even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”

What understanding does the NT give us concerning our body?

People tell you that your body does not matter to God. It is only your soul that matters to Him. No! Your body matters a lot to God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

A temple is a house of worship.

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

Again, the Bible talks about our bodies:

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith He, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against His own body” (1 Cor. 6:15-18).

The Bible talks specifically about the different parts of the body, so as not keep us in the dark with regards our body. It talks about every part of our body. And it tells us what to do with each part:

1. The eyes: “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way” (Ps. 119:37).

What’s the vanity? These are things that don’t glorify God. These are things that don’t line up with the Word of God. These are things that are profane. These are things that are perverse.

Where is the vanity? In that TV you are watching every day. In that Internet you are browsing very often. In that Night Club you visit from time to time.

2. The heart and your ears. “Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge” (Prov. 23:12).

The words that should come into your ears now are words that are not defiling. They are words that line up with the Word of God. Listen to spiritual songs and not to worldly songs.

3. The tongue and the lips: 1 Peter 3:10 says, “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.”

4. The hands: “Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil” (Prov. 4:27).

5. The feet: “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established” (Prov 4:26).

6. The heart: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).

7. The mouth: “Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee” (Prov. 4:24).

Heaven at last is the main purpose of consecration. Look at the kind of people that will eventually make it to Heaven:

“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. 17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off” (Isa. 33:15-18).

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place?4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Ps. 24:3-4).

Conclusion: “Are you Born Again, I am pleading with you (I beseech 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” (Rom. 12:1-2).

Question & Prayer: Have you ever gone to God in prayer saying, “O Lord I am now Born-Again. I am Your child. You have forgiven my sins and given me a brand-new life. So, I now come to present myself as a living sacrifice to You.

Lord, I present my eyes to You. From now on I will never look at anything that will defile my mind. I will not look at things that will remind me of my old life. I will not look at things that don’t line up with Your Word.

I am presenting my ears to You. From now on, I will not use these ears to listen to things that contradict Your Word.”

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor)                                    @ the HQs, June 9^th, 2019!