The book of Exodus quickly chapter 21 Exodus
chapter 21 I'd like to speak a little
word this morning maybe tie these two messages
together in a word of consecration.
Consecration.
Exodus chapter 21 and verse number 2.
If the lion Hebrew servant six years he
shall serve in the seventh he shall go
out free for nothing if he came in
by himself he shall go out by himself
if you were married then his wife shall
go out with him if his master have
given him a wife and she have born
him sons or daughters the wife and her
children shall be her masters and he shall
go out by himself and if the servant
shall plainly say I love my master my
wife and my children I will not go
out free then his master shall bring him
unto the judges he shall also bring him
to the door or under the doorpost and
his master shall bore his ear through with
an all and he shall serve him forever
2nd Samuel please chapter 11
read about demand Uriah the Hittite
verse 7 for the sake of time and
when Uriah was come unto him David commanded
of him how Joab did and how the
people did and how the war prospered and
David said to Uriah go down to thy
house and wash thy feet and Uriah departed
out of the king's house and there followed
him a mess of meat from the king
but Uriah slept at the door of the
king's house with all the servants of his
Lord and went not down to his house
and I guess verse 10 and when they
had told David saying Uriah went not down
unto his house David said unto Uriah camest
thou not from thy journey why then didst
thou not go down into thine house and
Uriah said unto David the ark and Israel
and Judah abide in tents and my Lord
Joab and the servants of my Lord are
encamped in the open fields shall I then
go into mine house to eat and to
drink and to lie with my wife as
thou livest and as thy soul liveth I
will not do this thing and first Peter
now quickly we're leaving three places to get
three aspects in which it would do us
well to be consecrated first Peter in chapter
2 verse 5 he also as
lively stones are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ verse 9
but he had a chosen generation a royal
priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people they
should show forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light and the Lord of us to
a serene of his word what we've listened
to already I'd like to look at consecration
being set apart in the Old Testament the
word that we read is is Kodash it
is consecrated it is sanctified it is set
apart for God and you've been had a
foundation that was laid in the baptisms this
morning and an instruction was given and so
if we're going to take that which we
have learned and we're going to go through
with it we're going to need to be
consecrated to be set apart for God to
be dedicated a consecrated Christian is hard to
find as I look at myself what about
you completely entirely devoted to the things of
God three aspects very quickly the servant that
is consecrated to his master the soldier that
is consecrated to his king and the priest
that is consecrated to his sacrifice to offering
up we read in Hebrews and Peter excuse
me of a spiritual sacrifice and we also
read the royal priesthood showing forth the praises
so very simply three things to continuing in
Hebrews chapter 21 you've got the Hebrew servant
and you'll notice in this servant if you
put yourself in the story how would you
like to be a bond slave how would
you like to be bought and now have
to serve six years for the same man
day in and day out no doubt in
your mind there would be a time that
would come that would be anticipated you would
look forward to the day of your release
where do you not oh it's a six
it's a very beginning I can't wait till
the seventh year then I'm going to go
out and I've got all these plans and
I'm going to get a farm and I'm
going to farm I'm going to get a
business I'm going to get a family and
I've got all these plans that I want
to do that's the first year that would
be every one of us would it not
but time would go on and every day
as days go by faster and years go
by faster the time would go by and
as you would spend time with this one
that is the master something amazing would transform
in your mind now we're speaking of a
master like the Lord Jesus now not like
any earthly master who's only got you there
for their own good and for their own
for their own blessing and maybe in year
two you're given a wife and maybe you're
three or four whatever the junior comes along
and the family comes along and every day
that you labor with the master you learn
how he thinks you learn how he loves
you learn about him intimately because you're with
him day in and day out and now
that day comes that you had looked forward
to for so long and now there's a
great choice to make you're gonna go out
free are you gonna stay tough choice what
happened in those six years you got to
know someone you never knew before you learn
to love someone like you've never been loved
before and now you have a choice to
make I believe that consecration is a daily
thing but I also believe that there's a
moment in a person's life when before God
in a broken state or maybe an appreciative
state an individual says God I'm yours use
me whatever you want me to do Lord
show me this man now has a choice
to make he's gonna stay he's going to
go to the and he's going to plainly
declare I love my master my wife and
my children I will not go out free
so he goes to the door you see
the story isn't about the servant it's about
the master and that's what life is about
isn't it life isn't about the servants of
God life is about God life isn't about
the servants of Christ it's about Christ and
here's a dear here's a man and he's
got the message because he's come to know
through relationship every single day that the yoke
is easy and the burden is light and
that everything that he needed has been supplied
by the master it's a no-brainer isn't
it if I'm with the master I have
everything and not only me but my family
my wife and my children he can do
far better for them than I could ever
do and so a servant that was consecrated
and he stays just for the sake of
argument and some of you have heard this
line before the next day the another servants
sixth seventh year comes and he goes and
in stays and two weeks later there's another
one then another one what's going on here
you see it's all about the glory of
the master the glory of the master judges
and the judges would confirm that what they
heard is true what did not resonate with
their mind what is it about this master
why everybody stays and serves him what is
it about him oh I wonder if there's
ever a day where I find myself that
needs to have a master maybe he would
be mine you see in service consecrated the
man could have went out and free would
have been absolutely legal would have been a
legitimate possibility but he was devoted and he
was consecrated to his master because he knew
his master could I ask you a question
today those of you that are facing this
choice this weekend what are you going to
do there's so many things in life that
are appealing there's so many dreams that you
want to fulfill and yet you know that
there's a life to believe for God what
are you going to do we depend on
how well you know the master how well
you appreciate him and what he has done
for you saved you know it's a sad
thing to see people saved not that part
but to be saved and say okay Lord
I'll see you in heaven thanks for a
wonderful life and you never see him again
you wonder if they ever got the root
of the matter what's it going to be
for you your young person consecrated to the
master entirely devoted to the God into the
things of God into the assembly of God
into the people of God consecration to the
servant and then I'm going to jump to
the priest because I want to end with
the soldier you've got the holy priesthood in
the royal priesthood every single person that is
saved is a priest we don't have a
clergy we don't have a hierarchy in God's
assembly that's not God's plan God is God
is supreme God is overall but as Christians
as those that are saved those in the
assembly testimony as well you don't have to
be an assembly testimony to be a priest
some people have never heard the truth of
the assembly and are saved but the holy
priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to be set apart
to be consecrated morally to God to offer
sacrifice spiritual material it's a spiritual sacrifice it
must be spiritual material where do you get
spiritual material for a spiritual sacrifice spiritual this
means not carnal not carnal are you going
to get spiritual material from the world to
sacrifice to God no you won't get spiritual
material from a car world where then do
we get this material first of all we
said what it is it is not carnal
it is spiritual material and when you get
spiritual material you get it from spiritual places
spiritual persons you get it from God from
God I can honestly say I've never had
an original thought in my life and if
you've ever honest you will too you let
everyone from God from the Spirit of God
you see God teaches us God shows us
from the Word of God and so you're
going to be mining in the Word of
God you're going to be digging in the
Word of God and you're going to be
getting spiritual material and there's going to be
the precious stones that are going to be
added to the building but it must be
spiritual material the carnal material the wood and
the hay and the stubble the things that
are flammable that's not an acceptable sacrifice is
it and so you've got spiritual material because
it is a spiritual sacrifice it comes from
the Word of God it comes from spending
time with God it comes from experience with
God you notice the to the servant it
was the time with the servant the master
it was from the master being a Christian
is a tremendous thing everything that we have
we've been given from God your salvation was
a gift was it not absolutely and those
of you that have toiled and have labored
with your hands and the Lord has give
you something did you where did that come
from there's been people out there work harder
than you've worked for less you got it
from God everything we get we have from
God to be dedicated in spiritual things to
offer a spiritual sacrifice then you've got the
kingly priesthood the royal priesthood to show forth
or to publish his excellence to publish it
to declare it forth have you stopped
have you stopped serving God I'm asking hard
questions today why did you stop have you
stopped offering spiritual sacrifices have you stopped offering
the fruit of your lips giving praise to
God have you stopped digging for the material
why did you stop digging it's
one thing to know the truth and to
be instructed in the truth but to continue
to not fall out by the way but
to continue in the Word of God spiritual
sacrifice and I know I'm just skimming the
surface but brother let us continue have
the things of God come to a screeching
halt have we wasted a year
why the things of God have not
stopped maybe your sphere of service has changed
and maybe you can't work like you used
to work but the work still needs to
be done it still needs to be done
the Lord still must be obeyed the gospel
still must go forth maybe we need to
be creative in our methods but the work
hasn't stopped the worship the sacrifices
have they stopped how about your own personal
worship let me go there has it stopped
well if you've stopped digging for spiritual material
how has it affected your worship searching question
my time is about gone I want to
go to the soldier so you've got the
happy Hebrew servant you've got the humble Hittite
soldier in first and second Samuel and what
I want to focus on here just before
lunch is this the battle the battle you're
right I was a mighty man he was
a lovely character in the Word of God
I think of this man is one of
David's mighties as he's listed twice David would
have loved this man David would have appreciated
this man but we know the story in
the earlier part of the chapter that we
didn't read of David's sin against this man
and now David with all the plan of
a cover-up he calls this man with
a big with a fake vacation and he
says come with the excuse of tell me
how the battle is going I wonder what
Uriah thought what's the matter David you call
me from the front lines to come and
tell you how the battle is going you
know how the battle is going Uriah was
no fool maybe he didn't know why but
something doesn't right and so he goes there
to the king and the king sends him
home when you see this devoted man he
sleeps at the door of the king he
wouldn't go why wouldn't you go home well
he says why he said in the David
verse 11 the ark where was the ark
take it it was at the battlefield and
then he says in Israel if the ark
wasn't at the battlefield is speaking to me
of the presence of the Lord in Israel
and Judah they abide in tents so the
ark was in a tent the battle wasn't
over that's the point here's a man he's
dedicated and what God had given him to
do he was a mighty man he was
a rare man he was he was someone
that God was using and he was a
humble man and the battle wasn't over and
he wasn't going to go home on vacation
well there was still a battle to be
fought and his brother and we're still there
and the honor of God was still to
fight for he was dedicated as a soldier
for the king because the battle wasn't over
it wasn't over he couldn't bring himself to
do it he says as as the king
lives as his soul as he would not
do it he would not do it such
was his dedication not only to David but
to God and to the things of God
and to the purposes of God and for
the glory of God because Israel was God's
people and this man had a grip he
had a grip of his purpose in this
life brethren the battles not over it's not
over it soon will be over but it's
not over yet and this dedicated man he
finds himself in the heat of the battle
did he know he was too close to
the wall he knew it was too close
to the wall but that's where the battle
was the hottest and that's where he was
put you see he was dedicated how dedicated
are you today and you understand that this
has been a personal word to me long
before today am I a dedicated servant of
Jehovah of God am I a dedicated service
to Christ the one who has brought me
with his blood am I a consecrated priest
in holiness offering spiritual sacrifices to God that
which God has given you can you give
it back am I a dedicated soldier today
the battle is not over you and I
have fought and as I read this this
past week I thought you know it reminds
me of the martyrs of whom the world
was not worthy the martyrs whom the world
was not worthy those who went on for
God and those who served God and those
who fought God and brethren it's a marvelous
thing to have a conference but I want
to say this if we miss out on
something to challenge us to go on for
God and God himself we've missed it fellowship
is important and it's absolutely necessary but we
need God and we need God today Lord
bless his word we'll pray