Have you noticed how many unnecessary questions we are asked each day?
You can go to some of these fast food places, and say to the man or the woman who is waiting on you, “Please give me a hamburger with everything on it!”
But you do not get the words out of your mouth, before the employee will say:
• Do you want mayonnaise?
• Do you want cheese?
• Do you want a slice of tomato?
I guess when it comes to Bill Clinton, it is “What does the word “IS” mean?”
But when it comes to these restaurants, it is “What does the word “ALL” mean?” Evidently it means different things to different people.
But the question that is asked us in this scripture text is, “Who then is willing to consecrate His service this day unto the Lord?”
Any time we hear a question, we have several options, such as:
• WE CAN PRETEND WE DID NOT HEAR IT (The people with these hearing aids have it made. They get by with all kinds of things because they hear what they want to hear, and if you crowd them, they will say, “I didn’t hear you!”)
• WE CAN HEAR IT AND IGNORE IT
• WE CAN ANSWER IT
Today, before we leave here, each of us will have to respond in some way. “Who then is willing to consecrate His service this day unto the Lord?”
But not only will the Lord know how we will answer that question, everyone here who knows us will know how we answered it.
Why? Because when a person is willing to consecrate his/her life to the Lord, every one who knows that person will know they are a godly person. GODLINESS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN HIDE.
For example, the Apostle Paul was a man willing to CONSECRATE HIS LIFE TO THE SERVICE OF GOD, and the scriptures shows us how that consecration manifested itself in his life.
Let’s look at-
I. THE GOD WHO CALLED HIM
Many times we hear people in the church testify about how they came to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. From their testimony, the impression is given that one day they made the decision to accept the Lord, and God had no choice in the matter.
Illus: Wouldn’t that be kind of like a young man who sees a young lady he would like to marry, and tells her that he has decided to marry her. IT IS HIS DECISION AND SHE HAS NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER!
The fact is, every saved person here is a child of God, not because of what we did, but because of what He did!
• The reason we know the Lord today is because He did the CALLING, and we responded to that calling
• HE MADE THE FIRST MOVE, and we responded to His calling
Look at John 6:44, we read, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…”
God is the one who calls out to lost mankind in Isa. 1:18, and says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Paul was a CHOICE SERVANT of the Lord.
But him becoming such a servant, had everything to do with THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM, and HIM RESPONDING TO THAT CALLING IN A POSITIVE WAY.
We have looked at THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM, but also, it had to do with-
II. THE GRACE THAT CHANGED HIM
Before he was saved, the Apostle Paul had dedicated his life to the destruction of the Christian church.
Illus: Make no mistake about it, if you were living during the days before Paul was converted, and you were a Christian, if you valued your life you would have fled if you saw him coming.
Illus: He makes you think of the fellow known as big bad John, in the days of the old West. Someone came down main street hollering, “Big Bad John is coming to town.” In a few minutes this fellow came riding down main street on a buffalo. He was beating the buffalo with a rattle snake. He jumped off the buffalo, walked up to the saloon, and snatched the doors off the saloon, and threw his big arms across the bar and said, “Give me a drink!” The bartender brought him a drink, and with one gulp, it was gone. The bartender said, “Would you like to have another one?” He said, “Yes, I would, but I have got to get out of town because Big Bad John is coming.”
Before Paul got saved, he almost had such a reputation. As a Jew, he thought he was doing God a favor in trying to wipe the Christian church from the face of the earth.
HE WAS SINCERE, BUT HE WAS SINCERELY WRONG.
Paul was educated. He had studied at the feet of Gamaliel. He had learned many valuable things from Gamaliel.
Look at Acts 22:3, we read, “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.”
But the GREATEST KNOWLEDGE he acquired was on the Damascus road, where he came to know the Lord Jesus.
Look at Acts 9:5. When God knocked him off of the back of that donkey, he said, “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
Paul, who had traveled the country trying to close down Christian churches, was changed by the GRACE OF GOD, once the Lord saved him.
Look at Acts 9:20, we read, “And STRAIGHTWAY he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.”
Look at the word “Straightway”, this is the word, eutheos, (yoo-theh'-oce) which means at once or IMMEDIATELY.
This tells us that once a person becomes born again, you will immediately see a change in their life.
What a transformation. Immediately the grace of God changed him from:
• A CHURCH HATING INDIVIDUAL, TO A CHURCH LOVING INDIVIDUAL
• A JESUS HATING INDIVIDUAL, TO A JESUS LOVING INDIVIDUAL
Illus: Some of the critics say that the reason Paul fell off that donkey on the Damascus road, was because he had an epileptic seizure.
Listen, if that was a seizure, I pray that every one here might have the same thing to happen to them.
When God saved him, the grace of God changed him.
In our churches today, we have those who state that they have been born again, but their life reflects that they are the same sinful person they have always been.
We have some today who profess to be saved, and you have to:
• BEG THEM TO ATTEND CHURCH
• BEG THEM TO COME TO SUNDAY SCHOOL
• BEG THEM TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE
Listen, something is wrong!
The Bible teaches that THE GOD WHO HAS CALLED US, now by His marvelous GRACE, IMMEDIATELY CHANGES US.
In Paul’s life you could see THE GOD WHO CALLED HIM, and THE GRACE THAT CHANGED HIM, but also-
III. THE GOSPEL THAT COMPELLED HIM
Look at Acts 1:8, we read, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all ludaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Listen, the evidence that you have received the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with:
• How high you can jump and shout
• How many visions you have had
• Some religious experience that you say you have had
What some have done today is to lower the standards of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Illus: Have you ever been to a track meeting where they have pole vaulting competition? When they first start, they place the bar where everyone can jump over it. But soon they start to raise it, and one by one they begin to eliminate the participants.
Today, what some have done is not raise the standards, but they have lowered them so low, that you have people running around that curse, lie, cheat, gossip, and criticize, and they talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Look what the Bible states is the evidence of being Spirit filled.
Look at Acts 1:8 again, we read, “But YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: AND YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME….”
The Bible says, “YE SHALL RECEIVE,” and “YE SHALL BE WITNESSES”.
God’s Word teaches that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will compel us to spread this gospel around the world.
When we are filled, we will take it from door to door, and where we can not go, we will send missionaries to spread it.
We have replaced the Holy Spirit with other things in our churches today, and today’s church bears little resemblance to the New Testament church that was filled with the Holy Spirit that compelled them to turn this earth upside down with their doctrine.
Paul said in Rom 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
We have looked at THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM, THE GRACE THAT CHANGED HIM, and THE GOSPEL THAT COMPELLED HIM. But also look at-
IV. THE GOAL THAT COST HIM
One of the things that made Paul a CHOICE SERVANT, was because he recognized that we Christians have a debt.
Look at Rom 1:14-15, he said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”
There was nothing he would not do to reach the lost.
Look at 1 Cor. 9:22-23, we read, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel.”
We have too many deadbeat Christians, who are not paying their spiritual debt to lost mankind.
V. THE GAIN THAT CONSUMED HIM
Look at Phil 3:7-10, we read, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
Once Paul got saved, he got his priorities in order. The things that once were important to him, he now counted as “Dung”.
What a transformation took place in Paul’s life. The Bible states clearly that this is something that should take place.
Look at 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We have people in the church today, who hold positions in the church, who need to respond to the question, “Who then is willing to consecrate His service this day unto the Lord?”
Listen Christians, you can not live a CONSECRATED CHRISTIAN LIFE:
• TRYING TO PLEASE YOUR FRIENDS
• TRYING TO PLEASE ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS
They will never see Christ in your life, until they can see that you have sold out to the Lord with all your heart.
Look at Luke 14:26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
The word “hate” here, means that our love for the Lord should be so STRONG, that our love for our FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND EVEN FOR OUR OWN SELVES seems like hate.
Do you have such a love for the Lord?
Conclusion:
I. THE GOD THAT CALLED HIM
II. THE GRACE THAT CHANGED HIM
III. THE GOSPEL THAT COMPELLED HIM
IV. THE GOAL THAT COST HIM
V. THE GAIN THAT CONSUMED HIM
