A challenge to consecration

Let's turn together to the first book of Chronicles. I'll ask you to read with me in the first book of Chronicles, and we read in chapter 29. First Chronicles 29, and let's read together from verse number one.

Furthermore, David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great. For the palace is not for man. Now the reference there to the palace is the temple that's going to be built, the temple of Solomon.

For the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistening stones, and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of over, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses with all.

The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hand of the artificers. Just notice there the end of verse number five. This is a question that King David would ask, and David says, in light of everything that has been given, and who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Then the chief of the captains, the princes, the captains of thousands and hundreds, you'll notice that they give.

Look at verse number nine. Then the people rejoiced, for they that offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

Let's just read together the end of verse number five again, and it says, and who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? God bless to us that exceedingly precious reading from the sacred scriptures. Just in light of what our brother Gary has been dealing with, I have before me this plea of King David. David is almost just at the end of his life, and just at the end of the life of service that this man has lived for the glory of God, with Solomon about to step onto the stage of history.

Here is David, and he starts to tell us, and I will come back to it in a moment, he starts to tell us of what he has given to the house of God. He never saw it built, but he provides for it. And after going through some of the details, and after telling us of what he has given, and after enumerating some of the things that he himself has voluntarily disposed and put into the hands of those who will build the house, then the challenge comes.

And the challenge of King David is this, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? I want to challenge our hearts with that, even this afternoon. Obviously, there will be a house of God that's in question here in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, and it was quite the house. If you go over some of the details about the temple, Solomon's temple, it was quite the construction.

Many of you who are gathered here will know it took them seven years to build it. And in those seven years, there was no sound of the hammer that was heard in the house of the Lord. And I say, beloved saints, it was quite the construction.

David himself, he describes it. In 1 Chronicles chapter 22, David describes this construction, and he says, it's going to be exceedingly magnificent. He describes it there in 1 Chronicles 29, he describes it as a palace, this temple of the Lord.

If you went through the construction of it, you would be absolutely amazed. They tell us in modern terms now, it would cost in the region of something like $100 billion to build the house of God. It likely wouldn't be possible to build it.

Such would be the cost to build the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, $100 billion. We read about the marble stones. As I say, they were hewn, and they weren't hewn on site, they were hewn and brought to the site.

And the walls of the house of Solomon's temple, they were walls of marble. You say, that must have been amazing. Could you imagine walking into a construction like that? Like here we are today.

I quite think this is quite nice, isn't it, beloved saints? Where we are gathered today. Could you imagine walking into a house, walls of marble? Ah, but wait, beloved saints. You see over those walls of marble, they poured refined silver.

You say, that must have been something. Walls of marble, covered with refined silver. Ah, but wait, it gets even better than that.

Over the refined silver, they put cedar boards. And on the cedar boards, there were cherubim, and there were palm trees that were inscribed into the walls. Walls of marble, covered with refined silver, covered with cedar boards.

And you and I would say, just at that point, it would be a wonder to walk into Solomon's temple. You see, over all of that, the cedar boards on the walls, the cedar on the floor, those ceilings of the house, over everything that was there, they put refined gold. I tell you, beloved saints, this was quite the house.

And David says about this house, he says, it is exceedingly magnificent. Well, you say, that's wonderful. Here we are, and we've got the temple of the Lord.

And here we are looking in the sacred scriptures at something that stands so unique and so distinct. There was nothing like it. Could I just remind our hearts now, there is no physical temple today.

As we are gathered together, this was tremendous. This was a work of God, par excellence. Could I just remind our hearts, beloved saints, there is no physical temple today, but there is still a work of God, and it stands absolutely unique.

As this was the house of God, so in the New Testament, it's described as the house of God. You remember Paul's words, 1 Timothy chapter 3, he describes it as the house of the living God, and he tells us it's the pillar and ground of truth. And beloved saints, as I'm speaking today, I would like to remind our hearts that there is still something that stands, it stands so unique, and it stands so distinct.

It is God's masterpiece in this era. Could I speak to young people today in God's name? God would have you be part of a New Testament church of God, and there is absolutely nothing like it. It stands unique as the masterpiece of God.

It's not physical, like this temple of Solomon, but beloved saints, that spiritual entity called unto the precious name of the Lord Jesus, it is the masterpiece of God in this present era. And David sends out a challenge. Just when it comes to this house, David sends out a challenge, and what a challenge it is.

And David, it wasn't two mites, I appreciated that. But David tells us, as he's about to give, David says, who then is willing to dedicate his or consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Just before I touch that, I will mention something about the house. You will notice we've got the place of the house, because God, He gave very definite direction where the house should be.

You go through the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 12, you'll find God speaks about a place, and He says it's going to be there. You go into Deuteronomy 14, and God speaks about a place, and He says it's going to be there. You go into Deuteronomy 15, and God highlights the place, and He says it's going to be there.

You move into Deuteronomy 16, and right through the book of Deuteronomy, God is highlighting a specific place, and He says, in that place, that's where I put my name. That's where my glory will be. It will be in that place.

There is a definite locality where my name will be. You know that there was the tabernacle, and the tabernacle, we're given the details of it in the book of Exodus. You will be aware that when they come into the land, the tabernacle was at Shiloh, and the tabernacle was at Shechem.

The tabernacle, actually, when David is speaking here, is in a place called Gebeah. The ark of the covenant wasn't in Gebeah. The ark of the covenant was in a temporary tent at Jerusalem, but keep in mind now, when we come to Deuteronomy, there was a place in the mind of God.

When you come into the book of Joshua, there's a place in the mind of God. When you move into the books of Chronicles, there's a place in the mind of God. Can I just remind our hearts, beloved saints, still, there is one place in the mind of God.

I actually asked Bernie, just before stepping up here this afternoon, because I heard them tell me before the story of how, I think it was Oliver Smith, in New Hartford. Dear Oliver was there with the gospel, and things just weren't, they weren't moving forward in New Hartford, and he left New Hartford, and he went over to another little place. Its name was Stout, and he preached the gospel.

I hardly need to tell you folks here in Iowa, in Cedar Falls today, the rest of that story, but you know that that's the order of the New Testament. Whether it's Corinth, 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, I laid a foundation, and he walked into Corinth with the gospel, and he preached, and there was something laid in that location for the glory of God. He walked into Philippi one day, and there was only a handful of women by the riverside, and yet he laid a foundation, Thessalonica, and you move through them all, beloved saints.

Could I just remind our hearts that still in Cedar Falls, and still in Garneville, and still in Stout, and other places in Iowa, there are little companies in the place where God has placed his name. Why is it we gather where we gather? You know, beloved saints, we get the secret to it in 1 Corinthians 3. What happened was this. In Corinth, Paul began to preach.

Souls were saved for the glory of God, and when those souls were saved, God began to manifest that his presence was there. As a consequence, there was a church of God gathered unto the precious name of the Lord Jesus established in Corinth, and so we've got the place of the house. There is a place.

Of course, we've got the plan of the house. For sake of time, I won't highlight this too much. Well, you say, David himself, he likely devised the plan of this house.

No, he didn't. You see, if you're reading in 1 Chronicles 28, he tells us that the plan of the house was given to him by God. In fact, in verse number 11, he speaks about the pattern of that house.

In verse number 12, he highlights it again, the pattern of the house. In verse number 18, he underscores it again, the pattern of the house. Verse number 19, he tells us for the fourth time about the pattern of the house.

Could I just say, beloved saints, never forget that when it comes to how we gather and how we act when we gather, we're not in any doubt. The Bible is explicitly clear. We have got the pattern of gathering.

We've got the pattern of a New Testament church of God right here in the scriptures. And we're not left in any doubt. So we've got the place of the house and we've got the plan of the house.

We've got the purpose of the house. Tell me, why did the temple exist? You will find that the Ark of the Covenant is going to be enshrined in Solomon's temple. The Ark of the Covenant, according to 1 Samuel chapter 4, it was the throne of God in the midst of his people.

2 Kings chapter 19, it will speak the same. It emphasized the very presence and the throne of God in the midst of his gathered people. And you say, this is quite tremendous, the great purpose of the house.

If I was asking you today, why does a New Testament assembly, why does it exist? I wonder what you tell me. Maybe you say it exists for gospel work. It does exist for gospel work.

Maybe you say it exists so that the saints will be gathered together. It does exist for that reason. Could I just tell you today, beloved saints, the New Testament assembly exists primarily for one reason.

Let me just underscore this, especially for young folks who are here. Can I just highlight, beloved saints, a New Testament assembly exists primarily for the glory of God. It is for him.

It exists for his glory. Yes, it will disseminate light. Yes, there will be gospel testimony.

Yes, the saints will gather together all of those things, beloved saints, but above each and any or all of the above, a New Testament assembly, primarily it exists for the glory of the Lord Jesus. And so we have it, the place of the house, the plan of the house, the purpose of the house. We have the presence of God in the house.

I leave that one. I do want you to notice this, and this will bring me into 1 Chronicles and chapter 29. Please notice with me the preparation for the house.

Oh, David is going to be associated with this house. Let me just ask you now, are you associated with the house of God? I will never forget that Lord's day when I was brought into fellowship. I was 17 years of age.

I remember sitting the way they did it, where my parents gathered. I was sitting in the seat of the unlearned, and they announced, our brother John will come into fellowship this morning. And I remember walking from the seat of the unlearned and taking my place among God's the preparation for the house.

Because David says, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I do want to speak to our hearts today. I hope there will be those, and from this conference, they will leave Cedar Falls with rededicated hearts. There might be young people here who are not part of an assembly.

I hope that you leave Cedar Falls ready and willing to consecrate your life, just two mites. That's all we have. But I hope there are those who are willing to leave Cedar Falls, and you'll come into that little company gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus, the preparation for the house.

Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? You will notice with me, when it comes to this challenge, we've got the template of the challenge. King David will, he will usher forth the challenge. There's no doubt about that.

King David, he will challenge the hearts of God's beloved people. But mark it well, beloved saints, David was prepared to put himself and his family and everything he owned on the line to serve God. You say, how do you know that? Well, in those verses that we read, verses one through four, he actually tells us what he has prepared.

Until at last, in verse number four, he says, above and beyond everything he's prepared, he's given three thousand talents of gold. He says he's given seven thousand talents of refined silver. Now, let's put that in modern measurements so that we understand it.

Three thousand talents of gold is one hundred and fifty tons of gold. Seven thousand talents of refined silver is three hundred and fifty tons of refined silver. And that's above and beyond everything else he had given.

The template for service, the people looked at King David, and as they looked at King David, they knew he has given. You know, beloved saints, one of the things that always touches me is this. If I look and see those who are going before me, I walk through the door of a conference meeting just last Saturday morning.

I caught a flight from Toronto. I get into Bridgewater at three a.m. I walk through the doors of the conference into the kitchen at seven a.m. And as I was going through those doors of the conference, there was a dear sister met me, and she'd been there from six a.m., and she worked the whole conference. A lady in her seventies, and as I looked at that lady, in fact, she was in the last lineup serving food.

I hope she doesn't watch this. I'm not even sure if this is being zoomed. I sure hope she doesn't listen to this.

In the last lineup, the last meal, she stood against the wall, and she said, the wall will hold me up. The template for service, beloved saints, here is David, and King David with all his might, he prepares for the house of God. He's leaving.

He will never see it built, but he'll pour his power into it. All of his energy will be dedicated to it. Everything he has will be given to it.

Beloved saints, this morning or this afternoon, as I'm speaking to you, the template of the challenge, King David himself stands forth, and once David gives, you will notice what happens. Once David gives, the chief of the fathers, they step forth. As the people see the chief of the fathers stepping forth, the rulers of the people step forth.

Once the rulers were seen stepping forward, the princes stepped forward, and at last the people themselves, they understood we need to step up and give to the Lord the template of the challenge. Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? As I'm speaking here in Cedar Falls, notice with me the terms of the challenge, because this is about the will. Who then is willing? One of the things that's most interesting in Scripture is that God's people give.

By the way, I should just emphasize something. This is not about giving to me. The Lord is always very kind, and my brethren will say the same, every single one of them.

This is not about giving to me. I want to make that abundantly clear. The Lord is most kind, but the challenge is on the will now, and every time there is a need just like this, I notice that in the Scripture, God's people always ever step up to the challenge.

There's the tabernacle, and we read together in the book of Exodus, and in the book of Exodus chapter 35, you will remember the challenge went forth from Moses, and as soon as the challenge went forth from Moses, the Lord's people began, and they began to bring, and they bring of everything they had, and they bring their gold, and they bring their silver, and they bring their linen, and they bring what God had given to them, and eventually Moses actually has to hold up his hands, and Moses has to say to the people, enough! Enough! We've got more than enough. Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord, the terms of the challenge? You recall when they come back from Babylon, there they are, and there's no house of the Lord, and it was only a small remnant that has come back, possibly about 47,000. Do you remember there they are, and they've made that long journey from Babylon, and they come back to Jerusalem.

It's most interesting. You see when you come to the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter 2, it says this, when they came to the house of the Lord, but there was no house of the Lord. In God's mind, there still was.

When they came to the house of the Lord, it says the people, they offered willingly. I say again, beloved saints, the challenge today is on the will. You will recall, you go further in scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, there are poor saints, and they're up in Macedonia, and you remember what it says? They're going to give, and they're going to give for saints in Jerusalem, but they're poor themselves.

In 2 Corinthians 8 says this, they first gave their own selves to the Lord, and then what they had. Again, beloved saints, as I'm speaking, the challenge is on the will. You'll remember Acts chapter 20, that gift that was carried, it was carried from Asia, the Roman province of Asia.

It was given from saints in Macedonia. It was given from saints in Achaia, lower Greece. It was given from saints in Galatia, and it was carried up to poor saints in Jerusalem.

One of the things that always intrigues me is this, you come to the book of the Acts, and the gift is never mentioned. There might be an allusion to it in words that Paul speaks, might be. There might be just, just the faintest glimpse in the book of the Acts, the amount of the gift they carried.

You know, beloved saints, when it comes to the book of the Acts, the book of the Acts doesn't stress so much the gift itself, it carries the men that carried the gift. And you read Acts chapter 20, and you'll read about Paul and his companions and everything they are giving as they're carrying that gift in the name of God. I say again, as I'm speaking to you, the template of the challenge and the terms of the challenge, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Please notice with me the theme of this challenge, it's consecration.

And you say, what does consecration mean? Well, if you've got a marginal reading there of verse number five, consecration just literally means this, to fill the hands, just to take something in your hand and fill your hand in service for the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus. Now that brings something into play because you know we're all different. There are people and I almost envy them.

I look at, I was looking at two preachers last weekend. I was looking at John Procopio. Please don't tell him I said this, but did you ever notice the size of those hands? Sometimes when he's preaching, I see those, I see the big hands going up and I see them coming down.

And I think, oh my, the other one we were listening to was David Hurley High, just the size of his hands. Well, you say, I'm not like that because the size of everyone's hands is different. That's true, beloved saints, because what you have, your hands make you unique.

You can't hold in your hand what David Hurley High holds in his. You can't hold in your hand what John Procopio holds in his. But let me just remind you, you can feel your hands.

You say, we've heard it from our brother Gary. We've heard it that there's work to do. Yes, there is work to do, beloved saints.

Prayer meeting night, are you with the saints? Are you filling your hands? When it comes to that Sunday school, there's work to do, beloved saints. Are you filling your hands? When it comes to gospel activity, may I remind our hearts today, there is work to do and we need to fill our hands. Of course, you'll recall that in Leviticus chapter two, there was a man that came with a meal offering.

And when he came with a meal offering, it speaks that he would take his hands full. You know that that person, he was really linking himself to the Lord Jesus. The meal offering speaks of Christ in all his perfection, in all his majesty, in all of his manhood dignity.

And there, there was a handful of mail that was taken that speaks of the Lord Jesus. I noticed this, beloved saints. You see the man who takes his handful of mail? You see the man who has his hands filled with Christ? He would have to relinquish Christ to take something else.

Could I just speak to our hearts today? Too many of us. Maybe I'll be like Brandon and erect that wall again and maybe speak to my own heart first. But I find, beloved saints, if I take hold of something in the world, I have to empty my hand of Christ first.

I have to relinquish Christ to take hold of the world. Can I just speak to our hearts again and remind our hearts today who then is willing to consecrate, to fill his hand this day unto the Lord? The terms of the challenge, the template of the challenge, the consecration in the challenge. Mind you, there have been men and they have filled their hands.

I was sitting down there thinking, it was 2003. Peter Orosok and I were coming up the eastern seaboard of the United States. We pulled into Newburyport and we were on our way home.

I said to Peter, there is a place I would like to see here. He said, where's that? I said, George Whitfield is buried in Newburyport. I wouldn't mind seeing if we could locate the church.

We moved through Newburyport and we couldn't find it. He was quite impatient. Any of you folks that ever remember dear brother Peter Orosok, he was most impatient.

At last he said to me, he said, enough of this. He said, we go to a gas station. If they can't tell us where he's buried, we're on our route.

Well, we stepped into the gas station and I looked at the person there and I said, do you know the church where George Whitfield is buried? And the person that was ahead of me in the lineup said, she turned around and she said, I live in the house where he preached his last sermon. I made a mistake that day. We found the location for the church and we went to the church.

I should have gone to see the house. The biographer tells the story that dear Whitfield preached until he was exhausted and the people were gathered outside the church and they called on George Whitfield and they said, get him to preach again, get him to preach again. And Whitfield moved again forward to the window and there were two candles placed beside him.

And the dear man preached what effectively would be his last sermon until at last those candles burned out. And the biographer said, it was just a metaphor of a life that was burned out for God. And he finished preaching and he went into the house and God called him home.

Beloved Saints today, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? The time of the challenge, it is this day. Can I remind you now, we preach it in the gospel, but I do want to touch our souls today that it is this day. I hope that there are people here and they'll never forget this conference and they'll never forget it was this day.

Moses uses that term in Deuteronomy chapter 30. Dear old Moses, he's about to leave and Moses says, I call heaven and earth to record this day. You remember Joshua? Joshua in chapter 24 of his book, he says, choose you this day whom you will serve.

I like Caleb. One of my favorites is dear Caleb and Joshua chapter 14. You remember what Caleb says? He's looking at Hebron and he's going to take that mountain.

You know, beloved Saints, it's a wonderful thing when there are older Saints and they're still aiming for the heights. As I'm speaking to you today, beloved, I see a number of older believers with us. Are you still aiming for higher ground? Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land, that higher plane that I have found.

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. And there's dear old Caleb. He's 85 years of age.

Listen to what Caleb says. He says, I am as strong this day. And you go through them in scripture.

Nehemiah, he uses it. Well, you say in Nehemiah's day, things were small and maybe things are smaller in our day too. But Nehemiah stands in Nehemiah chapter one and in verse number 11, a Nehemiah challenges the people and he speaks about this day.

In the days of Moses, Moses took the challenge. In the day of Joshua, Joshua took the challenge. In the day of Caleb, Caleb took the challenge.

When it came to the need in Nehemiah's day, Nehemiah took the challenge. Dear beloved Saints, are we going to take the challenge? Here we are in Iowa and a generation rising up among us. Will we take the challenge? Because the time of the challenge is this day.

I just want to finish. You will notice the terminus of the challenge. Why did that lady just give her two mites? Why did Mary of Bethany break that box? There was only one reason.

She did it for the Lord. There are always difficulties in assembly life. There are always problems.

There are some who wonder about this and some who wonder about that. We won't go into it. You know, beloved Saints, if we could just keep our focus here and just remind our hearts that we do it for the Lord.

Dear Paul the Apostle, you remember what he says. He speaks about the manner of his service. And in Acts chapter 20, he says, serving the Lord with all humility of mind.

He speaks about the marks of service, Romans chapter 12. And he says, ye serve the Lord. He speaks about the motivation of service, Colossians chapter three.

And he says this, ye serve the Lord's Christ. As I step back today, beloved Saints, I want to leave you with a challenge. Here we are at a Cedar Falls conference.

Here we are with need in the assemblies that we form a part of. David speaks about the Lord's house. He says, it is exceedingly magnificent.

And David says, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? The Lord bless his word.