Spiritual Exercise - Consecration — Stephen Kaung

Spiritual Exercise and Growth in Godliness

Would you please turn to 1st Timothy? 1st Timothy chapter 4. We will read from verse 8 to verse 10. 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 8. Exercise thyself unto piety or godliness, for bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but piety or godliness is profitable for everything, having promise of life of the present one and of that to come.

The word is faithful and worthy of all acceptation, for this we labor and suffer reproach, because we hope in a living God, who is preserver of all men, especially of those that believe. We labor and suffer reproach, because we hope in a living God, who is preserver of all men, especially of those that believe.

And will you please turn to Hebrews? Hebrews chapter 5 verses 13 and 14. For everyone that partakes of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to full-grown men, who are account of habit, have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil.

Only those that are grown up can eat solid food, their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil. May we have a further word of prayer? Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for gathering us together this morning.

We are gathered unto Thy name. Where Thy name is, there is Thy presence. There is nothing that we love more than Thy own presence. We pray that this morning Thou wilt speak to our hearts. May Thy Spirit quicken Thy written word.

And make it life and spirit to us. We open ourselves to Thee, Lord. May Thy work be done in us as it is in heaven. And we will give Thee all the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Thank God for gathering us together this morning.

I often feel that any opportunity of gathering is a sign of God's love. A special grace of God. I believe that God is preparing us for His imminent return. We are looking forward to see Him. And we thank Him for giving us every opportunity to be ready for Him.

This time, as I waited before the Lord, I felt that the Lord wants us to share together on this matter of spiritual exercise. I believe we all know what is bodily exercise. I believe we all know what is bodily exercise.

Especially in California, I realize that people are very conscious of that. People are using every means to exercise their bodies. Bodily exercise is important. You may eat well. You may sleep well. But if you do not exercise yourself, well, you know what will happen.

You will be fat. You will be unhealthy. And you will easily get sick. So the Apostle Paul says, bodily exercise is profitable for a little. Yes, it is profitable. But the profit is only a little. It is little because it is little in measure and in time.

Because it does affect your body. And it also affects when you are still alive on this earth. And brothers and sisters, I do believe that we are not conscious of bodily exercise. We all know that our mind needs to be exercised.

That is the reason why we need to study. We need to gather information. We need to be wise. That is very important. But the more you get information, the more you become wise. Now listen to the wisest man in this world.

Solomon. He is the wisest of men. He tried everything. He thought through everything. And he came to the conclusion. Vanity of vanity. All is vanity. It is the vexation of heart and the pursuit of wind.

All is vanity. But brothers and sisters, there is another exercise which the scripture emphasizes. It is the exercise of our spirit. It is called exercise unto piety or godliness. We need to exercise our spirit that we may be like Christ.

We may be like God. And this exercise is the most important of all. Because the bible tells us that exercise unto godliness is profitable not only it is profitable for life. It is profitable in all things.

Especially for life. And you know the word life here is not the ordinary word life. The life here is zoe. And zoe means divine life. Spiritual life. So you find that exercise unto godliness is profitable to that spiritual life.

And this spiritual life is not only for this age but for eternity. So its profit is beyond description. But brothers and sisters, unfortunately we find that among God's people we are supposed to be people who exercise our spirit.

But have we done that? Now you must remember what is exercise. Exercise is something that you put your heart into it. Exercise must be done diligently. And it must be done continuously. So when you exercise you have to exercise according to rule.

Sometimes you have to go to a gymnasium under a coach to tell you what you need to be exercised and how. Because irregular exercise may hurt you. Instead of helping you. So in spiritual exercise we need to exercise diligently.

We need to exercise constantly. We need to exercise under the direction of our Divine Coach. And you know who our Divine Coach is. It is none but the Holy Spirit. Thank God when we believe in the Lord Jesus He not only forgave our sins He has also given us His life.

We are all born from above. We all have His life in us. And you remember our Lord Jesus said He comes to give life and give it more abundantly. Not only He will give us His life but He wants that life in us to grow into abundance.

Now how can our spiritual life grow? We need to exercise it. And we need to exercise it under the direction of the Holy Spirit. And this will enable to know the life of God and know it more abundantly.

Bodily, Soulish, and Spiritual Forms of Christianity

Unfortunately we find in Christianity today there are lots of activities and lots of teachings. But when you look at all these teachings and activities you discover one thing. And they all cater even to your body or to your soul.

When people talk about worship they think of a cathedral with all these stained glasses and it's not very light. And there are all kinds of pictures there. And when you get into that place you have a sense of worship.

And during the time of worship you find all kinds of actions. You will stand up, you will kneel down and you will do all kinds of physical exercises. But brothers and sisters these all cater to our bodies.

It may rise above you a sense of secrecy, of mystery. But it is far from the Spirit. And you find in modern times in order to attract young people you have all kinds of things being done. You have all these soulless songs.

It tries to stir up your emotions and make you feel that you are high. These are catered only to your body and to your soul. And they are all teachings about prosperity gospel. So it is trying to boost your ego.

It tries to make you feel good about yourself. That is positive thinking. But brothers and sisters is your spirit being touched? Is your spirit being increased? Is your spirit growing? That is a very serious question.

Brothers and sisters Christians today do not know how to have spiritual exercise. And because of this lack of spiritual exercise even though we do have life but we remain as babes. We do not grow spiritually.

We do not grow in Christ. We do not enjoy abundant life of Christ Jesus. We lack spiritual exercise. And this spiritual exercise must be done daily. Must be done continuously. And must be done under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Are we doing it? How do we do it? And this is something that we would like to share together this time. Will you please turn to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore brethren by the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your intelligence service or in some version your spiritual worship.

And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now concerning this matter of spiritual exercise what is the first lesson?

Consecration as the First Spiritual Exercise

According to the word of God the first spiritual exercise of a believer is consecration. Thank God we are saved. Thank God we have his life in us. Thank God for the redemption of our Lord Jesus. Now after we are saved after we are redeemed what should we do?

What is our first response? We often say consecration is the first Christian experience. Before you believe in the Lord Jesus you may have many experiences but you have no spiritual experience. You have no experience with the Lord.

You have no experience with spiritual life. But thank God now we are saved. Now we have his life in us. And having his life we are able to have spiritual experience. And we need to exercise immediately.

You remember when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb that passed over you find they are delivered from death and the Lord led them out of Egypt. The first thing that God said to them after they are delivered in Exodus chapter 13 because before that you find how God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt.

And after they are delivered the first thing that God spoke to them God said set apart your firstborn the firstborn belong to me because God delivered them. The firstborn there represents the whole family.

So in the New Testament after we are saved what is the first word of God to us? The first word is present your bodies as a living sacrifice. I believe brothers and sisters you all know from Romans chapter 1 to Romans chapter 11 that tells us of the compassion the mercies of God.

We who were dead in sins and transgressions how God saved us through His beloved Son. He not only died for our sins that our sins may be all forgiven. But on the cross our Lord Jesus not only bore our sins in His body but He also took all the Adamic race with Him and were crucified.

So He delivers us from the power of sin. Not only that He justifies us He sanctifies us and He glorifies us. How among all people He has chosen us for Himself. And He wanted us to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son.

That His Son may be the firstborn among many brethren. So from Romans 1 to 11 it tells us of the manifold mercies of God. And after we have received all these compassions and mercies what shall we do?

Present your bodies a living sacrifice. This is holy. You know people seek for holiness. But here you'll find how can you be holy? How can you be separated from God? Present your bodies a living sacrifice.

This is holy. Not only that it is acceptable to God. You know we often do many things. We think that we are doing for God. But will God accept what we do? Not everything that we do He will accept. Not everything that we do even in His name He will accept.

We can in His name preach the gospel. We can in His name cast out demons. We can in His name do miracles. But you remember what our Lord said in Matthew? You remember what our Lord said in Matthew chapter 7?

The Lord said I do not know you. Brothers and sisters how can we be acceptable to Him? I believe we all want to be acceptable by God. Now here is the way. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. This is acceptable to Him.

Not only that but this is our reasonable service. You want to serve God? It begins with present your bodies a living sacrifice. If you do not consecrate yourself to Him you haven't begun to serve Him.

And in some versions He said it is our spiritual worship. We who are redeemed by Him we want to worship Him. But God is a spirit. And he who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Consecration is our spiritual worship.

So consecration is the first Christian experience. And it is our first spiritual exercise. There is a difference. In the Old Testament time they were people under law. Therefore you find God demanded that they set apart their firstborn.

Because it was the right of God. But in the New Testament consecration is not according to law but according to grace. By right of redemption He could demand everyone of us to present our body a living sacrifice.

He has bought us with a price. Whether you want to live for Him afterwards or not you have no right to choose. Because He has redeemed you. He has every right to demand you to present your body a living sacrifice.

But He does not do that. Because He puts us under grace. By right you are His. You have to live for Him. You have to live according to what He says. But He sets us free. You can still live whatever way you want to live.

Even after He has redeemed you you can go free. It is His love that constrains us. So the Apostle Paul said I beseech you. I beg of you. It is as if there is no right at all. But God is using His love to melt us.

When we are melted by His love we cannot live for ourselves anymore. We have to live for Him. Brothers and sisters this is consecration. And this is the first spiritual exercise. I wonder if every one of us here this morning has done that.

If you haven't done that you haven't begun your Christian life. No matter how many years you have believed in the Lord Jesus you haven't started yet. This is the starting point. Why is it so important that we do this?

Consecration as Surrender to God's Will

When I was young when I was first saved I was at a conference. At the last day of the conference the speaker always speaks on consecration. And a large map of China was hanging on the wall. And the preacher began to preach.

Now you are saved. Now you have to consecrate yourself. You have to present your bodies to God to serve Him to preach the Gospel. That is what you have to do. And he said you can choose where you want to serve.

I was just saved after a whole year of seeking earnestly to be saved. I was so filled with the love of Christ. And I was 15. So naturally I said I want to go to the furthest place to prove my love to the Lord.

And the preacher said you can come to the platform point your finger to the place where you will serve. So I marched to the platform point my finger on Mongolia. Because at that time I thought Mongolia was the furthest place, the most difficult place.

I have never been to Mongolia. But my consecration was true. It is out of my heart. Actually I prepared myself to do that. But God interfered. Because this is not God's will for me. But anyway brothers and sisters what is consecration?

Consecration is not doing something for God. Consecration is letting God do everything in you. Now that is consecration. In other words you present your body as a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament time when a person was thankful to God he will take out of his flock or out of his ox he will present that animal to God.

He will bring that animal to the altar. Tie it to the corner of the altar. And then that animal will be killed and will be put on the altar. And the fire will burn it until it is reduced to ashes. In other words this animal was mine.

I have the right over this animal. But now I give it to God. Now it's yours. So it is burning to ashes that God may be satisfied. Now in the New Testament time it is much better. Instead of taking an animal you present yourself to God.

The reason why is to present your body. Because our body we live by our body. So you live by your body now. This body is presented to God. It means that your whole being is now presented to God. It is a sacrifice.

Why do you call it a sacrifice? It is not killed. And yet it is a sacrifice. Because it is out of your hand and put into the hand of God. You give up your right. And let God has the right over your life.

So it is a sacrifice. But it is a living sacrifice. In other words, every day you give yourself to God. He has every right over your life. He can do anything He wants with you. Now do not be afraid. Because God is love.

Everything He does in your life is the best. He wants you to have fullness. This is consecration. Now have you done that? Consecration is a door. Now what do you mean by a door? Because a door is a place where you cross over.

Outside of the door and inside of the door. And when you cross the threshold of the door, you are inside. Formerly you belong to yourself. You live for yourself. You decide what you want to do. But now you cross the threshold.

You give yourself to God. Now it is God's. So you are in consecration. And now you can go on the way of consecration. So consecration is not only a door, but it is a way. You have to cross the threshold.

There must be once that you really give yourself to the Lord. But that does not mean that that's it. That's the beginning. You have a long way to go yet. Because consecration comes in three steps. Three stages.

The first stage, you consecrate yourself in your heart. From the very center of your heart, you are touched by the love of God. So you give yourself to Him. But you do not know what is involved. You do not know what will happen.

All you know is you are touched by the love of Christ. This is your first love. So you give yourself to Him. But you do not know what will happen. It is the heart desire. Now, that is the first stage.

That means that now you are beginning to go the way of consecration. Put it in another way. In the second stage. Because you have consecrated yourself willingly and voluntarily to God. God accepts it.

And after He has accepted your consecration, now He will make it real. He will congratulate and continually make you a consecrated person. Now consecration is in seriousness. Why is it so? Because God will never violate your will.

He created us with a free will. And He honors that will. He has many things to do in your life. He wants to bless you with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. But He will not force you.

Until you are willing, then He will start to work. So you find consecration is important. Consecration in the beginning is a willingness. Consecration in the beginning is a willingness. Because you are willing to consecrate yourself to the Lord.

The Holy Spirit's Work in Consecration

So now He is going to work. Now the spiritual exercise of consecration begins. Now your spirit begins to exercise. Now the Holy Spirit in your spirit begins to speak. And He begins to direct you. He begins to instruct you.

After you are saved. After you consecrate your life to the Lord. The Holy Spirit will begin to touch your spirit. Because the Bible says He is the anointing within you. He will teach you in all things.

In small things as well as in big things. And if you listen to the voice of the Spirit, now you abide in Christ. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit within us will begin to speak to us to our spirit.

And He will make your consecration real. You say you have consecrated yourself to the Lord. Now how do you know? The Holy Spirit will work in us tenderly according to His wisdom. He will begin to take away anything in you that is not of Christ.

And He will begin to add Christ to you. We do not know how many things that are holding us back from Christ. We say we love the Lord, but there are so many things that have precedence over Christ. So the Holy Spirit has to begin to work in your life.

He begins very softly. Maybe in the very beginning, He will begin to touch something of your life. Maybe you have the habit of exaggeration. Maybe you have the habit of telling lies. But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you consecrate your life to the Lord, well, when you speak, your old habit is there.

So you begin to speak exaggeratedly and incorrectly. And even you will tell some white lies. Now, what will happen? Before you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you did that, you felt good about it. But now, when you do it, somehow, you feel uncomfortable.

Can I say that? Can a Christian say that? You have to confess your sin before there is peace in you. Maybe you love something. Or maybe a small thing. But this is something that really you love. You love the world.

You love the things of the world. But the Holy Spirit began to work in you. And your spirit began to be exercised. The Lord said, Can you give this up for me? Did you have such experience? You have a habit.

And the Holy Spirit began to touch your old habit. Or maybe you like to sleep late. And the Holy Spirit began to speak to you and said, You should get up a little earlier to commune with me, to read your Bible, and to pray.

Did you struggle over it? Thank God! By the grace of God, you overcome it. And you are able to get up a little earlier and spend some more time with the Lord. Your old habit began to drop off. And a new habit began to grow in your life.

But you need to be exercised. You struggle over it? You pray over it? You try, you fail, and by the grace of God, you succeed. So you find the Holy Spirit touching the things outside. And gradually, He will even touch your thought life.

And He will begin to clear up your thinking. Instead of thinking things below, you begin to think things above. He begins to touch your emotions. Your love. You think that you love the Lord. But you find that you love somebody else more than the Lord.

And the Lord began to say, Do you really love me more than these? And you struggle over it. Your spirit seems to be an exercise. And finally, the Lord gets you over. And says, Lord, I'm willing to give this up.

You are my love. The Lord begins to touch your will. You have your opinion. You have your idea. You have your plan. And the Lord begins to touch you. And how you struggle until your consecration becomes real.

So you find that the Spirit of God as your coach, He will exercise your spirit. Deliver you, not only from the world, but deliver you from your soul. Until the Lord came in such a way that after crisis over crisis, you come to that point that you're really absolutely surrendered to Him.

That is a trying time. That is what we call growing pain. That is the way that we grow spiritually through spiritual exercise. And after one day, there seems to be a climax. And when you get through that climax, then you enter into the third stage.

And the third stage is a consecrated life. Now, your life is a consecrated life. That is to say, now you really live for Him. Now you are willing to follow Him all the way. It doesn't mean that from now on there will be no testing.

There will be no temptation. No. It simply means you have got over and it becomes easy or easier for you to submit yourself. And your life now is a consecrated life. Let me tell you a story to illustrate this.

C. T. Studd and Searching Scripture for God's Commands

I think probably you have heard of the Cambridge Seven. There was one time when seven graduates of Cambridge University came to China as missionaries. And one of them was C .T. Studd. And C .T. Studd was well known in England because he was the best cricketeer in England.

So everybody knows about him. And his father was a millionaire. And he inherited lots of money. But through the old Moody he came to the Lord. And he felt the Lord call him to China. But before he came to China he first traveled through the three isles of Great Britain.

One day he was in Edinburgh. And he was to speak in a big church in Edinburgh. And the pastor of that church is F .B. Meyer. And now many knows the name of F .B. Meyer. He wrote many, many books. And his English is so good.

When you read his writing if he writes about river you'll hear the water flowing. He was a brilliant young man. And he was very successful as a pastor of that big church. C .T. Stutt came. And stayed with him.

Early in the morning. That was in November. You know, in Edinburgh November is very cold and chilly. And early in the morning he saw that C .T. Stutt's room has light. And as the host he was concerned.

He wondered if something happened. But out of courtesy he felt he shouldn't go and knock the door so early. So he waited and waited. But the light was still on. And finally he could not contain himself.

So he knocked the door. And heard a voice. Come in. He went in. And saw C .T. Stutt sitting there. Wrapped himself up with the rug. And the light was on. So F .B. Meyer said, My, you are early. And C .T. just said, I love the Lord.

I love His Word. I'm searching His Word for His command that I may obey. You know, brothers and sisters when we search the Scripture what are we looking for? We look for promise. We avoid all the commands.

And we may be so lazy. We don't know where the promises are. So we have the promise box. So we just pick up one card. And there you have the promise for the day. Now does it mean we love the Lord? But here was a person.

He searched the Scripture for God's command. That He may follow. So that touched Meyer deeply. So Meyer said, I want what you have. And C .T. Stutt said, Have you consecrated yourself? Telling a pastor, Have you consecrated yourself?

Meyer said, I have consecrated myself to the Lord. C .T. Stutt said, no. Have you put your whole life, everything in your life, one by one, handed over? Not just generally. But everything in your life, hand it over to the Lord.

What else he said, I haven't done that. Do it. So Meyer began with the Lord. Numbering everything in his life. And pass it on to the Lord. But there is one thing, he couldn't give to the Lord. And he said, the Lord came to him.

So he put a bundle of keys to the Lord. The keys to his life. To every room of his life. But he kept a small key behind. The Lord said, no. Have me, Meyer said. If you allow me to keep this small key, I promise you, I will do more for you.

The Lord said, no. And the Lord began to turn away. Every Meyer was in desperation. So he cried out. Make me willing to be willing. And on that word, the Lord turned back and took the whole bundle with that small key away.

And take some time to open every room. Every room. Brothers and sisters. After that, he was greatly used by the Lord. So here you'll find, consecration is not just once forever. Consecration is a door with a way.

It is a way that we have to walk throughout our life. Not until we come to live a consecrated life you have real consecration. So brothers and sisters, this is our first spiritual exercise. We have to exercise our spirit daily concerning this matter of consecration.

Daily Consecration Under the Holy Spirit

That's the reason why you find the fire of the burnt offering never goes out. The fire is burning day and night. So brothers and sisters, let's begin our exercise under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Don't try to do it all by yourself. We will talk about that later on. But be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And then you will discover what our Lord Jesus said. I come to give life and life more abundantly.

So may the Lord lead us in this spiritual exercise. Dear Lord, we commit Thy word into Thy hand. And trust Thy Holy Spirit to make it real to every one of us. That Christ may be all and all in us. We ask in Thy name.

Amen. Amen.