III. I have a third head, but my time is gone, and,
therefore, just these hints. THE RESULTS OF SUCH A
CONSECRATION.
Immediately after God’s appearing to Abraham, his
consecration was manifest, first, in his prayer for his
family. “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” Men of
God, if you are indeed the Lord’s, and feel that you
are his, begin now to intercede for all who belong to
you. Never be satisfied unless they are saved too; and
if you have a son, an Ishmael, concerning whom you have
many fears and much anxiety, as you are saved yourself,
never cease to groan out that cry, “O that Ishmael
might live before thee!”
The next result of Abraham’s consecration was, that he
was most hospitable to his fellow men. Look at the next
chapter. He sits at the tent door, and three men come
to him. The Christian is the best servant of humanity
in a spiritual sense. I mean that for his Master’s sake
he endeavours to do good to the sons of men. He is of
all men the first to feed the hungry and to clothe the
naked, and as much as lieth in him to do good unto all
men, especially unto such as be of the household of
faith.
The third result was, Abraham entertained the Lord
himself, for amongst those three angels who came to his
house was the King of kings, the infinite One. Every
believer who serves his God doth, as it were, give
refreshment to the divine mind. I mean this, God took
an infinite delight in the work of his dear Son. He
said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased,” and he takes a delight also in the holiness
of all his people. Jesus sees of the travail of his
soul, and is satisfied by the works of the faithful,;
and you, brethren, as Abraham entertained the Lord, do
entertain the Lord Jesus with your patience and your
faith, with your love and your zeal, when you are
thoroughly consecrated to him.
Once more, Abraham became the great intercessor for
others. The next chapter is full of his pleadings for
Sodom. He had not been able to plead before, but after
circumcision, after consecration, he becomes the King’s
remembrancer, he is installed into the office of a
priest, and he stands there crying, “Wilt thou not save
the city? Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the
wicked?” O beloved, if we do but become consecrated to
God, thoroughly so, as I have attempted feebly to
describe, we shall become mighty with God in our
pleadings. I believe one holy man is a greater blessing
to a nation than a whole regiment of soldiers. Did not
they fear more the prayers of John Knox than the arms
of ten thousand men? A man who lives habitually near to
God is like a great cloud for ever dropping with
fertilising showers. This is the man who can say, “The
earth is dissolved, I bear up the pillars thereof.”
France had never seen so bloody a revolution had there
been men of prayer to preserve her. England, amidst the
commotions which make her rock to and fro, is held fast
because prayer is put up incessantly by the faithful.
The flag of old England is nailed to her mast, not by
the hands of her sailors, but by the prayers of the
people of God. These, as they intercede day and night,
and as they go about their spiritual ministry, these
are they for whom God spareth nations, for whom he
permitteth the earth still to exist; and when their
time is over, and they are taken away, the salt being
taken from the earth, then shall the elements dissolve
with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that
are therein, shall be burnt up; but not until he hath
caught away the saints with Christ into the air shall
this world pass away. He will spare it for the
righteous’ sake. Seek after the highest degree of
sanctity, my dear brethren and sisters, seek for it,
labour for it; and while you rest in faith alone for
justification, be not slack concerning growth in grace,
that the highest attainments be your ambition, and God
grant them to you, for his Son’s sake. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
