–Romans 8:23(HCSB)
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There have been all kinds of stories going forth since the virus struck.  Everything from you have to get vaccinated, but it still won’t do any good to the doomsday prophets and wild prophecies.  I read one the other day, and it didn’t come from left field, but from way out in foul territory.  The thoughts were off-kilter and he had only one perspective.  I don’t think the person had ever read the Old Testament.
       However, he did make one good statement:  “Our politics should not determine our theology.”  I agree with that, but then more important is that our theology should determine our politics.  All that we do should be based on sound biblical theology.   Abortion on demand, transgendering and gay lifestyle, anarchy, and socialism were a few things he brought up, saying that Republicans and conservatives have left the Bible.  Interesting, I thought; it seems that the person does not have a very good insight into the person of God–His natural and moral attributes.  Love and mercy are “holy” attributes of God, but so are justice and wrath “holy” attributes of God.
       As I pondered what to write this morning, my thoughts went to a well-used devotional book I have.  God Is No Fool, by Lois A. Cheney.  It’s been a while since I’ve used something so today I thought I’d search out one of the devotions that came to mind.

               They say that God has infinite patience,
               And that is a great comfort.

               They say God is always there,
               And that is a deep satisfaction.

               They say that God will always take you back,
               And I get lazy in that certitude.

               They say that God never gives up,
               And I count on that.

               They say you can go away for years and years,
               And he’ll be there, waiting, when you come back.

               They say you can make mistake after mistake,
               And God will always forgive and forget.

               They say lots of things,
               These people who never read the Old Testament

               There comes a time,
               A definite, for sure time,
               When God turns around.

                I don’t believe God shed his skin
                When Christ brought in the New Testament;
                Christ showed us a new side of God,
                And it is truly wonderful.

               But he didn’t change God.
               God remains forever and ever
               And that God
               is
               no
               fool.

Remember, as in the days of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife, and on I could go.  I could go on with other examples.  There comes a time when God says, “that is enough.”

                    –Romans 1:12 (NLT)
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                         “I surrender all,  
                          I surrender all,
                          All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
                          I surrender all.”
                                   –J.W. Van DeVenter

I imagine many of you know that chorus, and possibly have sung it.  Back in the “olden days” when hymns were sung, it was one of the main songs used for altar calls.  Hymns and altars, hmmm, a thing of the past, but that’s another topic.  Right now concentrate on those few words.  All–consecration!  I want to take time to look at this hymn and some words from F.B. Meyer on the idea of surrendering all, or consecration.

                         “All to Jesus I surrender,
                          All to Him I freely give;
                          I will ever love and trust Him,
                          In His service daily live.

                          All to Jesus I surrender,
                          Humbly at His feet I bow;
                          Worldly pleasure all forsaken,
                          Take me Jesus, take me now.”

“All!”  what does that mean?  What is giving ourselves to Jesus?  Meyer says that “Consecration is giving Jesus His own.  We are His by right, because He bought us with His blood.  But, alas!  He has not had His money’s worth!  He paid for all, and He had had but a fragment of our energy, time, and earnings.”  We have robbed Him.  We stay home from church and use the virus as an excuse, completely ignoring the words of Scripture.  We keep money to ourselves that rightly belongs to the Lord, and I’m not just talking about tithes, but “all” belongs to Him.  We are but stewards.
       A couple more stanzas:

                          “All to Jesus I surrender,
                           Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
                           Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
                           Truly know that Thou art mine.

                           All to Jesus I surrender,
                           Lord, I give myself to Thee;
                           Fill me with Thy love and power,
                           Let Thy blessing fall on me.”

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.'” (John 14:23, NASB)  I don’t know if you have read this verse or not before, but look at it closely.  I know that Paul declares in Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:39).  However, look closely at what Meyer calls manifested love.  “This doorway is very narrow, and the entrance is only possible for those who will lay aside weights as well as sins.  A weight is anything which, without being essentially wrong or hurtful to others, is yet a hindrance to ourselves.” (Meyer)  
       Do you have weights that need to be surrendered?  Are they holding you back from the best that the Lord has for you?  Notice that the verse in John deals with obedience, that means the giving of the will to God.  We cry to love Him, but do we love Him with our will?  With our emotions?  With our minds?  Are we consecrated enough that ALL belongs to Him?  

                         “All to Jesus I surrender,
                          Now I feel the sacred flame;
                          O the joy of full salvation,
                          Glory, glory to His name.”

Do you feel it?  The refiner’s fire; the sacred flame of the Holy Spirit burning deep within you.  It is vital in this day that we not live a wishy-washy, half-hearted Christian life, but one that is wholly acceptable to Him.  Repent of sins; give Him the weights that so easily beset you (Hebrews 12:1).

                    –Cliff Hudgins  (Viejo and the Outlaw)

       “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
                    –Colossians 3:2 (NASB)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”  –1 John 5:19 (NASB)

The three disciples who were the closest to Jesus saw a marvelous, unexplainable to the natural, sight on the Mount.  Jesus began to glow, they heard the voice of the Father–they were given a glimpse of glory.  They had come up from the plains, from the valley into the mountain.  While there, they forgot all the misery and unhappiness down below, in fact, Peter wanted to pitch a tent there, but the Lord reminded them that they were to live on the plain.  The work to be done was in the valley.  In other words, plainly put, we are meant to live in this world.

               “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
                              –1 John 3:3 (NASB)

               “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
                              –James 1:22(NASB)

Notice the words:  “purifies himself,” and “prove yourselves.”  We must purify ourselves; we must prove ourselves.  First notice, it is not ought to, but does.  Then notice who does it.

               “You and I, having a vision of glory, have to come down and translate it into practice and put it into daily operation, and if it does not lead to that, then we are abusing the Scripture.”
                              –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

God sometimes gives us a tremendous blessing.  It may be in a church service; it may come from reading the Bible; it may come as we are walking through His wonderful creation.  We have those special times, those special moments, but we must use them to become a better person and to put it to work in our normal, daily, routine lives.
       Peter proclaims that we are to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).  We try so hard (at times) but we fail.  Why is that?  It is that we do not recognize that we are a child of God.  It is not a gift; it is not a fruit, yet it is some for which we are to strive.
       I am going to go back to some of our earlier studies.  We fail because our belief is defective!  We are not in the Word; we do not know or adhere to the doctrines.  In fact, we do not like to study the doctrines, and ministers do not like to proclaim and teach the doctrines, yet it is one of the very reasons that we fail in our attempt of holiness.  The great need is to understand who we are so that the practice of holiness is inevitable.  Lloyd-Jones says, “Holiness is something that follows and is an inevitable deduction from doctrine, from an understanding of our position as Christian people.”
       It is something we practice.  Something we do and it takes time and effort.  Every day,  every hour we should be practicing holy living.  I have often said that a warrior is someone who lives his training all the time.  The same is true of a Christian in regard to holiness.

               “I must therefore never talk about this idea of living the holy life because it is a good life in and of itself.  Rather, my only reason for being holy is that I am a child of God and that I am destined for glory, and if I do not practice holiness in those terms I will sooner or later inevitably go astray.”
                              –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

       We often look at holiness in the wrong way.  Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are.  We live a holy life because we are children of God.  We live a holy life because we are Christians (Christ-like).  Since we are to meet God we need to prepare to meet Him.
       Beware–never conceive of holiness as a kind of higher or happier or holier life; it must be regarded as a life to which all Christians are called.  It should be routine; it should the norm of the Christian life.  Never get to the place where you say to someone, “I am holier that you,” for if you do, that destroys your work.  The person who truly practices holiness does not draw attention to it because it is part of his life.  I like what Lloyd-Jones says, “It [holiness] is not something in a separate category and department; it is something that flows out of the life that is in them; it is an inevitable expression of what they have received.”
       Holiness is not a gift–it is something which we work out.  Paul writes in Philippians, “…work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13, NASB).   I have wondered many times what this means, for salvation comes by grace through faith, but in the development of holiness, practicing the life of Christ in ourselves, it is us reacting and practicing what God is doing inside us.

               –Louis L’Amour  (Kilrone)

        “I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that  you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.”

               –Galatians 5:10(NKJV)
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David is surrounded; he is crying out to God to care of his enemies.  He knows that his enemies are God’s enemies as well.  In the midst of this calamity and seemingly hopeless situation David says that he will sing.  It almost seems he is saying that he will be singing as he goes into battle, and not just any song, or a song of triumph, but a song of praise to the Lord.  Let’s look at the rest of Psalm 59, again from the New Living Translation.

          11 — Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons; stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees, O Lord our shield.
          12 — Because of the sinful things they say, because of the evil that is on their lips, let them be captured by their pride, their curses, and their lies.
          13 — Destroy them in your anger!  Wipe them out completely!  Then the whole world will know that God reigns in Israel.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Interlude [Selah]
          14 — My enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets.
          15 — They scavenge for food but go to sleep unsatisfied.
          16 — But as for me, I will sing about your power.  I will shout with joy each morning because of your unfailing love.  For you have been my refuge, a place of safety in the day of distress.
          17 — O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.

     One of the problems that we most often have is that we tend to look at things with the natural eye.  We focus on the danger rather than God’s deliverance.  Now, I’m not saying we should not be aware of our surroundings and our enemies, but we should even be more aware of the presence of God.  At night David hears the snarling, growling, and howls of the wilds dogs–his enemies, but he does not let them dominate his thoughts.  He will sing praises, and shout in the morning because of God’s unfailing love or as some translations render, His mercy.
     As we look with spiritual eyes (O, Lord, give us the eyes of Elisha) we will see the fate of evil.  The more evil we see the greater our praise should be.  Charles H. Spurgeon said, “The greater our present trials, the louder our future songs be, and the more intense our joyful gratitude.”  Paul says that we are to be thankful in whatever situation we find ourselves.  No matter the circumstance, God is there with us.  I used to say, that God loves to see us in situations where there is no way out, but then He provides a way.  When the solution seems to be impossible, on the scene will arrive the God of the impossible.

          “The long, long night is past, the morning breaks at last,
          And hushed the dreadful wail and fury of the blast,
          As o’er the golden hills the day advances fast!
          The Comforter has come!”
               –Frank Bottome