OME people object to taking vows, Ss but in the Bible you will find many great men of God directed by covenants, promises, vows and pledges. The psalmist was not averse to the taking of vows. "Thy vows are upon me, O God," he said.
"I will render my praises unto thee"
My counsel in this matter is that if you are really concerned about spiritual improvement—the gaining of new power, new life, new joy and new personal revival within your heart—you will do well to make certain vows and proceed to keep them.
If you should fail, go down in humility and repent and start over. But always keep these vows before you. They will help harmonize your heart with the vast powers that flow out and down from the throne where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
A carnal man refuses the discipline of such commitments. He says, "I want to be free. I don't want to lay any vows upon myself; I don't believe in it. It is legalism." Well, let me paint a picture of two men. ki | One of them will not take vows. He standing that in their flesh dwells no will not accept any responsibility. He good thing. And they know that withwants to be free. And he is free, in a out God's enablement any vows taken measure—just as a tramp is free. The would be broken before sundown. tramp is free to sit on a park bench Nevertheless, believing in God, reverby day, sleep on a newspaper by ently they took certain sacred vows. night, get chased out of town on This is the way to spiritual power.
Thursday morning, and find his way Now there are five vows I have in up a set of creaky stairs in some flopmind which we do well to make and house on Thursday night. Such a man keep.
DEAL THORis free, but he is also useless. He OUGHLY WITH SIN. Sin has been clutters up the world whose air he driven underground these days and breathes. has come up with a new name and Let's look at another man—maybe face. You may be subjected to this a president or prime minister or any phenomenon in the schools.
Sin is great man who carries upon himself being called by various fancy names— the weight of government. Such men anything but what it really is. For exare not free. But in the sacrifice of ample, men don't get under conviction their freedom they step up their any more; they get a guilt complex. power. If they insist upon being free, | Instead of confessing their guilt to they can be free, just like the tramp.
God and getting rid of it, they lie on But they choose rather to be bound. a couch and try to tell a man who There are many religious tramps in ought to know better all about themthe world who will not be bound by selves. It comes out after a while that anything. They have turned the grace they were deeply disappointed when of God into personal license. But the they were two years old or some such great souls are ones who have gone thing. That's supposed to make them reverently to God with the underbetter.
The whole thing is ridiculous, beself-pity. cause sin is still the ancient enemy of There is resentfulness.
If you're the soul. It has never changed. We've resentful, admit it.
I have met people got to deal firmly with sin in our lives. who live in a state of sputtering inLet's remember that. "The kingdom dignation most of the time. I know of of God is not meat and drink," said a preacher who acts like a hen thrown Paul, "but righteousness, and peace, out of the nest. He keeps running in and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rightall directions clucking and complaineousness lies at the door of the king- . ing—somebody is always doing him dom of God. "The soul that sinneth, wrong.
Well, if you have gof that it shall die." spirit, you must deal with it now. You This is not to preach sinless permust get that out of you. The blood of fection.
This is to say that every Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. known sin is to be named, identified Instead of covering it up and trying and repudiated, and that we must to find a Greek marginal rendering trust God for deliverance from it, so somewhere to hide it under, call it by that there is no conscious, deliberate its right name and get rid of it by the sin anywhere in our lives. It is abgrace of God. solutely necessary that we deal thus, And then there is your temper. because God is a holy God and sin is Don't call it indignation. Don't try to on the throne of the world. christen it by some other name. Call So don't call your sins by some it what it is. Because if you havea bad other name. If you're jealous, call it temper you will either get rid of it or jealousy. If you tend to pity yourself it will get rid of much of your spirand feel that you are not appreciated, ituality and most of your joy. but are like a flower born to blush So let's deal with sin thoroughly. unseen and waste your sweetness on Let's be perfectly candid. God loves the desert air, call it what it is— candid people.
| Now the second vow is NEVER i there. If it's God's you no longer need OWN ANYTHING. I do not mean by | to worry about it. this that you cannot have things.
I Let me point out some things you'll mean that you ought to get delivered ] have to turn over to God. Property is from the sense of possessing them. one thing. Some of the dear Lord's This sense of possessing is what | children are being held back because hinders us. All babies are born with | there's a ball and chain on their legs. their fists clenched, and it seems to me
| If it's a man, it's his big car and fine it means "This is mine!" One of the home.
If it's a woman it's her china first things they say is "mine" in an and her Louis XIV furniture and all angry voice. That sense of "This is the rest. Take that vase for instance. mine" is a very injurious thing to the There it stands, and if anybody spirit. If you can get rid of it so that knocked it off and broke it the poor you have no feeling of possessing anyowner would probably lose five years thing, there will come a great sense from her life! of freedom and liberty into your life.
The third, vow is this: NEVER DENow don't think that you must FEND YOURSELF. We're all born sell all that you have and give it to with a desire to defend ourselves. charity.
No. God will let you have And if you insist upon defending your car and. your business, your yourself, God will let you do it. But if practice and your position, whatever you turn the defense of yourself over it may be, provided you understand | to God He will defend you. He told that it is not yours at all, but His, and j Moses once, in Exodus 23: "I will be all you are doing is just working for an enemy unto thine enemies and an Him. You can be restful about it then, adversary to thine adversaries." because we never need to worry about A long time ago the Lord and I losing anything that belongs to somewent through the twenty-third of one else. If it is yours, you're always Exodus together and He gave it to me. looking in your hand to see if it's still
For thirty years now it has been a | source of untold blessing to my life. of other days. Once he was seeking I don't have to fight. The Lord does what some Christians have told me the fighting for me. And He'll do the they are seeking—to know God better. same for you. He will be an enemy to Let's put it like this: you are seeking your enemy and an adversary to your to have a religious awakening within adversary, and you'll never need to your spirit that will thrust you farther defend yourself. out into the deep things of God. Well, What do we defend? Well, we deas Henry Suso was seeking God, peofend our talents, we defend our servple started telling evil stories about ice, and particularly we defend our the man, and it grieved him so that he reputation. Your reputation is what wept bitter tears and had great sorrow people think you are, and if a story of heart. gets out about you the big temptation Then one day he looked out the is to try to run it down. But you know, window and saw a dog playing on the running down the source of a story is lawn. The dog had a mat, and kept a hopeless task. Absolutely hopeless! picking the mat up, tossing it over his It's like trying to find the bird after shoulder, running and getting it, tossyou've found the feather on your ing it some more, picking it up and lawn. You can't do it. But if you'll tossing it again. God said to Henry turn yourself wholly over to the Lord Suso, "That mat is your reputation, He will defend you completely and see and I am letting the dogs of sin tear to it that no one will harm you. "No your reputation to shreds and toss it weapon that is formed against thee all over the lawn for your own good. shall prosper," He says, and "every One of these days things will change."
' tongue that shall rise against thee in And things did change. It was not judgment thou shalt condemn"
(Isa. very long before the people who were 54:17). tearing his reputation were. conHenry Suso was a great Christian founded, and Suso rose into a place ll that made him a power in his day and table manners. And He won't let you. a great blessing still to those who sing eat unless you obey the etiquette of his hymns and read his works. the table. And what is that? The etiquette of the table is that you don't
Next, vow NEVER PASS ANYtell stories about the brother who is THING ON ABOUT ANYBODY sitting at the table with you—no matELSE
THAT WILL HURT HIM. ter what his denomination, or na- "Love covers a multitude of sins" tionality, or background.
(I Peter 4:8). The talebearer has no place in God's favor.
If you know Our next vow is NEVER ACsomething that would hinder or hurt CEPT ANY GLORY. God is jealous the reputation of one of God's chilof His glory and He will not give His dren, bury it forever. Find a little glory to another. He will not even garden out back—a little spot someshare His glory with another.
It is where—and when somebody comes quite natural, I should say, for people around with an evil story, take it out to hope that maybe their Christian and bury it, and say, "Here lies in service will give them a chance to dispeace the story about my brother." play their talents. True, they want to God will take care of it. "With what serve the Lord. But they also want judgment ye. judge, ye shall be other people to know they are serving judged." the Lord. They want to have a reputaIf you want God to be good to you, tion among the saints. That is very you are going to have to be good to dangerous ground—seeking a reputa~His children. You say, "That's not tion among the saints. It's bad enough grace." Well, grace gets you into the to seek a reputation in the world, but kingdom of God. That is unmerited it's worse to seek a reputation among favor. But after you are seated at the the people of God. Our Lord gave up Father's table He expects to teach you His reputation, and so must we.
Meister Eckhart once preached a got to be written in your own blood.
They have to be made final, irrevocaple. He said, "Now there was nothing ble.
If it only comes off the surface, wrong with those men selling and it's no good. Much of our consecration buying there.
There was nothing is just that way—it comes off the surwrong with exchanging money there; face. Many of owr promises come off it had to be. The sin lay in their doing the surface. No, no. Let it come out of it for profit. They got a percentage on the depths of your heart, the deep serving the Lord." And then he made depths of your spirit. the application: "Anybody that serves These vows cut against the old hufor a commission, for what little bit of man nature. They introduce the cross glory he can get out of it, is a merinto your life. And nobody ever walks chant and he ought to be cast out of back from carrying his cross—nobody, the temple." ever. When a man takes his cross he's I go along with this. If you're servalready said good-by. He's pulled the ing the Lord, and yet slyly—perhaps roll top shut on his desk and said scarcely known to you—you're hoping farewell to his wife and children. He's to get just a little five percent comnot coming back. The man with the mission, then look out! It will chill the cross never comes back. When you power of God in your spirit. You must make these vows, remember: they determine that you will never take introduce the cross into your life, they any glory, but see that God gets it all. strike at the heart of your self-life and there is never a place to go back Now the easiest possible thing is to to. And I say, "Woe to the triflers!" give a message like this. The hard In America—and maybe in other thing is to make it work in one's own places, too—so many people are saylife. Remember that these five vows ing, "Try Jesus, try God!"
Triflers, are not something you write in the experimenters, tasters they are. Like back of your Bible and forget. They've a rabbit with a half dozen holes so if |
| one is stopped up he can flee to another! No! From the cross there is no place to flee. You don't "try" Jesus.
He's not there to be experimented with. Christ is not on trial. You are.
I am. He's not! God raised Him from the dead and forever confirmed His deity and sealed Him and set Him at His own right hand as Lord and Christ. Turn everything over to Him and you'll find your life begin to lift.
You'll blossom in a wonderful way.
Now, if you happen to be one of those on whom God has laid His hand for a deeper life, a more powerful life, a fuller life, then I wonder if you would be willing to pray this kind of prayer:
"O God, glorify Thyself at my expense. Send me the bill—anything, Lord. I set no price. I will not dicker or bargain.
Pll take the consequences."
This kind of praying is simple, but it's deep and wonderful and powerful.
I believe, if you can pray a prayer like that, it will be the ramp from which you can take off into higher heights and bluer skies in the things of the Spirit,