Framework – Our Obligations to God

The Foundation and Framework of Devotion to God

0:01 That's the very simple title of the very profound subject which your elders have asked me to address in this Bible conference. And so for two previous times of study and preaching, we have been considering this broad and vital subject of devotion to God. Now if devotion to God is anything, surely it is a life given over to God to love Him supremely and to serve Him exclusively. And as we have taken up this study, we began by considering that there must be a foundation for a life of devotion to God. We do not naturally live. We don't live lives devoted to God. By nature, we are everything but devoted to God.

1:03 We're devoted to self, to sin, to the world, and to the devil. And that's the testimony of the Bible concerning every single one of us by nature. No matter how that may express itself in a lovely, polite, correct, cultured, Christian, quote, experience, or in an open, godless, blaspheming lifestyle, by nature, none of us is devoted to God. And if we are to live a life devoted to God, there must be the foundation for that life.

1:45 And the only foundation recognized in the scriptures is that of a sound, biblical conversion to God. And so we study together from 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, and 10, this statement of what it means to be converted to God. It means that when the gospel comes to us in the Holy Spirit and in power and in much conviction, 1 Thessalonians 1, 5, we are enabled to turn to God from everything that rivals God's rightful place in our hearts. We turn to God from our idols.

2:26 With a disposition to serve him as slaves, and to eagerly await his Son out of the heavens, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And then we began last night to consider the framework of a life of devotion to God. If that foundation has been laid by grace, and we have been truly converted to God, then there must be the framework. Using the imagery of a house, if we are to live a life of devotion to God.

3:01 And I suggested that the first main beam in that framework of a life of devotion to God is a clear understanding and constant apprehension of our true position before God. And the main point of our study was this, that if we are truly converted, we can, we can only live a life of true devotion to God if we understand and then spiritually, as it were, imprison in our hearts the basic realities of how God now regards us. If through grace we have turned to God from our idols to serve him and to wait for his Son from heaven, God regards us in a very special and a unique way. And if we are to grow in devotion to God, we must understand how we stand before God. And then we examine the three wonderful aspects of our standing before God. We are justified before God, we are reconciled to God, and we are adopted by God and all of that on the ground of what Christ and Christ alone is.

Our Obligations to God: The Second Main Beam

4:24 Now this morning we move to lay as it were the second main beam in the framework of a life of devotion to God. We must not only have an understanding and an apprehension of our position before God if we are to live a life of devotion to God. But we must have, and here is our second main beam in the framework, we must have a clear understanding of our position before God. We must have a clear understanding and determined performance of our obligations to God.

5:04 We must have a clear understanding and a determined performance of our obligations to God. Now as I did last night, so I'll do tonight. Let me explain the meaning of the words in the title of our study this morning. First of all, we are dealing, with this matter, of understanding our obligations towards God.

5:32 Now an obligation is a duty of binding responsibility. For instance, you children, mom or dad may say to you, well, son, honey, Sally, Mary, whatever your name may be, would you like to go outside and play in the yard this morning? Now when she asks you that question, she is not laying a duty or an obligation upon you. What she's doing is, is seeking to understand whether you would voluntarily like to go and play out in the yard.

6:10 But if she says, now mommy's got some important things to do, and for the next hour, I want you to play out in the backyard, now you have an obligation. She has laid out a duty, which you are to perform. And if you stay in the house, you ought to have your bottom spanked for willful disobedience to a known obligation. When she says, run out in the backyard and stay there till I call you, she has made known an obligation.

6:43 Now we're dealing this morning with the matter of our obligations to God. Now the Bible teaches on the one hand, that all of God's creatures, are obligated to obey Him, to keep His law, and are guilty and condemned because they do not. And whether you're a Christian or not, you are still obligated to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. You have no power to do so in yourself, but you're still obligated to do so.

7:13 It's your obligation as a creature. But we're concerned this morning to speak of the obligations that are upon us, in whom the foundation has been laid. By God's grace, we have turned to God from our idols. We have been truly converted.

7:32 We have come to some clear understanding and apprehension of our position before God. And I am saying, if we are to grow in our devotion to God, we must have a clear understanding of our obligations to God. Now that we are no longer guilty criminals, but reckoned as law-abiding citizens in the court of heaven, no longer alienated enemies, but bosom friends of God, no longer regarded as disinherited aliens, but beloved sons and daughters, there are peculiar obligations and duties laid upon us by the very God who has justified, reconciled, and adopted us. Now I know in many circles, when you use the terminology duty and obligation, people immediately assume anything that's duty is dirty. Anything you do as an obligation, that's legalism. Well, I have news for you.

8:43 Nothing could be further from the truth. Unless we're prepared to call our Lord Jesus Christ a legalist, then doing our duty as duty is not legalism. For Jesus said, even of his death upon the cross, this commandment have I received of my Father. And in the context, he was speaking of laying down his life as the great shepherd on behalf of his sheep.

9:16 So we are concerned then, in this whole subject of devotion to God, that we understand this second main beam in the framework of a life of devotion to God, and it has to do with duty. You see, when grace has conquered us, it gives us a heart to do our duty, and a heart to delight in our duty. And perhaps the clearest example of this is seen in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. You remember what he was doing when God arrested him?

Grace Conquers and Delights in Duty

9:52 The scripture says he was like a mad dog, or like we see in some of the old fairy stories, a fire-breathing dragon. It says he was breathing out threatenings and slaughters upon the church. He was on his way to Damascus with letters from the officials to give him power to find Christians and go into houses and snuff them out, as it were, and commit them to bonds and to prison. And on his way, it says, oh, the Lord said, now, enough's enough.

10:23 It's time to get my man. And on his road to Damascus, there was suddenly, you remember, that bright light above the brightness of the noonday sun. And out of that light, which Paul knew was a revelation of God with his Old Testament background, he knew that that light was nothing other than the light of the old Shekinah glory. It was a visitation of God.

10:48 And he heard a voice say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now, he knew the voice was a divine voice because it spoke to him in the Hebrew tongue. And he answered in the Hebrew tongue, who are you, Jehovah? Identify yourself.

11:09 Who are you, Lord, that is arresting me, whom I am persecuting? Identify yourself. And the words came back, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. And you remember what Paul's next words were?

11:28 When the understanding flashed into his mind and heart by the Holy Spirit, that the very Jesus, whom I have been persecuting, whom I have been attacking as I attack His people, whom I regarded as an impostor, that Jesus is Jehovah God. And He could have consumed me and killed me and sent me to hell. But instead, He is revealing Himself to me in grace and in mercy. And what was the first response of Paul's renewed mind and heart?

12:03 He cried out, Lord, what will You have me to do? What happened? The revelation of grace bound his heart to a life of duty. And he did it with delight.

12:25 And from henceforth, he delighted to identify himself, Paul, a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. And that's precisely what God says He does in the heart of everyone upon whom the blessings of the new covenant come. Study Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 30 and 31 and 2, and they're quoted in Hebrews 8, and 10. And God says whenever He forgives a sinner his sins, He also does something else.

12:59 He takes out the heart of stone and He gives them a heart of flesh. And He writes His law upon their hearts so that everyone who is truly converted can say, I delight to do Thy will, O my God, yea, Thy law is upon my heart. Psalm 40 and verse 8. So that's what we're concerned to understand.

13:24 If we're to live a life of devotion to God, we must have an understanding of our obligations to God. And they are obligations. And the word obligation is not a cancellation of everything I preached last night. All that grace confers upon us, justification, reconciliation, adoption, binds us to our obligations to God.

The Necessity of Clear Understanding and Determined Performance

13:54 Furthermore, I've said, we must have a clear understanding of these obligations and a determined performance of them. Now what do I mean by a clear understanding? Well, I mean simply this. Ignorance is never the mother of true devotion to God.

14:18 Never forget that. Ignorance is never the mother of true devotion to God. And it's interesting that when we turn to the letters of the New Testament and see what it is that Paul prayed for his converts, his prayers focused upon God doing something in their understanding. Listen as I read from the book of Philippians chapter 1.

14:44 Paul says in verse 9, And this I pray, that is for you Philippians, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent. He prays for these who've been truly converted, that if their love and devotion is to increase, so must their understanding of the will of God. I pray that your love may abound in knowledge and in discernment, that they would have an understanding of their obligations to God. You find the same emphasis in Colossians chapter 1 verse 9. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, that is of their continuing faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, we do not cease to pray and make requests for you. Now notice what he prays. He doesn't pray that they may have some glorious baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues.

15:55 You never find such nonsense mentioned in the prayers of Paul. He doesn't pray that they will have some coat of many colors experience that'll get in tingles up and down their spine. That isn't what he prays. He doesn't even pray that they'll be healthy, wealthy and prosperous.

16:13 What does he pray? Look at the passage. It's written right in your Bible, not on my forehead. Look at it in your Bible.

16:18 For this cause since we heard of it, we do not cease to pray and make requests for you that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding in order to walk worthily of the Lord. He says you can't live a life of devotion to the Lord unless you have a clear understanding of the will of the Lord. And that's what I pray for. That God will give you a clear understanding of His will.

16:55 That you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. That is, the things you're obligated to be and to do. I pray that God may fill you with such a knowledge. Furthermore, when Jesus gave the Great Commission, what did He say?

17:12 Going therefore make disciples of all the nations. Matthew 28, 19. Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them what?

17:28 To observe whatsoever I have commanded you. In other words, teach them their duty and how to do it. That would be a legitimate paraphrase. He doesn't say teaching them all of the great mysterious things that have puzzled the minds of mankind for centuries.

17:48 He says no. Let your teaching focus in upon this very practical issue. Teach them to do whatever I have commanded. What I have commanded is their duty.

18:00 Teach them their duty and teach them how to perform it. That's the task of the church. Disciples are under solemn obligations bound to Christ by grace. And their obligation is to know His will.

Determined Performance: The Christian Life as a Race and Struggle

18:17 Have a clear understanding of it. But not only a clear understanding. I've said that second beam involves having a clear understanding and a determined performance of our obligations to God. Just as surely as we can say that ignorance is never the mother of devotion to God, indifference is never the mother of devotion to God.

18:46 No one ever came, became more devoted to God in a context of indifference. Just laying back and doing what comes naturally. No one ever became more devoted to God. I have used the vigorous language of determined performance because that reflects the whole thinking of the Bible.

19:10 How does the Bible liken living the Christian life? Well, it likens it in several places. To the running of a distance race. Hebrews chapter 12.

19:23 Having these many witnesses, the writer says, let us lay aside every sin and the weight that does so easily beset us and run with patience, endurance, the race that is set before us. The Christian life is likened to a marathon race that must be run with endurance. When you do what the runners say, hit the wall at the 20th mile and everything in your body and your mind is saying, Quick, you fool! And you've got to press through the barrier until you cross the line and obtain the reef.

19:58 Paul likens the Christian life to an endurance run. It's running a race with endurance. You find that in Philippians chapter 3 as well. This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, I press towards the mark.

20:15 There's the whole concept. The whole concept of vigorous engagement of all of his faculties. You never saw anyone win a race who got three quarters of the way through and is in first place and stopped and looked back and said, Hey, man, I've really done a good job up till now. Look at that!

20:31 Man, I've come three quarters of the way through the race and I remember, by the time he stops congratulating himself, all the other runners have gone by and he's lost it. Now that's the picture and the vibe. This one thing I do, forgetting the ground already covered, I look ahead to the ground that is yet before me. In other places, the Christian life is likened to a death struggle against sin.

20:55 Hebrews 12, You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving or agonizing against sin. It is likened unto a warrior standing on a hill that has been occupied and all of the enemy soldiers keep coming up from every side and he's hacking and whacking and shooting his arrows and standing his ground. That's the imagery of Ephesians 6. Stand, having done all, stand, stand therefore, girded with the whole armor of God.

21:26 Now I could go on and multiply the images from the New Testament that teach us that devotion to God involves not only a clear understanding of our obligations to God, but a determined performance of them. Yes, it is a performance in the strength of the Lord, in dependence upon the Lord, in the power of the Spirit of the Lord, I fully understand it, but it is nonetheless a determined performance of our duties. So that when duty calls us to part with certain sins that have become as precious to us and as much a part of us as our right hand and our right eye, what does Jesus say you have to do with them? He says, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. Now he doesn't mean literally go out and put your hand on a chopping block and cut it off. He's using a figure of speech.

22:31 There is a sin that seems to cling to you as much as your hand is an organic part of your arm and the rest of your body. What did Jesus say? If your hand offend you, spend a day in prayer, in fasting, and ask the Lord to help you. That isn't what he said.

22:48 Now you may have to spend a day in prayer and fasting. That may be part of the spiritual amputation, but that isn't what Jesus said. What did he say? If thy hand offend thee, you cut it off and you cast it from you.

23:01 If your eye offend you, you pluck it out and you cast it from you. That's what Jesus said. And we could go through the scriptures and demonstrate that a life of devotion to God is nothing less than a clear understanding and a determined performance of our obligations to God. Now, can you bring the two together?

Integrating Position and Obligation in Devotion

23:27 What is a life of devotion to God? It starts with the foundation of a true conversion. I have turned to God by grace from everything that rivals his rightful place in my heart. I've turned to God from my idols.

23:43 With a disposition to serve him as a slave and with a heart that has been fixed in love upon the Lord Jesus, I eagerly await for his Son out of heaven, the very Son who by his death and resurrection has delivered me from the coming wrath and conscious, joyfully conscious, that my position before God is one of a justified criminal, one of a reconciled enemy, one of an adopted son, rejoicing in that reality. That's the first beam that forms the framework of devotion to God. I must join to that a clear understanding and a determined performance of my obligations to God. Now, there are a lot of people who, sitting here last night, would say, Oh, that's marvelous! That's wonderful! Oh, how I rejoice in my position before God!

24:48 But when you start talking about their obligations to God, they say, Uh-oh, now the preacher's gonna be a legalist. Now the preacher's left grace and gone to law. I absolutely reject that response as being nothing but a cop-out from the teaching of the Word of God that if you're under the canopy of grace, you are also under the yoke of solemn obligations to God. And if you truly have embraced the provisions of grace, it is not a burden to do your duty as duty because God has won your heart and changed your heart.

Three Crucial Obligations: Heart, Mind, and Body

25:31 Now then, having explained the words and shown the biblical basis for them, now we proceed to consider what are the obligations to God which I must clearly understand and determine to perform if I'm to live a life devoted to God. What are those obligations? Well, in a sense, I'd have to expound the whole will of God as found in the whole Word of God in order to answer the question. Because Scripture says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

26:07 Or 2 Timothy 3.16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, not only for teaching, for reproof, pointing out our faults, for correction, showing what we ought to do in correcting the faults, but for instruction, child training, in the life of righteousness, that is, the life of practical devotion to God. So, in a sense, I'd need to preach the whole Bible. Now, obviously, I'm not prepared to do that and you're not prepared to sit and listen while I attempt it.

26:37 So, what I want to do this morning is to try to reduce the overall teaching of the Bible on this subject of devotion to God as it relates to our obligations to God to some of the most crucial issues. If you get hold of these issues, eventually the others will take their rightful place. And I suggest there is, first of all, the obligation that pertains to the heart, the obligation that pertains to the mind, and the obligation that pertains to the body, your heart, your head, and your body. Now, that should be easy to remember.

27:18 And what I'm suggesting is this, that if we're to live a life of devotion to God, true devotion to God, built upon the foundation of having truly been converted, the gospel has come to us in power. We're not just church members. We've not just made a decision, made a profession. We've not just had some experience that made us feel good.

27:40 We have really, by God's power, been turned from our idols to God. We've really come to the place where His bond slaves, and we love His Son, and we trust His Son. We're really justified, really reconciled, really adopted. Now, of such people I'm speaking, and only of such, we need to understand that our obligations to God, to which we must give up, ourselves with diligence, pertain primarily to the obligations of the heart, the obligations of the mind, and the obligations of the body.

Obligation of the Heart: Guarding its Devotion, Love, and Responsiveness

28:22 Now, what are the obligations of the heart? Let me give you one key text. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. When I use the word heart, I'm using it in the biblical sense.

28:35 The heart is the seat of what you really are.

28:41 Your life, in a sense, is nothing but an extended commentary on the state and the condition of your heart. Now, notice what Solomon says to his son, verse 23 of Proverbs 4. Keep your heart with all diligence, or as the margin reading, marginal reading in the old 1901, the old American standard is, keep your heart above all else that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life. You see what he's saying?

29:16 He's saying all the patterns of your life, in the home, in the shop, on the playground, on your dates, in your social life, in your relaxed times, in your devotional times, every stream of your life flows out of the pool of your heart. And now he says guard your heart above everything else that you guard, because out of it are the issues of life. Now, my dear friends, that is your supreme and solemn obligation before God, to guard your heart above everything else that you would guard. Why?

29:57 Because only out of the heart are the issues of life. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't guard your valuables. I treasure and guard my wedding band. It's a declaration, in all places and in all times, that I am joyfully and voluntarily committed to one woman in the sacred bonds of marriage.

30:20 And I should not treat that marriage ring with disdain. Surely I should guard it. Surely I should guard my other valuable possessions, few as they may be. And I certainly ought to guard my physical existence.

30:35 I ought not to say, well, I'm just concerned about guarding my heart. I won't look both ways before I walk out on a main highway, because if I get killed, I'll just go to heaven and my heart will rejoice. No, no. When it says guard your heart above all else that you guard, the assumption is that there are other things that you have an obligation to guard.

30:53 You are to guard your possessions. They're a trust from God. You are to guard your life. You're to guard many things.

31:00 But Solomon says, above everything else that you guard, guard your heart. And in what sense are we to guard it? Let me suggest in the following. Guard it so that it remains single and unrivaled in its devotion to God.

31:19 You see, in conversion, God won our hearts. We turn to God from everything that was his rival. We turn to God from our idols. And now the great task from that moment on is to so guard the heart that no idols are sneaked in the back door, or through the windows, or through the cracks in the floorboards.

31:45 You remember John's final word to his spiritual children in 1 John chapter 5? It's this. My little children, guard yourselves from idols. What did he mean?

32:00 Guard your heart from anything that would come in and rival God's place of supreme affection, in your heart. How can we live a life of constant and consistent devotion to God if we always have the back door of our hearts open a bit to let some other rival to God's affection enter in and take a place belonging only to him? If you would live a life of devotion to God, you have an obligation to guard your heart, to guard it in its single unrivaled devotion to God, secondly, to guard it in its fervent and hot love to God. And that's biblical language. We're to guard it in its fervent and hot love to God. You remember what happened to the Ephesian church?

33:00 Revelation chapter 2. They were very, very careful to perform many of their duties as Christians. They were doing many works that pleased the Lord. They were even faithfully doing that most distasteful work in the church.

33:20 They were disciplining people who needed to be disciplined. People say when you excommunicate someone who's living an immoral life or holding heretical teaching, well, that's such an unchristian thing to do, to throw someone out of the church. Christ doesn't call it unchristian. He commends it.

33:39 Look at Revelation 2 and verse 2. I know your works, your toil, your patience, and you cannot bear with evil men. And you tried them that call themselves apostles and are not and found them false. They had a heresy trial.

33:55 And they named these people for what they were and the Lord commends them. But now notice. For my name's sake, he said, you have borne and have not grown weary, but I have this against you. You've left.

34:09 You've left your first love. Now many think, well, leaving one's first love is just sort of like growing old and getting wrinkles and gray hair. It's inevitable. Nothing to get upset about.

34:25 No moral culpability or guilt. Is that so? Look at the next verse. Remember therefore whence you are fallen and repent.

34:36 You don't repent of gray hairs and of wrinkles. Or no hairs. If you go in bald. That's not sin.

34:48 It's not sinful to lose your hair and get gray hairs. But to lose the fervency of your love to Christ is a sin. Because it's only sin which demands repentance. So Christ says, this is a sin.

35:03 You've not guarded your heart. Oh yes. You've guarded your theology. And you've guarded the purity of the church.

35:10 And you've guarded many things. But you forgot to guard your heart above all else. And your heart is growing cold. Repent.

35:20 And then you remember in chapter 3 one of the most vivid, almost disgusting images used by the gentle Lord Jesus himself. He says to the church at Laodicea verse 15 of Revelation 3. I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I would.

35:41 I would you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I am about to vomit you. Think of it. Jesus using such coarse language.

35:55 You say preacher that's coarse. I'm sorry I didn't say it. Jesus did. We don't say spew you out of the mouth.

36:02 We don't go out and say my child had an upset stomach and he went in the bathroom and he spewed his food out of his mouth. You say he went in the bathroom and he vomited. Now that's exactly what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying here.

36:15 He says because the heart is grown cold. He said I would you were utterly cold. Utterly cold. Not lukewarm but utterly cold.

36:25 Then you'd see your need and others would see your need. Or I would you were fervent, white hot in your zeal for me. Your love to me. Your holy passion to know me and serve me and do my will.

36:41 But because you're lukewarm. You've got just enough temperature in the direction of me and my church and my word to deceive you and others into thinking everything's all right. But you're lukewarm and I'm about to vomit you. Oh dear people.

36:58 Would you live a life of devotion to God? Then understand your first duty and obligation to God. A duty and an obligation which you must seek diligently to keep is to guard your heart in its single and unrivaled devotion to God in its fervent hot love to God and in its tender responsiveness to the word of God. You see a tender heart is a heart that yields to the slightest pressure of God's word.

37:35 And you know what a hard heart is? A hard heart is? It's a heart that doesn't yield to the most powerful pummeling of God's word. You remember God said of a certain king when you were young and your heart was tender.

37:53 Oh today if you hear my voice God says to his people harden not your heart. Beware lest there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief. You know how you get a hard heart? The same way you get a callous.

38:09 When I used to do construction work summers my hands at the end of the school year usually looked like a student's hands. But by the end of the summer they looked like a laborer's hands. The first day I would go to take the block the old cinder block and concrete block and carry them around and line them up for the mason I'd come home and my hands sometimes would even have slight strokes of redness where skin had been torn off they were so tender they felt every impress of every little cinder because they were soft hands. But at the end of the summer I could throw around ten and twelve inch block all day long and come home and not have a mark or not feel a thing. Why? Over the process day after day as those blocks rubbed over the hands I developed callouses. Until I can remember I used to like to gross out my younger brothers and sisters by taking a big long needle the kind you'd sew a carpet with and run it through my fiction.

39:13 I didn't have callouses until this big needle would be stuck through the front of my hand and they'd go oh yuck! I used to brag about my callouses you see my hands now were no longer tender. Now the process from tenderness to toughness didn't come overnight it was a slow, gradual process. Hear me now hear me now listen, listen, listen there's some of you who can remember when the slightest whisper of God's rebuke from his word tore your heart it left a red bloodline upon your heart.

39:52 Can you remember? Some of you can remember when the slightest rebuke from God's word whether it had to do with unfaithfulness at the stated meetings of the church and when your pastor would remind you of your obligations to be present Sunday morning Sunday night in prayer meeting and you had some kind of a flimsy excuse to skip a prayer meeting or two and you'd sit there and your heart would smite you and you'd say, Lord Jesus, forgive me forgive me for being disloyal to you and to your church and to your kingdom and there you'd be back at prayer meeting every night your heart was tender you spoke a harsh word to your wife you felt as though you'd picked up a club and beat her a harsh word your heart was smitten and you had no rest you went to her and said, honey, forgive me you don't deserve to be spoken to like that. I'm terribly sorry that was not being like Christ who loves his church honey, will you forgive me? and you can remember she'd say, well dear I didn't even sense that you'd spoken harshly to me your heart was so tender that your confession outstripped even her awareness of your sin that was a long time ago for some of you, wasn't it? wasn't it?

41:07 come on now come on, get honest it was a long time ago, wasn't it? remember the first time you were watching television and flipping from station to station and something with foul language and half-nude women came on you looked at it for three minutes and your heart smote you you felt like you'd walked into a brothel and you turned it off and you said, Lord Jesus, wash my eyes and your blood help me never again to watch it remember? can you remember? now you can sit and drink in that filled hour after hour after hour and go to bed without a twinge of conscience remember the first time some of you women said, I wonder what the soaps are like and you turned it on and you watched and you said, oh may God have mercy adultery infidelity lechery lust women running after men like lionesses in heat men running after someone else's women like studs I'm talking bluntly but that's what that rot and filth is and some of you can remember when the first time you even dared to look at it your heart smote you and you said, oh God, forgive me how can I even tell my husband

42:35 that I looked at that kind of filth now you turn it on and you watch it hour after hour after hour after hour after hour what's happened? you've not guarded your heart in its tenderness in its sensitivity and responsiveness to the word of God now that makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? now you listen to me if a mere man preaching the word of God can make you feel uncomfortable what are you going to feel when you stand before God himself? what are you going to feel when you stand before God himself?

Obligation of the Mind: Renewal and Purging Worldly Concepts

43:18 his eyes as a flame of fire now you can leave this building in a few minutes as you will and you can try to push from your mind what you've heard but when you stand before God you won't leave his presence he'll hold you there until he's done his business with you your obligation before God is to guard your heart to guard your heart you young people in the area of your social relationships and all the rest would God that there were time enough to flush this out but I leave to the spirit of God to take the few pointed applications that I've made and multiply the arrows a hundredfold and send them to your heart there's the obligation of the heart but then there's the obligation of the mind and here the key text is Romans 12 turn with me quickly now to Romans chapter 12 would you live a life of devotion to God then understand your obligation to God the obligation of the heart to keep your heart above all that you guard keep it single and unrivaled in its devotion to God fervent and hot in its love to God tender and responsive to the word of God but then there's a duty an obligation with regard to your mind your thinker and here it is Romans chapter 12 it's not new to you

44:46 but this is the key verse I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice we'll come back to that in our final point wholly acceptable to God which is your spiritual service and do not be fashioned according to this world or this present age but be transformed now notice by the removal renewing of your mind by the constant renewal of your mind you are to be transformed in your life that you may prove put to the test in your experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God now what is this obligation with regard to my mind well it is basically this it has a positive side and a negative my mind must be continually enlightened by the word as to what the will of God is what is God's will for me that which is good and perfect and acceptable well I'm not going to find it by sitting on a chair looking out at the trees I'm going to find it in his word for his word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and it's as the entrance of his word gives light and understanding that we understand the will of God God says in Ephesians

46:15 don't be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is and the obligation of the mind is to have the mind filled with positive clear perception of God's will for me in the concrete circumstances of my life I say Lord what's your will for me as a husband I turn to Ephesians 5 and I read it over and over again I turn to 1 Peter 3 I'm to dwell with my wife according to knowledge giving honor to her as unto the weaker vessel that's God's will for me and my mind must be furnished with the understanding of his will but then my mind must also be dispossessed and purged from all worldly concepts of how I should regard myself my wife, my family, my things, my time my mind must be dispossessed and purged of all ungodly thinking about reality Psalm 1 blessed is the man and it starts with a negative who does not walk in the advice of the ungodly who does not sit in the seat of the scorner who does not, I'm sorry, stand in the way of the scoffer and who does not sit in the seat of those who have rejected divine counsel but his delight is in the law of the Lord

47:41 and upon his law does he meditate day and night you see, we need desperately to take seriously Colossians 3.16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly let your mind come under the enlightening positive influence of the word of Christ but, he says, don't be like the Gentiles whose understanding is darkened let your mind be dispossessed and purged continually of all the worldly thinking we've imbibed in our sojourn through this life how am I to think about my time? I must not think as the world does but I must think as God does buy up the time buy up the opportunity don't boast about what you're going to do tomorrow you know not what a day may bring forth time is in God's hand and he allots me a certain amount to do his will I must not think as the world thinks about careers and goals and parental training how am I to rear my children? who am I to listen to? Dr. Spock or Dr. Solomon?

48:53 a whole generation that listened to Dr. Spock has sent a generation either to hell or out into life utterly unfit to live it if only they'd listened to Dr. Solomon only if they'd listened to Dr. Solomon you don't need to read all the articles in Women's Day and Family Circle and Parent Magazine just soak your soul in the book of Proverbs and you'll learn all you need to know about how to raise your kids the obligation of the mind what's it mean to be devoted to God?

Obligation of the Body: A Living Sacrifice and Purchased Property

49:29 it means that not only do I heed the obligation of the heart keep my heart above all that I guard but there is the obligation of the mind be not fashioned according to this world don't let this world system tell you what's good and bad on TV don't you let the world tell you what's right and wrong in the use of money how husbands and wives should relate to one another and their mutual quote careers and roles and all the rest go to this book soak your mind and soul in this book that's an obligation and then finally there is the obligation of the body and with this I close this morning and what's the key text here? there are two of them Romans 12 1 is the first I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God present your bodies a living sacrifice present your bodies in the light of God's mercies make a voluntary offering of your bodies unto the Lord it's language drawn from the sacrificial system and when a worshipper would come in the Old Testament what did he bring? he brought the entirety of that lamb he brought its body to the priest and after it was slain and was a dead offering

50:56 it was offered upon the altar unto God the carcass, the body was laid upon the altar and consumed in fire Paul says present your body not a dead sacrifice but a living sacrifice this is your spiritual service unlike the spiritual service in the old carnal economy when the worshipper brought the carcass of an animal you bring your body and present it to God that's one perspective on the body but that must be paralleled with 1 Corinthians chapter 6 not only is it my obligation in response to grace to present my body a voluntary offering to the Lord but I must regard my body as the purchased property of Jesus Christ Paul's dealing with the subject of sexual impurity and in the midst of dealing with it notice what he says in verse 19 know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you which you have from God now notice you are not your own you were bought with a price glorify God therefore in your body and in the context what's he saying? now you hear me carefully he's saying you Corinthians who think you can indulge sexual impurity while still going on naming the name of Christ

52:24 listen to me when Jesus Christ died upon the cross he died to purchase you including all of your sexual organs and capacities and faculties and he says the great cure for sexual impurity is to recognize contrary to the screeching feminist movement today your body is not your own let alone the life of the body of that woman of the body of that baby that's implanted in the womb this I view my body's my own who said it is it is your creator's by right of creation and as a Christian it is his by purchase of redemption and if we're to live lives devoted to God we need to come to grips with this this body is the purchased property of Jesus Christ hands, eyes, listen to me now this is going to hit some of you where you don't like it but I've got to say it mouth taste buds muscle cells fat cells this body belongs to God and what am I to do with it? look at the text because it's his it's to be a constant reflection of his glory glorify God therefore in your body can I glorify God in this body

53:48 if I take into it excessive amounts of alcohol that destroy brain cells and eat away at the lining of the stomach of course not can I glorify God in this body if I suck into its lungs cars that greatly increase the possibility of cancer destroying those lungs and sending me to an early grave in front of a mirror the next time you light up a cigarette and say oh God I glorify the body purchased by Jesus Christ upon the cross by running the risk of sending you to an early grave by sucking in this cigarette in the tars to my lung oh Lord Jesus I glorify your purchased possession you try to do it and now listen to me God gave us food to enjoy but he didn't give us food to bring on early heart attacks by loading our body with pounds and pounds of excessive weight that put a strain upon the heart and cause us to run the risk of an early death the matter of what you do what you eat how much you eat is a matter of how you use the property of another that's what the Bible teaches you say more pastor when I heard about this subject devotion to God I thought we'd get some nice little thoughts about having devotions and reading this is devotion to God biblically dear people I don't know of any other kind of devotion

55:18 now let me ask you as we close have you come to some understanding of your obligations to God the obligations of the heart of the mind and of the body if not then I doubt you know little of a life of true devotion to God and if you've come to that understanding let me ask you are you earnestly giving yourself up to those obligations seeking day by day to live in the power of the spirit and independence upon Christ a life that makes it clear that you're determined to guard your heart to have your mind transformed by the word and your body bring glory to God can you imagine what happens in a community when a group of professing Christians begins to take that seriously people begin to stand back and say hey wait a minute this religion business has got something real without it they don't care how many times you come to church how many hymns you sing so long as your lifestyle doesn't rebuke theirs but when your whole pattern of life shows that you are utterly devoted to God in your heart in your mind and in your body that's when your life becomes a hook and a barb in their conscience and becomes an instrument

56:44 to validate the power of the gospel may the Lord make us such people in our devotion to him let us pray our Father we acknowledge that you are worthy of devotion from creatures far more fit to God far more fit to give it to you than we are we think of angels and seraphim and cherubim who've never known the stain of sin surely Lord you are worthy of their devoted service but these lips with which we seek to pray have spoken foul things unkind and untruthful things these hearts with which we seek to express our love are such fickle hearts these bodies that have been so often engaged in the service of sin our members presented as instruments of unrighteousness to sin Lord have mercy upon us and in the light of all that you have done for us in Christ may we be truly devoted to you seeking by grace to fulfill the obligations laid upon us with respect to our hearts our minds and our bodies by the power of your Holy Spirit hear us oh hear us

58:11 and have dealings deep and powerful dealings with us don't let us escape the pressure of the word through hardness of heart but continue to pressing that word upon us we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen