there is no good thing in me.” Have you ever come to the end of yourself and from the depths of your soul cried out, “Oh wretched man that I am” ? Only when we come to the end of ourselves can we come genuinely to the beginning of God. Only when we come to the point of admitting the fact that in us dwells no good thing will we be remotely interested in God’s cutting loose in our lives. Dr. Donald Grey Bamhouse spoke in England one time when I was just a boy. He started his message by say ing the way up is down and the way down is up. Now I understand what he meant. Peter tells us basically that if we exalt ourselves, God will abase us, while, if we are prepared to humb le ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He will give grace and will exalt us in due time. The Saviour underlined this princi ple, .“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). The prob lem is we don’t want to die to what we are or admit our problems. It may mean that we would have to repent of what we are. Have you ever admitted to God what you are and have said, “Oh God, I am not only sick of what I have done, but also I am increasingly sick of what I am; do something with me” ? In Psalm 51 the first nine verses relate to cleansing while in verse ten David asks that God do something new within him. He wanted the Lord to change his attitudes, his appetites, and even his aptitudes. He desired God to get such a grip on his life that it would be nothing less than a divine revolution. This is what we need in these days, too. This comes when we repent of what we are, hun gering and thirsting after God’s righteousness, and settling for noth ing less. When David said, “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me,” he knew exactly what had happened to his predecessor, Saul. Saul knew his 8
days were over. He had lost his pow er and ability. No Christian living in, these days needs to fear that God will take His Holy Spirit from him. This is the earnest of your re demption, your down payment. David wanted to have the Lord confirm the possibilities of His life through him. There is no limit to what God will do with people who are willing to confess, “Oh God, I ’m sorry for what I’ve done and I’m sick of what I am. Confirm in me who you really are.” Have you ever had an experience such as Divid had with Samuel when he knew the call of God? Maybe you have had a similar sort of experi ence as David had with Bethsheba when you see catastrophe. Are you being confronted with the awful sin fulness of your own unrighteous ness? Have you had an experience like David’s with Nathan? When God speaks to you and says, “You’re the man!” don’t blame your church or grumble about other Christians. You are the one in the wrong. There is absolutely no reason why the ex perience of David recounted in the 51st Psalm should not be yours right now if you’ll take time to face up to God’s demands and requirements of God in your life. Think about it. En ter into the joy of this powerful re- lationship. 111 M ¡L p^iw Rf * I | A growing ministry is being experienced in all facets of Biola's Phoenix affiliate, the Arizona Bible Colege. Pictured here is Mrs. Electa Oltrogge (right), librarian, and Helen Little, from Navajo land in Oraibi, Arizona.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online