Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

ashes"mind."attitudes."is put to flight. Thus while humility is a necessaryelement in coming to God, it is also the result ofcoming to God.Most of us would say that Job was a humbleman before his severe tribulation. However, histrials served to draw him nearer to God and his humility became complete. He said, "I have heard ofthee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eyeseeth thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent indust and (Job 42:5, 6). Isaiah was a prophetof the Lord, but when he saw the Lord in that experience recorded in the sixth chapter of his prophecy, It humbled him greatly. "Then said I, Woe is me !for I am undone; because I am a man of uncleanlips . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord ofhosts."As we approach God with humility of mind andas we see Him anew through this our covenant, thegenuineness of the experience will be evidenced bythe humility of mind that we display afterwards.Then follow the dividends that God declares throughthe medium of a humble mind. Proverbs 22:4 reads,"By humility and fear of the Lord are riches, andhonor and life." These are the treasures we seek,to which humility of mind is one of the keys.II.To make this covenanting time a success, alongwith humility of mind, there must also be INTEGRITY OF HEART. Integrity means uprightness,honesty, sincerity. If you have integrity of heart,you mean what you say, and you do what you sayyou are going to do. Integrityallows for no hypocrisy, no double standards, no questionable dealings.If we are to display integrity of heart in thetaking of this covenant, we will not allow it to be amere form. We will not take it because others aredoing so. It will not be something into which wehave allowed ourselves to be swept because of thebuild-up that it has received. But we will consider itas a very sacred and personal experience, for whichwe have prepared by careful heart searching. Wewill take it with a willing acknowledgment of thetruth contained therein, with a full recognition ofthe promises made and the resulting obligations,with true sincerity and intention to keep the vows.In other words, we must enter in whole-heartedly, as they did in King Asa's time. We read of it inII Chronicles 15:12, 15: "And they entered into acovenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers withall their heart and with all their soul . . . And allJudah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn withall their heart, and sought him with their whole desire ; and he was found of them ; and the Lord gaveabout."them rest roundIn any experience of coming to the Lord, wholeheartednessis demanded, as in Joel 2:12, "Thereforealso now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with allyour heart . . . This is the principle of the greatcommandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy Godwith all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and withThe Lord is pleased with nothing lessall thythan a whole-heart.III.The sacredness of such a covenant required humility of mind, integrity of heart and finally, SUBMISSION OF SOUL. This means giving-in complete-October 27, 1954ly to the Lord. It may be called unconditional surrender to the will of God. It is as Christ said in theGarden of Gethsemane at the climax of His soul anguish, "Not my will, but Thine be done." It is whatPaul calls for in Romans 6:13, "Neither yield ye yourmembers as instruments of unrighteousness untosin ; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that arealive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Submission ofsoul is dying unto self and living unto Christ.By our covenant we seek to be brought intoright relationship with our Lord. Roy Heeson haswritten, "If we are to come into this right relationship with Him, the first thing we must learn is thatour wills must be broken to His will. To be broken isthe beginning of revival. It is painful, it is humiliating, but it is the only way. It is being 'Not I, butChrist,'and a 'C is a bent T. This simply means thatthe hard unyielding self, which justifies itself, wantsits own glory, at last bows its head to God's will, admits its wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights and discards its own glory thatthe Lord Jesus might have all and be all. In otherwords it is dying to self and selfGeorge Whitefield said, "I give up myself to bea martyr for Him who hung upon the Cross for me.I have thrown myself blindfolded and, I trust without reserve into His almightyhands.""Lord, bend that proud and stiffnecked I,Help me to bow the head and die;Beholding Him on Calvary,me."Who bowed His head forAnd so we enter into covenant with God, havinghumility of mind, integrity of heart, and submissionof soul, hereby declaring that we are HIS. We declare to God and the world that we are "For Christ'sCrown and Covenant."Tither's CornerLuke 16:9A tiny podIs hid in the sod,Somewhere in God's great acre.In the acorn's cupIs folded up,An oak tree, by its Maker.In the pod of the days,The one that paysThe best of all the seven,Is the day of renownThat wears the crownAnd brings us close to heaven.In the pod of the payFor the work of the day,The part that fails us never,Is the tithe we spendTo make us a Friend,Which shall be ours forever.Delber H. 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