Competent and Consecrated

J. Sidlow Baxter wrote, What I give to Him, He takes. What He takes, He cleanses. What He cleanses, He fills.

And what He fills, He uses. And I want to ask us, friends, are we really willing to give to Him, to make a full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, to allow Him to come with His Holy Spirit and clean up the aspects in our lives that need to be put on the altar for Him? For when He cleanses us, He fills us. Do we want to be filled? Do we want to be filled with power? John Wesley said, Give me 100 men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will shake the gates of hell.

It reminds me of a shaking, and that shaking is found in Judges 16 and verse 20. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he woke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself.

And he wished not that the Lord was deported from him. How many of us, friends, realize how God has departed from us? How many churches stand in name only that have no power? When was the last time we felt the power of God in a meeting? I was listening to a funeral service of A.W. Tozer long ago, and there was an old saint who knew him well who was talking about him. And this old man prayed an old-time prayer, and he used words like thee and thou and wouldst and couldst.

You could tell by listening to him, he knew the Lord well. Then this old saint mentioned the life of Dr. Tozer in this regard. He said, O God, it is truly amazing what you can do with a competent and consecrated man.

And that really had an effect on me, friends. Do you realize how much is said in those two adjectives, competent and consecrated? Think about that. God is not on the lookout for brilliant men.

God is not on the lookout for handsome men. God is not on the lookout for talented men. He's looking for men who are two things, competent and consecrated.

The definition of competent is this, adequate for the purpose. And the definition of consecrated is this, set apart for His holy use. God is looking for individuals who are adequate for His purpose and set apart for Him.

That is all. God is looking for a man who will be completely surrendered to His will and His purpose. And I think the battle is won or lost in the closet.

I believe that Jonathan Edwards said it right when he said, We see that God is faithful and never will forget the promises that He has made to His church and that He will not suffer the smoke and flax to be quenched, even when the floods seem to be overwhelming it, but will revive the flame again, even in the darkest times. And we're living in some pretty dark times right now, friends. We're living in the darkest days I've seen since I've been on this earth.

And we're living in a time when the church has the least power that I can see since I've been going to church these many years. But all God is looking for is a man who has two things, competent and consecrated. I'll say that again, adequate for the purpose.

Whose purpose? His purpose. And consecrated, set apart for holy use, His holy use. And I believe if we do those things, friends, we can say with John Wesley, Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will shake the gates of hell.

Let us pray that God will raise up some men to do that in these dark days. May we be the volunteers ourselves. Oh God, come shake us and use us and fill us, we pray.