The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-04
AFFECTION LORD
 IS ENTITLED ID Rev. MerrelI Takes Text from
 ot. Mark SURRENDER IS COMPLETE Love the Lord WItr All Thy Heart and Soul Is First Command ment-Jesus Answers
 Question.
SURRENDER IS COMPLETE

from the 18th verse or the 1zlh cHaplet | of St Mark, reading;
 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. !"
 This answer given by the Messiah to the question put to Him by one of the scribes of Israel, what is the first com mandment was dwet upon by Dr. Mer- rell, and the fact that the Lord was en- titled to all the faculties of man thereby making Him entitled to the entire man was explained in an interesting way. The sermon in part was as follows:
 Jesus was preaching to a large number of scribes and Pharisees, and had been asked many questions. He had answered them accordingly, and after a while one of the scribes asked which of the com mandments was the greatest, and He re- piled, Hear, Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord< and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first com mandment.'
 "The scribe in his talk with Jesus ad- mitted this and Jesus said, You appre- ciate the truth you understand what was said, and understanding it you are not far from the kingdom of God-but you are not in it.
 'This is true of many of us in this day. There are many who have attended church all their lives, heard men preach, know many of the songs by heart; yet they have gone in and out of the church until they are gospel hardened. They say, the church is great institution and the gospel is a good thing for the other fel- low but do not consider themselves as being called upon.
 "The~ scribe went to Jesus in a sincere way, hoping to trap him. Instead of be- ing trapped Jesus turned upon him and explained the love due unto the Lord, and then asked the scribe if ne could believe in Him. All of this amounts to some thing. Everything is pointing to show that all of our affections should be for the love of Jehovah. Everything we have is due to Him, and our loving affection should be shown in working for this great Jehovah
 
 wants you; each faculty means you-the first commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God A man says, my heart wants to come to Christ but my body ob- jects.' You hesitate and you are lost.
 All of our faculties are in constant conflict, and here we see Jesus wants them all. Many have come unto Christ but have not brought affection. Their af- lection is for things of the world. Others have gone with affection, but have forgot ten. Others are like Peter, ready to give big confession, but as far as their soul and their spirituality is concerned, are dead.
 Jesus wants a complete and entire sur render. What does it mean by entire sur render? That there must be an entire surrender of the spirit, mind, body, soul and heart. Nowadays we refer to the heart as the seat of affection, but in the olden days they referred to it as the seat not only of the affection, but as the seat of the intellect and the mind-our great est treasures. Where thy treasures he there wilt thy heart be also.'
 'When the Lord gets the heart and the affection He gets what belongs to you and what belongs to Him. When you come to a service, come praying for the good of it. Jesus wants our hearts, IL a thing? When a man is down and a friend comes to him and says, Cheer up, there's a bright day coming. if his heart is in it he will. But when a man gets discouraged he will lose out
 "There Is a tremendous forward move ment among the laymen and the churches everywhere in the world towards the saving of souls We are getting better. Men are becoming interested in the inn al c,,,1 fhnr xIyoc hat time for them to do so than right now.
 How profoundly necessary is it that God should first demand our hearts. He knows that the purity of soul means the purity of life, and has He not said, Blessed are the pure in life, for they shall sec God?'
 ''Why ought we to love God with all our hearts, with all our faculties. with all our self? First, because we never get peace with God until we do. And again, unless our service comes from the heart 1t is not pleasing to God Don't you see how necessary it is to love God with our whole heart? Jesus can tell quicker than anybody else.
 "In the long run no man can live bet ter than he loves in the spiritual life. Give Me thy soul,' is sublime as it is practical. All the power we possess must revove towards Jehovah. You may do business, you may enter into pleasure, but whatever you do do for God. Be not filled with wine but with the Holy Spirit, so that your whole life may be for God. Be under His supreme control.
 '"There is no more potent factor than the mind. and the need of consecratfon. Carlyle said Should anyone die in ignor- ance. I hold it as a tragedy. Give Me thy heart thy soul, thy mind and thy body
 Gods demands are reasonable. They never change. He never asks for less, and He never compromises with sin. There must be an unconditional surrender. This is reasonable. Goodness on the sur face is not what God demands. He wants the heart and it must be pure but 1t can never be without the assistance of Jesus Christ.
 Now, you can understand what Jesus meant when He said, You are not far from the kingdom of God This man understood; he believed; he was not far from the kingdom of God, yet he was lost What about that fac,? If the right eous cannot be saved, what about the sinner? Almost persuaded, but lost! You know what your privileges have been; you know what your opportunities have been. Are you going to make complete surrender to Jesus? Or are you going to let it be almost persuaded but lost?"