From His Heart

Speaker 1

The Christian life is not a playground, it's a battleground. Are you devoted to God? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve now.

Speaker 2

In Psalm 101, we read of David's declaration of devotion, David's stake in the ground, so to speak. David is setting up his kingdom in Jerusalem.

Eight times in the New American Standard, David makes the statement, "I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will." Hey, you know, we talk about willpower. This is how willpower works in the Christian life. You provide the will and God provides the power.

So the question today is, will you join King David in a declaration of devotion?

Speaker 1

Many Christians come to church Sunday after Sunday and they're getting beaten up from pillar to post in this battle and feel like they can never rise above defeat. Is there a way to beat this debilitating cycle? You'll find out today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve as he shares how by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can stand and fight for the faith and claim the victory, a guaranteed victory that we can have when we are surrendered to Jesus.

The message today is entitled "A Declaration of Devotion" from Pastor Jeff's nine-lesson series. Life is hard, but God is good. This series is also our thank you gift for your support from His Heart this month of any amount. And with that gift, we'll not only send you the series in the format of your choice, but also the companion booklet, "Strong Faith for Tough Times."

You can get yours when you go to fromhisheart.org. Now, open your Bible to Psalm 101, and let's begin with Pastor Jeff describing to us the power of a declaration of devotion.

Speaker 2

Now, as many of you know, I am a huge Rocky Balboa fan. I got introduced to the series when it first came out. 1976 was the release of *Rocky*, and *Rocky* was a huge phenomenon back in our country at that time. This fighter, with very little ability—that's the character—shocks the world because he goes 15 rounds with the master of disaster, the king of Sting, Apollo Creed. Then in *Rocky II*, the long-awaited sequel, there's a rematch. For the longest time, *Rocky II* was my favorite movie.

There’s a scene in *Rocky II* when they have the rematch, and Rocky is going into the fight feeling intimidated because Apollo Creed is mad. Apollo Creed wants to destroy him and show the world that in that first fight, Rocky was just a one-time lucky bum. As his manager, Mick, told him in the chapel during that main scene, he said, “This guy doesn’t want to just beat you; he wants to destroy you. He wants to humiliate you and show the world you were just a one-time lucky freak.” He says, “You got to stand up and fight him.”

So, Rocky goes into the fight timid, intimidated, and fearful, feeling outmatched. Apollo is just beating him all over the place in the first round. Rocky comes to his corner at the end of the first round and says, “I can’t believe he broke my nose again.” He’s just getting beaten up. He tells Mickey, “That guy’s great.” And Mickey responds, “No, he’s just a man. You can beat him.”

Rocky goes out for the second round and is getting wiped out again. He gets knocked down again, and when Creed knocks him down the second time, he taunts him, saying, “You just stay down there, chump. Just stay down there, chump.” It’s like something changes in Rocky. All of a sudden, he gets up and starts fighting. He says goodbye to the fear, timidity, and intimidation, and he starts to fight. He comes back to his corner at the end of round two and tells his trainer, Mickey, “I ain’t going down no more. I ain’t going down no more.” That’s a declaration of how it’s going to be. That’s driving a stake in the ground.

I think about that scene a lot when I reflect on the Christian life. The Christian life is not a playground; it’s a battleground. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith. That’s what the Bible tells us to do. Many Christians come to church Sunday after Sunday, and they are getting beaten from pillar to post in this battle. The enemy of our souls is tearing them alive and eating their lunch. There are addictions of the flesh and the things of the spirit, and we just get defeated, defeated, defeated. We feel like we can never win.

What’s going to make the difference? What makes the difference is when you drive a stake in the ground and say, “I ain’t going down no more. I’m going to stand up and fight in the power of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:10 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” It’s not your strength; it’s not my strength; it’s his strength. We can stand firm in his strength, but we have to make a declaration of devotion. We have to say, “This is my stake in the ground in my Christian life. I ain’t going down no more.”

Now, in Psalm 101, we read of David’s declaration of devotion—David’s stake in the ground, so to speak. David is setting up his kingdom in Jerusalem. Saul was king, and then Saul’s son for a short time, and now David is king. The dynasty has passed from the house of Saul to the house of David. This is what David says; it’s kind of his manifesto for his life, for his family, and for his kingdom.

Verse 1: “I will sing of loving kindness and justice to thee, O Lord. I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure. My eyes shall look upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. Every morning I will destroy; I will silence all the wicked of the land so as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.”

A declaration of devotion. Eight times in the New American Standard, David makes the statement, “I will.” “I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will.” We talk about willpower; this is how willpower works in the Christian life. You provide the will, and God provides the power. But when you don’t provide the will, you’re not connected to the power. We need to make that declaration of devotion. We need to drive a stake in the ground and say, “This is the direction that I am going.”

So the question today is, will you join King David in a declaration of devotion? There are four areas that he talks about in this text that we just read, and four areas that you and I need to declare our devotion.

**Area number one:** Declare your unwavering allegiance to the Lord—your unwavering allegiance to Yahweh God. Here’s the background. We don’t know for sure because it doesn’t say, but this seems very plausible. With a lot of the Psalms, sometimes we get some information about what’s going on in David’s life or the psalmist’s life when he wrote this. This one doesn’t have any. But it makes total sense that this is his manifesto for his kingdom. Saul was king for 40 years, and then Saul was killed in battle along with his son Jonathan. There was civil war for some years in there. Saul’s son Ish Bosheth became king. It took him, I think it says in a note in the Living Bible, until he was about 8 years old to spell his name, Ish Bosheth. That’s a mouthful there. He was king for a while on Saul’s side, and David was king just of one tribe, the tribe of Judah. That’s where he came from, way down south in Hebron.

There was civil war in the land of Israel. David begins to increase, and Ish Bosheth begins to decrease. Finally, Ish Bosheth is killed, and all of Israel comes to David and says, “We want you to be king over all 12 tribes.” The big question is, where is he going to set up his kingdom? It’s not good to set up your capital city way at the south of the country, so he picks a different place—Jerusalem.

Now, here’s the thing about Jerusalem. Jerusalem was owned, operated, and governed by the Jebusites when Joshua came in, in the book of Joshua, to conquer the land. They could never conquer the land of the Jebusites; they called it Jebus. It’s Jerusalem. But it was a fortified city, and they couldn’t get in there. David had a heart for Jerusalem. We know he had a heart for Jerusalem because, very interestingly, when he killed Goliath, he took the head of Goliath and where did he take it? He took it to Jerusalem. Why? Because he was telling those people, “You see this guy? You’re next.”

He goes up against the Jebusites in the land of what would be Jerusalem. They laugh at him, saying, “The blind and the lame can turn you away, David; you’ll never take this city. It’s a fortified city.” But David did take it, and he set up his kingdom there in Jerusalem. Not too long after he sets up his kingdom, he calls for the Ark of the Covenant to be there with him. That’s the backdrop. I believe that makes sense as David declares this manifesto for his life, for his family, and for his kingdom.

The very first thing he declares is his unwavering allegiance to the Lord. Look at it again in verse one: “I will sing of loving kindness and justice to you, O Lord. I will sing praises.” Singing to loving kindness and justice describes God. God is the God of love. God is the God who is holy, holy, holy. The scripture says in Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; loving kindness and truth go before you.” God’s throne is righteousness and justice, and right in front of God’s throne, there’s loving kindness and truth. Those are four key components of God’s character.

David said, “I want my kingdom, Lord, to be like your kingdom. I want my kingdom to be under your rule. I want my life to be under your rule. I sing praises to you, and I surrender myself to you and my kingdom to you.” He recognizes it was all from God. Loving kindness and justice are two key components of God’s nature. Loving kindness is an interesting word. We only read about it in the Old Testament. The New American Standard translates that Hebrew word *hesed* (C-H-E-S-E-D). It’s used 248 times in the Bible. That’s God’s mercy, God’s loyal love, God’s faithful covenant love to his people. His loving kindness is everlasting.

We don’t have a word like that in the New Testament, but we do have the word grace. Grace is God’s love in action. Grace is God’s love to undeserving sinners. Grace is God’s love, mercy, and kindness. That’s how God rules. He is the God of love, but he’s also a God of justice. God sits on a throne of justice, and God will always do right. As Abraham said to the Lord, “Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?” The answer is, of course, the judge of all the earth will deal justly.

Now remember this about God’s love: God’s love for you is there for you even when you don’t feel it. We can’t go by feelings. If you go by feelings, you’re going to be up and down, up and down. “God loves me, doesn’t love me. He loves me, doesn’t love me.” It can’t be like that. God’s love is constant. “You’ve loved us with an everlasting love,” the scripture says. God loves me even when I don’t feel it, and God is just even when you don’t see it. We see things in the news; we see how this guy seems to break the law and has no consequences. He doesn’t get thrown in jail; nothing happens to him. We ask the question like they did in the book of Malachi, “Where is the God of justice?”

Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.” Justice is coming. The wheels of God’s justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. God is love, and he loves me even when I don’t feel it. He’s just. That’s why Solomon, when he closes out the book of Ecclesiastes, says, “When all has been said, fear God and keep his commandments.” Why? “Because this applies to every person. For the Lord will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

So David is saying right off the bat, “Lord, I’m surrendering myself and my kingdom to you. I want my kingdom to be unto your kingdom and your kingdom to rule my kingdom so it would be a kingdom of loving kindness and justice, just the way you run your kingdom.” That is important now in the Christian life. We come before the Lord every day as believers. You only have to pray to receive Christ one time. You pray and receive Christ, and you become a Christian. You’re transferred, the Bible says. He delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That happens one time, but every single day, we need to come before the Lord and re-up.

We need to come before the Lord and say, “Lord, here I am. I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Lord, here I am. I’ve been bought with a price. I am your servant. I surrender. Today I want you to be Lord of all in me.” That’s a declaration of unwavering allegiance to the Lord.

**Second area:** Declare your total commitment to a life of purity. Look at verse two: “I will give heed to the blameless way. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.” The blameless way is the way of integrity. The word in the New American Standard that is blameless and the word at the end of this verse that says integrity come from the same root. That word basically means completeness and wholeness. God wants us to make a declaration that we’re going to be people of integrity.

Now, what does that mean in practical terms? It means you are solid and whole. You are true blue. You are a person who has principles and convictions. It is said that beliefs are something we hold, but convictions hold us. You’re a person that says, “These are non-negotiables for me. I have conviction about this, and I am going to walk in the ways of the Lord.”

David didn’t say, “I will walk in the sinless way.” He said, “I’m going to walk in the blameless way, the way of integrity.” Nobody walks in the sinless way. There is not a person on the planet who doesn’t ever sin. We still sin. But here’s the thing: God is not concerned about every situation in life in terms of the perfection of your life. If God’s concerned about the perfection of your life, you fail, I fail, we fail. The apostle Paul fails; everybody fails. But God is more concerned about the direction of your life. God wants to see you move on with him. God wants to see you grow with him. God wants to see you drive a stake in the ground and say, “I’m going to start living a life of integrity.”

When I was in Houston, there was a very famous local celebrity named Jim McInvale—Mattress Mac. If you go to Houston, you hear about Mattress Mac. He has Gallery Furniture. It’s an amazing story. He was down to his last $10,000, and he put it all into advertising. He had this goofy commercial where at the end he jumped up and pulled a dollar out of his pocket and said, “Gallery Furniture!” That just took off in Houston, and people started going to Gallery Furniture. He grew and grew and grew. I think last I heard, he was selling like $2 million a week of furniture out of his one store. He’s become incredibly wealthy. He’s a good guy.

If you go to Gallery Furniture, he’s always there, and his office is in the middle of the showroom. You call up on the phone, “Hey, let me talk to Mattress Mac.” “Okay, hold on.” They get you right to him. I was amazed the first time I called there. I thought, “I thought you were kind of a CEO, celebrity.” No, he’s just there. He had a commercial one time where he was talking about the furniture he sold, and he said, “At Gallery Furniture, we sell quality furniture, solid wood furniture, not veneer over particle board. You know the difference?”

If you see a piece of furniture just from the outside, you can’t tell if it’s solid wood or veneer over particle board. But if you look more closely at it, you can tell solid wood is solid through and through. Solid wood has integrity. It’s the same substance all through the piece of wood. Particle board is veneer to make it look like wood on the top, and then it’s pieces of wood glued together. The way you tell the difference between solid wood and particle board is you put the screws to it. When you put the screws to particle board, you find out it’s mushy inside; it doesn’t have integrity. It’s not solid. Solid wood is the same from the top to the bottom, all the way through.

Now, here’s the thing: Are you a solid wood Christian—a man, a woman, a boy, a girl of integrity—or are you veneer over particle board? David was solid wood; Saul was veneer over particle board. Integrity means you’re solid and whole. Integrity, secondly, means you’re consistent in public and private. David says, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.” When I’m in my house, when I’m all alone, when no one can see me, when I go on a business trip and I’m in a city that nobody knows who I am and I’m in the hotel room, I’m going to be the same guy that I am up front. That’s what David was saying. That was the stake he was driving into the ground—within my house.

Speaker 1

This has truly been an important warning and admonition to believers everywhere to take very seriously the integrity of your heart. We've been listening to Part one of the Message, A Declaration of Devotion from Pastor Jeff Shreve's nine-message series Life is Hard, but God is Good. You know, you've heard it said before and you'll hear it again and again because it is true. The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground, and many Christians go to church Sunday after Sunday, getting beaten from pillar to post in this battle and feeling like they can never rise above defeat.

What's going to make the difference? Well, that is explained in encouraging and inspirational ways in Pastor Jeff's series Life is Hard But God Is Good. This insightful series that we're in this month will help you stand up and fight in the power of the Holy Spirit against the enemies that you face and allow you to claim the victory that God has for you, which He has already won for you in the name of Jesus.

This whole series is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount. Simply call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org and request Life is Hard, but God is Good when you make that gift. When you do, we'll also include the companion booklet Strong Faith for Tough Times.

Thank you for joining us to help hearts and homes live lives of complete devotion to Jesus, even when life is hard because God is good. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be able to be here with Pastor Jeff this weekend on television in 182 countries and also online. And also be here on Monday for part two of this insightful lesson, A Declaration of Devotion. That's on Monday when we'll again open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope From His Heart.

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.