“Salvation Belongs to Sinners” 2/14 Sunday Sermon

In his sermon to us today Pastor Daniel illustrated to us how the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will lead us to complete faith, trust, and obedience to God.
Pastor Daniel began by reading to us from Acts 8: 26-38  “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.'  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means 'queen of the Ethiopians'). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,  and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, 'Go to that chariot and stay near it.'  Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. 'Do you understand what you are reading?' Philip asked.  'How can I,' he said, 'unless someone explains it to me?' So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: 'He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.' The eunuch asked Philip, 'Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?' Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, 'Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?' Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' The eunuch answered, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.”
We read 2 Corinthians 4:11  “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”
Pastor  Daniel emphasized to us that this requires that we obey every single word, love God without qualification or adulteration - or hesitation.
In the passage from Acts above, the Apostle Philip was told to go to Gaza. From where he then was it was a 60 mile journey on foot, about the same distance from Irvine to Santa Monica, but over rocky unpaved pathways. Philip did not consider the details and difficulties about how he would get there; he just obeyed immediately and went!
The Holy Spirit is fully given to those who obey God's word.  We must not expect to be filled with the Holy Spirit if it is not within us to obey. We remember reading about King Saul and his successor, King David, in the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament. We know from the reading that King Saul always consulted his own inclinations rather than the will of God in what he did. He came to a dishonored end. By contrast, King David was a man after God's heart. Though imperfect, he still always submitted himself to the will of God. Jesus came from his line, according to God's promise to the faithful, obedient David.
In the Book of Jeremiah 48:10 we read “A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord's work!” That means to not delay in responding to God's gentle voice when he prompts us to do something that otherwise we might be too lazy or scared or otherwise disinclined to do. 
Talk about disinclination – we read in the First Book of Kings, chapter 20, verses 35 and 36: “By the word of the Lord one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, 'Strike me with your weapon,' but he refused. So the prophet said, 'Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.' And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him.”  Maybe the prophet's companion was disinclined to violence. But he should have been immediately inclined to obey God no matter what.
We read further in Acts 5:32: “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”  As Pastor Daniel said, when we are bored and unmotivated then we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Think about it - that very thought should be a check on each one of us – daily, even hourly!
In the same vein Pastor Daniel quoted from Psalm 119, verses 1 through 3: “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart—they do no wrong but follow his ways.” and finally Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
We know of heroes of faith – faith that showed itself by obedience no matter what – not just from ancient times, not just from the Hall of Faith that is chapter 11 of the Book of Hebrews, but from modern times also. Consider the example of Jim Elliot. A Portland, Oregon native, he practiced obedience from having been indwelt by the Holy Spirit at a young age. While still in his 20s, he heard God's call to spread the Word among the hunter-gatherer Huaorani folk in Amazonian Ecuador – far from civilization. He was warned by many people of the dangers of venturing into that untamed region. But the warnings did not deter Jim Elliot at all. He just obeyed God and went. As the naysayers predicted, he was soon killed. But Jim Elliot's faith and obedience were vindicated when after a spell his killers repented and professed Christ.
Jim Elliot had faith and obeyed God. He went. 
What about each of us?