Honestly, The Answer is Still REVIVAL!

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity (Hosea 14:1).

Things are looking really bad on all fronts-politically, economically and religiously. But I hardly need to tell you that! What I would do is make another appeal to all of our hearts, . . . all, that is, who know and love Jesus Christ. Times are not just urgent because the world does not see the centrality of Jesus Christ in creation and salvation, but even more so because these doctrines do not find supremacy of place in many Christian's lives. And the fact that we do not really feel such an urgency is reason enough for the church to pray fervently for it! I would repeat with C. H. Spurgeon:

Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival – men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations.

I am gladdened in heart that our church is increasingly taking prayer seriously. And while we meet on Sundays and several times during the week, it still seems as though we must do more, and perhaps do it better. Just last night, one of our missionaries to Japan, Tomoo and Kaiori Koike (along with their daughter, Yuki) remarked excitedly that they so very much appreciated the fact that our church prays. Our church prays! Now that may sound almost too obvious to even bother mentioning. But any more I do not think so. Prayer meetings used to comprise a major spot in the church's life. Generally, that is no longer true. The Koike's said as much from their experience. Now, as happy as I am that we DO pray, there is so much room for improvement, not the least of which within myself. Last night, as we gave ourselves to prayer, I urged that we each make praying a priority in our private lives. Without this, our corporate cries will project an uncertain hollowness. We need a revival of prayer!  

Andrew Bonar believed that the church needs to hear the voice of God directly before they will ever experience the blessings associated with revival:

Revivals begin with God’s own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones…Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!

But, Oh, what miraculously happens when God does come down in power! Would to God that we could see God's presence in our midst in these days of an effete ecumenism and wholesale disregard for God's Word! Great things could happen. God has exercised tremendous power in the past. Just witness the following from the revival in Ireland:

In the Irish Revival of 1859, people became so weak that they could not get back to their homes. Men and women would fall by the wayside and would be found hours later pleading with God to save their souls. They felt that they were slipping into hell and that nothing else in life mattered but to get right with God... To them eternity meant everything. Nothing else was of any consequence. They felt that if God did not have mercy on them and save them, they were doomed for all time to come.

This is what God CAN do. Stories like the above can be multiplied from the history of the church. Take this one example for an inducement to greater faith! Oh, Lord, come down!

A Knowledge You Cannot Overestimate

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6

It is precisely here where men make their greatest error, viz., rightly knowing who God really IS. For that is the essence of this "lack of knowledge" in the prophet Hosea. Religion inevitably rotates about the personal needs of the seeker--what I want. But Christianity is all about the glory of the Savior! We must not miss this in this self-absorbed day. I present you two quotations which accentuate this truth. Read them to your own profit.

The infinite excellency, greatness, and glory of God is the foundation of all religion, for except we believe the perfections of God, we shall never worship him and love him as he ought to be worshipped and loved; except we believe his power and justice and holiness, we shall not fear him and stand in awe of him, and be afraid to violate his commands; except we believe his omnisciency, we shall not act as under his all-seeing eye, and as those who are to be judged by him. --Jonathan Edwards

Whatever, then, God permits or does, he doeth with this one motive, his own glory. And even salvation, costly though it was, and infinitely a benefaction to us, had for its first object, and for its grand result, the exaltation of the Being and of the attributes of the Supreme Ruler. --Charles Spurgeon

The Wisdom in Wisdom . . .

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33

The wisdom of wisdom is that it finds its foundation in God's centrality and purposes. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" means (among other things) he is the "bull's eye" of all our desires and our Counselor in all decisions. That it is wise to consult God, yea, rely absolutely on him should be a truism for the Christian. No proof necessary here, for as A. W. Tozer says, "The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof, and the worshiping heart needs none" (The Knowledge of the Holy). But we trust ourselves to God knowing that our loving Father is infinitely knowledgeable and good. Never caught "off guard" he immediately knows all possible permutations of every incident, actual and theoretical. And the end result of every plan of his moves toward the good of man and the glory of his name. He is never reckless who throws himself on the mercy of God, but wise beyond words. Paul could rightly close out his amazingly theological Romans, "to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen" (16:27).

So . . . if this is true, how vital to entrust our plans into HIS hands. Hear from that gem of a puritan, John Newton:

I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, of which I have not since seen reason to be satisfied, that had it taken place in season and circumstance just as I proposed, it would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least it would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me. We judge of things by their present appearances, but the Lord sees them in their consequences, if we could do so likewise we should be perfectly of His mind; but as we cannot, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is spoken of as one of his heaviest judgments, when He gives any person or people up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk after their own counsels.

The Right & Wrong in Conquering Giants

Even a cursory reading of the Bible surfaces how often the process is of vastly greater concern to God than the procurement. In other words, it's not ARRIVING in the Promised Land, but HOW they arrived that God points out. Our interest in God is more often than not bound up in the getting than it is in the method by which we receive. Yet it is precisely right here where our faith goes on trial. What means more to us, the getting of what we want from God--regardless--or the way in which we go about it? I would suggest to you that in Deuteronomy 9:1–5, we witness one among many examples of precisely this test. If we listen well, we'll be way ahead in the life of faith. 

First, God Reveals the Impossible Odds Which We Are Up Against 

Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ (vv. 1-2)

It's as if God were saying, "See Israel? You're going in to the land I promised to you. OK. But, know this, you're facing humanly impossible odds. The enemy are nations "mightier" than you, with walled cities you're not able to topple. And these guys you're fighting? They're giants! (You ARE going in, like I said. I promised you. And I always fulfill my promise! Do you believe that?) But they are really big and strong. (Are you intimidated yet?)"

Second, God Reveals His Indomitable Weapon of Choice--HIMSELF!

What's God doing? He's setting the table for a feast of faith. When we know the impossibilities, what vain hope it is to trust in ourselves, then we're prepared to watch God go to work. Now, after the table has been set, in verse 3, God is ready to serve up an amazing meal, a dinner prepared by His own great power:

Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

You're going in, but it is I, the LORD your God, who go before you. How? As a consuming fire! I will destroy them. I will subdue them. Make no mistake about who's bringing about this victory. I'M DOING IT!  

Third, God Warns of a Presumptuous Heart.

Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (vv. 4-5)

This is a very common malady among men and women of faith. We see God work. It is marvelous and we are thankful . . . initially. But then, something begins to happen with the passing of time. We begin to assume a role not properly ours--one of the deserving chosen. We think to ourselves, "I guess we did it, at least to some degree." Or, "There must have been something in us which God found worthy enough to give us this victory!" Thus, we handily divert the glory away from our Conquering Hero, locating it pretentiously upon ourselves! Oh, the insidious nature of the human heart, even the regenerated one! 

Let us learn to be better at crediting God for victories gained than we are even in asking FOR that victory! Thankfulness, in this case, becomes a sort of litmus test of the genuineness of our faith. See God in the process, glorify him in His providence.

Seven Characteristics of False Teachers

The following is copied in it's entirety from "Against Heresies," by Martin Downes in the UK. He is exactly right in saying that the Puritan Thomas Brooks  is very quotable. He wrote on numerous subjects that pique our attention in the current spiritual malaise. At the end of the day, evil is never original. And with the push to subsume all religions into a one-world religion under the guise of peace, false teaching threatens the true church in mammoth proportions. The Bible warns against such (2 Peter 2; 1 John 4), and we do well not to imagine that the spiritual climate is any different today. Be wise to Satan's devices, chiefly deception. (And, oh, don't you love the picture below?). Thank you, Martin.

A couple of years back I spoke on "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Heretics" at the Eccentric Ministers Conference. At the time I wasn't aware that the Puritan Thomas Brooks (1608-80) had beaten me to it.

Brooks is very quotable. Here are his headings and some highlights taken from his pastoral masterpiece Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices published by the Banner of Truth Trust:

"Satan labours might and main, by false teachers, which are his messengers and ambassadors, to deceive, delude, and forever undo the precious souls of men."

He cites Jer. 23:13; Micah 3:5; Matt. 7:15; Philippians 3:2; Prov. 7

"Now the best way to deliver poor souls from being deluded and destroyed by these messengers of Satan is, to discover them in their colours, that so, being known, poor souls may shun them, and fly from them as from hell itself."

1. False teachers are men-pleasers

"They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart."

"They handle holy things rather with wit and dalliance than with fear and reverence."

"False teachers are soul-undoers."

"False teachers are hell's greatest enrichers."

He cites Isaiah 30:10; Jer. 5:30-31; 23:16-17

2. False teachers are notable in casting dirt, scorn, and reproach upon the persons, names and credits of Christ's most faithful ambassadors

He cites the experience of Moses and Aaron in Num. 16:3; Micaiah's experience in 1 Kings 22:10-26; Paul's experience in 2 Cor. 10:10; and Christ's experience at the hands of of the Scribes and Pharisees Matt. 27:63

3. False teachers are venters of the devices and visions of their own heads and hearts

"These are Satan's greatest benefactors, and such as divine justice will hang up in hell as the greatest malefactors, if the physician of souls do not prevent it."

He cites Jer. 14:14; 23:16

4. False teachers easily pass over the great and weighty things both of law and gospel, and stand most upon those things that are of the least moment and concernment to the souls of men

He cites 1 Tim. 1:5-7; 6:3-5; Matt. 23:2-3; 24:32; Rom. 2:22

5. False teachers cover and colour their dangerous principles and soul impostures with very fair speeches and plausible pretences, and high notions and golden expressions

"Many in these days are bewitched and deceived by the magnificent words, lofty strains, and stately terms of deceivers"

"As strumpets paint their faces, and deck and perfume their beds, the better to allure and deceive simple souls, so false teachers put a great deal of paint and garnish upon their most dangerous principles and blasphemies, that they may the better deceive and delude poor ignorant souls."

"They know that sugared poison goes down sweetly; they wrap up their pernicious, soul-killing pills in gold."

He cites Gal. 4:12; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Rom. 16:17-18; Matt. 7:15; 16:6, 11, 12

6. False teachers strive more to win over men to their own opinions, than to better them in their conversations

"They busy themselves most about men's heads. Their work is not to better men's hearts, and mend their lives."

He cites Matt. 27:17

7. False teachers make merchandise of their followers

"False teachers are the great worshippers of the golden calf."

He cites 2 Peter 2:1-3; Rev. 18:11-13; Jer. 6:13

"Now, by these characters you may know them, and so shun them, and deliver your souls out of their dangerous snares; which that you may, my prayers shall meet yours at the throne of grace."

"Subluxation" - Back Outa Whack

Not really how our visit went!! But cute!

SUB-LUX-A-TION. There, I've said it, . . . or, written it. "Subluxation" a term with which Phyllis (my wife), Dave (my son), and I have become very familiar over the past couple of weeks. On vacation on Kiawah Island, SC, we had to visit the Island Chiropractic clinic four times. And we're so thankful they were there on Johns Island (adjacent to Kiawah). Subluxation (from a pamphlet in the waiting room) refers to  the impingement of nerves in the spinal column by vertebrae that are out of alignment. In other words (and in less sophisticated terminology) "Your back is outa whack!" Well, my wife's back was definitely "out of whack!" It was painful for her, and painful for us to observe!

Whatever you may think about the practice of chiropraxy, Phyllis' back was obviously crooked before we went, and straight afterward. It took several attempts to get it truly aligned, but each visit helped. Now comes the maintenance. 

Alignment of the back is vital; it affects other areas of the body. When the back is out of alignment, one must over-compensate with other muscles which are not used to such movement and they too react negatively. Pain ensues. Scriptures teaches a similar lesson doesn't it? When one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Thus, there is a need for each member (part of the body) to fulfill his God-given role.  

How To Align the Life?

The Bible is replete with such verses, one of which is Colossians 3:16-17:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

See all the words I've highlighted? They issue forth from the first phrase, the word of Christ dwelling richly in the individual. Get this right, and the other will follow. Note, it doesn't say, merely read your Bible. That's true too. But reading alone is not the command. God's word must take up dwelling in the heart. It's the difference between visiting someone and living with them. Too many so-called Christians dwell in the world, and only visit Christ! For God's word to dwell in us, we must soak in it, steep in it like a tea bag, until the contents of the one (the tea bag) alter the makeup of the other (the water). The water is no longer just water, but tea! This is precisely why Jesus knocks at the door of the Laodicean church (Rev. 3:20); he's been disallowed from sitting at the table as a dweller of the heart! It is Jesus' practice to sit at table to eat but not as a dinner guest. He lives there! This is critical. 

Get this right, align the heart to God, through the Spirit nerve center and the life will fall into line. The spiritual muscles which once ached due to misuse, will correct and teaching, singing, and thankfulness will come naturally--automatically. Plant the tree by water and it grows!

Are you suffering from spiritual subluxation? Get realigned via the indwelling word.

Heaven's Luster Never Diminishes

Jonathan Edwards continues from the same sermon in yesterday's post with this wonderful description of heaven's continuing joys . . .

This happiness of the saints shall never have any interruption. There will never be any alloy to it; there never will come any cloud to obscure their light; there never will be any thing to cool their love. The rivers of pleasure will not fail, the glory and love of God and of Christ will for ever be the same, and the manifestation of it will have no interruption. No sin or corruption shall ever enter there, no temptation to disturb their blessedness: the divine love in the saints shall never cool, there shall be no inconsistency in any of them, the faculties of the saints shall never flag from exercise; and they will never be cloyed, their relish for those delights will for ever be kept up to its height, that glorious society shall not grow weary of their hallelujahs. Their exercises, though they are so active and vigorous, will be performed with perfect ease; the saints shall not be weary of loving, and praising, and fearing, as the sun is never weary of shining.

The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, pp. 888-905. Selection is found on p. 902. Sermon VIII under “Occasional Sermons.” The sermon title is "The Portion of the Righteous."