Three Results of Unanswered Prayer

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.... --1 Peter 5:8-9

Most Christians know that they need to pray. We hear it (I hope) all the time. We even feel it to some degree when we don't. Many of us beat ourselves up over it (that may be good or bad . . . depending) But at least one thing is certain, we MUST pray! Therefore, it is important that we have reminders to continue in this most important and god-ward calling. A. W. Tozer deftly puts his finger on three of the inevitable results of unanswered prayer. [bold emphases mine]

If unanswered prayer continues in a congregation over an extended period of time, the chill of discouragement will settle over the praying people. If we continue to ask and ask and ask, like petulant children, never expecting to get what we ask for but continuing to whine for it, we will become chilled within our beings.

If we continue in our prayers and never get answers, the lack of results will tend to confirm the natural unbelief of our hearts. Remember this: the human heart by nature is filled with unbelief....

Perhaps worst of all is the fact that our failures in prayer leave the enemy in possession of the field. The worst part about the failure of a military drive is not the loss of men or the loss of face but the fact that the enemy is left in possession of the field. In the spiritual sense, this is both a tragedy and a disaster. The devil ought to be on the run, always fighting a rear guard action. Instead, this blasphemous enemy smugly and scornfully holds his position, and the people of God let him have it. No wonder the work of the Lord is greatly retarded. Little wonder the work of God stands still!

Faith Beyond Reason, pp. 36-37

We know Satan's modus operandi, thus we must ward him off by the power God has given us in prayer. Indeed, prayer is more than asking, it is communion with God. Thus, to be waylaid by the devil's deceptions is to be diverted from that sweet time we can have with our Lord. Let us resist such attacks in faith and find joy in the process!

One More from the "Doctor" - Defending the Faith!

I realize that I've quoted Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones several times this past week, but this quotation cuts to the heart of so much weakness arising from within evangelicalism. Remember as you read this that he delivered this address to a meeting of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Students way back in 1954!

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3).

Here we are given a stirring call to the defense of the faith. Such a call is not popular today. It is not popular today even in some evangelical circles. People will tell you that it is all 'too negative'. They continually urge that we must keep on giving positive truth. They will tell us that we must not argue and we must never condemn. But we must ask, How can you fight if you are ever afraid of wounding the enemy? How can you rouse sleeping fellow warriors with smooth words? God forbid that we find ourselves at the bar of judgment and face the charge that we contracted out from love of ease or for fear of man, or that we failed to do our duty in the great fight of the faith. We must--we must fight for the faith in these momentous times.

Add to this the strains from the following hymn by Isaac Watts:

Am I a soldier of the cross,

a follower of the Lamb,

and shall I fear to own his cause,

or blush to speak his name?

Must I be carried to the skies

on flowery beds of ease,

while others fought to win the prize,

and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign;

increase my courage, Lord.

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,

supported by thy word. [emphasis mine]

 

In the Wake of Universalism . . .

Some have wryly commented in the wake of the firestorm from Rob Bell's book Love Wins that at least one positive thing has issued from all the publicity, it has caused many to examine what they believe. That is true enough. All error or theological disagreement seems to tend toward this. And the church, generally speaking, can be guilty of resting on it's own laurels, especially when she's painfully ignorant of the battle that has been raging all around her. So, she could use a good 'shaking up'. It's not that there have not been many fighting the good fight of faith, but perhaps we could say unequivocally that not enough have "taken up the cudgels" as the Brits would put it, and stepped into the battle where all true men of God ought to be. 

Should Christians resist false teaching, exposing it? Many voices say it is intolerant to do so. But Scripture demonstrates that the answer is a clear and resounding "Yes!" My wife lists on her blog (Confessions of a Pastor's Wife) no less than twenty references which expose false teaching and/or call for the church to fight against error. The oddity about this is that it used to be thought a thing of virtue when a leader exercised his God-given responsibility to defend the flock from (as we so familiarly quote) "wolves in sheep's clothing" (Mt. 7:15). In truth, it seems we are more familiar with Matthew 7:15 than we are with the charge it elicits. In an address he gave in 1952, Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke prophetically to our day:

We are not to accept everything which even those who call themselves Christians may say. The church is warned to look for the true 'fruit of the Spirit'. In particular, those who claim to be God's spokesmen must be quite clear concerning the true nature of the person of Christ; the fact of His resurrection, the substitutionary character of His death, the way of salvation, and how the Christian life is to be lived. Anyone who is equivocal or misleading on such matter is to be avoided. The true Christian must not be misled by them [emphasis mine].

And against those who would charge any defender of the faith with wrongdoing, Lloyd-Jones warns:

There are not wanting today men in teaching and preaching positions who are advising us to walk in the 'broad way'; but our Lord and His apostles constantly affirmed that this is the opposite of God's will for us. We must not mind being thought 'narrow'. We must not be afraid of the charge that 'You think that you alone are right!' Yes, we do think that we are right; but we are not alone. The great stream of evangelical witness runs down through the centuries of church history. The gates of hell have not prevailed and will not finally prevail against it. We believe as our evangelical forefathers did, and we must be prepared for the reproaches of 'intolerance' and 'bigotry' which they also bore. St. Paul is in no doubt about the matter. He says: 'Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let hm be accursed' (Gal. 1:8). 

Then he draws a conclusion that it seems we have heard far too infrequently. 

This charge of intolerance is a compliment. For, surely, if our position is that in which God has ordained His elect should stand, we must necessarily be intolerant of all that would divert us from it. We believe and hold to it. We must be prepared to sacrifice everything for it. We must be like Martin Luther when he stood alone against the authority of the Roman Church, which had arrogated to itself such dictatorial power for so many long centuries. We must be like the Puritans, who were prepared to forsake their emoluments [income] rather than to compromise on such principles. We must be humbly aggressive in propagating the true faith, and patiently adamant in the true gospel's defense, if need be, to the utmost degrees of sacrifice [emphasis mine].

This is where we ought to be these days, not backing down in the face of a few false accusations. We must always be asking "What does the Bible teach?" Not, "What do I think?" Or, "What would I want the Bible to teach?" Rather, we are to "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12).

(From Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Knowing the Times. The Banner of Truth Trust, 2001. p. 43) 

Just the Right Touch

Christ healing the Woman with the Issue of Blood; Paolo VERONESE; 1565-70; oil on canvas; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

“Somebody has touched me.” Luke 8:46

This incident in Jesus' ministry always gives me pause to think and adds not a little humor. Humor in the form of the ironic proceeds from the obvious manner in which this young woman finds healing. 

Leading us to the cross, He would show us that as Christ died for sin, so we must die to sin- and by the self-same instrument too. One real, believing sight of the cross of Jesus!- oh, what a crucifying power it has! Paul, standing beneath its tremendous shadow, and gazing upon its divine victim, exclaimed, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Get near the Savior’s cross, if you would accomplish anything in this great and necessary work of mortification.

The Spirit effects it, but through the instrumentality of the Atonement. There must be a personal contact with Jesus. This only is it that draws forth His grace. When the poor woman in the Gospel touched the Savior, we are told that multitudes thronged Him. And yet, in all that crowd that pressed upon His steps, one only extracted the healing virtue. Thus do multitudes follow Christ externally; they attend His courts, and approach His ordinances, and speak well of His name, who know nothing by faith of personal transaction with the Lord. They crowd His path, and strew their branches in His way, and chant their hosannas; but of how few can Christ say, “Somebody has touched me”!

Oh, let us have more personal dealing with the Lord Jesus. He delights in this. It pleases, it glorifies Him. He bids us come and disclose every personal feeling, and make known every need, and unveil every grief, and confide to His bosom each secret of our own. The crowd cannot veil us from His eye. He sees the poor and contrite; He marks the trembling and the lowly; He meets the uplifted glance; He feels the thrill of the gentle, hesitating, yet believing touch.

“Somebody has touched me.” Who? Is it you, my reader? (from Octavius Winslow)

What Is True Christianity?

“Do you believe on the Son of God?” John 9:35 

It is not enough to say that we believe in God, or even in Jesus Christ. It is true, isn't it, that the devils believe and they tremble! (James 2:19) We must go further than that. And eternity demands that we consider this seriously, more seriously than we would any other subject. Listen to how Octavius Winslow (19th C) writes of our faith:

Oh, look well to your faith! There must be, in true faith, not only an assent, but also a consent. In believing to the saving of the soul, we not only assent to the truth of the word, but we also consent to take Christ as He is there set forth- the sinner’s reconciliation with God. A mere intellectual illumination, or a historical belief of the facts of the Bible, will never place the soul beyond the reach of hell, nor within the region of heaven. There is a “form of knowledge,” as well as a “form of godliness;” and both existing apart from vital religion in the soul constitute a “vain religion.” Again we press upon you the important inquiry, Have you the “faith of God’s elect”?

He drives the point home by applying the truth to each of us personally:

Is it a faith that has stained the glory of self-merit, and laid the pride of intellect in the dust? Is it rooted in Christ? Has it transformed you, in some degree, into the opposite of what you once were? Are any of the “precious fruits” of the Spirit put forth in your life? Is Jesus precious to your soul? And to walk in all circumstances humbly with God- is it the earnest desire of your heart? If there is no sorrow for sin, no going out of yourself to Jesus, no fruits of holiness, in some degree, appearing, then is yours but a “dead faith,”- dead, because it is a part and parcel of a nature “dead in trespasses and in sins,”- dead, because it is not the fruit of the quickening Spirit- dead, because it is inoperative, even as the lifeless root transmits no vitality and moisture to the tree- dead, because it never can bring you to eternal life.

These questions force us each to ask how is it with my soul? So, how would you answer that question?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones Refutes Universalism

Once again Lloyd-Jones hits the nail on the head! Liberal ideas come and go, wax and wane in popularity but the gospel of Jesus Christ never fails!

Surely we cannot accept . . . Universalistic ideas, because, if we do so, it means that we find ourselves contradicting the plain teaching of Scripture in those places where there is a clear division between the saved and the unsaved, the good and the bad, the redeemed and the lost. In spite of the arguments based upon a philosophic idea of the love of God, the Scripture draws the ultimate distinction between eternal salvation and eternal destruction . . . There is only one salvation—by the blood of Christ—and no-one can enter the kingdom except by belief in Christ. Such is the Universal teaching of the Scripture . . .

The mystic secret which we as Christians are allowed to share is that God will ultimately restore the original harmony, and re-unite again all things in Christ. Christ is over all and the old harmony will be restored . . .these blessings only apply to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. No harmony is promised to others; they are sent to ‘everlasting destruction’; but they will be outside the cosmos, as it were; they will be out of harmony and will not disturb it eternally. As regards the fallen angels it is clear that there is no hope for them. They are ‘reserved in chains’ in the pit until their final damnation comes (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Satan also is to be cast into ‘the lake of fire’ where he and all his followers are to be tormented for ever (Revelation 20:10).

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose : An Exposition of Ephesians 1, 1 to 23 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978), 202-07.

Thanks to Adrian Warnock's blog.

A Poem for Easter

John 14:6

"I am the way" he said
as he strode towards
the cross. The way
home would be hard
and deadly for him,
but life for us.

"I am the truth" claimed
the man who was
crucified as a liar.
"What is truth?" asked
his judge. Truth was pierced
for our transgressions.

"I am the life" spoke
he who was lifted up
for all to see as a corpse,
and then buried out of sight.
But what he laid down he
took again, and lived.

Way, Truth, Life.
He alone can bring
wasted sinners back
to the warm embrace
of the Father, whose omniscient eyes
look for the prodigal's return.

Borrowed from Exiled Preacher.