Abraham My Friend Number 29 (Ron Bailey)

Abraham My Friend 

Ron Bailey

29. Oh the blessednesses…

Perhaps you think we are a little pre-occupied with this simple phrase; For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. (Rom 4:3 ASV) I hope not. Justification by faith is in many ways the foundation doctrine of the New Testament. It is not the only truth but all the others need this as their foundation because this is the basis on which God deals with men and women. He has ‘credited’ men and women with His own righteousness at the point of their faith. Please note I do not say ‘on the basis of their faith’. Salvation is not by faith; it is by grace through faith. Salvation is God’s work but the channel that God has appointed to get that salvation to me is ‘faith’. Abraham is a particularly useful starting point because it was while he was in his uncircumcised state that his faith is credited as righteousness, (Rom 4:5 NASB) That is to say he has no inherent advantage of any kind; he has no covenant relationship at this time. All he has is overwhelming confidence that God is utterly reliable. But let’s see if we can enlarge the picture a little.

Pale blue light is produced in certain circumstances by passing an electric current through a heated element in neon gas, but if you pass the same current through an element in sodium gas you get yellow light. God’s truth can be expressed in different ways at different times. In Romans 4 Paul asks the question; What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? (Rom 4:1 KJV) and we have our answer in the next few verses. As Paul continues we shall change the environment and see justification by faith in different colours. Let’s ask the question what shall we say that David found? Bible students sometimes refer to a ‘locus classicus’ it means ‘an authoritative and often-quoted passage’. On the topic of justification by faith Romans 4 is a ‘locus classicus’; we cannot understand the implications of this teaching without this chapter. Paul begins with Abraham but he doesn’t end there; he now draws in David’s testimony; Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (Rom 4:6 KJV); ‘describes’ is just ‘speaks about’.

This is significant because, unlike Abraham, David lived under the period of the Law. In Abraham we find ‘justification by faith’ in the experience of a man ‘not under law’, but in David we have the testimony of a man ‘under the law’. Psalm 32 is a ‘maschil’, a didactic (teaching) song intended not just for the momentary enjoyment of a ‘good sing’ but to be meditated upon. Paul says that this psalm is the experience of someone who has been justified by faith. Let’s join Paul in his meditation. Often the New Testament will give us a definitive explanation of the Old; this is such an instance. But this is the experience ‘passing through’ a different era and it will produce different colours. David’s testimony will be expressed in very different terms to Abraham’s although, according to Paul writing in the Spirit, this is the same experience.

As the ‘electric current’ of justification by faith ‘passes into the medium’ of the Law its effect is described in different language. Did you notice what the scripture recounted as regards ‘sins’ in its narrative of Abraham? You are right! Not a word. There is no mention of ‘sin’ in the whole history of Abraham. This is not an oversight, it is simply because …sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. (Rom 5:13 ESV) This does not mean that Abraham was without sin, but that ‘sin was not charged to his account’. Abraham was ‘ungodly’ but his faith was ‘reckoned as righteousness’. (Rom 4:5) David’s case was very different. Psalm 32 is extremely ‘sin conscious’; I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psa 32:5 KJV). Abraham never used this kind of language. But Psalm 32 is not only ‘sin conscious’ it is wonderfully ‘blessing conscious’. The literal translation is brimming with joy; Oh the blessednesses of he whose transgression is carried away, whose sin is hidden. Oh the blessednesses of he to whom Jehovah does not charge iniquity… Ps 32:1,2)

It is this word does not charge, ‘does not impute/reckon’ that provided Paul with his link. It is the word used in Genesis 15:6; Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (NASB) David knew that Jehovah had not recorded his sin against him; oh the blessednesses of a bank account statement that has not had my sin charged to it! Those familiar with accounts will know that the ‘item’ must have gone somewhere; it can’t just vanish out of the system. If it was not ‘charged’ to David’s account, whose account was it charged to?

There is a beautiful cameo in the little letter of Paul to Philemon which will give us an insight. Philemon was a prosperous house-holder in Colosse; he was also one of Paul’s converts; and so was Onesimus. Onesimus was Philemon’s runaway slave who had come to Christ through Paul while Paul was imprisoned. (I’m looking forward to hearing Onesimus’ testimony one day; it must have been fascinating.) Paul now sends Onesimus home to Philemon with the instruction that Philemon must treat him no longer as a slave but as a brother. The little letter contains this additional comment; But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; (Phm 1:18 NASB) Now this is what happens when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of a man; he begins to behave as God would, instinctively. This, of course, is exactly what God has done. Who will bear the world’s sins? Who will carry the responsibility before the Justice of God? “I will”, says the Son, “charge it to my account”. And then the account was ‘paid in full’; that was the technical meaning of ‘τετέλεσται’, it is finished. (John 19:30)

So David knows that his iniquities have been charged to the account of another. Revealed truth is progressive and single seeds of revelation often spring up and blossom into fuller revelation. Abraham knew his faith was reckoned as righteousness; David saw that his own sins had been reckoned to another’s account. Oh, the “blessednesses” of such a revelation. Others in the time of the Law saw it and expressed in ways which are now familiar to us; But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:5-6 KJV)

David used other language that was key to the era of Law in which he lived. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven... (Psa 32:1 KJV) This word ‘forgiven’ is nâsâh; it means to lift up or carry away, but David had something quite specific in mind. What he had in mind was an annual ritual that was actually suspended during his own lifetime. From the time that the Ark was taken in battle by the Philistines it remained separated from the Tabernacle and the Altar of Sacrifice; this separation of the ark and the altar lasted until Solomon reunited them and meant that from Samuel to Solomon much of the Levitical worship was in abeyance. What he had in mind was a particular moment in the ceremony; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (Lev 16:22 ASV) The word ‘bear’ is nâsâh. It seems that although David knew the Scapegoat had not carried away his sins, he still knew the “blessednesses” of sins carried away. Later John Baptist would put words to the revelation; The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh (lifts up/bear away) away the sin of the world. (Joh 1:29 KJV)

Imagine an Israelite of old. Their consciences could never be at rest but the symbols told of sins removed and fellowship with God restored. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (Lev 16:21-22 NASB) There were two goats which in the symbolism represent one. This is what the Bible students call ‘substitutionary atonement’; the goat becomes the substitute for the people. The first goat died; the evitable consequence of sin. In confession and laying of hands the High Priest conveyed the sins of the people onto the head of the second or (e)scapegoat; the sins no longer rested on Israel but on the goat. Their sins were united with the goat. From now on whatever happens to the goat happens to their sins. Their sins are borne away into the wilderness, away from God’s presence and theirs. It would seem that David never saw this ceremony, and yet he experienced the “blessednesses” of iniquities carried away. There can be no genuine legal ‘justification’ unless sins are actually dealt with. This is not play-acting or a legal fiction. The death penalty has been exacted on the first goat; the second now, symbolically, bears away Israel’s sins. God can only reckon righteousness to our account because the penalties have been paid; justification by faith and substitutionary atonement are integral to each other. These truths are great tests for orthodox Christianity.

There’s more; Blessed is he whose transgression is carried away, whose sin is hidden. (Psa 32:1 Lit) This introduces another powerful picture from the era of the Law; symbolically, sins could be covered/hidden. The ceremony of the two goats was known officially as yôm kippûr; the day of atonement/covering. It is the picture of something unacceptable being covered so that peace becomes possible. And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. (Gen 32:20 KJV); ‘appease’ is the word ‘kaphar’ meaning ‘atone or cover’. If the ‘bearing away’ points to sins dealt with, the whole purpose of the ‘atonement/covering was to effect a reconciliation that made it possible for God to fellowship with His people for one more year. It’s interesting how this idiom of ‘covering’ persists to our own day. “who will pay the debt?” “this will cover it”. As a result of the death and sending away of the goats the people of Israel were ‘covered’ and God’s presence in their midst would not destroy them.

So we can see that forensic justification is not a rabbinic mind-game but part of a comprehensive revelation that God has provided a thoroughly safe means for the sinner to appear in His presence without fear. His iniquities have been carried away by Calvary’s Sacrifice; as a result his sins are hidden and not charged to his account. Every angle has been ‘covered’. We may not understand all the implications but those who put their faith in God will have this testimony… Oh the blessednesses…

SURVIVAL OF THE REVIVAL

Robert Wurtz II (circa 2004)

Do You Really Want Revival?

Revival begins when God sovereignly begins to place an urgency within the hearts of His Saints to awake from their spiritual slumber and repent of ALL their ungodly deeds (Ezekiel 14:6). An awareness comes over His people of the times and conditions in which they live. The Saints of God are carried along with the tide of worldliness and if they are not careful find themselves falling in step with the behavior of impenitent sinners. God calls His people to repent. The word repent is used in connection with the Seven Church’s of Asia eight times. Revival begins when man rightly responds to God’s call to repent. Mclintock and Strong defines evangelical repentance saying, “It begins with conviction of sin, accompanied by sorrow for it, confession of it, hatred to it, and renunciation of it.” The author as well as the object of true repentance is God (Acts 5:31). Man in of themselves do not desire to repent. It is initiated by God when He sends His ministers to preach repentance to the people (Acts 17:30; Romans 10:14, 15, etc.).

The Holy Spirit begins to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8); and it is up to the hearers whether they will submit themselves to God or resist the Holy Spirit and stiffen their necks (Acts 7:51). The Spirit of God will not always strive with man because they are also flesh (Genesis 6:3). Man’s response to the call to repentance answers the question if they really want revival or not. Some will heed the call and forsake all their sin and the objects of their sin. Others will continue to believe that they can manage their compromise and in the end will finally believe the lie and be damned because they did not love the truth, but took pleasure in sin (2 Thessalonians 2:12).

Short Term Repentance

Some people initially repent because they are in a crisis or they see danger looming and repent only to avoid judgment or to ease the punishment associated with it. If their heart is not changed (replaced) their foolishness will only be driven far from them as it is bound in the heart of the impenitent. When relief from the trial comes they will soon forget their pain and their foolishness will return and take center stage in their life once again. True repentance used to be preached as follows:

1) It must be haughty and not timid

2) It must be total and not partial

3) It must be permanent and not temporary

If the repentance does not follow this pattern it is not true biblical repentance. When those who temporarily repented sinned they felt no shame, but yet they were ashamed to openly repent. They were haughty sinners and timid repenters. They sinned with a “fist in the air” and in all manor of shameless highhandedness, but they repented silently and hid themselves as though they were ashamed to be seen repenting and accepting the Lord. Jesus openly rejects this when He said that if you are ashamed of Me before men I will be ashamed of you before my heavenly Father (Mark 8:38). What wrath must burn in the eyes of Christ when He bore our sin in His own body on the tree laid bare before the entire world; yet a “temporal repenter” won’t even acknowledge that they sinned and caused it. How is it we could embarrass God and all the host of Heaven and then refuse to embarrass ourselves by openly repenting? Show me a person embarrassed to repent and I’ll show you them home on Sunday in 6 weeks.

Dangers of Short Term Repentance

Pharaoh remains as the great example of what happens when you resist the Holy Spirit and the judgment of God that brings repentance. As God stepped up the judgment, Pharaoh resisted the Holy Spirit and God hardened his heart all the more. Finally when the judgment reached its apex- Pharaoh agreed to let the Children of Israel go; but later he pursued them to his own destruction. This is how people are, they have no intention to repent until the situation is at its maximum judgment- and by the time they repent they think they have done God a service, but they have only hardened their own heart. And that, because as soon as they find relief they pursue their old sin as though they felt it slipping through their fingers. Short-term repentance is not repentance at all and it is evidenced in the end.

Repentance Means Forsaking Sin and the Means of the Sins

It is not really repentance until the “High places” and the “Groves” are thrown down. Jehoshaphat was one of the great Kings of Israel. It was said of him that he did always have the Lord before his eyes. In II Chronicles 17:6 we read… And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah. When our hearts are truly lifted up to do the will of God we will destroy the High places in our lives. Christians all over this nation have severe strongholds of the devil that have to be dealt with and yet they refuse to. The enemy has built a sin or sins in their life that the person keeps running back to over and over again. True repentance is when we burn the bridges back to our old sins. This may mean getting rid of things that serve as stepping-stones back to your sins. As long as you think to yourself something like this… “Well, if anything goes wrong, I can still go back to thus and such” it is not true repentance. True repentance is when you do as did Elisha and kill the oxen and burn the yoke and plow (1 Kings 19:21). True repentance is when we take hold of the plow and refuse to look back.

The Revival Will Last as Long as the Repentance Lasts

When the people fall back into their old ways revival is over. When the newness of repentance has worn off and the zeal to do God’s will is wearing thin- there is a danger to falling back into a spiritual slumber. When the people don’t get into the word and pray and witness they will be running on the same dead battery they had before. God may “jump start” the people with a sovereign act of revival, but He expects us to then stir up the gift of God that is within us from there on out.

Thermonuclear Revival

There comes a point when God is sending revival that the people keep taking in and taking in and taking in, but they are not giving out. God has empowered them for service and they are using that “power” as a means to a new “spiritual experience” rather than to do God’s will. This is where many revivals blow up. People start seeking a “deeper experience” in the Lord in some mystical way and end up ready for the funny farm. Instead of allowing the Spirit of God to empower them for service they keep seeking more and more and more “spiritual blessing” until they just flat loose it all together! The pressure and drive to minister becomes so volatile that they nearly explode like an atomic reaction from the pressure. Anyone seeking an experience with Christ apart from knowing Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings- being made comfortable until His death- is headed for flakesville. The anointing of God is for service. An experience with God that is genuine causes us to want to share the faith with others and conform to pure religion. A lot of things have been blamed on the Holy Ghost that were not God at all! People don’t bark in the Holy Ghost. They don’t contort their bodies like epileptics or any other demonic thing. When people don’t use their anointing to minister and they keep seeking more and more and more power and blessing—they open themselves up to devils.

Protecting the Ground God has Given Us

It is impossible to be full of the Holy Ghost and not desire greatly to minister to the lost (Acts 4:31). It is impossible to be full of the Holy Ghost and continually struggle with sin (John 16; Mark 16, etc.). It is impossible to be full of the Holy Ghost and not love your neighbor as yourself (I John 4:8). When God sends revival into our lives and into our church serious changes take place. People begin to feel the heart of God to want to witness. They begin to live holy lives separate from sin. Their life is characterized by Godliness. When we begin to wax lazy and begin allowing the enemy to offer us alternative entertainment for our Spiritual walk with God trouble is on the way.

Revival According to Atkins

The revivalists diet is one of strong meat and very little fluff and nonsense. Many people believe that they can turn God on and off like a switch- they can shift into Spiritual mode or compromise mode at will. However, ANYONE who has ever done anything meaningful for the Lord lived with a high level of consecration to God. They were often misunderstood and disliked. They seemed to be dull and boring. This is because impenitent sinners measure their beliefs by their fleshly standards and not by the fruit of the Spirit. What a sinner hates a believer loves- they cannot understand spiritual things.

An” on fire for God” individual has a different diet than a person who is “half backslidden” or lukewarm as a Christian. Too often we forget that Jesus rejects lukewarmness. When we are half in and half out He spits us out of His mouth. When we get into this condition we have need to be taught again Spiritual truths that we once understood. Hebrews 5:12 reads… For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. As a new born babe grows up in Christ they begin to apply the word and understanding moves from the milk to the strong meat (adult food). Milk is for New Converts and when it is needed among aged Christians it is evidence that the senses are not being controlled and all manor of sin is being let in to the heart and mind.

Drowning in 'Chocolate Milk'

Hebrews 5:14, 15 reads… For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The use of meat has less to do about education than it does with our walk with the Lord. Many people in the time of Christ could not read or write, but they could exhort the meat of God’s word. In Acts 4:13 we read…Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. On the contrary, someone who has NOT been with Jesus may have multiple degrees and not know the first thing about the truth of God. The word of God is not intellectually understood- it is Spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:14). God hid His truths from the wise and the prudent (Matthew 11:25) and revealed them unto His children (Luke 10:21). Strong truth has little to do with human wisdom and much to do with being born again and simple obedience.

The more light we desire to walk in- God will give us more light to see with. If there is no hunger and thirst for righteousness- men and women will eat the strong meat of sin and iniquity for years and sip the milk of God’s word. Soon it will get so bad that the only thing they will drink is the “Chocolate Milk” of God’s blessings and promises. What a meal? “Steak and potatoes sin” washed down with the “chocolate milk” of God’s promises. This is the preferred meal of modern Christendom and it’s a mockery of God worse than the impenitent sinners on the streets. People trying to use God’s promises to assist them in serving their god of mammon. We live in a day opposite of the book of Job according to David Wilkerson. Its as though Satan approached the throne of God and demanded that God bless His people until their vats were full to sift them to see if they would serve God or mammon.

GOD CAME -G.W. North

GOD CAME
G.W. North

The word ‘dedication’ carried with it the idea of complete and utter concentration. It is the determination of an utterly convinced soul, a fixed intention, it implies the setting aside of whatever or whoever it is to one end and purpose alone. There is something wonderful about dedication unto the Lord, implying the thought of ‘being within the veil’. As a result of this in the hearts of a group of people I was blessed many years ago to be in an outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord in a certain district of Yorkshire. I am a result of that, I did not begin it. I did not take revival. The Lord out-poured His Spirit in that place at that time. I did not take it there, I emphasize that: I am a result of it.

YOU CAN HAVE REVIVAL

Throughout the ages there have been great men who have moved in revival, to name one - Charles Grandison Finney. Finney wrote a series of lectures on the subject: ‘ Revivals of Religion’ he called them. In these he gave some guidance, if not rules, about revival, and said that if you follow these procedures you can have a revival any time you wish. I would heartily commend Charles Finney to you, for it seemed that everywhere that man went there was a great move of the Spirit of God; it must have been marvellous to have been there. I can remember a time in my life when I avidly read everything to do with outpourings of the Spirit and revivals. Some of you may have heard me commend certain books for reading: Finney’s ‘Lectures on Religious Revival’, Finney’s autobiography, Jonathan Goforth’s ‘By My Spirit’, and so on….

I remember reading, when I was a young man, a book by Dr. Campbell Morgan in which he spoke of being deputed to visit Wales during the Revival taking place there. He was amazed, he said, as he sat in the congregation of those people being wrought upon by the Spirit of God. He came from a very orderly congregational background and was there as an observer. To his amazement four or five people stood up, all praying at the same time, yet there was no confusion, as he thought would happen; everything was being done decently and in order. This is Campbell Morgan’s own confession: ‘ Instead of it being reprehensible and confusing, this is divine disorder’ (his own words) ‘it was wonderful, all was under the inspiration and control of the Spirit of God. He was moving on the congregation.’ No man carries around revival in his pocket or in his sermon bag. No-one can guarantee an outpouring of the Spirit of God. In the general reading of scripture - both in the New Testament and also in the Old, revivals as we speak of them are never ascribed to the outpouring of the Spirit.

What we call revivals happened when perhaps God raised up either a prophet or a king who would speak out His word and go dead against sin. All idols, whatever their name, had to go. All kinds of things had to go and deep repentance and contrition seized the people. At these times the blood sacrifices and offerings to God were restored and His pure worship reinstated. In some instances you will find that the word of God, the scriptures of truth, was read: always it was coming back to that which God originally gave. I can remember too reading about the revivals in Lewis (in Scotland). We had that great man Duncan Campbell staying in our home for one period. He visited us for a weekend when I was in Yorkshire, and he shared with us. He was a dear man of God - he still is, of course, he has gone to be with God; he is more a man of God now than he was then. That is the great future for us, isn’t it? As you know, God is not a God of the dead, but of the living.


Duncan Campbell was telling some of the glorious stories of the outpourings of the Spirit of God in Lewis. One that vividly remains in my memory is the story of the woman in the ditch. He was going along the road to a service at the time, when he heard a woman’s voice crying, sobbing out her heart to God. Louder and louder grew the cries as he drew toward their source, and as he listened he began to make out the words. They were being repeated over and over again in solemn, heartbreaking repetition: ‘Oh God, the walls of Zion are broken down, the walls of Zion are broken down’. Reaching the immediate spot where the woman was, he looked over and through the hedge, and there in a ditch, lay a Scotswoman in great distress, crying out to God. Duncan Campbell was greatly moved as he listened to her heart-cries. She wasn’t praying marvellous prayers, there was no great oratory, just distress of soul, and heartbreak. The heartbreak of God - it was coming out of a ditch; a poor woman feeling under the burden, under the weight of the sin and need of the island of Lewis. He left her there with God, went down the road and walked into the church; and are you surprised to hear that that very evening, in that same church, God poured the Spirit.

On another occasion (I think it was), he preached on ‘ I will pour water on him that is thirsty’. At least he announced his text (whether or not he preached, I cannot remember), and a man, an elder in the church, who was sitting on the end of the pew somewhere back down the church, got up, stepped out into the aisle and cried, ‘Oh God, I’m thirsty…Oh God, I’m thirsty’. That was as far as Duncan Campbell got with his sermon! God came. Duncan Campbell, that humble servant of God, said, ‘I do not carry revival around with me in my bag’.

I believe with all my heart that with God all these things are by law. By that I do not mean that you and I can make up laws about it. I am pleased that I can faintly remember things that Finney says about fulfilling the rules and conditions, and am persuaded that God in heaven and a woman in a ditch, and a man in a pew, continued without knowledge, aforethought or agreement to fulfill the conditions of God. If we did the same things, put a women in the gutter here, put a man in a pew, have the right texts announced, will we have revival? Strangely enough, we might, but I do not think so. I wouldn’t like to guarantee it.

NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

When this same kind of thing happened with me, I was a Baptist pastor in Kent, not without a degree of blessing in the ministry, when the Lord broke in and sent me to Yorkshire. God told me to go. I was under Divine command, that I Know. Sorrily I tarried about 3-6 months after God told me to go - I ought not to have done, but I was doing the acceptable thing (in some circles) - fiddling out, putting out what are politely called fleeces. God would have none of it. He told me to go, and that was that. And so the time came when I went. I did not go there to have a revival, I did not go there to have an outpouring of the Spirit - God did not tell me what he was going to do, he expected me to obey Him, that was all. God had long since shewn me what a true New Testament church was: and I knew that the church in which I was a pastor was not a true New Testament church. God knew it too. This is not spoken in a criticism; I was the pastor of the church; if you like you can say it was my fault. I knew it was not a true New Testament church because I read of the New Testament church in the Acts of the Apostles, and obviously the church was not like that, but wanted to be. But it was as though God was hitting me in the eyes with truth. Before God sent me north, I had come to a conclusion in my heart that I would not rest until I saw a New Testament church on the earth. Notice I did not say ‘the perfect’ New Testament church, nor did I say a first century church; but I at least knew what I wanted and that the way I was functioning and the system I functioned under was not remotely like the function of a New Testament system. The only standard of a true church and true church worship must be the New Testament.

So, when I went up north from the south, I went up having already declared this before God - that I would not rest until I saw a New Testament church. I did not go up there specifically to do it, but that was already in my heart when I went. Beloved, from the depths of all that I understand, I want to state plainly that ‘as a man thinketh in his hear’, so is he and so he does. Unless men and women are true to what is in their heart before God, he or she will never get anywhere in the kingdom. (Emphasis added)

I went up north eventually because God sent me there to a very small church. I sometimes think that may be an advantage. It must be a job if you inherit a thousand people and you don’t quite know what all of them think, although they may be members of the same congregation. So God had mercy on me, and I never even had 120 people to attend to, or to wrestle with. I just went there to a handful. I had no plan. I was not seeking revival. God knows that. I am only telling you what I know, and what happened. I don’t think there is any ready-made formula. Somehow - and I can’t tell you how, except by the mercy of God - a great desire to pray came upon me. It was from heaven itself. The group I went to were in expectation; I expect you must be if you invite a man to come up and be your pastor. You must have some hopes of him when you ask him to come. They had been without pastoral oversight for nine months. The pastor before had been taken ill and had been forced to give up the ministry. So they had laboured on for nine months, praying that God would send someone to them. If you ask me, ‘why didn’t God pour out the Spirit while you were in the Baptist Church’; if you ask ‘Why didn’t He pour out the Spirit on the people before you went there?’, I do not know. I only know this, ‘Go to so-and-so’ - that is what you have to do. You must not bring your well-trained intellect to bear, you must not resort to mere reasoning’s. (Emphasis added)

WAIT ON THE LORD

I would like to draw your attention to a couple of scriptures.

Acts 4:19 - Peter and John are saying, ‘What do you think? Do you think it is right in the sight of God to listen to men more than to God?’
Chapter 5:29 - Peter speaking, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’.

Question and Answer - Do you think it is right? If you do, do you do it?

All I am telling you is that I obeyed God. God had mercy on me; I did not do it immediately. I followed the usual ‘Christian’ pattern of not believing God when he speaks, but trying to get proof of what He said by the ‘fleeces’ method. It seems right, but it proves how untrusting we are; it is a cover for that kind of pseudo-righteousness so easy to assume- all the more subtle because it has a scriptural precedent - ‘we want to be absolutely sure we’re doing right’. As though it is never right to trust God when He speaks, unless He speaks again or gives some kind of sign or proof acceptable to you. Obedience is the great key. It is not only the key to revival or outpourings of the Spirit, it is the key to all spiritual life. (Emphasis added)

The great things of God are very simple. When people ask, ‘How?’ or ‘Tell us what?’ Never answer them except from scripture and your experience of it; because if you do not you will be guilty of misleading people. People must not be led that way. God chose not to pour out the Spirit in the south of England. There is much in the prophets about rain; God made one such statement about cities saying he would cause it to rain on one city and not on another. We speak about this as ‘showers of blessing’. When I went up north, somehow a great desire came on me to pray, not that I was a stranger to prayer, but it seemed to really blossom forth. In those days the favourite text among us was very simple; ‘wait upon the Lord. Wait, I say, upon the Lord’. That and several related scriptures were constantly found in our mouths. ‘My soul wait thou ONLY upon the Lord’. That is exactly what I and a few others did. Some of them had been praying long before I arrived, that God would send them a man. Not that I want you to look at a man, it is just what happened. Why he should send me I do not know. It was a move of God, His sovereign will, that is all.

We prayed constantly almost from the moment I got there. Of course there were the usual services. We had our Sunday meetings, morning and evening, and a mid-week Bible exposition, as God enabled me to give it. There were all sorts of other meetings as well; open-air meetings every Saturday, and when the lighter nights came we had an open-air meetings week, tracting, I don’t know what we did. We weren’t trying to work up or bring about revival, we just did it. I am telling you what happened.

On top of all that, waiting on the Lord. People are too slack, too lackadaisical, and too bone-idle lazy to give themselves to the main thing. If you find that a harsh judgment - well, beloved, better hear it now than wake up in eternity and wish somebody had told you. I do not see that Finney had revival because he withdrew into near monastic states. I do not think that John Wesley had revival because he hid himself away somewhere in retreat. He used to ride all over the country on horseback. Sometimes they had to thaw him off his horse because he was frozen to his saddle. In between preparing sermons he occupied himself with writing primers and the like for Greek students. How did he do this? He would preach at five o’clock in the morning - that was just a beginning. Where would you be if you had to do that? I find that great things do not come about because as people say, ‘we are far too busy’. I find instead that they are not busy enough in the right things, they are far too busy in the wrong things though.


That is what we did, it was a hectic program. What members they all were! My Sundays were spent walking to and from the church, a mile or so in each direction, three times - somewhere about eight to ten miles. Some of you are born to inherit cars; I wasn’t, I walked. These things are true. I am not boasting. Morning and evening meetings were preceded by prayer meetings. We loved to pray and pray and pour out our hearts together, we simply loved it. I have never heard outpourings of hearts anywhere as I heard in those days. Occasionally I have heard lovely prayers, beautifully phrased, comparable with any you can read out of a book - they had not the power of hearts out-poured. I have heard noisy, shouted prayers too, but that is not what I mean. They have not been the same as the prayer that gripped us in those days. I have heard prayers vibrant with that ‘something’ of the heart, the Spirit of God and the whole spirit of man in it too. I have listened to the whole being of man praying, the utter out-pouring. We used to gather and pray, and go home and pray. We loved it, loved it. The real difficulty I had was to stop the people praying. We just prayed and prayed.


I want to testify that when Duncan Campbell came and spoke about a woman crying out in the ditch, I knew exactly what he meant, because I’d heard it. We weren’t praying in tongues particularly; we would speak in tongues if God wanted us to and wrought upon us for that. We were praying in plain English, pouring out unto God. We used to have a Saturday night meeting every week following an open-air meeting and house to house visitation or tracting in the afternoon. On top of all these things we used to have a Prayer, Praise and Testimony meeting at night. Our Saturday night used to start at two o’ clock in the afternoon with a prayer meeting and finish about 10 p.m. Later a late-night drunks meeting was added, which finished around 2.00am. You say, ‘Well, we can’t do that, we have fellowship meetings, and besides God isn’t moving like that these days’. Everything has to be accommodated to our present states, it’s the ‘in’ thing, nice little meetings arranged to fit in with our family programs. How in the world can we expect God to do anything when everything is made to revolve around ourselves? None of use knew anything about that. We just got there. (Emphasis Added)

If you say, ‘it is going to cost you everything to have a revival’ - it is not true. Neither I nor anyone else had any sense of it costing anything. Friends, your mind is laboring and under strain because you are approaching it all wrongly. The testimony of all hearts and radiant faces was ‘it was a delight, it was joy, it was indescribable. Utterly satisfying and strengthening.'


THE TEMPLE IS FILLED…

So it continued, and one night, God came - that is about the only way to describe it. ‘What did you preach on?’. I didn’t preach on anything. ‘There you are then’, you might say, ‘revivals do not come by preaching’. But I’d been expounding and preaching months beforehand. Was that a preparation for it? There is no prescription for revival. You can bring all your wits and wisdom, all the ways of man to bear upon it, but I beg you to cease. It just isn’t like that. It began with God getting hold of someone, I know. Let me ask you, brother - have you got a stirring in your bowels? Have you got a longing in your heart? Have you got a driving force that has become the dynamic of your being? Is it like that? If not, give up all ideas of anything mighty happening. Earnestness, sincerity, concern are good, indispensable, but not good enough, something must happen that will make you give everything up… or else give up all your ideas of a move of God. God must do something.


As I look back upon it now, I realize how completely it ate me up. I was in the heyday of my physical strength and manhood, and it not only ate me up, it ate up all that little group of which I was but one. Something came down, it was from God. I didn’t set myself to do these things, I disown any part in it. I find this kind of thing going through people’s minds: some young man will say, ‘I want to serve God, I’ve always wanted to serve God. I’ve given up my work to wait on God, to get a call’. Calls do not come from God that way. I was doing all my work when God called me. I never laid aside anything; I was unaware of what He was going to do. I reckon that Jesus Christ was working hard at the carpenters bench when the stirrings and calling of God took Him and thrust Him out to Jordan. The apostles were fishing when they received the call. They did not throw up their work or only do half a week’s work in order to wait on God. Perhaps men easily catch the idea from Jehovah’s Witnesses. Gideon was working hard, threshing wheat, when God came to him. I find that another of them was following the plough when God spoke to him. David was minding the sheep; his family were saying ‘Well, it isn’t David, it can’t be David,’ but it was. Moses was working, slogging hard, daylight to dark, in the back side of the desert, and one day God came to him, burning in the bush. Moses didn’t go to the back of the desert with the idea of waiting on God, thinking God was calling him.

At best, a manufactured call can be the only result of such a folly and if nothing materializes from it, after a time you have to go back to work. God does not call lazybones. Preachers are many - it’s workers we need. (Emphasis added) On that Sunday night when God came, the morning message was ‘The Glory filling the temple’. After wards one of our young ladies came to me and said, ‘I MUST HAVE this glory’. So I said ‘okay’, and looked at my watch (because we had this mile or so trek home, have lunch, mile or so trek back for Sunday School, about half an hour’s walk the way I used to walk then.) ‘Alright’, I said, ‘after the service tonight’. So we carried on, and at night I preached on ‘entering into his rest’. There was a young woman present who did not normally come to the meetings. ‘You know’, she said, ‘ I’m not in this that you’ve been talking about’. So I got hold of one of the elders in the church, and said, ‘Look, this girl has responded tonight, and I have to talk to her. You go in there (the other room), Walter, so-and-so is in there and she wants the glory. Go in there and minister to her’. So in he went.
I knelt down with this precious girl and started to talk to her. She’d had this experience, she’d had that experience. Isn’t it sad that people who say they are baptized in the Spirit are wanting heart-rest. There’s something radically wrong with so much that is going on in these days.


Well, as we were talking I found I had to raise my voice louder and louder - there was quite a noise coming from next door. So I spoke louder and she shouted back at me; until at last I shouted back at her, ‘It sounds as though what you want is going on next door. We’d better go!’. So in we went. Instead of seeing one young lady in there seeking the glory, there were about fifteen to twenty. She had passed round the message. There they were on their knees, some radiant with the glory, others crying out with tears to God. God had come.

WITH THE GLORY OF GOD

We had those bender chairs, horrible for sitting on, but very good for what was going on then. I saw little lakes of tears gathered on the patterned plywood sears of those chairs as hearts wept out their cries and needs before God. It was awesome. IF you want revival you must have weeping, not just charismatic euphoria, real revival that brings regeneration comes through someone’s heartbreak. It has to do with the heartbreak of God over sin. That is what revival is all about. It is not making you happy over the top of sin in the heart. It is not God’s means of repression or covering up, or glossing over, it is thorough cleansing.

Tears at last turned to cries of joy as one after another stood up, lifting heads and faces to the heavens, filled with the glory of God. That was the beginning and what a beginning it was, and it introduced all that was to follow. It continued exactly as it started. Numerically we doubled, we trebled, we quadrupled, we quintupled; it was all so effortless. We had to get into bigger premises, trying to keep pace with God. God moved and was still moving.

During those days of change and development, preaching for me, became as new. Having never been one who needed, made or preached from copious notes, it was perhaps not so great a change as it may have been for some other men in my position. All I was using was a bit of paper on a little desk with perhaps four or five headings, a ‘pegs for preachers idea’. But from that occasion all notes were swept away. God came on the preacher as well as the people, He came on everybody; it was indescribably wonderful and absolutely unforgettable.

I perfectly understood Dr. Campbell Morgan when he spoke about ‘Divine Disorder’. It was utterly beyond anyone’s power to shut peoples mouths, they couldn’t stop praying, praising, singing shouting; the glory had come. One man, a university graduate, stood up one night as if in pain, and said ‘Oh - if you don’t let me pray, I shall burst’. Very irreverently, I said, ‘perhaps you’d better burst, brother, we’ll get something good then’. He did, and we did.
Did miracles take place? Oh yes, miracles took place. What did you see? I’ll tell you - the greatest miracles I saw were people utterly transformed. Oh, I thought you were going to tell me about the lame being made to walk, and bodies being healed. Yes, I could tell you that, but compared with that glorious night which began weeks and weeks of unstinted outpouring they ought hardly be considered. The greatest thing is that men and women were absolutely transformed and remained transformed. I did not have to mount rescue operations anymore. Pastoral visitation went by the board. I was busy dealing with enquiring sinners. All quarrelling stopped dead, no-one seemed to have anything to complain about. Women weren’t falling out anymore, men saw eye to eye, there was not a frown to be seen. The problem of the caretaking of the church premises was immediately solved, they all volunteered to do it. They used to stand up and announce ‘scrubology’ and all the ladies would come. All internal church problems vanished and stayed that way for years. I never heard a murmur or a complaint, all church decisions were unanimous.


It has never been my privilege to hear or be involved in the kind of prayer that you read about in Acts 4. That surely must be the prayer-meeting par excellence. They all prayed in their mother-tongue. That surely excelled the prayer that took place on the day of Pentecost. I suppose if you pray in tongues it is fairly safe, everybody could be praying quite different if not opposite prayers, nobody knows what is being prayed. But they (according to Acts 4) all prayed exactly the same prayer in their mother-tongue. How about that! That would most probably frighten the majority of churchgoers to death - what a phenomenon!

But though I have not witnessed that, I have heard prayer that almost seemed as thought it would tear the heart out of a man or woman, rising and rising and rising to God in ceaseless streams. It was wonderful. Perhaps after two and a half, three hours I would say, ‘Well, perhaps we ought to have a little break now’. We would get up off our knees, do the things that needed to be done after kneeling for two to three hours, and then down again we would go. As a preacher, I was produced from that. I did not learn it: it came from that - like the man in John 9 I can say, ‘this thing I KNOW’.

DEDICATION

Some years after these things, I was taken by Gods grace to a place called the Longcroft, where again we saw similar things. I’ve seen young men carried out of the meetings in the Longcroft, they were under the power of the Spirit of God and were overcome. They had been making Christian professions before that. It was the same in Liverpool, the same sort of things were reproduced there. And you must have the same thing in your church. I guess that God will not really count it to be dedicated until it happens. You must have an out-pouring of the Spirit. Every church must have its own local outpouring of the Spirit of God; there is no substitute for it and there is no paper-made way in which you can have it - it has got to happen though.

Dedication. To what are you dedicated? It is of no use dedicating a place to the Lord unless the persons who are dedicating it are themselves dedicated. Dedication of a place is of far less importance than dedication of a person, that is the important thing. The instabilities of the human nature are such that until that nature and being be suffused with the power and Spirit and glory of God, they are utterly unable to sustain their own desires - any man or woman, whatever their intentions and promises, will find that waywardness of their own hearts overcomes the sincerity of their minds, and their first promises peter out and die away like water poured upon sand is swallowed up.

‘Lovest thou me?’ He enquired of Peter. He did not say ‘I’m going to pour out My Spirit’. He had not really told them about that day. He had informed the disciples about His intentions, but He did not deal with Peter about that. All He asked was this: ‘Do you love Me more than these?’. The outpouring of the Spirit was a fixed event in God, He never consulted Peter about that.
He must have his love. Dedication depends and turns upon love. If you love the Lord, somehow He will hold you there until it - whatever ‘it’ is - happens. It will be by the grip of God on your life. It will not be by just a touch in passing.

‘Peter, I just recently died for you. Peter, I took your punishment’. I don’t know all that Jesus said to him, it was a private meeting with him in the beginning - then a group meeting with the apostles; and again, another public one that the early morning by the shores of the sea. ‘Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Keep my commandments’. Those men went from there (possibly to the room where it eventually happened) to the great outpouring.

How strong and how true is your dedication? God’s determination and man’s dedication go hand in hand. ‘This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching out unto that thing which lies before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’. That is the mark of dedication. The dedicated heart is always pressing on, determined to reach the distant mark. Well, whatever was he after?

GO FOR IT!

‘I want to lay hold of that for which God has laid hold of me’. Have you ever let God lay hold of you? If you do not, you will not lay hold of anything worthwhile. God is not purposeless in anything he does, in calling you He has a purpose. If He brought you together in your church and there are aspirations in your heart, let Him now lay hold of you together. Do this one thing - lay hold of that for which God has laid hold of you and let everything else go to the winds.
If you will do that I think that permission is granted of me of God to make this promise to you: He will fulfill that for which He has laid hold of you. He will do it and if in your hearts there has been a lighted a fire, go after it! Let it burn and give yourself up to it, let it consume you. Aim first at being consumed by the fire in your heart instead of killing it by drenching cold water on your mind. God for it. Let it burn in you until (if I may say so) God has to do it.

‘You can’t talk like that!’

Well, only in this sense: that He HAS to fulfill His own designs. If He instigates it, if He lays hold of you with purpose and you come into line with that purpose, there is a sense in which He just has to do it. He WANTS to do it and He WILL do it. Do you believe that?

Do not be satisfied because you might have had what you call an Evangelical or a Pentecostal or a Charismatic experience, as though God intended man to rest in that as the acme of everything. I see, I believe, that in this New Testament of ours, the norm is that God should be moving by his Spirit in localities, bringing others in.

I believe that one of the fundamental reasons for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the salvation of souls. And if you are not getting souls saved there is something wrong. There are people who say ‘Ah, well, we are not at that phase yet, we are in the establishing or building up phase at the moment’. I hear the nice little phrases ‘ God has shut me up to do this, we can’t do that’ and the like. Read the Book and see the great heart of God. It’s above all this ‘phraseology’.
Dedicate yourselves. Be intense, it takes utter concentration, and total self-giving. This is the proven way. I have not proved other.

GWN

The Place of God's Rest
Robert Wurtz II

Heaven [is] my throne, and earth [is] my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what [is] the place of my rest? (Acts 7:49)

If I were to ask why Christ came and died on the cross what would you answer? The typical response would be that He died to save us from our sins; the implication being, to save us from eternal damnation (Hell). This is true as far as it goes, but it is not the complete truth. Jesus Christ came that we might have eternal life; but what is eternal life? Is it merely to be saved from the wrath of God? Is it a promise of blessings in this life and the next? Is it streets of gold and mansions bright? Jesus answers the question in John 17, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. We find here Christ's definition of eternal life and it stands in contrast to eternal death. We know that the second death is eternal death. Eternal death is to be eternally separated from knowing God in peace and being united with the wrath of God. Eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ. This is knowledge in the sense that we find in John 10:14ff- but for all eternity.

Reconciled to God

God has always desired to restore the fellowship He had with Adam and Eve in the Garden before they fell into Sin. God is holy and cannot remain in the presence of sin without bringing judgment. When God began to draw near to man he had to deal with the terrible defilement that sinning caused. For this He made a covenant that we know as the 'Old Covenant'. It was designed for the old man; that is, for man as he is 'in' Adam. Later God would give the New Covenant tailored for those that are 'in Christ', the One New Man; that is, the last Adam. (I Corinthians 15:45) God knew men would break these covenants so He set up a means by which the wrongs could be righted. This we know as a sacrificial system. Sins, individual transgressions of the covenant, have to be dealt with before God can draw near and remain near on an ongoing basis.

God in a Building?

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word (Isaiah 66:1, 2).

Although God appeared to man at different times and places, even moving among them in the Wilderness Tabernacle and Temple, He ultimately intended to make His dwelling place 'in' men. Not a building or a structure or a 'spot' on a map, but to this 'man' or to this 'one' will I look. God was looking to live in men and women. The first man God dwelled in in this sense was Jesus Christ. He was the Temple of the Living God when He walked the earth. (John 2:19) Yet He is quoted as making a stunning statement in Mark15:48; I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. Another temple made without hands? First, He was referring to Herod's Temple (with hands) and the Temple of the Body of Christ (without hands). Whether or not these religious leaders misquoted Jesus is beside the point, because the theology of what they said was spot on. Jesus Christ intended to pitch a Temple that was not the works of mens hands, but was and is the working of the Holy Spirit. (Hebrews 8:1ff) Post Pentecost God began once again to walk with man in sweet fellowship and communion- only this time the Garden of Eden was in the Temple of men and womens bodies. He desired to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and made that desire possible once He ascended into Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to baptize those that truly believe into His One Body.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:12)

So we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5)

God's Path to the One Body of Christ

God always desired a place of rest. But since the Garden of Eden man has not been kind to welcome God or present himself as a holy dwelling place for Him. From Genesis 3 to Genesis 6 man was on the fast track to absolute destruction. The people did not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28). They did not seek after God- in fact they fled from Him and resisted Him on every hand. In Genesis 6:3 God said that His Spirit would not always strive with man, but that his days would be 120 years. Some men began to call on the name of the Lord, but by the days of Noah there were only 8 people that would heed the call of God to repentance. The world was destroyed by water and Noah’s family then began to swiftly replenish the earth. But over time man drifted almost completely away from God again until there were only tiny pockets of people that feared the Lord.

This is a tragic fact, yet the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him (II Chronicles 16:9). God found such a man in Abram and called him out of Ur of the Chaldees into the land that He swore unto him.

God Returning Among Men

God appeared to Abraham and started a process by which He would slowly bring man back into fellowship with Him on a large scale. God had to deal with man’s sin problem on the one hand and a rebellious nature on the other. Men typically seek a ‘personal peace’ and want to be left alone to do their own will unthwarted. But from time to time throughout the Old Testament God would find a person whose heart is perfect towards Him and would seek to reveal Himself.

Abraham was such a man. Abraham built altars and became a praying man. He sought the face of God in the mountain and from place to place. It was his desire to please God and do what was right. Abraham's nephew Lot, on the other hand, pitched his tent towards Sodom and filled his heart and mind with the vexing torments of other people’s sins. God could never be at rest in such a person’s life. So Lot never knew the closeness of fellowship with God that Abraham knew. He wanted a little bit of compromise in his life and God could not walk with him as a friend as He did with Abraham.

Lot could have chosen the path Abraham took. He could have shared in his altar experiences. But Lot wanted just enough Egypt to safely keep God on retainer, but never to have a close relationship with Him as did Abraham. Lawyers in our times are prepaid to be on retainer so they will come running when they are needed. This is how many people treat God. Lot was no different. He wanted to keep God at a safe distance so he could live in compromise.

Over time Abraham would have a promised son named Isaac and Isaac would have Jacob (Israel). Lot's life ended in disaster beyond words. The consequence of his compromise would be felt for generations. Each of these men had to come to their own personal decision to serve God. The God of their father’s had to become their God.

These Are Our Examples...

Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons that became the 12 Tribes of Israel. Most of these sons bore many children and did not walk in the way of their father Jacob, but Joseph feared the LORD and God showed Himself strong through him. The 12 Tribes of Israel were slaves in Egypt 400 years and multiplied into the hundreds of thousands. They remembered the God of their fathers and cried out to Him. God raised up a deliverer in Moses. With a mighty outstretched arm God delivered all of the children of Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt. At first they seemed to be happy to go, but soon they began to grumble and complain.

God cannot rest in an environment of unthankfulness and He will bring swift judgment. If He stays he has to judge the sin. If He does not deal with the sin then His unique presence has to leave. God drew very near to Israel when Moses went up on the mountain. He came down and his face was glowing with the radiance of God's glory. This was their opportunity. Did the people line up to see Moses' face? Did they long to look upon him with awe and wonder savoring every glimpse of God's majesty? Did they ask Moses' what it was like to be with God or perhaps they could get permission from God to come up? No on all counts. In fact, they tried to cover his face to shield themselves from any remembrance of God. The would accept the book, but they did not want God near.

When Moses came to the Mountain and God was seeking to draw near to his people once again- the people found out that they did not really want their God.

THE LOVE WE HAD AT FIRST
Robert Wurtz II

Two Essential Realities

When we reduce true Christianity to it's most basic truths there are just two requirements: that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:30) Upon these two commandments rest all of the word of God (Matthew 22:37). Unless these commandments are realities in our Christian life, no matter how much we give to God or do for God, it is all in vain (I Corinthians 13:1ff). I John 4:16 reads, And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. This love that we have known and believed should have a profound effect on us. 1 John 4:19 tells us that we love God because He first loved us. God's love for us is the direct cause of our love for Him. This truth is consistent throughout the Bible. Verse 11 states, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. When we deeply consider the genuine sacrificial love that God poured upon us while we were yet sinners, the natural outworking of that love is to love God and love one another (I John 4:19ff). This is as plain as anything.

To Whom Much is Forgiven…

There was a time in our Lord's ministry that a woman came and washed his feet with her tears and wiped them off with the very hairs of her head. The woman did not cease from kissing His feet. The Pharisee who resented this display showed no such affection for Jesus. Jesus answered this Pharisee, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:47) The Pharisee telegraphed an inordinate appreciation for Christ's love and compassion. He could not relate to this dear woman. He obviously never took the time to appreciate God's forgiveness in his own life. Sadly, his pride and arrogance stripped the man of any real and meaningful love for God. He should have known that one sin is enough to damn his everlasting soul to a devils Hell, and that he ought to be recklessly thankful. Apparently he perceived his sin as little, but the woman knew her sin was great and in this example we learn a great lesson about the human condition. When we cease to appreciate the love that God showed us we neither “kiss the Lord’s feet” with our love, nor do we welcome others to do likewise. This man showed almost no love for Christ or his neighbor. Could it have began when he would not recognize his own great need for forgiveness? Did he stop to consider his own sins?What can we say but that he conveniently cast his thankfulness as far as the east was from the west where God cast his sins? God save us from the attitude, "Lord forgive me and get over it!" How can a person truly love when they never consider the penalty for their sins in light of God's mercy? God was under no obligation to reconcile Himself to man. God deliver us from a destructive attitude of expectation of grace and mercy as if somehow God 'owed' man mercy. How destructive would such a mindset be? Where was this man's love for Christ? If there is no love for Christ we have no choice but to assume that the man never appreciated God's mercy towards him. We love God because He first loved us.

The Church at Ephesus

The church at Ephesus had the greatest teaching available of the churches in the New Testament, especially on the subject of love. We know by tradition that both Paul the Apostle and John the Revelator worked diligently with this church. Paul in the book of Ephesians tells us that we should be holy and without blame for Him in love (1:4) and commends the church for their love for the saints (1:15). In 2:4 he reminds the people of the great love wherewith God loved us to quicken us with Christ while we were dead in sins. In 3:17 Paul tells us that we should be rooted and grounded in love and verse 19 we read these words… And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. In 4:2 we are admonished to “bear with” one another in love and to speak the truth in love (v15) until the body is built and edified in love (v16). Perhaps 5:1,2 are the most telling… Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. Three times Paul tells the husbands to love their wives as themselves, even as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it (5:25, 28, 33).

Two Final Pleas to Love

Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit made two final pleas of love when he closed his writing… Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen (Ephesians 6:23,24). It can be noted that I Corinthians was written by Paul from Ephesus which contains the great love chapter- I Corinthians 13:1ff (I Corinthians 16:8). As we mentioned, John the Revalator spent much time at Ephesus and is believed to have written the Gospel of John from there. Imagine that from Ephesus he may have penned the words “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son….” Ephesus was inundated with the teaching of love, both in word and in example.

Burning For Another

John the Revelator writing from the isle of Patmos saw visions of the great and mighty majesty of Christ. As one of the first orders of business Christ gives a report on the condition of the seven churches of Asia. He begins with Ephesus. The Living Bible captures the essense of what is happening… here Jesus says: “I know how many good things you are doing. I have watched your hard work and your patience; I know you don't tolerate sin among your members, and you have carefully examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but aren't. You have found out how they lie. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. "Yet there is one thing wrong; you don't love me as at first! Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to me again and work as you did before; or else I will come and remove your candlestick from its place among the churches.” (TLB)

What horror John must have felt! They seemed to be doing everything right, but their motivation was all wrong. They had become a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol; and all these other works profited them nothing. Their hearts had grown cold towards God. They hated sin, but did not balance it with their love for Christ. They had abandoned their love for Christ that should have been chief and foremost (GK. protos). If there is no real love for Christ we need not look for a love for the saints and vice versa (I John 3, 4). After all that teaching on love and all that example of what love was, they forsook the great love that they once had for Christ. This seems almost unconscionable, but it happened. They naturally in an atmosphere such as this would have hated sin without having the heart of God for lost souls. When love is gone as the motivation men and women are moved by anger, contention, strife, fear, envy, resentment, jealousy, guilt or vain glory, but not by love to do Christ’s work (See Philippians 1:16). The Church of the living God is to be built up in love. In an atmosphere of lovelessness they would have condemned the guilty without considering their own sins (Galatians 6:1). The could not rightly represent Christ unless the love of God was being shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5)

Retracing Our Footsteps

The church at Ephesus, like so many Christians, once had a great love for Christ-but lost it little by little. The physics law of the conservation of matter guarantees that the love did not 'dissappear', it was redistributed somewhere else. This is a travesty in the body of Christ. The blood bought Saints of the living God begin to take the love that once belonged only to God and gave it to someone or something else. This is the true definition of harlotry; to take the love that belongs to the one and give it to another. As our Creator He deserves all of our lives- how much more as our redeemer? These in Ephesus were bought with a price, but they took themselves back from God little by little. They offered their body as a living sacrifice to God in the beginning- as they fully considered all that Christ had done; it was the only thing 'logical' to do. (Romans 12:1) But something happened. They no longer burned for God as they once did. They are now burning for something else. Christ warned them. Why not take the lamp stand? If we don't burn for Christ what do we need a lamp stand for?

The Horns and Their Abusers
by Robert Wurtz II

(An Examination of How False Teachers Have Abused God's Word)

Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. (I Kings 2:28-29)

Joab had conspired against Solomon to bring Adonijah into power. Fearing for his life he knew not what to do save one last ditch effort to save his own skin. He ran to the tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar. This was a practice established under the law as a means of offering a temporary asylum to those that had killed someone, until it could be rightly determined whether the act was accidental, justified, or murder. If it was accidental the offender was instructed to flee to a city of refuge where the avenger of blood could not pursue them. (Numbers 35:10-34) Yet, if a person presumed to go into the tabernacle to take hold of these horns so as to avoid just punishment, they were to be taken away- even from the altar. (Deuteronomy 19:4-14 Exodus 21:14) This precept prevented the former precept from being abused. Joab clearly abused the practice of 'taking hold of the horns of the altar', so Solomon commanded that he be struck down- even before the altar.

God's Arm Not Twisted

The story of Joab is full of meaning. It is exemplary. It is an account of a man that was in rebellion against the throne of Israel and yet fleeing for refuge while yet retaining that rebellion. There was a right use of the practice of taking hold of the horns and there was a wrong use. Abuse must never be the cause of non-use; we must endeavor to search out God's intention in creating a precept so as to prevent abuses. God's arm is not twisted by His own word. Joab was to be dealt with and God's word must not be made the stumbling block towards those dealings. Joab's misuse of the precept was no different than satan's mishandling of the word of God in the wilderness with Jesus. The word rightly divided countered Joab's abuse of it.

The Abused 'Horns' of Psalm 105:15 and I Chronicles 16:22

God set in order a precept in the Old Testament as a warning against those that would come against the ones that He had ordained to His service. (Psalm 105:15) The anointed may have been kings or priests. (Exodus 29:6-7 Exodus 40:9-15 I Samuel 15:1) Kings, priests and prophets were not to be 'touched' or 'harmed' physically. They were the Lord's private possession set apart for His purposes. For example, king David understood this and would not engage king Saul in confrontation even though Saul had fallen away from God and was trying to kill him. David did not, 'stretch out his hand to harm Saul' even though he had opportunity (I Samuel 26:11). This is the level of respect that was afforded the Lord's anointed.

Yet, it is superfluous to mention that those that are truly in Christ are 'anointed'. There is no Old Testament type distinction between kings and priests, and the common people in the New Testament. (I Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:9) This makes for an entirely different context for understanding Psalm 105:15 and I Chronicles 16:15-22.

It is the false distinction between clergy and laity that empowers this error. Error always begets more error. Why? Because the premise is wrong. There are no hierarchies in the New Testament as if God's people were under some Gentile power structure. I have written extensively about this in a previous entry and will not address it again here except to say that Gentiles have power structures, but Jesus commanded that it shall NOT be so among His churches. (Matthew 20:26) God has given authority in His churches, but that authority is to the end that the churches would be protected and edified and not so as to make men Lord's over God's heritage. Fostering a notion that laity is beneath clergy facilitates deception. Soon 'leaders' become untouchable.

Withstood to the Face

You will recall that Paul the Apostle stated that he was 'the least of the Apostles.' And yet in Galatians Paul withstood Peter to the face for his error. Samuel had likewise withstood Saul. These are but a few examples of what 'touch not' does NOT mean. 'Touch not' did not mean they could not be confronted for their serious errors. It also did not mean none could expose their error. On the contrary we are commanded to Titus 3:10-11 to reject a heretick αἱρετικὸν (one who divides a congregation with false teaching) after the second warning. Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for condemning false apostles as liars. (Revelation 2:2) There can be little doubt that these men professed themselves to be 'anointed'- not just 'anointed' but apostles! Who would dare withstand these false teachers and liars? Ephesus did and Jesus commended- notice not condemned- He commended them. On the contrary He strongly rebuked Thyatira for allowing a Jezebel to teach the people. (Revelation 2:17-22)

The Horn of Matthew 7:1

It is important to understand that there is a sense in which we must exercise judgment in life. (Philippians 1:10) We do it almost continually even without realizing it. None of us could live 24 hours without exercising judgment of some kind. It is true that we are not given the authority to judge people in the sense that we can condemn them, nor would most want such authority. Yet we are told that we will know people by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16) To make the distinction requires the use of right judgment. (John 7:24) We are also commanded to be watchful and to guard the people of God against destructive influences. (Ezekiel 22:26, Acts 20:28) The key to making right judgments is found in John 5:30;

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus Christ is our example in all things. His judgment was accurate because He was not moving in His own will; He was moving in the Father's will. He was not self-serving. This is essential to having right judgment.

Tolerate Deceivers?

Post-modernism has virtually criminalized standing for truth. Everyone's opinion is equal, so they say. Yet they don't mind being judgmental calling Christians judgmental. And yet this attitude has crept into the churches. How? In many cases it's because of the institutions of higher learning that pressure Christians to compromise or entice them to elevate themselves to a postmodern mindset. Understand that political correctness began in the institutions of learning. Tolerance is now somehow exalted over truth, logic and common sense. There seems to be an enticement to rather appeal to the intellectual elite than to please God. Some are conforming to this world rather than being transformed by the renewing of their minds. These concepts unlock the wheels of perdition so that lies and deceit can roll through society wrecking and ruining unthwarted! The enemy would have it no other way. And what better than to stroke the pride and ego of a postmodernist as they feel the elation of being 'tolerant'- as if tolerance is a virtue.

Christians Provide Cover Fire for Deceivers?

Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. "Which way did the spirit from the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?" he asked. (I Kings 22:9-25)

False prophets and teachers have taken hold of the horns of Psalm 105:15 and Matthew 7:1 in our times as modern day Joab's seeking refuge in defiance of God Almighty. As if that were a light thing they have taken to smiting the Miciah's of our times also that declare the truth of what God is truly saying. They have made for themselves horns, as it were, to impress the unsuspecting with their golden ear tickling tongues. They hide behind Psalm 105:15 and Matthew 7:1 as they smite the men of God in the mouth (as it were).

In a diabolic twist of events these un-anointed deceitful workers that were before of old and ordained to this condemnation stretch forth their hands against the Lord's anointed even Jesus Christ to lay hold of the inheritance for which He was slain- all the while receiving cover fire from believers declaring, 'touch not the Lord's anointed!' Had these men and women belonged to God they had not made their beds with the devil; had they that commit adultery with them had fallen upon them with the sword of God's word and rebuked them for their lying they had not been in jeopardy of the bed of affliction that surely awaits these vain talkers and deceivers. (Revelation 2:22)

Wisdom Fell Upon Deception

Only Satan could make acquiescing to lies and deceit appear nobel and biblical. He has provided the proof texts for the green light many in the churches are giving these deceivers. Prosperity peddlers, false prophets, motivational speakers masquerading as ministers, and a host of other compromises and lies today are holding the horns of the altar as did Joab whilst pushing around the voices of Truth as did Zedekiah. Yet Solomon stated, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.” (Proverbs 17:15) It is an abomination to allow lies and deceit to go on in order that the so-called 'anointed' would not be touched. Many are handing the wolf the keys to the chicken house thinking they are doing God a service. Yet God has shown us clearly in His word that one cannot abuse His precepts and expect to yield their benefit. Men might milk the system in our times to loop hole all sorts of schemes unpunished; but in the economy of God deceivers are 'fell upon with Truth' lest God be mocked and His people be destroyed.