‘Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they could not.”‘ (Mark 9:17-18 NKJ)

I am calling your attention to these two verses, and to the second in particular, in order that we may consider together the great subject of revival, and of the need, the urgent need, of a revival in the Church of God at the present time. For I am persuaded that this is a very urgent matter.

In a sense, of course all preaching should promote revival and it is only as we, as Christian people, understand the doctrines of the Christian faith that we can ever hope truly to see the need of revival, and therefore to pray for it. But it does seem to me that there are certain considerations, which call for a special and an unusually direct and explicit dealing with this subject at the present time.

The first of these considerations is the appalling need. But I have a subsidiary reason also for calling attention to this matter and that is that it happens to be the year 1959, a year in which many will be calling to mind and celebrating the great revival, the great religious awakening, the unusual outpouring and manifestation of the Spirit of God, that took place one hundred years ago in 1859. In that year there was a revival, first in the United States of America, and afterwards in Northern Ireland, in Wales and parts of Scotland, and even in certain parts of England, and this year there are many who will be calling this to mind and commemorating that great and signal movement of the Spirit of God. I believe it is right that we should participate in this, and understand why it is being done, and why the Church of God should be very concerned about it at this present juncture.

This is obviously a matter for the whole Church and not merely for certain of her leaders. The history of revivals brings that out very clearly, for God often acts in a most unusual manner and produces revival and promotes it and keeps it going, not necessarily through ministers but perhaps through people who may have regarded themselves as very humble and unimportant members of the Christian Church.

The Church is so constituted that every member matters, and matters in a very vital sense. So I also call attention to this whole subject, partly because I sense that there is a curious tendency today for members of the Christian Church to feel and to think that they themselves can do very little and so they tend to look to others to do all that is needed for them. This, of course, is something, which is characteristic of the whole of life today. For instance, men and women no longer take exercise in sport as they used to. Instead, people tend to sit in crowds and just watch other people play. There was a time when people provided their own pleasure but now the radio and television provide their entertainment and pleasure for them. And I fear that the tendency is even manifesting itself in the Christian Church.

More and more we see evidence that people are just sitting back in crowds while one or two people are expected to be doing everything. Now that of course is a complete denial of the New Testament doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ, where every single member has responsibility and has a function . . . and matters, and matters in a most vital sense. You can read the Apostle’s great expositions of that doctrine, for example in I Corinthians 12, where you find that he says that our less comely parts are as important as the more comely parts, that every part of the body is to function and is to be ready for the Master’s use, and always to be usable.

That is why I believe that this is a matter, which really deserves the most urgent attention of every one of us. Indeed, I do not hesitate to go so far as to say that unless we as individual Christians are feeling a grave concern about the state of the Church and the world today then we are very poor Christians indeed. If we are people who come to the Christian Church merely in order to get some personal help, and no more, then we are the veriest babes in Christ. If we have grown at all, then we must have a concern about the situation, a concern about the state of society, a concern about the state of the Church and a concern about the armor of almighty God. It is, I repeat, a matter that should come home to every one of us.

So let us start considering this incident in Mark 9, and especially these two verses at the end of the account, which constitute a kind of epilogue to the story. In the earlier verses we are told how our Lord had taken Peter and James and John and had gone up into ‘an high mountain apart’ with them. And on that Mount of Transfiguration they had witnessed the amazing event that took place there. But then they were coming down from the mountain, and they found a crowd of people surrounding the remaining disciples, with much argument and disputation. They could not understand what it was all about, when suddenly a man stepped forward and spoke, ‘In a sense,’ he said, ‘I am responsible for this. I have a son here . . . a poor boy who has been subject to fits, to attacks of convulsions from his childhood,’ (it does not matter what it was exactly) ‘and,’ he continued, ‘I brought this boy along in order that you might heal him. I came to your disciples and they could do nothing. They tried, but they failed.’

Our Lord, you remember, put a few questions to the man, and elicited certain information and then quite simply proceeded to exorcise the devil out of this boy and the boy was healed and restored in a moment. Having done that, our Lord went into the house and the disciples went with him. And when they got into the house, the disciples turned to our Lord, and said, ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ It is very easy to understand their feelings. They had tried their utmost, but they had failed. They had succeeded in many other cases. Here they had failed altogether. And yet in a moment and with extreme ease our Lord just spoke a word and the boy was healed. ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ they said and our Lord answered and said, ‘This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.’

Now I want to take this story and use it as a very perfect representation of the present position. Here in this boy, I see the modern world, and in the disciples I see the Church of God . . . almost at this present hour. Is it not obvious to all of us, that the Church is patently failing . . . that she does not count even as much as she did in the memory of many of us today? Certainly she does not count as she did seventy, eighty or a hundred years ago. The whole situation speaks eloquently to that. And here is the Church, certainly trying, like the disciples doing her utmost, perhaps in a sense more active than she has ever been and yet obviously failing to deal with the situation.

And so we can understand the feelings of the disciples only too easily, conscious of failure, aware of certain things that have happened which indicate that there is a possibility of success, and yet not achieving success. And the question therefore that we ask, or certainly should ask, and ask urgently, is ‘Why cannot we cast him out? What is the matter? What is the cause of the failure? What is the explanation of the situation which confronts us?’

Here in this story, our Lord seems to me to be dealing with that very question. And the principles that he laid down on that occasion are as vital and as important today as they were when he uttered them on that famous occasion. Fortunately for us, they divide themselves up very simply into three main headings. Why could not we cast him out? The first answer is ‘this kind’. There we have a significant statement. Why could not we cast him out? Oh,’ says our Lord, ‘this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.’ He is telling them, in other words, that the first thing they have to learn is to differentiate between case and case. Clearly what was at the back of the disciples’ question was this: our Lord had sent them out to preach and to cast out devils, and they had gone out, and they had preached and had cast out many devils. Indeed, we read in Luke 10 that on one occasion they had been so successful and had come back with so much elation, that they were very guilty of pride.

Our Lord had to rebuke them, saying, ‘Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10.20). They were full of jubilation . . . of excitement. They said that the very devils had been made subject to them, and they had seen Satan, as it were, fall before them.

So on this occasion, when this man brought his boy to them, they approached the problem with great confidence and assurance. They had no doubt that they were going to succeed. And yet in spite of all their efforts the boy was no better at all, he was as desperate as he was when the father first brought him to them. So naturally they were in trouble and our Lord helped them just at that point. He said, ‘this kind’: there is a difference between ‘this kind’ and the kind with which you have been dealing hitherto, and with which you have been so successful.

This is a principle that one cannot but notice in reading through the New Testament. In an ultimate sense of course the problem is always the same. This, like the others, was a case of devil possession. Ah yes but there is a difference, as it were, between devil and devil. In that evil kingdom there are gradations . . . there is a kind of hierarchy. You remember how the Apostle Paul puts it in Ephesians 6: ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood . . .’ – against what then? ‘. . . principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’

There is a gradation, and at the head of all is Satan himself, ‘prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience’ (Eph. 2.2). There he is, with all his mighty power. But under him are these various other spirits and powers and forces, which vary much in strength and power. Therefore, the disciples could very easily deal with the lesser ones and master them, and exorcise them. But here, says our Lord, is a spirit of greater power. He is not like those other feebler spirits that you have been able to master. This kind is altogether different, and therefore constitutes a much greater problem.

It is important for us to grasp this self-same principle, for it is still as true today as it was then.

I. The first thing, therefore, that we must consider is this whole problem of diagnosis. ‘This kind’.

The problem with the disciples was that they had rushed into an attempted treatment before they had understood the nature of the problem. And here is the lesson that the Church so badly needs to learn at this present time. We are all such activists; we are all so busy. We are practical people, we say. We are not interested in doctrine and we must be doing something, so we rush off to our activities. And perhaps that is the main cause of our failure. We have not stopped to consider ‘this kind’. We may not be as aware as we should be of the real essence of the problem, which is confronting us. But it is a universal rule and principle that it is sheer madness and waste of energy to attempt any kind of treatment until we have first established an accurate diagnosis.

Of course, it is a great relief to be doing things. I am always reminded of the people who during the last war used to confess that what they really could not stand was just to be sitting in an air raid shelter. They felt that the strain was intolerable and they were going mad! But if they could only get up and walk about somewhere, or if they had something to do, they all immediately felt better. It is a great relief to have something to do. But it is not always very intelligent just to be doing something. There is this danger of rushing into activity before we fully realize the nature of the problem by which we are confronted.

So, as we look at the expression, ‘this kind’, I wonder whether as Christian people we are aware of the real depth of the problem which confronts us, in a spiritual sense, at this present time. I ask that question because it seems to me to be so clear, from the activities of many, that they have not even begun to understand it. They are carrying on with certain methods which were once successful, and they pin their faith to them, and they do not realize that they are not only not successful, but that they cannot be because of the nature of the problem that is confronting them.

It is not enough that we should be aware of some general kind of need, because that is always there. When this man brought his boy to the disciples, there was an obvious need, but that had been true in the other cases in which they had been successful. The need is common to all, so that the mere fact that we are aware of it says nothing. The problem for us is the precise nature of this need, what is its exact character? And it is there that we have to think and to realize that we need a little subtlety and understanding in our approach, in order to make our diagnosis.

Let me give you an illustration to explain what I mean. Imagine that you are walking along a country road, and as you walk along you suddenly see a man lying on the side of the road. He does not make any move when you come along, so obviously he has not heard you, and you come to the conclusion that this man is in a state of unconsciousness. Very well – so far so good – everybody is agreed about that. Yes, but the really important question is why that man is lying in that state of unconsciousness. Because there are many possible reasons for this. One reason may be that the man has been taking a very long walk, and he has suddenly felt so tired that he cannot proceed any further. So he had just taken a rest and fallen asleep, and he is sleeping so soundly that he did not hear you as you walked along.

But there are other possible explanations. The man may be in that condition because he has suddenly become ill. He may have had a hemorrhage into his brain which has rendered him unconscious. Or, again, he may be in that unconscious condition because he has been taking some drug. He may have taken too much alcohol or some other drug. He is poisoned. I need not go into any other possibilities.

My point is that if you want to help this man it is not enough just to say that he is unconscious. You must discover exactly the cause of his unconsciousness. Even if it is the case that the man is just asleep, well, it may be raining and he may be in danger of getting wet and getting a chill. And so, if you want to help him all you have to do is to shake him and to shout at him and he will wake up. And when you tell him that he is endangering his health by lying there and sleeping in the rain he will be grateful to you and you will have solved the problem without doing anything further. But if the man has a drug in his system, if he is under the influence of some poison, then your shouting and your shaking will not help him. If this is true, then the situation is more serious, and if you really are going to do anything of value to help the man, you must take measures which will get rid of the poison in his system, and administer certain antidotes, and proceed to deal with him according to the particular necessity. Or if he is suffering from some disease then again, the treatment will be quite different.

There, I think, we see in a picture the importance of establishing a clear diagnosis. Oh yes, everybody is aware that there is a need, but the question is what is the need? This is the thing which demands our most urgent attention at this present time, and it seems to me that until the Christian Church…until Christian people as individuals in the Church, are aware of the nature of the problem, we cannot begin to deal with it as we should. And here I see a very great difference between today and two hundred years ago, or indeed even one hundred years ago. The difficulty in those earlier times was that men and women were in a state of apathy. They were more or less asleep. Going back, certainly two hundred years, there was no general denial of Christian truth. It was just that people did not trouble to practice it. They more or less assumed it. And in a sense, all you had to do then was to awaken them and to rouse them, and to disturb them out of their lethargy. That was also the position a hundred years ago and at the end of the Victorian era. All you needed at that time was an occasional campaign just to rouse people and to awaken them. And that seemed to be sufficient.

But the question is whether that is still the position. Are we right if we diagnose that to be the state of affairs at the present time? What is ‘this kind’? What is the problem that is confronting us? I feel increasingly that as we examine this truly, we shall see that the kind of problem facing us is altogether deeper and more desperate than that which has confronted the Christian Church for many a long century.

For the problem for us is not apathy, it is not a mere lack of concern and lack of interest. It is something much more profound. It seems to me to be a complete unawareness, even a denial of the spiritual altogether. It is not just apathy, it is not that people really have at the back of their minds what is right and true, but are not doing anything about it. No, the whole notion of the spiritual has gone. The very belief in God has virtually gone.

We need not at this point seek the causes of this, but the fact is that because of some supposed scientific knowledge, the average man today thinks that all this belief about God and religion and salvation, and all that belongs to the realm of the Church, is something that should be entirely dismissed and forgotten. He believes that it has been an incubus on human nature all through the centuries, that it has been something that has been preventing the development and the forward march of the human race, and that it should be got rid of. The modern man is impatient with it all. He dislikes it and he dismisses it in toto.

Now surely, this is something which we should recognize. It is very difficult for us, because we are Christian people, and because we are interested in these things, to realize the mentality and the attitude of those who do not belong to the Christian Church, but that I would suggest to you is what they are thinking. Not only that, the authority of the Bible is no longer recognized. In past times people did recognize the Bible to be the Word of God. They did not practice it or listen to it, but if you asked them what they thought of it, they would admit that, yes it was the good old book, God’s book, and, yes, they felt that they were sinners. But that is no longer the case. It is regarded as an ordinary book, to be treated like any other book. It is just literature, which is to be criticized, analyzed and subjected to our knowledge, historical, scientific and everything else, just a book amongst books. No longer is it acknowledged as the divine, inspired Word of God.

Take the essential truths about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These are no longer believed as they once were. He is regarded as just a man amongst men, a great man, of course, but nothing more than that. His deity is denied, his virgin birth is denied and his atoning death is denied. He is just a social reformer, just a political agitator, merely someone who laid down certain ethical views with respect to life, which we would do well to practice.

Let me give you an illustration of this. A man like Bertrand Russell, for instance, has said that the Christian Church should be telling the nations and the governments what they ought to do, and not to do, about bombs, and yet he himself writes a book saying ‘Why I am not a Christian’. You see, that is the kind of thing we find today. All that is really of value to us about the Lord is denied, and he is reduced to the position of a mere human teacher or of some kind of great example. And then, over and above all that, we are confronted by the way in which people live. It is no longer merely a question of immorality. This has become an amoral or a non-moral society. The very category of morality is not recognized at all, and men and women are virtually in the position of saying ‘evil be thou my good’. Surely, we all see this if we read our newspapers with intelligent eyes. We find a defense, as it were, of immorality, a justification of it in terms of medicine, or a man’s constitution, or in terms of a denunciation of the taboos of the past. And things which should never be mentioned are even allowed to be presented on the stage, as long as they do not violate certain canons of decency.

Now, surely, it is time that we who are Christian people had a living understanding of the position which confronts us, that is, the state of society. Our terminology no longer means anything to the masses of the people. They are in a position of plenty, plenty of money, able to get everything they want, and they are unconcerned about spiritual things: no interest in the soul, no interest in the higher things of life, just eating and drinking and enjoying themselves. They have got what they want and all they are anxious to do is to hold on to it. There then, as I see it, is something of ‘this kind’ – the problem with which you and I are confronted. Now it is essential that we understand this because in the second place our Lord goes on to say that

II. ‘this kind can come forth by nothing but . . .’

There are certain things which are quite useless when they are applied to ‘this kind’. In other words what our Lord was saying to the disciples can be put like this. He said, in effect: ‘You have failed in this particular case because the power that you had and which was sufficient and adequate for the other cases, is inadequate and of no value here. It just leaves you utterly helpless and hopeless and it leaves the boy in his diseased and powerless condition.’ And surely this is the second step which we need to take at the present time. Is it not becoming obvious at last that so many of the things in which we have trusted and to which we have pinned our faith, are proving to be of no avail?

Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that there is anything wrong in these things in and of themselves. The power that the disciples had was a good power, and it was able to do good work in casting out the feeble devils, but it was of no value in the case of that boy. That is the argument, so all the things that I am going to mention are quite all right as far as they go. I am not saying that they are wrong, what I am saying is that they are not enough, and until you and I come to see that . . . and until we see the greater need, we will just continue as we are in our utter ineffectiveness, in spite of all our efforts, organizing and endeavors.

What are some of these things that are proving to be useless? Let me just indicate some of them to you, because these are the things on which the Christian Church is still relying. These are the things to which Christian people are still pinning their faith.

A. Let me begin with apologetics – the belief that what we really have to do is to make the Christian faith acceptable to and commendable to the men and women of today. To this end books are written, lectures are delivered, and sermons are preached, in an attempt to produce and present the Christian faith in a philosophical manner to the modern man. And so you take the books which deal with the philosophy of religion . . . take the great works of past philosophers, the great Greek philosophers and others, and you say that Christianity fits into this . . . that it is rational and so on, and so you show the utter reasonableness of the Christian faith. That is apologetics, presenting itself in the form of philosophy.

In particular, at the present time, we are interested in doing this in terms of science . . . reconciling science with religion. We argue that the people of today are scientifically minded, that they have this scientific outlook, and that, of course, they cannot believe the gospel and the Scriptures because they seem to them to dispute the scientific facts, especially as far as miracles and such things are concerned. The Church, therefore, argues that what is necessary is to reconcile science and religion, and so we clutch at any scientist who even remotely hints that in some vague way he believes in God.

What excitement there was when a recent Reith lecturer, a scientist, even seemed to indicate that he believed that after all there may be a God who may have created at the beginning. And we find this wonderful! You see the pathetic state we have got into, that we should become excited when a man like that . . . a great scientist though he may b . . . seems even to allow the possibility that there is a God and there is a Creator.

And we are so pleased about it, and we all mention it to one another, and say that this is marvelous! It shows, you see, that we are pinning our faith to this kind of thing. What we really ought to say is, ‘Does he really? How kind of him! How nice of him!’ And then perhaps we should pause for a moment and say, ‘Why has it taken him all these years to come even to that nebulous conclusion?’

But it is indicative of our whole attitude that we should clutch at these men, whoever they are, and however vague their statements. It shows that ultimately we really believe that the way to deal with the modern situation is through our apologetics. Ah, we want to show that, after all, the Bible does not deny science. Science is the authority and the Bible has got to be fitted in. And we think that by that kind of effort and endeavor we are going to deal with the present situation.

B. Then again it is done in terms of archaeology. Do not misunderstand me, archaeology is very valuable – thank God for everything that it produces which does confirm the biblical history – but if we are going to depend upon archaeology, well then, God help us all. There are different schools amongst the archaeologists and they have their different interpretations. But there seems to be this tendency to clutch at every straw, feeling that this is what is going to prove that the Bible is true.

C. And in the same way we clutch at well-known men. What excitement there was when the late Professor Joad wrote a book in which he acknowledged that the war had driven him to believe in evil and to believe in God! But, why all this excitement? It indicates our pathetic faith and belief in these methods which are nothing but apologetics. It was exactly the same way at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when people were pinning their faith on Bishop Butler and his great analogy of religion, and the Boyle lectures, and so on. These, they taught us, are the things that are going to show the truth of Christianity, but they did not do that. ‘This kind’ can come forth by nothing along that line.

D. Then let us come to methods. How tragic it is to see the way in which men are pinning their faith upon particular methods.

1.One of these is the excitement about new translations of the Bible. This is based on the belief that the man of today, who is not a Christian, is outside the Church because he cannot understand the Authorized Version. These technical terms, this Elizabethan language, justification, sanctification: this means nothing to the modern man. What he wants, you see, is a Bible in modern language, in modern slang, in the modern idiom, and then men will read it. Then they will say, ‘This is Christianity,’ and they will embrace it. And so we are having fresh translations, one after another. Everybody buys them because all we need is the Bible in modern up-to-date language. Is this not tragic? Is that what is keeping people from Christ? Do you think that people two hundred years ago knew anything more about justification and sanctification than they do today? Were those the common terms of a thousand years ago? Is that the difficulty? No, it is the heart of man, it is the evil that is in him. It is not a question of language, it is not a question of terminology, yet we pin our faith to this. Do not misunderstand me, there may be some value in modern translations, though nothing like as much as people think. You have got to go a long way to improve on this Authorized Version, and we need to be careful with the modern translations, they may mislead theologically. But, whatever their value, that is not going to solve the problem.

2. What else is there? Oh, the belief in the radio and the television. We must make use of these media, we say. Everybody is listening. Take the gospel to their homes. Give them these short snappy messages, that is the way to do it. So we pin our faith on it.

3. Then there is advertising. Big business succeeds because it advertises, so we must advertise the Church, and set up our publicity agencies in the Church. in this way we will tell the people what the Church is and what she is doing, in the belief that if we only tell them the truth they will jump at it and want it and take it, as they do the various commodities that are advertised in these ways. And people seem to believe this. They think that ‘this kind’ can come forth by such methods as this. What we need, they say, is new magazines, new literature, new tracts, and off we go and distribute all these. We write articles in a semi-popular form – now people will get the message, we say.

4. And then of course there is popular evangelism, in which all this is put to practice. Everything that can appeal to the modern man, the last word in presentation is used, in the belief that when it is done, and you do it with a modern technique, then you will get hold of the modern man. But I think that the time has now come to ask this simple question: what are the results? Is the modern problem being touched at all?

Of course these various methods, the apologetics and the others may indeed lead to individual conversions. We are all aware of that. Almost any method you like to employ will do that. Of course there are individual conversions, but my question is this – what of the situation, what of the bulk of men and women, what of the working classes of the country, are they being touched at all, are they being affected at all? Is anybody being affected, except those who are already in the Church or on the fringe of the Church?

What of the spiritual and religious condition of the country? What of the whole state of society? Is this being touched at all by all our activities? Well, my answer would be that it all seems to put us into the position of the disciples who had tried to cast the devil out of the boy, these men who had been so successful in many another case but who could not touch this case at all. And our Lord gives the explanation, ‘this kind’ can come forth by nothing like this. By what, then? ‘This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer, and fasting.’

You failed there, he said in effect to these disciples, because you did not have sufficient power. You were using the power that you have, and you were very confident in it. You did it with great assurance, you were masters of the occasion, you thought you were going to succeed at once, but you did not. It is time you paused for a moment and began to think. It was your ignorance of these gradations in power amongst evil spirits that led to your failure, and to your crestfallen condition at this moment. You have not sufficient power. I did what you could not do because I have power, because I am filled with the power that God gives me by the Holy Spirit, for he gives not the Spirit by measure unto me. You will never be able to deal with ‘this kind’ unless you have applied to God for the power which he alone can give you.

You must become aware of your need, of your impotence, of your helplessness. You must realize that you are confronted by something that is too deep for your methods to get rid of, or to deal with, and you need something that can go down beneath that evil power, and shatter it . . . and there is only one thing that can do that, and that is the power of God.

And we too, must become aware of that, we have got to feel it until we become desperate. We must ask ourselves how we can succeed if we do not have this authority, this commission, this might and strength and power. We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need. We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves, and in all our methods and organizations, and in all our slickness. We have got to realize that we must be filled with God’s Spirit.

And we must be equally certain that God can fill us with his Spirit. We have got to realize that however great ‘this kind’ is, the power of God is infinitely greater . . . that what we need is not more knowledge . . . more understanding . . . more apologetics . . . more reconciliation of philosophy and science and religion . . . and all modern techniques – no, we need a power that can enter into the souls of men and break them and smash them and humble them and then make them anew. And that is the power of the living God.

And we must be confident that God has this power as much today as he had one hundred years ago, and two hundred years ago, and so we must begin to seek the power and to pray for it. We must begin to plead and yearn for it. ‘This kind’ needs prayer.

Now, this is but the introduction to the theme that we are going to consider, but it leads me to ask this question: Are you really concerned about the present position? Are you desperately concerned about it? Are you praying about it? Do you ever pray for the power of God in the Church today? Or are you just content to read the weekly newspapers which tell us about all these various efforts and to say, ‘It is all right, the work is going on.’

‘This kind cometh not forth but by prayer and fasting.’ This word fasting is not in all the ancient manuscripts, but it implies not only literal, physical fasting, but concentration. The value of fasting is that it enables you to give your undivided attention to a subject. So what our Lord said to the disciples is this: you will never deal with this sort of problem until you have been praying, concentrating in prayer, waiting upon God, until he has filled you with the power. When you know you have got it, then you go out with authority. That is the way, and that is the only way. Surely no one should need to be convinced today that nothing short of a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God is adequate to deal with our situation in this mid-twentieth century?

Are you really still trusting to these other things? Here is the vital question. Have you seen the desperate need of prayer, the prayer of the whole Church? I shall see no hope until individual members of the Church are praying for revival, perhaps meeting in one another’s homes, meeting in groups amongst friends, meeting together in churches, meeting anywhere you like, and praying with urgency and concentration for a shedding forth of the power of God, such as he shed forth one hundred and two hundred years ago . . . and in every other period of revival . . . and of re-awakening. There is no hope until we do. But the moment we do, hope enters.

Oh, when God manifests his power, it happens as it happened in the case of this poor boy. With apparent ease, in an effortless manner, the devil is exorcised, and the boy healed and restored to his father. When God arises, his enemies are scattered; that is the story of all the great revivals of history. But we shall not be interested in revival until we realize the need of ‘this kind’, the futility of all our own efforts and endeavors and the utter absolute need of prayer, and seeking the power of God alone.

A sermon delivered in 1959.

“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders. I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. (Acts 20:28-30)

These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve. (2 Cor. 11:13-15)

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
(Eph. 4:14)

They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. (2 Tim. 3:4-6)

They must be silenced, because they are turning whole families away from the truth by their false teaching. And they do it only for money. Even one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, “The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:11-12)

They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. (2 Peter 2:18-19)

“I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil, for they prophesied in the name of Baal and led my people of Israel into sin. (Jer. 23:13)

This is what the Lord says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. (Micah 3:5)

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.” (Mat. 7:15)

Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. (Phil. 3:2)

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

Now you may know them by the following characteristics:

THE FIRST CHARACTER

False teachers are men-pleasers (Gal. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:1-4). They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart:

“Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophecy no unto us right things: speak to us smooth things; prophecy deceits”‘ (Isa. 30:10).

“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:30,31).

They handle holy things rather with wit and dalliance (playful come-on) then with fear and reverence. False teachers are soul-undoers. They are like evil surgeons that skin over the wound, but never heal it. Flattery undid Ahab and Herod, Nero and Alexander. False teachers are hell’s greatest enrichers. “Not bitter, but flattering words do all the mischief”, said Valerian, the Roman emperor. Such smooth teachers are sweet soul-poisoners (Jer. 23:16,17).

THE SECOND CHARACTER

False teachers are notable in casting dirt, scorn, and reproach upon the persons, names, and credits of Christ’s most faithful ambassadors. Thus Korah, Dathan, and Abiram charged Moses and Aaron that they took too much upon them, seeing all the congregation was holy (Num. 16:3). You take too much state, too much power, too much honor, too much holiness upon you; for what are you more than others, that you take so much upon you? And so Ahab’s false prophets fell foul on good Micaiah, paying of him with blows for want of better reasons (1 Kings 22:10-26). Yea, Paul, that great apostle of the Gentiles, had his ministry undermined and his reputation blasted by false teachers:

“For his letters”‘ say they, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and contemptible” (2 Cor. 10:10).

They rather contemn him than admire him; they look upon him as a dunce rather than a doctor. And the same hard measure had our Lord Jesus from the Scribes and Pharisees, who labored as for life to build their own credit upon the ruins of his reputation. And never did the devil drive a more full trade this way than he does in these days (Matt. 27:63). Oh! the dirt, the filth, the scorn that is thrown upon those whom the world is not worthy. I suppose false teachers mind not that saying of Austin, “He that willingly takes from my good name, unwillingly adds to my reward.”

THE THIRD CHARACTER

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

“Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent then not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophecy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart (Jer. 14:14)

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophecy unto you; they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16).

Are there not multitudes in this nation whose visions are but golden delusions, lying vanities, brainsick fantasies? These are Satan’s great benefactors, and such as divine justice will hang up in hell as the greatest malefactors, if the physician of souls does not prevent it.

THE FOURTH CHARACTER

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

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned; from which some have swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, and understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm” (1 Tim. 1:5-7).

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23:2,3).

False teachers are nice in the lesser things of the law, and as negligent in the greater.

“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself” (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

If such teachers are not hypocrites in gain, I know nothing, Romans 2:22. The earth groans to bear them, and hell is fitted for them, Matt. 24:32.

THE FIFTH CHARACTER

False teachers cover and color their dangerous principles and soul-impostures with very fair speeches and plausible pretenses, with high notions and golden expressions. Many in these days are bewitched and deceived, viz. illumination, revelation, deification, fiery triplicity. As prostitutes paint their faces, and deck and perfume their beds, the better to allure and deceive simple souls (Gal. 6:12; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Rom. 16:17,18; Mat. 16:6,11,12; 7:15), so false teachers will put a great deal of paint and garnish upon their most dangerous principles and blasphemies, that they may the better deceive and delude poor ignorant souls. They know sugared poison goes down sweetly; they wrap up their pernicious, soul-killing pills in gold.

THE SIXTH CHARACTER

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

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 24:17).

They busy themselves most about men’s heads. Their work is not to better men’s hearts, and mend their lives; and in this they are very much like their father the devil, who will spare no pains to gain proselytes.

THE SEVENTH CHARACTER

False teachers make merchandise of their followers.

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2:1-3).

They eye your goods more than your good; and mind more the serving of themselves, than the saving of your souls. So they may have your substance, they care not though Satan has your souls (Rev. 18:11-13). That they may the better pick your purse, they will hold forth such principles as are very indulgent to the flesh. False teachers are the great worshippers of the golden calf (Jer. 6:13).

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

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”

Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man.  Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. “No man can come to me,’ said our Lord, ‘except the Father which hath sent me draw him,” and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming.  The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: “Thy right hand upholdeth me.”  In this divine “upholding” and human “following” there is no contradiction.  All is of God, for as von Hugel teaches, God is always previous.

In practice, however, (that is, where God’s previous working meets man’s present response) man must pursue God.  On our part there must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God is to eventuate in identifiable experience of the Divine.  In the warm language of personal feeling this is stated in the Forty-second Psalm: “As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing heart will understand it.

The doctrine of justification by faith-a Biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort-has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God.  The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.  The man is “saved,” but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God.  In fact he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.

The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word.  We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can.  It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.

All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul is capable.  Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God.  “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may.  In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality.  He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions.  The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.

This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious personal awareness.  It is personal: that is, it does not come through the body of believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and to the body through the individuals which compose it.  And it is conscious: that is, it does not stay below the threshold of consciousness and work there unknown to the soul (as, for instance, infant baptism is thought by some to do), but comes within the field of awareness where the man can ‘know’ it as he knows any other fact of experience.

You and I are in little (our sins excepted) what God is in large.  Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him.  In our sins we lack only the power.  The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition.  That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot see the Kingdom of God.  It is, however, not an end but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead.  That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end.

Shoreless Ocean, who can sound Thee?
Thine own eternity is round Thee,
Majesty divine!

To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.  St. Bernard stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly understood by every worshipping soul:

We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God.  They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking.      Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better.  “Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight.”  And from there he rose to make the daring request, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” God was frankly pleased by this display of ardour, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.

David’s life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad shout oft he finder.  Paul confessed the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ.  “That I may know Him,” was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed everything. “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God, the God whom, while the singer seeks, he knows he has already found.  “His track I see and I’ll pursue,” sang our fathers only a short generation ago, but that song is heard no more in the great congregation.  How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers.  Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.  We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him.  This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise.  Thus the whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set aside.  The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Brainerd.

In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic.  They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, “O God, show me thy glory.” They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God.  The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate.  The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire.  Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.  Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people.  He waits to be wanted.  Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.

Every age has its own characteristics.  Right now we are in an age of religious complexity.  The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us.  In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.  The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.  Now as always God discovers Himself to ‘babes’ and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent.  We must simplify our approach to Him.  We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few).  We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood.  If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.  The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.  In the ‘and’ lies our great woe.  If we omit the ‘and’, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts.  The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.

The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this.  “Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods.  And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself.  So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself.  This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God.”

Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology.  “For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself.”  Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by “Himself” he means “God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree.”  And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion “lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word God or this word love.”

When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel, Levi received no share of the land.  God said to him simply, ‘I am thy part and thine inheritance,’ and by those words made him richer than all his brethren, richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever lived in the world.  And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for every priest of the Most High God.

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.  Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness.  Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.  Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.

Shall I run? Shall I hide from its hideousness? Shall I beg of Him another way?

Terror grips my soul! The sight of it repulses me. My flesh recoils at the suffering I know I am to endure. I cry to Him, “Have mercy, Lord! Deliver me!”…But the cross remains. He insists that I bear it.

My cheeks are stained with tears; my heart, in deep agony; my flesh trembles at the beam that awaits my back.

Mocking and insults are thrown upon me as I consider the cost. Doubt ravages my soul. Insanity threatens and whispers comforting sounds in my ear. Images of compromise pressure me to turn back. The noise rises to a deafening pitch! I cry out to God, “Deliver me!”…. But the cross remains. He insists that I bear it.

In my distress, I fall to the ground. I wait for my Lord to speak; yet He is silent. He has already given the command. He will say nothing more.

I feel as though my life has been emptied. I know what I must do. It is the only way. I silently cry, “Lord give me courage to embrace Thy cross.”

Suddenly, strength comes into my being. Joy floods my heart. The cross that once was repulsive now becomes a thing of beauty. I cannot resist its call. I run to it eagerly and with delight, I embrace its beams.

O blessed cross! How I welcome thy weight upon my back! Thy splinters bear hard into my skin. Thy bruises are multiplied upon me. O how sweet the burden! O how I welcome the pain!

O blessed cross! I rejoice to bear thy shame! May the burden that thou hast blessed me with destroy all pride and self-righteousness!

O blessed cross, I welcome thee! Take these hands that have been so idle. Drive the nails and do not let me escape! Take these feet that have been so swift to run to the comforts of the world. Drive the nails and fasten me to thy devotion.

O blessed cross! Raise me upon thy hill and destroy any name that I have made for myself! May the bones of sin be broken and never repaired. Let thy graces abound as my rebellion draws its last breath.

My death is Thy glory!

It is this last expression—THEIR AFFECTION IS ALL WRONG that we wish to consider today: “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,” the last fruit given in II Tim. 3:4 of this false gospel of carnal Christianity. And I say, what a sad commentary upon the poor, deceived so-called “carnal Christian,” to believe that he can be saved, that he can be a child of God, an heir of heaven, and yet loves pleasures more than he loves God! Matthew 6:21 tells us, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;” and my friend, if your treasure is this world and its pleasures, then your heart is not right with God, and you cannot bring forth fruit unto perfection! You see, we are told in Luke 8:14 that when the seed, the Word of God, is sown among thorns, it is choked with cares, with riches and the pleasures of this life, and therefore cannot bring forth fruit unto life or unto perfection.

Now what kind of pleasures are these that men are said to be lovers of, more than the lovers of God? My friend, these are sensual pleasures and vain amusements; this is clearly brought out in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, and in the Amplified Translation of the Bible. This being so, we need to define the word “sensual” and see how it is used in the Word of God. Follow us now!

The word “sensual” means “fleshly, carnal, self-indulgent, worldly, lewd, sexual, promiscuous in sin, glutton, epicurean, lustful, immoral, and unrestrained lust”; in other words, everything that appeals to the fallen nature of man that would satisfy his depraved heart. And this is said to be the fruit of the carnal Christian gospel—lovers of sensual pleasure more than lovers of God—for these very people who have and practice this love of sensual pleasure, and who love the things of the flesh more than God, are told that they are saved and going to heaven because they have made a profession of faith sometime in their life! But II Tim. 3:5 not only tells us that these poor, deceived souls have a form of godliness (they think they are saved), and that their lives deny the power of the Gospel of the grace of God to save them from the power of sin, but that we must turn away from such, lest we be drawn into the same deception with them!

Dear friend, if you live in and love sensual pleasures more than you love God, no matter what you profess, you are dead—spiritually dead while you live, and therefore you are an enemy of God and a stranger to grace and the holy ways of the Lord, for without holiness, “no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). One of the strongest portions of Scripture against you is found in James 4:1-4, where you are called “adulterers and adulteresses,” and enemies of the living God, the Holy God Who hates sin. Listen to God’s Word, first in the King James translation as we go verse by verse, and then in the Amplified Version: (v. 1) “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”—”What leads you to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members?” (v. 2) “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”—”You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.” (v. 3) “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”—”[Or] you do not ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is, [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures.” (v. 4) “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”—”You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world] and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.”

Now let us apply this to our own hearts, and see if we are lovers of sensual pleasures more than lovers of God (spiritual adulterers and adulteresses), or if we are indeed children of God by asking the following questions: Do we love to watch and feed upon the majority of programs that are shown on television which appeal only to the sensual, fleshly nature? Do we feed upon the magazines, newspapers and books that appeal to our sensual, fleshly nature? Do we secretly desire to do these things, even though we would not openly do them? Has sin become such a commonplace thing, that we can indulge in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and go on saying: “All is well with my soul,” while we actually remain enemies of God and strangers to the way of grace?

Do we love God and His righteousness and holiness, or do our hearts rebel against the narrow way of self denial and a life of separation from the world? Do we secretly despise the way of grace, the way of repentance, the way of bowing to the authority of God’s Word and to the Lordship of Christ? Do we follow after our own will and do our own thing, without prayer and waiting upon God for His leadership? Do we love the sexual, lewd, lustful, self-indulgent way of the world: or do we indeed love God and HIS holiness, and seek to please Him in a life of separation from the world and the things of the world? Let us face these questions, and ask our hearts where we stand before God!

Oh listen to the Word of God! “LOVE NOT THE WORLD, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (I John 2:15-17). Dear friend, do you love the world, and the things that are in the world? You may ask, “What is the world spoken of here?” Listen! It is the reign or kingdom of the carnal mind, the mind of the ungodly system which is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. You see, wherever that mind prevails, there is the world! It is the “ungodliness and worldly lusts” of Titus 2:12. It is fallen human nature, acting out itself under the influences of the Devil, the god of this ungodly world; and its spirit is hostile to godliness. Why? Because it is dominated by carnal ambition, pride, self-pleasing, and sensuous desires and interests. You see, the principles which govern this world, the powers which operate it, the end which it seeks, all are earthly, sensual, devilish, and not of God and holiness. The opinions of the world are false, its aims are selfish, its pleasures are sinful, its politics are corrupt, its honors are nothing but bubbles and do not last. And since the world is the sphere of rebellion against God, His people are commanded not to love it. They are not to esteem it as their portion or treasure. They are forbidden to set their affections upon it (Col. 3:2).

Listen to me now! To love the world and its sensual pleasures is to give it the first place in our hearts, to idolize it, to make everything else subordinate to the acquisition and enjoyments of it, and to despise whatever comes into competition with it. It is to make its vanities the chief objects of our pursuits, to share its friendships, to court its smiles, to conform to its ways, and to find our happiness in what it yields in its pleasures. You see, when the world is loved, it possesses and governs the soul, overcoming the conscience and the principles of holiness and the Word of God, for its influence is subtle, powerful, perilous, and leads to damnation and hell!

Listen again to the command: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” You see, one may renounce the world systems that Satan governs as a whole, and yet the heart secretly still clings to some of its parts. No my friend, it is not sufficient that I just renounce the world, but I should detach my affections from everything which seeks to claim them. I am not to value any object of the world if it hinders the performance of my duties to God, if it dulls my relish for His Word, or chills the spirit of praise and prayer. You see, I am to prefer nothing to spiritual things. I must not delight in anything which would cause me to lessen my esteem of Christ and heavenly things, for I am to love Him supremely; my affections must be set on things above! I may use many of the things that are in the world, but I must not abuse them. I must not put my trust in them; I must not place my happiness in them. In other words, I am to love nothing above God; I am to love nothing equal to God, and I am not to love anything apart from God. And this is the teaching of God’s Word!

By the grace of God, I have endeavored to lay before us what it means to be LOVERS OF SENSUAL PLEASURES more than lovers of God, and what it means to love God supremely and not the world which He hates. Now I leave the matter with you: Are you living after the flesh and bearing the fruit of the false gospel of carnal Christianity, or are you living after the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which is Christ-likeness? I leave with you these verses of Scripture found in Rom. 8:5-6,12-13, trusting the Holy Spirit to apply them to our hearts: “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are of the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded. is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace…Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: [the death of the unrighteous, the ungodly] but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of—the body, we shall live”—live eternally with Christ in glory!

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2Timothy 4:3-4).

During the last two or three generations the pulpit has given less and less prominence to doctrinal preaching, until today, with very rare exceptions, it has no place at all. In some quarters the cry from the pew was, ‘we want living experience and not dry doctrine’; in others, ‘we need practical sermons and not metaphysical dogmas’; and yet others, Give us Christ and not theology. Sad to say, such senseless cries were generally heeded: ’senseless’ we say, for there is no other safe way of testing experience, as there is no foundation for practicals to be built upon if they be divorced from Scriptural doctrine; while Christ cannot be known unless he be preached (1Cor.1:23), and he certainly cannot be ‘preached’ if doctrine is shelved. Various reasons may be given for the lamentable failure of the pulpit, chief among them being laziness, desire for popularity, superficial and lop-sided evangelism, and love of the sensational’.

Laziness.

It is a far more exacting task, one which calls for much closer confinement in the study, to prepare a series of sermons on, say the doctrine of justification, than it does to make addresses on prayer, missions, or personal-work. It demands a far wider acquaintance with the Scriptures, a more rigid disciplining of the mind, and a more extensive perusal of the older writers. But this was too exacting for most of the ministers, and so they chose the line of least resistance and followed an easier course. It is because of his proneness to this weakness that the minister is particularly exhorted, ‘Give attendance to reading … take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine: continue in them’ (1Tim.4:13,16); and again, ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, (2Tim.2: 15).

Desire for popularity.

It is natural that the preacher should wish to please his hearers, but it is spiritual for him to desire and aim at the approbation of God. Nor can any man serve two masters. As the apostle expressly declared, ‘For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ’ (Gal.1:10): solemn words are those! How they condemn them whose chief aim is to preach to crowded churches! Yet what grace it requires to swim against the tide of public opinion, and preach that which is unacceptable to the natural man. But on the other hand, how fearful will be the doom of those who, from a determination to curry favour with men, deliberately withheld those portions of the truth most needed by their hearers. ‘Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it’ (Deut.4:2). Oh to be able to say with Paul, ‘I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you … I am pure from the blood of all’ (Acts.20:20, 26).

A superficial and lop-sided ‘evangelism’.

Many of the pulpiteers of the past fifty years acted as though the first and last object of their calling was the salvation of souls, everything being made to bend to that aim. In consequence, the feeding of the sheep, the maintaining of a Scriptural discipline in the church, and the inculcation of practical piety, was crowded out; and only too often all sorts of worldly devices and fleshly methods were employed under the plea that the end justified the means; and thus the churches were filled with unregenerate members. In reality, such men defeated their own aim. The hard heart must be ploughed and harrowed before it can be receptive to the gospel seed. Doctrinal instruction must be given on the character of God, the requirements of his Law, the nature and heinousness of sin, if a foundation is to be laid for true evangelism. It is useless to preach Christ unto souls until they see and feel their desperate need of him.

It was January 2, 2008; around 10pm…

I’M LOST!
I’M LOST!
I’M LOST AND I’M GOING TO HELL!!!

…is what I cried out to God in prayer as I lay in despair with empty hands, an empty soul, with an anguishful heart.

There is no convincing of myself otherwise that I am saved. Many of us would advise someone like myself in the same situation not to think this way, that maybe it is only Satan’s doing that I go into such a thought. That I must realize that this is only a sort of test. That these are just lies that Satan has imputed into my mind, doing his best to take me from the straight path.

Oh, wicked generation. How many times have we blamed the devil for each and every mishap that has happened in our lives. “It’s because of Satan. Stand in faith and rebuke him and he will leave! Do you not know what the Scripture says? Resist him and he will leave?”

My friend, if only you knew how to differentiate the presence of God from the presence of Satan.

As I lay there helpless, I knew… oh, how I KNEW, that this is such a thing that was revealed to my soul by God!

That I am lost! And there is nothing that would keep me from being lost!

Oh, how easy it is to repeat scripture.
How easy it is to listen to expository preaching.
So easy to understand the understandable.

It is such a simple thing to give mental ascent to these things. To say “Yes! I agree! And I believe the same thing!” But oh, it is such a different thing to say and acknowledge that your heart and mind is conformed to that very thing that you profess to be believing.

Have you not read from Scripture that many will say to the Lord Jesus Christ that they have served Him in so many ways and the reply of Christ was He never knew them? Is it not the same to say that though we’ve been used by God we were never of God?

Oh the horrid reality that God has revealed to me in this dungeon! I lay helplessly in the shadow of death!

Little by little, as if being pushed slowly off the plank of a dreaded pirate ship, to die in the depths of the murderous sea, He revealed to me to how lost I was, of how condemned this soul of mine IS.

I never desired or loved the Word of God.

It’s so easy to listen to sermons and teachings. So easy to act and talk like a Christian. It is such a simple thing to say what is revealed by others and confess that of course through them it was also revealed to you. But if you knew the difference! The difference that is YOU! Me! I have never ever looked upon the Living Word of the Living God and said,

“Ah! This is the desire of my soul! Oh, what would I be without your Word my Lord, my God! Oh, a day without immersing myself to your everlasting Word would be death to me! Thank you for your sweet, sweet Word!”

But no, it was never that way with me, never. To me it was a chore. A thing that was so easy to shove off to the back of my mind. I can easily say to myself that I would read it later, and most of the time I would tell myself that I’ve done more than my share of that by listening to wonderful sermons. But when was the last time that I have knelt before the Word of God and cried out all my soul for the revelation of His Word upon my heart? Never!

I would refer to myself as an Christian. I would say that I love the Gospel that I am all consumed by it. Oh, what a lie! What a lie! If ever that was true then why doesn’t tears fall from my eyes every time I go out into the world? Evangelist?

Some evangelist who can look at the souls of condemned men and women everyday, utterly procrastinate the work of the Lord without shedding even a tear and sleep soundly into the night!

Oh, how condemnation has overcome my soul!

Everyday I sin. Everyday I fall! But why is it when I do, and I ask for forgiveness it is as if nothing has happened at all? Why is it that I cannot say what an old preacher once said, “I HATE SIN!!!” Why is it that that reality is not present in this heart of mine? WHY?!

BECAUSE I AM LOST!

OH, I AM LOST!!!

And in my wretchedness that very evening, I cried out and cried out to the Lord saying:

LORD SAVE ME! SAVE ME!

I AM LOST! I AM LOST! IF YOU DO NOT SAVE ME NOW I AM LOST FOREVER!

IF YOU DO NOT SAVE ME THEN THERE IS NOTHING FOR ME BUT HELL!

Salvation is of the Lord, yes. It is true. And by that very same truth, God has revealed to me that it is not so with my soul, because this heart of mine was indeed a heart of stone! I was never converted! I was never regenerated! My heart and my soul never felt the anguish of a dying man in the hands of an angry God! Oh how perverse to speak the things of God with a depraved heart!

OH LORD IF YOU DO NOT KILL ME NOW AND SEND ME TO HELL, BUT INSTEAD HAVE MERCY UPON MY SOUL…

OH MY LORD, MY GOD, I WILL SERVE YOU AND NO ONE ELSE, I AM YOURS!!! OH LORD, I AM YOURS! DO WHAT YOU WILL WITH ME!!!

As the old Hymn once said,

Nothing to You I bring, only to the cross I cling.

In this dungeon of misery and death I slept the night. No God. Without hope. LOST. AS LOST AS I CAN EVER BE! Tears in my eyes and with this crushed heart of mine, sleeping with this as the last thought in my mind:

I AM LOST!
I AM CONDEMNED!
AND WHEN I DIE I AM GOING TO HELL!

The morning came and I woke up.

AND OH, MY FRIEND IF YOU KNEW WHAT I SAW, IF ONLY YOU COULD SEE WHAT I SAW!

It wasn’t of physical appearance or anything of this world!

BUT I CAN SEE AND FEEL THAT I AM SAVED!

IT WAS NOTHING LIKE I’VE EVER KNOWN BEFORE!

I AM SAVED!

I AM SAVED!

Oh, how I wanted to scream to all the world that the Lord has saved me!

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS SAVED ME!

An indescribable light has shown through my heart, oh I cannot fully express the experience of the Work of the Living God in my wretched being!

Oh, dear soul, do you understand this feeling?!

THE FEELING THAT WON’T GO AWAY?!

I AM SAVED!!!

I AM SAVED!!!

THE LIGHT OF THE LORD IS IN MY HEART, AND IT DOESN’T GO AWAY!

I AM SAVED!!!

OH, PRAISE YOU JESUS! PRAISE YOU MY LORD!

FILTHY RAGS I BROUGHT, IN A DUNGEON I WAS IN, CONDEMNED, BUT YOU CHOSE TO SAVE ME!

SOMEONE LIKE ME! A WRETCH LIKE ME!

I CROWN YOU WITH MANY CROWNS, THE ONLY ONE WORTHY TO DIE AND RISE AGAIN!

OH, THANK YOU MY LORD MY GOD!!!!!

I AM SAVED!!!!

I AM SAVED!!!!!!!

DO YOU FEEL THIS LOVE MY FRIEND?! DO YOU FEEL IT?! THE LOVE OF GOD FREELY GIVEN TO THE LOWEST OF THE LOW?!

Oh, how sweet is the love of the Lord! I could never understand the depths of your love my God! But my Lord my God, If you would, It is the desire of my soul to do just that one thing!!! Oh that I would seek out the depths of that LOVE…

THE LOVE THAT SAVED ME,
THE LOVE THAT CAUSED IT’S LIGHT TO SHINE UPON ME.
THE LOVE THAT IS YOU, THE LOVE THAT IS MY LORD JESUS CHRIST!

I AM SAVED!!!

You can read more from Brother JM at his blog, New Demonstration.

“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.  Turn, Turn from your evil ways!  For why should you die, O house of Israel “

Before we proceed, I will explain the difference between one who is converted and one who is not.

The Unconverted Person

First, the unconverted or wicked person is one whose chief interests are on earth. He loves his fleshly prosperity above heavenly things, thus He favors the things of the flesh, but neither discerns nor savors the things of Spirit.  Although he may say that heaven is better than earth, he really does not believe it to be true, for if he could be sure of earth, he would let go of heaven, and be content to remain on earth. A life of perfect holiness, in the sight of God, and in God’s love and praise forever in heaven, does not find such appeal in his heart as a life of health, wealth, and honor on earth. And though he may falsely profess that he loves God above all, he never felt the power of divine love within him, but his mind is more set on the world or on fleshly pleasures than on God. In a word, whoever loves earth above heaven, and fleshly prosperity more than God, is an unconverted person.

A converted person, on the other hand is illuminated to discern the loveliness of God; and so believes the glory that is to be had with God, that his heart is set more on it than anything in this world. He would rather see the face of God, and live in His everlasting love and praises, than have all the wealth or pleasures of the world.  He sees that everything else is vanity, and nothing except God can fill the soul, and therefore, let the world go whatever way it wants, he lays up his treasures and hopes in heaven, and for that he resolves to let go of all. As the fire mounts upwards, and the compass needle still points to the north, so the converted soul is inclined to God. Nothing else can satisfy him, nor can he find any content and rest but in His love. In a word, all who are converted love God better than all the world; and heavenly things are dearer to them than fleshly prosperity. The proof of what I have said you may find in the following Scriptures: Philippians 3:18, 21; Matthew 6:19-21; Colossians 3:1-5; Romans 8:5-9, 18, 23; Psalm 73:25-26.

Second, a wicked person is one who makes it his principal business to prosper in the world, and attain his fleshly goals. Though he may read and hear and do much in the outward duties of religion, and avoid disgraceful sins, he never makes it the principal business of his life to please God, and attain everlasting glory, and he puts off God with the attractions of the world, and gives God no more service than his own flesh can spare; for he will not part with the earth for heaven.

On the contrary, a converted person makes it the principal business of his life to please God, and to be saved, and he takes all the blessings of this life merely as accommodations in his journey towards another life, and uses the world only in subordination to God.  He loves a holy life, and longs to be more holy; he has no sin except that which he hates, longs, prays and strives to be rid of. The drift and bent of his life is for God; and, if he sins, it is contrary to the very bent of his heart and life, and therefore he rises again and laments it, and dares not willfully live in any known sin. There is nothing in this world so dear to him that he cannot give it up to God and forsake it for Him. All this you may see in Colossians 3:1-5; Matt. 6:20, 33; Luke 18:22-23, 29; Luke 14:18, 24, 26-27; Romans 13; Luke 12:21, etc.

Thirdly, the soul of an unconverted person never truly discerns and relishes the mystery of redemption, nor does it thankfu1ly entertain an offered Savior. He is not taken up with the love of the Redeemer, nor willing to be ruled by Him as the physician of his soul, that he may be saved from the guilt and power of his sins, and recovered unto God; but his heart is insensible of this unspeakable benefit, and is quite against the healing means by which he should be recovered. Though he may be willing to be carnally religious, yet his soul is never resigned to Christ, and to Christ’s word and spirit.

On the contrary, the converted soul, having felt himself undone by sin, and perceiving that he has lost his peace with God and hopes of heaven, and is in danger of everlasting misery, ponders the truths of redemption with thankfulness, and, believing in the Lord Jesus as his only Savior, resigns himself to Him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  He takes Christ as the life of his soul and lives by Him, and uses Him as a salve for every sore, admiring the wisdom and love of God in this wonderful work of man’s redemption. In a word, Christ dwells in his heart by faith, and the life that he now lives is by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave Himself for him. For these truths in Scripture, see Job 1:11-12, and 3:20; John 15: 2-4; 1 Corinthians 1:20, and 2:2.

You see now, in plain terms from the Word of God, who are the unconverted (or wicked) and who are the converted.  Uninformed people think if a person is not a swearer, or a verbal abuser, or a drunkard, or a fornicator, or an extortioner, or has not wronged anybody in their dealings, and if they come to church, and say their prayers, take the sacraments, and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the poor, that such could not be an unconverted person. Or if one has been guilty of drunkenness, or swearing, or gambling, or similar vices, and then forsakes them, they think that this is a converted man.  Others think that if one who has been an enemy and scorner at godliness, but then approves it, and joins himself with those who are godly, and is hated for it by the wicked, as the godly are, then this must be a converted person.  Some think they are converted by the fact that they have come to a new opinion [or belief]. And some think, if they have come to a fear of hell, and had conviction and struggles of conscience, and because of that have purposed and promised to mend their ways, and follow a life of proper behavior and religious observance, that this must be true conversion. Indeed, these last ones are the poor deluded souls who are likely to lose the benefit of all our persuasions; for, when they hear that the wicked must turn or die, they think that this is not spoken to them; for they are not wicked, but are turned already. And therefore it is as when Christ told some of the rulers of the Jews who were more dignified civil than the common people, that “publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of Christ before them” (Matt. 21:31) – not that a harlot or other bold sinner can be saved without conversion, but because it was easier to make these perceive their sin and misery, and the necessity of a change, than the more righteous ones who delude themselves by thinking that they are converted already, when they are not.

The Converted Person

O people, conversion is a different kind of work than most are aware of!  It is not a small matter to bring an earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable excellencies of God, till he is overwhelmed by such love to Him that it can never be quenched; to break the heart for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and thankfully embrace Him as the life of his soul; to have the very drift and direction of the heart and life changed; so that he renounces that which he took for good fortune, and places his treasure where he never did before, and no longer lives for the same purpose, and is not driven by  the same love for the world as he formerly was: in a word, he that is in Christ is a “new creation”: “old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  He has a new understanding, a new will and resolution, new sorrows, and desires, and love, and delight: new thoughts, new speeches, new company, (if possible) and new conversation. Sin, which was previously amusing to him, is now so distasteful and terrible to him, that he flees from it as from death. The world, which was so lovely in his eyes, now troubles him and appears as nothing but vanity.

God, who was before neglected, is now his only happiness. Whereas before, God was forgotten, and every lust preferred before Him: now He is set next to his heart, and all things must give place to Him.  His heart is now occupied with God, and is grieved when He hides His face, and never thinks itself well without Him. Christ Himself, who was once only slightly thought of, is now his only hope and refuge, and he lives upon Him as on his daily bread; he cannot pray without Him, nor rejoice without Him, nor think, nor speak, nor live without Him.  Heaven itself, which once was little more than an escape from hell when he could no longer hold onto the world, is now taken for his home, the place of his only hope and rest, where he shall see, and love, and praise that God who fills his heart already.  Hell, which seemed nothing more than a bug-bear to frighten men from sin, now is a real place that is not to be ventured on, nor jested with.

The works of holiness, which he once was weary of, and it seemed concerned some people more than necessary, are now both his recreation and his business. The Bible, which before was to him little more than a common book, is now as the law of God, as a letter written to him from heaven, signed with the name of the eternal Majesty; it is the rule of his thoughts, and words, and deeds; its commands are binding, its threats are dreadful, and the its promises speak life to his soul. The godly, who seemed to him not unlike other people, are now the most excellent and happiest on earth. And the wicked, who were his play-fellows, are now his grief; and he, who could laugh at their sins, is now more ready to weep for their sin and misery (Psalm 16:3 and 15:4; Phil. 3:18).

In short, he has a new purpose in his thoughts, and a new way in his endeavors, and therefore his heart and life are new. Before, his carnal self was his end; his own pleasures and worldly profits were his way; but now, God and everlasting glory are his end; Christ, the Spirit, the Word, holiness to God, righteousness, and mercy to others, these are his way. Before, self was his chief ruler; to which the matters of God and conscience must stoop and give place. Now God in Christ, by the spirit, Word and ministry, have become that chief ruler, and to Him all the matters of self must give place. This conversion, then, is not a change in one, or two, or twenty points, but in the whole soul, and in the very purpose and direction of his life. A person may step out of one path into another, and yet be facing the same way, and be still going towards the same place: But it is another matter to turn completely back again, and take his journey going the opposite way.  So it is here: a person may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness, and forsake his good fellowship, and other blatant, disgraceful sins, and set himself upon some duties of religion, and yet be still going the same way as before, satisfying his carnal self above all else, and giving it still the control of his heart and soul. But, when he is converted, this self is denied and taken down, and God is set up, and his face is turned the other way; and he, who once was addicted to himself, and lived to himself, is now by sanctification devoted to God, and lives unto God. While he once asked himself what he should do with his time, his energy, and his possessions, now he asks God what he shall do with them, and uses them for Him. Before, he would please God only so far as might go along with the pleasure of his flesh and carnal self, but now, he determines please God, though flesh and self be ever so much displeased. This is the great change that God will make upon all that shall be saved.

What’s Wrong With Modern Evangelism?

If modern “Evangelism” be weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found wanting-lacking that which is vital to a genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Savior, lacking that which will produce the transfigured lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.

The “evangelism” of the day is not only superficial to the last degree, but it is radically defective. It is utterly lacking a foundation on which to base an appeal for sinners to come to Christ. There is not only a lamentable lack of proportion (the mercy of God being made far more prominent than His holiness, His love than His wrath), but there is a fatal omission of that which God has given for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sin. There is not only a reprehensible introducing of “bright singing,” humorous witticisms and entertaining anecdotes, but there is a studied omission of the dark background upon which alone the Gospel can effectually shine forth.

Those who really receive the “message” which is now being given out from most of the “orthodox” pulpits and platforms today, are being fatally deceived. It is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace, all who follow it will surely find that the ends thereof are the ways of death. Tens of thousands who confidently imagine they are bound for Heaven, will get a terrible disillusionment when they awake in Hell.

What is the Gospel? Is it a message of glad tidings from Heaven to make God-defying rebels at ease in their wickedness? Is it given for the purpose of assuring the pleasure-crazy young people that, providing they only “believe” there is nothing for them to fear in the future? One would certainly think so from the way in which the Gospel is presented-or rather perverted-by most of the “evangelists,” and the more so when we look at the lives of their “converts.” Surely those with any degree of spiritual discernment must perceive that to assure such that God loves them and His Son died for them, and that a full pardon for all their sins (past, present, and future) can be obtained by simply “accepting Christ as their personal Savior,” is but a casting of pearls before swine.

The Gospel is not a thing apart. It is not something independent of the prior revelation of God’s Law. It is not an announcement that God has relaxed His justice or lowered the standard of His holiness. So far from that, when Scripturally expounded the Gospel presents the clearest demonstration and the climacteric proof of the inexorableness of God’s justice and of His infinite abhorrence of sin. But for Scripturally expounding the Gospel, beardless youths and business men who devote their spare time to “evangelistic effort” are quite unqualified. Alas that the pride of the flesh suffers so many incompetent ones to rush in where those much wiser fear to tread. It is this multiplying of novices that is largely responsible for the woeful situation now confronting us, and because the “churches” and “assemblies” are so largely filled with their “converts, ” explains why they are so unspiritual and worldly.

No, my reader, the Gospel is very, very far from making light of sin. The Gospel shows us how unsparingly God deals with sin. It reveals to us the terrible sword of His justice smiting His beloved Son in order that atonement might be made for the transgressions of His people. So far from the Gospel setting aside the Law, it exhibits the Savior enduring the curse of it. Calvary supplied the most solemn and awe inspiring display of God’s hatred of sin that time or eternity will ever furnish. And do you imagine that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to worldlings and telling them that they “may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their personal Savior” while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts still in love with sin? If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.

The terms of Christ’s salvation are erroneously stated by the present-day evangelist. With very rare exceptions he tells his hearers that salvation is by grace and is received as a free gift; that Christ has done everything for the sinner, and nothing remains but for him to “believe”-to trust in the infinite merits of His blood. And so widely does this conception now prevail in “orthodox” circles, so frequently has it been dinned in their ears, so deeply has it taken root in their minds, that for one to now challenge it and denounce it as being so inadequate and one-sided as to be deceptive and erroneous, is for him to instantly court the stigma of being a heretic, and to be charged with dishonoring the finished work of Christ by inculcating salvation by works.

Salvation is by grace, by grace alone, for a fallen creature cannot possibly do anything to merit God’s approval or earn His favor. Nevertheless, Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of holiness, for it never compromises with sin. It is also true that salvation is a free gift, but an empty hand must receive it, and not a hand which still tightly grasps the world! But it is not true that “Christ has done every thing for the sinner.” He did not fill His belly with the husks which the swine eat and find them unable to satisfy. He has not turned his back on the far country, arisen, gone to the Father, and acknowledged his sins-those are acts which the sinner himself must perform. True, he will not be saved for the performance of them, yet it is equally true that he cannot be saved without the performing of them-any more than the prodigal could receive the Father’s kiss and ring while he still remained at a guilty distance from Him!

Something more than “believing” is necessary to salvation. A heart that is steeled in rebellion against God cannot savingly believe: it must first be broken. It is written “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).  Repentance is just as essential as faith, yea, the latter cannot be without the former: “Repented not afterward that ye might believe” (Matthew 21:32). The order is clearly enough laid down by Christ: “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).  Repentance is sorrowing for sin. Repentance is a heart-repudiation of sin. Repentance is a heart determination to forsake sin. And where there is true repentance grace is free to act, for the requirements of holiness are conserved when sin is renounced.  Thus, it is the duty of the evangelist to cry “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord (from whom he departed in Adam), and He will have mercy upon him” (Isaiah 55:7) His task is to call on his hearers to lay down the weapons of their warfare against God, and then to sue for mercy through Christ.

The way of salvation is falsely defined. In most instances the modern “evangelist” assures his congregation that all any sinner has to do in order to escape Hell and make sure of Heaven is to “receive Christ as his personal Savior.” But such teaching is utterly misleading. No one can receive Christ as his Savior while he rejects Him as Lord. It is true the preacher adds that the one who accepts Christ should also surrender to Him as Lord, but he at once spoils it by asserting that though the convert fails to do so, nevertheless Heaven is sure to him. That is one of the Devil’s lies. Only those who are spiritually blind would declare that Christ will save any who despise His authority and refuse His yoke: why, my reader, that would not be grace but a disgrace-charging Christ with placing a premium on lawlessness.

It is in His office of Lord that Christ maintains God’s honor, subserves His government, enforces His Law; and if the reader will turn to those passages – Luke 1:46,47; Acts 5:31; 2 Peter 1:11, 2:20, 3:18 – where the two titles occur, he will find that it is always “Lord and Savior,” and not “Savior and Lord.” Therefore, those who have not bowed to Christ’s sceptre and enthroned Him in their hearts and lives, and yet imagine that they are trusting in Him as their Savior, are deceived, and unless God disillusions them they will go down to the everlasting burnings with a lie in their right hand (Isaiah 44:20). Christ is “the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” Hebrews 5:9, but the attitude of those who submit not to His Lordship is “we will not have this Man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). Pause then, my reader, and honestly face the question: are you subject to His will, are you sincerely endeavouring to keep His commandments?

Alas, alas, God’s “way of salvation” is almost entirely unknown today, the nature of Christ’s salvation is almost universally misunderstood, and the terms of His salvation misrepresented on every hand. The “Gospel” which is now being proclaimed is, in nine cases out of every ten, but a perversion of the Truth, and tens of thousands, assured they are bound for Heaven, are now hastening to Hell, as fast as time can take them. Things are far, far worse in Christendom than even the “pessimist” and the “alarmist” suppose. We are not a prophet, nor shall we indulge in any speculation of what Biblical prophecy forecasts-wiser men than the writer have often made fools of themselves by so doing. We are frank to say that we know not what God is about to do. . . . But this we greatly fear: unless God is pleased to grant a real revival, it will not be long ere “the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isaiah 60:2), for the light of the true Gospel is rapidly disappearing. Modern “Evangelism” constitutes, in our judgment, the most solemn of all the “signs of the times.”

What must the people of God do in view of the existing situation? Ephesians 5:11 supplies the Divine answer: “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them,” and everything opposed to the light of the Word is “darkness.” It is the bounden duty of every Christian to have no dealings with the “evangelistic” monstrosity of the day: to withhold all moral and financial support of the same, to attend none of their meetings, to circulate none of their tracts. Those preachers who tell sinners they may be saved without forsaking their idols, without repenting, without surrendering to the Lordship of Christ are as erroneous and dangerous as others who insist that salvation is by works and that Heaven must be earned by our own efforts.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ “

No doubt some readers are ready to object to our “harsh” and “sarcastic” statements above by asking, When the question was put “What must I do to be saved?” did not an inspired apostle expressly say “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved?” Can we err, then, if we tell sinners the same thing today? Have we not Divine warrant for so doing? True, those words are found in Holy Writ, and because they are, many superficial and untrained people conclude they are justified in repeating them to all and sundry. But let it be pointed out that Acts 16:31 was not addressed to a promiscuous multitude, but to a particular individual, which at once intimates that it is not a message to be indiscriminately sounded forth, but rather a special word, to those whose characters correspond to the one to whom it was first spoken.

Verses of Scripture must not be wrenched from their setting, but weighed, interpreted, and applied in accord with their context; and that calls for prayerful consideration, careful meditation, and prolonged study; and it is failure at this point which accounts for these shoddy and worthless “messages” of this rush-ahead age. Look at the context of Acts 16:31 and what do we find? What was the occasion, and to whom was it that the apostle and his companion said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?” A sevenfold answer is there furnished, which supplies a striking and complete delineation of the character of those to whom we are warranted in giving this truly evangelistic word. As we briefly name these seven details, let the reader carefully ponder them.

First, the man to whom those words were spoken had just witnessed the miracle-working power of God. “And suddenly there was a great earth-quake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:26).

Second, in consequence thereof the man was deeply stirred, even to the point of self-despair: “He drew his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled” (Acts 16:27).

Third, he felt the need of illumination: “Then he called for a light” (Acts 16:29).

Fourth, his self-complacency was utterly shattered, for he “came trembling” (Acts 16:29).

Fifth, he took his proper place (before God) -in the dust, for he “fell down before Paul and Silas” (Acts 16:29).

Sixth, he showed respect and consideration for God’s servants, for he “brought them out” (Acts 16:30).

Seventh, then, with a deep concern for his soul, he asked “What must I do to be saved?”

Here, then, is something definite for our guidance-if we are willing to be guided. It was no giddy, careless, unconcerned person, who was exhorted to “simply believe”; but instead, one who gave clear evidence that a mighty work of God had already been wrought within him. He was an awakened soul (Acts 16:27).  In his case there was no need to press upon him his lost condition, for obviously he felt it, nor were the apostles required to urge upon him the duty of repentance, for his entire demeanor betokened his contrition. But to apply the words spoken to him unto those who are totally blind to their depraved state and completely dead toward God, would be more foolish than placing a bottle of smelling-salts to the nose of one who had just been dragged unconscious out of the water. Let the critic of this article read carefully through the Acts and see if he can find a single instance of the apostles addressing a promiscuous audience or a company of idolatrous heathen and “simply” telling them to believe in Christ.

Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his clamant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for “by the Law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take their fill of sin, is to give that which is holy unto the dogs. What the unconverted need to hear about is the character of Him with whom they have to do, His claims upon them, His righteous demands, and the infinite enormity of disregarding Him and going their own way.

Christ acknowledges none to be His friends save those who do whatsoever He commands them (John 15:14). As unbelief is a species of rebellion, so saving faith is a complete subjection to God: hence we read of “faith obedience” (Romans 16:26). Saving faith is to the soul what health is to the body: it is a mighty principle of operation, full of life, ever working, bringing forth fruit after its own kind!

Assurance of Saving Faith

The different states through which the professing Church passes, calls for different ministry. There is such a thing as “a word spoken in due season” Proverbs 15:23: O that it may please God to open the eyes of many to see what is most “seasonable” for the degenerate times in which our lot is cast, and grant them spiritual discernment to recognize that even many portions of Divine truth may prove highly injurious to souls if given them out of season.

On every side are people full of assurance, certain that they are journeying to Heaven; yet their daily lives show plainly that they are deceived, and that their assurance is only a fleshly one. Thousands are, to use their own words, “resting” on John 3:16, 5:24, and have not the slightest doubt they will spend eternity with Christ. Nevertheless it is the bounden duty of every real servant of God to tell the great majority of them that they are woefully deluded by Satan.  O that it may please God to give us the ear and serious attention of some of them.

Now dear reader, you too may be quite sure that your faith in Christ is true . . . and yet, after all, be mistaken.  The danger of this is not to be fancied, but real. The human heart is dreadfully deceitful (Jer 17:9). God’s Word plainly warns us that “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness” (Proverbs 30:12). Do you ask (O that you may, in deep earnestness and sincerity), How can I be sure that my faith is a genuine and saving one? The answer is, Test it. Make certain that it is the “faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1). Ascertain whether or not your faith is accompanied with those fruits which are inseparable from a God-given and Spirit-wrought faith.

Probably many are ready to say, There is no need for me to be put to any such trouble; I know that my faith is a saving one, for I am resting on the finished work of Christ. But dear friend, it is foolish to talk like that. God Himself bids His people to make their “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Is that a needless exhortation? O pit not your vain confidence against Divine wisdom. It is Satan who is striving so hard to keep many from this very task, lest they discover that their house is built on the sand. There is hope for one who discovers his illusion, but there is none for those who go on believing the Devil’s lie, and rest content with the very real but false peace which he gives to so many of his poor victims.

God Himself has supplied us with tests, and we are mad if we do not avail ourselves of them, and honestly measure ourselves by them. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe (more intelligently) on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).  The Holy Spirit Himself moved one of His servants to write a whole Epistle to instruct us how we might know whether or not we have eternal life. Does that look as though the question may be determined and settled as easily as so many present-day preachers and writers represent it? If nothing more than a firm persuasion of the truth of John 3:16 or John 5:24 be needed to assure me of my salvation, then why did God give a whole Epistle to instruct us on this subject?

Let the really concerned soul read slowly and thoughtfully through this first epistle of John, and let him duly observe that not once in its five chapters are we told “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we are resting on the finished work of Christ.” The total absence of such a statement ought, surely, to convince us that something must be radically wrong with so much of the popular teaching of the day on this subject. But not only is there no such declaration made in this epistle, the very first passage which contains the familiar “we know” is quite the reverse of what is now being so widely advocated as the ground of Christian assurance “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 Jo 2:3). Is not that plain enough? A godly life is the first proof that I am a child of God.

But let us observe the solemn declaration that immediately follows. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1John 2:4). Do these words anger you? We trust not: they are God’s, not ours. Do you refuse to read any more of this article? That would be a bad sign: an honest heart does not fear the light. A sincere soul is willing to be searched by the Truth. If you are unable to endure now the feeble probings of one of His servants, how will it fare in a soon-coming day when the Lord Himself shall search you through and through? O dear friend, give your poor soul a fair chance, be willing to ascertain whether your faith is real wheat, or only chaff. If it prove to be the latter, there is still time for you to humble yourself before God and cry unto Him to give you saving faith. But in that Day it will be too late!

“He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). How plain and pointed is this language! How awful its clear intimation! Do you not see, dear reader, this verse plainly implies that there are those who claim to know Christ, and yet are liars. The father of lies has deceived them, and he is doing everything in his power to keep them from being undeceived.  That is why the unregenerate reader finds this article so unpalatable, and wishes to turn from it. O resist this inclination, we beseech you. God has given us this very verse by which we may measure ourselves, and discover whether or not our “assurance of salvation” will stand the test of His Holy Word. Then act not like the silly ostrich, which buries his head in the sand rather than face his danger.

Let us quote one more verse from this first “we know” passage in John’s Epistle’ “But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected’ hereby know we that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5). This stands in sharp contrast from the preceding verse. The apostle was here moved to set before us some clear scriptural evidences of spiritual faith and love, which constitute the vital difference between sheep and goats. In 1 John 2:4 it is the empty professor who says “I know Christ as my personal Saviour.” He has a theoretical, but not a vital knowledge of Him. He boasts that he is resting on Christ’s finished work, and is confident that he is saved; but keeps not His commandments. He is still a self-pleaser. Like Solomon’s sluggard, he is “wiser in his own conceits than seven men that can give a reason” (Proverbs 26:16). He talks boldly, but walks carelessly.

In 1 John 2:5 it is the genuine Christian who is in view. He does not say “I know Him,” instead he proves it. The apostle is not here presenting Christ as the immediate Object of faith, but is describing him who has savingly fled to the Lord for refuge, and this, by the effects produced. In him Christ’s Word is everything: his food, his constant meditation, his chart. He “keeps” it, in memory, in heart, in action. Christ’s “commandments” occupy his thoughts and prayers as much as do His promises. That Word working in him, subdues his carnal desires, feeds his graces, and draws them into real exercise and act. That Word has such a place in his heart and mind that he cannot but give proof of the same in his talk and walk. In this way the “love of God is perfected”: the Family likeness is plainly stamped upon him; all can see to which “father” he belongs-contrast John 8:44.

“Whoso keepeth His Word … hereby (in this way) know we that we are in Him.” Keep His Word perfectly?  No.  But actually, characteristically, in deep desire and honest effort to do so. Yes. Regeneration is that miracle of Divine grace wrought in the soul which enlists the affections God-ward, which brings the human will into subjection to the Divine, and which produces a real and radical change in the life. That change is from worldliness to godliness, from disobedience to obedience.  At the new birth, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and that love is manifested in a dominating longing and sincere purpose to please in all things the One who has plucked me as a brand from the burning. There is a greater difference between the genuine Christian and the deceived professing Christian than there is between a living man and a corpse. None need remain in doubt if they will honestly measure themselves by the Holy Word of God.

He is the “voice crying in the wilderness” of modern churchanity.

It is he who dares to ask not, ”Is this okay? Can we “get away with it”?”, but “Is this honoring to God Almighty?”

Here is one who refuses to engage in frivolity while the world slides to hell.

Here is the man who isn’t afraid to stand before men and be laughed at; he is afraid only of standing before God and being condemned.

He stands for truth in a time of compromise.

He constantly searches out the Word of God and demands a “thus saith the Lord” in a time of me-centered, watered-down, cotton candy teachings.

He believes that there is one way, God’s Way, and he is willing to give up home, income, reputation…indeed, he is willing to give up all that he has, all that he is…in order that it may be taught.

Here is the one who knows “doing for God” must grow out of “being with God” and not the other way around.

Here is the preacher who isn’t afraid to “step on toes” or make someone uncomfortable when the need arises.

He is one who will preach boldly against sin in all of its manifestations.

He is a man who constantly invites his Lord to “search me…try me…see if there is any wicked way in me”.

He is one who knows Jesus wasn’t just “meek and mild” but also the Lion of Judah Who was zealous for God’s house and he tirelessly seeks to follow his Master’s example.

He is the husband, the father, who leads his family to go against the world–no matter how unpopular, how uncomfortable the position–rather than ride the flow that leads to hell.

Here is the young man who seeks out a woman of true loveliness, one who loves God and shows much growth in godliness, rather than one whose beauty is only skin deep.

The most extreme man in the church is the one who unfailingly takes God at His Word and then, believing, acts on it.

He teaches truth even when persecuted for it.

He sees the times and, understanding the dangers ahead, beseeches God on behalf of the people who are failing Him.

Here is one who will lose sleep to “stand in the gap” for his family, the church, the nation.

He is not afraid of censure, of unpopularity,of ridicule but only of displeasing his Lord.

He is one who has obviously ”been with Jesus”.

He knows intimately the throne of grace and lives at the foot of it.

He knows the Cross of Christ for he makes his home in its shadow.

He loves God and thus loves the unlovely–even those who would cause him harm for his “extreme” positions.

Here is one to whom praying is as natural as breathing.

He is known in hell and hated for his prayers aren’t prayers for personal comfort but for God’s will to be done–and then, when the prayers are momentarily complete, he gets up and makes himself available to be the instrument through which God’s will can be accomplished.

One who knows sleepless nights spent crying out to God that He may be known and honored among men.

A man who has absolute faith in God that His Lord is able to do all that He has promised.

Here is a man to whom the thought has never occurred to not “accept” Jesus as His Lord.

One whom, knowing his own sinfulness, is humbled by the grace-filled opportunity to serve His Lord in any and every fashion that God bestows upon him.

A man to whom God Himself is more important than any other gift that God could bestow.

You can read more of Anna’s articles at The Cross Is All.