Christianity

The Mud and Water of the Gospel

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healing_of_the_blind_man_jekelNotice that beautiful phrase: “And Jesus passed by.” Did you see it? Oh how I long for you to see him passing by you right now. Jesus the Messiah, God in the flesh, the same one Moses saw when, “the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” (Ex 34:6). Jesus passed by this man, stopped what he was doing and stooped down to help him. 

 

There were many beggars, many blind people but he did not stop for them. But he stopped for this man! Why? Grace! The Sovereign grace of God! He says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” (Rom 9: 15-16ESV). Will Jesus pass by you? Will he see you  and where you are at and help you with his presence and power? There are those in the church who wonder why they do not experience more of the presence of God.  Like Jeremiah we feel like God is a visiting guest staying only for a night (Jer. 14:8). I think we need the mud and water of the gospel!

 

Oh, I would like to pray like Elisha, “O LORD, please open the eyes of these people that they may see the son of Man, Jesus Christ walking in the midst of his church” (see 2 Kings 6:15-17; Rev. 1: 12, 13). There are people that do not realize that Jesus is passing your way! Throughout your life he lifted you to his cheek. Like a doting parent he taught you how to walk, leading you gently by the hand but you did not know or even care he led you through life with gentle cords of kindness and love (Hosea 11:1-4). Ah we are truly God chosen frozen! We need a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit! In our services have we forgotten that Jesus is walking down the aisle moving through every seat, touching people at the altar who are praying!  He says he desires the works of God to be seen in our lives! All it takes is some gospel mud and water!

 

Ah, but we want Jesus Christ to come to us on our terms! We want something that will blow us up, shake us up, and fire us up! At one time God told Elijah, “Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11-12).  The Lord was not in the show! He was in a whisper, a gentle sound of quiet stillness! Ah, that is where we miss it! The man in our story was not deaf! He could hear the words of the still, small calming voice of the Savior! This man was not blown up, shaken up, or fired up! But after some spittle, a little mud, and washing his face in a pool he could see!  But the voice of Jesus is so powerful a whisper can make all the difference. Do you hear his whispers?  By God’s grace you may not see everything that is being told you tonight but you can hear it. All it takes is some mud and water of the gospel!

 

“He saw a man blind from birth.” Jesus saw this man and he sees those who are lost in darkness. The blind man did not once ask Jesus for sight! This shows again salvation is not finding God or knowing God but God finding us and knowing us (Gal 4:9)! You have not been looking for him because you have no eyes to see! How helpless people are without Christ! The Bible says they are “without strength” (Rom 5:6) to repent (Prov. 5:22), have faith (Mt. 13:58) and pray (Isa. 64:7),  it is like they are curled up in a fetal position unable even to help themselves! They cannot even purse their lips to whisper a prayer for what they really need! But Jesus saw him!  He sees you are the very person he has been looking for to put his forgiving love on display. Dr. Jesus only comes for the sick, not the healthy!  But just one look from Jesus, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.” (Isa. 35:5).

 

We are clear that the context of the story is that this man or his family’s sin did not bring this blindness upon him, but this scripture is a case and point for those who are spiritually blind. “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” (Eph 4:18). This man was born into a world of darkness and those who do not know Christ are living in complete spiritual blindness.  Many of you have taken the life God has given you and live a life of blindly sinning against him. You cannot even find him because you have no eyes. But the Alpha and Omega, The beginning and the End, the First and the Last, he who is “Everything” has passed your way tonight, and he is looking for you. He has eyes that penetrate the thickest darkness and can restore sight in this simple place of prayer by the simple mud and water of the gospel.

 

The most brilliant light cannot be seen by a corpse. You cannot see the beautiful shadow of the Son of God if you are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). The Bible says that there is a darkness that is so dark it can be felt (Ex 10:21-23).  It is a gloomy thick darkness that chokes the atmosphere of your life. “A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” (Job 10:22). Do you have a spiritual pulse? Oh it is the work of God to pass by you in this dead condition and he will say, “Live!” (Ezek 16:6). Even now if in your heart you are saying, “Let me live!” there is already a spiritual pulse in your life. Even now you are coming to life by the presence of Christ and the simple mud and water of the gospel!

 

Then it is amazing grace that God has shown you to hear Jesus whisper your name.  To hear the sweet voice of Jesus whisper in your ears as He says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world! I must work the works of him that sent me, night cometh when no man can work.”  Christ’s life and ministry were like the sunrise that blossoms into a noon time sun on the whole world and his death would be like the sunset and then night. The Father set a time for Jesus to come who arose like “the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2).

 

Oh that is the mercy of God if you can hear his voice even now! I pray he will speak the word to your heart. You cannot run from his smiling face, His face full of pity and compassion for you. He can find you wherever you are at this very moment. The word of God, the Bible, is living and powerful and that is why God is talking this way to you at this moment. He can speak the word “Let there be light!” and that light can penetrate into the darkest life in less time than it takes to say those words! 

 

He whispers to you “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light.” (Eph 5:14). The word that he speaks is like, “a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts!” (2 Peter 1:19).  That dark place means, “A parched, squalid, dirty, dark, neglected murky” place (Vincent)! Oh like the first star in the morning he will rise into the darkest night of your life- that is the beginning of what we call illumination (Heb 10:32). It is a special work of God that imbues (soaks and make a soul rich) in the light of salvation (Thayer). In a moment that midnight darkness will see at first the glimmer of the bright and morning star Jesus Christ and as he comes closer your soul will be turn into a noonday of mercy and grace. Only then can you really say, “I was blind but now I see!” It is all because of the Mud and Water of the Gospel! 

 

The text goes on to say, “When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”  There are many interpretations about the clay and spittle. He created eyes in him like when God created Adam from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7). I especially like what ancient Christian father taught, “For he spat in a human fashion, yet his spittle was charged with deity, for therewith he caused the eyes of the man born blind…to receive sight” (Athanasius). 

I think if Jesus used some kind of medicine the religious people would have started selling it on their cable networks! But the simplicity of the spittle, clay and pool are found in the preaching of the gospel!  The gospel offers life from the dead and sight for those who will respond to his voice! All the motivational speaking, relevant preaching cannot give life like the ancient message of the Bible. It is never out of date.  Sometimes gospel spittle, smearing some gospel mud, and telling people to get to the gospel pool is what it takes! Because it shows that the power is not in the mud and the water but in Christ! God is the Savior not us! 

 

Jesus ordered that blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam, Shiloam or Shiloh. It was a mikvah or a ritual bath designed for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism. Isaiah reproaches the men of his time, that they despise the softly flowing waters of Siloam and preferred the rapid and impetuous streams of the world (Isaiah 8:6). They want loud entertaining religious shows not quiet cleansing pools. What is the sense of being religious if you are stained or defiled with sin! Christ wants to cleanse you from sin!

 

The mikvah also points to the bridal bath.  Paul refers to the bride of Christ the church and that Christ died for he “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph 5:26). This is a type of going to that pool and washing yourself in the Word of God, you hear it and read it and it washes and cleanses you from sin (John 17:17). When Christ commanded him to go and wash when he washed he found out that, “The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes!” (Ps 19:8). 

 

The meaning of Siloam is Sent. It refers not to a pool but the Sent One of which the Bible says, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Gen 49:10).  It is not where you are sent but who is sent to you. True Christian faith is not just being sent to something or somewhere but it is God sending Christ to us-it’s the theme of the entire Bible. At this moment, we pray that the Lord Jesus Christ would come and make your life a new creation. He is simply coming to you using the mud and water of the gospel to open your eyes!

No Pajamas In Church, Please

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pajamasI recently visited a church near where I live and sat down with my son in my normal Sunday suit. It actually fit this time of year. It was just around Christmas time and the church was practicing for worship service before Sunday, which I have understood is the worship leaders last resort because he works with people that do not even know how to spell s-a-c-r-i-f-i-c-e in making out during the week and preparing. 

It is noisy and takes away from settling in, praying and reading your Bible so your mind is on God. It is like going to a wedding and the music is always too loud and you have to literally scream in your neighbors ear to say, “Can you pass me a tithing envelope, please?” I wonder if it could be said, “My house is a house of prayer but you have made it a den of noise.”

But I am just a visitor so I grin and bear it.

The first thing I beheld (which the pastors wife later explained to me was for a Christmas play later that day) was that the altar area. It was surrounded by cardboard candy canes, cut out gingerbread men and enough cotton balls to gag a wise man’s camel. In the middle of it was a communion table.

There they practiced, guffawed and one girl even gave the worship leader and nice shoulder massage.  With recent events, I began to think I am in hell (for you neo-evangelicals that is eternal hell not annihilation).  I had been pondering recently the lack of reverence for God and the picture preachers paint of Christ that he is giddy and fun loving. I know some people will think I am Pharisee, Sadducee etc. go right ahead call me whatever,  but I guess that is better than Heresy.

I manufactured an artificial smile and began to quote the love chapters in my mind and my teenage son was looking at me for some response but he saw it in my eyes and that was enough. I  prayed I could keep my mouth shut in such a situation which would be a modern day miracle, for sure.

Then, during service the Pastor walked in (a large man) wearing pajamas and a robe with the Yankee insignia. I was hoping it was an object lesson and I was praying, “Oh, Lord let this be an object lesson.”  But it was not, it was an advertisement for the Christmas play that night and they invited everyone to come with their pajamas on at 5pm. Then there were comments from the seats about baseball teams and other foolishness.

He showed a Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon for a introduction. Rats, he even preached, took the offering and served the Lord’s Supper in his pajamas and at last, the Pentecostal Pajama party was over.

After that service I could identify with Chuck Brown. I wonder if he were a professing Christian  looking for a church that actually preaches the Bible without all the shiny bows and pretty wrapping of religious commercialism. Where is that scripture toting Linus when you need him anyway.

So, here we have it.  Christ tells us, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12:35ESV).  Pajama clad sleepy Christians need not apply. The American Church has an empty, lifeless false advertisment  by offering people a pillow padded life full of positive self esteem as they ignore, delay or set aside repentance from actions that lead to a dangerous sleepy death. God says, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you  to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” (Romans 13:11).  Oh God ,wake your people who are asleep and save those who are wandering lost in sin! The visible American church needs to wake up and not hypnotized by the world and its bait of entertainment.

“Wherefore he saith, ‘Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.’ ” (Eph 5:14).  How are we going to get  American Christianity out of its ecclesiastical sleeping bags  into a well armored unit ready to fight off the temptations of this evil age?  Sadly, it is not walking in the Spirit, it is sleep walking. This is the where great work of the Sovereign Lord of the church will be seen!

Nothing wakes up the church like the Word of the Lord being preached in power! He says, “Wake up!”  It takes the power to raise the dead and he says, “Rise From the dead!”  It takes drawing back the curtains of dullness, and let the blistering white hot light of Christ shine on them.  he says, “And Christ will give thee light!”  Preacher preach, Preach with all your might the word of Christ! Preach loud, preach hard but in the name of jesus Christ rise up and walki into that pulpit without the lameness of man’s methods and preach the Scripture and let all of its force weigh down on the consciences of the hearers. The power of his presence is still available to the obedient man who is not a captive slave to the opinion of men!

You Have Been Warned!

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Paul Before FelixThe Bible records that the Apostle Paul stood before and earthly king and preached the gospel. It says, “And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” (Acts 24:25).  Where is the bold witness for Christ in this day of compromise and syncretism who will warn men of their coming encounter with the thrice holy God? Where are men like Paul who will not hold back speaking of God’s justice before the most powerful men in the earth?  His life was in the balance and his future uncertain as he stood before these men detained in their judicial system for two years. But he remained a witness to the fact that the King of the Universe, God Almighty would judge them. Paul was more afraid of God than some earthly sovereign. They shook in the presence of this man of God as the Holy Spirit reproved them (John 16:8 ) through the man who called himself the Lord’s prisoner (2 Tim 1:8). Where are the people who know their God and do exploits such as this?  Where are those who are unafraid to say that God will judge this nation because of its’ evil? How long will the preachers of God who would warn the elect of God (Ps. 19:11) be sidelined by a worldly church until they make up their minds?  “To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.” (Jer 6:10). 

 

While it is true there have been and always will be people who are condemning and vituperative in the use of scripture (Rom 2:1) and you will always find bitter and hateful people who act in line with their twisted, hardened hearts, the kindness of God is seen in leading us to repentance ( Rom. 2:4) through men who love the church and would suffer all things for the elects sake.

 

The justice and mercy of God do not cancel out each other. How can that be determined? It is because Christ is Judge and Savior. The concept of judgment is not the unpredictable anger of God, but when God in his justice sentences people to physical and spiritual penalties who continue in unrepentant sin. All people are eternally obligated to love and serve God and he is infinitely offended when they break his laws. It is not an option to serve God, it is a responsibility through grace. But how sad when people bristle and become twisted any time that someone addresses them concerning the God who cannot tolerate unrepentant sin or stomach lukewarmness (Rev. 3:16). People in their well oiled theological machine see God as so “merciful” that he will not penalize anyone for sin and evil. We are more at ease blaming the forces of “mother nature” because the thought of God acting against sin and the creation being revolted by sin is unthinkable!While they will say that people only punish themselves they cannot see God dealing with sin in his justice. They could not be more wrong. It should be reiterated here that the most basic understanding of God anyone could have is that justice is what we deserve; mercy is something we do not deserve. When God acts in mercy and saves us we experience it as undeserving lawbreakers.

 

It is damnable to think God Almighty will not act in his justice against sin just because a person sends up religious smoke screens talking about grace and forgiveness. That does not blind the eyes of an all seeing God and stop him from taking punitive action against sin. Church people beware. Unrepentant, habitual sin especially on the behalf of the backslider carries more serious consequences than those who have never known the Lord (Heb 2:1-3; 2 Pet 2:20-22). The church growth movement with its focus on fleshly unity sees anyone addressing the biblical concept of the judgment of God as divisive, legalistic and unteachable. Do people who feel this way think they will escape the judgment of God (Rom. 2:3)?

 

It is wonderfully true that the New Covenant brought mercy and grace (John 3:16-21). Thank God! But that is only partially true. Christ’s first coming brought a light the darkness could not extinguish (John 1:5) and exposed demons, death and disobedience in unyielding exposure. Those who hide their sins are already condemned because they love darkness. Jesus said he came for the purpose of judgment as well (John 9:39). God the Son has authority to judge (Mt. 5:22, 27). Christ taught that people place themselves in danger of judgment (Mt. 5:21-22) and based on their actions their sentence could be more severe (Luke 10:14).  Even every idle, careless word will be examined on judgment day (Mt. 12:36). You have been warned.

 

This United States has defied God and deified sin and God’s anger is not seen so much in traumatic weather or economic recession. In the middle of it all is a backslidden, lukewarm church. Then these so called ministers who no longer preach the gospel message are powerless though they shake themsleves like at other times not knowing the Lord has departed from them (Jud. 16:20).  But what is worse is that the awful price we are being forced to pay is not being on talking terms with Almighty God as he snubs the disobedient and will not speak his Word to them  through ministers who are a flame of fire (Amos 8:11-13)! In his mercy God has left us men in the past who have written about the doctrines of grace for us to read. We can at least warm our shivering souls in solid biblical exposition and feed upon the grain in these storehouses of Joseph despite the wet blanket of snow fallen upon the evangelical church. One can only weep in hope, to break up the hard clods of ground upon the our hearts, so we plant the seed of the scripture in fertile soil. We wait for the Sovereign mighty God to come and raise up men in our day to minister the words of his mouth.  At last  the saint of God will say, “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.” (Psalm 85:8). 

 

God is commanding men and women everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world. Christ made it clear after Pilate had brutally executed some men and a tower fell upon another group that they were no greater sinners than other people in fact, “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-15).  The Bible is clear: “Some people get caught in their sins right away, even before the time of judgment. But other people’s sins don’t show up until later.” (1 Tim. 5:24).  God’s judgment is revealed from heaven now against those who suppress the truth by their breaking of God’s law (Rom 1:18 ) and if they do not see it now eventually they will know the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:16). You have been warned.

 

But the one who holds the gavel of eternal justice will have nailed scarred hands. Christ himself will be our judge in this life and after we die (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim 4:1). We know Christ came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and that he did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Luke 9:56). How does he save them?  Jesus death on the cross demonstrated God’s justice (Rom. 3:25) and his punishment upon sin. It fell upon the sinless son of God. No he rules with a sceptre of righteousness and justice (Ps. 45:6; Heb 1:8).  The Lord has spoken to those in Christ his “not guilty” verdict and offers peace to those who will put their faith in Christ’s blood poured out in an atoning sacrifice and propitiation for sin! The Phillips translation of Romans 8:34 says, “Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us!”  He who could condemn -saves! Oh Blessed Jesus! People are saved from God the Judge by God the Savior.  Who has warned you to run away from the coming wrath (Mat. 3:7; Luke 3:7) and run to Jesus for your refuge (Heb 6:18)?!  Your only safety is in Christ the Judge and Savior. You have been warned.

 

A Clean Church

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From the Series: “The Ideal Pentecostal Church” by Seth Rees. “

Purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).  Holiness is a state; entire sanctification is an experience; the Holy Ghost is a person.  We come into the state of holiness through the experience of entire sanctification, wrought by the omnipotent energies of the Holy Ghost.  This is the “baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire” administered by Christ himself, as John the Baptist declares.  He did not mean that there were two baptisms, one with the Spirit and another with fire, but one “baptism with the Holy Ghost ” under the symbol of fire. 

There are some things which the application of water will not cleanse.  Water may cleanse the loose dirt on the outside, but fire alone can make inwardly, intrinsically clean.  Metal ore is not refined by mere washing — it must undergo the crushing and smelting processes.  Again and again the base ore is subjected to the fiery ordeal, until every iota of the useless grit and undesirables and is destroyed and the metal is left free from alloy.  So the water of regeneration will free the soul from external sin-commission, but the sanctifying process of the Spirit is requisite if the heart is to be holy and sinless.

Poisonous air may be driven from old wells and mine-shafts with fire.  The deadly gases must yield before the flame.  And the fire of the Spirit will rout all miasma and malaria from both pulpit and pew. 

Nothing is more refreshing on a hot, sultry July afternoon than a thunderstorm.  A few vivid flashes, a half-dozen dashes of blinding flame, and lo, the atmosphere has become bracing and invigorating.  Of all urgent needs, none is more truly evident than that the church ought to be struckwith double-geared lightning from the upper skies.  The jagged bolts should be allowed to play on both preacher and people.  This celestial electricity would sweeten the spiritual atmosphere in our churches and in our own souls.  It would burn away all the fog of uncertainty and unbelief and doubt, and give us convictions born of assurance. 

Proud flesh requires the fire.  Nothing rivals it in the dispatch and effectiveness with which it does its work.  A Boston physician told me that, with all the modern discoveries of science, there had been nothing found that would do but fire.  In the moral world there is nothing obtainable that will cure proud flesh in our natures and in our churches except Pentecostal fire.  This alone will kill the “brag,” the pomp, the gusto, the ungodly strut so evident in so many professors of religion today.  Let us take down our lightning rods, all our preventatives, and fire, celestial fire, will leap over the battlements of heaven and fall upon us, slaying all our pride, destroying all our tin, dross, and reprobate silver, and giving us a joyous release from all chaff and from all that is lightweight.

Those who have received their Pentecost live pure, holy lives.  They never practice unclean habits, whether secret or known.  They do not have unclean thoughts, unchaste desires, or unholy passions.  They do not use wine, beer, tobacco, snuff or opium.  True, a man may have his name on a church-book and yet indulge in these things of which we speak; but he might just as well have it on a board fence, for it does not make him a member of the Pentecostal company.  He may “belong to the meeting-house,” but he is not one of this blessed fire-crowned throng. 

Men who are in unholy connection with this Godless world in lodges, fraternities and Christless institutions, or who will stoop to the commercial trickeries of this age, or who will lend their influence to abet a questionable business, have not been through the furnace of the upper room.  Pentecostal Christians have “clean hands and pure hearts.” “Hands” in the Bible refers to the outward, manifest, visible life.  It refers to what man sees.  The word has regard to conduct. The life must be clean. A man can not be in close contact with the world without being contaminated. Lot well nigh became a Sodomite by dwelling in Sodom and among Sodom’s inhabitants; and intimate relationship with men of unrighteous lives always means demoralization for the Christian. “Clean hands” hold no bribes, they never deal unjustly, they do not give thirty-five inches for a yard nor fifteen ounces for a pound, they do not pay debts at forty cents on the dollar when they could do more. 

The behavior of the tongue is included in the life.  The conversation must be pure and chaste, never vulgar, never immodest.  The jest with its indelicate association is never heard on the mouth of the Pentecostal saint. 

The phrase “clean heart” relates to the inward, invisible, secret nature — that which God alone sees.  It describes a condition of things in which there is no pride, or anger, or jealousy, or envy, or strife, or selfishness, or worldly ambition, or any unholy temper.  Desire for place or position in church or state is purged away.  We who are of the Pentecostal Church see no one who has a place we would desire.  We are not wire pulling to get a position.  We are saved from political scheming in ecclesiastical circles, as well as elsewhere.  In honor we prefer one another. There can be no anxiety, for God makes all our appointments for us. 

When the heart is clean the Holy Ghost saves us from all peevishness, fretfulness, sensitiveness and touchiness.  We hardly know when we are insulted and, therefore, never take offense.  As Dr. Carradine says, we get so we “can live on cold shoulder and cold tongue.” We are not looking out for slights. If any one pays any attention to us, it is that much more than we deserve, that much clear gain. 

How plainly uncleanness of heart reveals itself in the actions, tempers and ambitions of the disciples previous to their Pentecost!  They were selfish: they wanted the best places.  Instance John and James bidding for chief seats.  Notice the anger and indignation consequent upon the rest of the twelve hearing of the request of the two brothers.  But, passing the upper room experience, we look in vain to find evidences of envy or self-seeking in these men.  That Pentecostal electrocution forever put an end to the self-life. 

How this fiery cleansing would relieve the church today!  Office-seeking preachers would not buttonhole the bishops.  This continual lobbying of which the presiding elder or superintendent is the unhappy subject would cease.  Men would be more anxious to show their devotion to Christ and self- denial for his cause, than to obtain the best appointments.  An unheard of thing might possibly be, viz., a vacancy on the official board, and no one sitting up nights concocting a scheme which would lift him to the place. 

Would-be generals are abundant nowadays.  There are plenty of men who would gladly boss God’s army.  They want to be bell-sheep.  They must tinkle the bell, and no one else. If they can’t be bell-sheep, they won’t be sheep at all, but turn goats.  Certainly we need the holy flame to extirpate unholy ambitions. 

Before Pentecost, the disciples were sectarian. One poor fellow was having a glorious time casting out devils. “Does he follow us?” “NO.” “Forbid him. Stop the revival; complain to the authorities! Schism!  Tendency to divide!  Come-out-ism!” There are thousands of people who have no sympathy with a work, however praiseworthy, without the movers in that work are in full unison with them on all points. 

A revengeful spirit crops out in the pre-Pentecostal disciples. “Opposition?” “Down with fire!” “Do not like to hear us preach?” “Rain brimstone!” This is the un-Christlike spirit of even some so called Holiness preachers.  “We can’t punish you, but God can.  We will get the Lord to revenge us.”  How different is the meekness, the heart-lowliness of the Son of God.  “Despised” and “rejected” yet he opened not his mouth. Vengeance and retaliation are burned out of us when we are sanctified, and unholy resentment thereafter finds in the soul no place.

Seth Rees was born at Westfield, Indiana. In March 1873, Seth was converted. Just after his 19th birthday, he attended the Quaker quarterly meeting in Westfield. Under the Spirit’s prompting, Seth mounted a pile of dirt and preached his first sermon. He became known as the “Earthquaker” for his strong preaching of holiness.

Plain Vanilla

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“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” (Neh 8:8).  

WE need to preach the Bible as it is, plain vanilla. Is it such a novel concept to let God speak for himself, to us from the written Word? Just to preach the scriptures without marketing, slogans and flimflam. That is why I believe God is calling out to men today to make known openly and publicly the Word of God it in its full strength. We should make it obvious that we are intentionally and unmistakably broadcasting the scriptures in our homes and from our pulpits. The scriptures ought to be perspicuous: plain to the understanding especially because of clarity and precision of presentation (Merriam Webster).  How preachers need to stop apologizing for the Bible and avoiding certain topics and take up the attitude, “What I am saying is between you and God!” with the people they pastor. God has not called us to force his words down people throats but he has called us to preach them until their hearts are under the influence of Sovereign grace and saving faith.  We also need to recognize that we deal with holy things and that we should not waste them on wild dogs and ungrateful pigs, so said Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:6. We should take the book of the covenant of God and his elect people and read it in the audience of the people (Ex. 24:7). In Nehemiah’s Day It says, “they read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage.”  (Neh. 8:9NLT). 

Christ unbolted the closed minds of men so the could understand the Older Covenant scriptures in their revelation of Him (Luke 24:25). The Holy Spirit would bring back to the Words of Christ as spoken to their minds (John 14:26; John 16:13-15). They would write these things down and give them to us in a book, “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matt. 13:52).  The apostles wrote and proclaimed the scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). God has called men to bring out the treasures of the Word of God its silver, gold and precious gems to those who are humble, harassed and hungry for righteousness.

Only his Words are powerful enough to save the soul (Heb. 4:12). There has never been a generation more ignorant of the scriptures than today. I see in churches, among the most well meaning pastors, the methodologies of the flesh, that only have human power and cannot save. It frightens me. The tactics of manipulation, placing Divine endorsement like a stamp on the packages they sell and of course speaking of how relevant and practical these methods are, go forth like a new gospel. It is positively medieval. I would rather “fail” in my “ministry” preaching the whole of scripture and only winning a few people than preaching motivational psychology and ending up with many people who participated in a clinically tested religious laboratory experiment that is not endorsed by scripture. Why you ask? “Thus saith the Lord, “Cursed is the man and maketh the flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” (Jer. 17:5). As the Old hymn says, “The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

Only his Word can save the soul from hell, not human tradition. Not new experiences.  People are spiritually sick because the Word is not flaunted. “I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)  Paul was full of passion to warn his brethren, build them up and preach a message that if they would believe, it would assure them of their part in their eternal inheritance. Like the ground that God cursed because of Cain, we should reject the notion of being only, “engaged to the method but married to the message.” Paul tells Timothy, “thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:15).  It is the scriptures that make people wise about salvation. But not the philosophy and psychology of the world.  The lost will die in their sins unless we preach the Word of God to them. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor 1:21). This is not God calling for us to be stupid but to be uncompromising. God the Savior of all men especially those that believe (1 Tim. 4:10) is calling us away from the impotent, lifeless methods of the flesh because the world cannot know God by philosophy and psychology. They can never know God by speculation and behavioral science, only by preaching God’s Word by the power of His Spirit. Jesus made it clear to his disciples “What gives life is God’s Spirit, human power is no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life giving Spirit.” (John 6:63TEV).