Our Empty Boast
From my journal entry. November 8th, 2017. 4:27 A.M. This is a small portion of a long commentary, after reading exchanges between debating preachers.
There is a drought of the Spirit of God not only in the land, but over the face of the whole earth. An east wind, a grievous dearth of discernment, breathed not only by those living in open rebellion against God, but also by those who profess to know his name. The culprit of which, is neglect of continuous communion with God himself through His word, and constant secret prayer. God has no favor with the hasty comers and goers. He reveals the precious jewels of his living word only to those brave enough to wait on him, even, or most specially, in times when he chooses to be silent. No parent will trust mere children with such precious jewels, yet we expect God to trust us with his divine oracles while we have yet to think seriously if we have the faithfulness required to carry such a priceless treasure. We then turn to the wisdom of men to learn about God, because we do not believe that God himself is willing to communicate directly with us; that he talks only with other men, but not with us. And so, we choose to learn about God better through men, rather than seek Him for ourselves while He is still to be found; learn about him than know him in his presence, as was Moses in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. Even without anyone aware of it, God is still working. His spirit may not breathe upon the open plains, but it whispers silently in between the nooks and crannies of every forgotten rock and recesses, quickening whom he wills. Giving life to dead men's bones, blossoms to wilted flowers, beautiful for no one to see.
The absence of power in our pulpits testify to its occupation of dead men void of Christ. The greater emphasis on the faults of people living in sin rather than the glorious majesty of the living God who parts the oceans asunder, the biased division amongst believers because of petty differences; divided by doctrines instead of being united in Christ, we join hand in hand with the sinners in depriving God the glory he both demands and deserves, by settling for a cheap Gospel that bears neither power nor fruit, just pointing fingers and numbers. We settle for praying over one or two converts and brag about it, when we have evidences of God sweeping through lands and saving entire peoples through a Spirit borne revival. Having it backward, we'd rather preach for two hours but struggle to pray for 15 minutes. We offer men life without having it, offer men Christ without knowing him, offer men salvation while we are yet to understand it. We offer God our ministries and accomplishments, but what good is this house that we have built if God's presence isn't there? While it requires learned courage to preach before men in behalf of God, it requires nothing less than the Spirit of the living God to plead before God in behalf of men.
We do well to yearn to bring the everlasting Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ where his name is yet to be named, but when we proceed with the arm of our own flesh and learning, we unknowingly shove the Holy Spirit out of the way. We err greatly in this aspect, in that we begin to boast in what we do not have. What we have are mere good intentions, like Saul had when he pardoned Agag, king of the Amalekites, but in reality we have appealed to our own strength and will for fear of men's opinions. God will have none of such, because God saves a man solely by His Spirit, and no man may boast of having a hand in it.
We appeal to the carnal man when we present an unbeliever with the question: "if you die tonight where would you go?", as if heaven is the goal and the end of all things to be wished for. Just as every guilty criminal wishes to be acquitted of his crimes, so every carnal person wishes to end up in a comfortable place, free from consequences, without any moral obligation, and where accountability does not exist.
Heaven is merely a place. Without God, heaven is not what it is. Any place where God is, is sure to be heaven. So the appeal to come to God so one can go to heaven, is just as appealing as getting a huge sum of money or fortune without working for it. I say here, the appeal, that is, to acquire something for nothing. No person would be willing to end up in hell, yet most go anyway. Those who declare that they wish so, do so out of ignorance, for no person brought to the edge of an active volcano would, with a full conscience, willingly leap into it.
And thus, we have such questions such as: "Heaven or hell?", "Repent or perish?", "If you die tonight, where will you go?", where we present men no Gospel but instead a choice between comfort and discomfort, as if the criminal asked, can choose to live or die, regardless if he has acknowledged his crimes, and has been convicted of his own offences against the holiness of God, and is finally aware of sin's grievous consequence. He chooses heaven only because he is afraid that his skin might be singed by the fires of hell, and therefore his instinct to do evil is for the moment caged and chained, in the premise of maintaining a "Christian" facade, the animal in him remains unchanged, ready to spring about at the first instance, should an opportunity to exhibit his true nature present itself. In our hurry to present the cure which is Christ, we merely treated the symptom of sin without touching the root. There is nothing in the essence of the Gospel to convict a man of sin. It is the work of the Law to convict the man of sin, that it, in turn, may drive him into the merciful arms of Christ. The Gospel is the answer to the needs of the man who was first of all slain by the proclamation of the Law. Without the preaching of the Law we do not have the full Gospel. Without the full Gospel we have nothing to offer the world. Why then do we condemn the world of unbelief, when we as the church stands guilty of it?
In neglecting to seek and wait upon the Lord, we have blatantly declared we do not need him at all to proceed.
May the Lord have mercy upon us.
There is a drought of the Spirit of God not only in the land, but over the face of the whole earth. An east wind, a grievous dearth of discernment, breathed not only by those living in open rebellion against God, but also by those who profess to know his name. The culprit of which, is neglect of continuous communion with God himself through His word, and constant secret prayer. God has no favor with the hasty comers and goers. He reveals the precious jewels of his living word only to those brave enough to wait on him, even, or most specially, in times when he chooses to be silent. No parent will trust mere children with such precious jewels, yet we expect God to trust us with his divine oracles while we have yet to think seriously if we have the faithfulness required to carry such a priceless treasure. We then turn to the wisdom of men to learn about God, because we do not believe that God himself is willing to communicate directly with us; that he talks only with other men, but not with us. And so, we choose to learn about God better through men, rather than seek Him for ourselves while He is still to be found; learn about him than know him in his presence, as was Moses in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. Even without anyone aware of it, God is still working. His spirit may not breathe upon the open plains, but it whispers silently in between the nooks and crannies of every forgotten rock and recesses, quickening whom he wills. Giving life to dead men's bones, blossoms to wilted flowers, beautiful for no one to see.
The absence of power in our pulpits testify to its occupation of dead men void of Christ. The greater emphasis on the faults of people living in sin rather than the glorious majesty of the living God who parts the oceans asunder, the biased division amongst believers because of petty differences; divided by doctrines instead of being united in Christ, we join hand in hand with the sinners in depriving God the glory he both demands and deserves, by settling for a cheap Gospel that bears neither power nor fruit, just pointing fingers and numbers. We settle for praying over one or two converts and brag about it, when we have evidences of God sweeping through lands and saving entire peoples through a Spirit borne revival. Having it backward, we'd rather preach for two hours but struggle to pray for 15 minutes. We offer men life without having it, offer men Christ without knowing him, offer men salvation while we are yet to understand it. We offer God our ministries and accomplishments, but what good is this house that we have built if God's presence isn't there? While it requires learned courage to preach before men in behalf of God, it requires nothing less than the Spirit of the living God to plead before God in behalf of men.
We do well to yearn to bring the everlasting Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ where his name is yet to be named, but when we proceed with the arm of our own flesh and learning, we unknowingly shove the Holy Spirit out of the way. We err greatly in this aspect, in that we begin to boast in what we do not have. What we have are mere good intentions, like Saul had when he pardoned Agag, king of the Amalekites, but in reality we have appealed to our own strength and will for fear of men's opinions. God will have none of such, because God saves a man solely by His Spirit, and no man may boast of having a hand in it.
We appeal to the carnal man when we present an unbeliever with the question: "if you die tonight where would you go?", as if heaven is the goal and the end of all things to be wished for. Just as every guilty criminal wishes to be acquitted of his crimes, so every carnal person wishes to end up in a comfortable place, free from consequences, without any moral obligation, and where accountability does not exist.
Heaven is merely a place. Without God, heaven is not what it is. Any place where God is, is sure to be heaven. So the appeal to come to God so one can go to heaven, is just as appealing as getting a huge sum of money or fortune without working for it. I say here, the appeal, that is, to acquire something for nothing. No person would be willing to end up in hell, yet most go anyway. Those who declare that they wish so, do so out of ignorance, for no person brought to the edge of an active volcano would, with a full conscience, willingly leap into it.
And thus, we have such questions such as: "Heaven or hell?", "Repent or perish?", "If you die tonight, where will you go?", where we present men no Gospel but instead a choice between comfort and discomfort, as if the criminal asked, can choose to live or die, regardless if he has acknowledged his crimes, and has been convicted of his own offences against the holiness of God, and is finally aware of sin's grievous consequence. He chooses heaven only because he is afraid that his skin might be singed by the fires of hell, and therefore his instinct to do evil is for the moment caged and chained, in the premise of maintaining a "Christian" facade, the animal in him remains unchanged, ready to spring about at the first instance, should an opportunity to exhibit his true nature present itself. In our hurry to present the cure which is Christ, we merely treated the symptom of sin without touching the root. There is nothing in the essence of the Gospel to convict a man of sin. It is the work of the Law to convict the man of sin, that it, in turn, may drive him into the merciful arms of Christ. The Gospel is the answer to the needs of the man who was first of all slain by the proclamation of the Law. Without the preaching of the Law we do not have the full Gospel. Without the full Gospel we have nothing to offer the world. Why then do we condemn the world of unbelief, when we as the church stands guilty of it?
In neglecting to seek and wait upon the Lord, we have blatantly declared we do not need him at all to proceed.
May the Lord have mercy upon us.
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