INSULATED BUT NOT ISOLATED

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

Our God is a God of order and symmetry. Theology itself is a find science. Almost every doctrine is a delicate balance between two great truths. That balance is a manifestation of the very nature of God. The doctrine of the trinity embraces two truths, that God is One and yet He is three persons. The person of Jesus Christ is revealed to us as one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. He is the God-Man.

You see this same balance in the church’s relationship to this world. On the night before the cross Jesus prayed for his disciples but He refused to pray for the world. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world” (John 17:9). There was a well defined distinction between His disciples and the world. Jesus continued, “Now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee . . . The world hath hated them , because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. . . As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (11, 14-15, 18). We must never forget this delicate balance. We are insulated in that we are “not of the world” but we are not isolated in that we are “in the world”.

When God was about to establish the covenant of grace with Abraham, He separated him and his descendants from the peoples of the earth. God commanded, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” (Gen 12:1). From the beginning God drew a line of demarcation between His covenant people and the world. God will never allow that line of demarcation to be erased or done away. It will continue through all time and will extend into eternity.

But that eternal distinction is not the whole story. God went on to say to Abraham, “I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3). The separation of Abraham and his descendants was for a purpose. It was not an end in itself. God’s ultimate purpose was that they would be made a blessing to the world.

Years later God brought the descendants of Abraham into the land of Canaan, the land of promise flowing with milk and honey. But God’s people in that land were like a hedged vineyard. Isaiah said, “The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant” (Isa 5:7). God strategically placed them in a land He Himself had prepared. The Bible says, “My Beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine” (5:1-2).

Planted in the land as God’s hedged vineyard, they were insulated but not isolated. To the west, the land was protected by the Mediterranean Sea. To the north they were locked in by the mountainous regions of Hermon and Lebanon, modern day Golan Heights. To the east they were enclosed by an expansive desert separating them from Moab and Egypt. To that extent Israel was geographically isolated. Yet, in its location Israel was ideally situated to be a major force of widespread influence. It was located on the Mediterranean Sea which had become the center of the ancient world. The land of Israel was the crossroads for three continents: Africa, Europe, and Asia. God never intended for his people to be isolated from the world. He separated them that they might be insulated as an electric wire is insulated in order that the electric current it carries may reach its destination and not get lost in endless short circuits. God separated His chosen people from the pagan peoples of the earth that in the fullness of time God might send forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, and through His people proclaim His message to the ends of the earth.

That same principle, insulated but not isolated, is God’s pattern for the modern church. The New Testament exhorts the church to come out from the world. The very word church, ekklesia, describes a people of God who are “called out.” We are not of the world but we are very much in the world. Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth . . . Ye are the light of the world” (Matt 5:13-14). He has made us witnesses “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The church must never lose that balance, insulated but not isolated. It seems to me there are two kinds of churches that are in danger of losing the balance. There are some churches that stress separation from the world to the point that they never confront the world with the claims of Christ. In their zeal to prevent the world from invading the church they also keep the church from invading the world. In their faithfulness they see to it that nothing but the pure Word of God is preached from their pulpits but they fail to proclaim the true Word of God to the lost. Such churches are slumbering. If they do not awake and give the gospel to those outside the church they will one day discover they are sleeping the sleep of death.

On the other hand there are churches, in their zeal to reach the unchurched, who have lost their sense of insolation. They are not a separated people. They are in the world, but they are also of the world. In their zeal to bring the gospel to the world they have succeeded in bringing the world into the church. The cancer of worldliness spreads through its members and nothing is done about it.

If we want our churches to be mission minded and evangelistic, they must also be holy. If we dare ignore that balance we cannot expect God’s blessings on our labors. Evangelism and missions must ever be wed to holiness: in the world but not of the world, insulated but not isolated.

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A God-Centered Christmas

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).

I have often lamented the man-centeredness of populist churches.  If the Christ of Christmas is lost in the celebration of Christmas it is a denial of the gospel itself.

I heard tonight a sad story of a church Christmas program where the angel Gabrael was depicted doing an Elvis impersonation with the young people performing a modern dance in the background.   Such churches need to hear again the agonized cry of Mary,   “They have taken away the Lord and we know not where they have laid Him” (John 20:3).   In the days of King Josiah the Word of God was lost, of all places, in the house of God.   Today the message of Christ is lost in the shroud of entertainment in too many churches.

One of the great tragedies of the modern church is the man-centredness of it’s theology.   Man in his depravity sees himself at the center of his own little universe  but scripture demands that God is at the center of everything that exists.   Everything is of Him, through Him, and unto Him (Rom 11:36).

One thing is certain:   without this God-centredness,   Christmas has  no meaning.   The Christmas message has it’s roots in eternity past.   When Jesus came into the world He said,   “Lo, I come,  in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God”.   The Incarnation of Christ was not an afterthought with God.  It was in full accordance with the eternal plan of the Father,  the Son and the Holy Spirit;   a plan made before the world was.
In that plan God the Father was to send His Son into the world to redeem it;   God the Son was voluntarily to come into the world to merit our salvation through obedience unto death and God the Holy Spirit was to apply that salvation through the conviction of sin and bringing the grace of God to our hearts.

The reality of this council of redemption is clear in the  Word of God.   John records,  “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).   Jesus often spoke of a commission given Him by the Father.   On the night before the cross Jesus prayed to the Father,  “I have glorified Thee on the earth;   I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4).   The Christmas story is about more than a babe in a manger. It is the story of the Triune God:   Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God the Father is the author of our eternal salvation.   It was in eternity past that He commissioned the Son to purchase our salvation by His substitutionary death on the cross and to offer on our behalf that perfect obedience which God’s righteousness demands.   In the fullness of time He “sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law” (Gal 4:4).

God the Son is the author of our eternal  salvation.   Even though He was in the form of God,   He voluntarily  “made Himself of no reputation,  took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man”  (Phil 2:6).   In order to accomplish  that which the Father had commissioned Him to do,  He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”   Jesus Christ is the central theme of the gospel.  He alone is the Christ of Christmas.

The Holy Spirit is also the author of our eternal salvation.   When the Old Testament prophet foretold the birth, the ministry, the death, and the resurrection of Christ and when they committed their prophecies to writing,  they were “moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet 1.21).   Just as surely as Jesus was sent by the Father into the world,  the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son.   Jesus promised the disciples the Holy Spirit whom  “the Father will send in my name” (John 14:26).   Jesus described Him as  “the Comforter whom I will send you from the Father”  (John 15:26).  At Pentecost the Holy Spirit empowered a little band of insignificant,  ignorant but believing men and women to undertake the task of conquering the world through Christ.  The coming of the Holy Spirit was as significant as the coming of Christ into the world.   The power of the Holy Spirit has never departed from the church and never will depart.   Jesus promised, ” He will abide with you forever”  (John 14:16).   We should never pray for a second Pentecost.   The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is as much a once-for-all event as was the birth of Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the church became a witnessing church.   It was the Holy Spirit who transformed cowardly Peter into a courageous preacher.   The Holy Spirit continues to raise up men to preach His word and guides them  in their labors. The Holy Spirit said to the church at Antioch,  “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”  (Acts 13:2).   Later we read that Paul was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel in Asia and the Spirit suffered them not to go into Bithynia but through a vision directed them to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-9).

In other words,  it is the Triune God who is the author of our eternal salvation.   He it was who executed in time the plan which was wrought in eternity past,   who revealed it’s execution in the gospel,  who ordained the gospel as the indispensable means of salvation.   If in our churches we proclaim the Christmas story,  either through preaching or through music,  it should be in a spirit of awe and wonder of our Triune God who authored this eternal salvation in the dawn of redeeming grace.
O the love that drew salvation’s plan;
O the grace that brought it down to man;
O the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary.

God deliver us from the current trend toward a Christmas without Christ!  We must not be surprised when the world takes Christ out of Christmas:  it is the nature of a lost world.   We are not surprised when a skunk stinks:  it is it’s nature to stink.   But God help us when we bring that into the church of the Living God.

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In Memoriam: Mr. Jerry Harper

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Jerry Harper,  Sandy’s father, died peacefully Wednesday, December 9, at his home in Birmingham.  He suffered three strokes in rapid succession over two years ago which left him blind in one eye and brought on a serious dimentia. For the past year he has struggled with cancer.  In his struggle with dimentia he was often confused about some things but he never wavered in his faith. When he talked about spiritual things, when he prayed, he was never confused. He could always say,  ”I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”

Mr. Jerry Harper

The Late Mr. Jerry Harper

Mr. Harper was a  godly man who walked with the Lord successfully for almost 87 years.  Like Abraham, he “died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years;  and was gathered to his people” (Gen. 25:8).  He served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher in three churches and never wavered in his love  for Christ and His church.

He especially loved and rejoiced in his family. Lois, his wife of 58 years was the love of his life. His children and grand children were the joy of his life. He had high standards of work ethic and of godliness in all things and wanted to see those values in their lives.  He prayed with the Psalmist,  ”Now also, when I am old and grayheaded,  O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength to this generation and thy power to everyone who is to come” (Ps. 71:18). Or as John said,  ”I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”  (3 Jn. 4).

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Are You a Calvinist or Are You Pauline?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

In recent days I have encountered several churches that are confused about what they call the “doctrines of grace.”  I think the Bible is clear on these truths but many dedicated Christians have lost the balance and found themselves and their churches mired in controversy.  In effort to clarify this issue let me share with you a letter I received recently and my answer.   I hope this proves helpful.

Dr. Draper
I am interested in knowing where you stand concerning the 5 points of grace as it is sometimes labeled “the 5 points of calvinism.” your response would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
(Name)

Dear _____,
It was good to hear from you. You asked about the doctrines of grace. I am happy to share with you my views. I think you realize that subject is greater than can be contained in an email. That would be like putting a 12 foot grand piano in the broom closet. If my answer is not sufficient please feel free to discuss it with me personally.
I have been a student of the doctrines of grace for over forty years. They are more precious to me today than ever. I also hold to the five Solas of Luther and that whole system of theology that so many of the Reformers died to defend and declare.
Reform Theology is far bigger than the five points you referred to. That was merely five points Armineus denied and challenged several years after the death of Calvin. Those truths were defended by Theadore Beza and later affirmed at the Counsel of Dort.
What I am saying is:  don’t just see the five points of grace. That is merely the foundation of a rich theology. But those five doctrines must always be seen within the framework of the total theological structure.
I believe and affirm all five of the doctrines of grace but I constantly seek to hold them in the balance of the total counsel  of God.  I am asked from time to time, “Are you a Calvinist?”. I prefer to think I am Pauline. I think Calvin would be displeased to know a theological system was named after him. Calvin is the man who left provisions in his will to be buried in an unmarked grave. He didn’t want men to venerate him.  He was a student of Augustine’s writings but he would never want to be called an Augustinean. Neither do I want my theology to be based on any man. Like Luther, I want to see myself as bound to the Word of God alone.
I have been a student of theology for many years. I have come to discover that theology is a fine science. Almost every doctrine is a delicate balance between two great truths. We must labor to rightly divide the Word of Truth and to maintain that balance. For instance, the doctrine of the Trinity embraces two truths, that God is One and yet He is three persons. The doctrine of the Person of Christ embraces two truths, that Jesus Christ is 100 % God and 100 % man. To the carnal mind these things are a contradiction yet we dare not deny either lest we find ourselves mired in error. Theology is narrow because it is truth and truth is always narrow. Two plus two is four. It can never be anything else.
In like manner, throughout the Bible there is a tension between two great truths: the sovereignty of God on one hand and the responsibility of man on the other. It is not a tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. How much free will does a dead man have? The tension is between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. God is absolutely sovereign and man is absolutely responsible, accountable, to God. We must always see the doctrines of grace as set within that tension. If we lose the balance we will gravitate to one of two extremes: either Arminianism or Hyper-Calvinism. I want to avoid both of those extremes. In my view, true Calvinism is the balance between those extremes. Men like Calvin,  Spurgeon, Whitefield, Bunyon, Boyce, Dabney, and William Carey never lost that balance. In my view, the greatest evangelists have always been men whio held to all five of the doctrines of grace. But men like J. C. Philpot who lost that balance drifted into Hypercalvinism, an extreme position that Calvin himself never held.
A good barometer is our evangelism. I hold to all five of the doctrines of grace but if your view of these truths impacts you evangelism in a negative way, you are drifting toward Hyper-Calvinism.
I believe that if there is any such thing as grace it must be sovereign grace. Man in his depravity could never save himself and he certainly has nothing with which to commend himself to God.
I realize this email is inadequate for such a vast subject. The doctrines of grace enbrace the totality of all God has revealed concerning Himself. If you want to talk with me about this, please feel free to call.  Also, please overlook any typing errors. I am having to use my Blackberry and it is easy to hit the wrong button. I do hope this poor attempt of response is helpful.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Larry Draper

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On Mission to Cusco, Peru

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Cusco,  Peru may be one of the most strategic mission fields in South America.  Located in Southeastern Peru, near the Andes mountain range, Cusco is the capital city of the Cusco Province in the very heart of Peru.    The city has experienced rapid growth,   Its 350,000 population is more than triple the population of twenty years ago.  It is the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO.  In recent years it has become a major tourist attraction with almost a million visitors a year.  The Constitution of Peru designated Cusco, or Cuzco, as the Historical Capital of Peru.  It is a city that boasts of a three thousand year history.

One of the things we have seen in Russia is the absolute necessity of establishing churches in  key cities.  We have seen many churches established in small villages and I thank God for that.   But it is imperative that strong churches be established in the major population centers of  every nation if we are serious about fulfilling the Great Commission.

I have been thrilled to see the dedicated mission minded believers who have gone, often at great sacrifice to themselves, to various mission fields to work with missionaries and local pastors to help train workers and plant churches literally around the world.  We celebrate what God has done over the years.

One of the effective mission outreach ministries God has raised up in recent years is e3 Partners, formally Global Missions Fellowship.   For the past 21 years, e3 Partners has worked effectively to plant churches on mission fields by building bridges of unity and teamwork between mission minded churches in the states and international congregations.  Through the years they have been used of the Lord to wed over 20,000 believers from over 2,000 American churches with almost 250,000 believers in 15,000 international congregations.  It has been estimated that through these combined efforts there have been over 12,000 churches established around the world since 1987.

The name “e3″ comes from the words Equipping, Evangelizing, and Establishing: They seek to plant churches through “equipping believers … to evangelize the lost … by establishing churches!”  It is a unique, biblically-based approach of church multiplication that incorporates all the key aspects of Christ’s Great Commission. that embraces going, making disciples, baptizing and teaching–all with a goal to plant and establish new churches.

I want to especially commend to your prayerful attention a mission group of 28 people who will be leaving in the morning, Friday, October 8, for Cusco, Peru and returning Sunday, October 17.   This is a group of mission volunteers under the leadership of e3 Partners. There are five members going from First Baptist Church of Pell City, Alabama and eight members from sister church, Cropwell Baptist, including their pastor Phillip Burden and music ministry Andy Hadley.  Other members of the  group are from Michigan, South Carolina and Florida.  Many of these people are veterans of mission work.  Several of them served in Cusco last year. Please pray for these faithful volunteer missionaries;
Alaina Burden
Phillip Burden
Scott Crossman
Sherry Crossman
Danielle Daly
John Davis
James Dendy
Dan Dyszelski
Marie Dyszelski
Merrie Dyszelski
Linda Fleming
Scott Frye
Vera Graves
William Hadley
Diane Harrington
Jennifer Holcomb
Frank Hopson
Melody Jones
John Lindsey
Jennifer Menko
Scott Menko
Teresa Miller
David Mullins
Lee Pritchett
Sydney Pritchett
William Richards
Charles Tomlinson

Cusco is the center of the ancient Inca empire. David Mullins was there last year.  He said, “There is a lot of pagan worship of the sun, and a mixture of pagan/Catholicism.”   They will be working with one of the church planters in Peru, Dan Dyszelski.  David Mullins said, “We will work in two and three-people teams with local pastors and church members located in the Cusco region. During the day, we will go door to door sharing the Gospel. In the evenings, we will have discipleship training meeting for those we meet during the day and for church members we are working with. Our primary goal is to make disciples, and our secondary goal is to train the local pastors and church members how to make disciples.”

Please join me in a commitment to lift up this dedicated group of mission volunteers that God will be pleased to put before them an effectual open door, that they will find the hearts of the people prepared by the Holy Spirit and receptive to the truth of the gospel.

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Your Pastor May Lose His Health Insurance

Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Many years ago the Southern Baptist Convention established The Annuity Board to provide retirement benefits and affordable health insurance for their pastors and other ministerial staff.  Through the years thousands of pastors and their families have been benefited and blessed as churches have sought to provide for the retirement and health care needs of those godly servants who labor in the Word of God and prayer.  These churches understood the principle. As Paul would say, “It pleased them verily;  and their debtors they are, for if they have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in carnal things. (Rom 15:27).  A few years ago the name of the Annuity Board was changed to the Southern Baptist Convention’s GuideStone Financial Resources.  O. S. Hawkins is currently president of  GuideStone.  While health insurance premium rates have skyrocketed nationally, GuideStone’s average rates have decreased six percent in the last five years though they have announced that there will be some increase this year.
It now appears that health care insurance for pastors is in jeopardy.  That is not merely a Southern Baptist issue.  It concerns  virtually every denomination.   On September 21, Dr. Hawkins told the SBC Executive Committee meeting that GuideStone is “closely monitoring the congressional debate over the health care system”.  He acknowledged that insurance rates are “out of control and something’s got to be done” about it, but he warned that President Obama’s health care proposal would spell the end of almost all denominational health insurance programs.

That means GuideStone isn’t the only denominational health insurance program in jeopardy.  GuideStone is part of a coalition of thirty-two denomination-backed retirement and health insurance programs.  That coalition met together in mid-summer to discuss the effects of the proposed health care bill.  Dr. Hawkins reported, “It was the consensus of every one of those denominations that if this program goes through that the president wants to go through, there won’t be any of us that will have a health insurance program.”  There is a simple reason for that.  They cannot compete with the United States government.  As Dr. Hawkins said, “You can’t compete with somebody else who doesn’t have to make a profit, who but doesn’t have to break even, who can print money and support it with your tax dollars.”
The American people have been assured by the President and by congressional leaders who haven’t even read their own  health care legislation that, “You will be able to keep your own insurance”.  Now it seems that pastors and ministerial staff from churches across this country will be among the first to lose their health care insurance.  As O.S. Hawkins explained, “The problem is that  the insurance companies that are providing it aren’t going to be able to be there for you to keep it.”

This is a grave concern for pastors and for churches seeking to provide  retirement benefits and health care for their godly pastors.  Paul said, “Remember them . . . who have spoken unto you the Word of God. . .for they watch for your souls as they who must give account” (Heb 13:7, 17).  We need to pray for this need as we faithfully pray for those who minister to us the Word of God.

The original Baptist Press article can be found here: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?Id=31316.
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The Jeremiah Generation: Is Your Pastor Destined to Repeat the Ministry of Jeremiah?

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Over thirty years ago Francis Schaeffer wrote the searching book:  “How Should We then Live?” Schaeffer was an American Evangelical theologian and Presbyterian pastor who is probably best known for his writings and the establishment of the L’Abri Community in Switzerland.   He was an enemy of theological modernism and strongly affirmed a traditional Protestant faith and a presuppositional approach to Christian apologetics which he firmly believed was sufficient to answer the questions of the age.

The Bible speaks of “the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron 12:32).  Francis August Schaeffer was that kind of man.  He warned his generation of the changing culture and insisted that God’s people must consistently confront the changing culture with the gospel of Christ, a gospel that refuses to change with the culture, that transcends the culture.

Schaeffer believed the question for the Christian is: HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?  In this changing culture, Paul also has a question for the faithful pastor: HOW SHALL THEY PREACH? (Rom 10:15).  How is the pastor today to preach to a nation under judgment? Is he going to modify the message so as to take away “the offense of the cross” (Gal 5:11).

In the blog on Sept. 14 (America did Not Repent), I said  America is a nation under judgement.   Forty eight years ago I preached that if America does not repent God will bring judgment.  Today, I believe and preach that America has not repented and God is already bringing judgment and the American people do not have the discernment to recognize it.  How shall we then preach to this generation?

There is a question that haunts me when I think of the average pastor today.  Is the average pastor, is your pastor, destined to repeat the ministry of Jeremiah?  Is this the Jeremiah generation?  What do I mean by that?  Jeremiah was called to preach to a generation that was under the pronounced judgment of God.  His message was a message of warning.

A generation before, Isaiah had called the nation to repentance and reminded them that such a day could come.  When God called Isaiah to preach he asked, “How long?”  The Lord answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (Isa 6:11-12).

Isaiah preached to a people who would not repent.  Like many modern pastors today he cried, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed” (53:1).  His was a message of warning. He said, “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word” (24:3).

Jeremiah was to preach a generation later.   Isaiah’s message was, “The judgment is coming.”  Jeremiah’s message was, “The Judgment has arrived.”  His message was never popular.  He had to preach that Israel had not repented and the judgment God had promised had arrived: Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies came against Judah and Jerusalem.   Jeremiah preached that God had delivered Judah into the hands of his enemies and  would use them as a scourge in His hand to bring judgment to His people and to ultimately bring them to repentance.  “For thus saith the Lord , Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.   His advise to King Zedekiah was that he must surrender to Nebuchadnezzar as God’s discipline.  He was considered a traitor.

But Jeremiah was a patriot.  He was the one man who loved his people enough to tell them the truth.  He was not well received.  Rather, it seems to me he had no converts unless it was his secretary, Baruch (Jer 36:8, 26).    He was hated and persecuted.  When the city did fall to the Babylonians Jeremiah was probably in the safest place.  He had been arrested by his own people and put in the dungeon and probably left there to die (Jer 38:9).  He was in the dungeon when the battle took place, when the city fell into the hands of the very enemies of God.  He was actually delivered from the dungeon by the Babylonians.
The pressing question that haunts me is this:  Is the average pastor today destined to repeat the ministry of Jeremiah?   Jeremiah prayed every day for revival but Jeremiah never saw a revival.  Rather he saw the judgment of God fall upon his own people.   He was witness to the day when a third of the people died in the siege.  Another third died of pestilence and disease.   The  final third were herded like cattle into Babylonian captivity.  He was alive to see the day when surviving Israelites were herded through Bethlehem past the tomb or Rachael.  Jeremiah said, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachael weeping for her children refused to be comforted  because they were not” (Jer 31:15).  Today we would say, “Rachael turned over in her grave.”  The book of Lamentation is Jeremiah’s funeral sermon for the city of Jerusalem.

The temptation for any preacher living in the Jeremiah generation is to preach a popular message instead of a judgment message.   There were many prophets in Jerusalem besides Jeremiah but he had to stand alone.   They had no interest in preaching a message that might infuriate the king or would bring upon them the persecution they saw Jeremiah endure.   They were like the false teachers of Galatia who feared “lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ” (Gal 6:12).   Jeremiah leveled the indictment against them that the message they preached was not a message they received from the Lord.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully….Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord , that steal my words every one from his neighbour.  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord , that use their tongues, and say, He saith.  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord , and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord (Jer 23:28-32).

I pray that God will raise up in this generation young pastors who will faithfully preach the message God has spoken and refuse to prostitute the message to the whims of the culture of carnality.  We know that politicians are a dime-a-dozen” but statesmen are few and far between.  In like manner, preachers are a dime-a-dozen” but prophets are few and far between.  I pray God will give our pastors a toughness like the rugged toughness of Jeremiah.  I believe this generation of young preachers need to be tougher than my generation has been.  I believe they will find themselves facing spiritual enemies not only outside the church but also from within.  Paul warned the Ephesian elders that after his departure there would come false teachers, grievous wolves, who would enter in among them not sparing the flock.  But opposition would not only come from without.  There would also be those who arise from within.  “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).

I am stunned in these days how often the greatest resistance pastors face is from within the church and not from without.  I suppose we should not be surprised.  Jude warned  about these filthy dreamers who defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities.  Such men “speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.”  Jude further warned, “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever  (Jude 8, 10, 12-13). The staggering reality is that such men often arise from within the church.

That is why I insist the pastor who faithfully preaches God’s truth to this generation will need to have a toughness about him.  Vance Havner said, “Preachers today will need the hide of a rhinoceros and the heart of a child and the problem is how to toughen the hide without hardening the heart.”

The revival Jeremiah prayed for did come.  It came three generations later but it came out of the ashes of judgment.  If we are indeed a nation under judgment may it please the Lord to give revival even if the cost be judgment.

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Constitution Day

Friday, September 18th, 2009

On this day, September 17, 1787, the Founders of our country signed the United States Constitution. They were thirty nine brave men who changed the course of history.   Today we remember that occasion as Constitution Day, a day set aside to celebrate and reflect on the wisdom of those who crafted the Constitution.

Have you noticed that those who are liberal theologically and also liberally politically?  Why is that?  I think it is that people tend to read the Constitution the same way they read their Bible.  Imagine a Sunday School class where the teacher is not well prepared.  He reads a verse of the Bible and asks, “Sam, what does that mean to you?”  He then asks the same question of Bob.  So Sam and Bob pool their ignorance and tell what that verse means to them.

Do you see what is wrong with that?   The issue is not what does this verse mean to me. The issue is:  what does the verse mean, period.   The issue is: what did it mean when God said it; what did it mean when Isaiah wrote it?  We do not impose our ideas on the Word of God.   Rather, we come to God’s Word with a humble spirt, desiring to know God’s truth and ready to obey its precepts.  We read the Bible in its context and seek to know what it says.

Likewise, there are those who read the Constitution as “a living document” meaning they do not care what the Constitution says, the original intent of the framing fathers.   Rather they talk about “what it means to me, to this generation, this culture.’

Abraham Lincoln once described the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as an apple of gold set within a picture of silver.  He meant that the Declaration of Independence articulated the foundational principles of America, eternal truths that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  These are God given rights and these are eternal truths.  Lincoln also believed the Constitution complemented, or adorned, the Declaration by delineating the institutional structures of American politics.

The Constitution of the United States has endured for over two centuries.  One reason for its enduring strength is that it complements the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the foundation on which the Constitution stands.  That foundation is the philosophical basis for a government whose legitimate power is derived by “the consent of the governed,” and it defines the conditions of  free people whose rights and liberty are endowed by their Creator. The Constitution establishes the structure of government and the rules for its operation consistent with the creed proclaimed in the Declaration.

Remember the Sunday School class.  We must read the Bible for what it says, what it means and not for what we want it to mean.  The same fidelity must be applied when we read the Constitution.  Beginning in the 20th Century, liberal progressives have been calling for a “living constitution” which is no longer bound by the eternal truths of the Declaration of Independence but is flexible, able to adjust or evolve as the necessities of modern times dictates.  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s  “New Deal” and Lyndon Johnson’s   “Great Society” continued the assault on the old constitutional order.  The present generation’s attempt to divorce the Constitution from the eternal principles of limited government are evident in our government’s continual assault on America’s constitutional principles.  I think of those thirty nine brave men who pledged that day in 1787 their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor and  signed the Constitution of the United States.  I pray God will raise up in this generation other brave men, statesmen, who can and will withstand the assault and recover America’s constitutional principles.

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America Did Not Repent

Monday, September 14th, 2009

In 1994,  we had an invitation from the Board of Education in Donetsk, Ukraine to bring 170,000 Bibles and present them to high school students in the region.   It was three years after the fall of Communism and the nation was still reeling from  economic collapse.   However, in Dobrapoli we discovered the schools were closed.  We were told  they did not have enough money  to turn on electricity.   Only the faculty was present.   We gave Bibles to the adults and presented the gospel message.  After the service was concluded they asked if we would hold a question and answer session.

The first question came from a man who asked, “Do you believe our nation is suffering and our economy has failed because we have been an atheistic state.”  I said, “I know this: God has declared in this book, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  I continued,  “God has put his honor at stake:  He will honor the nation that honors Him.”
That has haunted me in recent days as I watched the drama unfold in our own country.  It seems to me that America is a nation under judgment.

When I began preaching forty eight years ago, I warned that if America does not repent God will bring judgment upon the nation.   I do not preach that anymore.  I do not believe that anymore.  Today, I preach and believe that America has not repented:  God is already bringing judgment and the people do not have the spiritual discernment to recognize it.

I have seen first hand what happens to a nation when her economy fails.  I was there when it happened  in Russia and in Ukraine. I remember when the exchange rate in Russia was eight rubles to one American dollar.  When Communism fell the ruble fell with it.  I saw it fall almost immediately to 30 rubles per one American dollar.  The next year is was 330 rubles to one American dollar.  It continued to fall until it reached 27,000 rubles to one American dollar.   There was absolutely nothing the Russian government could do to stop the devaluing of the ruble.  It was worse in Ukraine.   Their solution was simply to print more money. The Ukrainian “coupon” fell until it took over 200,000 to equal one American dollar.  It was finally declared worthless, not even worth the paper it was printed on. The government was powerless to control the value of their own money.

Can we not see that the same thing could happen in America?  We have political leaders who seem to think the state is God.  They think government is there to take care of us from the womb to the tomb.  No matter what your problem is, the government has a solution.

I believe America is vulnerable today in a way she has not been before.  We are dangerously overextended militarily and economically.  My generation has seen the United States go from the greatest lending nation to the greatest debtor nation in history.  No nation can continue in sin and rebellion and expect God’s blessings to follow. I believe God is about to humble our nation.  America is falling into the hands of the enemies of God and the church does not recognize it. There are enemies of God already in places of influence.   A nation does not have to go through atomic warfare for that to happen.   Russian Atheistic Communism fell without a shot being fired.  America may not fall to Communism or Islamic terrorists.  But I do believe she has fallen into the hands of political leaders who are secular humanists.  There is really no difference between Communism and Secular Humanism.   They are both equally the child of hell.  Secular Humanism dominates the media, infiltrates our schools, corrupts our politicians and makes a mockery of our courts. It has even found its way into many pulpits across America where unsuspecting church members feed on “chaff which the wind driveth away.”  If America fell to an Islamist nation from without, everyone would see it.  But America is in danger of being handed over to secular humanists and almost nobody sees it.  If the church is to stem the tide of wickedness in the land she must have revival.  If she does not she will live to see the enemies of God prevail.

However, I want to look at the other side of that truth.  If God brings judgment upon America it is no reason for God’s people to panic in despair.  Psalm 46 was written during the reign of Hezekiah, when the Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem threatened to destroy the city and kill the people.  It seemed that the city would surely fall into the hands of God’s enemies.  The Psalmist wrote in the midst of that crisis,  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore, we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea.”  The word translated removed  literally means “changed hands.”  Look at that verse again.  “We will not fear though the earth change hands.’  In other words, we will not fear even if the city falls into the hands of the enemies of God.

For the past several months I have watched the panic reaction of many Christians to the latest news coverage.  Last fall I heard Christian people say, “I am afraid what will happen if Obama is elected.”  Or , “I am afraid what will happen if the economy fails.”   Christian people should never talk like that.   Even if the nation falls into the hands of the enemies of God, we must not fear. Our God is still sovereign: He is in absolute control. He will never fail his people. The Bible says, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” If God in His love and wisdom brings our nation to judgement it is no reason for us to fear.  God uses judgment to call men to repentance when they will not hear His goodness.

No nation will stand forever, not even the United States.  There is only one kingdom that is eternal and that is the “kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever.”   Every other form of government will fail. We should not fear to see earthly kingdoms come and go for “We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor” (Heb 2:9).  We do not fear the day of national judgment. We are to pray for it that God in his wisdom will use it to call a nation to repentance and draw his people to himself.  He has promised that he will shake “not the earth only but also the heaven.”  That judgment will signify “the removing of those things that are shaken, the things that are made (by man) in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Heb 13:26-28).  The writer of Hebrews assures us  that we as Christians “are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.  Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” (v. 29).  As Peter said, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness’ (2 Pet 3:11).

If God should choose to deal with our nation in judgement, let us not be afraid but rather serve the Lord faithfully and determine by His grace that we will occupy until he comes.

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A Solemn Anniversary

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Today marks what is perhaps the most tragic and solemn anniversary in our lifetime, commemorating the most awful event in American history since Pearl Harbor.  Eight years ago the nation was plunged into despair, wondering what had happened as Muslim fanatics went on a rampage taking the lives of over three thousand people in one day.  The results of that day are still with us.  We have seen interviews of those whose lives have been torn apart.  The scars on the families are still there. The scars on the nation are there and will be there for a long tine.

On this day we remember not only those who died in the attack, but also the many heroes who rushed into burning buildings while others fled for safety:  heroes who never returned.  We are thankful for the rescue workers, Fire and Police Departments, military.  There were so many who died that day and so many who without hesitation put their own lives at risk to help others.  It is right that we should remember that day.

I remember that for many people it appeared that awful day caused America to stop and pay heed to urgent spiritual realities.  In the days following 9/11 there was a lot of apparently sincere religious fervor.  Many people asked me if I thought it was a revival.  I always replied, “Absolutely not.” Why?  There was no repentance.  Every revival begins with repentance of God’s people and I didn’t see that.  I am not saying that we were attacked because of our sin.  That is too simplistic.  The men who attacked our country were sinners too.  But I am saying that we as a nation cannot come before a holy God without first acknowledging and confessing our sin.  There were prayer meetings all over America, there was no evidence of repentance.  In fact,  if someone had dared  suggest America was a sinful nation, they were regarded as fanatic extremists and hatemongers.

However, many Christians were convinced it was a religious awakening.   People were in church.  Some church leaders estimated thousands of people were coming to Christ.  Many claimed it was a turning point in American history: a national spiritual awakening.

But all that religious fervor has evaporated.  For many Americans,  religion proved to be nothing more that a super band-aid.  Recent polls have found that nothing has changed in America’s moral and spiritual convictions: belief about God and country,  marriage,   divorce,  abortion,  life style is what it was before, if not worse.  Researcher and pollster,  George Barna said recently at the Evangelical Press Association Convention, “The enemy of America today is not Iraq. It is not Afghanistan or Communism. It is not Somalian pirates. It’s the moral degradation and spiritual complacency of Americans.”  We are seeing every day that “moral degradation and spiritual complacency” is taking its toll.

The Bible says, “Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.”  We are still a nation dependant upon God for our very survival.  We read about smog in Los Angeles and a whole city just waiting on the wind to blow.   We read about drought in the Midwest and a whole section of the country just waiting for rain.  We remember the electrical blackout in New York City and a whole city just waiting on the sun to rise.   With all our scientific advance, we are still a nation dependant upon God for wind and rain and sunshine, dependant upon God for our very survival.
We are still vulnerable.  The Bible says, “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1).  I remember eight years ago the cry went out, “How could this happen?  What happened to our national security.   How could they not know.”   The truth is, we had the best national security in the world.  But no amount of security can save a nation unless God keeps the city.  We will never reach the point in our sophistication that we are not dependant on a keeping God.  As Christians, we should never be surprised to discover that we  are still a vulnerable people dependant on God for life itself.

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