September 25, 2013
Greetings,
The recent baptism numbers from the SBC 2012 ACP reports continue to show the decline of our impact on our nation. A continued state of decline has been in the reflection of these numbers for some time. The church in North America, as a whole Christian body, from many different denominations are experiencing the same thing. Yet at the heart of our interest I know this task force is set to discuss and examine these issues and problem solve for answers. There must be a need to ask some hard questions and face the truth of hard answers in such matters that are eternal for over 300 million souls under our watchcare.
Allow me to share this word with you on several passages that answer this for us and their relationship to our present church and Christian living today. The conclusion will offer the proper response from Scripture that will allow for us to not delay any further time in reaching the lost before it is eternally too late for them.
Here are 3 Scripture references:
1. I Samuel 4:20 - 22: "And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. v. 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. v. 22 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken."
The glory is departed! One of the worst things in recent days is the elevation of humanism to answer for what only God can do. We have been notorious for coming up with and trying to implement humanistic ways for Divine redemption. We have been deluded for a long time on numbers answering our spiritual questions. What good does it do to have high baptismal rates, so long as the church is carnal? What good is baptisms when huge numbers of these being counted are those being re-baptized? What happened the first time we baptized them? was they saved or not?
Duncan Campbell said of the 1949 Hebrides Revival and those that were born again in that mighty revival: "We know nothing of back-slidiing". Isn't that what we want? For a soul that has been baptized, our desire is that they live for, and even willing to die for the Lord. And that they are to be exactly what the Scripture says, 'Old things are past away and behold, all things become new'. But we do not see this way of life in many of these that have been 'baptized'. We see false conversions, false repentance, if any repentance is at all demonstrated or spoken of. Most of these issues are happening because of one thing 'the glory of the Lord has departed'.
Note in verse 20 her response, 'she answered not' and 'she regarded it not'. This shows a defeated and apathy. The sadness of our apathy is that for many church members, pastors and leaders this is their response to our current dilemma in our nation. Many have forgotten that we will be called into question before the Lord on whether 'we sounded the trumpet or not and warned them'. Many will have blood on their hands before the judgment seat of Christ. Numerous reasons have plagued the body of Christ over these things, none of which should be a mystery to us:
--we have settled down in our respective ministries;
--we have lost the great weapon of prevailing prayer;
--we have neglected to study to show ourselves approved unto God;
--we are ashamed and do not witness daily for our Lord;
All these points are issues in regards to proper Christian discipline. But it is revealed over and over that these privileges, responsibilities and disciplines are not done by many in the pulpits, and pews of our churches. And because we have 'left our first love' we have done the 4 things Scripture commanded us not to do to His Holy Spirit:
1. grieve not the Holy Spirit; Eph. 4:30
2. limit not the Holy One; Psalm 78:41
3. quench not the Holy Spirit; I Thess. 5:19
4. resist not the Holy Spirit; Acts 7:51
Herein is our greatest problem, 'the glory of the Lord is departed'. Removed all together? Of course not, we still see God's merciful and gracious hand in our midst. We still know His voice in worship services and our preparation in service to Him. He is still beckoning and calling, praise His Name. But with the rise of evil and advancement of the darkness in our land, homes and hearts we need the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and it is not evident in our midst as in seasons of revival and refreshing. We desperately need the glory of the Lord to come in power and redemption.
2. Isaiah 59:1, 2: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. v. 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."
To simply blame the Lord, that it is not His desire nor willingness to 'seek and save the lost' will not do. WE know fully by His Word that His desire is greater than anything we have ever known to see the lost be saved. We must be honest that the Lord's desire to see the lost rescued has not diminished nor ever will diminish. The fault of the lostness is not on the Lord, it is on us. And in these verses it is declared that God's power stays the same as it has always been. But something else has changed - us. The root of the problem is found in our sins and our iniquities.
In leading prayer meetings in many SBC churches and dealing with pastors and prayer groups, I find this to be a critical issue. Most of the time it is not dealt with - the 'confession of sin'. WE are vague, proud, self-righteous and blind to the root of the problem. We still believe we can fix it. This pride and arrogance prohibits us from humbling ourselves and being broken before the Lord. It is the devil's ploy to keep us such, lest we come to Calvary and their lay our sins. Some of you may have been under Bertha Smith's teaching and leading of prayer meetings. And as she and the other missionaries dealt with their sin in China, then they found the Lord's power and Presence flowing again. She brought that home to the United States and for the last years of her ministry served by telling so many to lists their sins and confess and repent of them before the Lord. It is very rare and hard to find these days for the church to deal with specific sins. But as the verses says, this is what has separated us from the Lord.
Are we truly willing to move forward? Are we really willing to see God break forth upon us, as His Church? Then we need to go down and humble ourselves. We really need to stop quoting II Chronicles 7:14 until we get the first objective done, 'if My people humble themselves. . . .' Then we are going to have to let the Lord reveal our iniquities to us so that we might be rid of them in His blood and mercy.
3. Luke 24:49, "And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high."
And here again we see the need to understand our labor and work for the kingdom of heaven is not found in the arm of flesh, it is in Him and Him alone.
--'I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthens me';
--'that which is impossible with men, is possible with God';
--'But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him.'
--'and when the Holy Ghost is come. . . '
All these references point us back to the truth of our power - it is in the Lord alone.
Now I must address this here and I do it so that we might rid ourselves of it. VP Gilbert's quote for the Baptist Press:
"we must pray and think through what we can and should do to turn around this decline"
What 'we can and should do'? to often when listening to prayers and declarations among leaders I hear this humanism streaming forth. It is affecting us to greater lengths than I have time to address here. But simply to point it out to this group, 'we can do nothing' but He can do all things. Now I know that some are thinking or saying, 'but God uses human agents for His kingdoms' business.' Granted! I will agree 100% with that. But will you agree that the human agent is only as useful and blessed in his labors as he has given and surrendered himself to the Lord's will and way? Meaning that we can put a Bible in every North American hand; we can talk to them about their eternity and prevail nothing. But the soul that is endued with power on high can go and do wonderful things for the kingdom. It matters about waiting and being endued with power from on high.
DL Moody was angered at the two women that said they were praying for him to be endued with power. He thought he was! But when he humbled himself and got alone with God, the Holy Spirit came upon him in fulness and changed his ministry. He went to England and revival broke out and saw 1000's enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is power of enduement is missing from many a pulpit, many a home, many a church and it is exactly what we need today to push back the darkness and bring forth abundant Light to our nation. 'He must increase, and we must decrease'. Our pronouns have got to change - 'I, me, my, we, us' must cease and 'You, O Lord; He Who is above; the Lord God; the Mighty One; Father' must be our reference.
RESPONSE:
It is not too late for our nation. We have been under judgment for a while now and it will continue and deepen in its impact to our nation. All this judgment is because we left our first love. We must get back to Biblical principles and lifestyles. We must cut out the carnal, repent of the superficial Christianity and surrender whole-heartedly unto the Lord while there is still time. There must be a unified statement and approach from this task force and SBC leadership to humble themselves before the Lord; we must not only recognize and confess the sins that has been legalized in this land, but also in our ways of worship, duties, ministry and daily lifestyles. We must present ourselves before the Lord that we have thought we could do what only He can do in a vessel that is emptied and 'meet for the Master's use'. WE must die to self and live for Him as He desires us to, no matter what the costs.
Our sins have costs us so much! Our time is short before His hand is outstretched upon this nation to humble it for its arrogance and pride. We can stay that wrath by remembering the great prayer, 'in wrath remember mercy, O Lord'. If we truly desire to 330 million souls reached, we need God. We need Him to come down in fullness upon His church and revive us again.
'Revive us again, fill each heart with Thy love; May each soul be rekindled with fire from above'
'If God be for us, who can be against us'?
until,
dan biser
rdbiser
