Pepper and Salt 5
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Important messages
A worldly Christian?... a heavenly devil?
We cannot be
part-time Christians. We are all in full-time Christian service, or we should
be. A man who is faithful to his wife most of the time is not faithful at all.
A man who is a Christian and something else is not a Christian. The friend of
the world is the enemy of God. Billy Sunday used to say, “This is no such thing
as a worldly Christian. You might as well talk about a heavenly devil.”
Million-dollar launching pads
We build
expensive churches and sometimes it is like erecting million-dollar launching
pads to send up firecrackers.
Repentance and Permanence
On his second
evangelistic mission to Great Britain, D. L. Moody preached repentance. It was
said: “He had come to know that unless there was a genuine turning from known
sin in life and thought, there was little permanency of change.”
We can often
do more by doing less, God is not particularly interested in quantity
production. That is an American standard, not a Bible standard.
Treason
There are many
brands of treason in the Christian camp. Men who deny the historicity and
authenticity of God’s Word; worldlings who hobnob with the enemy; indifferent
church members who come not to the help of the Lord against the mighty… all
these are traitors. It sounds good to talk about forgetting all our differences
and closing ranks to face the foe without, but we may lose to the foe within.
Paul recognized two threats to the church… wolves from without and false
leaders within (Acts 20:29, 30).
Two groups in the congregation
Malachi faced
an indolent and insolent generation who met his condemnation of sin with an
oft-repeated “Wherein?” They were saying, in effect: “We’re not such bad
people. You’re scolding us.” But there was a faithful remnant, a nucleus that
feared the Lord. Every Sunday morning we have both groups in the congregation:
the “Where-inners”… morning glories who bloom at 11 a.m. and fold up for the
rest of the week… and the remnant. Our only hope lies in recruiting the remnant
into an effective Gideon’s Band.
And today…
God’s plan is not to change or convert the world
A revival, a
visitation from God, will not accomplish everything that some people expect. Pentecost
did not convert Jerusalem. Jerusalem went on to judgment. Pentecost
accomplished God’s purpose. God is not out to convert the world but to call out
a people for Himself. Revival furthers that purpose.
A mad world run by the inmates
Our world is
fast becoming a madhouse and the inmates are trying to run the asylum. It is a
strange time when the patients are writing the prescriptions. The students are
threatening to run the schools, the children to manage the homes, and church members…
not the Holy Spirit… to direct the churches. Such lawlessness always brings a
dictator and the last of that line will be Antichrist, now in the offing
awaiting his cue.
A word to Americans
It is more
difficult for an American to become a real Christian than for a pagan. The
pagan has no preconceived ideas of Christianity gained from watching church
members. He comes to it brand new. The situation is in reverse with the
American. He must unlearn much that he has believed and be re-educated before
he can understand what Christian discipleship really is.
The King’s men
In the cave of
Adullam, David gathered a little band whose sole and compelling purpose was to
make David king (1 Chronicles 12:31, 38). He was an exile but he was destined
to a throne. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, came unto His own and they
received Him not. He was rejected of men and is an exile but He is going to
return one day for His coronation. Meantime He gathers today a band who bear
His name and are out to make Him King, first in the invisible kingdom of our
hearts and then in the visible kingdom when He reigns on earth. The true church
today is not this gigantic institutionalism with all its massive setup and glowing
statistics. It is a persecuted minority in a pagan world, a modern David’s band
in a cave of Adullam, last-minute men, King’s men, working for that day when we
shall bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Comrades, I
salute you!
Tolerance above truth, neglecting the negative, etc.
Paul was not
ignorant of Satan’s devices, but we are not so wise. Among his most successful
devices today are these: exalting tolerance above truth; emphasizing the head
more than the heart; making size more important than sort; stressing the
positive to the neglect of the negative; putting happiness above holiness;
majoring on this world instead of the next.
The last laugh
Dissenters like Micaiah
In state and
church too many decisions are reached by compromise… steam-rollered by a
consensus of rubber stamps and yes-men. It is fast becoming the unpardonable
sin to be a long dissenter on any issue. The big idea is to present a united
front at any cost. A prominent churchman has reminded us that this can be a
sinister device, smothering all opposition and excluding passion for rightness
and reform. Under the pretext of a solid front to enemies without, we are told
to overlook all deserters and traitors within our ranks, since this causes
division. Unification, unanimity, and uniformity are the order of the hour, and
woe unto any Micaiah who disagrees with four hundred false prophets bidding Ahab
and Jehoshaphat go up against Ramoth-gilead! This will, of course, in time
produce a monolithic world state and world church with the mark of the beast
and plenty of trouble for any who do not wear his brand. This is the advance
program of Antichrist.
A prophet’s reward
The television
performer watches his ratings, the politician his votes, the public speaker his
applause, but the prophet who speaks for God is not governed by such responses.
He delivers his message though it may fall on deaf ears and gain him only scorn
and maybe a prison cell. Amos did not rate with the big-wigs of Bethel, nor did
John the Baptist win applause in the courts of Herod. The forerunner had crowds
but he stepped aside and left the center of the stage to One greater than
himself. We live in a day when men will not endure sound doctrine but look
instead for pleasant ticklers of itching ears. Is there not somewhere a coming
prophet who will forget comfort and security and status and retirement benefits
for the loneliness of a Jeremiah, the perils of a Savonarola, the conflicts of
a Luther, to speak for God in these last days? Barclay says that the settled
ministry has always resented wandering prophets who disturb their
congregations. So the wilderness voice is not welcome either at home or abroad.
But his reward is in the approval of God and the verdict of history.
The method, mission and method of the church
Our Lord did
not carry a placard into Jerusalem to incite insurrection against Rome. The
early Christians did not specialize in reforming the social order. They were
the salt of the earth, and like salt they noiselessly revolutionized history by
the influence of the gospel in human hearts. It is a sad day for the church
when it gets confused about its message, mission, or method.
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