Month: January 2021

Revival is needed. It may be had. God waits to give it, but it will come only on God’s conditions. A supreme need of these momentous days is to know clearly and definitely what God’s conditions for revival are. The next step is to fall in line with God. Then we shall receive the blessing that we seek.

The expressed opinions of men as to means and methods will do little to further the cause. Indeed, such may do much to hinder it. Man’s methods, consciously or unconsciously, so often is to “get up” something that is attractive. God’s method is to “get down” Someone Who is effective. God’s conditions are the only conditions upon which revival can come.

Beloved, settle it now that anything less than a whole-hearted desire for God will never yield a God-sent revival. As the result of man’s effort after revival, there may be intense excitement and much energetic movement, but all of this is possible to “the flesh” apart from God. Let us see to it that it is God we seek; and when we seek Him, we shall find Him.

So it is written, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

To meet God face to face is a heart-searching and a life transforming process. It is in His presence that we see ourselves just as we are, and “… abhor …” ourselves (Job 42:6).1t is there we see Him as the only satisfaction of our longing hearts, and appropriate Him as our all in all.

Surely it is clearly manifest where the responsibility for delayed revival lies. It is not that God holds back His gracious presence and His all-conquering power. It is because God’s people do not conform to the conditions that are needful.

Shall we face this fact individually? Shall we say with divine intention, “I will.” Others may not pay the price of these conditions to receive the proffered power, but “I will-by Thy grace, O Lord, I will.”

Humanism has had an awesome corrosive impact on the basic morality of our country. While America has more Christians than any other nation, the United States has become one of the most immoral nations on earth. Humanism, like Satan is subtle and is often undetected by the unwary- especially children and young people.

What is humanism? Please do not confuse humanism with humanitarianism. All of us should be humanitarians-showing Christ-like compassion for others. Humanism is the exact opposite of humanitarianism. A humanist believes in himself (not God) and is more concerned about his own self-preservation than he is about the needs of others. Humanism is not new. It is the ancient struggle of self-centeredness- man’s will versus God’s will. Children are easy targets for humanistic indoctrination. Humanistic thought reaches them from a wide variety of sources – public school, all forms of news and entertainment media, friends, much of our present day Sunday School materials, and sometimes even family members. Humanism impacts youngsters and young people in varying degrees in the following ways:

1. Disrespect for authority: Students in many secular schools are made to believe that they are not accountable to God, parents, pastors, teachers, or civil authorities. They are told that “anybody’s values are as good as anybody else’s,” and “whatever you choose will be right for you because you chose it.” This, of course, is the humanistic doctrine of situation ethics. The destructive spin-off of situation ethics is awesome in its impact in many lives.

2. Decline in discipline at home and at school: When youngsters believe they are their own authority they “do their own thing.” They ignore the leadership of teachers, preachers, and parents. This can result in increased resentment, confrontation, chaos; and rebellion. The rapid decline in discipline is the direct result of the rapid rise of humanistic teaching in secular schools.

3. Decline in academics: When discipline goes down, learning goes down. Teachers must have the attention of youngsters to impart learning. The “do your own thing” philosophy has led to a steady academic decline of public education over the past fifty years. Consequently, the United states is no longer the academic pacesetter of the world. It is alarming to realize that the small emerging country of South Korea has a higher literacy level than the United States!

4. Self-centeredness: The heart of humanism is the idea that man is supreme over God. It is shocking to some to learn that John Dewey, the father of”progressive education” was an atheist. He was the founder and first president of the American Humanist Association. He said, “There is no God, and there is no soul.” The American Humanist Manifesto reads, “As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.” The “man-centeredness” of humanism leads to self-centeredness, selfishness, and self-preservation. “What’s in it for me,” becomes the cry. Youngsters are taught to look out for “number one” – namely themselves. In contrast the apostle Paul wrote, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Philippians 2:4).

5. Total academic freedom: Humanists believe that children should have the right to read anything under the guise of academic freedom- anything, that is, except the Bible. Speaking of God and the Bible, a humanist said, “It is immoral to indoctrinate children with such beliefs.”

6. Total sexual freedom: Our children are going straight from babyhood to puberty as full sexual beings with no intermission. Dr. Sam Jones, in an issue of the Los Angeles Times, calls our age of sexual freedom the “death of innocence.” Humanist thinkers want to “liberate” our children from sexual inhibitions.

The answer to all of this, as far as your children are concerned, is to avoid humanistic training. True Bible-centered schools and churches, plus the all important influence of a godly family, are the best possible options for the next generation.

Many so-called gospels are preached today, and they are so different from each other that they cannot all be right. Just what is the Gospel? The question is of vast importance, for in Galatians 1:6-9 the double curse of God is pronounced upon “… any man …” or even “… an angel from heaven …”who preaches “… another gospel: Which is not another …”

The clear definition of the Gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved … For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Without controversy, that is the Gospel. But it does not tell us in this passage just how to apply the Gospel in dealing with men about their salvation. How shall we “preach the Gospel?”

When the Philippian jailer asked, “… what must I do to be saved?”, the answer was ready, “… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).

But what does it mean to “… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ … “? When one believes, he receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, and he is immediately “born”- “… born again” (John 3 :7): “… not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

So the preacher of the Gospel must “preach Christ”? Certainly! But what does it mean to preach Christ? In his own devious way the modernist preaches Christ, the Unitarian preaches Christ, the Christian Scientist preaches Christ, the Mormon preaches Christ; BUT NONE OF THESE preach the Gospel. When Paul wrote about it, his readers clearly understood that to preach Christ was to preach the Gospel in all its fullness, but this is not true in our day. We must PREACH CHRIST according to the Scriptures.

The preacher of the Gospel must preach Christ and Him crucified; he must preach the cross; he must preach the blood.

But one may do all this without preaching the Gospel at all. The Roman Catholic system preaches Christ and Him crucified, it preaches the cross, it preaches the blood, but it never preaches the Gospel.

To preach the Gospel, we must preach the Gospel of grace. We must preach that salvation is the “… gift of God.” We must preach that salvation is “… by grace … through faith …” plus nothing. Salvation is “… through faith … Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Good works are the result of salvation, but not its cause. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works …” (Ephesians 2:1 0).

Romanism preaches Christ, the cross, and the blood; but Romanism has never preached that the sinner can be saved through Christ alone. It is always “plus something” – plus the intercession of Mary, plus works of penance, plus the sacraments, and so on.

The modernist preacher today preaches another gospel which is not Christian; it is pagan.

Beware of any teaching that adds anything at all to the finished work of Christ. Christ saves all who receive Him as Saviour. He is the way, only God. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments” (Psalm 119:59-60).

There are three things that we should consider in entering the NewYear:

Reflection. “I thought on my ways …” We need to think, not just of 2020 in itself or even 2021, but we should turn our thoughts to ourselves and our own relationship to God. Are you saved, born again?

Testimony. “l…turned my feet …” This is repentance. We need to turn our backs upon sin and our faces toward God.

Regeneration. “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” This is the new birth. The new life shows itself in a desire to keep God’s Word. May we enter the New Year knowing for sure that we are saved. If you are not sure, then make sure you have received the Lord into your heart and believe God’s Word.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).