Dedicated To The Men of God Who Preach the Word of God As It
Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
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CHAPTER 7-HOLINESS: OUR
HOPE FOR REVIVAL
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"If my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,
and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land."
(II Chronicles 7:14)
As more and more Christians become alarmed at the
rapid decay of our society and the loss of basic
freedoms in our country, this verse is being claimed by
thousands across the land. However, unless there is a
return to old fashioned holiness on the part of God's
people, their hope is in vain. There will be no
"hearing," "forgiving," and "healing" without first
"humbling," "praying," "seeking," and "turning."
Though we do not doubt there is much praying and
seeking, there is little humbling and turning. We live
contrary to the Word of God and proudly proclaim our
"liberty" in doing so. There will not be a turning until
we humble ourselves to admit our dirty lifestyles.
While God says to "turn from their wicked ways" we
convince ourselves that "wicked ways" aren't really
wicked. We sound very pious while we explain away
our responsibility to obey the Word of God.
While our country sinks into the slimepit of depravity,
we are quoting verses like "Righteousness exalteth
a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people,"
while we call our sin righteousness. The hope of our
nation is not found in the pornography crowd quitting
their sin. It is not found in the booze crowd quitting
their sin. It is not found in the homosexual crowd
quitting their sin. It is not found in a reversal of the
Tri-lateral Commision. God declares that the answer is
found in 'MY PEOPLE, WHICH ARE CALLED BY
MY NAME."
Getting conservatives elected to office will not turn
our national around (although I am for conservatives.)
Getting professing Christians elected to office will not
turn our nation around (and I am for Christians serving
in office.) Getting all the Christians in the country
registered to vote will not turn our nation around
(and I am for Christians voting.) Getting Christians to
write letters to their elected officials will not turn our
nation around (and I am for writing our officials.) Only
getting God's people to humble themselves enough to
admit their dirty sin, and turn from it, will bring God's
healing hand upon our nation.
A. W. Tozer wrote in "Of God and Men," "To pray for
revival while ignoring or actually flouting the plain
precept laid down in Scriptures is to waste a lot of
words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will
become effective when we stop using it as a substitute
for obedience." In "Keys to the Deeper Life," Tozer
went on to say that unless we
"...intend to reform we may as well not pray. To beg for a
flood of blessing to come upon a backslidden and disobedient
Church is to waste time and effort. We must return to
New Testament Christianity, not in creed only but in complete
manner of life as well. Separation, obedience, humility,
simplicity, gravity, self-control, modesty, crossbearing:
these all must again be made a living part of the
total Christian concept and be carried out in everyday conduct."
But one wonders if such a turn to holiness is possible
today. How will the people ever turn to righteousness
when the preachers have stopped proclaiming
righteousness. Many have gotten tired of fighting the
battle. Now, to justify their change in standards and
preaching, they side with the liberals and new
evangelicals, by proclaiming that standards are simply
"non-essentials" or "personal convictions" that really
don't matter that much. After all, are standards so important
that it is worth losing some good members to
the other "fundamental" church in town which no
longer has such standards?
WHEREIN HAVE WE SINNED?
Like the days of Malachi, when God's preacher proclaimed
the sin of the people, their response was,
"Wherein have we sinned?"But the people were simply
a copy of the preachers.
"...saith the Lord of hosts unto you, 0 priests, that
despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we
despised thy name."
(1:6)
"For the priest's lips should keep knowledge and
they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is
the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
"But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused
many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted
the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts."
(2:7,8)
While preachers lament the carnality of our churches,
they fail to realize that the cause is the lack of
standards being preached from the pulpit. We pride
ourselves in preaching principles and "letting the Lord
take care of the specifics." But principles that do not
translate into specifics are worthless. If the people are
not taught how Scripture relates to everyday living
(specifics), little worthwhile change is accomplished in
their lives.
To be honest, we have quit preaching specifics
because principles don't offend, specifics offend. And
people can cause a lot of problems when they are offended.
We get closer to Jeremiah's day where, "The
prophets prophesy falsely...and my people love to have
it so: and what shall ye do in the end thereof (5:31)?"
In "I Call It Heresy," Tozer commented on the
philosophy that God's commands can be obeyed or ignored
depending on one's own judgment,
"There is something basically wrong with our Christianity
and our spirituality if we can carelessly presume that if we
do not like a Biblical doctrine and choose not to "buy" it
there is no harm done...God has never instructed us that we
should weigh His desires for us and His commandments to
us in the balances of our own judgment and then decide
what we want to do about them."
COMMITMENT WITHOUT REPENTENCE
Without a real turning from sin, all of our commitment
is useless talk. In Joshua 24:15, Joshua stated
that "...as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord." We quote this verse often without realizing the
context of the passage. Joshua had just told the people
(verse 14), "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him
in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which
your fathers served..."
The people replied in verse 16. "God forbid that we
should forsake the Lord, to serve other Gods...therefore
will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God (18)."
Their commitment has the ring of spirituality, but
they forgot something. They did not say they would
put away their false gods. Maybe they did not forget at
all. Perhaps like many Christians today, they felt they
could still serve God while they kept those things
which He hated.
Joshua picked up on their omission in verse 19, "Ye
cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a
jealous God...If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange
gods, then he will turn and do you hurt (20)... " Joshua
knew that people cannot keep false gods without eventually
serving them, just as people cannot keep their
pet "little" sins without eventually having their heart
turned from God in other areas.
The people responded quickly, "Nay, but we will
serve the Lord (21)." Again, the statement sounds
spiritual, but they still did not decide to put away their
false gods. Evidently, they were sure they could serve
God without being so old-fashioned as having to throw
out their idols. After all, "an idol is nothing in this
world and there is none other God but one."
In verses 22 and 23 Joshua continued his plea, "Ye
are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen
you the Lord to serve him...Now therefore put away,
saith he, the strange gods which are among you, and
incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel." Joshua
did not let the matter go. For the third time he pleaded
with them to get rid of their false gods. The people's
spiritual response was, "The Lord our God will we
serve, and his voice will we obey (24). " They were still
promising to serve the Lord, but they had no intention
of getting rid of the false gods.
What happened? Exactly what Joshua knew would
happen. The next book is Judges where every man did
that which was right in his own eyes. Notice God's
commentary on these people who promised to serve
God but refused to put away their idols:
"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of
their Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook
the Lord God of their fathers, which brought
them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other
gods, of the gods of the people that were round
about them, and bowed themselves unto them,
and provoked the Lord to anger." (Judges 2:11,12)
"And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,
and he delivered then into the hands of spoilers
that spoiled them, and he sold them into the
hands of their enemies round about..."
(2:14)
"Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which
delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled
them. And yet they would not hearken unto
gods, and bowed themselves unto them..."
their judges, but they went a whoring after other
(2:16,17)
"And when the Lord raised them up judges, then
the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them
out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the
judge...And it came to pass, when the judge was
dead, that they returned and corrupted
themselves more than their fathers, in following
other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto
them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor
from their stubborn way."
(2:18,19)
Commitment to God without a repentence from
sin is a waste of time when pleading for revival. This
day in our fundamental churches resembles the time of
judges, every man does that which is right in his own
eyes.
It also resembles Jeremiah's day:
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and
see, ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
"Also I set watchmen over you saying, Hearken to
the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will
not hearken."
(6:16,17)
The message to five of the seven churches in Revelation
was "repent." May God use these pages to touch
the hearts of His people in order that they see the Bible
basis for standards. Upon seeing the Bible basis, may
they repent, put away the false idols, and ask for the
old paths. May it happen before it is too late for our nation,
that God might intervene and forgive our sin, and
heal our land.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ironside, H. I. Daniel. New Jersey: Loizeaus Bros. 1911
Malloy, John T. "Clothing Makes the Woman."
"Making It." Summit Press Syndicate
Rice, John R. Dr. Rice, Here are More Questions...,
Vol. 2. Murfreesboro: Sword of the Lord, 1973
Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980
Tenney, Merrill C. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia
of the Bible, Vol. 2. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
1975.
Tozer, A. W. A Treasury of A. W. Tozer. Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1980
STUDY FROM DR. MIKE ALLISON
