Winter
2009
Getting Off the Carousel of Revival
Rick Vargas
(Edited and revised)
My story is maybe a little different
from all the others that have gathered for this 40th
anniversary of Pinecrest Bible
Training Center.
I came here to go to the high school that was here when I
was 16 in 1974. I got saved on these grounds. I came here not
knowing anything. I
came right off the street from a life at that young of drugs,
alcohol and roaming America
with my thumb out. After I was kicked out of two high schools
my parents in there desperation drove me twelve hours from
their home in suburban Michigan to a small bible school that
was way in the woods of Upstate New York. Thinking, hoping,
that maybe this school with its emphasis on a personal intimate
knowledge of God, and a place where God moved freely as He
willed would change me, but in their heart they were also
thinking that I was only getting a ride halfway to New York
City where I went I would come to the point of no return.
And after they dropped me off their parting words to Gerry
Buscher the principal of Pinecrest
Christian High
School at that time were: If you
can keep him you are doing better than anyone else has ever
done. I’m sure Gerry did not quite know what to think when
he heard those words
It was a few days before the 1974
Labor Day Convention that I spent walking Pinecrest’s woods
crying and crying and crying, and just simply saying: “God
can you help me?” -- That was it, that
was all I could muster up to pray.
At that time I was not at all sure that was even possible.
But God in His great grace answered the cry of my heart and
shortly thereafter His grace came to me, and He began to open
my eyes to the Gospel.
I am greatly indebted to Gerry
Buscher and my High School teachers
and bible school teachers back then, and the bible school
students that showed great patience to a sixteen year old
student who didn’t know nothing.
-- Who loved me, who prayed for me, who talked to me.
Some of those very people that taught me and carried me in
those days are here presently in this meeting, and some of
them have gone on to be with the Lord. To all of those I just
want to say thank you, thank you for all you did for me.
So it is a great privilege and
honor to be here at this time representing the handful of
kids, teenagers just like myself that came here to go to high
school and were so met and so touch in those days. There was a deep spiritual mark that was made
on those that were here in those days – even on myself
as a sixteen year old kid.
The thing that so marked me and
that has kept me for the 30 years since those days is what
I want to speak about to you this morning. The thing that
so gripped me back then though the school in those days was
in a great revival with, filled with wonderful worship, and
hours of dancing before the Lord and many other great spiritual
manifestations. The thing that so gripped me in those days was
that there was a word here. And though I didn’t understand
all that was contained in that word at sixteen, I knew at
that time that, that word was doing a work deep in me. And
since that time that word that was spoken, has never let me
go.
I heard words in this place from
men that made a great impact upon my life, not only the teachers
but we were privileged to hear from the men and women that
came through here. Like
Brother Roy Jacobsen, Sergio Valore,
Paul Sexton, men who were real prophets not because they gave
you a personal word and could tell you whether you liked a
Grande Latte with cream or not. But because as they opened
the scriptures and a word come out from them, a word, that
would effect those that had an ear to hear. Through my bible
school teachers and these men a word came unto me, and through
the years it has been that word that has kept me. That that
word that I heard carried in it life,
and that life has been forming, working, creating and increasing
in me to this day. I am greatly indebted to this school for
that. I am indebted for having heard a word then, God’s word.
I remember when Brother Paul Sexton
was here, I might have been eighteen
at that time. I working
in the Print Shop developing film and standing out in the
hallway in front of the darkroom waiting for some film to
develop when Brother Sexton walked up to me to speak a word
of encouragement to me. And as he spoke I mustered up all
the courage I could to ask him a question, he was a man of
God, that had been a pastor
for probably over 40 years by that point. And I asked him,
Brother Sexton –You know you say things when you are young
that are just crazy. And I said Brother Sexton If you there’s anything
different in your life that you could do, what would you do?
And without hesitation, without thinking about
it, without stammering he looked at me and said: I would have
read God’s word more. That is what he said to me. And I was
astounded that a man like him that was so filled with the
word of God and that had so much in God, would answer that question in such a way.
With
those words in mind from Brother Paul Sexton we are going
to speak now about God’s word, and the Word of The Lord. We’re
going to speak about The Voice of The Lord.
We
are living in a time when revival has been preached, taught,
and prophesied to be the cure all for the church.
So that within the church there has been crated this
drive fro revival, this longing for revival, this great anticipation
for anything that looks like or smells like revival. So that
preachers teachers prophets and God’s sheep spend a great
deal of energy ever seeking for and ever running after these
elusive revivals. It has come to the place that in the populist
church of this day that revival has captured our whole interest
and fascination. So much so that when we look at the condition
of the church when we look at the condition of the earth we
have only one though, that if we only had revival that would
cure everything. We have been falsely led to believe that
revival is the one answer that will cure everything in the
church and the world, we have been falsely led to believe
that with revival that we ourselves will be made all well
again.
In my brief years
as a student and in the ministry I have lived through several
so called revivals. Of course today what was once called great revivals
or great awakenings somehow does not quite match up to what
we see and hear in this day and hour, so men have renamed
revival instead calling them renewals, or
refreshings, or an outpouring, or
a soaking. That is because there has been a realization of
many, that once they tasted of these so called revivals over
the last twenty years -- that somehow
these so-called moves of the Spirit are not quite doing what
they are supposed to do, in the area of transforming lives
and bringing people into a deeper and closer relationship
with God. So that has
been some realization that these recent events are not exactly
revival -- so now instead we have been calling these events
something less, something else, something to help legitimize
them, and make them acceptable on their own empty merits.
Recently
I have been gripped with some thoughts about all
these goings on about revivals breaking out here and
there, thoughts that just won’t leave me. And it is a sense
that these recent revivals have been as it were one grand
carousel. So that we in the church have been riding on this
grand carousel with its painted ponies going up and down,
and up and down, so that with these revivals we have been
going up and down in our experience, so that in the church
young and old have been sucked in with the hope that in doing
this that we will somehow lay hold on that golden ring of
The Glory of The Lord on one of our turns around the carousel
ride.
Whether
we have been seeking it for healing, for gifts, for ministry,
or just to see and be a part of some supernatural experience
we have gone and climbed onto this grand carousel. This grand
carousel with all its exciting lights and all the music that
just keeps playing on and on all the while trying to convince
it vast number of patrons that each time you climb aboard,
and with each time you go around once aboard that all of this
is new and fresh, while in reality we have been are going
up and down, and up and down while getting no place in our
lives spiritually, and all the time getting no closer to God.
And
that has been where we and the church have been in this present
day. As we have sought out, grasped after and run to these
elusive revivals wherever and whenever we have heard of it
from men, we have become seekers not of God, and not of His
word but seekers after this ever elusive revival ring of Glory.
O
let me go just one more time around, I almost grabbed that
golden ring. It was just out of my reach this time, but I’m
sure that I will get it on that next time around, So play that music one more time.
Well
I want you to know that I have refused to ride that grand
carousel. I have refused to ride the ride, because that has
never been God’s answer. That has never been God’s answer.
This morning I would like us to look at what the scriptures
have to say. I want us to look at what has been God’s answer
in the scriptures in Israel and the church’s greatest hour
of need, in peoples hour of darkness,
in peoples hour of failure. We need to see that regardless
of the age and the circumstances, that God’s answer has always
been the same. So that from the very beginning even in the
garden when man fell because of sin God’s answer has been
steadfast, and unchanging.
From
the first time we see God’s answer in the garden in the book
of Genesis it will follow through the rest of the entire bible.
So that if we had two weeks, if we had an entire month, I
could stand up here and preach and show you every occasion
where the answer that God sent was the same.
When man fell in the garden and
man’s greatest need fell upon God to resolve the answer that
He sent was not revival, the answer was “And man heard the voice of the Lord walking
in the cool of the day in the garden. It was a voice that
was needed, a word that was sent to man. God sent a word to
be the answer, to answer man’s sinful state and condition.
And from that point on first interpretation
-- hermeneutics – whatever, I didn’t make it thought that
part of bible school. But when you supposedly see something
in scripture for the first time, the meaning given there helps
you to understand the meaning of that word, or phrase, or
symbol the rest of the way through the rest of the bible.
So here we see God’s answer. God’s
answer was: the voice of the Lord walking. God coming to where man was, coming to man’s
sinful condition, coming to man’s fallen
estate -- with a word. And that voice that was walking in
the garden, it was a type of the word that was made flesh
that would one day walk amongst us, that would finally be
the answer that man would need to cure him of his sin sick
lost estate.
My question today is: is it revival
or is it revelation that we need? Make no mistake there is
a big difference between the two. When we look in the word
of God we see that revelation has always been God’s answer,
not revival but revelation. A revelation of God, in the form of His word, coming into
the midst of a people.
The book of Revelation was written
at least a generation after the early church’s inception,
and in one generation there had already been a decline, a
retreat, a falling away. In one generation there was already
a decline setting in. And John the last remaining Apostle
at age 90, that was taken out of the way and imprisoned in
the island prison of Patmos. And it is there that John receives this revelation
of Jesus Christ in the opening chapter of the book of Revelation.
In chapter one when John hears
and I love this, what does John hear?
John hears a voice. A voice comes to John – that is
going to be God’s answer for the decline of the early church.
God sends a voice to John. And the bible says that when John
heard the voice he turned to look at the voice, and when he
turns to respond to the voice he sees this incredible vision
of Christ from His hair down to His feet. And Jesus begins
to tell John to write to the seven churches that are scattered
throughout Asia Minor. And what is interesting is that the conditions
of these churches, that while each was condition was unique
the answer that God gave to them was the same. Surely if revival
was the answer God would have instructed these seven churches
that were wounded, corrupted, sinful, that they only needed revival. But I want you to see
here that God’s
answer was not if you just get into a revival you’ll be all
better.
God’s answer to the seven churches
instead was a fresh revelation of The Lamb of God. To each
of these churches Jesus Christ gave a unique message, a unique
message that addressed their unique condition in that local
church. He addressed the unique conditions but to each one
He gave the same answer, a fresh word that revealed, that
lifted up, that glorified Jesus Christ in their midst.
If you go through each of these
letters, each letter is a portion of the revelation of Jesus
Christ that John the Apostle saw in chapter one when he turned
to look at the voice. And so we see that God’s answer to the
early church was defined as God sending forth a fresh word
that reveals Jesus Christ. That is always the answer. It is
a voice that must come forth in those times of darkness, those
times of corruption, those times when sin began to arise in
their midst, and that is why Jesus Christ tells the churches:
He (Individually)
that hath an ear let him (Individually) hear. If the church
is to survive, if the church is to go one it is necessary
and vital for individuals in that church to have the ability
to hear what God is saying, to hear what The Spirit is saying,
so that they might be able to attempt to address the present
condition in which we live. Not just globally, not just in
the corporate Christ but in each of our unique locations where
we come from. There is a word that God has to address our
present condition. And with that word comes
a revelation of Jesus Christ Himself.
We can continue going around and
round chasing revival or this great ministry or that great
so called prophet or we can agree with what God’s answer is,
and hear for ourselves, and partake for ourselves of the voice
of God, this word of the Lord, this revelation of Jesus Christ.
In recent years there this term
has appeared on the present scene, this new term has emerged
and it is called: Alternative Medicine. In
alternative medicine anything is seemingly acceptable, they
can stick you with pins and needles, they can treat you with
magnets, they can use low doses of electricity, magic stones
and magic beads that are supposed to carry some kind of energy
or the power ward off bad karma and the like. At many levels
Alternative Medicine is for those who would turn away true
physicians and true doctors, and go out on their own diagnosing
themselves and then seeking all manner of remedies many which
are steeped in Eastern Mysticism, New Age superstition, age
old folk lore, age old folk remedies, and snake oil salesmen.
This move to Alternative Medicine
is occurring in this very day also in the church. We have
chosen an alternative remedy (Revival)
from what the great physician would give us. We have tried
alternative means (Seeking
after so called great ministries, and so called great prophets).
We have tried alternative ways of bringing a healing to ourselves,
by self diagnosis, and seeking after the alternative medicine
of revival, the alternate medicine and folk medications and
folk remedies of so called great ministries, and so called
great prophets, and we have done this also in our local churches
and in the corporate body of Christ. And Jeremiah lived in
that day of Alternative Medicine and of it he says: The
harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.
We have not been healed, we have not been delivered, -- Nothing
in our heart and soul has changed. All of the visitations
all of the renewals, all of the refreshing, all of the soaking,
of the carpet time, all of the rivers, after hearing, sitting
under and taking all of their medications and remedies – We
are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people,
am I hurt, I am black, astonishment
has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
I
want to give a couple of examples in scripture of what I am
talking about, beginning in 1 Kings 19
We all are all familiar with this passage where the prophet Elijah finds himself in a day
of great discouragement, loneliness, despondency, and wondering
what went wrong. Here after this great revival fire of God
that fell on Mount Carmel and Elijah has slain the prophets
of Baal he probably thought for sure, now if anything is going
to change the condition of Israel – this is it! I mean to witness such a manifestation on Carmel, the revival fires
of God falling, surely if anything were to bring change that
would be it. But no sooner then the fires died down instead
of great national repentance and change Elijah hears these
words – if your not
dead by tomorrow . . .
So Elijah runs and flees for his
life and hid in a cave on mount Horeb the Mount of God. We are all familiar with this story, where these
unusual manifestations take place. This
fire, this wind, this earthquake all take place before
the prophet. But what is amazing is though these thing occurred
right before Elijah’s eyes, these wondrous, unusual and powerful
spiritual manifestations, but they do not touch the heart
and soul of this discouraged and despondent servant of the
Lord. We all have been taught to think that if we
could just see a miracle everything would be ok. Well here on Mount Horeb
Elijah saw three of them, and not one of them, and not all
three together touched what was going on deep within him.
It wasn’t until that
still small voice – It wasn’t until that word came, that
Elijah responded in a way that he wrapped his face in his
mantle. Its that word that energizes, its that word that convicts
and challenges, its that word that addressed Elijah’s condition,
its that word that commissions him again, its that word that
puts hope in him again, its that word that enables Elijah
to finish the call that is upon his life.
Its that still small voice, that voice that broke Elijah. That voice that caused
him to hide, for he knew that it was God Himself that was
drawing nigh. The
major difference between fire wind and earthquake and that
voice that brought that response from Elijah is this: A voice
implies a person. That was the difference. When that voice
came Elijah knew that God Himself had drawn nigh. The person
of God was there in Elijah’s presence. He was in the presence
of the God who speaks. It was the word that came into Elijah
to move forward and to move onward in the call that was upon
his life.
In the book of 1 Samuel it was
a voice that broke in upon one of Israel’s
darkest hours when Eli and his evil and corrupt sons were
reigning over the flock of God. Beginning in chapter two we
read of the horrible description describing the condition
of the leadership of the church in that day. The word of God
describes Eli’s sons in this way; They knew not The Lord.
That describes also
the day in which we are living. We are living in the day when
much of the church leadership -- does not know The Lord. But
what was God’s answer? God’s answer was a voice that began
to come to a young man, even to a child; Samuel. God’s answer
for that horrible condition, God’s answer for that horrible
day, God’s answer for that day in which the leadership was
utterly corrupt, when the leadership was vile, when the leadership
was in sin, when the leadership did
not know God; God’s answer was the same. A voice began
to speak unto Samuel. And this voice of the Lord, This word
of God began to awaken his ear, began to awaken his understanding, began
to awaken Samuel, and it came in Israel’s darkest hour. And this word was going to be the beginning
and the ushering in of
God’s ultimate purpose, a kingdom was to emerge
in the midst of that darkness.
And this had been God’s answer throughout Israel’s
History.
God testified Himself: Did
not I rise up early sending you prophets. At every major
junction of Israel’s history,
in their darkest hour it was a word that He sent them. It
was always a word that He sent in their midst. That was the
answer. And that is still the answer for us in this day.
The Scriptures declare: He
sent forth His word – and it what? – it
healed them. And if there’s going to be a healing, if
there is going to be a recovery, if there is going to be a
restoration, if there is going to be a wholeness and if there
is going to be a return unto the Lord individually and corporately
its going to come by the same way. Its going to be a word
that He will send that will heal us.
That’s His way. That is the way of The Lord.
Isn’t it interesting in the book
of Genesis that in the life of Isaac, when he was an old man
and Jacob came to get his birthright, did you ever wonder
why Isaac is deceived, Isaac was deceived because he failed
to heed the voice of the Lord.
The word of God declares that Isaac did not heed the
voice of the Lord concerning his sons but instead he judged
by what he was feeling. He was a man that was motivated by his feelings.
This feels right. This feels like it might be the Lord. This
feels -- and all the while there was a voice there. So that
if Isaac would have listened to the voice he would not have
been blinded by God If he would have heeded that voice, his
earthly and carnal feelings would not have deceived him. I
wonder how many Isaacs are there in the church today, that
walk in such deception, whom God
has made blind, so that they stumble even in the noon day.
Those of you that know Pinecrest,
know the teachings of this place and should be very familiar
with this verse in the Song of Solomon. The woman searching
for the one whose heart she desires says: Behold
the voice of my beloved, lo he comes. It was a voice that
she knew, it was that voice that was walking in her midst
that she heard, It was the voice
of her beloved coming unto her.
Psalm 95 is a Psalm to encourage
worship. And the first part of the Psalm is an encouragement
for us to worship, based upon an understanding of God and
His Greatness and His Kingdom and His Creation. He’s challenging
us to worship with joyfulness and noise and thanksgiving and
on and on. And then the Psalm seems to take a turn and you
wonder now what happened? But actually this part of the Psalm is a call
to worship also. The first part of the Psalm is a challenge
for us to worship God for His greatness and His deeds,
the second part of the Psalm is also a challenge for us to
worship God that we are hearing His Voice.
David states in Psalm 95:7 For He is our God and
we are the people of His Pasture and the sheep of His Hand.
Today, today if you will hear His Voice, harden
not your heart as in the provocation in the wilderness, in the day of temptation
in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted Me
and proved Me and saw My works 40 years. Long was I grieved
with this generation. He said they were a people that err in their heart
and not know My ways. To whom I sware in My
wrath they should not enter into My rest. Now David here is still speaking of worship, but he’s
admonishing us and giving the church a warning that worship
is more than shouting, singing, dancing and feeling good in
the glow of God’s presence. David here is declaring that true
worship contains hearing God’s voice. True worship contains
our listening, and our receiving from that voice. And David
then something remarkable because before He gets to the point
we read in verse seven, where he begins to describe God, God
who is a king, God who is great, God who is creator. He says
He is our God in
verse seven and then he talks about the relational aspect
of the Great Shepherd and His sheep. He says: And
we are the people of His Pasture and the sheep of His Hand.
And then David
goes into the aspect of the voice, the word that was come,
based upon a relationship, a unique relationship with God
who is almighty and yet a God who is caring. Based upon a
God who is our Great Shepherd, and yet He feeds and protects,
and preserves and leads and guides His sheep individually
and corporately. And then if that is not enough to get us
to understand what kind of God this is; David goes further
and he says: We are
the sheep of His Hand. Now
that is tremendous. Because
what David is eluding to here is this: Sister Louise grew
up on a farm may identify with this; if you have a farmer
of anything, even of a cat or a dog. My definition of farming
is very broad. My wife would be grieved in me saying that.
But there are occasions where a cow or a lamb or a dog or
a cat or whatever gives birth and the mother dies. That happens.
Well the farmer with a cow or a horse, the shepherd with this
little lamb, the little girl who has this kitten, a decision
must be made. This creature will not live without its mother.
So the farmer or the owner has to make a decision. The decision
is will feed and nurse this creature with my own hand that
it may live. And that is what the psalmist is describing here.
We are the sheep of
His hand.
We
were a people that would have perished had He not had mercy
upon us. Like the lamb without a mother, like the calf without
its mother, like a kitten or a dog without its mother and
if someone would not have fed and cared for him by hand that
animal would have perished. And God is saying here: That is
what I have done for you. When you were lost alone and perishing,
when you were going to die, when there was no one that could
help you, when there was no one that could save you, and there was certain death hanging over you.
I came Myself and with My own hand
I fed you and cared for you.
I gave you life. And that is what the psalmist is
wanting us to understand, that this is the kind of
God we have. He is the kind of God that has fed us with His
Own hand. And then he says: On that basis because that is
the kind of God we have – hear His Voice. Listen to His words.
And don’t harden your heart. Sounds almost impossible doesn’t it? The possibility that I
could harden my heart towards The One that saved me, and yet
in church history this hardening of the heart, this not listening,
this lack of hearing is borne out
time and again. In all reality we often do bite the hand of
God that feeds us.
Genesis
6:6 And it repented
the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart.
Psalm 78:40 How oft
did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in
the desert!
Psalm 95:10 Forty years
long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a
people that do err in their heart, and they have not known
my ways.
In Scripture we
see that there is a grief that is in God, a grief that is
in the heart of God as He relives over and over in history
a people that were found by Him, redeemed by him and sustained
by Him, a people that received a mighty miraculous deliverance
from where they were perishing and languishing. That He took
them unto Himself, and kept them, and fed them, and preserved
them and yet despite all of this, there was still something that
was within them that would not hear that voice. There was something still within this people that would not
hear His word. Did you know that there are consequences for
not hearing the voice of God in scripture? Did you know that
there are consequences for not hearing His word throughout
the word of God?
1 Samuel 4:21 --The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was
taken --
What was the purpose
of God that He had the Ark of the Covenant created? Why did
He place it in the middle of the camp of Israel
in the wilderness? Have we missed the purpose of that ark,
that ark that had fire at night, and a pillar of cloud by
day, that ark that had a presence in it? What
was the purpose of that ark? What was the real reason behind
it? In Exodus 25:22 it is clear: That My presence is in your midst He says. I am
in your midst for this purpose that from that presence I might commune with you. So that I might commune with you. That from that presence
My voice might be heard. That from
that presence I might speak. That from that presence My
word might come forth. So that I might commune
with you. In all to many churches and ministries there is a presence
that has been made with lights and music and other things
of man, but there has been no voice, there has been no word,
there has been no communion with the King of Kings and The
Lord of Lords. And is not because the glory has departed,
is it not because the Glory has been taken away, because the
corrupt sons of Eli that knew the Lord not sought to parade
around that Ark for their own personal gain?
Look now in Numbers 7:89 And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak
with Him then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him
from off the mercy seat.
Here
again we see there was a voice, that was speaking to Moses
from the mercy seat. Even the arks own name declares its true
purpose. Was it not called the ark of the testimony? It is
the ark that speaks, it is the ark that is testifying, it
is the ark that is witnessing, it is the ark that is declaring,
it is the ark that is revealing.
Many in this hour say I can not hear God, many say in this
day O if I could hear the voice of the Lord. Is it that God
does not want to speak? Is it that God has ceased from speaking?
Or is it a condition that has made His people dull of hearing,
dull to the point that there is no open vision. Dull because
the ark was taken because of the abuse and misuse of it by
a corrupt and predatory ministry.
Go now to Psalm 81 God here begins
to relive again the grief that we were looking at in Psalm
95. Psalm 81:8 As
you read this I want you to try to capture the heart of God
as He is delivering this.
He says: Hear
O my people and I will testify unto thee, O Israel
If you will harken
unto Me. This verse is important, it is a pivotal verse
to what follows. Here, I will testify.
Do you think that the things we
are speaking of are limited only under the Old Testament,
that this was only how the old economy of God was operated?
Of course not. Jesus is very clear
in the New Testament when He begins to describe to the disciples
the person of the Holy Spirit and the purpose of the Holy
Spirit.
John
16:13 Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew
you things to come.
Jesus said there is going to be this one
that is going to come. And what was The Holy Spirit going
to do? He’s going to testify, He is going to speak. This is
exactly what this Psalm says. Hear Me, Hear Me O Israel
and I will testify unto you. And this Holy Spirit that
we have received, has been given so that there would be within us a
witness. If, we will hear His voice.
This indwelling Holy Spirit is to be a witness
and a testimony confirming Christ, and that is to be going
on within us daily. – Today
if you will hear His voice . . . God’s answer is: The
person of the Holy Spirit, who desires to bring the revelation
of Jesus Christ to bear upon our lives on a daily basis.
However what has occurred in the
church in recent decades is that we have relegated the person
of The Holy Spirit to merely some wonderful power whereby
we are strangely warmed, we’ve merely relegated The Holy Spirit
into some miraculous entity of demonstration and gifts and
operations that function according to our own will and at
our own pleasure. And by this we have grieved Him, and not
allowed Him to do that which He came to do. That is to testify
of Jesus Christ. The person, the work and the purpose of the
Holy Spirit is to testify of The Son. He is not some great
carousel to be used for our own pleasure and entertainment.
And God says in this Psalm 81:8-9
-- If you will hear me if you will let me testify – there shall be no strange
god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
There will be no need for you
to look elsewhere. You will have no need to look to another
source, to look to the next revival, to look to the next visitation,
to look to the next outpouring. There will be nothing within
you to look anywhere else; because I will be speaking in your
midst. That is what He is saying. And that’s why God gives
this verse this description and this answer to His people.
God’s answer is: I will testify, I will speak, I will bring a word. That is God’s answer.
That
is why we find in the book of Amos that famous passage that
tells us:
Amos
8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.
We have gone round and round this land seeking
out every prophet and his interpretation of whether we are
in judgment or judgment is coming or that we are in blessing.
We’ve gone all through this -- round and round and round.
And what have we received? We have received the wind. Emptiness,
and futility that has led us no where, that causes no growth,
that causes no turning, and that causes no change. And we
have not been saved.
But the scripture is clear that
judgment must begin at the house of God.
Ezekiel
9:4-7 And the
LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through
the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations
that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said
in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite:
let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly
old and young, both maids, and little children, and women:
but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they
began at the ancient men which were before the house. And
he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with
the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the
city.
God says in the book of Amos that the judgment
I’m going to send is going to be a
famine for the hearing of the word of God. And
then the prophet Amos describes what that will be like because
of that famine. Because there is a famine of hearing, Amos
describes that because of it the young men and virgins shall run to and
fro. They’ll be going here and they’ll be going there
longing to drink longing to satisfy longing to find the answer
to meet the need only His word can bring. To those who haven’t
noticed, I have news for you. We’re there. We are living in
the famine of God’s word Amos prophesied of, and we have men
and women and young and old running to and fro in this nation
and around the world seeking the word of the Lord.
David continues in Psalm
81:11 He reminds Israel
of their deliverance. And then David declares the word of
the Lord: But My people would not hearken unto My voice. And Israel would have none of Me. Here’s another translation of that verse. Israel did not want Me
around. God in
this verse is equating His presence with His word. They did
not want me around. What He is implying here is that they
loved His presence and His acts but they did not want My
word. How true these words are also of this generation.
What God is saying here is: By virtue that
you’re hearing my voice, that means
that I am in your midst. Right? By virtue of that fact that you are
hearing my voice that means that I am in your midst.
And all through scripture we find this to be so. The proof
of His presence is that His voice is there. The evidence of
His presence is in direct relationship with His word.
What we have witnessed in recent
years is the utter bypassing of the word of God and then yet
thinking that God is here, God is with us, God is in our midst.
But the truth is you can not separate God’s word and God’s
voice from His Presence.
Speaking
of revival and its grand carousel -- there may be a lot of
emotion and there, there may be a lot of excitement there,
there may be a lot of brightly colored
lights, and there may
be a lot of music; but if His word is not there He is not
there.
The New Testament is very clear on this point,
that the word was
made flesh. That God revealed fully and completely
His voice, and demonstrated that voice in its entirety in
the person of His Son Jesus Christ. And God said: His only
begotten Son that He sent to the earth, that voice that He
sent fully in the flesh, God said He was the outshining of
the Glory, that Jesus Christ was the fullness of the Glory
of God. So that there was nothing else to look for one Jesus
Christ was made manifest because He had sent the fullness
of His Glory in The Word that was made flesh.
And
yet with this final revelation of God’s voice: Psalm
81:11 My people would not listen to My voice.
And yet with this final revelation of His word, My people didn’t want My voice, My people did
not want My word, -- because they did not want Me around. Do not think that
this was only an Old Covenant, wilderness thing, these same
attitudes, these same words have also been over and over and
over again a New Covenant Churchianity thing as well.
John 1:10-11 He
was in the world, and the world was
made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not.
John 6:60-66 Many
therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said,
This is an hard saying; who can hear
it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
He said unto them, Doth this offend
you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where
He was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And He said, Therefore
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my Father. From
that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more
with Him.
Hebrews 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Hebrews 4:7 Again,
He limiteth (His words not to) a certain day,
saying in David, today, after so long a time; as it is said,
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Revelation 3:20 Behold,
I stand (Outside) at the
door, (Of
your revival filled church, of your fellowship that is filled
with all manner of doctrine and traditions, of your soul that
is steeped in religious activity) and knock:
if any man (Through
the music and lights of the grand carousel that they are riding) hear my
voice, (And
can cease their riding round and round) and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.
Many read this passage in Revelation 3:20 as if it is part
of some romantic song Christ is singing, a song that tells
us that little or nothing is required of them. These have
been taken in gross deception that God gave this passage to
the church to tell them not to worry, everything is A-OK so
that they can just fall back into their state of spiritual
stupor, and slumber unto eternal death.
God over and over again in Scripture warns His people, He sends
His Voice, He sends forth His Word, and even accompanied with
great signs and wonders – His people, His flock, the Sheep
of His hand – Harden their heart, and receive not His voice,
and reject Him and in so doing they bring great consequences
upon themselves individually, upon the whole of their household,
upon the whole of those of their town, their hamlet, their
city, and even their nation.
Over and over in Scripture and even in the New Testament
we see what occurs to those that would reject and turn away
from God.
Likewise in the rejection of Psalm 81:11 a horrible verse follows. Psalm 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own heart’s lust
and they walked in
their own council. I gave them what they wanted. They
didn’t want Me, so they can have
what they wanted. And I gave them up (And over) to their
own lusts. I gave them up (And over) to their own (Darkened)
wisdom. I gave them up if you will to their own (Darkened) discernment.
Not My discernment. For
they walked after their own council. Psalm 81:13 O that My people had harkened unto Me. Can you hear God here?
Can you hear His disappointment? O
that My people – not the heathen, not the gentiles, O that My people had harkened unto Me. And Israel
had walked in My ways. O what
I would have done for them He says.
The Scripture is clear in the
New Testament. What is implied here is played out in the New
Testament again and again. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11Because they did not receive a love for the truth
that they might be saved, (That they might be healed, that they might
be delivered) God sent them strong delusion. Or I gave them up to their own hearts desires.
These very things are carried over to the New Testament, these
principles that God has set forth in the Scriptures.
2 Peter 1, We
see Peter in his final years here as an old man. He is writing
this epistle declaring that he is just going to put them in
remembrance. 2 Peter
1:15 Peter said Moreover
I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these
things always in remembrance.
He continues in verses 16 and 17 For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour
and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This was the voice Peter says we heard.
I want us to go to the book of Matthew because
it is the mount of transfiguration that Peter is alluding
to in 1 Peter 1:15-17 that he wanted to put the whole of the
church in remembrance of both then unto the end of the age
at the time of Christ’s return. This is how important Peter
deemed his having heard God’s voice.
Matthew
17:1-3 After six days Jesus taketh
Peter James and John his brother and taketh
them up to a high mountain and was transfigured before them
and His face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white
as the light and behold there appeared unto them Moses and
Elijah talking with Him.
This is would have been quite
a sight. We would all have to agree that seeing Jesus shining
like the sun and Moses and Elijah showing up, would have to
have been one amazing spiritual manifestation. That is quite
a supernatural experience. But notice what follows. It didn’t change Peter,
did it? Here Peter is standing there in the presence
of Jesus shining like the sun and Moses and Elijah are there;
and all of this had no effect on Peter.
Standing there in the visible Glory of God, standing there
in the greatest single revelation of God up till that time
in the word of God. Peter didn’t scream,
Peter didn’t shout, Peter didn’t fall on his face like a dead
man, what did Peter do? He simply shrugged his
shoulders and said you know this is great. How about if we
get to work, you know, start now. John there’s some wood over
there, and if we get to it I’ll be we can at least get the
foundation built today. It’ll be a good start so that we can
live here in this tremendous visitation of God. Why would we ever leave here? This is just the
greatest and Peter just keeps going on and on about this building
plan of his. I can just see it John, three tabernacles, one
for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. I
know we are not expert carpenters but, but if Jesus would
come and help us I know we could do this. After all we have
the man power, we have the will power and by God we’ll just
set up these three tabernacles. Jesus is just so lucky that
we are here with Him.
Peter and the other apostles were seeking for Christ to take
His earthly kingdom and upon the mount when Christ was clothed
with the Shekina Glory of God and Moses and Elijah appeared
beside him. Peter voicing the thoughts of the other disciples
with him determined to do what they could for the effort and
that was to build three tabernacles, three shelters so that
Jesus, Elijah and Moses “stay” would be the best that could
be afforded for the time being until presumably Christ Moses
and Elijah would descend the mount, present themselves in
Jerusalem before the Priest at the Temple and Rabbis at the
Sanhedrin, restore the throne of David with Christ on it, and then proceed to cast out the Roman and other
gentile rulers from Israel, and cause Israel to rule once
more over the gentile nations. This is what Peter and the
Apostles and Disciples vision was concerning Jesus Christ
and that all of them were to become officers and rulers of
that earthly government.
Had this been today Peter James and John would have built a
revival center there and called it The Kingdom Revival
Center.
So that forever there would be pilgrimages to this great spiritual
sight, there would be miracle tours, miracle services, transfiguration
sessions, and all kinds of teaching and doctrine on transfiguration
giving and transfiguration tithing so that you could enter
the Kingdom.
One last point Peter James and John understood by spiritual
revelation that Christ had been transfigured, -- no man had
to teach them this. Peter James and John understood by the
Spirit that standing there before them was Moses, that he
alive and really conversing with Christ – no man had to teach
them this either, and Peter James and John understood by the
Spirit that Elijah was also standing before them, alive as
well, and conversing with Christ. – They saw and understood
these things never having seen anyone transfigured by the
Shekina Glory of God, never having seen Moses or Elijah. So
we can not make out Peter James and John to have been complete
dullards or spiritual novices. On the manifestation that they
saw before there eyes all three Apostles got an A+ that day
on the mount. They had indeed seen something, they had had
vision, they had revelation
– and at this juncture
everything when wrong when Peter James and John proceeded
to interpret on their own run the meaning of all that they
had seen and heard.
All too many are guilty of this very thing in this hour and
hour. Peter’s sin here is that he did not wait upon the word,
Peter’s sin here is that he did not wait upon the heavenly
vision, Peter’s sin here is he did not wait for God to confirm
His word and speak the meaning of the things
that they saw and heard. Thus
this visitation upon the mount of transfiguration that God
had given to Peter James and John was on the verge of being
diverted, it was on the verge of being corrupted, it was on
the verge of being perverted when Peter sought to lay his
hand to the ark, and alter what was occurring to suit the
corrupted lens that Peter peered through.
As Peter James and John were going to make all that
they heard and saw align with, and conform to their own perverse
doctrines and traditions of men concerning the coming earthly
kingdom of Jesus Christ.
In essence what we see here has occurred throughout the history
of revival. As what God began in the Spirit man has sought
to perfect it in the flesh by making it into man’s own corrupt
image and likeness.
But God here would have none of this and intervened and His
appearance, His Glory and His voice caused it to be that Peter
James and John could not minister in the flesh. That they
could not take Jesus and make Him into Ishmael – And God’s
voice, god’s word here brought forth a level of revelation
that pierced Peter James and John’s very souls and spirits.
They were arrested and their visions of corruption and all
that they were going to do to help God were forever vaporized
in that instant of time.
Can you just imagine how it would
have been there, and to have seen that? The lesson here is
one that has evaded most Spirit-filled believers. The lesson
of the mount of transfiguration is that there is no guarantee
that a supernatural experience, no matter how great, no matter
how mighty, no matter how much of the Glory of God is there,
that it is going to change you.
It happened to Peter James and John on the mount
of transfiguration, it happened to Aaron and all the priests
and elders of Israel
before the tabernacle of Moses, and it happened to those in
the early church that had seen Jesus and the Apostles and
had heard their testimony. And it happened to the seven churches
of Revelation. We have had very naïve ideas about Spirituality,
serving the Lord, and what God desires in His Church and His
bride. Thank God that the Lord is coming in His voice, thank
God the Lord is coming in His word to clean all of this up.
Matthew
17:5 And while Peter yet spake -- God had to cut him off. And while Peter was still speaking God had to
pull the hook on him and drag him off the stage. And while he yet spake
a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold -- a voice came
out of the cloud. Which said this is My
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Verse
six And when the disciples
heard the voice, when they heard that message, when they
heard that word, what happened? They fell on their faces -- It effected them.
The transfiguration of Jesus,
with Moses and Elijah showing up did not effect them, but when that voice came, when that voice came bringing a revelation
This is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased – Hear
Ye Him! He is The One that you must hear. He is The One
that will testify. He is the one that you must focus on. He
is the one that you must adore, because I adore Him, -- Hear
Him!
Peter James and John not only
fell prostrate on the ground, but they realized how foolish
they had been to think that what God had wanted was three
tabernacles to commemorate the experience.
What
God wanted up on that mount was a people that would hearken unto Him. God was clear was He not? Under the Old Covenant
He said There is going to come a prophet Moses like unto
you. It was Jesus. God’s answer was a word. A word that
would come, a word that would penetrate, a word that would
cleanse, a word that would purify, a word that would bring
life, a word that would bring direction, a word that would
make the crooked straight, a word that would bring down the
high, and exalt the low.
The
word of the Lord came to John the Apostle also. A word came,
God’s answer was a word. We
need to see and understand that it has always been His word.
The Apostle John records
this same incident or at least he alludes to it in his epistle.
I John 1:1 That which we have seen, that which we have
heard – I am sure that John is alluding to the Mount of
Transfiguration in this epistle just as Peter did. Wuest
says: It is this way that which we have seen that which we
have heard which and is still ringing in our ears.
I
can honestly say there’s a word that I received in this place
thirty years ago that is still ringing in my ears. God’s answer
for our condition is not revival, but it is revelation. It
is a word that will come, a word that He will send in His
mercy.
Prophetic
ministry to me is the mercy of God. What I know, what has
transpired in my life, and what has occurred in many of the
lives of those that are here today is that we were privileged
to hear a voice, to hear a word our of the mouths of prophets
from a generation ago that the so called prophets today can
not hold a candle to.
The
word of these famed and much exalted prophets in the land
today are not like the voice, the word, that God gripped many
of us with here all those years ago. May God in His mercy send men with such a voice
and men with a word again. May God in His mercy allow this younger generation
to hear a voice, to hear a word that will apprehend them,
will grip them, that will shape them. And will enable them in turn to
be His voice and word in the land.
In
Isaiah 66:1 Isaiah gives one of his final statements, a clear and
powerful word to those of his day as well as ours. Thus saith the Lord heaven is my throne the earth is my footstool where
is the house that you build unto me and where is my place
of rest? Isaiah describes the grandeur and the greatness
of God. A God that is over all His creation,
a God that fills heaven and earth. Where is the house that ye build unto me?
and where is the place of my rest? And The Lord here enquires
where is it that you possibly think I should live? Or what
kind of a structure do you possibly think I could squeeze
myself into? For all those things that ye
have made – have flunked. Isaiah 66:2 To this man will I look, even to him that is
poor and of a contrite heart. And what? The man that trembles at my word -- will
I dwell with. This is what God is looking for. This is
where He will dwell. This is where He will manifest Himself.
This is where His presence will abide.
Remember
that in Scripture that God has said that His presence and
His word can not be separated. So here we see that
the man that trembles at My word
will know My Presence. The man that is poor
and broken, the man that has become fully and totally dependant
upon The Lord, the man that has no longer has resources on
his own, the man that has no strength, that has no ability,
that has nothing on his own; and is contrite, and is convinced
of it, he that trembles at my word, he it is that will
know My Presence.
Elijah covered
his face with his mantle at the voice of The Lord. A man who responds rightly to my word – that is what I am looking
for. That is where you will find me.
In
the book of Joshua God spoke of a new day, of a possessing,
of a coming into, of a taking, but notice with these promises
the Lord gave an admonition as well. Joshua 1:7-8 Only be thou strong, and very courageous Not
so that you can fight the enemy. Notice the context here.
Be strong and very courageous that thou mayest
observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant
commanded you. Turn
not from it from the right hand or to the left that thou mayest
prosper withersoever thou goest.
This book of the Law – My word shall not depart of thy mouth
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night – God is declaring here that My word and your relationship
to My word is pivotal and key
(To your relationship and standing with me and) to your coming into what I have for you. That thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein for then
shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have
good success.
God
was asking His instrument Joshua: Will
you tremble at my word? Will
My voice as it has been revealed
in the word be enough? Will My word be your everything, and be your all? Is the Lord
asking anything less of us in this hour? So as you seek to
come into the land for your inheritance, as you seek to come
into your place that God has called you to, your success or
failure will hinge upon His word, His word finding a resting
place in you, His voice finding a habitation in your life.
Jesus
when He taught His disciples to pray did He say: Give us this
day our spiritual manifestation. No, that wasn’t quite what
He said. No He said when you pray, pray like this: Father give us this day – Today if you
will hear His voice. That’s
what you find in The Lord’s prayer. Father
give us this day. By praying this you are saying Lord today,
I want to hear what You are saying. That is what you are saying. Today if you will
hear His voice, harden not your heart. When
you pray, pray this way: Father
give us this day our daily bread -- that word that you
have for me today. Man does
not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Father. He is not sustained merely
by the outward. But He lives by that word that is forever
proceeding from the mouth of the Father. That is how we live.
That is how we obtain eternal life one day at a time.
When
we feel that the church needs reviving because she is dead,
we need His word. Because man lives by the reception
of His word. Jesus said there is coming a day when the
dead will hear my voice. Didn’t
He say that? You will hear a word from Me and that word from
Me will quicken them and make them alive again. That is not only a principal of that great day when He shall
return with a shout from heaven and shall proclaim and release
all those that are in the grave. But it is a principal that
He who is the resurrection and the life that those that feel
like they are dead from their hearing a word from Him will
revive them. And quicken them, and make them alive again.
And
until we get off the carousel we will be in no position to
hear that voice. He longs to speak to His people. The Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of
Jesus Christ. That very prophetic Spirit, that which is
inside you and I through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is
endeavoring to speak of Him, is endeavoring to declare Him,
is endeavoring to lead us and guide us into all truth.
The challenge today is not on the ability of God to speak to
this people, but that this people would hear God’s voice,
and do all that is recorded in His word.
Father
we would ask your forgiveness this morning for choosing alternative
means. Of self-diagnosing our condition and not allowing the
great physician to not only not give His diagnosis but to
give us His one and only remedy.
Father
I am grateful, grateful for the word, Lord that was declared
through and in this place. And Lord I am asking that there
will yet come a word. There will
yet be a voice you will raise up and use to heal the condition
of the daughters of Zion.
Father
we ask this morning that there will be deep working in all
of us. And Lord that we will be a people that will hearken
unto your word. A people that will love
your word. A people that will long
for your voice. And Lord help us, help us to give Jesus
who is The One the proper place in our individual lives, in
our gatherings, in our local churches, and throughout your
body.
Lord
come, come with your answer, the way you did come in the very
beginning with man’s fall. Come with your voice again. Let
that voice walk in our midst again. Let that voice recover
us, let that voice recommission us. Let that voice heal us.
Let that voice do what it can only do in our lives. To your
glory and honor – Amen