Viva La Reformacion!

I have been sensing the dealings of God in my heart for some months now; speaking with other pastors and church leaders I am encouraged that many are feeling challenged in remarkably similar ways. It’s my conviction that God is preparing a remnant in the church for an awakening. Indeed it’s already underway in seed form.

I began to share my heart on some of this in our Sunday night prayer meeting this past weekend, in a message entitled “What’s wrong with the gospel” (Part 1).

When you consider the days we are living in, and look into the Scriptures for light to understand the times, several facts are self-evident. I am not claiming any prophetic authority for these things; they are my observations.

1. America is under the judgment of God.

I am not referring to the outcome of the recent election here at all. Time will reveal whether the new government is a blessing or curse to the people. Our role as Christians, according to Romans chapter 13, is (1) to accept that God, Who is sovereign, has superintended the appointments, and (2) to submit to their laws and leadership in all matters that do not require us to break the higher law of God. (3) We must continually pray for the President, and all others in office, in order that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:2)

Some of President-elect Obama's policies are clearly anti-Christian. His willingness to condone the continuing wholesale slaughter of the unborn through a Freedom of Choice Act (which he is on record stating he will sign as his first order of business in office), and his enthusiastic support of same-sex marriage legislation are just two of the most blatant examples. For Christians these are not political issues that we can be divided on in good conscience. These are moral issues that we must be united on because we are bound by the plain teaching of God's Word and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But let us be clear. Barack Obama is NOT the instigator of these blights; he himself is the product of a morally decayed society that has been headed down this road for some years. I am not at all convinced that his opponent would have offered any godlier leadership (although his policies on the two issues above would have been more palatable for Christians). John McCain is also the product of a society morally adrift. His personal life sadly bears the marks of that.

The politics aside, though, there are clear evidences of God's judgment against America. The present financial crisis is just a part of it - the result of years of greed and covetousness. Some have pointed to the recent increase in natural disasters, which quite possibly are the hand of God. To scoff at that possibility, as I’ve heard church leaders in this country doing, shows an ignorance of Biblical teaching.

But in the end, how do we know the judgment of God is already here? Because we are seeing flagrant immoral perversions not only commonplace now, but celebrated and boasted about. What the Bible calls "vile affections", men and women leaving natural relations and "burning in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error." (Romans 1:27) Disease will not stop, or even slow, them in their pursuit of sin.

Isaiah warns a nation of judicial consequences for their amoral ways, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

Christians talk about how God will have to judge America because of immorality, but actually Romans chapter 1 makes it very clear that these things we are seeing ARE the judgment of God already! It is clear evidence that God has "given the society over" to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). The end result is "unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." (Romans 1:31).

Do you think we're not already there? Turn on the evening news tonight and see for yourself.

But then, secondly, there is (if you can imagine it) an even WORSE predicament:

2. The American CHURCH is under the judgment of God.

(Please note: I am using the term “the American church”, but having lived in both Britain and Australia also, I know that I could just as easily use the term “the Western church”. The problems are not restricted to the USA, although she has been the source of much of the rot.)

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12)

Amos prophesied to the Northern Kingdom of Judah just about 30 years before they were carried off into captivity. It is a warning that because the people continued to reject God, they were about to face His hand of judgment. The captivity they would endure, with all its deprivations, would be terrible, but the greater loss would be the ensuing silence from Heaven. A “famine of THE WORD OF GOD”.

Israel had experienced this in her history before. Leading up to the days of the prophet Samuel, “the word of the Lord was rare” (1 Samuel 3:1). There was a lack of true spokesmen for God. We know there were those who held the office of priests, and presumably there were those that claimed to be prophets, but something was terribly wrong with the ministry of God’s word.

Such seasons of spiritual famine are God’s judgment on His people when they ignore His word and live carelessly.

The American church for some years has been experiencing a famine of the word, and the scandalous fact is that we have not even realized it! Our Christian bookstores are jammed with countless resources, our television and radio airwaves are flooded with preaching and teaching, all with the grand result that our people have never been more spiritually malnourished and STARVING for the word of God. If you want evidence of that fact, just look at how easily false teaching is swallowed today. Every novel idea, no matter how banal or heretical, is welcomed with audience “oohs” and “aahs”. What is that but proof of spiritual malnourishment? Listen to the word of God: “To a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Proverbs 27:7).

The most terrible result of this famine of the word that we have been enduring is that we have, in large part, lost the very core of our Christian truth – the gospel itself. We have mangled it until it has degenerated into “come to Jesus and He’ll give you a better life”. The law of God, sin, judgment, hell, repentance, and holiness are all out of vogue, and the result is a half-gospel that is robbed of its power to save.

A half-gospel is NOT a gospel. A pseudo-gospel produces only pseudo faith, not saving faith. We need to keep before us Paul’s positive instruction – and yet such a grave warning: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

We are in a desperate condition, and surely it is because we are under the dealings of God, for “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).

But this is where there is great hope.

3. When God has chastised His people in the past it has been for the purpose of ultimately delivering them.

Whenever the church has experienced the grace of God in revival, it has followed on the heels of spiritual dearth and declension. The history of awakenings shows that, in the providence of God, it is always allowed to become darkest just before His dawn.

Some Biblical examples of this principle:

(1) Romans 8:20 says that, “the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;” Here is the big picture of human history. God has cursed the very ground of this world, allowing the ravages of sin to run their course, for the ultimate purpose of redemption.

(2) In the Old Testament we read about God allowing Israel to be carried off into exile, not because He was finished with them, but for their discipline so that He might yet bring them back and fulfill His purposes through them.

(3) God works by this principle right down to individual persons. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the immoral member, and told them to “deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5:5). The church’s discipline, even to the point of excommunication, was designed in the hope of ultimately seeing the sinner humbled and restored. (And evidently he was – 2 Corinthians 2:6-8).

The point I would make is that God’s judgment on the Church in America is not the signal that He has determined to cast us away, but rather that He is disciplining us for our restoration. When we recover our desperation for Him, the light will flood in again for our revival.

Which brings us to the moment at hand.

4. A largely unnoticed reformation is underway in the Church.

I realize there are several groups that have made a claim like this in recent years. The so-called “Emergent Church Movement” talk about a revolution, but what they are preaching (regurgitated liberalism) simply does not have the power to revolutionize anything. Thankfully!

Before he died, revivalist Leonard Ravenhill said in a radio interview that he was quite sure there would be another revival in America. He believed that there would be no superstars at the helm of it, but rather that it would come about through local churches, in answer to fervent prayer, and in the normal course of pastoral preaching. (He referenced the ministry of Jonathan Edwards and other New England ministers of the Great Awakening as a model of this.)

God is raising up a corps of faithful gospel preachers in this land. Paul Washer, in his recent sermon “Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church in America” said,

"There is a great awakening going on in this country. And not only in this country, but in Europe where I have been, and in South America, and in many other places, I see young men going back to the rock from which we were cut. They are reading Spurgeon, and Whitefield; they’re still listening to Ravenhill and Martyn Lloyd Jones and Tozer and Wesley. And it’s a great, incredible movement! Just because popular media and Christianity Today haven’t discovered what’s going on, I want you to know that I would never have dreamed fifteen years ago that I would see the awakening that I’m seeing.”

Don’t get all excited about “fantastic” stories you may hear by the PR machines of man-made “revivals”. Don’t run to this meeting or that meeting because you hear miracles have broken out. PRAY!

Pastor, don’t go looking for another conference to give you the latest fad answer to church growth – preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lead your church in Biblical evangelism. Get the message right, and then proclaim it fearlessly. Let your ministry honor God whether your congregation grows or shrinks. Have the courage to ignore the pressure to produce worldly success, and seek the approval of God rather than men.

This reformation must be a movement back to God’s truth at all costs. The true gospel delivered unto us once for all time by the apostles.

The signs of the return of Jesus are all about us; there cannot be any question about it any longer. I see two things on the horizon: HOSTILITY and HARVEST. I expect things are going to get so much harder – and at the same time, so much more wonderful for true followers of Jesus Christ. Let the Word of God loose in the power of the Spirit, and it will bring about a purifying of God’s people. False converts / lukewarm Christians will either fall away OR GET SAVED AND ON FIRE.

Are you ready? We must every day expect the return of our Lord Jesus, and He is coming for a spotless bride. To that end, and for His glory alone … Viva la reformacion!

Phil

10 Indictments

On October 23rd, Paul Washer preached in Atlanta, a sermon entitled "10 Indictments Against the Modern Church in America".

Links have popped up all over the internet to watch or listen to it.

Every Christian needs to hear it through at least once. Every preacher and pastor more than once. So let me give you the links ...

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO

In summary, here at the 10 Indictments:

1. A practical denial of the sufficiency of Scripture.
2. An ignorance of God.
3. A failure to address man’s malady.
4. Ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. An ignorance of the doctrine of Regeneration.
6. Ignorance regarding the nature of the Church.
7. A lack of loving and compassionate Church discipline.
8. A silence on Separation.
9. Psychology and Sociology have replaced the Scriptures with regards to the family.
10. A lack of discipline.

Phil

One unnoticed life

Every Christian needs to take 10 minutes out to watch this video!

It's the story of Mr.Genor. An elderly man who lived in Sydney, Australia. As a young sailor he was wonderfully saved, and so grateful to God that he promised he would try and tell 10 people a day about Jesus. To the best of his ability he kept that promise. In his retirement years he stood on George Street and simply handed out gospel tracts, asking people whether they were saved, and if they died that night did they know where they would go.

Until 2 weeks before his death, Mr.Genor never knew of one person that had ever given their life to Christ as a result of his faithful witness.

This video is his story. Watch it now before you read any further!

In recent years we have been told that "street witnessing", "gospel tracts", "open air preaching", "confrontational evangelism", etc, are outmoded forms of evangelism and are ineffective. Just about every popular book and resource being published on the subject of evangelism today scorns such methods and proposes that "friendship evangelism" or "relational evanglism" is the way we must engage.

Now firstly let me say that I have no objection to the idea of friendship evangelism per se. I believe we certainly SHOULD be seeking to share our faith with every person we are in relationship with - family, co-workers, neighbors, etc. We do build a platform of trust with those who know us well that gives us an extraordinary opportunity to share the gospel very powerfully (providing we are living what we preach - if not, we do detriment to the gospel).

However, I have a few concerns about friendship evangelism:

1) The idea of cultivating a friendship with an unbeliever SOLELY for the unstated purpose of winning them to Christ should be named for what it is ... deceitful. And how can you build a true friendship on an agenda like that?

2) If you are in friendship with an unbeliever, don't wait too long before sharing the gospel. My experience is that Christians who haven't shared the gospel early in a relationship rarely ever do. It becomes harder, not easier, to do so as time passes if there hasn't already been a previous verbal witness.

3) We need to heed the warning of Scripture that "friendship with the world is hostility toward God" (James 4:4). Now, before every Christian reader starts jumping up and down, let me be quick to say that verse is NOT saying we should not be friends with unbelievers. Jesus Himself was accused of being a "friend of sinners" because of His love for lost people. James is talking about friendship with the world's values and philosophy; it's sin. BUT many a Christian has been drawn back to worldliness and proved themselves unfit for the kingdom because they continued to be influenced by unsaved friends. Your first love must be Christ, and your first responsibility is your walk with Him. If that means severing old relationships that tempt you with your old life, you should do so. Pluck out your eye if you have to! (Matthew 18:9) But follow Christ with no other pretenders to the throne of your heart; allow no distractions.

But, by all means practise friendship evangelism with your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors who don't know Christ. I don't think we need books and seminars about that, it's just simply living the Christian life!

In defense of street witnessing & open air preaching

The criticisms of more confrontational or direct forms of evangelism are usually argued on the basis that "this is a different generation and they don't respond to such methods".

Please note, this argument is based solely on reasoning or rationalizing. It is not based on Scripture or even any consideration of past history.

Some points you should consider:

1) Street witnessing & open air preaching have a long and distinguished history dating back to the first apostles. The book of Acts has numerous examples of it. Some of the greatest preachers of the Christian church took their message to the streets and open fields to arrest the attention of people who would never be reached otherwise. George Whitefield and John Wesley are outstanding, but not the only, examples. Leonard Ravenhill used it very effectively after the second world war. Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron are spearheading a movement that demonstrating it's effectiveness still today. Check out their website at www.wayofthemaster.com

2) The same arguments ("this is a new generation, they won't respond" ... blah blah blah) were thrown at Whitefield and Wesley in their day! Thank God they didn't listen.

3) In Ephesians chapter 4 we read about the leadership gift in the church of "the evangelist". Some people are given by the Lord to help mobilize the church in evangelism. However, I defy anyone to find me where in Scripture we are told that there is a spiritual gift of "evangelism" that some Christians have and some don't. We are ALL included in the Great Commission. And the promise to us all in Acts 1:8 was that the Holy Spirit would make us "witnesses" (martyrs) for Jesus.

Conclusion:

The two ideas of (1) Friendship Evangelism as the preferred method to reach people today, and (2) the spiritual gift of evangelism given only to a portion of Christians BOTH seem to me very clearly to be nothing more than lying strategies of Satan to limit the outreach activity of the Church. And we have bought into these lies because it is very comforting and convenient for us to do so. It rationalizes our apathy and insecurities.

Every believer ought to be taking every opportunity to share the faith with as many people as possible, in every way possible.

Now, if you find the thought of speaking to a stranger about Jesus scary ... join the club! EVERY Christians finds these things intimidating. But we know what is in the balance: people's eternity. What does the inconvenience we feel for a moment matter in light of that?

Start small. Get some good gospel tracts and just leave them in conspicuous places - with your tip at a restaurant, etc. See how many places you can come up with. Then you might pluck up the courage to hand a few out (like old Mr.Genor). Finally ask God to give you the confidence to speak to some people.

Mr.Genor's testimony screams to us today ... one simple, unnoticed, but faithful life can change the world and eternity.

Pastor Phil

The perfect law of God

In today's church, the mere mention of the preaching of "law" incites looks of disdain and suspicion. Ever heard Christians say something like this? ...

• "Surely to preach law makes you a legalist, and doesn't the Bible teach against that?"


• "The law is Old Testament, and now that Jesus has come all of that has been done away with!"


• "People don't need to hear about law - they need to hear about grace."

In fact, the routine training of preachers today usually includes the idea, fostered by the pragmatic philosophy of the church growth movement, that it is not expedient to tell people about their sin or failure - instead we must tell people only about a God who loves them no matter what they have done. Preach positive messages that do not offend, and you'll keep people coming back to hear more.

These ideas are 180 degrees, diametrically opposed to Biblical evangelism. The preachers of the New Testament, beginning with Jesus Himself and continuing through the apostles, made it their normal practise to preach "Man's need and God's gift". They declared to people that they were sinners who needed to repent, appealing to their consciences by the law of God, they allowed the Holy Spirit to do His great work of conviction in people's hearts, and THEN (and only then) told of God's gracious answer in the death of Christ to put away sin.

Is the law an outdated message? Is it now superceded in such a way as to have no part to play?

NO! This is a misnomer. Psalm 19:7 tells us that "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." There is nothing wrong with the law - the failure is with sinful man who in his fallen nature cannot keep it. So, can we be saved by the keeping of the law? NO! Every one of us have already broken it, and stand condemned by it, and thereby cut off from a holy God.

We need to understand the PURPOSE of the law. 1 Timothy 1:8 says "But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully". Notice this is a New Testament text, and Paul (a New Testament apostle) teaches that "the law IS good" ... present tense. But it must be used lawfully; that is "rightly" or "correctly", or "for the purpose it was designed for".

He goes on in the very next verse (1:9) to say, "knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine..."

In order to be saved, men must "repent and believe". Repent of their sin, and believe on (cling to, trust in and rely on) Jesus Christ as their only Savior. But how will a person repent unless he sees himself a sinner in need of forgiveness? This is the role of the law. It is to show us how hopelessly short of God's moral standard we fall, and as such we are under His judgment.

Here is the Biblical principle ... it is "Law to the proud, Grace to the humble". Galatians 3:24 tells us, "Therefore the law was our tutor (schoolmaster) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The law is given as the canon to blast apart man's self-righteousness and expose his conscience to the full and unrelenting gaze of Almighty God. Only when his pride is thus broken, and he sees his desperate need will God's grace be precious to him. The message of God's grace is meaningless and irrelavent to people, until they see their sinfulness.

John Wesley told young preachers that they ought to preach "90% law and 10% grace". Some might think this just hyperbole, and if not then it is an extreme view to say the least. But think about it. The real battle is to get sinful man to recognize his true condition. Once this is accomplished and a person is trembling under the knowledge of God's wrath against their sin, you only need the simplest presentation of the gracious gospel of salvation in Jesus and they will cling to Him immediately.

In discarding the preaching of the law, modern evangelism has given up the real power of God to bring about true repentance. A repentance-less gospel is no gospel at all. There is no true work of salvation without it. Hence, your preaching will produce false converts and a powerless church. Far from saving people, you will only achieve the hardening of their hearts in self-righteousness and false assurance.

May God bring us back to the old gospel, and we shall have the old power!

Pastor Phil

The "R" word

Here are the scandalous observable facts:

• 80-90% of people who are recorded as making "a decision for Christ" in today's Evangelical churches do not go on to committed discipleship. They are lost to the faith within a very short time, many of them immediately.


• These people will generally be harder to reach again in the future (for simple reasons that we will discuss another day).


• Of the 10-20% that can still be found in church attendance a year later, many join the swelling ranks of evangelicals who demonstrate little or no difference in lifestyle than unbelievers.

What are we to make of this state of affairs? Quite simply this: the Church is full of false conversions.

How has this happened? It is the natural (entirely predictable) result of the "gospel" that is now preached from the majority of Evangelical pulpits worldwide. We are simply not preaching the same message that was fearlessly declared by Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefield, C.H.Spurgeon, D.L.Moody, Charles G.Finney, and a host of others who God so powerfully used to bring untold numbers of unbelievers to thoroughly committed faith in Christ. Our "gospel" in fact is not the same gospel that was preached by the Church-at-large up until the 20th century.

What is the difference? During the last 100 years a monumental shift has taken place. Biblical evangelism (as laid down in the New Testament and modeled in the teaching of Jesus Himself and the early church) uses the Law of God to expose to men their sinfulness and the wrathful judgment that they are subject to when they must stand before a holy God and give an account. Only when a person is convicted of these realities by the Holy Spirit will they truly REPENT and cling to Jesus Christ as their only Savior.

You can sum up the deficiency of today's Church in one word. The "R" word. The missing grace. REPENTANCE.

What is the 'gospel' we are preaching today then? There is no doubt that Ray Comfort has accurately diagnosed the problem when he writes:

"The tragedy of modern evangelism is that, around the turn of the twentieth Century, the church forsook the Law in its capacity to convert the soul and drive sinners to Christ. Modern evangelism therefore had to find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel, and the reason it chose was the issue of 'life enhancement.' The gospel degenerated into 'Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.' Something like this is usually said, 'You will never find true happiness until you come to the Lord. You have a ‘God-shaped vacuum’ in your heart that only He can fill. God will heal your marriage and take away that addiction problem. He’ll get you out of financial difficulty and be your best friend.'" (Ray Comfort, The Problem with the Modern Gospel.")

If right now you are saying to yourself, "What's wrong with that? That sounds like the gospel to me!" - you need to be taken back into God's Word to see the real message of true gospel preaching:

1. Bookmark this blog now to read future posts which will continue on this vital subject.
2. Add your question or comment to these posts and let's have some good discussion about it.
3. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you get Ray Comfort's book "Revival's Golden Key". You can download it for free ... HERE. If you're not a reader, you can watch a video summary of the same concepts entitled "Hell's Best Kept Secret" ... HERE.

Change MUST come!

Pastor Phil