I Will Shake All Things
Part 2 – The Church The scriptures that
we are going to proclaim tonight are James chapter 1
verses 2, 3 and 4 But, when we make a proclamation
if it says: 'you do that.' We say 'we do it', you understand?
We make it personal. We line ourselves up with
what the scripture says We count it all joy when we
fall into various trials knowing that the testing of our
faith produces endurance. But we let endurance
have its perfect work that we may be complete
and perfect, lacking nothing. How many of you want to be
complete and perfect, lacking nothing? Well, the key is
endurance. All right, now we’re going back
to the theme that we began to deal with in the afternoon, the shaking of all things which God
has predicted through His prophets. And I’m not going to go over
the material we covered, just point out that God says:
I will shake all things, I will shake the heaven,
I will shake the earth, I will shake the dry land,
I will shake the sea, I will shake all nations, I will shake
everything that can be shaken. The purpose being that those of us who have received
the kingdom that cannot be shaken may be, as it were, filtered out
from the rest of humanity. This evening I want to deal with
a practical response. How shall we respond? If we really believe that
God is going to do what He so clearly says
He is going to do, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to do nothing or are we
going to seek from the Bible to know what the sensible and
scriptural course of action is. First of all, from what
I said this afternoon, it’s obvious that if we
want to remain unshakable we have to build a foundation
on the word of Jesus, hearing and doing His word. So all that I’m going to say
now follows out of that. In other words,
in what ways shall we hear and apply
the teaching of Scripture? I want to start with two
verses in 2 Peter chapter 3, a chapter which
deals with this period, the period of shaking. I’ll read verses... I'll do three
verses: 11 and 12: 2 Peter 3: 11-12 Therefore, since all these things will be
dissolved, what manner of persons
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening
the coming of the day of God. We’ll stop there. Peter asks a very
sensible question, and he asks the right question. The question is not first and
foremost what shall we do, but what kind of persons
ought we to be? What we are is more
important than what we do. And he gives a very simple outline
answer which contains three elements. He says first of all,
in all holy conduct and godliness. Secondly he says, looking for, And thirdly, hastening the
coming of the day of God. So there are three things
that he speaks about: holy conduct and godliness, looking for
the coming of the day of God, and hastening
the coming of the day of God. That should be our basic response: holiness, looking for
the coming of the day of God, and hastening
the coming of the day of God. I will deal briefly with those, first of all, with regard to holiness.
I’ll just turn to one Scripture, which is 2 Corinthians chapter 6, beginning at verse 17 and continuing on into
chapter 7 verse 1. You need to bear in mind the chapter
divisions were not in the original text, they were put in many, many
centuries later by translators. And sometimes
they obscure the sense. So we’re going to start now
with 2 Corinthians 6:17. And most of it is a quotation
from the Old Testament. Therefore, come out from among
them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean;
and I will receive you. And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having
these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. So God makes a promise
to be a Father to all of us
who fulfill His conditions. But bear in mind
there are conditions stated. And the first one is:
Come out from among them, [That’s the unbelievers. Not the
other Christians but the unbelievers.] and be separate.
[Be set apart to God.] Do not touch what is unclean;
and I will receive you. There are many different ways
we can touch what is unclean, but one very common way which
is a problem for nearly all of us, is by our mental attitudes and the
things we entertain in our minds. And also the things we look at. Particularly, I would have
to say by my standards, a lot of television
programs are unclean. And if we deliberately
expose ourselves to them we are touching what is unclean. If we can’t help it,
that’s another matter. I don’t say by no means
that we never go to movies but very seldom can Ruth and I go
to movies because they’re unclean. There was a movie some years
back which was really excellent, it was called Frisco Kid — I don’t
suppose most of you will remember it. Some of you do? Well, it was really hilarious.
I mean, it was so good and it was based on the life
of a young Jewish man who was due to become a rabbi and
had to go to Los Angeles from Poland. I mean, it was so exact to the thinking of Jewish people,
the story was excellent. And the acting was outstanding. But in the middle of it, for
no necessary reason at all, there was some
absolutely filthy language. It had nothing to do with the plot. Ruth and I said I’d like
to see that again. And incidentally, we
saw it in Florida and I think 80% of the congregation—or
the audience, not the congregation! Well, it was like a
congregation in a way. At least 80% was Jewish
because we live in a thickly populated area
by Jewish people. But eventually we
said to one another, I don’t feel free to expose
the Holy Spirit in me to the kind of language
that comes from that movie. That’s a personal decision but it’s an example of what can be
meant by touching what is unclean. You don’t have to.
Do not expose yourself to things that will
defile you mentally if you don’t have to. Now, I got saved in the
British Army and I spent another four and a half years in the army. You cannot help being exposed to
things that are unclean in the army. British soldiers are
incapable of speaking without blaspheming and swearing,
unless they’ve been saved. So, I heard that day after day
for four and a half years. But, I did not expose myself to it. I couldn’t avoid it. I never deliberately,
by the grace of God, I never deliberately exposed myself
to something that will defile me. Being a preacher,
I’m particularly careful. Because I know that if I let
anything into my mind, sooner or later it will come out of
my mouth when I’m preaching. I guard my mind. Ruth will bear me witness. I do not
deliberately take anything into my mind that could corrupt the word of God
that God has given me to proclaim. I suggest that all of us
need to consider. You don’t need to take the
same exact attitude that I take but you need to ask yourself,
am I touching the unclean? Am I unnecessarily exposing myself
to things that defile my spirit? Jesus said blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And the book of Proverbs says
keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Everything there is in life
comes out of your heart. If you have a pure heart
you will have a pure life. And if your heart is impure
your life will be impure. That’s an unalterable law
that governs all human conduct. And remember, what you
put into your heart determines the
course of your life. You cannot have the wrong
thing in your heart and live right. And, you cannot have the right
thing in your heart and live wrong. So what you have in your heart
determines the course of your life. I think while I was a
teacher in Africa, in Kenya, I got interested in
various African dialects, including one called Looragoli, which
is spoken by the Maragoli people. And I was the principal of a college
for training African teachers. I don’t know why but I walked into
the dormitory of some of the students and in the Looragoli language I saw Proverbs 4:23,
up in their language. It said, because their language
was a little more simple: Guard your heart
with all your strength, for everything there is
in life comes out of it. And I have never forgotten that. Everything there is in life
comes out of your heart. If you want a good life, have a good heart, have a pure
heart, have a clean heart. And if you defile yourself, ultimately you are the one
that will suffer the most. Obeying the Bible is not
really to be very pious; it’s to have common sense. Because it works. Then God says:
I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty. God does not offer to be unconditionally
Father to anybody who wants it. He says I’ll be a Father
if you meet my conditions. And then Paul adds therefore, at the beginning of chapter 7.
And you've probably heard me say, some of you, if you find
a therefore in the Bible you need to ask what it’s there for. And this therefore is because
of the previous two verses. Therefore, having
these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves... Some things God does for us and some things we
have to do for ourselves. There are many aspects of
holiness which only God can do. But here is something which
is our responsibility to do: ...let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit... Filthiness of the flesh,
I think most of us have a pretty clear idea of
some of what’s entailed by that. Sexual immorality,
drunkenness, anger,
swearing. But what about
filthiness of the spirit? I’ll tell you one thing
that I think, that is, every form of contact with
the occult is filthiness of the spirit. Many, many Christians today often
unknowingly are involved in the occult. Many Christians read horoscopes. is that right?
Maybe not the ones here. But let me tell you that if you lived
in Israel under the law of Moses and you read horoscopes,
you would have been put to death. That’s God’s estimate of it. I’m not going to go into a list of
occult things, it’s not my purpose. But I discovered in my own life that
it took quite a lot of work on my part to eliminate the occult. For instance, at Cambridge my
main subject of study on which I wrote my fellowship dissertation
was the philosophy of Plato. And many, many people
admire Plato. You find many Christians,
in fact, there’s a form of Christianity
called NeoPlatonism. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. So that’s a responsibility
placed on us. I could spend the rest of this
evening talking about how to do it but that’s not my theme, my theme
is we’re responsible to do it. This is not something
God will do for us, this is something He tells
us to do for ourselves. Then we’ll go back to
2 Peter chapter 3 and look at the second requirement: looking for the coming
of the day of God. I just want to turn
to two Scriptures. The first is in Titus, chapter two, verses 11, 12 and 13. Titus 2:11-13: For the grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God
and Savior Jesus Christ. And notice that
Paul calls Jesus God. The great God and our
Savior Jesus Christ. And the motivation
for holy living is primarily looking for
the coming of our Lord. I think if you analyze the teaching
of the New Testament on holiness you’ll see that in
almost every case it’s linked up with the
expectation of the Lord’s return. And personally I believe that where the
church loses the sense of expectation of the Lord’s return, New Testament
standards of holiness are impossible. Because I believe
that is the key motivation. And then likewise
in 1 John chapter 3, verses one, two and three. 1 John 3:1-3: Behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called
children of God, and we are. Therefore, the world does not know
us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we
are children of God. And it has not yet been
revealed but what we shall be, but we know that
when He is revealed we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is. And every one who has this hope in Him
purifies himself just as He is pure. You may tell me that you believe in
the doctrine of the return of the Lord but I want to look for
the evidence in your life. Because it says: every one
who has this hope in Him, [that’s the hope of His coming,]
purifies himself just as He is pure. Again, the Scripture puts
the responsibility on us. There are ways in
which God purifies us; there are ways in which
we have to purify ourselves. And God has only got one
standard of purity, that’s Jesus. Just as He is pure. Then going back to 2 Peter again,
just once more, chapter 3 verse 12, it says: ...looking for and hastening
the coming of the day of God. The old authorized versions
used to say hastening unto. But that’s not a very
accurate translation. The right translation is the one
that’s used in the modern text, hastening the coming
of the day of God. It’s not enough just to be expecting
it, we have to be hastening it. How can we hasten it?
The Bible tells us very clearly. Turn to Matthew 24, if you’re
following in the Scriptures. The beginning of this chapter,
the disciples asked Jesus what will be the sign of your
coming and of the end of the age? And in His answer Jesus
lists a number of signs: earthquakes, pestilences,
lawlessness and so on. But He hasn’t answered
the question till verse 13. What will be the
sign of your coming? And in Matthew 24:13
He gives a specific answer: This gospel of the kingdom
shall be proclaimed in all the world as a
witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. When will the end come? When the gospel of the kingdom
has been proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all the nations. Who is responsible to proclaim
the gospel of the kingdom? I didn’t hear you.
That’s right. So, how can we
hasten the coming? By proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom. On the other hand,
if we don’t do it, we are not hastening the coming,
we’re delaying the coming. And if you consider all the agony
and suffering in the world today, to be responsible for prolonging
that longer than necessary is a terrible responsibility. But it rests on us Christians
if we do not do what we can to hasten the coming of that day. And then one further
answer in Revelation 19. verses 7 and 8, this is praise
that’s going on in heaven. Revelation 19:7-8: Let us be glad and rejoice
and give God glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His wife has made herself ready. So the marriage cannot
take place until His His wife, the bride,
has made herself ready. So the state of the church
affects the coming of the Lord. The Lord cannot come for His bride
until she has made herself ready. I’ve lived in a lot of different
cultures and nations. I’ve never lived in any culture
or nation where a bride did not take some trouble to make
herself ready for her wedding day. It’s universal, no matter what
your color or your language. The same is true of the church. The church has to make
herself ready. And then in the next verse it
talks about our wedding garment. Verse 8: To her it was granted to be arrayed
in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the
righteous acts of the saints. Notice the word: we have to wear
linen, pure, white, shining linen. And the shining linen is the
righteous acts of the saints. When you and I believe sincerely
in Jesus, commit our lives to Him, His righteousness
is imputed to us. And the Scripture says we are
justified, we are reckoned righteous. But that’s not what the
Scripture is talking about here. It’s talking about the
righteous acts of the saints. We have to translate
imputed righteousness into outworked righteousness. And that’s the material from which
our wedding garment will be made. It’s the righteous
acts of the saints. I’ve permitted myself to say sometimes,
according to my observation; the contemporary church has got just
about enough material to make a bikini. But that’s not suitable
for a marriage. So the other way in which we
can hasten the coming of the Lord is by performing
our righteous acts, providing ourselves
with enough material to make the kind of wedding
garment that we ought to wear. Now, having laid that
as a sort of foundation, I want to speak about four
practical ways we can express our obedience
to the word of God. Number one is align
with God’s purposes. Or purpose. God has a purpose which is clearly revealed early on in the New Testament. God has never changed his purpose;
He’s working toward it consistently. And it’s stated in a very familiar
passage which we call the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-10: Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. That’s the approach. That’s
not a prayer, that’s an approach. And the first specific prayer is:
Your kingdom come, your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. What is the primary
objective of God? It’s that His kingdom may come. And we can only align ourselves
with God and with His purpose when we are aligned with
the coming of God’s kingdom, when everything we do
is ultimately directed towards the coming
of the kingdom of God. In the same chapter of Matthew,
verse 33, it says: Seek first the kingdom of God,
and His righteousness, and all the other things
will be added to you. And when God says first,
He means first. Not second or third. In other words,
our primary concern in life is to be the coming
of the kingdom of God. I am naive enough to believe
there is no other solution for the ills of humanity. We’re confronted every day
through the media with all the agony and the turmoil of humanity. Personally I think people are naive who believe that man can
solve that problem by himself. I was somewhat shocked
when President Bush, in connection with the Gulf War,
said: a new order was being
initiated of justice. I consider that a
remarkably naive statement for a leader of a great nation. I like to say I will not buy into his new
world order; I’m not impressed by it. But, man has entertained
the idea for hundreds of years that he can solve his own problems; bring peace and
justice to the earth. And I would say today we’re
probably further away from it than we’ve ever been at
any time in human history. So, I’m not ashamed to say
that I believe the only ultimate, realistic solution
for the human race is the establishment of
God’s kingdom on earth, under His appointed
ruler Jesus Christ. I don’t feel intellectually
inferior for believing that, I don’t believe it's
a pious superstition; I believe it’s a realistic appraisal of the situation in the world
and the nature of man. So, I am committed to the
coming of the kingdom of God. And insofar as lies in me, with
many weaknesses and frailties, my life is directed
toward that end. I happen to be a preacher,
I have a teaching ministry. And by the grace of God,
my teachings are now reaching
practically every nation on earth in various forms: radio, in video,
in audio tapes and in print. That’s the practical expression
in my life of my commitment to the coming of
the kingdom of God. Now you are not called
to do what I’m called to do. But you are called to do something. And first and foremost you
need to get your priorities right. It’s not seek the kingdom
of God when it suits you or when you’ve attended to all
the other things that concern you. Seek it first. And when God says first,
He means first. As I was preparing this message
I got a vivid picture in my mind of the prophet Jonah. I want to turn there for a moment. You
know the story of Jonah, most of you. God said: Go to Nineveh
and preach what I tell you. Nineveh was east and Jonah went
the opposite direction, he went west. I think the reason why he didn’t
want to preach to Nineveh was that he was afraid
the people would repent. And, Nineveh was the number one
political enemy of his people Israel. So he did not want to do anything
that would forward their cause. That’s my personal opinion. And the remarkable thing is when God
eventually got His way with Jonah, the greatest experience of
conversion recorded in history happened through him.
An entire city of — people believe at least
six hundred thousand people— was converted. But before that happened,
Jonah had to learn a lesson. This is very interesting. He lived
on the mountains of Galilee. And when he turned his back
on God every step he took was a step downwards. He went from the
mountains to the plain, from the plain to the harbor,
from the harbor to the ship. And, that wasn’t the end.
From the ship into the sea. And let that be a warning
to each and every one of us. When you turn your back on God
every step you take will be a step downward. Well, God was on Jonah’s case
and when the ships took sail it said: God hurled out
a storm into the sea. And all these pagans began to
cry out to God and ask for help. Where was Jonah, the only
one who knew the true God, the only one who had the answer?
Let me read. Verse 5: Then the mariners were afraid
and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the
ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into
the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down
and was fast asleep. You know what made him sleep?
A bad conscience. He couldn’t face life. I’ve met
people who take refuge in sleep. I knew a lady who if things went
wrong would sleep for sixteen hours. That was her escape from life. The captain [who was an unbeliever]
came to him and said to him: What do you mean, sleeper?
Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us,
so that we may not perish. You know, there are a lot
of Jonahs in the world today. They’ve had a call from God; they know full well what
God wanted them to do. But, it didn’t suit them so
they’ve turned their back on God, and now while the world is tossing
in the tempest, where are they? Down in the bottom of the ship
fast asleep. That’s a tragic situation. We have some Jonahs
here this evening. You know God called you and you
deliberately turned your back on God. And who knows how
you got here this evening? But I’m going to give you an
opportunity later in this service to change your mind. So, you can think that over. Think of it, the only man
who knew the true God, the only man who had the answer. All the pagans around him
were praying earnestly and he was down there in the
sides of the ship fast asleep. What a vivid picture of
multitudes of Christians today, down in the ship asleep, because they’re not
willing to face reality. All right, that’s number one
of my recommendations. Align with God’s purpose which
is the coming of His kingdom. He’s never varied, He’s never
changed. That is His objective. Number two,
cultivate endurance. We’ll turn back to Matthew 24. The verse that I quoted
was verse 14: This gospel of the kingdom shall
be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end shall come. But the verse before that says: But he who endures to
the end shall be saved. And Jesus has been speaking about all
the problems and troubles and agonies that are coming on the nation. And then He says: He who
endures to the end shall be saved. That’s the English translation
but the Greek is more specific. It says: he who has endured
to the end shall be saved. In fact, it’s more specific
than that. Jesus says: he who has endured to the end,
this is the one who will be saved. The English translation doesn’t
bring it out sufficiently and vividly. Who will be saved? The one who has
endured to the end. So you’re saved now. But to stay saved
you have to endure. Luke 21,
which is a parallel passage, it’s again the discourse
that Jesus gave. He says in verse 17 and following,
Luke 21:17: And you will be hated
by all for My name’s sake... Obviously that must
refer to Christians because it’s people who are hated
for the sake of the name of Jesus. That’s one of those promises people
don’t put in their promise box! The next promise maybe you do: ...but not a hair of
your head shall be lost. Now that refers to the resurrection because lots of Christians
who were martyred, their bodies were totally destroyed. But in the resurrection, if you make it through, you’ll
come out with a full head of hair. Not one hair missing! That’s a guarantee from Jesus. Then He says: In your
patience possess your souls. But that really does not
render the meaning. I’ll give you my version,
the Prince version. By your endurance
purchase your souls. I mean, you can check if you want
to but I have looked at the words. That’s my understanding of it.
In other words, what is the price you have to pay
for the salvation of your souls? In one word,
endurance, that’s right. You see, there are things we
have to buy but not with money. There’s other currency with
which we buy some things. In Isaiah 55:1 it says:
Come, buy wine and milk without money, without price. You
have to buy them but not with money. In the parable of the wise
and the foolish virgins, the foolish who did
not bring enough oil, the wise said to them:
Go and buy oil. But while they were buying the
bridegroom came and they missed it. But the oil we always understand
to be a type of the Holy Spirit. You cannot buy the
Holy Spirit with money but you have to buy the Holy Spirit with prayer, with seeking God,
with time spent in the word. Otherwise, when your lamp runs out
you’ll have nothing to refuel it with. And then in Revelation 3,
speaking to the church at Laodicea, Jesus says: I counsel
you to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
and white raiment. That’s not bought with money
but it’s bought. And as I understand it,
here in Luke Jesus says you have to purchase the salvation
of your soul by your endurance. If you don’t endure, you’ll be lost. Then there was the Scripture
that Ruth and I proclaimed: We count it all joy when
we fall into various trials. Can you say that? I mean, I know
you can say the words but is it true? See, why we proclaim
that Scripture is because God convinced us, convicted us
that it wasn’t that way with us. When we fell into
various certain trials we, I don’t know that we complained
but we certainly didn’t count it all joy. So we had to confess
that as a sin. And, we’re trying to do better. But James says count it all joy when
you fall into various trials. Why? Because the testing of your
faith produces endurance. I have observed in the
New Testament that every test a Christian goes through
ultimately is a test of faith. It may take many forms but
what is being tested is your faith. And then James says:
let endurance have its perfect work... Don’t stop short, don’t start
to endure and then give up. let endurance have its perfect
work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I asked you before, how many of us want to be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing? What’s the condition? Endurance, that’s right.
There’s no way around it. And you know, there’s only
one way to lear learn to endure, do you know what that is?
Enduring, that’s right. One of the words used in the old King
James Version was longsuffering. And you know how you
learn longsuffering? By suffering long.
There’s no other way to do it. I mean, you can laugh at
that but it’s exactly correct. I know a brother, a sister came
to him for prayer, a minister, and said: Brother So and So, pray
for me I get out of this situation, I can’t stand the boss
I’m working for. He said: No, I won’t pray for you,
you haven’t suffered long enough. I’d like to turn to the end of
James for a few moments. I want to point out to you
how closely endurance is connected with preparation
for the coming of the Lord. James chapter 5, just reading verses 7–11. Now the word that’s used
here mainly is patience. And let me offer you
a little English lesson for which I make no extra charge. There are three related
English words: patience, perseverance
and endurance. They’re related but they’re
distinct and all of them have their place in Christian
experience. Patience is derived from the same Latin
root which gives us the word passive. Patience is essentially
doing nothing. And God expresses patience. Peter says that the patience of God
waited in the days of Noah. God didn’t do anything. For a hundred
and twenty years He let man go on. Lots of people have
concluded God doesn’t care. That’s not so.
It was the patience of God. Often God exercises patience,
He doesn’t do anything. You say how could He let Hitler get
away with it? The patience of God. So, patience, in a sense,
in a good sense, is doing nothing. And then there’s
perseverance which you could interpret as doing
something and persistently doing it, going on and on and on
doing it. Not stopping. And then there’s endurance which is
the word we’re mainly dealing with. And the Greek word
means remaining under. So you’re under all these pressures
and endurance is remaining there. It’s holding out against them but
it’s not trying to escape from them. So we have these three aspects
of Christian conduct: patience, perseverance
and endurance. And they’re all involved in the
preparation for the coming of the Lord. So I’ll read these few verses
from James 5:7: Therefore, be patient, brethren,
until the coming of the Lord. You know, I find that for most
men servants of the Lord, patience is the hardest
thing to achieve. I think women are better at patience
than men. It doesn’t mean they’re good. But I mean, I had been
a Christian at least thirty years before I realized that my
besetting sin was impatience. I wasn’t even convicted of it. And when I began to deal with it, dear Lord, I realized
what a hold it had over me. All right, we’re going on. See how the farmer waits for
the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it
receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient, establish your hearts for the
coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another,
brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is
standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of
suffering and patience. I run into quite a lot of people today
who want to claim to be prophets. But I’m not sure that they’re
following the scriptural pattern, because there’s nothing very
glamorous about being a prophet according to the Bible. It’s painful.
It means isolation, persecution. I preached once in Africa,
in Ghana, on the ministries of the body:
apostles, prophets, evangelists... I had an audience of,
I think, three thousand people, mostly young men,
it was wonderful. So after I dealt with the ministry
of the apostle for quite a while, I said: How many of you
would like to be apostles? Does anybody have an NIV here
that I can borrow for a moment, someone close to me?
I’ll give it back, I promise. Thank you very much. So, a lot of them
put their hands up. I said: Wait a moment, let me read you
the job description before you apply. I turned to 1 Corinthians 4,
which is very vivid in the NIV. This is what it says —I think it applies really
to the contemporary, Charismatic people. I used to
call it the Charismatic movement but I don’t because I don’t
think it’s moving anywhere. It was but it’s got
bogged down somewhere. All right, this is 1 Corinthians 4,
beginning at verse 8: Already you have all you want
[addressed to the Corinthian Christians], already you have become rich
[they’ve had the full gospel]... Did you ever hear of the
perversion of the full business... full Gospel business men's
movement? Which is the full
business men's Gospel I love those brothers, I've
spoken for them many times, but... ...you have become kings,
and that without us. How I wish that you
really had become kings so that we might be
kings with you. For it seems to me that
God has put us apostles on display at the end
of the procession like men condemned
to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle
to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ,
but you are so wise in Christ. We are weak but you are strong.
You are honored, we are dishonored. To this very hour we
go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally
treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands.
When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted,
we endure it; when we are slandered,
we answered kindly. Up to this moment we have
become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. That’s the New
Testament description of an apostle. If you want a description of
what it’s like to be a prophet, I think you can find it in Hebrews. Since we’re there,
Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, the last 2 verses. This is the prophetic ministry. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two [that was Isaiah], they were put to death
by the sword, they went about in
sheepskins and goat skins, destitute, persecuted
and ill treated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, and in caves and
holes in the ground. How many want to be prophets? What’s needed? I didn’t hear you.
Endurance, that’s right. We’ll go on now with
what we were reading here. We’ll go back to verse 10
of James 5: My brethren, take the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of
suffering and patience. Not an example of glamour,
but of suffering. Indeed, we count them
blessed who endure. You’ve heard of the perseverance
[notice that word] of Job, and seen the end
intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very
compassionate and merciful. If you go through those verses
you’ll find the theme is patience, perseverance, endurance. And that’s the pattern
for the people of God who are preparing for
the return of the Lord. I have to say that I preach these words
to myself as much as anybody here. I tremble often when I hear
the irresponsible way in which people are talking
today about ministries and gifts. It’s tough to have a ministry
in the body of Christ. The more harm you do the devil
the more he’ll fight against you. If you’re not prepared for
conflict and agony, just resign. You hear that,
that’s an amen! All right, we’re coming to
the next, this is number three. This is worse still! Do you know what it is?
It’s waiting. The importance of waiting is almost totally overlooked in
the contemporary church —at least by the kind
of people I mix with. And yet it’s a central part of our
preparation for the return of the Lord. Hebrews 9:28: So Christ was offered once
to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for
Him He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. To whom will He appear?
To those who eagerly wait for Him. Now, some translations
don’t put in the eagerly but it’s a double
preposition in the Greek. And I think eagerly accurately
represents the real meaning of it. It’s not just waiting for Him
but it’s eagerly waiting for Him. I have a friend who’s known to a few of
us here, but I won’t mention his name, who is a preacher. He and I
have worked together in the past. He has a rather droll way
of expressing himself and he says
when the Lord returns, he’ll expect to hear something more
from us than: Nice to have you back. If we’re eagerly waiting for Him
we’ll have more to say than that! Then in 1 Thessalonians, a very remarkable passage, chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, which is speaking about the
testimony of the unbelievers to the experience of the Thessalonian
Christians. 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10: For they themselves declare concerning
us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God,
and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us
from the wrath to come. So these people turn to God
as a result of the ministry of Paul to do two things. And there’s no suggestion that one
is more important than the other. To serve the living God and
to wait for His Son from heaven. You see, as Christians we are called
to serve but we are also called to wait. And I’ve spoken to Christian
ministers and workers in many places, I sometimes ask this question: Which takes more faith?
To work or to wait? And never had anybody answered it
takes more faith to work than to wait. The real test of faith is waiting. And, it’s a test to which
we will all be subjected because we are called
to turn from idols to serve God, to wait for His Son. Give me back my NIV for a moment. I'm sorry, your NIV. This is a verse in Isaiah 64 verse 4, which is so vivid in this
that I like to quote it from the NIV. Chapter 64, verse 4. This describes one unique
aspect of the true God. It says:
Since ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any god besides you who acts on behalf of
those who wait for Him. What’s the one unique, distinguishing
characteristic of the true God? He acts on behalf of
those who do what? Wait for Him.
Thank you. All right. Turn to John chapter 9, verse 4. A verse that... Ken quoted, recently
while praying with us. I don't know wheter
he remembers John 9:4 Jesus says: We... [That’s a better
translation or better version than I.] We must work the works of
Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming
when no one can work. Do you understand that? There is coming over the earth a night
of darkness when work will be over, and we’ll only do one thing;
which is: wait. But we’ll wait content,
if we’ve done our job. But it will be intensely frustrating
when the night descends and you say:
But I should have done this, I should have done that,
I should be there. Because it’ll be too late. The night is coming
when no one can work. The only thing we can do is to wait, and we don’t know
how long we’ll have to wait. You know what I’ve
noticed about God’s trials? He hardly ever tells you: This is a
trial and if you hold out for six months you’ll be through. And some of us get to five
months and twenty-nine days and we give up. We didn’t know
we only had one more day. Never give up! There’s no precedent
in the Bible for giving up. God determines how long
the test will last, not we. You see, waiting is one of the tests
to which God almost invariably subjects the servants
He intends to use. I’ll give you just a little list. Abraham. You’re going to have a son who will be the head of a nation
that will be unique in the earth. How long did he have to wait?
Twenty-five years. Meanwhile his dear wife Sarah tried
to help him and complicated things. It’s interesting... She said: Listen to me, do what I say.
First of all, have a child by Hagar, and later she said
get rid of the child. That’s the counsel of the flesh,
it’s inconsistent. It tells you to do one thing
and later cancels it. But Abraham became
the man he was by waiting. He had to watch his wife pass the
age of childbearing and still wait. It amazes me that Abraham
is so highly rated in the Bible. Because, what did he do? Well, essentially, he was
a prosperous cattle farmer, and he wandered around the area
to the east end of the Mediterranean looking after his flocks
and his herds. He did nothing very dramatic until the time came that he was
willing to offer up his son Isaac. I’ve often asked myself
what was it in Abraham that caused God
to esteem him so highly that he was called
a friend of God. And I’m not sure that I
really know the answer but I think one way he earned
God’s favor was by waiting. Some of you are going to forfeit
God’s favor if you don’t wait. Then there was Joseph. I love the passage in Psalm
105 that speaks about Joseph. I think I can identify with this to
some extent from my own experience. Psalm 105:17 and following: God sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters,
his soul came into irons. Somebody said the iron
came into his soul too. Until the time that
his word came to pass, the word of the
Lord tested him. See, that’s a test. The Lord gives you
a glorious promise, tremendous. And after that everything
goes the opposite way. Instead of becoming the ruler over your
brethren you end up in jail in Egypt. And, I can’t think of a worse
place to be in jail than Egypt. What was God doing?
Testing him. What was the test?
Waiting. And then if you want
to look at others, Moses. It says in Numbers 12:3, Moses
was the meekest man on earth. How did Moses learn meekness? By waiting forty years. Somebody asked
a preacher friend of mine: Why did God keep
Moses waiting forty years? The answer was: Because
He couldn’t do it in thirty-nine. God will not finish
until the test is complete. When Moses first thought he
could deliver Israel out of Egypt he was a very arrogant young man. Forty years later he was
the meekest man on earth. And, no one except Jesus has
ever exercised such authority as Moses exercised. So, if you want to have authority,
you know what you need to cultivate? Meekness. God cannot trust His authority to the
arrogant, the proud, the self assertive. We had a prophetic word
that said that in so many ways. You know the condition for promotion
in the kingdom of God? It’s very easy. It’s abase yourself. Everyone who abases
himself will be exalted. But on the other hand,
everyone who exalts himself will be: abased, that’s right.
You have the choice. That’s an unalterable law
that governs the universe. People talk about breaking
God’s laws, that’s not true. We don’t break God’s laws, God’s
laws break us if we break them. And then let’s think just
about David for a moment, another young man who was given
tremendous promises of God. And he spent the next
I don’t know how many years, I think probably about fifteen years, living, as he said himself, like a dead
dog or a partridge on the mountains, running away from the man
whom he was to succeed as king. Why does God permit that? In fact, why does God ordain
that, what is He looking for? In one word? endurance, that’s right. You cannot bypass endurance. You know
whom I’m speaking to at the moment? Me. You cannot bypass endurance
and enter into the promises of God. You can come so far but the completeness is
only through endurance. And just when it seems
impossible to hold up, that’s the time to hold out. Don’t give in. I would like to say that to several of
you individually. You’re in the test, you’re doing all right,
just hang in there. Don’t back out, don’t give up. God is faithful. I’ve been asked sometimes if I had
a message to leave for posterity, what would it be? I always say I
can give it to you in three words: God is faithful. I’ll tell you another thing
about waiting. It causes us to realize more
and more our dependence on God. I can’t do anything. I can’t make it happen,
I don’t know when it’s coming, I just depend on him. I don’t know whether you ladies
ever have problems in your house but we do in Israel. Sometimes our electricity fails
for reasons we can’t analyze. And we’re in the middle
of cooking something or somebody is doing the ironing, and we phone and we eventually
catch up with our electrician. It’s midday, he says:
I’ll try to be there by 4:00 p.m. So what do we do for four hours? We wait. And by the end of four hours we know
one thing, we need the electrician. We’re dependent on him. So, waiting causes us to realize
in an altogether new measure our dependence on Jesus. All right. Finally brethren,
and I’ll try to do better than Paul who said, finally brethren,
and wrote two more chapters! And I think it’s necessary to say this because what I’ve said in
many ways has been hard to take. But the fourth
recommendation I have is cultivate positive attitude
and expectation. You know, somebody said everybody is
born either an optimist or a pessimist. And I know full well
what I was born. I was born a pessimist. Furthermore, I was brought
up to be a pessimist. I mean, my parents were good people
but in my home if you weren’t worrying, you should be worrying about
the fact you weren’t worrying. And I was saved, baptized in
the Holy Spirit and had a ministry, but I had not overcome pessimism. And the expression it took
in my life was depression. And although other people
were getting saved, I was struggling ceaselessly against this dark cloud
that settled down over me. And I did everything. I mean,
I knew the Scriptures fairly well. I knew that you had to
reckon yourself dead and I reckoned myself dead so many
times it just didn’t have any meaning. But it didn’t solve the problem. And then one day
I was reading Isaiah 61:3, and I read: ...in place of the spirit
of heaviness the garment of praise... And when I read the phrase,
the spirit of heaviness, the Holy Spirit said to me:
That’s your problem. And I suddenly realized
I wasn’t dealing with myself. It wasn’t my mental attitudes; it was a person that was
tormenting me day and night. And I realized he was a person
that had known me from childhood. He knew my every weakness,
he knew just when to attack me. Furthermore, I realized that it was
what we would call a familiar spirit. It was a spirit that had
come down through my family. I identified exactly the same
condition in my father. And I called on the name of the Lord
and I was delivered from that demon. Oh yes, I was saved, I spoke in
tongues, I preached the gospel. But I needed to be
delivered from a demon. I was so ashamed of that that
I didn’t tell anybody for ten years. And then the Lord forced me out
into the open by confronting me with a demon possessed woman in
front of my pulpit on Sunday morning. And I had just been preaching that
no matter what the devil does, God has the last word. There was this woman writhing
like a snake in front of the pulpit, the same woman that used to play
the piano for our worship meetings. I knew I either had to
prove it or stop saying it. And that was when I was
thrust out into the open. And, that woman was delivered. But it took me ten years from
the time I was delivered myself before I was willing to
face the issue in public. But why I say that is
because once I was delivered God showed me He had done for
me what I could not do for myself. But He would not do for me
what I could do for myself. And He showed me I had
to change the way I thought. Every time negative suggestion
or reaction came to my mind I had to meet it with something
positive out of the Scripture. And that did not happen overnight,
it took at least three years. But by the end of that time
I was no longer a pessimist. So I understand what’s involved.
I would say, as a matter of fact, if you’ll forgive my saying it
as a Britisher to Britishers, one of the main problems
of Britain is pessimism. The British are more
prone to pessimism than any other major nation
that I’ve dealt with. I think it’s something; it’s
a spiritual influence somewhere. Anyhow, let’s not
get involved in that. I think I ought to say this, I will be teaching on
deliverance from demons in Kensington temple
later this month. If you really have a serious need, come then,
we'll do something for you. All right, let’s just come to this business of
having a positive attitude and close. Romans 12:21 says: Do not be overcome by evil
but overcome evil by good. So we have two options
and only two. We can overcome, or we can be overcome,
but there’s nothing in between. And when we’re confronted by evil, there’s only one thing that’s
strong enough to overcome evil and that is good. We cannot take a negative attitude; we cannot simply say
it’s not my problem. We have to actively practice
that which is good. Do not be overcome by evil
but overcome evil by good. And Romans 8:35
and following says: Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake
we are killed all day long, we are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. That’s pretty negative
teaching, isn’t it? Some people object to negative teaching,
they say: Brother, be positive. But the negative is also true. People who sell phony shares in
the stock market are very positive but they’re dishonest. I believe as Christians
we have to face the negative. We cannot close our eyes
or avert our heads. There is trouble ahead. I believe there’s much
more trouble ahead than most of us can even
comprehend at the moment. But that doesn’t mean
we have to be pessimistic. What is Paul’s comment? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. What is all these things?
There’s a list. Tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, nakedness, peril or sword. And then Paul says in all these
things we are more than conquerors. I once asked the Lord what it
meant to be more than conqueror, and I felt the answer
He gave me was this: To be more than a conqueror
means that you go into a trouble, overcome it and come out of the trouble
with more than you went in with. You’ve taken spoil. 1 John chapter 4, I have only two more Scriptures. 1 John 4:4: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them
[all the forces of evil] because He who is in you is
greater than he who is in the world. Actually, it’s incredibly
stupid of the devil ever to think
that he could take God on. I mean, we can’t
absorb the stupidity. The God who created the whole
universe and keeps it in perfect order, and some created being
challenges this God. It was an American philosopher
who said about the devil: He’s a consummate ass. I’m not using empty words,
I’m just pointing out it’s the height of stupidity
what the devil has done. But, He who is in us is greater
than he who is in the world. I’d like you to say that after me
because I think you need to say it. He who is in us is greater
than he who is in the world. Say it again: He who is in us is
greater than he who is in the world. Now, if you would like to do
this, find somebody near you, turn to them, look them in the
eyes and say: He who is in me is greater than he who
is in the world. All right? Amen. All right.
You know why I do that? It’s because it’s pretty easy to look
up to God and not be embarrassed. But when you’ve got to look somebody
right between the eyes and say it, that gives you some idea
of whether you really mean it. One other Scripture and we close,
Revelation 21:7. Revelation 21:7: He who overcomes
shall inherit all things, and I will be his God
and he shall be my son. I have searched the New Testament; I cannot find any promise there
except for those who overcome. And you only have two options: either overcome
or be overcome. So we, all of us, each of us,
has to make up our mind. I can overcome, greater is He that
is in me than he that is in the world, but I have to make my mind up.
I have to meet the conditions. Now I just think I need to apply
what I’ve been saying, very briefly. I felt when the Lord
gave me this message that there would be
some Jonahs here tonight, who’ve heard the call of God
and refused it. And maybe where you’ve been is down
in the sides of the ship fast asleep. But by some act of God’s
providence you got here tonight and you’ve listened to the description
and you realized that is me. I’m a Jonah.
I’m running away from God. And every step I’ve taken
since I turned my back on God has been a step downward. But now
tonight I want to turn back to God. I want to acknowledge my rebellion
and turn back to Him and submit my life to Him. Christians, will you be praying? If there’s any Jonahs here tonight, we want to tell you
that God loves you, still. We love you. We want to help you
but you’ve got to make a decision. If you want to come back to God
tonight, do just one simple thing. Wherever you are in this auditorium,
stand to your feet right now and say: I’m a Jonah. I’ve been
running away from the Lord but I want to come back. Wherever you may be. I am quite sure there’s
at least one here tonight. God bless you.
God bless you. Anybody else?
Another Jonah. Bless you. I said I was sure
there was a woman here tonight. Just keep standing because
this is an important moment. There’s another.
God bless you, my dear sister. God bless you, God bless you.
God bless you. Now, don’t stand unless
you answer that category, you have heard the call
of God and you’ve run away. Now you want to come back. Praise God. God showed me there
would be Jonahs here tonight. Listen, I want you to do something
else. This won’t be altogether easy but it makes the difference.
I want you to get out of your pew and by whatever means possible come down and stand in front
of the pulpit here, all right? Please. You’ve got to move out
from where you are, you understand, just
to stay in one position... Now, brother Ken,
where are you? If we have counselors here— well I tell you what, I think we need
to send them into another room. I didn’t know we’d get
this number of people. I just want to tell you that it makes
me very happy to see you here tonight. I want you to know
God loves you. He’s never given up on you,
you understand? You may have given up on Him
but He has never given up on you. Thank you, Lord. I would like all of you to just
say this simple prayer after me. We’ll wait a moment or two
as people come. Now I know that some of you
need to get out, it’s late. But try and hold fast if you can.
Don’t be embarrassed if you have to go. Ruth, come and stand with me. Now, a very simple prayer, praying to Jesus, not to me. I’ll give you the words,
you say them after me. Lord Jesus, I'm sorry
that I turned my back on you and went my own way.
Tonight I repent. I turn back to you,
I submit myself to you, and I ask you to have
your way in my life. Take me as I am and make
me what you want me to be. I want you to say those last
words again: Take me as I am and make me
what you want me to be. In the name of Jesus,
amen. Now Ken, is there a place to
which they can go if they want to? Would you show them how to go? Now, while they are being directed, I just want to give
one further opportunity. If there is anybody here tonight, you’ve never been born again, you’ve never become part
of God’s new creation, and you want to be part
of that new creation— There’s people that came forward as
Jonahs, would you go out that way? Christians, would you
be praying for these? Some of us know from experience
it’s hard to come back to God when you’ve turned away. But tonight is their night. God showed me,
put that bit in about Jonah because there are
going to be some here tonight. Now, we’re not going to prolong this
but if you have never been born again, you do not know for sure that your sins have been
forgiven for the sake of Jesus; you’ve never personally
yielded your life to Him as savior and confessed Him as Lord. You don’t know the peace that comes
through the forgiveness of sins but you would like that tonight. Would you just do the same
as the others did, would you just stand
to your feet wherever you are? Don’t be embarrassed,
do not be embarrassed. It would be a tragedy if you
were to go out of here tonight without having come to know
Jesus personally. We’re not going to prolong this, I have a feeling there’s at least
one person, and you’re struggling. Christians,
let’s pray for a moment, shall we? Lord, if there is somebody here
tonight who needs to be born again but is held back
by some satanic pressure, by a spirit of fear,
whatever it may be, in your name, Lord Jesus, we loose
them now from anything that holds them that they may be free
to make their own decision. In Jesus’ name,
amen. Now, if you want to
receive Jesus, you can. All you have to do to indicate
this is to stand to your feet. We’re not going to prolong this. I have such a strong feeling
there is somebody here. Oh, there’s somebody standing.
God bless you. We couldn’t have gone
home without you! Now, is there some
mature Christian here who can counsel that dear lady,
I’d like you to go back to her. Do we have somebody? Yes, all right. See the lady that’s
standing, go back and talk to her. Pray with her and help her. Now how many of us
can say thank you, Jesus?
