Nothing is Easier Than Finding God's Will

Most people's Christianity is a series of simple things made complicated. Many ministers take pride in how carefully they can complicate the simplest scriptural truths. You are not a good minister if you can take a simple truth and complicate it; instead, you are a good minister if you can take a deep Biblical truth and simplify it! Christian ministers seem to specialize in making the simple as difficult as possible.

A man once approached Dr. Monroe Parker. “I've been visiting as many churches as possible,” the man told Dr. Parker, “because I'm trying to understand God.”

“How are you coming along in your quest to understand God?” Dr. Parker asked.

“Understand God?” the man replied. “I can't understand preachers, let alone God.”

Leave it to preachers to make things complicated. We complicate salvation. Salvation by faith in Christ is literally the easiest teaching in all the Bible. However, if you ask the next ten professing Christians that cross your path how to know that you are saved and heaven bound, you will get fifteen different answers. Every church has a plan of salvation that it endorses, but very few preach salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

We complicate prayer. Some say you must kneel; others say you must quote prayers verbatim from a prayer book. Others insist that you pray long prayers; others demand loud prayers; others promote secret prayers; and others endorse public prayers. Yet, the sum of all these things matters very little in a person's actual time of prayer.

And we ministers are great at complicating the truth of how a Christian finds the will of God. Mark my words – one of the easiest things for a Christian to do, hands down, is to find the will of God. When I was a student in Bible college, I watched as young ministers prayed, wept, and fasted because they wanted to find God's will. Almost all of their praying, weeping, and fasting was completely unnecessary. These young ministers wanted to know from God - “Am I going to be a pastor, or an evangelist?” “Am I going to live up north, or down south?” They would lose sleep worrying about the details of God's plans for their lives. It was sad to watch many of them lack the simple Bible teaching about the will of God and how to find it.

How Does a Christian Find the Will of God?

Finding God's will is clearly laid out in Proverbs 3:6 –

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Please notice that the above verse has two distinct parts. The first part is my part; the second part is God's part. Nearly all of the turmoil that possesses Christians attempting to find God's will occurs when they get out of the first part of the verse (their part) and meddle in the second part of the verse (God's part). The first part of this verse is the condition we must carry out; and the second part of the verse is God's promise to fulfill His part.

The first part of the verse (our part) reads this way - “In all thy ways acknowledge him.” My part ends there. The rest of the verse is no concern of mine. The rest of the verse is God's part – God's promise that He will fulfill. Proverbs 3:6 promises that, if I acknowledge God in every area of my life, He will direct my paths. This is one of the greatest promises of the Bible. Finding God's will is as simple as believing what God said. Period. If you believe what God said, you will never sweat this concept of finding God's will ever again. My part in this matter is to acknowledge God. In turn, God will lead me. He promised. He cannot lie. As a Christian, I have never lost any sleep worrying over whether or not I was in the will of God. I have only tried to acknowledge God where I am, and God has always done the leading. As of now, I serve as a pastor in Indiana. Am I worried that maybe it is God's will for me to be elsewhere? Not at all. I am going to serve God, acknowledging Him where I am, and when I need to be elsewhere, He will lead me. He said He would. He promised.

To someone who wants to be sure of God's will, simply acknowledge God in all you do, wherever you currently are. God will take care of the rest. A friend of mine once stated that many times, Christians miss out on God's will because they are always looking for some big project in the future. I have heard Christians say, “I am going to have a great ministry someday.” And they say it their entire lives. As their fleeting lives drift away, they do nothing for God because they believe that God's will contains something big for them... down the road. Don't think of God's will as being something in the future. There are opportunities to carry out God's will all around you. Serve God where you are. If you cannot serve God where you are, you cannot serve Him anywhere. Someone in very close proximity to you needs salvation. Someone you know is hurting. Someone associated with you is hungry. Give the gospel to the lost; it is God's will for you to do so. Feed the poor; it is God's will. Give to the needy; it is God's will. Lighten the load of a fellow Christian; you are fulfilling the law of Christ – the will of God – when you do so.

Acknowledge God. Serve Him today. Serve Him now. Serve Him where you are. Don't wait until God's will takes you to another location. Acknowledging God is your part. Do it. Directing your paths is God's part. He will do it. He promised.

Written Prayers

What do you think of written prayers? By “written prayers,” I mean the practice of writing out at least a portion of your prayers. Have you ever given the practice any thought? For many of the deeply devoted, the thought of writing out one’s prayers sounds artificial. We look with suspicion at anything done well; anything involving preparation. We equate sincerity with spontaneity. If we pray, preach, or witness on the spur of the moment, giving it little or no thought, it must have been done because we are incredibly spiritual. If, however, any of the aforementioned acts were done as a result of planning and preparation, then it had to be a work of the flesh. That’s how some think, anyhow. I’m not sure how one comes to such a conclusion. I am certain that no conclusion is reached as a result of scriptural exposition, but the conclusion is reached nonetheless. The fact is that most such thinking is the result of tradition, which esteems thoughtless, spontaneous devotion very highly.

What do you think of written prayers? I was standing in the front of the auditorium of a Pentecostal church a few minutes before service was to begin. I was speaking to the pastor, who was telling me with beaming eyes and an enthusiastic voice that he was going to be, in a short time, a grandfather again. “My grandson will have quite a name to live up to,” he said. His grandson was going to be named “Wesley.” Of course, this pastor compared his grandson’s name to that of John Wesley. This particular pastor revered Wesley very highly, as do many Pentecostals (though Wesley was not Pentecostal). John Wesley was a devoted Christian whose thoughts on holiness are soul-stirring. Many Christians, both those who worship more formally and those who worship more spontaneously, think highly of John Wesley. In my library, I have a volume entitled, The Prayers of John Wesley. Wesley wrote out at least a portion of his prayers.

What do you think of written prayers? John Wesley was not the only Christian who penned his prayers. George Müller, in his autobiography, included the prayers he prayed in various times of his ministry. The reformers left behind volumes of the prayers they prayed. We are all aware of Martin Luther’s tremendous courage when standing before the emperor at Worms when he said fervently and uncompromisingly, “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.” From where did he receive such courage? He tells us that, as he was standing before the emperor, he was praying. He prayed, “O Thou my God, stand by me against all the world. Do Thou do it! Thou must do it! Thou alone! It is indeed not my cause but Thine.” The people of God, from the time of the ascension of Christ until the present day, have left us with the words of their prayers for our edification and reflection. St. Augustine prayed this way: “Let my soul take refuge from the crowding turmoil of worldly thoughts beneath the shadow of Thy wings; let my heart, this sea of restless waves, find peace in Thee, O God.” Missionaries with hearts aflame for the souls of men have left us the words of their prayers. Whether you are reading David Brainerd’s journal or Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, it is clear that missionaries have given us a window into the depths of their souls by recording the words of their prayers. Listen to the fervent prayer of David Livingstone concerning the continent of Africa – “May God in mercy permit me to do something for the cause of Christ in these dark places of the earth!” In addition to these men, I have acquired other volumes containing the prayers of the saints throughout church history. I have eloquent collections of prayers by Dr. John Baillie, Robert Burns, Alfred Tennyson, John Donne, Carl Sandberg, Peter Marshall, Samuel Johnson, St. Patrick, Helen Steiner Rice, George Fox, Abraham Lincoln, John Calvin, and many others.

What do you think of written prayers? Furthermore, what do you think of reading or quoting someone else’s written prayer, and making it your own? Have you ever thought about it? Chances are, if you are a Christian who has attended church for any length of time at all, you have already done that.

The month was March; the year was 2003. It was only a few days after President Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons the ultimatum that led to the second war in Iraq. I was attending the annual Holiness Convention in Export, Pennsylvania. The auditorium was full for the evening service, which was just getting under way. The President of the Institute began the service by leading the congregation in song. The opening song was the patriotic hymn “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” When we got to the final verse, hands went up all over the auditorium. Voices rang out in unison –

Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.

We were singing a verse of a hymn that was written as a prayer. Though the words were written by Samuel Francis Smith, we quoted them, and directed them to heaven, making those words our own prayer.

Many hymns are written as prayers. You have most likely sang someone’s prayer, and made it your own. Some such hymns include Take My Life and Let it Be, Revive Us Again, I Need Thee Every Hour, How Great Thou Art, Have Thine Own Way, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and countless others. If you are against quoting someone else’s beautifully written prayers and praying them for yourself, you have just outlawed many of the most beloved hymns.

What do you think of written prayers? Has it ever dawned on you that many Bible writers recorded their prayers? I was in a particular place in life where I was keenly aware that my spirit was becoming bitter. During this time, I prayed many times this prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Those are not my words. I borrowed them. King David, Israel’s second king, prayed those words and penned them within the Hebrew Scriptures. I took those words and prayed them because it was the request I wanted the Lord to grant, and I could not think of a better way to pray it. The Bible is filled with the exact words that the saints prayed. The Psalms are full of written prayers. Daniel’s eloquent prayer is recorded verbatim in Daniel 9. Elijah’s short but powerful prayer is recorded for us. Paul interrupted his discourse in Romans 9 to insert a prayer of doxology. Many times, Paul concluded his epistles with prayerful benedictions.

What do you think of written prayers? Most likely, many of you are reluctant to accept the idea because in your tradition of spontaneous worship, it is a new concept. But really, if you read the Bible, you have read many written prayers. If you sing hymns, you have prayed someone else’s beautifully written prayers.

What do you think of written prayers? Would it help you formulate your opinion if you could know what a highly revered Christian thought of the idea? What if you knew what someone like Matthew Henry thought about the notion of a Christian writing out some of their prayers? I don’t know what Matthew Henry thought about it, but here is what he said about it:

It is good for us to keep some account of our prayers, that we might not “unsay” them in our practice.

What do you think of written prayers? Do you think there could be some benefit to you if you were to write out your own prayers?  Just think about it.

God Wants You To Be Spiritually Poor

Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Spiritually poor – that is God’s will for you. Contrary to contemporary theological exegesis, our Lord was unmistakably clear – “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Some biblical scholars have explained it away. “He means,” they insist, “that we are to be humble.” But He did not proclaim, “Blessed are the humble.” He clearly stated, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

How can this be? To hear it taught in many pulpits today, one would get the impression that God wants His children to be rich, both materialistically and spiritually. In other circles, many ministers insist that, while God does not mind if His children are monetarily poor, He surely wants us to be spiritually rich. After all, is not this the comfort we give to God’s poor people? Do we not console them by reminding them that they are richer than their wealthy neighbors – because their wealthy neighbors’ possessions are only physical, while their own salvation is worth more than all of earth’s gold?

In spite of our efforts to console God’s poor with heavenly riches, it is yet true that God wants His children to be spiritually poor.

Christians, especially American Christians, are accustomed to abundance. Most American families have more than one vehicle. Most Americans have several pairs of shoes, cupboards full of food, and closets full of clothing. Make no mistake about it – this attitude of abundance carries over into our spiritual lives. We get the notion that God wants His children to be spiritually rich. Somehow, we have gained the impression that God desires His children to have storehouses that are filled and overflowing with His grace, love, peace, and joy. However, for us, we would be better off spiritually poor.

What about Exhortations for Christians to Be Spiritually Rich?

I can hear the objections of some of my readers. Does not the New Testament exhort Christians to be spiritually rich? It does. A couple instances come readily to mind. In Luke 12, Jesus tells of a rich fool, who planned to build bigger barns for his earthly treasures, but made no preparation for his soul. Christ concluded the parable in Luke 12:21 by saying, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Surely Christ was exhorting us to be “rich toward God.” Another instance that presently confronts me is 3 John 1:2, where John says to Gaius, “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Did you catch that? John wished for the soul of Gaius to prosper! Is this not an exhortation to the prosperity of the soul?

I acknowledge these exhortations for Christians to prosper spiritually. There are other such exhortations in the New Testament. These exhortations notwithstanding, Christ still proclaimed, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Can there be any legitimate reconciliation between the New Testament exhortations to be spiritually rich and Christ’s unmistakable blessing upon the spiritually poor? I believe that there not only can be such reconciliation, but such an understanding exists.

On one hand, Christians are spiritually rich. On the other hand, we are spiritually poor. Both terms – “poor” and “rich” – describe the state of the true child of God. We are rich in the many spiritual possessions God has graciously given to us. We are poor in our Father’s wise distribution of those possessions.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the Father tells the older brother, “All that I have is thine.” This statement best describes the child of God and his spiritual possessions. Everything God has belongs to us. All the peace of God in heaven is ours. If you are lacking in peace of mind, this is a most unnecessary lack. All the love God has is ours. Christ has everything, and we have Christ! “Rich” is a good word to describe such a disposition.

However, although we possess everything God has to offer, God does not allow us to build barns and store His love, joy, and peace in abundance. Our heavenly Father, in His wisdom, distributes His greatest possessions to us as we need them. Let me give you a few examples of great possessions that our Father gives us only as we need them.

Provision for Physical Needs

I began this post with Matthew 5:3, where Christ said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew are known as the Sermon on the Mount. In the same sermon, Jesus taught His disciples to pray. In that model prayer, we find this phrase – “Give us this day our daily bread.” Notice carefully how our Father plans to meet the needs we may have. He does not instruct us to ask for a year’s supply of bread; not a month’s supply of bread; not even a week’s supply of bread; but daily bread! God promised to meet our needs when the day arises that we need them! I am rich because I have a heavenly Father who will supply all my needs. But He does not give me the means to meet the need until the need arises. So, like a poor beggar, I am dependent on my heavenly Father.

Ability to Stand in Time of Persecution

I have seen a number of Christians who seem to love to torment themselves. Often, such Christians perform this “self torment” in the area of persecution. Many American Christians are aware that, though we currently have freedom to worship in our great nation, this freedom is not guaranteed. Consequently, Christians worry about whether or not they will be able to stand for Christ should they called upon to suffer for Him. Such worry is unnecessary. You say, “Don’t you believe Christians should be ready to suffer for Christ?”

No. As a matter of fact, if you peruse my spiritual barn and look for “ability to stand in time of persecution,” you will be disappointed. It is absent from my shelves. Allow me to be frank with you. I do not have what it takes to suffer for Christ. I am spiritually poor. I just don’t have it. But I do not panic. Whatever I need when I am called on to suffer for Christ – my Father has it! And He will see that I have it at the very hour I need it.

In Mark 13, Christ told His disciples that they would be brought before judges and be persecuted for His name’s sake. In verse 11, Christ said these words – “Take no thought.” What does “take no thought” mean? Does it mean to “prepare to suffer for Christ”? No, not at all! As a matter of fact, it means the exact opposite. Christ then told His disciples why they need not worry about persecution. They would be given exactly what they need “in that hour.” Not before then. God will give me the ability to stand for Him when I need it.

Grace to Die

If you are a Christian, and if I were to ask you whether or not you are ready to die, I am certain you render an affirmative reply. I am almost equally certain, that if you were told by a specialist that you had contracted a terminal illness, you would wish the physician to take whatever necessary steps needed to lengthen your life. We say we are ready to die. Of course, when we say it, we are generally not dying. When Christians genuinely believe themselves to be dying, they typically struggle to remain alive. This is both normal and commendable. Christ promised to give us life, and even more so, abundant life. Even though Christians know our names are recorded in heaven, we still would rather live than die.

If I conducted a check on the inventory in my spiritual barn and looked for “grace to die,” I would find that such grace would be absent. Is this cause for alarm? Not at all. I am not ready to die. At this point, I would much rather live than die. I do not have what it takes to lie down and peacefully journey from this life to the next. I do not have such grace. What can I say? I am spiritually poor. But my Father has such grace. And He will give it to me in that moment.

Corrie ten Boom, whose family suffered persecution in World War 2, tells of a conversation she had with her father. She asked her father about being ready to die. Her father responded, “When you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?”

“Why, just before we get on the train,” Corrie replied.

“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need – just in time.”

God’s Ways – Higher than Ours!

Isaiah 55:9 – “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

In the above verses, the first explicitly states that the ways of God Almighty far surpass the ways of mankind; and the second teaches us to lean not unto our own understanding. This truth is clearly illustrated in a story told by B.H. Carroll:

“An old man, a very pious, true Christian, was deeply concerned because his two boys were infidels, and all through his life he had tried to illustrate the truth and power of the Christian religion before those boys, and it seemed to have no effect on them. They would not heed his precepts, nor follow his example. Finally, he got the idea in his head that he ought to pray God to make his death powerful in leading these boys to Christ, so when the time came for him to die, to his surprise, instead of everything being bright and he as happy as an angel and singing like a lark, he was in the most awful distress of mind. It was all dark to him. Promises, which, when he was well, seemed as bright as stars, were now darkness, and instead of being able to show his children the triumphant glory of a dying saint, he was showing his children that he was groping as he came to pass away, and so he died. The boys observed it very carefully. They had expected the old man to die a very happy death. They thought he was entitled to it. But when they saw a man that lived as righteously as he had, who when he came to pass away, had to go through deep water, one said to the other, ‘Tom, if our father had such a time as that, what kind of a time do you reckon we are going to have?’  And it influenced their conversion.”*

Here, we have an old man, whose own understanding led him to believe that his happy, peaceful death would influence his heathen sons in the best manner. God, however, whose ways are higher than ours, worked out the conversion of those sons a different way. This may surprise you, but God Almighty does not need your help in explaining to Him how something ought to be done! Whatever it is you face today, God’s got unlimited ways to fix it – ways of which you have neither thought nor dreamed. So, when you go to prayer, bring your cares to Jesus and let Him fix it His way. His ways are higher than ours!

*Carroll, B.H. The Pastoral Epistles of Paul and I and II Peter, Jude, and I, II, and III John. Fleming H. Revell Company. New York, NY. ©1915.

Unity in Spite of Differences - Part 1

I Corinthians 1:10 – “…the same thing… the same mind… the same judgment.”

I Corinthians 12:4-6 – “…diversities of gifts… differences of administrations… diversities of operations.”

Paul’s first epistle (or at least, the first to which we have access) to the Corinthian church is one of correction and instruction. The Corinthians were much like many Christians with which we are familiar today. Being first place in the gifts of the Spirit, they were last place in spiritual maturity.

The Need for Unity

One area of the Corinthians’ spiritual immaturity was that of unity. This local body of believers had allowed themselves to be split and divided over the pettiest of disagreements. Similarly, today’s Christians, whether belonging to the same assembly or not, lack much in the area of unity.

Let me insert here that no reader of mine is more conscious than I of the fact that Satan is a promoter of unity. The theme of the coming Antichrist will be unity. Revelation 13 is clear regarding Satan’s man – “he causeth all to receive a mark;” “he causeth all to worship the beast.” His mission will be for the world to unite – under his leadership, of course. This biblical truth causes me to be leery of the individual who wishes for a broad unity, seemingly with no regard to whether those uniting are genuine believers or not.

Having said this, I understand that true Christians who have been born again by the word and the Spirit cannot unite with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who carries a Bible under his arm. We need to know that a person is a genuine child of God who upholds the truths of the word of God before we give them the right hand of fellowship. Please understand that I am speaking of the unity of those who are Christians in the biblical sense of the word. I am not talking about Bible-believing churches participating in fellowship with churches that do not teach the biblical definition of marriage; or with churches that deny the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, heaven, or hell; or with churches that teach salvation in something other than Jesus Christ. By “unity,” I am referring to a born again believer uniting with another born again believer.

In spite of the great need for unity, genuine Christians are extremely divided – much more so than we should be. Concerning believers, Christ prayed to His Father, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us (John 17:21).” Paul exhorted the Ephesians to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3).” Unity among believers should be a desire within the bosom of every saved individual. So, why is there so little unity and so many divisions among born again believers? I will put the answer simply; then I will explain it. Here’s the answer in two sentences: “Many individuals have developed a method for achieving unity among believers. This faulty method has become the very reason there is so little unity and so much division among believers.”

Division: the Cause and the Cure

A faulty method for achieving unity has been proposed, and this method itself is the reason for so much division. What is this method that keeps Christians divided?

Some ministers will read I Corinthians 1:10, where three times in one verse Paul uses the word, “same.” Then, they insist that the path to unity is sameness; that is, that everyone should be exactly like them. There is no doubt that we must agree on some things to have unity. But unity is not sameness. In the twelfth chapter of the same epistle, Paul three times states in verses 4-6 that “there are differences,” and “there are diversities.” Unity exists not in absence of differences, but rather in spite of differences. The method of achieving unity by making everyone else just like you is impossible because people are different. Since this method is impossible, it is therefore a precise reason for the lack of unity among Christians today.

While two Bible-believing Christians share the same faith in Christ, the same love for the Bible, the same love for the worship of God, and the same desire to see others come to salvation, there are many things about each of them that may be different than the other. And that's okay! Let us examine a few differences that may exist between two Bible-believing Christians.

DETAILS OF THE SALVATION EXPERIENCE

If two individuals have faith that is deeply rooted in Christ, then both of these individuals are saved. Other than their faith in Christ, the details of their salvation experience may differ. I was saved at the altar in a southern Baptist church. But that is no indication that everyone must be saved at an altar in any church. I know people who are saved just as I am, and yet they did not receive their salvation in a church. I know some who were saved in their home. I know others who were saved in an automobile. I know others who were saved in the parking lot of a restaurant. Some were saved while in a kneeling position; others were saved while standing flat on their feet. The Bible tells of a tax collector who was converted in the temple while smiting his breast. The Bible tells us that when the Philippian jailor was saved, there was an earthquake. The Bible tells of a woman who found living water while sitting on a well. All these experiences are different as far as the details are concerned, but in each instance a sinner found the Saviour! Everybody does not have to have the same exact details in their salvation experience as do you! It would serve some people well if they would stop making the details of their own experience the standard for everyone else.

METHOD OF PRAYER

The true Christian longs to be in the presence of his Master. Whether I like it or not, there are those who are close to God, who may pray differently than I do. Some kneel when they pray. Some sit when they pray. Some lift their hands when they pray. All of these are biblical ways to pray. The Bible gives much instruction regarding prayer. The Bible does not, however, make it mandatory for a person to be a certain physical position while praying. Some people whisper their prayer. Others say nothing audibly. Some weep when they pray. Some pray very vocally with much volume. A few years ago, I heard a Sunday School lesson regarding prayer. The entire lesson could be summed up this way – “If you’re not praying loudly, you’re not praying at all.” This is ignorance on steroids! When I think of praying loudly, a particular group in the Bible comes to mind. When this group prayed, they lifted their voice; they jumped; they yelled; they even cut themselves! Were they Pentecostal Christians? No; in fact, they were prophets of the false god Baal. The Bible furthermore tells about a woman by the name of Hannah who was praying in the temple. Eli, the priest in the temple, watched Hannah as she prayed and was convinced something was wrong. She moved her lips, but no audible words came forth. Eli then accused Hannah of being drunk because she didn’t pray the way he thought she should. Who was right? Who was wrong? I know this much. God answered Hannah’s prayer. I’ve got a message for Eli and everyone like him. Everyone doesn’t have to pray exactly like you!

TO BE CONTINUED…

“Tarrying” for Salvation

A Brief Discourse on an Unscriptural Concept

If you believe that within every edifice that has a steeple pointed toward heaven is a minister who knows how to tell a sinner how to be saved, then you are badly mistaken. It is a shameful truth that if a lost sinner were to diligently search for the Biblical plan of salvation, he would stand a better chance of finding it in the janitor’s closet on the second floor of a county courthouse in Montana than in most churches. Dr. Monroe Parker told about a man with whom he dealt. The man told Dr. Parker that he had been going to different churches trying to understand God.

“How’s it coming?” asked Dr. Parker.

“I can’t understand preachers, let alone God,” the man responded.

And that’s the way it is. If you don’t know how to be saved, there is a good chance that going to church will only complicate matters. Let me insert here that there are churches that preach the unadulterated truth regarding salvation. There are preachers who understand clearly from the scriptures how to be saved. These churches and these ministers are becoming scarcer in this age of spiritual apostasy, but thank God they are out there.

Among the many theories concerning salvation is the concept of “tarrying” for salvation. Let us discuss this unscriptural concept.

To understand this concept, let me use an illustration. Suppose a lost individual enters a church, and at the appropriate time goes to the front for salvation. Upon asking what he needs to do to be saved, the pastor instructs him to simply kneel down and pray until he feels that God has answered his prayer, granting him salvation.

Often, lost people who are given this advice spend much time “tarrying,” or “trying” to be saved, often by praying for an extended period of time. I have heard people testify that they spent several hours praying to be saved. Others have testified to “tarrying” for days in their attempt to be saved. Some still yet have testified of “tarrying” for weeks or months trying to be saved. Although this is the experience of some, this is not what the Bible teaches regarding salvation. Now, if we are discussing children of God praying until the answer comes, then please understand that I believe in that kind of “tarrying.” In Luke 11, Jesus instructed His disciples to, like the man who needed bread, ask until the answer comes! If we are discussing Christians “tarrying” for power to win souls, then I believe in that kind of “tarrying.” Jesus instructed His disciples to “tarry” in Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high!” But no sinner in the Bible was ever commanded to “tarry” for salvation.

We must always understand that it is the word of God, not the experience of individuals, that determines whether or not a teaching is scripturally correct. Using the word of God alone for our source of authority on this matter, I shall give four points regarding the unscriptural concept of “tarrying” for salvation. First, I will demonstrate that there is no command in the Bible for anyone to “tarry” in order to be saved. Second, I will confirm that there is no example in the Bible of any sinner who “tarried” for salvation. Third, I will explain that proponents of this concept often have a wrong understanding of salvation. Last, I will show that the concept is as illogical as it is unscriptural.

The Bible Does Not Command Anyone to “Tarry” to Be Saved

He who requires the penitent to “tarry” to be saved did not get such a requisite from scripture. Absolutely nowhere in the Bible is anyone told to tarry that they might be saved.

Make no mistake about it – the Bible is clear regarding how to be saved. The Bible gives very specific instructions on this matter. These clear instructions become so muddied because so many religious leaders simply cannot fathom that salvation is as simple as the Bible portrays it. The Bible repeatedly states that salvation is attained by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the testimony of Jesus Christ (John 1:12; John 3:15; John 3:16; John 3:18; John 5:24; John 6:28-29; John 6:35; John 6:40; John 6:47; John 8:24; John 11:25-26; John 12:44-46); of John the Baptist (John 3:36); of John the apostle (John 20:31; I John 5:1); of Peter (Acts 10:43); of Paul (Acts 13:39; Acts 16:30-31; Romans 1:16; Romans 3:22; Romans 3:26; Romans 10:9-13; I Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 3:22; I Timothy 4:10) and of the Hebrew writer (Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 11:6). Anyone who teaches that an individual needs to anything other than “believe on Jesus Christ” to be saved is contradicting every scripture listed above.

Many believe that salvation is attained by believing on Christ, but what does it mean to believe? Some insist that truly believing is obeying the commandments of the Bible. But, is that the case? It cannot be, for the Bible states that no commandment of the law of God is capable of giving life (Galatians 3:21). Keeping laws and commandments is what the Bible calls “works of the law,” and by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Galatians 2:16). So, what does it mean to believe on Jesus Christ? Romans 3:22, Romans 4:5, Galatians 2:16, and Galatians 3:22 associate “believing” with faith. Ephesians 1:12-13 associates salvation with trusting. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is therefore “placing your faith in” or “trusting” Jesus Christ to save you. A person is saved by the grace of God when they realize that they cannot save themselves, and they consequently place their faith in Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone to save them. They are not trusting baptism; they are not trusting sacraments; they are not trusting church attendance or church membership; they are not trusting their belief that they have “quit sinning”; they are trusting Christ and Him alone for salvation. The split second that a person believes on Jesus Christ, they are saved. The only Bible mandate for salvation is believing on Christ. There is no Biblical command to “tarry” for salvation.

The Bible Provides No Example of Anyone “Tarrying” to Be Saved

Not only is there no Biblical command for anyone to “tarry” to be saved, but there is also no example of anyone in the Bible who “tarried” for salvation. If salvation were attained by the seeker kneeling and spending hours praying to be saved, it would make sense that we would have at least one example of this in the Bible. However, although the Bible provides examples of lost people being saved, not one of those examples includes an individual who “tarried”; not one of those examples includes an individual who spent hours, days, weeks, or months praying for salvation. The concept of “tarrying” for salvation is completely foreign to the scriptures. There is neither command for it nor example of it in the Bible.

Since there are some examples of lost people finding salvation in the Bible, let us look closely at a few of them.

THE PUBLICAN

In Luke 18:10-14, Jesus tells about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee; a religious man. The other was a publican; a tax collector. The Pharisee prayed a prayer about how thankful he was to be holy. He offered thanks to God for “not being as other men are.” As he prayed, he reminded God of how he fasted twice a week, gave tithes regularly, and even thanked God that he was not like the publican who knelt nearby.

Then the publican prayed. Jesus said that this tax collector would not even as much as look up to heaven. He simply smote his breast and said seven simple words – “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” After praying these seven simple words, Jesus remarked that this man – this sinful publican who prayed only seven words – went home justified rather than the other. The publican was justified before God after praying seven words.

ZACCHÆUS

In Luke 19, we are told about Zacchæus. Zacchæus was another tax collector – a tax collector who wanted to see Jesus but was too short to look over the crowd. He therefore climbed into a sycamore tree that he might catch a glimpse of Jesus as He passed by. Jesus saw Zacchæus and said, “Today I must abide at thy house.” Jesus then went with Zacchæus to his home.

After arriving at the home of Zacchæus, Zacchæus uttered one sentence to the Lord. This sentence was slightly longer than seven words, but it was still just one sentence that took less than ten seconds to say. Zacchæus said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8).

Upon hearing these twenty-nine words, Jesus said, “This day is salvation come to this house” (Luke 19:9). There was no tarrying whatsoever. In a short moment of time, Zacchæus was a recipient of salvation.

THE THIEF ON THE CROSS

When Jesus was crucified, He was crucified between two thieves who were also crucified. The two thieves mocked our Lord. However, at a certain point, one of the thieves had a change of heart. He turned to the Lord and spoke nine words to the Lord. He said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” After speaking nine words to the Lord, the Lord answered, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

PAUL THE APOSTLE

Perhaps the most remarkable conversion to Christianity in history was that of the apostle Paul. Paul, whose name was Saul at the time of his conversion, was on his way to Damascus. Suddenly, he saw a light brighter than the noonday sun. He then heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Saul, trembling, said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” Jesus answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Then, Saul prayed eight words. He said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” That’s it. There was no tarrying. There was no long season of prayer. At that moment, before he was baptized; before he was filled with the Holy Ghost; Saul of Tarsus was saved by the grace of God.

Quite some time ago, I was preaching at a church when, after church, a woman came to me. I had preached regarding the simplicity of salvation. She simply could not believe that salvation could be attained in a short amount of time.

“You make it sound like a person can be saved in just five minutes!” she said.

Upon hearing these words, I apologized to her. “I did not mean to make it sound like a person could be saved in just five minutes,” I told her. She looked puzzled. “You misunderstood me,” I said. “A person can be saved in a split second!”

If you believe in “tarrying” to be saved, or praying a long time to be saved, then the burden of proof is on you. I have shown clearly that the Bible nowhere commands “tarrying” for salvation. I have shown just as clearly that there are no examples of anyone praying for a long length of time for salvation. On the contrary, I have given four clear, Biblical examples of people who prayed very short prayers and were justified by God’s grace as a result.

A Wrong Understanding of Salvation Produces this Concept

Having clearly shown that “tarrying” for salvation is neither commanded nor exemplified in the scriptures, I will now prove that, many times, this teaching stems from an incorrect understanding of salvation.

I have shown that man attains salvation by faith (Ephesians 2:8), but how does God save? How can God be just, and at the same time, justify sinners? Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), how can God save me, one who has sinned, from the penalty of sin? The truth concerning these questions is that God did not merely forgive me when I was saved. Let me say it another way. When I was saved, God did not just “write my sins off.” God did not look down on me when I prayed to be saved and say, “You sinned, but since I am nice, I will forget about your sins and simply forgive you.” God, because He is just, saw to it that the penalty of my sins was paid. The wages of sin is death, and death for my sins had to be executed.

That’s where the blood of Jesus comes in. The sins of the whole world were laid upon Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:6). Christ died for the sins of the whole world (I John 2:2). While the blood of Christ is available for the salvation of all men, all men will not be saved.

In Galatians 5:3, the Old Testament law is referred to as a “debt,” and those who are under it are called “debtors.” God’s law is a debt that God demands to be paid. No man has ever paid that debt (John 7:19). But Jesus Christ, when in the flesh, fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17). The word “fulfill” is a term relating to debt, as in “fulfilling one’s obligations.” Christ fulfilled the law in its entirety. He never broke one commandment of His Father. He never sinned in word, thought, or deed. But, prior to going to the cross, the sins of the world were laid upon Christ. He, who never sinned, had the sin of the whole world laid upon Him. He then paid the wages of sin – death – upon an old, rugged cross, fulfilling even the death penalty of the law. Although Christ paid the penalty of sin for the whole world, the whole world will not be saved. God set up salvation so that Christ’s righteousness is only imputed to those who believe (Romans 4:23-24). Basically, if you do not trust Christ’s payment for your sin, then you will be responsible for it yourself. But payment for sin must be made. God does not save people by overlooking their sins. He saves people because they trust Christ’s payment on the cross as the means by which they are saved (Romans 4:25).

Once I understand that I am saved solely because of Christ’s work upon the cross, the length of my prayer becomes irrelevant. Those who believe in “tarrying” for salvation often see salvation as simply forgiveness. They see salvation as God just forgetting about their sins and forgiving them. The problem, they think, is that they just need to convince God to forgive them. And if they beg long enough, maybe God will have mercy. If they shed enough tears, maybe God will be convinced that they mean business. But this is a thoroughly incorrect understanding of salvation. God saves no one because they convinced Him to do so with their tears. No one has ever been saved by begging God to do so. No one has ever been saved by convincing God that they meant business about changing his or her lifestyle. God does not save because of man’s sincerity; God saves because of Christ’s blood that He shed upon the cross. Once this is understood, “tarrying” is not necessary.

The Concept Is As Illogical As It Is Unscriptural

I would like to speak personally to the advocates of “tarrying” for salvation in this final point. I want to show you how illogical your belief is. I want to begin by asking you some questions. If a person comes to God in prayer, and asks God to save them because of Christ’s work on the cross, why wouldn’t God save them? Is God playing games? What do you think happens in heaven when someone asks God to save them? Do you think God just stands there waiting for them to pray for at least a certain length of time? Do you think that God sends Gabriel down to check the puddle of tears to see how many tears have been shed before He saves the individual? Do you not see how silly this concept really is? If the phrase, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” does not mean “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” then what does it mean?

We have already discussed the story of Zacchæus. After Zacchæus prayed a short prayer, Jesus said, “This day is salvation come to this house.” In the very next verse, Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Did you get that? Christ is not playing games. Will He really save Zacchæus after Zacchæus prays a short prayer? Of course He will – THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HE CAME TO DO! Why wouldn’t He? Will Christ really save Saul of Tarsus after Saul prays only eight words? Absolutely! THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH IS LOST! To believe that Christ will not save an individual immediately upon believing is unscriptural, but it is even more illogical. It makes no sense to believe that Christ came to save them that believe, but for some reason won’t save someone immediately upon their believing on Christ.

Conclusion

This doctrine of “tarrying” for salvation, like all false doctrines, is a dangerous teaching. For one thing, this concept encourages people to seek for a feeling. That’s why they “tarry” to be saved. If you ask a person who is “tarrying” to be saved what he is waiting for, he will tell you that he is waiting until he knows for sure that he is saved. How will he know for sure that God has saved him? He will tell you that he will know for sure when he “feels” confident that God saved him. This is very dangerous. To start with, feelings are deceptive.

I can give you a list of people who I know personally who “tarried” for salvation – every year at youth camp. Every year they would go to youth camp, go to the altar, and pray for a great length of time to be saved. Often, salvation that is obtained by “tarrying” does not prove to be salvation at all.

In the ministry, I have had the privilege of winning souls to Christ. I have won some souls to Christ in church as a result of preaching. Others I have won as a result of one-on-one confrontation, outside the church. It has been my experience that, in nearly every instance, those who simply trusted Christ to save them (Ephesians 1:13), believing simply the written record (I John 5:10-11), were the ones who enjoyed a great assurance of salvation, served God with gladness, became soul winners, and lived the Christian life with stability and consistency. On the other hand, those who “tarried” until they reached a certain emotional experience enjoyed great joy – as long as the emotions were running high. But, as a rule, those who are saved by “tarrying” do not consistently work for God, do not have constant joy, win no souls for Christ, and prove to be very unstable. The concept of “tarrying” for salvation provides no results that I want in my life.

There is much more that could be said, but the point is adequately proven.

The Believer’s Attitude Regarding Persecution

Having examined a few basic principles regarding Christian persecution, I wish to very briefly look at the attitude believers should have regarding persecution.

1. Pray Against It. In I Timothy 2:1-2, Paul exhorts Timothy to pray for kings, and for all that are in authority. Why? So that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” We should not desire that persecution come our way. We should rather pray that we continue to live peaceably with government officials, obeying the laws of the land until those laws contradict the laws of God. There is nothing wrong with hoping that persecution never comes. As a matter of fact, we are commanded to pray to that end! Of course, if persecution does indeed come our way, we should not let it deter us from serving God. But we should not wish for it.
2. Don’t Worry About It. In Matthew 10, Christ told His apostles that they would be delivered up to be persecuted. He then tells them in Matthew 10:19, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak.” What does “take no thought” mean? Does it mean to sit and worry about persecution until it gets here? Does it mean to tremble in your shoes because of fear? Absolutely not! I tell you what I am going to do: I am going to first pray that persecution does not come to the American church. I am going to then realize that persecution may very well come to us. Then, I am going to worry about it no further. If persecution comes our way, I have faith that God will give me grace. I am more concerned about lost people dying lost than I am about persecution coming. And that is the way it should be.
3. Glorify God in It. Should persecution come, we should seek to find a way to give God the glory in it. Believers should use persecution for the purpose of winning souls and thereby giving God the glory. May we say with Paul, “we glory in tribulations also.”
4. Benefit from It. In Romans 5:3, Paul says, “…knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” When persecution comes your way, you can allow it to make you bitter or make you better. Let us determine to glorify God in it, and let it work patience in us. We should seek to benefit from tribulation and persecution any way we can. We should use persecution as a means of drawing closer to Him.

Simple Truths Regarding Salvation

1. Man is lost because of his sin. Sin is the transgression, or breaking, of God’s law (I John 3:4). Even before a person commits a sin on his own, every person is a sinner from the time of his birth (Psalm 58:3). Although all have sinned (Romans 3:23), you did not become a sinner when you sinned; you became a sinner when Adam (the first created man) sinned (Romans 5:19).
2. Man, on his own and at his best, is completely lost and unable to save himself. His best works, the sum of all his righteousnesses, are as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). Man, without having to do anything, is by nature a child of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
3. Because of his lost condition, man is on his way to a literal, burning, eternal hell. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and the Bible teaches that the lake of fire is called the second death (Revelation 20:14).
4. Because man is completely incapable of saving himself, man must depend upon an outside source to save him. Consequently, God, in his love for mankind (John 3:16), provided a plan to save mankind from the penalty, practice, and presence of sin. We call this plan “salvation.”
5. God’s loving act of providing salvation for mankind is called grace. Man has broken God’s laws, and the penalty of death and hell is just and fair. God could have provided no salvation whatsoever for mankind, and His righteousness would not have been diminished in the least. However, God provided salvation for mankind. When God provided a plan of salvation, every lost individual was “without strength,” or “unable to save himself” (Romans 5:6); every lost individual was a sinner (Romans 5:8); and every lost individual was an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). Hence, man did absolutely nothing to earn salvation. The only thing we earned as lost individuals was a place in hell. When God devised a plan to save man, this plan was not provided because of what man had done; it was provided rather in spite of what man had done. Grace, defined as “the unmerited, or unearned favor of God toward man,” was shown to mankind when God presented a salvation plan to fallen man.
6. God’s plan of salvation is in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. In order to save man, God sent His only begotten Son into the world (John 3:16-17). Jesus Christ lived as a man, yet he lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He never broke a single law of God. Christ never sinned in word, in thought, or in deed. This point is of absolute importance. If Jesus Christ were to save mankind from sin, it was necessary that Christ have no sin whatsoever. And though he was tempted in all points as we are, yet he was proven to be absolutely sinless.
7. Because Jesus Christ, as a man, never committed a single sin, God the Father laid upon Jesus every sin you and I ever committed or ever will commit (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus then paid the penalty of sin, which is death. Jesus died a horrific death upon an old, rugged cross. At the moment of His death, Christ declared “It is finished,” indicating that the penalty of our sins had been completely paid in full (John 19:30). It was very important that Christ be sinless upon the earth. Had Christ committed any sin of His own, He would not have been able to pay for my sins; He would have rather died for His own sins. But since He had no sins of His own for which to die, He could rightfully die for my sins and yours. And He did just that. Christ’s death is sufficient to save the whole world from sin. Absolutely nothing else needs to be done to pay for our sins. To prove that Christ's death was indeed a sacrifice that was holy, without blemish, and accepted by the Father, God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 1:3).
8. Although God showed grace by sending His Son to save us from sin, and although the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save the entire world (I John 2:2), not everyone will be saved. This is because God’s salvation is not “by grace alone.” In other words, just because God showed grace to you by sending Jesus to die for your sins does not mean that you are saved. Titus 2:11 tells us that God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to everyone. But everyone will not be saved. Even though Christ died on the cross, some men are yet lost (II Corinthians 4:3). If salvation were “by grace alone,” then the whole world would be saved because God’s grace appeared to whole world when Christ died for all (II Corinthians 5:14-15).
9. The salvation that God provided is “by grace,” but it is also “through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). “By grace” speaks of what God did when He sent Jesus to die upon the cross. But you are not saved until you place your faith in Jesus Christ to save you. When you realize that you are hopelessly and helplessly lost, and you understand that Christ’s death upon the cross is completely sufficient to pay for your every sin, you must then place your faith in Christ and in Him alone to save you. Jesus repeatedly stated and the scriptures continually declare that all you must do to have everlasting life is to “believe” on Jesus Christ (John 1:12; John 3:14-18; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:28-29; John 6:35; John 6:40; John 6:47; John 7:38; John 8:24; John 11:25-26; John 12:44-46; John 20:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:39; Acts 16:30-31; Romans 1:16; Romans 3:21-22; Romans 10:9-13; I Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 3:22; I Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 10:39; I John 3:23; I John 5:1; I John 5:4-5). When the Bible says to “believe” on Him, it is not talking about believing in God’s existence, or even believing that Jesus died on the cross. “Believing on Jesus Christ” means that your faith is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25). You trust nothing and no one except Jesus Christ to save you.
10. To have your faith in Christ means that your faith is in absolutely nothing else outside of Christ to save you. If you think you are saved because you have been baptized, then your faith is in baptism, not in Christ, and consequently, you are lost. If you believe you are saved because you have spoken in tongues, then your faith is not in Christ. If you are trusting sacraments to save you, then you are not believing on Jesus Christ. If you think you are saved because you keep certain standards of dress or standards of separation, then your faith is not in Christ. When Jesus said “No man cometh to the Father but by me” (John 14:6), that’s exactly what He meant.
11. The salvation that God provided is not only “by grace” and “through faith,” but it is also completely “apart from works” (Romans 3:20-21; Romans 4:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). There is not a single work you can do to save yourself, and there is not a single work you can do that will keep you saved. Many admit that salvation is by grace, through faith, and apart from works initially, but “in order to keep your salvation,” they claim, “you must do this, do that, or do the other…” Romans 11:6, however, completely contradicts this. According to Romans 11:6, if a man is saved by grace, then his salvation is no more of works. And if a man is saved by works, then his salvation is no more of grace. You are not granted the privilege to claim to be saved by grace, and then demand certain works to be done to keep your salvation. You are saved either by grace and completely apart from works, or else you are saved by works and completely apart from grace. You cannot mix grace and works into salvation.
12. The act of believing on Jesus Christ for salvation is not a work of the man doing the believing; it is rather the work of God (John 6:29). God has given to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). Thus, the faith to believe on Jesus Christ is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
13. Through prayer, a lost man desiring to be saved may express to God that his faith is in Christ. Romans 10:13 states, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Please note that a person’s prayer does not save him; he places his faith in Christ, and Christ saves him. If a man is not fully trusting Christ for salvation, then he may pray all day long, and yet be lost. There is no “sinner’s prayer” recorded in the Bible. There are no certain words to say. You simply must express to the Lord in some way that all of your faith is in Christ and Christ alone. The thief who died upon a cross beside our Lord’s cross said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into Thy kingdom.” The Lord promised him, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). A tax collector simply prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And the Bible said he went home justified (Luke 18:13-14). Saul of Tarsus simply prayed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He was saved immediately (Acts 9:6). Salvation is not wrapped in certain words; it is rather received by faith. When you simply express to the Lord in prayer that you are trusting Him completely to save you, placing yourself only at His mercy, He will save you the very instant you believe on Him.

Pressing Charges against God - Part 3

In this series, we have examined what it means to “charge God foolishly,” or to “press charges against God,” as I have named it. Now, I would like to examine some men and women in the Bible who accused God.

Adam – Blamed God for His Disobedience

In the third chapter of Genesis, we have the story of the fall of man. This chapter is of great significance. It is in this chapter when Adam and Eve sinned. The moment they disobeyed God, sin entered into the world, and death by sin (Romans 5:12). In the moment Adam sinned, you and I became sinners (Romans 5:19).

We have already seen how Eve was tempted to charge God. Satan came to Eve, accusing God to her. Satan told her that the only reason God forbad her to eat of the tree in the midst of the garden was because God knew that her eyes would be opened, in essence claiming that God did not want what was best for her. So, she gave in to the devil’s accusations. She ate of the forbidden fruit. Then, she turned and gave to her husband and he did eat.

After they had both sinned, God came to them in the cool of the day. “Adam, where art thou?” He called. Adam and Eve, like many do when they sin against God, were hiding from God’s presence. God found them, and began to ask questions. “What hast thou done?” God asked Adam. God did not question Adam and Eve in order to gain knowledge; God questioned Adam and Eve in order to make them accountable. When God questioned Adam, saying, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Look at Adam’s answer. He begins to play the blame game. “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Adam pinned the blame on Eve. But in reality, who was he blaming? Listen closely to what Adam said – “The woman whom THOU GAVEST to be with me, she gave…and I did eat.” Adam blamed Eve, but ultimately he was blaming God. “This woman that YOU gave me,” Adam said, implying that his sin was God’s fault. No man is able to blame God for his sin. Sin is a transgression of the law (I John 3:4). Every transgression of the law is a choice on the part of man. It has never worked to blame God for our sin.

Mary and Martha – Blamed God for Unanswered Prayer

In John 11, Mary and Martha, two sisters, sent a request to Jesus asking Him to come to Bethany because their brother Lazarus was sick. Jesus, however, acting as though he did not even get the request, tarried four days before coming to Bethany. In the days of Christ’s delay, Lazarus died.

Four days later, when Jesus arrived in Bethany, both Mary and Martha accuse Him. Now, I do understand that they were grieving. I understand that they were disappointed, having believed that Christ would come to Bethany and heal their brother. I get that, and because of that, I’ll go easy on them. However, they did blame Christ for denying their request for Him to come to Bethany. Look at what Martha tells the Lord:

John 11:21 – “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Martha told the Lord that, had He responded to her request to come to Bethany, Lazarus would not have died. Later, Mary comes to Christ, making the same accusation:

John 11:32 – “Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Mary and Martha made a request to Christ, informing Him that Lazarus was sick. Christ delayed His coming to Bethany. Although Christ delayed to respond their request immediately, He did not forget Mary and Martha. I find it interesting that in John 11, we are told that Christ delayed His response to Mary and Martha’s request. Did He do this because He did not love Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? Not at all. We are told in the same chapter, John 11, that Christ loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

John 11:5 – “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

This verse is in this chapter for a reason. It is there to show us that God’s delay in answering our prayers is not evidence of any lack of love toward us. He does not delay because He hates us. Christ delayed His coming to Bethany, but He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus nonetheless. Don’t ever forget that! Stand on this verse when the devil tempts you to accuse God because your prayers are yet unanswered.

His Son Not Sparing

Romans 8:32 – “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Some time ago, while in prayer, this verse was placed upon my heart in a very real way. Though I could quote it, it never became so real to me as it did the day the Spirit of God spoke it to me in my season of prayer. This verse, along with the truth that it bears, showed me the great heart of the Father, who desires to answer our every prayer that will bring about His divine will.

The subject of the above verse is prayer. Make no mistake about that. This is a good verse to remember before falling upon your knees. Its words made such an impression upon my heart that I considered printing this verse out and framing it, placing it just above my altar. Let us break this verse down, examining each part briefly.

“He That Spared Not His Own Son…”

The first phrase of this verse is an attention-getter. Notice – “He that spared not His own Son…” What does the word, “spare” mean? Webster defines the word as meaning “to use mercy.” God spared His children often in the scriptures. He spared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Although they were not spared from being thrown into the fiery furnace, they WERE spared from the flames. God Almighty showed mercy in shielding them from the devouring fire. Daniel, though he was not spared from the lions’ den, he WAS spared from the lions’ mouths. Not one lion attempted to attack Daniel in any way. God, through His infinite mercy, spared Daniel. I am a living testimony of God’s mercy in sparing my life. More than once, when I could have most certainly exited this life and entered the next, God spared me. There are many who are reading this post who can testify that God, through great grace and mercy, SPARED them!

But God SPARED NOT His own Son. God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, was innocent of any sin, iniquity, blemish, spot, or wrinkle of any kind. He never broke one law of His Father. He never sinned with His mind, thinking gross sins; He never sinned with His mouth, speaking gross sins; and He never sinned with hands, performing gross sins. Christ was completely innocent, completely sinless, and completely perfect, in every sense of the word. Yet, when Jesus went to the cross, the Father showed no mercy whatsoever to His only begotten Son.

“…But Delivered Him up for us All…”

We are told that the Father spared not His own Son, but rather, “delivered Him up for us all.” This is undoubtedly speaking of Christ’s death on the cross. Notice that it is the Father who “spared not His own Son;” and it is the Father who “delivered Him up for us all.” I have heard discussions and debates over whether the Romans killed Jesus because He was beaten by Roman soldiers; or whether the Jews killed Jesus because they cried out “Let Him be crucified.” Others have opted out of these possibilities, claiming that you and I killed Jesus because of our sins. That is certainly closer to the truth, but that is not the whole truth. The truth is, it was the Father who SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON. It was the Father who DELIVERED HIM UP FOR US ALL. Look at the scripture:

Isaiah 53:10 – “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

“It pleased THE LORD to bruise Him.” The Father bruised His own Son upon the cross. The Father did not just allow Christ to die; the Father slaughtered His own Son! The Father did not pity His Son; the Father did not lighten the punishment for His Son; the Father did not show one ounce of mercy toward His Son. And yes, His Son was innocent!

You may wonder why the incident of Calvary happened. It is true that you and I are guilty of sin, and God hates sin! God utterly despises sin. In our generation, there is little talk about the justice of God, the holiness of God, or the righteousness of God. It seems that all the talk is concerning the love of God. While I rejoice in the love of God, I cannot overlook the holiness of God. Sin is hated by God Almighty. If the Bible calls it a sin, a trespass, an iniquity, or an abomination, God hates it. Hebrews 1:9 declares that the Son, Jesus Christ, HATES INIQUITY. Let me say it again – If the Bible calls it a sin, a trespass, an iniquity, or an abomination, JESUS CHRIST, as well as God the Father, HATES IT! Sin will not be overlooked by God Almighty. Sin will be dealt with by God. He will not wink at it; He will not overlook it; He will not ignore it; and He will not excuse it! It most certainly will be dealt with!

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knowing that the Father would punish you and me with eternal death for our sins, offered willingly to let the Father pour out His indignant wrath upon Himself rather than upon us. Oh, what love! Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to have His Father, whom He always pleased, to treat Him as a filthy sinner! And that is exactly what the Father did. The Father unleashed His full wrath upon His own, innocent Son, treating His Son as being guilty. The Son of God had no sins of His own; it was rather my sins and yours that were laid upon Him. When we realize that nothing we do could pay off our sins, and trust Christ’s payment of them in full, the Father then can declare us “not guilty” because of Christ’s payment of our sins. He treats us as though we never sinned, but only because He first treated Christ as the worst of all sinners.

On that dreadful day, Christ walks up Calvary’s rugged hill, bearing an old, rugged cross. He deserved no cross. It was my cross. It was your cross. Yet He bore it willingly. If God the Father did not spare His own Son, but freely gave His Son to die in my place and yours, then the next question the apostle raises is

“…How Shall He Not With Him Also Freely Give us All Things?”

This is the conclusion of our verse. Look at the connection. I told you that the verse of our examination was a verse concerning prayer. Paul the apostle asks us this question – “If the Father did not withhold His Son from us, but gave Him to the death of the cross that we might be saved, why do you think He would withhold anything else you need?” We approach God in prayer as though we do not know if He is going give us what is best for us or not. Listen friend – the Father already gave us His best! He already gave us His Son! The Son gave His all! He gave His back to the smiters; He gave His face to them who would pull out the hair; He gave His hands and feet to the nails; He gave His head to thorns! What do you need from our great Saviour today? He already gave His best. And I’m sure that whatever you need, He is ready to supply in His time and in His will.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin!*

*Stuart Wesley Keene Hine

Purpose and Conviction in the New Year

Daniel 1:8 - "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."

Concerning this text, there are two great truths present. I would like to expound briefly on these principles.

Daniel Purposed
It is written in the above verse that Daniel purposed. This means that what he intended to do, he did it on purpose. There is little that gets accomplished accidentally, either in the affairs of the material world, or in the kingdom of God. If I could encourage Christians who read this post, I would encourage them to live for God in 2011, and to live purposely. If you worship God in your home, you will do it on purpose. If you spend time in prayer, it will be done purposely. If you spend time fasting, it will happen purposely. If you wait until you stumble onto a period of fasting, you will never fast. It must be purposed in the heart, and carried out. When you go to church, purpose to let the Lord speak to your heart. Here is something so few are doing these days - purpose to win souls. Set out to talk to people about the Lord, and try to persuade them to trust Jesus Christ to save them. It is amazing how so many will spend time in prayer, read the Word of God, and go to church, all on purpose. But they mosey through life to see if perhaps they stumble into witnessing opportunities. If we are going to win anyone for Jesus Christ, we must purpose to do it. We must make a conscious effort to do so. We plan nearly everything else, but there is little purposing to win souls. Daniel purposed in his heart.

What Daniel Purposed
Now, let us look at the thing which Daniel purposed. He purposed that he would not defile himself with the king's meat. I asked the Lord a few years ago a question that so many are asking today. I asked, "Where has conviction gone?" "Why do people feel no shame concerning their wicked, ungodly, filthy, rotten, stinking sins?" I believe I received a clear answer from the Word of God. The Lord reminded me in His Word, how that Daniel was cast into a den of lions. After the king threw Daniel into the den of lions, he arose the following morning to check on Daniel. Let's get this straight. The king threw Daniel into a den of lions. They were hungry lions. We know this because they devoured the men that cast Daniel into the den! The king waits until the following morning and looks into the den of lions. Why does he look inside the den? Why would anyone look inside the den? He looked in, expecting to find Daniel still alive! Why? The Bible says that the king "passed the night fasting." "Passed the night" meant he couldn't sleep; "fasting" meant he couldn't eat. Something had gotten a hold of him to the extent that the king could not eat or sleep. This is good, old-fashioned conviction. The Spirit of God had made the king feel so badly about what he had done unjustly to Daniel. This is conviction. It is what we need today. We need the Lord to show people how filthy they are outside of Christ, even with their best works! The question is this: Why did the king experience such conviction? The answer is in Daniel 1:8 - "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat." Where has conviction gone? Here's the answer: The wicked king was convicted because Daniel lived by convictions! Daniel said, "I will not defile myself!" He proclaimed, "I will live a clean, undefiled life!" The answer for you and me is this: When we (the Christians) live by convictions, the world will be convicted. If you and me are not stirred about people going to hell, do not expect the world to be stirred about going to hell. If the Day of Judgment doesn't bother us; don't expect it to bother the world. The world will change their attitude about sin when the church of Jesus Christ changes her attitude about sin.

So, in the coming year, let us purpose to have convictions. Then and only then will the unsaved be convicted.

The Second Myth Concerning Salvation

I've heard it over and over in Pentecostal, Holiness churches - "I prayed for months and months. Finally, after several months of crying and praying, I got saved." I don't mean to minimize anyone's salvation experience. Nor do I wish to impose my experience on everyone. You do not have to get saved the same way I did, as far as the details of your experience. However, let me say it this way: If it took you two weeks of praying to get saved, it did not take the Lord two weeks to save you. He did it instantly! The split second you believed on Jesus Christ was the split second you were born again.

There is a great myth in Holiness churches today, and it has been around for years. As a matter of fact, since I am calling this belief a "myth" someone may accuse me of not being a genuine Holiness man. However, I choose to believe the Bible over anyone's myth. This well-known myth is the belief that one must "pray through" in order to be saved. By "praying through," I mean "praying until you 'feel' saved." Not one place in the Bible does it say that you must pray for a long period of time to be saved. Not one scripture indicates that you must shed tears to be saved. Yet, in many Holiness churches, when a lost person comes to the altar to be saved, we just gather around them, and encourage them to pray for a long time, giving little or no guidance concerning how to be saved! I'm amazed at how many people come to our churches to pray to be saved, and, rather than declaring to them how it is done, we just stand around and let the spiritually blind grope their way to "feeling better."

As I begin, let me say that salvation is simple. Many Holiness people can't stand that statement. They have a list a mile long of rules to keep, standards to obey, and these lists define their salvation. If you really think salvation is difficult, you need to get on your knees, open your Bible to John 19, and read the story of Christ's crucifixion again, because you missed something in it. If the Lord wanted to make salvation hard, don't you think He would have just left us under the law? Friend, Jesus Christ performed the work necessary for salvation, taking the hard part out of it. Jesus did the hard part! Jesus subjected Himself to living in the flesh after leaving the splendor of heaven. He gave His back to the smiters; He gave His cheeks to them that would pluck out the hair; He gave head to the thorns and His hands and feet to the nails. When He was on the cross, His blood flowing out of Him, He cried, "It is finished!" Friend, I believe it's finished. There is not one thing for me to add to this great plan of salvation! All we must to believe, or trust, the work of Christ for our salvation. One day I asked the Lord to save me, and believed Him to do it - and that's exactly what He did. A friend of mine made this statement, and he is exactly right - "I can almost preach that what Christ did on the cross SAVED the entire world. There's not one thing to do; the whole world is saved." Now I know we must believe what Christ did and trust in Him to save us. I'm not taking away from that. But I can sure preach that Christ saved the whole world when He died on the cross before I can preach that we have to add a bunch of things to it. Friend, Christ finished it! Thank God for the simplicity of the gospel!

The myth that one must "pray through" before they are saved is a prominent one in Holiness churches. Some churches make you feel like if you didn't leave a puddle of tears and a puddle of snot at the altar, you didn't get saved. When I first started preaching, I thought that's the way it was. If people didn't spend a good deal of time praying, I didn't think they got saved. Then, I noticed something. I noticed that some who prayed for a long period of time, crying, weeping, and wailing, NEVER CAME BACK TO CHURCH. I noticed others who came to the altar, prayed for a short time, and showed little or no emotion, are going to church to this day and are strong Christians!

In many instances, those who pray for a long period of time to be saved are some of the most unstable people in our churches. I am not picking on them, but look at our youth. Some of them go to the altar at youth camps, spend hours each night there, and give them two weeks and they're out of church. Then, the next year, at youth camp, they "get saved again." This is a repeated process. Those whose salvation is based on how much they prayed and how good they felt when they got up from an altar have an emotion-based salvation. Their salvation is built on it. If you ask them, "How do you know you're saved?" many of them will tell you, "Because I felt this way or that way." Sure, they "prayed through" to a certain feeling. But what happens when the feeling departs (and it will)? They drop out. They're gone. Feelings are wonderful, but they do not provide my assurance of salvation. I KNOW I am saved because of what GOD SAID, and NOT because I "prayed through" until I felt better. Please understand, if it took you a good deal of time to be saved, I am not negating your experience. If you are saved, then thank God for it. But you're salvation better be built on what God said, and not how you feel. If you would have asked me the day after I got saved, "How do you know you're saved?" I would not have said one word about how I felt. I would have said something like this: "God said that if I would ask Him to save me, He would. I asked, and He did." My salvation hinged on what God said. That never changes. Feelings change. God's Word doesn't.

Romans 10, the great salvation chapter, states that ALL a person must do to be saved is confess with the mouth and believe with the heart. When you confess Christ as Lord, and believe (or put your trust in) the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for your salvation - you are saved. There is not one thing said about "feeling a certain way." There is no indication that you must pray a certain length of time. It says nothing of tears. There is no concept of "praying through" regarding our salvation visible in Romans 10. I have more than 26 verses in the New Testament that state clearly that ALL you have to do to have eternal life is believe. He is not speaking of merely believing in God's existence; the devils do that. It is not just saying, "I believe that Jesus died on the cross." The devil knows that. "Believing" means "putting your faith in what Jesus did. It means you are not trusting your works, your good deeds, your religion, your background, or anything else to save you. You are completely trusting Jesus Christ to save you, and you ask Him to do so based on this truth. Consequently, because you ask, believing Him to save you, HE DOES! It's that simple.

For all these people who believe you must "pray through" in order to be saved, I have a question for them. EVERY TIME in the New Testament, when someone received salvation and their prayer was recorded for us to read, their prayer was EXTREMELY SHORT. Why is this? When Saul of Tarsus changed directions on Damascus Road and began following the Christ He saw, his prayer went this way - "Lord, what would you have me to do." When the publican prayed, he simply smote his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and went home justified. The thief on the cross said simply, "Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." As for the eunuch in Acts 8, there's no record of any prayer whatsoever and the Bible doesn't even tell us that he did pray. The eunuch simply told Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip then baptized him. Now, I'm not saying that praying is not important in your salvation. I am saying that your praying better hinge on your "believing" of Christ, or all the praying you do will be in vain.

Two things to do to be saved - Confess with the mouth and believe in the heart. I promise you this - If you believe with all your heart that God will do exactly what He said, it will not take you hours, days, weeks, or months to get it confessed. The moment you believe, you will be saved.

I am not throwing away the idea of "praying through." This concept is a good one for believers. Believers need to get back to praying through. We need to get in our prayer closet, close the door, shut everything else out and pray until answers come. We need to quit worrying about time and just worry about touching the Father. I believe strongly in this kind of "praying through." But as for salvation, just ask the Lord to save you, believing that He will, and you are saved. A lot of our weeping and begging God to save is unnecessary. He is more ready to save than man is to be saved!

R.A. Torrey's Prescription for Revival

I can give you a prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth. The prescription is as follows:

First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.

Second, let them bind themselves together to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down.

Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ.

That is all!

This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community.  I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!

*By R.A. Torrey

The Lord's Prayer Requests

Sitting in many services I attend, there is often a part of the service dedicated to "taking up prayer requests." This is where people state their needs to the congregation for prayer. In most cases, churches spend fifteen minutes taking up prayer requests and a minute and a half praying for them. Nonetheless, I have often wondered, if Jesus were physically sitting in a pew in one of these services, what requests would He ask us to pray about? The answer is found in the Word of God. There are several things the Lord asks us to pray for in His Word:

1) Psalm 122:6 - "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
2) Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2 - "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Pray for the salvation of the lost and labourers to reach them.
3) James 5:16 - "Pray one for another." Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
4) Hebrews 13:7 - "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God." Pray for our pastors.
5) Hebrews 13:3 - "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." Pray for Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, as well as for the salvation of their persecutors.
6) Hebrews 13:18 - "Pray for us." Paul is requesting prayer for himself and those who were labouring with him. Pray for missionaries and those working in the ministry in whatever capacity.
7) I Timothy 2:2 - "For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." Pray for our leaders and our nation.
8) Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28 - "Pray for them which despitefully use you."
9) Matthew 26:41; Luke 22:40 - "Pray that ye enter not into temptation."
10)Luke 21:36 - "Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."