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A Little Ocean Ambiance
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FALSE IDEAS THAT HINDER REVIVAL
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By Dr. Richard Flanders
Juniata Baptist Church
Vassar, Michigan
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"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey
the truth?"
Galatians 5:7
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians by divine
inspiration, they were being
hindered in their spiritual progress by false ideas taught them by false
teachers. Paul felt very strongly
about the damage done by these falsehoods.
"This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little
leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye
will be none
otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his
judgment, whosoever
he be." (Galatians 5:8-10)
The Galatians were troubled by a system of law-works-flesh which
produced bondage. This system
opposed the formula of grace-faith-Spirit which produces liberty and was
preached by God's true
messengers. When Christians are walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling
the lust of the flesh (Galatians
5:16), they are living the life Christ planned for His people to live.
That life is beautifully described in
Galatians 2:20.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me."
When believers fail to live the Spirit-filled Christ-life, and enjoy its
fruits and benefits, they are in
need of revival. The Bible concept of revival is God bringing people
back to life. It is God restoring
those who have lapsed into carnality, worldliness, and disobedience, to
the normal state of
spirituality, love for God, and dedication to Christ. Whenever there is
a revival, God is bringing
Christians back to normal!
That revival is a return to normal Christianity is not understood by
many today. It is commonly
thought that to be revived is to experience some extraordinary,
above-normal infusion of divine
power. But New Testament Christianity is a very powerful thing. What
many think of as the normal
level of Christian living is actually well below the standard set by
Christ. The night before He died on
the cross, Jesus spoke at length with His disciples about what they
could expect in the era of His
physical absence from the earth. Portions of that discourse are recorded
for us in John, chapters 13
through 17. The age between the ascension and second coming of Christ
(which could be named the
Age of the Holy Spirit) would bring believers the potential of a life
characterized by these things:
(1)
definite answers to prayer (14:12-14; 15:7 and 16; 16:23-24);
(2) the
obvious help of the Holy
Spirit (14:15-26, 15:26-27; 16:7-15);
(3) peace and joy all the time
(14:27-31; 15:11;16:33);
(4) much
fruit (15:1-16);
(5) and persecution (15:17-25; 16:1-6).
Now that the Holy
Spirit lives within us, these
elements should characterize our normal experience! So Jesus said. The
lack of these five things in
our lives is evidence that we are living below the level of the
Spirit-filled life, and are in need of
revival.
Many in the fundamentalist churches are in need of revival today. They
uphold good standards of
conduct, but they lack spiritual power. They can tell you when something
done in church is not quite
correct, but they have little joy in their lives. They operate a church
program, but they do so without
the divine enduement. It won't be long before much of the fundamentalist
movement will make no
sense to most people. Our music and dress standards will seem baseless
and ridiculous. Our
restrictions will seem to be unnecessary hindrances to church growth.
Our ecclesiastical separation
will seem mean and self-righteous. All of this will happen (and to some
degree is already happening)
unless we experience an outpouring of the Spirit of God such as our
forefathers knew. In other
words, fundamentalists must have a revival from on high in order to
survive the twenty-first century.
We can be thankful that God has promised to revive us when we need to be
revived. See this in
Psalm 85 and in James 4.
"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in
thee? Show us thy
mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what
God the LORD will
speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his
saints: but let them not
turn again to folly." (Psalm 85:6-8)
The promises for revival are made to humble and contrite believers who
are willing to separate
themselves from the sinful ways of this world and of their own flesh.
There is no hope of seeing a
true and thorough revival among compromising believers who have made
peace with the enemies of
Christ. It is only among the separated brethren that a pure and powerful
movement of God can be
expected. Yet separated fundamentalists stumble over the teachings of
scripture about revival
because of false ideas that have entered their minds. These false
teachings have hindered us much as
the Galatians were hindered by false doctrine in their day. We must cast
the light of truth on our
ideas in order to find if they are Biblical or not. When our
misconceptions are exposed and cast
aside, we will be able to seek God with free and expectant hearts for
the revival we need. Please
consider the fallacies of five ideas that are hindering revival among
God's separated people today.
Revival is an extraordinary event, determined solely by the
sovereign choice of God.
We are told that there is absolutely nothing we can do to promote
the coming of revival. It is
said that we can legitimately hope for revival, but that we must
never aim for revival. The
words "extraordinary" and "sovereign" are often used among
fundamentalists to describe the
nature of God-given revival, indicating that it is something beyond
the normal Christian
experience sent only when the Lord decides to send it. Yet the
teaching of scripture does not
support this idea or encourage this attitude. The "revived" state
is the normal state of the
Christian, not something "extraordinary," and although God is
sovereign, He has promised to
send us revival in response to our submission to Him.
Part of the problem our brethren who advance this false view are
having is caused by trying to
define revival from history rather than from scripture. When a
believer concentrates on the
written history of great revivals he will tend to focus on the
byproducts or incidentals of revival
rather than its essential nature. He will emphasize the particular
circumstances of a revival and
specific manifestations of divine work. Then he will ponder why it
is that efforts for revival do
not always produce the same visible results. Leaving his Bible for
humanly authored histories,
he will forget that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit (in a
revived state) just as much as
the one-hundred-twenty in the upper room at Pentecost, but he was
martyred and they saw
three thousand conversions! Will we devise a definition based on
history, calling something a
revival only if certain experiences of the past are repeated, or
will we accept the definition of
revival found in the Word of God? Look at the use of the word for
"revive" in the Bible (as
in Psalm 85, Isaiah 57, Psalm 119, and Isaiah 57). Look at the
experiences of revival
recorded in the Bible, and the promises for revival. See that it is
simply God bringing His
people back to the expected level of obedience and faithfulness.
"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we
shall be saved."
(Psalms 80:3)
See that revival in the Old Testament brought certain promised
blessings, and that revival in
the New Testament age will bring other promised blessings.
Believers who abide in Christ
should expect to experience answers to prayer, the power of the
Spirit, the bearing of fruit,
abiding peace, and persecution. They may or may not see the closing
of taverns, the reduction
of crime, thousands of conversions, and growing churches. Peter was
"filled with the Holy
Ghost" when he spoke in Acts 2, and his listeners were "pricked in
their heart" and said,
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" In Acts 7, Stephen was "full
of the Holy Ghost"
when he spoke, and those who heard him "were cut to the heart." But
they killed him! The
visible results vary in revivals, possibly because of the hardness
of the sinners that are
evangelized. Only God knows all about this. Revival was happening
in Acts 7 just as much as
in Acts 2, although the stories are very different.
In the Bible, revival means God bringing His people back to normal.
He is waking them to
consciousness, bringing them back to life, restoring them to the
place of blessing. Perhaps we
have forgotten what normal Christianity is. In Matthew it is "take
up his cross, and follow
Me" (16:24). In Mark it is "preach the gospel to every creature"
(16:15). In Luke and
Acts it is "endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). In John
it is "He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit" (15:5). In
Romans it is "present
your bodies a living sacrifice." (12:1). In Galatians it is "Walk
in the Spirit and ye shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (5:16). In Ephesians it is "be
filled with the Spirit" (5:18).
Do we think that the reason so many live at a sub-normal level lies
in the sovereignty of God?
Do we expect that the general carnality and worldliness of the
churches can be attributed to a
divine decree? Have we no responsibility to be revived and lifted
out of our unbelief and
disobedience? Even though it must be God that revives us, have we
no duty to seek revival?
The idea is taught by some that Christians cannot expect to be
revived by meeting certain
conditions. The scripture indicates otherwise. The revival
principle of James 4 is found
throughout the Bible.
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be
afflicted, and mourn, and
weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to
heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift
you up." (verses
8-10)
The teaching that when we respond to God, He will respond to us, is
repeated often.
"Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Turn ye unto me,
saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the
LORD of hosts."
(Zechariah 1:3)
"Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of
hosts." (Malachi
3:7)
"Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and
he will heal us; he
hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he
revive us: in the third
day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then
shall we know, if we
follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the
morning; and he
shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain
unto the earth."
(Hosea 6:1-3)
The Book of Judges is all about the Lord responding to His people
when they repent and
pray. Chapter 2 gives us the pattern of the people of Israel in
those days:
"And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."
(v.13)
"And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he
delivered them into
the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into
the hands of their
enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their
enemies." (v. 14)
". . . it repented the LORD because of their groanings by
reason of them that
oppressed them and vexed them." (v. 18b)
". . . the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of
the hand of those
that spoiled them." (v. 16)
"And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was
with the judge,
and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the
days of the judge . . .
And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they
returned, and corrupted
themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to
serve them, and to
bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor
from their
stubborn way." (vs. 18a and 19)
The people forsook the Lord and His Law. Then He sent them
oppressors and spoilers to
chastise them. When they repented and cried out to Him, He
responded by sending them a
deliverer, a judge, to throw off the oppressor. As long as this
judge lived, the people of God
behaved fairly well; but when the judge died, they corrupted
themselves again. Then the cycle
began again. We see this pattern over and over in the stories of
the judges.
"And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD
raised up a
deliverer . . ." (Judges 3:9)
In Judges 10, we read about the children of Israel falling away
from God for the sixth time in
the book, and how God responded when they prayed.
"And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I
deliver you from the
Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon,
and from the
Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the
Maonites, did
oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of
their hand. Yet ye
have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will
deliver you no more.
Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them
deliver you in the time
of your tribulation." (vs. 11-14)
But the people kept on praying, and they really repented of their sins.
"And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have
sinned: do thou unto us
whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray
thee, this day. And
they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the
LORD: and his
soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." (vs. 15 and 16)
When they repented and prayed, God?s "soul was grieved" for them,
and in Chapter 11 He
sent them the deliverance they needed. Even when God said He would
not respond to their
repentance, He did respond. When they repented, He repented. It?s
an amazing thing!
The New Testament, in more passages than James 4, promises a
response from God when
Christians repent. Look up Ephesians 5:14, I John 1:9, and
Revelation 3:18-20 to find some
familiar examples. Revival awaits our repentance, not God's
sovereign decision. Christians
today are not complacent, disobedient, and worldly because God has
not decided to revive
them. They are in this sub-normal state because they have not
turned from it and to God for a
revival. God has already decided that He will revive us if we will
turn to Him in repentance
and faith. He waits for us.
We must define revival from the Bible, and when we do, we see that
it can be expected in
response to our repentance and faith. There is a great gulf between
the sovereign
act/extraordinary event view and the conditions-for-revival view.
We must see the difference
before we will get serious about seeking the Lord to revive us
again.
Revival cannot be expected in times of apostasy.
The word "apostasy" means departure from truth. Without question,
America's churches
have experienced widespread apostasy over the past century. Of
course, apostasy has
happened among professing Christians many times in church history.
The earliest churches,
over time, left the simple Gospel through the influence of pagan
ideas, the veneration of
martyrs, union with the state, and the power of bishops. The
evangelical denominations in our
country departed from the faith by the acceptance of higher
criticism, the social gospel,
evolution, and anti-supernaturalism. But is revival prevented when
many of the churches are
apostate? There are people who think it is.
However, let us remind ourselves that, in a sense, revival cannot
occur unless there has been
a measure of apostasy! If folks have not departed from the truth at
least in their behavior,
there is no need for a revival! The concept that apostasy prevents
revival is false, and in a way
is the opposite of the truth.
Now certain apostates as individuals cannot be revived because they
are unconverted sinners
who have blasphemed the Holy Ghost. The apostate Jews who crucified
Jesus Christ were
such people (Matthew 12:31-32), and so are those mentioned in
Hebrews 6 (verses 4
through 9). Certainly some have crossed the deadline, but the
influence of reprobates or false
teachers does not hinder God from reviving His own people. Revival
cannot be based on
false doctrine, but revival based on the truth cannot be prevented
by the opposition of false
doctrine! See in the book of Acts how revived Christianity
successfully met the challenge of
apostate religion. Watch Paul face Elymas in Acts 13. See him and
Barnabas stand up to
"the unbelieving Jews" in Acts 14. The Christians had to deal with
false doctrine among
them in Acts 15 in order for revival to continue, but the truth
prevailed, and the Gospel
marched ahead. The World Council of Churches, the Charismatic
Movement, and the
New-Age doctrine cannot stop revival among God?s separated people
if we turn our hearts
to Him!
Revival demands that we alter the plan of salvation.
Some (actually very few) who were concerned that we see the big
results we expect from
revival resorted to the "pray-this-prayer" approach to sinners that
gave them impressive
reports but little else. For a number of years, fundamentalists
were encouraged to get results
without having revival, in many different areas. In reaction to
this trend, some fundamentalists
have decided to fix the problem by raising the standard for
salvation. "Easy believism" has
been replaced with "Lordship salvation" by some preachers. Sadly,
they have perverted the
Gospel by confusing the way of salvation with the requirements for
discipleship. Seeking
better results, they are compromising justification by faith in
Christ alone.
Please do not misunderstand. Repentance is required for salvation.
Often these Lordship
proponents say that repentance has been downplayed, and that faith
must be accompanied by
repentance from sin for the soul to be saved. However, "repentance
unto life" (Acts 11:18)
must be understood in order to be preached. First, let us realize
that to repent is to change the
mind. That is always the meaning in the New Testament, and it is
the root meaning of the
Greek word. Secondly, let us notice of what it is that sinners must
repent in order to be saved:
sin (Matthew 3:1-6), unbelief (Mark 1:15), and good works (Hebrews
6:1)! We must change
our minds about sin, about faith in Christ, and about the merit of
our supposedly good works
in order to be saved. This is what the Bible teaches about
repentance for salvation. Thirdly,
repentance results in saving faith, but it is not a separate step
to salvation. If a sinner has truly
repented, he believes in Jesus Christ. If a sinner believes in
Christ for salvation, he has truly
repented. Repentance for salvation is the change of mind necessary
for a sinner, who loves
"darkness rather than light" (John 3:19), to come to the Light by
believing in Christ.
We must see in the Bible that salvation and discipleship are two
very different issues.
Salvation requires faith in Christ (Acts 16:31); discipleship
requires commitment to obedience
(Luke 14:33-35). Salvation involves the cross of Christ (I
Corinthians 1:18-24); discipleship
involves one?s own cross (Matthew 16:24-25). Salvation calls for
one decision (John 4:14);
discipleship calls for a daily decision (Luke 9:23). Salvation
cannot fail because it depends
upon God (John 10:27-28); discipleship is in jeopardy of failure
because it depends
somewhat on us (Luke 14:26-30). Salvation results in eternal life
(Romans 6:23); discipleship
when successful results in eternal rewards (Matthew 16:25-27).
While it is true that every
believer should seek to be a disciple, it is also true that
believers are not necessarily disciples
in the full sense of that term. Listen to what the Bible says in
John 8:30-31.
"As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said
Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye
my disciples
indeed."
On the other hand, although every disciple of Christ should be a
believer, not all disciples are
believers! Look at these passages in John:
"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested forth
his glory; and his disciples believed on him." (2:11)
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this,
said, This is an
hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What
and if ye shall
see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the
spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they
are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not. For
Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not,
and who
should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you,
that no man can
come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From
that time
many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."
(6:60-66)
Religious people who have committed themselves to obey Christ will
not go to Heaven unless
they believe on Christ for their salvation. Salvation and
discipleship are two different things,
and they must not be confused. A works-salvation perversion of the
Gospel will not bring a
revival.
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness
come by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:21)
Revival must be separated from evangelism.
We have heard for years that we must distinguish between revival
and evangelism. "Will these
be revival meetings or evangelistic services?" Although there is
truth in this concept, we must
never forget that these two matters cannot be separated A true
revival in the life of a believer
will make him a witness for Christ and a winner of souls. Obedience
to the Lord requires
obedience to the Great Commission! When the "Holy Ghost is come
upon you . . . ye shall
be witnesses" for Christ according to Acts 1:8. Also, evangelism
will not succeed unless
believers are filled with the Spirit. Revival produces evangelism,
and empowered evangelism
requires revival! The old-time revival campaigns used to combine
calling Christians to
repentance and calling sinners to Christ. Without a doubt the
evangelists all saw the
connection between revival and evangelism, and so should we.
Revival depends on pleasing the public.
The revival movement among fundamentalists in the 1930s led
unfortunately to a new
approach in the 1940s to "gear" the effort "to the times." Big
youth crusades of that era sought
to throw off the old-fashioned and possibly offensive aspects of
former revival efforts, and to
appeal to the young in the popular terms of their day. This trend
gave us the "new
evangelicalism" and the ecumenical crusades that have dominated
conservative Christianity for
fifty years. Of course, many have professed faith through these
crusades and youth events, but
real revival has not come. The reason for the evangelical failure
is the Bible truth that success
in the Cause of Truth does not come by pleasing men, but rather by
pleasing God. Look at
the principle in Joshua 3:5.
"Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders
among you."
Paul told us that soul-winners must "please all men in all things"
in order to seek "the
profit of many, that they might be saved" (I Corinthians 10:33).
But the context in I
Corinthians 9 and 10 makes it clear that Paul was speaking about
sacrificing oneself and
non-essential offenses in order to clear the way for effective
witness. He was not advocating
the compromise or abandonment of truth or the glory of God in order
to please sinners
(Notice 9:21 and 10:31). In I Thessalonians 2:4 he said,
"But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the
gospel, even so we
speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts."
We must please God in order to have His blessing, not please people
in order to win them
over. Winning people lost in sin is not a simple matter of
psychological trickery. It requires the
supernatural power of God. Our focus must be vertical more than
horizontal. The use of
carnal music, the lowering of our own standards of life, and the
condoning of sinful practices
will not help our evangelistic efforts. They will doom them to
failure because God will not be
with us.
The great hindrances to revival among fundamentalists today are
unbelief, doctrinal perversion,
laziness, and worldliness. These hindrances continue to prevail
partially because false ideas are not
being challenged. Let us work to restore a Biblical understanding of
revival to the fundamentalists,
and lead them to seek the Lord for personal, church, and world-wide
revival. Let us encourage them
with scripture to expect revival, to trust in the power of God, and to
redouble the effort to reach
every creature in the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Monthly Article
06/02
by Dr. Rick Flanders
currently Pastor of
Juniata Baptist Church
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Juniata Baptist Church
5656 Washburn Road
Vassar, MI 48768
juniatabaptist@juno.com
(517) 823-7848
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Dr. Rick Flanders Biographical Data
Converted in 1963 through a radio ministry.
Earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Bob Jones University.
Honorary D.D. from Pensacola Christian College.
Pastor at Juniata Baptist Church since 1973.
On BCPM Board, (Baptist Church Planting Ministry)
and also MACS. (Michigan Association of Christian School)
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- Articles published in the;
- Sword of the Lord
- Baptist Preacher,
- Frontline,
- Christian View of the News,
- Pulpit Helps,
- Maranatha Watchman
- Church Bus News,
- and other national periodicals.
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Teaching the Word
To Glorify Our Lord
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